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

OFFSHORE: The South Easterlies continued to dominate the offshore scene here at Noosa and although the weekend's blustery 20 to 30 knot winds were strong enough to keep most blue water boaties at home (or at least in the bay), the rest of the week was pretty much as good as it gets for this time of the year. Squire, Pearl Perch and Parrot fish were common to the visited reefs. In addition, the Barwon Banks produced Moses Perch, Hussar and, as you can see by the photo below, Gold Band Snapper. Local angler Keith Bing boated this 8.75kg specimen while out there on a full day Cougar Too charter on Thursday. He was kitted out with a Wilson Live Fibre rod and an Alvey 825C reel loaded with 30lb line. Nearer to home; at Chardon's Reef the bonus species were Sweetlip and Spanish Mackerel, at North Reef it was Estuary Cod, Mahi Mahi and Snapper, while closer in, Sunshine Reef yielded Sweetlip, Mowong, Mackerel Tuna and Northern Bluefin Tuna.
Gold Band Snapper

Laguna Bay fired up as the week progressed and the last few days saw Tuna and Mackerel boils throughout the bay, although many anglers were finding it hard to get a hookup. For tangible results Jew Shoal was pretty hard to beat with Sweetlip, Spotted Mackerel and, as per the photo above right, quality Spanish Mackerel on the bite as the week wound to a close. Local 'yak' angler James 'Legend' Grant hooked up with this very impressive 23.5kg 'Spaniard' around 7am this morning while trolling a whole Garfish behind his Perception Swing 'Angler' fishing kayak. James let this absolute thumper pelagic tow him around for roughly ten minutes before finally tiring it out enough to drag it on board his kayak. He was armed with a G-Loomis 6kg to 8kg rod and a Daiwa Certate reel loaded with 9kg line and a 'Knotted Dog' leader. His troll rig was the ever faithful Davo's Spaniard Special with a green Squid skirt. Apart from that there were Spanish Mackerel, Mackerel Tuna and Yellowfin Tuna just out from the middle groyne on Main Beach plus Bonito in Little Cove.

ONSHORE: The coastal surf beaches were once again worth considering with Dart on the bite up around Double Island Point on the North Shore, Whiting around Teewah and Tailor down towards the river mouth at dawn and dusk. The middle Tailor

groyne on Main Beach produced Mackerel and Tuna (see offshore report) while on the East side there were Whiting and Bream at Sunshine Beach and Chopper Tailor, Dart and thumper Whiting at Marcus Beach. Peregian Beach, however, was the standout with Whiting and Dart in the surf gutters and lots of big Tuna and Mackerel smashing into the bait schools behind the surf break. In the river, Flathead were on the bite (drifted Whitebait, Rio's Prawns and live Herring) from the first ski run (where Mangrove Jack also made their mark) down to the river mouth where Trevally and, as you can see by the photo on the right, Tailor were pretty active. Local angler Mark Arnall boated his first quality Tailor of the season around 6.30pm last night when this 2.1kg specimen (and four others of similar size) monstered his whole Pilchard baits on 3x3/0 ganged hooks. He was armed with a custom kevlar wrap rod and a Mitchell Nautil 6500GV reel loaded with 10lb line to a wire trace. Around Noosa Sound (including the Woods Bays and Munna Point) the catch was Trevally, Tailor, Flathead and Bream while in Weyba Creek it was Flathead, Whiting and Bream. There wasn't much to report from the freshwater scene with Lake MacDonald producing a lot of juvenile Bass while at Borumba Dam the serious freshwater anglers took a break to avoid the press of the holiday crowds.

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