The start of the week saw a drop in swell and light winds most mornings. These however whipped up during the late morning and into the evening giving those early to the ramp the best opportunities. The fading ground swell helped to conditions manageable for anglers to have a crack as the sun comes up. The winds also featured a bit of west in them which will always clean up the inshore conditions making chasing pelagics easier.
Still hot on many anglers list are mackerel and tuna. The tuna are about, but very patchy and the bait balls they are feeding on are very small. It would appear that the tuna are creating small groups of bait and once balled up they decimate them and quickly move onto another.
The best approach for tuna is to head upwind and keep engine revs constant and your speed slow when approaching the school. Always head upwind of feeding tuna as they always feed into the wind. It is then you can cast into the school. Try not to burn up to the school as you will send them down deep, break up the bait balls and scatter the tuna.
Lures to use on tuna are slugs or metal slices in the 20-40 gram range. Make sure you check out the many options we have from Halco, Gillies and of course Arma. Keep leaders lighter around 20-30lb and be sure to use fluorocarbon when using braid with Dogtooth a great option if you don’t need a large spool.
Fishing in the river saw a slight change as we started the run up to the new moon. The building tides saw a nice mixed bag of trevally harassing the bait early mornings. Those light winds early morning lend themselves to fishing with small surface lures. With a huge range in stock take a look at Atomic and MMD for a couple of great starting options. The larger MMD splash prawn is certainly a great option and bigger GT will hammer this as it skips along. Many anglers tend to fish too heavy so keep lines around 8-12lb max. This ensures better casting and presentation, especially when fishing from the land. Flathead are still dotted all around the lower estuary and as the tides run out you can find many channels that drain off the flats. These are always worth a flick as flatties will sit facing these run off areas waiting for an opportunity to grab a passing prey item. Fishing with a small baitfish or prawn looking plastic will work well here. Try the Live Target fleeing shrimp for a realistic option in the shallows.
Lake Macdonald got a good top up on Friday night and now sits a smidge under 100% capacity. This sudden influx of cold water and run usually sees the fish go a little deeper to find more stable conditions. The fish have been somewhat harder to find so ensure you have sounders running in side scan mode as you travel. Vibes and blades have been reported to be doing very well on the schooled up fish. The Ecogear ZX range is a classic bass and yellow belly lure and a must have. Borumba continues to drop around 1% a week making navigation a danger if you are new to the area once beyond the ski zone. As we start to say farewell to summer be sure to get the most out of early morning surface lure fishing and break out the Sammy 65, Zerek Poparazzi and Gunfish 75.
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!
