By Jack Mangrove
ON THE Noosa River, fishing at night has really been producing the goods.
A lot of people don’t realise how good the fishing can be at night, particularly with lures and light gear, stealth is the key with little or no light and all quiet on board the boat, you can really target those larger fish.
One such fish that responds well at night time is the Mangrove Jack. Jacks hide in their snags all through the day but come out to feed at night and can be found feeding out on the flats, large paddle tailed soft plastics worked slowly can produce some great jack.
For those of you who are not night owls and prefer an early start, fishing the river mouth has also paid off, and bream, trevally and tailor have all been claimed over the last week.
Whiting are also in good numbers and freshly pumped yabbies and live worms have been the go to bait.
With summer approaching the beaches are the place to be.
Being up nice and early and timing it with an incoming tide and you are in good stead, Noosa’s North Shore, Sunshine Beach, Perigian Beach and all the way down to Mudjimba have been the place to be with some excellent catches being reported.
Make sure you look for the gutters with the tide moving in, bream, whiting, tailor and plenty of dart are around.
A couple of the most favoured baits for the beach is a lightly weighted peeled prawn, small pillies, mullet and bonito fillet. Cast out into a surf gutter and allowed to drift under the foam too where the fish feel safe.
The mackerel are starting to show up with schools of both school and spotted mackerel tearing through bait fish schools around Laguna Bay.
The good old floater has been working well, for the lure anglers give slugs and stick baits a go.
North reef has been good for cobia, moses perch and sweetlip and the last of the bigger snapper.
Sunshine Reef has been great for sweetlip pan sized squire and the perfect table fish coral trout.
Double Island Reefs have been worth the trip when the weather allows with red emperor, snapper and plenty of mixed reefies.
Soft plastics and micro jig are really taking off with the bottom bouncers and in some cases are starting to out fish bait. The great thing about them is that you tend not to get the pickers and catch those quality fish.
On behalf of Jack Mangrove, best of luck on your fishing adventures!
