OFFSHORE – Finally we are getting blessed with some good patterns of weather not just a day here and there. but as i write this the report for the weekend is looking grim. SE winds are predicted from lunch time tomorrow and slowly easing off next week.

anyway the report this week has been great. lots of fish getting caught. coral trout, sweetlip and parrot from murphys reef. good parrot and sweetlip from the blinker. sweetlip, maori cod from coolum reef. more quality sweetlip, maori cod, mackeral and coral trout from sunshine reef. top of the banks there was as usual red throat sweetlip, sweetlip and the odd parrot. long tail tuna and mack tuna on 15-25 g slugs in laguna bay and out off mooloolaba to old woman island. spanish mackeral around the blinker, outer gneerings, caloundra wide and off chardons reef. mainly on slowly trolled deeper diving lures. few schools of tuna on the bottom end of sunshine. I finally got offshore and did an overnighter last friday night. stayed in close at sunshine and had a few spots at coolum id never fished and we pretty much got our limit on sweetlip from 30-60cm, maori cod, cobia, scarlet, and a few other bits and pieces. my mate got a 4kg coral trout and we could of filled our esky up with snapper between 35 – 70cm. not long to wait now though.

ESTUARY – mangrove jack and estuary cod from parrerra bridge. trevally around kawana island. trevally and queenfish in currimundi lake early morning on poppers. whiting and good flathead from picnic point. bream and whiting off chambers island. few jacks at night on live bait in petrie creek. whiting around the frying pan at noosa. good tailor in woods bay and ive heard some good jew from the beaches along with dart and bream from sunshine beach to coolum.

till next week……….. ben

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SOMERSET DAM – It seems that in the past fortnight the water quality has improved slightly and as a result the fishing has improved. Both bait fishos and lure casters are finding some joy in a few spots around the dam. The spit has proven to be quite productive with consistent catches being taken on blades in about 20 feet of water right off the point and on the ledge/dropoff on the northern side of the boat ramp. The other area of interest is Queen street. Every now and then when the dam undergoes some type of change this area seems to house a few schooling fish. A few years back when the dam rose from 25% to about 70% the fish schooled up here and it looks as though this is happening again. Reports this week are that spinnerbaits in amongst the trees in this bay and along the rocky bank has landed many fish with some models nudging 50 cm. With fish being located in the trees in this bay it might be worth heading up into the timber north of kirkleagh as some fish may have headed for some cover during the recent rain event. Also try along the drop-offs and flats of Pelican point as the fish have been located here but just have not been firing. They will turn on sooner or later so it might be worth a look. Try these spots start in about 10 to 15 feet and sound out deeper until you find some fish.

BORUMBA DAM – The reports from Borumba are a bit patchy with little fish being taken. The fish have really dispersed and are now on the move looking for an area that suits, so schools are few and far between. The main basin has accounted for a few fish on jackals but very little action on this dam at present. If you are going out, try the weed beds, rocky points and rock walls as these are the most likely places to find some fish.

LAKE MACDONALD – Once again patchy reports with only one bloke getting amongst any fish of note in the past fortnight. The place where the action happened was up in the backwaters of the dam near the strawberry patches. 30 fish were taken casting to the weed beds with some larger models hitting the deck. Spinnerbaits and jackals proving the best baits.

Hope this helps,

Brendan

OFFSHORE – Coral trout, moses perch and cod on sunshine reef. coral trout and sweetlip on coolum. coral trout and spanish on murphys reef. good reports of trout this week. spotty and spanish mackeral on the outer gneerings on floating pilchards and trolled lures. 12mile reef there were big spanish and the odd mahi mahi. red throat emperor, parrot, spanish and wahoo out on the northern end of the banks. north reef off noosa good sweetlip and cobia. good reports this morning up in laguna bay mack tuna, yellowfin tuna and longtails. one of which caught est 10kg on slugs. super fun on light gear. got a photo this morning from an bloke who got a 24kg spanish mackeral caught out the front of mooloolaba and a trolled skirt yesterday. him and a mate in a quinne 310 dart with a 24kg mackeral. good stuff.

ESTUARY – Good reports of jew around at the moment. 2 good ones caught this morning around bli bli bridge on a hardbody and one on a plastic. good reports of flathead on plastics in the same area this week. another couple of local have been amongst them too on jackall tranzams. golden trevally and queenfish in pelican waters canals. jew on plastics around noosa sound. flathead and goldens along la balsa park stretch.

looks like a cracker for the next few days weather wise. hope you all get to wet a line.

talk to you next week

ben

OFFSHORE – Bit blustery this week but a few brave souls ventured out in search of fish. around the blinker there has been yellowfin tuna and spotty mackeral on trolled lures. smaller yellowfin and mack tuna in the bay on slugs.spanish mackeral on trolled deeper lures on the outer gneerings. good sweetlip and maori cod on murphys reef. sweetlip and parrot on coolum reef. spanish mackeral again on trolled lures on outer sunshine. few spotties mixed around but good coral trout, sweetlip and parrot on inner sunshine.

ESTUARY – Good flathead, bream and trevally about in the lower reaches due to another flush out. few prawns about gets the fish a bit stirred up. whiting and flathead at the mouth of marroochy. Mangrove jacks between the lakes in noosa. mainly at night on live bait. few trevally around in the canals late afternoon on dusk. jacks, whiting and bream in currimundi lake. some good dart and bream along the beaches. just fish low tide in a deep gutter for best results. few muddies in middle reaches but lots on undersize crabs and lots of jennies.

till next week………. ben

Hi everyone,

Somerset Dam – With such a high level of water flowing through this dam it is going to take many weeks for it to clear and become active again. The water is still dirty but it is starting to show signs of life as the water continues to clear. There haven’t been a great deal of reports on Somerset for the past fortnight but the common theme through all of them is to fish deep and use vibrating, loud or bright colours. A few anglers recently trolled through Pelican Point using Strata Ambush lures that dive to 20 feet and they managed to pick up a few Bass. The only other report where fish were landed was in Bay 13 using blades. The fishing may be difficult but the red claw are on the chew in a big way. The red claw in this dam can get very large and are worth the effort as they are absolutely delicious on the plate. Use rockmelon, tinned cat food, cobbs of corn and dry dog biscuits as bait as they are proven winners.

Borumba Dam – This dam is the pick at the moment on the Sunshine Coast as the water quality and clarity in the dam is still pretty good despite large inflows of water recently. In the past week the fishing has proven to be difficult at times as the water temp has been up near 31 degrees which can often shut the fish down. If this is the case the fish will seek shelter so hit the weed beds, lilly pads and submerged trees and you should get some success. The few areas to try in this dam are to the left of the second yellow marker, lily pads up in the Yabba Arm of the dam and also the steep rocky banks/points in the same arm of the dam. Spinner baits, blades and mask vibes have been doing the job. Try to cast to the shady areas on hot days as well as the weed or tree edges as this has proven successful of late. Olive, lime and gold colours are the pick at present.

Lake MacDonald – Few reports this week but some fish are being caught down at the 3 ways using lipless crankbaits and spinnerbaits but it has been a lot of hard work between each fish. Water quality isn’t great which is obviously taking its toll on the activity of the fish, however, each day is different from the last in fishing, so have a go.

After the floods the dams have been very dirty so we need to just bide our time and wait until they clear up. For the die-hards I would be fishing deep in the larger dams that are very dirty and fishing weed edges, timber and shady nooks in the smaller dams where the water quality is much better.

Hope this helps,

Brendan

FISHING REPORT FRIDAY 4-3-11