The March Fishing Report, Week Three 2006, Noosa, Queensland, Australia, brought to you by Black Magic Tackle.

As at Monday March 20th 2006

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OFFSHORE: Well, the week started and finished with 25 to 30 knot south easterlies but fortunately, in between, we had four days of quite moderate conditions, allowing most anglers to get out over the bar and wet a line on the local reefs.

A 1.5m to 2m swell (and seas) and more blustery conditions out wide ensured that most boaties stuck to the closer reefs. We had no reports, in fact, from further out than North Reef where Pearl Perch, Spotted Mackerel, Squire, Sweetlip and Parrot Fish were on the bite. Closer to home, Arkwright Shoal produced Moses Perch and Parrot Fish, as did Sunshine Reef but with the added bonus of Squire, Sweetlip, Spotted Mackerel and, as you can see by the photo above, Spanish Mackerel. Ken Hearn from New York, USA, boated the 8kg 'Spaniard' he's pictured with while out there on a half day Cougar Too charter on Saturday. He was kitted out with a Shimano Taipan rod and a Shimano 6500 Baitrunner reel loaded with 8kg line. His bait? A whole Pilchard floater. The waters just off the National Park headland were a hot spot most of the week with Mackerel Tuna and Northern Bluefin Tuna responding to trolled shallow diving lures. Local yak angler Bill 'Billybob' Watson (right) was only 500 metres off the headland on Thursday morning when his Gold Bomber lure was monstered by the 9kg Bluefin he's posing with. Bill, who was trolling from his Swing 'Angler' fishing kayak, was armed with a 6kg-8kg Wilson Live Fibre rod and a Shimano TSS4 reel loaded with 30lb Platinum line. In Laguna Bay there were Tuna boils (Northern Bluefin and Mackerel Tuna) around the drum lines, out on Jew Shoal and (just before the return of the strong south easterlies) 500 metres out from the river mouth and north of the shark nets.

ONSHORE: Dart were the only species that seemed to active on the North Shore this week but the good news was they were in numbers and spread all the way up to Double Island Point. The 'Swallowtails' and to a lesser extent, Whiting, were also active from Sunshine Beach to the Coolum rocks. Apart from that, Bream were on the bite around the rocks at North Sunshine Beach and at Marcus Beach.

In the river, Whiting were in good numbers and quality in the lower reaches along with (to a slightly lesser extent) Bream and Flathead . Flathead were also on the bite up around Tewantin as local angler Joel Imberger (above left) discovered on Wednesday morning. He was floating a live Herring from the bank along Hilton Esplanade when this 4kg 'Lizard' took it down whole. Joel, who released the breeding female straight after a quick photo, was armed with a 6' threadline combo loaded with 3kg line. Apart from that the Trevally were thick in the Woods Bays (responding to cast flies and surface poppers) with the standouts coming from around the Woods Spit between the two bays. Mud Crabs were very much on the move this week with some quality 'bucks' coming from the Noosa Waters canals, Weyba Creek and, as per the photo above right, up at Lake Cooroibah where Whiting were also active. Neil Simpson from Carindale brought this 2kg thumper into Davo's just to give us an idea of the quality of muddies (an average of three per day) he's been catching in the system lately. Last but not least; there were a few Mangrove Jacks chasing lures between the lakes and Chopper Tailor going for Frogmouth Pilchards down at the river mouth. On the freshwater scene, the increased water levels at Lake MacDonald has meant that the weed beds are now well and truly submerged and, as a result, fast retrieving lures across the beds has been the most productive way of enticing the local Bass to strike. This week's hot spot was 'Three Ways'.

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