The April Fishing Report, Week One 2005, Noosa, Queensland, Australia, brought to you by River2Sea Quality Fishing Tackle.

OFFSHORE: The offshore reefs were pretty much a no go for the first half of the week with blustery 20 to 25 knot South Easterlies, 2m seas and a 2m swell dominating the seascape until Saturday. The weekend warriors, of course, more than made up for lost time and with the swell dropping out almost overnight, weren't afraid to go the distance to get a feed.
Sweetlip, Snapper, Coral Trout

Hussar and Rosy Jobfish were common to the out-wide reefs. In addition, 'The Hards' produced Southern Fusilier, Gold Spot Wrasse, Parrot Fish and Spotted Mackerel while across on the Barwon Banks the extras were Pearl Perch, Moses Perch, Gold Band Snapper and Cobia or Black Kingfish. Most boaties stayed close to home, however, and those who chose to work Sunshine Reef came back with a range of species including Parrot Fish, Pearl Perch, Yellowfin Tuna, Mackerel Tuna, Northern Bluefin Tuna, Spanish Mackerel, Spotted Mackerel, Shiny Mackerel and, as you can see by the photos above, Sweetlip, Snapper and Coral Trout. Craig Eberhardht (above left) boated his 3kg Sweetlip and 3kg Snapper just before the blow last Monday afternoon while out there on a half day Cougar Too charter. And Michael Price (above right) got a pleasant surprise yesterday morning when his live Herring bait on a 5/0 hook was monstered by the 3.5kg Coral Trout he's posing with. Laguna Bay came alive from Sunday lunchtime onwards with Tuna, Bonito and Spotted Mackerel activity on Hall's Reef, in Granite Bay and on Jew Shoal, where Spanish Mackerel were an added bonus.

ONSHORE: Despite the rather blustery conditions earlier in the week the coastal surf beaches were quite well patronised. On the North Shore most of the action was from the first cutting to the river mouth with Tailor being the main target species, as they were at the rock groynes on Main Beach. On the East side; Sunshine and Peregian beaches produced mostly Dart, Sunrise Beach was the spot for quality Whiting, as was Marcus Beach (but with the added bonus of Dart and 2kg+ Tailor) while at Castaways Beach the standouts were Bream, Whiting, Chopper Tailor and, as you can see by the photo on the right, Jewfish. Wayne Voss from Pomona was fishing for Tailor around 4am on Friday morning when his whole Pilchard on 3x6/0 ganged hooks attracted the attention of the 14.3kg Mulloway he's pictured with. Wayne was armed with an Alvey surf combo loaded with 25lb line and 50lb trace. In the river, Tailor and Flathead were on the bite down around the river mouth while Whiting were in good numbers along the Gympie Terrace stretch, Munna Point and in the Woods Bays.
Whiting

And it was in the Woods Bays that Chuck Huying and Tess Dillon (above left) landed the 500gm to 600gm Whiting they're posing with. Chuck and Tess tempted these elbow slappers with live Yabbies on No.4 longshank hooks. The Woods Bays were also a good option for Trevally, Tailor and Mangrove Jack. On the freshwater scene, the action at Lake MacDonald started to warm a little this week with some better quality Bass and the odd Saratoga responding to Jackals.

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