Flathead just keep on coming!

NOOSA

Peter Wells

In Sunshine Coast rivers the flathead season just keeps rolling on. Live baits are still the go-to method with herring being the most popular bait. Dead baits are also working well with the standout whitebait fished on small-ganged hooks.

Soft plastics have also been claiming their fair share of flatties. Fishing the run-out tide seems to seen fish responding well to fresh mullet strips, mullet gut and frogmouth pillies. For lure anglers, the new Zoea 49S from Zipbaits and the Ecogear SX40 are also perfect for chasing those fussy bream. Work the shadow lines around jetties and pontoon and keep your lures and baits lightly weighted. Just remember a large bream over 35cm is an older fish and a breeder, which is vital to stock levels in our river systems. So, if you get a big one, a quick photo you can cast lighter lures and cover more ground. This is a very exciting way to fish as you see the follow and the strike all in about a foot of water. Fishing small poppers and surface walkers is the go with the incoming tide always the best for this technique.

Trevally numbers and sizes are on the increase with golden, cale cale, big eye and giant trevally all accounted for. These fish will get more prolific and larger as we move into the winter months. A few hard paddle tail soft plastics have been working well. on offer. The slow fall jigs always work well here with either the 40-60g seeming to be the size. be the most successful cast upstream and working the plastic back with the tide. ZMan MinnowZ in 3”, Keitech Easy Shiners in 3-4” and the new Power Baits range have all recorded good catches. Don’t forget the scent when casting plastics to improve your chances.

Even though the water has cooled a little we are still seeing a great run of Spanish mackerel in the 10kg and above range. Having a large pilchard or slimy floater out on a 5/0 gang hook in a solid berley trail may see you pick one of them up if you are at anchor. If you are trolling using Halco Laser Pros, Rapala X-Rap and Nomad DTX Minnows in a couple of colours and dive depths will cover more water and may entice a strike. On the slow troll, big baits of bonito and large gar rigger on chin guards have worked well. Don’t forget the new rules in Queensland from the 1 July with only one fish per angler and a maximum of 2 fish per boat no matter how many anglers are on board.

Sunshine Reef has really been firing with some solid coral trout taken on pillies and live baits fished hard on the bottom, quality snapper, sweetlip and Maori cod have also been coming over the side.

Some excellent catches of bream are being reported as we start to move into their spawning season. Fishing those crisp mornings has and return them to produce many more fish.

Whiting is in great numbers with plenty landed on poppers up around the river mouths of both Maroochy and Noosa.

Worms, yabbies and peeled prawn are all ideal baits, The running sinker rig seems to work the best with a size 4 bloodworm hook.

For the anglers trying to get them on surface, in windy conditions try and get the wind at your back this way

fighting queenfish were also taken down around the river mouths. Live baits have worked well for the bait anglers while small micro jigs like the Jigpara jigs in the 10g size have claimed some bigger fish while working them at speed.

In the deeper sections of the rivers the odd mulloway has been taken, most are just soapies but are great fun on light gear.

Paddle vibes or larger

Long tail tuna are still in great numbers with the some good sized fish amongst them. Plenty of bust up can be seen from beach as well as plenty of bird activity, as usual for this time of the year the schools are moving fast. Make sure you cast to the edges of the schools and let your lure sink for a five count before reeling. A lot of the time the lure will be taken on the drop. Slugs, micro jigs, and soft plastics have all been successful.

Out at Caloundra wide we have seen some nice snapper, grass sweetlip, pearl perch and cobia all

The beaches Yaroomba up to Sunshine have been fishing well with odd tailor in the close gutters. These fish will increase in numbers as the weather cools. The producing tide has been a run in, with first thing the morning the better fish. With the early start to the season these fish are a little smaller so make sure to keep your pilchards small and on a rig of either 3 x 2/0 or 3 x 3/0 hooks.

There are good catches of whiting around Marcus Beach, most fish are taken on worms and peeled prawns on the start of the run-out tide. Dart are still chewing hard with the larger fish smashing pipis and flesh baits.

Some nice jewies have shown up later in the evening with the best time around the new moon. Live bait of mullet, tailor and legal whiting have been the undoing of these great sport fish. It is said that the best mulloway angler is the one that leaves his rod in the rod holder, this is because mulloway are known to mouth the baits and an enthusiastic angler will quite often pull the hooks free, best advice is to wait until the fish runs and then set the hooks.

• Don’t forget to check in to www.fishingnoosa.com. au for all the latest up to date info on fishing and bar crossings. The knowledgeable teams at Tackle World Noosa, Northshore Bait & Tackle at Marcoola our new store The Tackle Shop in Gympie can provide you with the right equipment, bait and advice to ensure success!