By JACK MANGROVE
THE Noosa River has been really firing after the rain – good quality flathead have been taken from all the favourite spots, Tewantin Ski Run, Lake Cooroibah, Weyba Creek and the river mouth.
The flatties are taking a liking to small fish baits like frog mouthed pilchards and hardy heads. Another great way to target these tasty fish is to use soft plastics, for me brighter colours seem to work best.
Another fish we are seeing good numbers of is mangrove jack, the best catches seem to be at night with angler fishing pylons and jetties. Live bait has been the most productive but hard body suspending lures have also claimed their fair share of fish.
The bread-and-butter species of whiting and bream have been in good numbers along Gympie Terrace, the dog beach and from Woods Bay shorelines. Baits like worms, prawns and yabbies have all captured some quality fish for the table.
Trevally have been in outstanding number with the lower reaches of the river producing some cracker fish – giant trevally and big eye trevally have been feeding hard on bait forced down river by the fresh water. The low light periods have been best; with surface lures like popper and surface walker doing the job.
Crabs are still in good numbers. With the fresh water in the system, look to place your pots in the deeper parts of the river adjacent to mangrove areas. There are a number of different baits used, but the most consistent performer has to be fresh mullet.
There has been a slight drop in the winds over the last week with some of the larger boats making their way over the bar. Most have still tended to fish the closer reefs so they can make a quick dash for home if conditions worsen.
Sunshine Reef has been popular with the charter boats and the anglers on board have been well rewarded with sweetlip, coral trout, cod, maori cod, pearl perch and a host of other species hitting the decks.
Other recreational anglers have reported pelagics including spanish and spotted mackerel as well as tuna. Trolling lures has been a little tough with some of the sloppy conditions, so most anglers tended to drift and through slugs.
On the beach, those swells we had a week or two ago have really created some great gutters along the beaches of Noosa’s North Shore. There have been reports of tailor starting to show up in numbers down around the Gold Coast, this may mean a early migration this year. Conditions are perfect if this is the case as the gutter are where tailor love to hunt for small baitfish. Pilchards on ganged hooks would have to be one of the most used baits for tailor, and cast into the waves at the back of the gutter and rolled under the white water should see a result.
Dart are in big numbers at the moment and actually have a bit of size to them, with fish touching the 50cm mark reported. Whiting and bream are also in those same gutters and are feeding on worms and pippies.
So on behalf of Jack Mangrove, best of luck on your fishing adventures.
