The December Fishing Report, Week Three 2005, Noosa, Queensland, Australia, brought to you by Wilson SureCatch and Live Fibre.

OFFSHORE: The winds were harder to pick than a broken nose this week, one day hovering around a comfortable 5 to

15 knots and the next day blustering in the 25 to 30 knot range. Even so, there were only a couple of days that could be classified unfishable and when conditions permitted, blue water anglers found Squire, Parrot Fish, Pearl Perch and Moses Perch common to the visited reefs. In addition, for those with a yearn to travel, the Barwon Banks yielded Snapper and Hussar. A little closer in, North Reef was by far the most popular destination, producing Sweetlip, Marlin (caught and released) and Red Emperor while 'The Hill' yielded Teraglin Jewfish, Snapper and, as you can see by the photo on the right, quality Coral Trout. Cougar One deckie Ben Haynes boated this 6.1kg specimen while out there on a full day charter on Friday. He was armed with a Wilson Live Fibre Texalium rod and a Daiwa overhead reel loaded with 8kg line. His bait? Butterflied Fusilier. Sunshine Reef was quiet with Yellowfin Tuna being the standout species.

ONSHORE: There were no reports from the North Shore beach stretch this week, either due to the weed or lack of patronage. On the east side, however, Whiting were the main catch at Sunrise, Castaways and Peregian beaches and also at North Sunshine Beach where Bream were an added bonus. Marcus Beach was also worth considering for Dart, Bream and Tarwhine. In the river, the flush out from the recent rains seems to have fired things up a bit with Flathead and Whiting in good numbers down towards the river mouth (along with Bream and Trevally), the Woods Bays and Weyba Creek (together with Mangrove Jacks) and up at Lake Cooroibah where Tailor and Trevally were also on the bite. Apart from that, the Tewantin area produced Bream, Estuary Cod and Flathead, Munna Point had the odd school Jewfish (or Soapy) and the stretch between the lakes continued to play host to Mangrove Jacks, with lures cast near overhanging snags working well.

With the school holidays in full swing the young guns have been out in force on the river and in at Davo's in numbers to weigh in their catch and get their picture taken. Young Jackson Rouaen (above right) from Brisbane certainly hit the jackpot around the change of tide on Wednesday morning when his drifted live Herring baits accounted for five Flathead (to 1.7kg) down near the river mouth. He was armed with a Shakespeare Ugly Stik and an Okuma reel loaded with 12lb line. And Angus Kay (above left) from Torquay in Victoria is a regular visitor to Noosa and no stranger to our fishing reports page. This year it's with a very nice 1.5kg Mangrove Jack that he boated in the Woods Bays on Tuesday morning (also on the change of tide). Angus, who was armed with a Shakespeare Ugly Stik and a Shimano 3500 Baitrunner reel used live Biddies to attract this fish and two 750gm Flathead. On the freshwater scene, the Lake MacDonald Bass were in good numbers and of good quality and were responding well to Jackalls (and copies) around 'Three Ways'.