The Noosa River is a great place to while away a couple of hours at this time of the year. Flathead are again high on the score board with some good catches being taken from the shallower areas of the river. Working those banks on the run-out tide is a prime location as the flatties will lay in wait for a passing morsel of food.

When you get onto a patch of flatties make sure you keep casting as the flathead are very social at this time of the year, and where there is one you will usually find a large female keeping company with a group of younger males. Soft plastics like the Boom Baits from Samaki or the Squidgy Prawns rigged with a heavy jighead will make sure that you are right in the strike zone for these delicious table fish.

Another great table fish is the whiting; and there has been no shortage of these in the river lately. The Frying Pan is one of the hot spots in this river, as well as the area between Edward St and James St along Gympie Terrace. Worms, pipis and yabbies are all great baits to tempt a hungry whiting, with the last couple of hours of the run-out tide the perfect time for a fish.

With the warmer days and nights rapidly approaching for another year, mangrove jack action will start hotting up. A lot of people look forward to targeting these aggressive red fish and try to beat their personal best from the previous year! Trolled hardbodied lures like the ever popular Lucky Craft Pointers and the River2sea Live Minnows are perfect for the job. Both these lures are suspending so as you pull them down and they will spend more time in the fish’s face. Keeping nice and close to rocky structure is also a sure-fire way to snag you a jack.

Paddle vibes are a favourite, with the latest from Samaki being the Thumper tail. These vibes have a wider tail that sends out a great vibration that works a treat.

Working those deeper holes upriver will also see a good number of school mulloway, these fish tend to hold in the deeper hole and pick off bait as it passes by. Down towards the river mouth, Woods Bays continues to astound anglers with the amount of quality fish that it produces, trevally of all kinds, tailor, queenies, tarpon and large bream are all residents of this area. Some of the best fun is to work surface lures early morning and late afternoon around the boats that are anchored up in the area. These predators love to shoot out from under the boats and smash a surface lure as it passes close by.

On the offshore scene, North Reef has been fishing well for Moses perch, pearl perch, juvenile snapper, grassy sweetlip, coral cod, sea bream and gold spot cod. North Reef has also seen some great schools of tuna, floater baits have been the most popular way of targeting these speedster’s of the sea.

Sunshine Reef has to be one of the best coral trout fisheries on the coast; fish your lure or soft plastic or bait hard to the bottom here and you will be rewarded. Also at Sunshine the sweetlip are on the chew, as well as parrot and snapper.

Chardons Reef has also come up with the goods, with larger snapper, pearl perch, sweetlip, cobia, and mulloway.

September is that great time of the year where we get some fantastic weather perfect for a run up to the reefs off Double Island or out to the Barwon Banks. Large snapper, Venus tusk fish, pearl perch, Moses perch, mulloway, cobia and lots of amberjack should all be hitting the decks. The pelagics run this season just hasn’t ended so we have been seeing mackerel all year, this will only improve as the waters warm. Good Spanish and spotted mackerel continue to be caught around most of the closer reef with Coffees one of the best.

Trolling lures is a great way to cover a lot of ground, and working the edges of the reefs is where you want to be. The Samaki Pacemakers hit the shelves a year or two ago and have been outstanding, they have just released some great new colours that look great in the water.

On the Noosa North Shore there has been an endless stream of 4WDs heading north. Whiting, bream, tailor and some quality mulloway have all come from the gutter on North Shore. It is best to head up on the low tide checking out the water and looking for those deeper gutters and fishing the incoming tide. Make sure you top up on pilchards, salted bonito fillet worms and prawns before you head up, you can also collect pipis and worms from beaches. Having a good selection of slugs is a great idea as you can switch once you get onto a school. Good tailor have been at the northern end between Teewah and Double Island.

On the rocks and headlands, tailor are still on the chew. Some of the school are a little small but fish quality is good with tailor to 50cm not uncommon. Bream and juvenile snapper are also inhabiting the same areas. Fresh mullet, pilchards, and squid have all claimed their fair share of fish.

• Now for all the latest information log onto www.fishingnoosa.com.au for up to date bar and fishing reports, don’t forget to drop into Davo’s Tackle World in Noosa or Davo’s Northshore Bait & Tackle at Marcoola to find out where the fish are biting.