The Noosa Fishing Report, Week Two, May 2012, brought to you by Fishing Noosa 'The Book'.

	As at Monday May 14, 2012


OFFSHORE: Wow! The weather forecast for this week looked fantastic and, for a pleasant change, the gnomes at the Bureau of Meteorology were spot on. With blue skies, light to very moderate (5 to 15 knot) variable winds, a lazy 1m to 1.2m outside swell and a bar crossing that was as straight forward as it gets, just about every man and his dog (and yes,there were quite a few of them) managed to get out over the bar and make a beeline for the local reefs. Double Island Point attracted a few of the bigger boats but didn't really fire, producing mostly average size reef fish such as snapper, Maori cod, moses perch and venus tusk fish. Out wide, The Hards proved to be a better option. David Garwood, Gary Norris and Tim MacKew (below left), also known as the 'Three Poms in a Boat', headed to The Hards at about 3am on Saturday and although they were a bit delayed when they found a sand bar at the river mouth, were on their mark in time for the first feed and did well on the amberjack (9kg), snapper (to 5kg), venus tusk fish, sweetlip, mahi mahi, pearl perch and Maori cod.

There were no trophy fish taken at the Barwon Banks with the bulk of the catch being teraglin jewfish, cobia, snapper, pearl perch, hussar, venus tusk fish and moses perch. Closer in, Chardon's Reef was the spot for moses perch (to 60cm), snapper, pearl perch and Maori cod, as was North Reef but with the added bonus there of spotted mackerel, cobia, venus tusk fish, Spanish mackerel and quality grass sweetlip. Mitchell Pooler and Shane Nipperess from Morayfield (above right) did well at North Reef on Saturday morning, coming back with spotties, Maori cod, tuskers, cobia and snapper from 3.5kg to 5.6kg. Jocelyn Little from Peregian Beach (above) fished North Reef on Saturday morning on a half day Trekka 2 charter. Skipper Tony landed this 9kg Spaniard but Jocelyn was better looking, so she got to pose. Below left, with snapper from the same charter, is her daughter Samantha and friend Felicia McAuliss.

Trekka 2 hit North Reef again on Sunday morning and apart from the usual mixed reefies, came back with Spanish mackerel (to 6kg), spotted mackerel and grass sweetlip. Linden Cripps from Tewantin (above right) boated the day's standout 'Lipper' and at 3.8kg it wasn't a bad effort.

But how about this! In the bonus draw of the Davo's 'Fish of the Week' series last year, nine year old Layla Cole (above) won a half day offshore charter with Noosa Blue Water Charters. On Friday morning, accompanied by her father Blake, Layla fished North Reef on Cougar One and not only had a great time but also came up with the day's standout fish, a 9kg Spaniard. Better still, this quality fish and a beamy smile won her another Fish of the Week prize.


Cougar One worked North Reef again on Saturday and Peter Campbell from Margate, north of Brisbane (above left) nailed a 7kg cobia on a squid/pilly bait on that three quarter day charter. Closer to home, Sunshine Reef produced spotted mackerel, northern bluefin tuna, sweetlip, Maori cod, venus tusk fish, snapper and coral trout. Local lads Travis and Matt (above right) did well there on Thursday morning, boating spotted mackerel, trout and sweetlip to 3kg.

And Ian Tagg and his mate Dave (above left) did well on the coral trout at Sunshine Reef yesterday afternoon. The two amigos only went out for an hour or so but using live baits, came back with sweetlip and trout from 3kg to 4kg. The northern bluefin tuna were on the boil at times a klik or so off the National Park headland, around Jew Shoal and along the Halls Reef stretch. There's been some real thumper spangled emperor weighed in at Davo's Compleat Angler so far this month but the 6kg specimen that Dean Carroll from Tewantin (above right) boated at Hall's Reef on Saturday morning has been the standout. The latest bar crossing Aerial Photos and Video Clip, as at May 9 and May 11, have now been uploaded to the website. CLICK HERE to view.

ONSHORE: The North Shore coastal beach stretch was as good as it gets for this time of the year. Most of the reports, however, were from the lower end with whiting, chopper tailor and jewfish (to 85cm) on the bite opposite the First Cutting. Across the bay, jewfish and snapper were active off the rocks at Dolphin Point while further south, North Peregian was the spot for whiting, bream and dart, as was Marcus Beach but with the bonus of trevally and tailor.

Although the estuary was relatively quiet there were still a few, bream, flathead, trevally and tailor active at the river mouth and, together with whiting, in the Frying Pan and the Woods Bays. Cheryl Broad from Noosaville (below left) caught a few bream to 30cm at the river mouth while on a Noosa River Fishing Safari on Tuesday morning. Both of the Woods Bays also had some queenfish action while in Weyba Creek the standouts were bream and flathead. Apart from that, bream and tailor were on the go up around Tewantin and the Noosa Waters canals produced the odd mangrove jack, barracuda and trevally.

On the freshwater scene, the Lake MacDonald bass (to 42cm) were responding to soft plastics and small blades throughout Gazebo Bay and along the weed edges around Three Ways. A few bass were also caught on Jackalls in the weed in the afternoon in Bass Bay. Three and a half year old Kyuss Smith is pictured above right with one of the bass that he and his brother Tyler caught (and released) on blades and soft plastics at Three Ways on Friday morning. Note: Paul Fleming from the Lake MacDonald stocking group reports that 6,500 golden perch (yellowbelly) fingerlings were released into the dam on Friday.

Don't forget, the inaugural Noosa 'River to Reef' Family Fishing Classic will be held on the first weekend of June. That's roughly two weeks from now on June 1st, 2nd and 3rd, 2012.		THE NOOSA FAMILY FISHING CLASSIC
The competition will be run in conjunction with the ever popular Noosa Riverfest and will now have an adult angler section. A number of offshore species will also be introduced.
Click on the links to view or download: THE ENTRY FORM or THE COMPETITION RULES