The February Fishing Report, Week Three, 2010, Noosa, Queensland, Australia, brought to you by Inox quality products.

As at Monday February 15, 2010

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OFFSHORE: While the strong southerlies and associated 2m+ swell shut down the offshore scene earlier in the week, the fact that the mackerel were probably still out there in numbers was a huge draw card, even more so when the first boats got back to the boat ramp on Friday and reported Spaniards all over Sunshine Reef and in full feed mode.

Ken Baxter from Woombye (above) and two mates booked Cougar One for a day of trolling for pelagics in Friday's calmer conditions and hooked up with over a dozen Spanish mackerel on Sunshine Reef, boating six of them. The 7kg specimen that Ken's pictured with, a good example of the average size, was taken on a trolled, mid level, hard body lure.

And on Saturday, local yak angler Ian Tagg (above) paddled out to Sunshine Reef on his kayak and, trolling a Spaniard special rig loaded with a small bonito bait, boated this 8kg Spaniard and one other 7kg fish. He was armed with a Shimano Baitrunner 4500 spin combo loaded with 20lb braid and 60lb Jinkai leader. Ian also lost a larger fish when, during a hot, fast run it snapped the swivel linking his ganged hooks... but that, as they say, is another fishy story.

A little further out, North Reef was certainly worth the effort, producing snapper, Spanish mackerel, venus tusk fish and, as you can see by the photo above, the odd coral trout. Matt Gillen From Gympie tempted this 3kg specimen with a squid bait while out there on a 3/4 day Cougar One charter on Saturday. Last but not least, Chardon's Reef was the spot for large and small black marlin in excellent numbers (caught and released), as was Double Island Point but with the added bonus there of squire, moses perch, yellowtail kingfish, teraglin jewfish and venus tusk fish.

ONSHORE: With the swell dropping out over the weekend the coastal beaches were again worth considering. The best reports, though, were from the North Shore where whiting (along with dart and bream) were well spread. The better whiting (to 40cm) came from the surf gutters just south of Teewah while a few chopper tailor were on the bite a bit further north.
Mangrove Jack
In the estuary, there was quite a bit of pelagic activity down towards the river mouth with soft plastics and hard body lures working particularly well on the trevally, live fish baits attracting the odd quality tailor and whole pilchards accounting for a few flathead.
Chris Tobin (right) used a pilchard bait there to attract the 2.3kg (68cm) 'Lizard' he's posing with.
Live baits worked well on the mangrove jacks this week with the hot spots for that species being the river mouth side of the Woods Point, the Woods Bays and, as per the photo above) the back of Noosa Sound near the Munna Point Bridge.
Richard Van Wyk hit the 'Jackpot' there on Wednesday night when his live winter whiting bait was monstered by the 3.1kg specimen he's pictured with.
The Woods Bays were also good for trevally, juvenile cobia (to 65cm) and school jewfish as Chris Lacey from Davo's Compleat Angler (below) found on Friday night. Chris caught and released this 60cm 'soapy' while casting and retrieving a Savoy Shad crank bait. There were also plenty of bream along the Gympie Terrace jetties and lots of big, full, buck mud crabs along the stretch from the Tewantin ferry crossing to the mouth of Lake Cooroibah.
Jewfish On the freshwater scene, the recent rains have topped out the local dams and consequently the fishing has been slow.

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