By Jack Mangrove
With the weather looking sensational last weekend, offshore anglers were heading out in great numbers.
It was all about the mackerel – and there have been some monsters cruising the local reefs.
Fishing diving lures around the edges of the reefs has got the job done but the best of the best has been the Spanish special rig, these rigs were developed here in Noosa and are a mix of skirts and flashes that the mackerel can see from miles away, loaded with a large pilchard or slimy mackerel they work sensationally well.
The trick is to troll them really slow about one knot or if there is a strong current you can let the current do the work.
For the small craft the closer reefs have been producing well with Sunshine, Coffees, and Jew Shoal all reporting good captures.
The outer and northern reefs are also firing with Chardons and North Reef also reporting good capture rates.
Tuna are also in good numbers with fish just outside the mouth, the usual suspect are there with mack and longtail smashing smaller slugs.
The bottom dwellers have also been in great numbers with the most sort after species the coral trout still being taken around Sunshine Reef, snapper are also starting to show up in better numbers as well as better sizes, the Hards and the Barwon banks have been where most of the better fish have come from but we are still seeing fish to 3kg around the closer reefs.
Cobia are also back on the chew with plenty of fish taking a slow floater pilchard or slimy, sweetlip are on all the reefs with plenty of fish to fill up the esky.
Spanner crabs have been in good numbers with plenty of traps coming up loaded after only about an hour of soaking, most of the tasty creatures live around the 40m mark so reefs like North and Coolum reefs are perfect. Loading those bait pouches with pilchards or mullet should see a result.
Flathead have been in great number in the Noosa System. The channel in Lake Cooroibah as well as the deeper section at the mouth of the lake have seen some quality fish landed.
Drifting whole fish baits like frogmouth pilchards, hardy heads and whitebait has been very successful. Prawn profile soft plastics have also been very effective.
The Noosa River mouth has also been fishing well for large flathead on the run out tide, live herring have claimed some monster females. For those that love to use live baits, live poddy mullet or herring fished late into the night around heavy structures has been producing the odd mangrove jacks.
Fishing the run out tide after a warmer than usual days seems to be the pick of the times to chase these fish. There have been some good whiting taken from around the Dog Beach and Munna point areas. Live worms and freshly pumped yabbies have claimed some real elbow slappers.
Bream have been in good numbers and as the cooler month’s approach we will see the bigger winter fish start to arrive. Fishing super light with quality fluorocarbon leader is an absolute must if you want to tangle with the bigger fish.
Smaller plastics rigged on 1/12 or 1/16 hidden weight jig heads have seen some outstanding fish taken in the past. Some popular spots including Woods Bays, Munna Bridge, Tewantin Boat ramp and the river mouth Rocks.
For the bait anglers, fresh mullet strips or bonito seems to be working well. The trevally in Woods Bays have been prolific, big numbers of fish have been feeding on the surface and are happy to take poppers and surface walkers.
On the beach the new moon last weekend saw some nice jew taken, fresh mullet, squid, pilchards and worms were perfect baits. We are still seeing a good feed of whiting coming from those close gutters with pippies and worms luring plenty of fish.
Winter bream and dart are also in good numbers with the high tide the prime time.
So on behalf of Jack Mangrove, best of luck on your fishing adventures!
