January is an exciting and productive time to chase pelagics. Spotted mackerel will be boiling the surface on the close in reefs of Laguna Bay and mack tuna will be everywhere along with yellowfin and a few longtails. Baitfish stocks in the bay are healthy and if the past months are anything to go by, we should be in for a bumper run of spotties. I’ve caught more spotties off the beach in the past five years than I have in most of my fishing years so I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for any sign of action within casting range of the beach between now and May.
December produced some chopper tailor and a few anglers have reported odd catches to 4.5kg. These southbound ‘skinny’ fish will remain in the gutters for another couple of months. I’ve caught the occasional chopper south of Teewah on fast retrieved spinners during the day over patches of coffee rock in the channel, but they haven’t been around in anticipated numbers.
Surf fishing has also been notably quiet. I swim regularly and have noticed a shortage of dart and whiting. There doesn’t seem to be a concrete explanation for this, as the presence of snot weed hasn’t previously affected their behaviour. Pipis have also been scarce, but should slowly start to increase in numbers.
Revised speed limits will soon be in place along with a greater police presence at Teewah Beach. The new speed limit will be 50km/h from the Noosa River mouth to the northern boundary of Teewah Village and 80km/h to as far as the start of the camping area. It will remain at 50km/h all the way to Inskip Point.
The introduction of a vehicle permit system will occur this year; the finer details are yet to be announced. The EPA have made recommendations to the Noosa Shire Council on costs and time lengths of permits, and have stated that the minimum permit will be a weekly at $30 per vehicle. An annual permit will cost around $100-150.
I think it is a shame that people who want to do a day trip to Teewah Beach will have to purchase a three day pass. I would have thought a two day pass for this area would be appropriate given the proximity to the mainland. Also, I can’t help but wonder why Teewah residents should receive an annual permit free of charge when we use the beach more than anybody else. The one advantage is that people using Teewah Beach as a highway through to Fraser Island will probably choose to go via Gympie or Cooloola Way. Traffic reduction, and specifically the high-speed traffic will be reduced as a result.
This will hopefully also help stop the ridiculous driving behaviour that we have to endure every Friday afternoon. The beach becomes a race track with usually young drivers also managing to find entertainment out of endless doughnuts that carve up the beach, making it rough to travel along for everybody else. I’ve lost count of the number of roll-overs that have occurred from this inconsiderate and dangerous behaviour.
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