By JACK MANGROVE
FOR the offshore boaties, the closer reefs have been the place to be, with some nice reefies and mackerel being caught there in the past couple of weeks.
Places like Sunshine Reef, Jew Shoal and the more southern reefs around Coolum are all producing nice fish.
Mackerel like to move in large schools, both spotted and spanish like tearing through bait fish and forcing the bait to the surface. Keep an eye out for the bird activity as this is a sure sign that there is movement under the surface. Try flashy, fast moving lures worked quickly through the schools of nervous bait fish for best results.
On the beaches, Noosa’s north shore has been the place to be with some excellent catches being reported. Being up nice and early is the way to go with bream, whiting and plenty of dart still feeding in the gutters.
One of the more favored baits for the beach is a lightly weighted peeled prawn or small pilchards cast out into a surf gutter and allowed to drift under the whitewash. By using this technique, other fish species like trevally, flathead and even tailor can also be in the mix.
In the river, the Tewantin ski run stretch has been fishing well for flathead, jew and even tailor, while further up river, mangrove jacks have been on the prowl, the area between the lakes has again been the favored area and with the full moon a night fish has been the way to go. Jack tend to leave their favorite snag and head out into the deeper water to feed.
Another place to try is the calm, sheltered waters of Weyba creek. Flathead love this shallower water and will half bury themselves in the sand and wait for a passing morsel, red and pink soft plastics seem to be the most productive. Whiting and bream also cruise through this area searching for food, peeled prawns and yabbies should land you a feed.
On behalf of Jack Mangrove, best of luck on your fishing adventures.
