The September Fishing Report, Week One 2006, Noosa, Queensland, Australia, brought to you by Castlemaine Perkins.

OFFSHORE: With the first half of the week pretty much dominated by fresh to strong (20 to 30 knot) south easterlies and some very heavy downpours, there wasn't a lot for the offshore brigade to do but clean their boats, service their gear and get themselves set up for the weekend. And while conditions from Saturday onwards weren't exactly TGO they were certainly on the improve with Squire, Parrot Fish, Moses Perch and Pearl Perch all common to the visited reefs. In addition, Chardon's Wide was the spot for Northern Bluefin Tuna, Snapper, Cobia and school Mackerel while North Reef (which was by far the most popular destination) produced Teraglin Jewfish, Estuary Cod, Maori Cod, plenty of big Northern Bluefin Tuna (which were hammering the numerous bait schools) and, as you can see by the photo below, lots of Snapper. Mark Hager from Brisbane boated the 4kg 'Knobby' he's posing with while out there yesterday on a full day Cougar Too charter. He was using a Silstar rod and a Shimano 6500 Baitrunner reel loaded with 10kg line to a Pilchard bait. The only other reports of any note were from closer in at Sunshine Reef where, apart from the common species already mentioned, the standouts were Snapper and, at the beginning of the week, quality Jewfish or Mulloway. Local angler Josh 'Yogi' Dewit (right) spent some time out there last Monday and was fishing for Coral Trout when this 20kg 'Jewie' took a fancy to his Squid bait. He was using a Shimano Backbone rod and a Shimano TLD25 reel loaded with 25lb line and 40lb trace.
Snapper

As we mentioned earlier, North Reef was the spot for quality Tuna and Snapper this week as local angler Phil Roseworne (below left) discovered much to his delight on Tuesday morning. Phil fished this popular middle distance reef just ahead of the forecast blow and reaped the rewards. The 15.5kg 'Longtail' and 7kg 'Knobby' he and his daughter are pictured with were his standouts. He was armed with a Penn overhead combo loaded with 15kg line. His bait? Davo's Pilchards.

ONSHORE: The returns from the coastal surf beaches were very patchy this week with some anglers reporting Dart and Bream

Whiting being well spread on the North Shore and others not being able to lose a bait at all. Over on the east side the situation was pretty much the same although the rocks at North Sunshine Beach produced Trevally in numbers (average 1kg) and a few Bream. In the river, Whiting were in good numbers and size (top weight 650gm) and were well spread from the river mouth to Lake Cooroibah. The Munna Beach stretch was particularly productive for this popular table fish with live Worms working well. Drifted Whitebaits and cast soft plastics worked best on the Flathead, especially down towards the river mouth. Trevally and Tailor were very much in evidence in the Woods Bays most of the week, chopping into the bait schools with abandon but playing hard to get with the angling fraternity. Those who persevered, however, found that well cast and retrieved small metal slug lures got most of the attention with fish to 2kg not unusual. Apart from that there was a bit of Mangrove Jack activity around the mouth of Noosa Waters loch system and some quality Bream on the bite in the Munna Point area, as Matt Wallace (right) discovered on Wednesday morning. Matt, who was armed with a 7' Alvey river rod and an Alvey 600 reel, used a live Herring to attract the attention of the 1.1kg 'Yellowfin' he's pictured with. On the freshwater scene, the Lake MacDonald Bass (to 50cm) were responding well to Yo-Zuri Tail Spinners around 'The Gazebo'.

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