By Jack Mangrove
With the recent freshwater influx, whiting have been more prevalent towards the mouth of the river. Live worms and live yabbies have been the prime baits.
The sandbanks near the river mouth have also been the place to target flathead on the run out tide. Three to four inch plastics and shallow running hard bodies have been the lures of choice.
The hot and humid afternoons have fired up the jacks for the evening and night fishermen. With the recent rains a lot have pushed down river in the pursuit of small bait fish. Successful locations have been Woods Bays, the back of the Noosa Sound and river mouth rocks. Fresh mullet has been the bait of choice as the oily flesh lets off a lot of scent in the dirtier water.
Fishing Woods Bays in the early morning has been rewarding with quality trevally hitting surface lures. Mud crabs are making themselves known throughout the system after recent rains. Get the pots in around the deeper stretches of river that are close to mangroves. Weyba Creek has also been a successful crabbing haunt for quality bucks. Fresh bait like mullet seems to be the main drawcard.
On the beaches, the big swells we have had over the last couple of weeks has really created some great gutters and holes. Whiting, bream and dart have been the mainstays but with more gutters and more bait the jew and big tailor will be on the chew. Dedicated night fishermen should see some good results. Flathead have also been in good numbers with plenty of fish also feeding in the gutters.
Those lucky enough to get out in a window of fishable weather last weekend have been rewarded with good numbers of good eating snapper on the close reefs. The rain has stirred up the bait in the rivers so the closer reefs like Jew Sholes and Sunshine should be good for some good reef species. With the onset of the warmer currents coming from the north and some better weather conditions the pelagics are sure to be on fire once again.
Some of the larger craft made there way to the Hards and the Barwon Banks over the weekend, plenty of outstanding fish were boated with snapper, cod, cobia, sweetlip, hussar and pearl perch just to name a few.
In the fresh water, in Lake Macdonald the bass are holding deep with the great influx of fresh water, fishing blades and jigs is your best. Saratoga have been worth targeting in the upper stretches of both the Yabba and Kingham arms of Lake Borumba. Bass are best targeted closer to the main basin of the dam, and around the timber at the junction.
So on behalf of Jack Mangrove, best of luck on your fishing adventures!
