By Jack Mangrove
Offshore fishing at this time of the year is always weather dependent, but with a bit of luck we should see plenty of good days over the coming weeks.
Sunshine Reef has been firing with coral trout, sweetlip, and mori cod all on the list from the bottom, on the pelagics list you will see tuna, spotted mackerel, wahoo and of course big spanish mackerel.
This is the time of year when the big mackerel are around and trolling in this area can be very rewarding.
Deep diving lures trolled at a good pace along the edges of the reef will defiantly improve your chances. Little Halls is another great for spotty mackerel.
North Reef can really fire at this time of the year, lots of quality bottom fish and pelagics as well as big cobia, livies or a pilchard slowly floated to the bottom has been the most successful.
Another great option while fishing North Reef is soft plastics, this style of fishing has really taken off with a great deal of anglers stating that they are getting better results with plastics than with bait.
A trip up to Double Island Point or out to the Barwon Banks are as always at the hands of the weather, but if the forecast is favourable definitely worth the trip.
The big red emperor is the target fish up here but you can also expect big snapper and pearl perch.
The Noosa River has been fishing well with trevally and tailor action on the increase, with queenfish, tailor and a variety of trevally feeding on prawns and baitfish right throughout the system, with majority of the action being around the Woods Bays area.
Mangrove jack captures are definitely on the increase with the most successful fisherman getting out at night; these fish tend to feed more aggressively around the new moon period and when there is a bit of average weather around.
For those after a feed of flathead, the edges of the sand bars down towards the river mouth are always worth a go. Soft plastics have been a hit with the flathead and come in a great range of sizes, shapes and colours.
Also up river, thread fin salmon should be on the chew, and are happy to take live bait or a well-presented mullet fillet.
Whiting activity is also good with some elbow slappers getting caught around the shallow sand flats of the frying pan and the dog beach.
These tasty fish are great fun with small surface lures worked across the top of the water.
For those of you into crabbing, now is the perfect time to put in a few pots out. With the recent rains and cooler temperatures there are more about and they are full and super sweet. There are many myths about the best bait for catching crabs; from chicken carcass to tins of cat food, but the most consistent method has been good fresh mullet.
On the beach, the Noosa North Shore has again been the spot to be, or to be more precise, the stretch between Teewah and Double Island.
Jew fish have been on the mind of most anglers heading that way, fresh mullet, tailor fillets and large clumps of beach worms have all done the job.
Fishing at night with very little moon has been the most successful over the last few months.
On the southern beaches like Sunshine Marcus and Peregian, the closer gutters have been holding, chopper tailor, bream and the ever present dart have been plentiful and taking prawn and smaller baitfish like hardy heads and whitebait. No need for a big cast as most of the time they are just about swimming at your feet.
On behalf of Jack Mangrove, best of luck on your fishing adventures.
