Well, here we all are and welcome to April.
With the school holidays now in swing, you can expect things to be a little busier at the boat ramps and around the town. This should only get you up and about earlier as we have some great weather coming to start the week off.
This is a great time of year to get out as we start to see big snapper moving in and the longtail tuna becoming increasingly active. For those wanting to target Spanish mackerel then these are also still in good numbers once you find them.
Offshore, all the local reefs will start to see cleaner waters making bottom bashing worthwhile. Good numbers of sweetlip have been reported with some fish reaching 50cm. These fish can be caught using high quality braids and FC leader like Shimano Ocea around 20lb. Using medium 5-10kg spin rods like the Shimano Raider snapper and a 5000 reel will serve as a great all rounder capable of many different angling styles.
While you are out there, if conditions allow a small flow of burly will really help fire up the reef fish and can even bring on the mackerel. Spanish and spotty mackerel love a burly trail so make sure you have your floated gang hooked pilchards out there. Snapper will also smash these as will tuna and cobia making this a must do method. If getting snipped off, try one of the premade Halco bait trace rigs. This features a short length of wire crimped to a swivel to help you land that big fish.
Surf fishing continues to surprise anglers with the occasional sweetlip and snapper turning up. For those on heavier gear or wanting a challenge there are large shovel nose sharks/rays around. These fish will exceed 60-80kgs making them a powerful sport fish. Ensuring you have a solid reel like the long cast 7500 from Penn and a rod with some serious backbone is a must. These rays will put in big runs and certainly test you angling ability not to mention they can get massive. Ask us how to target one if you like a challenge.
River fishing is getting better and the lead up to the new moon some great flathead and jack captures. In the mix are a good numbers of golden trevally and big eye trevally. To target jacks and sizable bream you only need to use mullet on a beak style hook and 8-12lb leader for bream and anything up to and over 50lb for jacks depending on where you target them. For those fishing around rocks with braid for jacks don’t be afraid to use up to 4 meters or more of leader. This won’t cast particularly well but it could certainly save you from getting bust off with traditional leader lengths.
As we see things start to clean up the waters further up stream will once again start to fish well and the spring tides this week certainly helped with that. There will also be more bait inside the river so if your luck is not that good upriver try scanning around Weyba Bridge, Noosa Sound and the dog beach. These areas will hold good flathead, whiting and trevally to name a few. You can use unweighted baits like whitebait, peeled prawn, and beach worm which all of these fish love.
Freshwaters are starting to settle down following the torrential flooding. The bass are starting to feed again but can be hard to find. With the dams open and the sun shining, now is a great time to get out an explore. Don’t forget you need a SIPS permit to fish most dams and lakes and these can be purchased online and it only takes a minute to process. When you head out be sure to try trolling the weed edges with deep small body lures like the Rapala Jack Deep and Bassday Sugadeep. These are two great freshwater lures that appeal to most freshwater fish.
Now for all the latest information log onto www.fishingnoosa.com.au for up-to-date bar and fishing reports, don’t forget to drop into Tackle World Noosa, Noosa Boating and Outdoors and Northshore Bait & Tackle in Marcoola for all the right equipment, bait and advice to get you catching. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and remember Tight Lines and Bent Spines!
