OFFSHORE: It was a pretty good week on the local reefs with the first half dominated by light to moderate variable winds and a nominal 1m swell. Strong (20 to 25 knot) north westerlies on Saturday kept even the die-hards at home for the day but after that it was business as usual for the blue water brigade. Today was a bit gusty, but early morning was fishable.
With some days almost glassed out there were plenty of takers for excursions to the outer reefs, and while the fishing was at times patchy, there was a feed to be had for those prepared to fish through at least one tide change. Squire, moses perch and parrot fish were common to all locations. In addition, Chardon's Wide produced amberjack, pearl perch, and, as per the photo above, quality snapper. Walter Zurawlenko was out there on Thursday on a full day Cougar One charter when he boated the 7kg 'Knobby' he's pictured with. Just one of a number of quality snapper taken on the day.
Closer in, North Reef was the standout along the middle reef belt, yielding teraglin jewfish, Maori cod, tea leaf trevally and, as you can see by the photos above and below, cobia and silver jewfish or mulloway. Jason Lesley from Palmwoods (above) fished there on Friday on a half day Cougar One charter and was happy to pose with his standout 10kg cobia.
And on the same charter, David Jurgs from Toowoomba (above) hooked and landed a 5kg mulloway on a 7" soft plastic.
Apart from that, Sunshine Reef was disappointing with only the odd squire and snapper caught after a lot of hard work.

ONSHORE: The coastal surf beaches were quiet this week. The North Shore was as flat as a tack so good gutters were hard to find. Those who made the ferry journey reported the fishing being hard with just a few dart to whet the appetite.
Over on the east side, Castaways Beach produced dart, average size whiting and some quality bream (top weight 1.2kg) while at Marcus Beach the standout species were tarwhine (with one thumper at 1.65kg) and the odd school jewfish.
In the river, flathead continued to be the bread and butter species with best results coming from Lake Cooroibah, the entrance to Lake Doonella, and the stretch from there to the river mouth. Soft plastics, drifted whitebait, prawns plus whole and half pilchards all worked well.
Bream and whiting were active (though not in big numbers) from Tewantin to the river mouth where chopper tailor were also on the bite after dark.
Tailor were also on the prowl at times in the Woods Bays, as was the odd flathead.
Young Molly Treanor (below) was fishing with her father in 'The Bays' around lunchtime on Thursday when her pilchard bait was taken by the 57cm 'Lizard" she's posing with.
The only reports of any trevally activity were from Weyba Creek.
Local lad Riley Thomson (right) caught and released this 1kg (est) specimen there earlier in the week using a Rapala X-Rap as his draw card. On the freshwater scene, the Borumba Dam bass (to 42cm) were responding well to Blades and soft Jackalls around the second yellow buoy and Eagles Nest. At Lake MacDonald, most of the bass caught and released on the weekend were juveniles with Bass Bay and The Pumphouse areas working best.
The latest photo of the Noosa River Bar crossing (as at 20-08-09) has now been posted. To view it, CLICK HERE.

Hey! Fathers Day is coming up soon and to mark the occasion, Noosa Blue Water Charters are offering a great discount on all offshore charters booked between now and September 6th. For more details; just CLICK HERE.