The warmer weather has really being firing up the fish, and now is the perfect time to get amongst it! The Noosa and Maroochy rivers have been fishing well lately, with plenty of summer species starting to come on the chew.

Whiting is one such fish starting to make an appearance at this time of the year, and they love nothing more than getting up into the warm shallows that the sand banks near the river mouths have to offer. The Black Banks in the Maroochy and the aptly named Frying Pan, which is located towards the Noosa River mouth, are excellent places to chase a few whiting.

While whiting seem like quite a shy fish, during certain parts of the tide (namely the last of the run-out) they become a lot more active, and when they're like this, throwing small surface lures at them has got to be one of the most exciting forms of fishing around!

Another species of fish that is making its presence known is the flathead. A lot of the bigger models are on the move at the moment, with the mouth of the river often holding the quality fish. Remember, spring is the flathead's breeding season, and the big girls are on the move, so if you plan to keep a few for the table, make sure your fish fall between the minimum and maximum legal size.

A very popular way to target flathead at the moment has been with soft plastics, and with so much variety in lures out there, there's never been a better time to get out there and give it a go! As a general rule, flathead will eat just about anything and everything that drifts past their nose, but it certainly pays to match your lure size to what is readily available. At the moment, there's plenty of small whiting cruising around the sand banks, and a Z-Man 3” MinnowZ is about as close to one of these little guys as you'll get! The other beauty about Z-Man soft plastics is their incredible toughness, so you can catch plenty of fish on the same lure!

The beaches have also been hype with activity, with the warmer weather bringing plenty of people out and onto the beach. On the Noosa north shore there is a lot more car traffic around at the moment, it pays to get down to your favourite spot nice and early, before the crowds descend on the beach.

Tailor have been on the bite lately, with plenty of chopper sized fish schooling up around the deeper gutters scattered around the coastline. One drawcard for the bigger tailor is where the rocks meet the sand, so places like Yaroomba and Sunshine Beach, are proving to be the pick of the destinations for the bigger greenbacks.

There’s also been plenty of whiting working their way through the gutters, and mixed in with the whiting has been bream, dart and the odd tarwhine. Once you find a nice looking gutter, a great way to increase your chances of finding these bread and butter species is to slowly feed a steady stream of berley into the water in front of you. Not only does this draw all the fish from the nearby gutters to where you are fishing, it also brings with it the chance of some bigger fish coming in on the back of the berley trail.

The local reefs are also firing at the moment, with plenty of snapper, sweetlip and other mixed reefies keeping the offshore brigade entertained. A couple of the popular reefs have been North Reef, which is located approximately 15km north east of the Noosa bar, and the Gneerings reefs, which are located from about 3km out from the Mooloolaba bar. Both these areas fish really well during the early and late afternoon sessions, with snapper being the main draw card.

There's been a current trend lately to chase snapper with Lucanus jigs and it's been amazing how effective it can be! One of the most popular styles has been the River 2 Sea Octo Snipers, which when allowed to fall to the bottom and then the rod put in the rod holder produces an enticing action, which reef fish can't seem to refuse!

Spring also marks the return of a lot of the pelagic fish commonly located around the Sunshine Coast, with Laguna Bay located just out from the Noosa Bar being a very popular spot to try for a few of these speedsters.

Tuna and mackerel are very prevalent at this time of the year, so it pays to keep an eye out for flocks of birds circling and feeding on the scraps the pelagic fish left over!

Overall, spring is one of the best times to fish the Sunshine Coast, and as the weather warms, things can only get better!

If you are after up-to-date fishing reports along with detailed bar reports, be sure to visit www.fishingnoosa.com.au and next time you're on the Sunshine coast, be sure to check out both Davo's Noosa and the newly opened Davo's North Shore. Tight lines and bent spines!