The March Fishing Report, Week Two 2005, Noosa, Queensland, Australia, brought to you by Black Magic Tackle.

OFFSHORE: Light to moderate South Easterlies dominated the offshore scene earlier in the week and with the inner reefs firing extremely well, very few boaties saw any need to venture much further than four or five kilometres from shore.
Sunrise over the Noosa National Park Headland

Sunrise over the Noosa National Park Headland

Unfortunately these benign conditions didn't last beyond Friday morning when the strengthening South Easterlies pushed the seas over the two metre mark and effectively shut the offshore gate by Saturday morning. Still, those anglers who got Coral Trout and Spanish Mackerel

out earlier in the week made the most of the action out on Sunshine Reef where Squire, Moses Perch, Spotted Mackerel, Pearl Perch, Parrot Fish, Sweetlip (in excellent numbers) and, as you can see by the photo near right, Coral Trout were all actively on the bite. Legendary wine maker and connoisseur extraordinaire Len Evans spent a half day out there aboard Cougar Too last Thursday and is pictured here with the most colourful catch of the trip; a 3.5kg 'Trout'. Len was kitted out with a Wilson Live Fibre rod and a Shimano TLD 20 reel loaded with 25 lb line. In Laguna Bay the action was 'in-close' and at times quite frantic with Spotted, School and Spanish Mackerel, Yellowfin, Northern Bluefin and Mack Tuna, Bonito and Dart working some densely packed bait schools in the middle of the bay, just out from the river mouth, around the shark nets, near First Point and, as per the photo far right, just out from the middle groyne on Main Beach. Lisa Fyfe from Shepparton in Victoria trolled up this 7kg 'Spaniard' just 50m out from the groyne on Friday morning. She was armed with a Wilson Live Fibre rod and a Shimano Baitrunner 6500 reel loaded with 30lb Platinum line. Her troll rig? A Davo's Spaniard Special with a whole Pilchard.

ONSHORE: The coastal surf beaches fired pretty well earlier in the week before the weather turned ordinary with Tailor,

Whiting and quality Dart on the bite on the North Shore between the First Cutting and the river mouth plus Bream, Chopper Tailor and Dart up around the shire boundary. The rock groynes on Main Beach and the National Park headland rocks were also worth a go with Spotted Mackerel, Mackerel Tuna and Northern Bluefin Tuna well within metal slug casting range. Further South, the rocks at North Sunshine Beach produced Whiting as did Peregian Beach (with the added bonus of thumper Dart from the South end) while Castaways Beach yielded Chopper Tailor. In the river, Flathead were pretty much the main species taken down towards the mouth. Trevally and Tailor were active in the Woods Bays and the stretch from the Coast Guard station to the mouth of Weyba Creek with surface poppers, metal slugs and soft plastics all doing well. Apart from that there were a few Mangrove Jacks on the prowl up around Harbourtown at Tewantin, which was where local angler Doug Andrew (above) nailed the 1.5kg and 1.95kg specimens he's posing with. Doug tempted each of these two 'Dog Bream' with a live Herring on a 4/0 suicide hook. He was using an Abu 5000 baitcast combo loaded with 25lb line and 30lb trace. In the Everglades, the Bass were chasing surface poppers at dusk.

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