OFFSHORE: The offshore scene was a great option this week with light to moderate (5 to 15 knot) variable easterlies bringing with them settled conditions ahead of late Sunday morning's strong south easterly blow.

Trips to the outer reefs were very much on the cards with squire, pearl perch, moses perch, hussar and parrot fish being the common species caught. In addition to that, the Barwon Banks produced teraglin jewfish and amberjack while The Hards was the spot for the odd caught and released marlin and, as per the photo above, quality snapper. Mick Goodchild was out there on a full day Cougar One charter on Thursday and was happy to pose with one of the 4kg fish caught on the day. Closer in, North Reef yielded most of the common species mentioned plus Maori cod, spangled emperor and collared sea bream. Back near home base, Sunshine Reef was on fire with coral trout, sweetlip, pearl perch and, as you can see by the photo below, plenty of Spanish mackerel on the bite. Nuch Howe was out there on Friday with her husband Peter when the Spaniards came on the bite big time and she's pictured here with their standout 8kg fish.
And local yak angler Ian Tagg (below) paddled his Swing Angler fishing kayak out to Sunshine Reef on Saturday and despite getting a number of hookups, came back empty handed. Not to be denied, he did it all again yesterday morning in pretty ordinary conditions and, armed with pilchards on a Davo's Spaniard Special troll rig, trolled up these 7.5kg and 10.7kg 'Spaniards'. He was using a Wilson Live Fibre rod, a Shimano Twin Power reel, 30lb braid and 60lb Jinkai trace.

The rubble grounds about 3 to 4 kilometres off the National Park headland were also worth a shot as another yak angler, Bill 'Billybob' Watson (below), discovered on Friday. Bill was out there trolling a River2Sea Gecko 120 lure behind his Swing Angler fishing kayak when the 8kg cobia he's pictured with slammed it hard. He was armed with a 7' Shogun Barrier 6kg-8kg graphite rod and a Shimano Baitrunner 3500 reel loaded with 14lb Fireline and 30lb Seaguar leader.
Last but not least, Laguna Bay fired up as the bait schools moved in, followed by the pelagics. Jew Shoal, the drum lines, Granite Bay and Tea Tree Bay played host to mackerel tuna and the odd bluefin tuna plus a few shiny and spotted mackerel while across the other side, Little and Big Hall's reefs had mostly sweetlip, moses perch and shiny mackerel.

ONSHORE: Conditions on the coastal surf beaches were as good as they get for this time of the year and those lucky anglers who were free to do so made the most of the situation. The North Shore was well worth the ferry crossing with quality whiting and bream active in the stretch from the camp grounds to the old Cherry Venture site.
Those two species, plus quality dart, were also active around Teewah while chopper tailor were on the bite just before the Shire boundary.
Over on the east side, dart were in good numbers (if not size) on most beaches.
In addition, the northern end of Sunshine Beach produced whiting while at Sunrise Beach the bonus species was bream.
In the estuary, flathead, bream (on whitebaits) and tailor (on lures and live baits) were the standouts down at the river mouth while around Munna Beach, whiting and bream were going for live worms and yabbies.
The Woods Bays were well worth a look with tarpon, school jewfish and mangrove jacks working in amongst the bait schools. Soft plastics got best results although whole pilchards were another option as Cooroy angler Stephen Hughes (above right) found on Saturday night when this 1.5kg 'Jack' slammed his pillie floater. Mangrove jacks were also active in Weyba Creek and in the stretch between the lakes where mullet fillet baits accounted for at least one 3kg specimen.
Apart from that, trevally were responding well to surface poppers around the Munna Point Bridge.
On the freshwater scene, Borumba Dam was the place to be with the resident bass chasing Blades and soft Jackalls around the timbers and saratoga snatching at spinnerblades and well cast flies in the shallow bays. Yellowbelly were also on the prowl with best results for that species coming from soft Jackalls cast around the points in the main basin.