By Jack Mangrove
The Noosa River has again been the saviour of a lot of anglers as the winds still seem to be at that annoying 10 to 15 knot mark. This is just enough to keep a lot smaller craft from venturing out and sticking to the river. The Noosa River mouth has been fishing well for large flathead on the run out tide, live baits like herring and poddy mullet have claimed some monster females. Flathead have also been firing in 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 and hardy heads has been successful. Using live baits and large strip baits fished late into the night around heavy structures has been producing some outstanding 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. Bream have been in good numbers right throughout the system. Some popular spots including the Gympie Terrace stretch, dog beach, Tewantin boat ramp and river mouth. Fresh mullet strips and salted bonito seems to be working best. The Trevally in Woods Bay have been in good numbers, fish were feeding on the surface and where happy to take darker coloured poppers and surface walkers. We are still see seeing good quality muddies caught in pots set in deep water near the mangroves and left in for at least one full tide. Fresh bait is a must!
Beach angler have been getting some great fish over the past week after the big swells, there are good gutter all up the beaches, try to concentrate your efforts around the top of the tide. Dart, whiting and bream as well as tailor and smaller jew have all come from the gutters along Noosa’s North Shore. Smaller baits like worms and prawns have been good through the day with plenty of dart and whiting on offer. For those doing a night fish the smaller jew and tailor have been coming from the top of the tide at night or the low light periods. Fresh mullet strips, pilchards and local squid have all been prime baits.
Consistent winds are proving difficult for anglers in smaller craft to head to venture offshore, larger craft are heading out and concentrating their efforts around the closer reefs. Sunshine has produced some lovely coral trout as well as sweetlip and large cod. Large Spanish mackerel have been cruising around the main reef system at Sunshine. Trolling hardbodies or fishing slow trolled live yakkas or slimies on a stinger rig is proving popular options. Larger craft did the run up to North reef with cobia, maori cod, pearl perch, venus tusk fish, spanish and spotty mackerel all on the menu.
In the fresh water, the Yabba and Kingham arms of the Borumba Dam have been seeing some exciting saratoga action. An early morning fish with surface walkers, and small shallow divers in bright colours has claimed some nice fish. Blades have been working well on the bass in the deeper parts of the dams, while the surface bite has come from around the edges early morning and late afternoon.
So on behalf of Jack Mangrove, best of luck on your fishing adventures!
