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

As at Monday March 1st, 2010

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OFFSHORE: It was a bit of a mixed bag this week with the south easterlies waxing and waning, sunshine and rain, swell and no swell. The one constant, though, was the presence of the mackerel which have been in such prolific numbers that this season is turning out to be the best we've had since we started our regular website fishing reports back in 1997. The Spanish mackerel were once again the dominant species and Noosa Blue Water Charters were out there working the schools whenever conditions permitted. Adrian Bernard from Melbourne (above) was on a half day charter to North Reef with them on Wednesday when he tempted a 5.5kg specimen with a well cast 40gm metal slug lure. The rest of the catch was squire, venus tusk fish and moses perch. Going against the grain, Chardon's Reef wasn't a major Spaniard hot spot but it was good for a few other sport fish. Anthony Kovac (below) and his friend Patrick chartered Cougar One for a full day chasing game fish today and apart from three marlin catch and releases, hooked and boated two wahoo, top weight 10kg. They were trolling gold/black Rapala Magnum lures together with a Pakula 'Witch Doctor' teaser rig. Sunshine Reef produced a few cobia and the odd spotty but was literally overrun with 'Narrow Bars' from 'A' Bay out. Most were in the 8kg to 10kg range and Phil Bevan (below left) caught four of them out there on Tuesday, keeping one 8kg fish for the dinner table and releasing the rest. His troll baits? Slimey mackerel and bonito on Spaniard Special troll rigs. Also out there working the northern end of Sunshine Reef on Tuesday was Wayne Bardwell from Redcliffe (below right). Wayne was trolling a whole bonito behind his fishing kayak when it was swallowed by the 18.5kg Spaniard he's posing with.

Laguna Bay was alive with schools of small baitfish which were moving fast, pursued by mackerel tuna. Spotted mackerel joined the chase towards the end of the week and were in particularly good numbers, and responding to cast 5gm to 10gm metal slugs, near Granite Bay. There was also another another mackerel species making its presence felt this week. Local kayak angler Ian Tagg (below) paddled out to Sunshine Reef yesterday morning (he assures us he didn't know there was a Tsunami warning in place) and after boating a 10.8kg cobia (caught on a trolled slimey mackerel on a Spaniard Special), was paddling home just out from Tea Tree Bay when his trolled 10cm Mad Mullet lure was monstered by the very impressive 9.6kg broad barred or grey mackerel he's pictured with. This is easily the largest of this species we've listed in our reports to date with the average size of this species visiting our waters being 2.5kg to 4kg. Ian was armed with a 6kg to 8kg Silstar rod and a Shimano Nasci 4000 reel loaded with 12lb braid and 60lb Jinkai Plus leader. The only other report to hand was of moses perch, venus tusk fish and the odd cobia on the bite at Double Island Point.

ONSHORE: The coastal surf beaches produced quite well this week. The North Shore wasn't a bad option with quality whiting on the bite all along Teewah Beach and tailor active down at the river mouth end. Over on the east coast, the rocks at North Sunshine Beach produced chopper tailor while Sunrise Beach was the spot for tarwhine and quality dart. The only other report of note was of whiting and dart at north Peregian Beach and jewfish a little further south.
Mangrove Jack
The estuary got a little busier this week with quality bream, flathead and whiting taken down at the river mouth during the day and trevally on the prowl there at night. Schools of large prawns appear to be a major attraction there at the moment. There were also a few bream (to 1kg) going for live baits around 'The Snags' just up from the river mouth after dark.
Further up river, trevally and tailor were active along the Noosaville stretch in the early morning while there were reports of big mangrove jacks responding to live poddy mullet baits up near the Tewantin car ferry crossing. The only other 'Jack' hot spots this week were in the Woods Bays and around Woods Point as Sam and John (above) discovered early on Sunday morning. The fishing buddies tempted the 2kg and 2.2kg specimens they're posing with using soft plastic prawn lures.
On the freshwater scene, there were small bass chasing small Blades around 'Three Ways' at Lake MacDonald while at Borumba Dam the resident (38cm-45cm) bass were going for soft plastics from the mid to the top end of the Yabba Arm. Also at Borumba Dam, Anthrax lures accounted for a number of saratoga (between 60cm and 70cm) in the upper reaches of both Arms and surface poppers got all of the silver perch action around the timber in the main basin.

Please Note: New minimum legal size limits apply as of today. Bream and tarwhine; 25cm. Tailor; 35cm.

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