RIVERS and Creeks

THE creeks and rivers have again been the saviour for a lot of anglers as the winds, rain and swell keep smaller craft in the safety of the protected waterways.

The creek mouth has been fishing well for large flathead on the run-out tide.

Live baits such as herring and poddy mullet have claimed some monster females.

Flathead have also been firing in the channel in Tin Can Bay.

Drifting whole-fish baits such as frogmouth pilchards and hardy heads has been successful.

Using live baits and large strip baits fished late into the night around heavy structures has been producing some outstanding mangrove jacks.

Fishing the run-out tide after a warmer-than-usual day seems to be the pick of the times to chase these fish.

There have been some good whiting taken just inside Inskip and back into the bay, freshly pumped yabbies have been the gun baits.

The barramundi have been in good numbers around River Heads and up towards the Susan River.

These fish were feeding on prawns and small fish baits so if you can manage to net a few banana prawns and put them on live, you should hopefully see a barra or a good threadfin.

Failing that, the Zerek live Cherubim have been a great lure.

We are seeing plenty of good quality muddies caught in pots set in deep water near the mangroves and left in for at least one full tide.

Quality baits of mullet or chook frames is a must.

Beaches

BEACH anglers have been getting some great fish this week after the big swells.

There are good gutters all up the beaches, so try to concentrate your efforts around the top of the tide.

Dart, whiting and bream as well as tailor and smaller jew have all come from the gutters along Noosa’s North Shore.

Smaller baits such as worms and prawns have been good through the day with plenty of dart and whiting on offer.

Offshore

FOR those doing a night fish, the smaller jew and tailor have been coming from the top of the tide.

Fresh mullet strips, pilchards and local squid have all been prime baits.

Consistent winds and bigger swells late last week made things a bit average for boaters, larger craft headed out after the swell dropped out and concentrating their efforts around the closer reefs.

The reef fishing has really picked up after the rains with plenty of bait in close, sweetlip, squire, mauri cod, red emperor, jew and cod will all be on the list.

For the smaller craft heading out of Noosa this week, Sunshine has produced some lovely coral trout as well as sweetlip and large cod.

Large Spanish mackerel have been cruising around the main reef system at Sunshine.

Trolling hardbodies or fishing slow-trolled live yakkas or slimies on a stinger rig is proving popular options.

Up in Hervey Bay there have been some solid queen fish and big GTs lurking around the channels. High speed-slugs, poppers and stick baits have all been successful.

Up-to-date reports at fishingnoosa.com.au. Drop into Davo’s Tackle World and Davo’s Boating and Outdoor in Noosa, and Davo’s Northshore Bait and Tackle at Marcoola.