By Jack Mangrove
WITH the school holidays upon us, the kids will be looking to go for a fish.
The Noosa River has been really turning it on, there have been some huge whiting up to 44cm caught around the lower regions of the river.
The Dog Beach has been the place to be for the land-based angler with first thing in the morning the most productive. If you have a boat, the Frying Pan is also producing.
The 50mm Bassday Crystal Pop is a cracker lure for whiting, this is a sinking popper and really gets down in front of the fish and then can be popped on the surface. On the bait side of things, live worms and freshly pumped yabbies have been the most consistent performers.
There have been some monster flathead down towards the mouth of the river. Remember flathead over 75cm MUST be released to the water immediately because they are breeding females. The flathead are mainly feeding on small baitfish and prawns so soft plastics that resemble these will do the job.
Mangrove Jacks are also coming on the chew, with those stormy evening the best time to chase them. Structure is also key so fish around the many pontoon and boats in the river.
Trevally are still in good numbers and big eye, giant and golden trevally have all hit the decks over the last week. The Noosa Sound and Woods Bays have been the most productive as well as the Ski Runs upriver.
On the beach; the tailor are starting to improve in both amount and size. The area between Teewah and Double Island has been very productive as the fish make their way north to spawn. Reports from Frazer Island are also strong with some quality fish taken at the northern end of the Island. Good whiting are also in the closer gutters – small baits like worms, pippies and peeled prawns have claimed some of these delicious table fish.
Fishing offshore out of Noosa has seen some great captures, reports from North Reef and Sunshine Reef are plenty of snapper and sweetlip, with micro jigs getting a good percentage of the catches.
It’s been a good season for targeting jew fish offshore and most of the deeper reefs holding good fish.
Another fish we are seeing good numbers of are cobia or black king fish. These fish tend to travel in small schools and if you hook one make sure you have another line in the water as there is sure to be another following up the hooked fish.
In the fresh water, Lake McDonald is holding good bass in the deeper sections of the dam closest to the wall. This is spawning time for the fish and their instinct is to run to the open ocean so you will find large schools of the fish towards the barriers. These fish are easily targeted with small vibe or tail spinners slowly worked though the schools.
The first ever Gone Fishing Day will be held on 16 October. This is a day when all Australians can get out on the water for a fish and celebrate our love of fishing. It doesn’t matter if you have never fished before, Gone Fishing Day is for everyone. So why not sign up for the biggest fishing event on the Australian fishing calendar. Jump on line and check it out and register at gonefishingday.org/
So on behalf of Jack Mangrove, best of luck on your fishing adventures.
