With the crazy rains and winds behind us the week gave way to light morning winds followed by afternoon breezes up to 15 knots which tended to drop during the evening.
The swell on the Noosa bar dropped low enough to allow anyone with a boat out and head far or stay local. The afternoon SE and later NE breezes made Sunshine reef a popular option for smaller craft and those chasing the reefies. Out wider the bigger charter boats made the trips to North reef and DI and come back in with the NE winds.
Fish on the menu across both areas were good sized snapper, pearlies, parrot, sweetlip, amberjack and even a few bite offs from mackerel. If fishing for mackerel and you are in close around Halls reef and in close to Sunshine reef be sure to have a slow trolled dead bait rigged on a trolling rig. This is by far the best way to target the bigger mackn’s and tuna.
If fishing on anchor be sure to have a pilchard floater out if the currents aren’t too strong. Be sure to have a good burley trail going as all fish including mackerel and tuna will be drawn in.
Surf fishing is warming up and there are some quality gutters all along the coast from the Noosa bar toward Coolum.
The new moon evening bite saw a few dedicated jewfish anglers catching a few smaller school sized and keeper sized fish. These fish will happily take soft plastics and love a jerk shad or curly tail style when land based. For evening times off the beach be sure to use a good chunk of fresh mullet or squid bait on single hook paternoster style rigs.
The Noosa River is still experiencing a great flathead season and they are still in solid numbers throughout the river from the main boat ramp on Gympie Terrace to the mouth. The shifting sand has many options to find the big fish sitting in wait on a drop off. Have a mix of live bait, strip bait and lures as these will all work. For the lure anglers even a simple hard body worked across the flats can be deadly. Floating hard body lures will rise up when not worked and this will see a flathead crunch it as it is getting away from it.
Whiting, bream and trevally are in good numbers around this area.
For those on light gear, a simple running sinker rig with a strip of squid or live beach worm will see you connected pretty quickly. For those in a boat then upriver toward the ski run and toward the mouth of Lake Cooroibah can be great for GT, mangrove jacks, flatties and even school sized jewies. These fish all love soft vibes and paddle tail plastics which both emit a lot of vibration which all of these fish love.
If you have a quality sounder be sure to run side scan so you can see what is out to the side as often schools of fish can be missed using simple 2D sonar.
Freshwater has seen some great catches of Saratoga and chunky bass coming from both Lake MacDonald and Borumba. The early morning and late afternoon bite has been strong with the morning better due to the winds of late.
If finding bass schooled up in deeper water be sure to drop a jig down. A simple casting slug rigged with some fine gauge assist hooks can turn a simple cast and retrieve lure into a deadly jig. Be sure to get out early to enjoy the day ahead before the winds picks up.
So on behalf of Jack Mangrove, best of luck on your fishing adventures!
