In recent times, weather permitting, we have seen a very good and late run of Spanish mackerel and coral trout.

Sunshine Reef seems to be the place for trout, while the Spaniards have been all over the place and taken on the troll and on floated baits of pilchard, gar or tailor slabs.

Scattered schools of northern bluefin tuna are still about, particularly quite close to the beaches in the Halls Reef region. They can of course turn up anywhere at any time so be prepared and have a rigged spin stick with a slug or plastic at the business end.

Bottom bashers have had mixed results with a great catch one day and slow to middling the next. Regular moves are sometimes needed to collect a good feed. When moving in areas such as Sunshine Reef it can pay to do it slowly and keep an eye on the sounder. Any good show of structure can deliver the goods, with snapper and pearl perch high on catch lists at present.

In the river, there are plenty of bream on offer, right throughout the system. A bit of crushed pilchard will bring them from far and wide and pilchard chunks on a size 2 hook will keep you busy for hours. The Frying Pan is a very good place to tangle with quality bream. Flathead are also regularly caught in this area, as are tailor, trevally and whiting.

Around the corner in the Woods Bay area trevally have been going off with plenty of fish well over 60cm. On light gear these fish are great fun. We often see GT, diamonds, tealeaf and golden trevally in this neck of the woods. Gladiator Prawns, pre-rigged, available at Davos Bait and Tackle, are the gun lure in this area. It has become abundantly clear in the past year or so.

The Noosa River to Reef Family Fishing Classic has arrived! This time around the Riverfest-associated fishing competition was greatly expanded to include beach anglers and those that like to head offshore.

With the introduction of a seniors section and the expansion of the competition to include beach and offshore, participant numbers were very high. It is predicted that the competition will grow annually and become a major drawcard to the region. In fact there were visiting anglers and, despite the incessant scuds passing through and uncomfortable conditions offshore, the event was hailed as a major success.

Sponsors galore flooded the competition stage with an enormous amount of prizes, many of which were given away by random draws on the Friday night, Saturday night and at the culmination of activities on Sunday afternoon. Many hundreds of fish were delivered to the weigh station, manned by Fishcare Volunteers, and initiative of DAFF – formerly DEEDI and DPI.

Early in the piece Taylor Kupr delivered a dusky flathead to the weigh station that measured a most respectable 745mm that was going to be very hard to beat. No one was up for the challenge and Taylor collected an impressive array of prizes for his effort. Other noteworthy efforts were Shane Christall’s mangrove jack coming in at 535mm and taking out first place. Travis Meyer battled sloppy seas, strong winds and heavy rain to collect the majority of prizes on offer for the offshore anglers. Travis’s snapper of 790mm was one of the standout fish of the weekend and his efforts were duly rewarded.

Next year the event will be bigger and better in the same location. There will be a few changes made to the organisation of the event, and as the years roll on it will become a well-oiled machine.