Noosa River has been firing in the colder weather! There’s plenty of quality bream being landed off the rocks at the river mouth, around the dog beach and along Gympie Terrace.

Anglers are using fresh strips of mullet, whole small herring, prawns or pilchard pieces. There have been wonderful whiting off the dog beach and around the Frying Pan, caught on live worms and freshly pumped yabbies. Speaking of the Frying Pan, this is a great place to target elbow-slapper whiting on small surface lures. The Bassday Sugapen, Fish Candy Skinny Dog and Strada Virals walked across the surface have been coming up with the goods.

This time of year at the Frying Pan, you’ll often find good tailor following the large schools of bait brought in on the tide. Medium size poppers and those walk the dog lures are good options. They provide plenty of entertainment as you see these fish crunching. Woods Bay and the Noosa Sound have loaded with mixed schools of trevally species, including: golden, diamond, cale cale, tea-leaf, bigeye and giant trevally feeding hard in early mornings and late afternoons.

Micro jigs continue to be stand-out lures for chasing trevally through the river. They allow you to cover a lot of ground and fish the entire water column. Blue Blues from Sea Ride are awesome jigs, as they come in great range of colours as well as three weights: 3, 6, and 9gm. Rigging them with an assist hook on top and treble on the bottom will also see a better hook-up rate. With large amounts of prawns and baitfish in the river, soft plastics are another consistent producer. A great mix of predators fall for these imitations. Some of the best have been the Keitech Easy Shiners and the Samaki Boom Baits. Always take the time to get your plastics nice and straight, and use scent for the best results!

Mulloway can be caught heading toward the ski runs, and fish up to 80cm have been taken on vibes like the Samaki Thumper Tails and Fish Candy Curly vibes. Both of these lures are designed to vibrate and send messages to the fish. Large flathead are in the same area, falling victim to well rigged soft plastics, vibes, and trolled diving hardbody lures.

In the Maroochy River, the cooler water temperatures have definitely brought on some great species. Bream are prolific in the river system with some solid fish getting caught over the 40cm mark. The river mouth has been the pick of the spots for big bream and fresh mullet strips or small pillies being are go-to baits.

Chopper tailor and trevally have been making their way through the mouth on the run-in tide. Small slugs worked fast through the water column have claimed their fair share. Mulloway have been active in the river with the nights producing quality fish from the Cod Hole on livebaits. Heading offshore is great this time of the year with the light wind and less swell. It’s possible for small craft to make their way across the bars and head to the closer reefs. Off Sunshine Reef, we’ve seen winning snapper show up in good numbers, with sweetlip, pearlies, maori cod and the odd coral trout also hitting the decks. Jew Shoal is a great option for smaller craft with squire, sweetlip and cod on offer.

Up on North Reef, snapper, pearl perch, mulloway, cobia and cod have all been caught over the last month. The reefs off Double Island and the Barwon Banks have been a hotspot for larger craft when the forecast looks favourable. Big snapper, larger pearl perch and monster cobia have been feeding on live baits, fresh strip baits, squid and pilchards fished close to the bottom.

Further south, Arkwright Shoals has been fishing well on early mornings for sweetlip, red-throat, snapper, and the odd cobia. Larger micro jigs and soft plastics have accounted for outstanding reefies in recent months, with anglers reporting amazing success. As with bait, it’s vital that you get your gear to the bottom. Make sure you have the correct weighted jighead or micro-jig to do so.

It doesn’t seem to matter where you put your line in along the beaches, you will be sure to catch a fish. Dart, flathead, bream, whiting and tailor have been caught out of the gutters along the southern beaches, from Maroochy River to Noosa. Small pillies, worms, prawn and mullet have all had success. Decently sized mulloway have also been taken over the past month with fresh tailor or mullet fillets as prime baits.

Up on Noosa’s North Shore, good number of tailor continue to be taken with good size schools reported north of Teewah. Don’t forget to switch from bait to slugs if you get onto a school. When these fish start a feeding frenzy, you can be pulling them in one after the other. Remember your size and big limits on tailor are a minimum size of 35cm, and a bag limit of 20.

1

Anthony was escaping the cool Melbourne weather, fishing the Noosa River for this 65cm brassy trevally.

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Young Kai Badger from Tewantin got this lovely mulloway from the reefs off Double Island.

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Pitzy Falk did battle and won with this cobia at the Coffees.