OFFSHORE – Sunshine reef this week some good trout, sweetlip and snapper. coolum reefs some good spanish were trolled up and good snapper, moses perch and sweetlip were caught. Sweetlip, coral trout, snapper and pearl perch on murphys. caloundra wide some monstar amberjacks were caught and big snapper to 8kg. a bit closer to home on caloundra 5 mile sweetlip and squire. inner gnerings snapper, pearlies, parrot and sweetlip. good cobia and snapper out on the banks.offshore fishing looks good this weekend

ESTUARY – Good flathead and bream being caught in the lower reaches of the rivers. few jacks up in the bli bli stretch on plastics. 48cm one caught on tuesday by dave our rocky staff member.  school jews in marrochy river in the deeper holes. some good trevally getting about too. plenty of gar in the moololah river around the mouth along with flatties and trevally. plenty of annoying hairtail too. bit of fun but going through some lures this week. good dart, bream and the odd tailor in the deeper gutters on low tide along the beaches.

dont forget our offshore fishing trip on the 11th of june. spoke to my mate alex and hes been catching heaps. all sorts of fish in close off noosa. come along for a great day out. good social day and you will learn a thing or two.

cheers ben

SOMERSET DAM – In the last fortnight Somerset has continued to be more active with more fishing hitting the deck of the boats wetting a line.  There are a few locations that have been producing recently including Pelican point, Bay 13, Poly Point and The Spit.  I recently fished at the spit and got 7 nice fish in a short period of time, after that they became a little shut down and tough to tempt.  It seems that at Somerset that you are only getting a small window of opportunity to land as many fish as you can before they have had enough.  There are some small schools down at the spit in about 9 m of water but they are constantly moving, so long casts have been helpful to that cover more ground. The technique I used that tempted a few half-hearted tugs in the slow periods was to use soft plastics (powerbait t-tail) on a 1/8 oz jighead and slowly roll the lure back to the boat, just enough to keep the tail moving. Blades also worked well.  These fish at the spit were not large, 38cm being the largest, but some large 50+ models have been taken around Pelican Point.  The fish here are more scattered so you will have to work hard for your fish but the quality is there.

LAKE MACDONALD – Every year at this time Lake MacDonald start to fire up with big schools being found in key areas of the dam.  Because Lake MacDonald is feed by some other creeks and streams the fish in the dam are very instinctual and start to move toward the dam wall trying to get down stream to breed. The breeding period for bass is in the cooler months and this coincides with the closed season in local rivers. Last year the Botanical Gardens was the place to be with a very large school of bass located in the area.  This maybe the place to be again as the weather gets cooler.  At present there are some fish on the Botanical Garden side of the runway in about 4 – 5 m of water.  Berkley Big eyes and other blade lures have been successful tempting these fish.  There are many smaller fish being caught but there are some large fish in amongst them, so keep ploughing through them to get a good reward.  The point at the end of bass bay is also housing some fish but not to the same degree in terms of size or quantity.

EWEN MADDOCK DAM – Reports are hard to come by for this dam but Kayak Fishing Down Under went for a run and landed 20 plus fish with many of them legal length.  As I have said previously in this report there are some enormous bass in this dam but they can be hard to come by.  This dam is slowly getting back to better days with the help of the Fish stocking group that are doing a fantastic job replenishing the stocks of this special little fishery.  This group has already had a release that has proven to be successful at this stage.  The stocking group are now setting their sights on Baroon Pocket Dam, another wonderful and picturesque dam on the coast.  These groups do not exist without funding and support from commercial, government and community entities.  The Ewen Maddock group are always looking for support especially in the way of community members. There is a small fee of $25 dollars which is mainly for insurance purposes. I encourage any person who has fished or would like to fish Ewen or Baroon frequently to get involved because in the long run it will benefit you.

Hope this helps,

Brendan

SOMERSET DAM – As the weeks go on Somerset is continuing to clear and fishing is getting better and better.  The fishing is by no means ultra consistent or epic but more fish are being caught.  Some reports filtering through from the last fortnight are that there are some big fish up to 60cm being landed off Pelican Point on blades and soft Jackals.  Three people have landed fish over 50cm with the 60cm monster being the biggest.  I went for a fish there during the last fortnight and collected some fish in  the shallows of Queen Street where the timber meets the bank using a River to Sea Glassie Vibe worked slowly with small hops.  The other fish through the day were taken in Bay 13 and Poly point on trolled and cast lures.  Poly point had the best concentration of fish but they were not overly active when I was there so fishing was tough, however, I got some fish to the boat. None of the fish were huge but it was an enjoyable days fishing.

BORUMBA DAM – The fishing at Borumba in the last fortnight has been scratchy with some fish being caught here and there. A friend and respected Bass fisherman went there recently and couldn’t land a fish even though he had recently won a tournament at the dam a few weeks previous.  Other reports from locals and regulars at the dam have said that it has been difficult to locate good numbers of fish and therefor there are less fish being caught.  The go to areas that will give you a chance are in the shallows up in the creeks around some cover and structure.  Try early mornings and late afternoons as the fish will be foraging for food at this time in the warmer water in the shallows.  As the days wears on cast in tight to the weed beds and timber with a variety of lures and you will give yourself a show.

LAKE MACDONALD – Some good reports this week, with some good consistent catches up in the 3 ways using soft Jackals.  This dam is heavily weeded in parts, but this is a good thing as it will provide some cover for the bass.  The regulars up there have been casting at the weed aiming for the gaps in the weeds and just ripping it through when they foul up.  Quite often the bass will hit it just after the rip as it is falling.  This is a good technique in this dam as it regularly produces a catch.

CREEKS AND RIVERS – On the weekend I went for a research and development mission into the local creeks near my home in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.  Armed with only one lure, a river to sea buggi pop, I followed a few tracks down to a few river pools.  My thoughts were that the fish would be hungry as they are not far from spawning and they feed themselves up before the process. I went for the surface option as the areas were very shaded and bugs often fall from the trees and also the lure would create a silhouette in the water. After a few dud pools I found one tucked away from the main track.  The pool had some good structure, gently flowing water and a better sign of insects in the water and in the air.  After about five casts I was on to a healthy little bass.  Next cast same result. Next cast same result. Next cast same result.  I cast after that for about another 20 minutes until I got lodged in some timber and could not retrieve my lure.  Great Fun!!!

Hope this helps,

Brendan