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

OFFSHORE: The slightly cooler South Easterlies waxed and waned (from 10 to 25 knots) as the week progressed with the seas and swell varying from 1.2m to 2m. This presented boaties (at times) with some rather lumpy conditions on the outer reefs but, having said that, there were still a few windows of opportunity around, although no-one had the confidence to venture too far 'out-wide'. Those determined anglers who took the punt, however, found Squire, Pearl Perch and Sweetlip common to the closer reefs. In addition, North Reef produced Spanish Mackerel and Spotted Mackerel while at Sunshine Reef the extras were Shiny Mackerel, Moses Perch, Railway Perch, Maori Cod and, as you can see by the accompanying photos; Parrot Fish and Coral Trout. On the right is Alfie Gallagher from Ireland, out here in Oz for a wedding. Alfie and a group of friends booked a half day charter to Sunshine Reef on Cougar Too on Thursday (St. Patricks Day). Alfie's standout, of course, was the green 3.5kg (how very Irish!) Parrot Fish he's posing with. And local angler Josh 'Yogi' Dewit (below) struck gold (or should we say red) out on Sunshine Reef on Saturday morning when this 5.5kg Coral Trout monstered his floated flesh bait on 2x6/0 snooded hooks.

Laguna Bay was quiet for most of the week with the pelagic (Mackerel and Tuna) schools starting to again work the bait boils out on Little Hall's Reef and around the drum lines over the weekend and finally coming in-close this morning.

ONSHORE: The coastal surf beaches took a bit of a pounding later in the week although the mornings tended to be less blustery and certainly worth the effort. On the North Shore, Dart were in mega numbers all the way up to Double Island Point over the weekend, but Rainbow Beach (pictured below) was where a lot of anglers went to avoid the wind. It was also where five year old Lauren Hinds (right) spent yesterday afternoon with friends and family, during which time she caught a number of Swallowtail Dart, although the 400gm specimen she's posing with was her standout. Lauren was armed with a Shimano Sienna 4000 threadline combo loaded with 3kg line. Her bait? Live Davo's Beach Worms on a 6/0 longshank hook. On the East side, Sunshine Beach was the spot for Whiting and Dart (plus a few Tailor at the North end), at Marcus Beach it was Dart and Tailor while at Coolum there were good Whiting feeding in the wash. In the river, Bream, Whiting and Flathead were the main species taken down towards the river mouth where a major reformation of the boat channel provided some good drop-offs to target. The Frying Pan and the Woods Bays were worth a look for Trevally and Tailor with surface poppers the best lures and dawn and dusk the best times. Apart from that, Noosa Sound yielded some good Bream and the Gympie Terrace stretch was the spot for Whiting. On the freshwater scene, the Lake MacDonald Bass were responding well to spinnerbaits around Fry's Run.
Surf Fishing on Rainbow Beach