The October Fishing Report, Week One 2001, Noosa, Queensland, Australia, brought to you by Alvey Reels Australia.

Squire, Pearl Perch and Moses Perch were pretty much common to the visited reefs. In addition, for those prepared to travel, Double Island Point produced Sweetlip and Mackerel Tuna and the Barwon Banks yielded Tomato Cod, Amberjack, Mahi Mahi, Gold Spot Wrasse and Parrot Fish. A little closer in, North Reef wasn't a bad spot for Snapper and Parrot Fish while at Chardon's Reef it was Parrot Fish, Cobia, Northern Bluefin Tuna, Tailor and Estuary Cod. The tinny brigade were also well catered for with Cobia at the Coffee Rocks, Snapper at Sunshine Reef and right in close; Northern Bluefin and Mackerel Tuna in Laguna Bay. Nine year old Sydney lad Tom Hamblyn, right, was on a Cougar One charter to the Coffee Rocks on Wednesday morning and was absolutely delighted when he boated this 1.5kg Squire. He was armed with a Gary Howard rod and an Alvey 725C reel loaded with 30lb Pioneer Flexline. Tom was very much in on all the action during the half day session and if you move you mouse pointer over the photo you'll see what he got up to on the way back home. ONSHORE: The local surf anglers were not a happy group this week with holes and gutters disappearing just as quickly as they formed and the traditionally plentiful (quality) Tailor still thin on the beaches. Fortunately the Whiting and Bream were of good size and numbers with the area around Teewah and down towards the river mouth (on the North Shore) being the most productive; also yielding a few Chopper Tailor at night. On the East side, Castaways Beach saw a bit of Chopper Tailor activity, as did Sunshine Beach with the addition of Whiting, and up around the rocks; quality Bream. In the river, Flathead were still in abundance but were somewhat overshadowed by the quality and numbers of Whiting. Both species shared the same hot spots with the Frying Pan, the river mouth, the Woods Bays and the Sound (along with Trevally), Munna Point, Weyba Creek and the mouth of Lake Cooroibah (which also produced Trevally) working well.

Bream were active around the Gympie Terrace jetties and up at Harbourtown where the Trevally were in numbers and Chopper Tailor were also on the bite. On the freshwater scene it was all on at Lake MacDonald with the Bass again in good numbers and size, as you can see by the photo above left. Jeremy Grahame, from Brighton in Melbourne, caught and released this 50cm (2.3kg+) thumper while out there on Monday afternoon with Jed Hollis from Noosa Eco Fishing. This was Jeremy's first Bass and not a bad way to get the runs on the board. He was kitted out with an Innovator Shogun light spin stick and a Daiwa Regal X 2500 reel loaded with 12lb braid and 14lb Berkley 'Vanish' leader. Jeremy's brother Daniel (see January 7th Report) was also in on the action and between them the lads caught and released 12 Bass. The lures that did most of the damage were Attack Minnows. Jim Walker, above right, from Montmorency in Victoria spent almost every day of his four week Noosa holiday fishing non stop and got great pleasure out of releasing most of his river catch, especially the larger Flathead, which of course are the breeding females. Jimmy boated this 3.03kg big Momma 'Lizard' in the Frying Pan on Wednesday morning and after a quick weigh-in at Davo's, released her back into the river across the road from the shop. In fact, if you move your mouse pointer over the photo you'll see the fish swim away. He was armed with a Silstar Powertip rod, a Shimano 3500 Baitrunner reel and 12lb line. His bait? Tailor fillet.