The weather wasn’t quite perfect over last weekend with the wind sitting at an average of around 10-15 knots, however those who took to the water were rewarded. For the beach fisherman looking to target jew, the new moon was last Sunday and with this we saw some good tides. Jew fish are an ambush predator and like to feed on the cover of darkness, this is why it’s good to fish the new moon. One of the most important things to keep in mind when targeting jew is to never shine a head torch into a gutter as this will turn them off. Fishing the high tide and good gutter selection will more greatly increase your chances. Tailor have been on the bite over the past week with the gutters along the Northshore and Inskip producing good size fish. You will have to up-size your lead in the evening to cope with the swell. Tailor, larger bream, dart and larger flatties are all on offer with the good old pilchard the go to bait.
In the rivers and creeks, flathead and trevally have been active with soft plastics like the Berkley Powerbait 4” Nemesis catching some good size fish. Land based, the area from the Barge down to the new sink hole has been fishing well for bream, flathead and a few nice tailor. With the water being extremely clear it pays to drop your leader size down as light as possible. If you have a boat early morning fishing around the drop offs in Snapper Creek can pay off with small Gt’s and big eye trevally hanging around the deeper water. Up in Kauri Creek, soapy jewfish, estuary cod, and even the odd jack are getting caught around the rock bars with both soft plastics and live baits working well, soft vibes like the Zerek Fish Trap are also worth a try. Up around River heads in the Mary there have been some quality jewfish taken on live baits, fishing the drains has also been worthwhile with the odd threadfin reported. Tin Can Bay has been alive with squid over the last week or two as the waters have cooled, lighter weighted jigs in pink and orange cast over the weed beds have been very effective.
With the wind up a little over the weekend, a lot of offshore anglers tended to stay on the closer reefs, the closer grounds off Rainbow were popular and some nice pan sized snapper taken. Sweetlip were also on offer as well as Maori cod, cobia and smaller jew. Anglers that ventured out to the reefs off Double Island were rewarded with snapper, pearl perch, red emperor, and some quality cobia. Soft plastics and slow fall jigs have again been popular with a lot of anglers tending towards the pink colours. Black Magic flipper jigs do a cracking job and come in a rage of weights. In plastics the Coco Ice has been the favourite it also come in a couple of sizes and shapes. On the surface the pelagic like tuna and mackerel continue to harass bait schools, small slugs, slow trolled baits, and a spread of lures all seem to be effective at the moment. To the south, North and Sunshine have been popular for anglers out of Noosa. North is one of those great snapper reefs with plenty of rubbly ground that snapper love to hunt in. this is also one of the most popular areas to anchor and run out a burley trail and use a slow sinking bait fished down the trail.
In the Mary things have slowed a far bit with the cooling of the waters, the better action seems to be coming from upriver around Kenilworth, bass, sooties have been taken around the snags by anglers fishing from Kayaks, hard body vibes have been the popular lure.
Now for all the latest information log onto www.fishingnoosa.com.au for up-to-date bar and fishing reports, don’t forget to drop into Gympie’s Newest tackle store “The Tackle Shop”, Tackle World Noosa, and Northshore Bait & Tackle in Marcoola for all the right equipment, bait and advice to get you catching. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and remember: Tight Lines and Bent Spines!