Offshore

THINGS have been a bit grim with very few boats heading out of Tin Can Bay, Rainbow or Noosa.

The last week has seen wind rain and swell all play a part in stopping anglers heading out.

The good news is we normally see a bit of a lull after a cyclone passes and this appears to be the case this weekend.

With both swell and wind dropping and only a few showers forecast we should be able to get among it.

Plenty of anglers will be looking to head to the deeper outer reef belts to do battle with the bigger pelagics that will be inhabiting those clearer waters.

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Deep diving trolling lures are a good way to start, try working the pressure edges of the reefs with lures like the Halco Laser Pros or the Nomad DTX minnows, both these lures are designed to run deep and fast.

For those of you that love chasing reef fish the best advice we can give is make sure you fish hard to the reef.

With the new moon on Tuesday there will be a bit of tidal movement so having adequate weigh on your line will be important.

Rivers and creeks

WE SHOULD also see plenty of action.

With the rains of the last week the prawns should be running and are great bait for those larger predatory fish like barra, threadfin salmon, queenfish, trevally and mangrove jack.

Make sure you have the cast net with you to get a feed and some great bait.

Crab numbers are also up with some stonker bucks being reported from the creeks around Tin Can Bay and Rainbow Beach.

Nice fresh mullet has been the gun bait.

Anglers have also been using fish frames, chicken frames and even tins of cat food.

With so many around do not forget those new regulations that came in last year where you can only take seven per person with a maximum of 14 per boat.

There have been plenty of bread and butter species around the sand banks with quality whiting and bream taken when the weather allows us a quick fish.

Worms and yabbies have been great on the whiting while the good old mullet gut has been a gun bait for the bream.

Beaches

MOST of the beaches facing due east have been effected by the wind and are very hard to fish, if you have been able to get behind a headland with a bit of wind protection you are in with a chance.

Areas like the bottom end of Rainbow Beach behind Double Island and Inskip Point up towards the ferry have been the places to be.

The dart have been everywhere with the bigger fish seeming to come from the top of the tide.

These fish are the billy goats of the sea and will pretty much eat anything including prawns, strip baits, worms and pippies.

In among the dart there are whiting but it is very hard to get a bait to them, the only advice is to use a larger bait on a size 4 long shank and hopefully there is something left for the whiting.

Up at Inskip Point the trevally have been feeding on the bait around the sink hole and up towards the ferry.

Small baitfish soft plastics on larger jig heads cast and retrieved at speed have been working well.

Smaller slugs have also picked up some good fish.

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 North Shore Bait and Tackle at Marcoola.