By JACK MANGROVE
MUMS, dads and the kids have been having a great time fishing the Noosa River!
The Gympie Terrace Stretch of the Noosa River has again showed why it is one of the premier spots on the Sunshine Coast for a day out with the family. With the sensational weather we had last weekend, families were out in force. The kids where entertained, catching whiting bream and flathead along the banks of the river. Down towards the dog beach, there have been good numbers of whiting with some real elbow slappers among them.
Prawns, yabbies and blood worms have been the favoured baits, soft plastics and poppers have also done the job on the whiting. Down towards the river mouth, tailor, trevally and large flathead have all been taken. Live baits, pilchards and mullet strips have been the bait of choice. Flathead head offshore to spawn at this time the year, so most river mouths on the sunny coast are holding bigger breeding females. Just remember anything over 75cm must be returned. Further up the river, the Tewantin Ski Run area has produced flathead, trevally and quality bream, soft plastics have been the key here with the brighter reds and pink colours doing most of the damage. Down towards Woods Bays and the Sound, trevally have also been hammering small baitfish as they make their way into the river. First light is by far the best time to target these fish.
Offshore things have been equally sensational, yes the wind has been up all little but not enough to stop anglers from heading out. The charter boats have been heading up to Double Island and bagging out on some sensational fish with teraglin jew, pearl perch, snapper sweet lip and red emperor all hitting the decks. Up on North Reef, it has been a similar story. Laguna Bay has seen really nice tuna schools smashing bait schools, slugs like the Ultra Flash from River2sea see a perfect for chasing tuna, they come in a large range of sizes and colours and make it easy to match the bait. Billfish have started to make an appearance around Chardon’s Reef with large baits like bonito and gare perfect for these magnificent fish. Sunshine reef has also contributed with some quality trout and sweet lip.
On the beaches, things have been equally good with some large tailor, flathead, whiting and dart all being accounted for. Whiting are tending to hold in the close gutters on the incoming tide, peeled prawns, worms and yabby have been the perfect baits for whiting, smaller-sized hooks like the mustard worm hooks are perfect for the job.
So On behalf of Jack Mangrove, best of luck on your fishing adventures!
