The January Fishing Report, Week Three 2009, Noosa, Queensland, Australia, brought to you by Daiwa.

As at Monday January 26, 2009

Brought to you by...

OFFSHORE: Conditions were by no means perfect on the local reefs this week but they were certainly fishable on most days if you didn't mind a little bit of wind and chop. Typically there were light variable northerlies early (up till about 8am) building to 15 to 20 knot north easterlies as the day progressed. The outer reefs were still a viable option as Kade Wilson (right) found on Saturday morning. Kade was at 'The Hards' on a full day Cougar One charter and tempted this 5.5kg snapper with a squid/pilchard combo. On the same charter, Luke Doyle (below left) was happy to pose with his 3kg parrot fish. Closer in, Chardon's Reef was the spot if you were looking to catch and release a black marlin while at North Reef the standouts were cobia, squire, moses perch, sweetlip, Spanish and shiny mackerel, Maori cod and snapper. Adam Brown from Toowoomba (below right) boated his 5kg 'Knobby while out there yesterday on a 3/4 day Cougar One charter.

Not far from home, Sunshine Reef ran hot and cold but on the good days yielded the odd Spanish mackerel, cobia and quality snapper on soft plastics. Last but not least, Laguna Bay showed a bit more life with Spanish mackerel (deep divers) and sweetlip (soft plastics) on the bite at Jew Shoal and Spanish, spotted and school mackerel going for trolled baits, hard bodied lures and cast metal slugs around Big Hall's and Little Hall's Reefs and in towards the surf line. Justin Meares from Deception Bay (above) was out on Little Hall's Reef with a mate yesterday morning when the spotties and schoolies fired up. Besides boating half a dozen fish around the 3kg mark, Justin also trolled up the 9kg Spaniard he's pictured with using a whole tailor as his draw card. They also caught and released a number of juveniles. ONSHORE: Conditions were quite pleasant on the coastal surf beaches this week, especially in the mornings before the stronger northerlies kicked in. On the North Shore, quality whiting and dart were in good numbers with the surf gutters up around the camp grounds producing particularly well. Over on the east side, Sunrise Beach was the spot for some good tarwhine and dart, as was Marcus Beach but with the added bonus there of whiting. In the river, whiting were responding well to small (35mm and 45mm) poppers along the Noosaville stretch (together with bream) and down at the river mouth while trevally and tailor were going for bigger surface poppers in the Frying Pan, around the Munna Point Bridge and on flies at the Sheraton Bridge. The trevally were also quite partial to a feed of live worms as Tewantin lass Kirra Shelton (above) discovered on Tuesday morning. Kirra was fishing at Munna Point with her brother (who's helping her hold her fish for the camera) and father when her live worm bait on a handline was monstered by the 1.5kg 'Golden' she's posing with. Apart from that, threadfin salmon were on the prowl in the stretch between the lakes and, as you can see by the photo on the right, Mangrove Jacks were chasing live baits near the power line crossing at Tewantin. Local angler David Blain boated this 2.1kg specimen just under the power lines on Wednesday using a live poddy mullet as bait. On the freshwater scene, the Borumba Dam saratoga were responding to flies in the main basin and the Yabba Arm.