OFFSHORE: The offshore scene was a bit of a dead loss this week with blustery (15 to 25 knot) variable easterlies deterring all but the absolute die-hards from venturing outside. Having said that, there were a few brief windows of opportunity which the more experienced (or desperate) locals took advantage of. Nobody, however, went further than Sunshine Reef where the odd Spanish mackerel was found to be responding to floated pilchards in pretty lumpy waters..

In the river, whiting were responding well to small surface poppers along the Noosaville stretch (in 3' to 5' of water), around Munna Point and, as per the photo above right, on live worms at the river mouth. Ben Robertson from Coolum used a live blood worm to attract the 350gm specimen he's pictured with while fishing the mouth yesterday morning. The Noosaville jetty stretch also worked well for trevally, bream and mangrove jacks with soft plastics getting best results. Last Monday night Roy Steverwald (above left) used a 3" Gulp Natural Prawn soft plastic to attract the 750gm 'Jack' he's posing with.

The 'Jacks' were certainly well spread this week with other hot spots being the stretch between the lakes (where school jewfish were also on the prowl), the Tewantin reach, the Munna Point stretch (along with trevally, tarpon, bream and flathead), around the Sheraton Bridge and, as you can see by the photo above, the Woods Bays. Gordan Volkanovski caught this 1.5kg specimen this morning using a Gold Bomber as his draw card.

Don't forget to enter the 'Guess the Weight' competition. You might win one of the 2 full day offshore charters!