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

OFFSHORE: What a great start to the school holidays! Very light to moderate (5 to 15 knot) variable northerlies Pearl Perch

dominated the offshore scene and with a nominal 1m swell, the stage was set for some excellent springtime conditions on our local reefs. Under the circumstances the boat ramps were pretty much chokka block and the river bar crossing could have done with a set of traffic lights to keep a few of the more enthusiastic blue water boys in line. Those who got out (and there were plenty) reported Squire, Pearl Perch, Parrot Fish and Moses Perch common to all locations. In addition, for those who wanted to stretch their sea legs, Double Island Point produced Snapper, Sweetlip, Cobia, Northern Bluefin Tuna, Scarlet Sea Perch and Teraglin Jewfish while (a little closer to home) the bonus species at Chardon's Reef were Cobia and Marlin. North Reef, however, was by far the most popular destination, yielding consistently good catches of Snapper, Northern Bluefin Tuna, Sweetlip, Cobia, Teraglin Jewfish, Maori Cod and Estuary Cod. In fact, all three offshore photos on this page are from a single Cougar One charter that spent a glorious morning there on Tuesday. Above we have David McGovan and Sam Flanders from Geelong posing with the 8kg and 10kg 'Longtails' they boated during the action packed half day trip. And on the right we have Patrick Meehan from Melbourne with a couple of 2.5kg Pearl Perch he boated, while below, Melissa Bird (also from Melbourne) was very pleased with the 3.5kg Snapper she caught on the very same charter. The only other producer of note was Little Hall's Reef in Laguna Bay which played host to some impressive Tuna boils with the Northern Bluefins (to 22kg) hammering enthusiastically into the numerous schools of Yakkas, Slimys and Pilchards.
Snapper

ONSHORE: With the blustery conditions behind us the coastal surf beaches were a more attractive proposition this week. The North Shore in particular had plenty of starters and with Whiting active all the way up Teewah Beach, those who wet a line over there were at least guaranteed a good feed. Across the other side of the bay, First Point and Tea Tree Bay were worth a shot for Whiting, Bream and the odd Moses Perch while further south, Sunshine Beach produced Dart and good numbers of Whiting. In the river, Whiting were on the bite along the Gympie Terrace stretch, down towards the river mouth and in the Frying Pan along with Bream, small Tailor and, as you can see by the photo on the right, Flathead. Melbourne lad Justin Rose trolled up the 62cm 'Lizard' he's pictured with on Friday morning and released it back into the river after this quick pic. He was using a Jarvis Walker threadline combo loaded with 10lb line to a hard bodied minnow lure. Flathead were also active around the back of Noosa Sound and Weyba Creek while Bream were on the chew in the Woods Bays and Munna Point where, as per the photo below, Trevally were still worth targeting. Brisbane lad Nick Bertoli-Simmonds tempted these 1kg and 1.5kg 'Trevs' with live Prawns on Friday morning. He was armed with a Silstar/Shimano combo.

Apart from that, there was the odd Mangrove Jack to be had around the Noosa Harbour Marine Village (along with Bream) and up between the lakes, plus Whiting and Mud Crabs at Lake Cooroibah. On the freshwater scene, all of the reports were from Lake Borumba where Saratoga (to 71cm) and Bass were responding to well cast Jackals at the 'Eagles Nest'.

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