Noosa: Red emperor to11.5kg and mixed reef fish off Double Island Point. Quality whiting to 650gm in Woods Bay. Trevally being caught around the river mouth.at night. Flathead in Weyba Creek on the runout tide. Mangrove Jack to 2kg in Weyba Creek and around the bridges in Noosa Waters.   

Maroochydore: Quality flathead to 65cm caught in the middle reaches. Bream, whiting and tailor throughout the lower reaches. Mangrove jack caught in the lower reaches of the Maroochydore river.and the Bli Bli bridge. Whiting from the north Shore. Bream and jew from the Cod Hole.

Mooloolaba: School mackeral from the inner Gneerings. Great catches of whiting, dart and bream along the Kawana and Wurtulla beaches. Quality tailor in the washing machine and off the Point Cartwright rocks. Whiting being caught at La Balsa Park and Mckenzies bridge.   

Caloundra: Mud crabs being caught in Bells and Coochin Creek. Grunter bream in Coochin Creek. Mangrove Jack off the Boardwalk and in the Pelican Waters canals. Tarpon behind the golf course. Whiting are abundant throughout the Pumicestone Passage. Quality tailor from Bribie Island.

Pic; Mark and Stimpy were very pleased with themselves and their 4kg snappers caught at Sunshine Reef.

Noosa: Cobia, rat kingfish, sweetlip and coral trout from Sunshine Reef. Tailor up to 5kg north of Teewah. Quality mangrove jacks in Noosa Waters, Weyba Creek and between the lakes.  Giant trevally at the river mouth and in Woods Bay. Whiting and flathead in the frying pan.  

Maroochydore: Rat kingfish around Old Women Island in the mornings. A 2kg+ tailor was caught along the Maroochy North Shore last night. Mangrove jack to 1.8kg on livies from Bli Bli bridge over night. Whiting to 38cm from twin waters. Bream and gar from picnic point.

Mooloolaba:   Grassy sweetlip, parrot and rat kingfish on the local reefs. Quality catches of bream and whiting at La Balsa Park. A few elbow slapper whiting on the banks either side of McKenzie's Bridge and up mountain creek.

Caloundra: Snapper to 3kg and school mackerel from the 12 mile. Quality tailor over night between Wurtulla and Currimundi. Flathead on live herring off the boardwalk and in the mouth of Bells Creek. Whiting along the golden beach stretch and along the skids. Tarpon behind the golf course.

Pic: John Harry fished the yabby banks out from cotton tree using soft plastic blood worms on the drift for this 27cm golden lined whiting.

Noosa: Spotty mackerel from little hauls reef. Tailor up around the 4kg mark at dawn and dusk north of Teewah on mullet fillets and pilchards. Bream and flathead from the ferry crossing. Soapies between the ferry crossing and the 1st lake. Whiting along the Noosaville Stretch. Giant trevally up to 3kg in Woods Bay and from Munna Point.

Maroochydore: School mackerel and plenty mac tuna on small metal lures between Old Women Island and Point Cartwright. Chopper tailor in the cod hole on high tide. Mangrove jack in the creeks and around Bli Bli bridge over night. Whiting to 38cm from twin waters and cotton tree. Flathead to 69cm and golden trevally to 2kg in the cod hole.

Mooloolaba: Sweetlip and parrot on the Gneerings. Quality grass sweetlip out from Coolum. School mackerel at dawn and a few sweetlip from Currimundi Reef. Snapper, sweetlip, parrot and yellowtail king fish from Murphy's Reef.  Dart and bream at Kawana pocket. Whiting above McKenzie's bridge and in Mountain Creek. Flathead and mangrove jack in Kawana waters. Trevally and bream from La Balsa park on the making tide in the afternoon.

Caloundra: Mangrove jack, trevally and flathead in Coochin Creek. Quiet a few elbow slapper whiting between Golden Beach and the power boat club. Flathead and golden trevally off the boardwalk. Bream, small snapper and tailor off moffat heads.

Whiting like this 38cm solid elbow slapper golden lined whiting being held by Natalie Cole are commonly caught during whiting season in the Maroochy River. This quality fish took a large fresh prawn on the mud flats just above the motorway bridge.

John Harry has been enjoying the sunny weather and good numbers of whiting in the lower reaches of the Maroochy River while on holidays from Brisbane. John fished on the yabby banks surrounding Goat Island using live blood worm for these golden lined whiting between 36 and 39cm.

The sand banks in the stretch of river above McKenzies Bridge in the Mooloolah River has accounted for a few quality elbow slapper whiting like those being held up by Ray and Michael.

Robert Whiting had a good session in the Maroochy River Cod Hole this week catching another 2kg golden trevally and a nice 69cm dusky flathead.

Flathead on soft plastics part 2

Last week I discussed how flathead feed and where they tend to sit in ambush, a few basics on choosing different colours of soft plastics and fan cashing techniques. During this weeks article I will aim to cover a few more of the basics involve with using soft plastics for flathead.

Good tackle catches fish:

Nitro bream pro series and saltwater pro series jig heads gives a lot of action to a soft plastic, without the anglers working the tip of his rod. The shape of the lead in the jig head makes the plastic dart erratically when jerked in an upwards direction and when suspended or dropping back down the jig head  flutters from side to side, giving a natural baitfish action. When fishing on shallow banks less than 1m in depth 1/8 - 1/6oz is an ideal jig head and for 1m or deeper 1/4oz is ideal for a nice natural flutter. If you are fishing more than 5m in depth and the current is reasonable strong it might pay to use 3/8oz. Hook size should be in comparison to the length of the soft plastics, with size 2-2/0 being ample for flathead.

Although flathead will eat almost any style and colour of soft plastics that is dragged in front of their nose when they are hungry, certain colours and shapes have proven to be more successful than others.

Straight or split tailed minnow shaped plastics between 3 and 5 inches tend to be the most popular and require plenty of rod tip movement to give the tail section action. Paddle tailed and curl tailed grubs or shads can be worked very subtly with great action. My preferred brands for targeting dusky flathead include; Berkley Power Bait - Power Minnow, Atomic - Jerk Minnow, Exude - DART, Exude - RT Slug, Snapback - Jerk Bait and Double Strike - Lil Jerk. Among the huge range of colours available to fisherman these days everyone has their favorite that may have produced good results at some time. I find anything with glitter flecks will turn flathead on and produce a good strike rate. If the water is crystal clear and shallow it pays to be conservative with colour choice and go for more of a natural colour. Browns, silvers and greens with fleck scattered throughout will work in almost any situation and are likely to look similar to a variety of local baits.

Using fluorocarbon or low vis leader material is a must when chasing flathead, especially in clear shallow water. I use a minimum of 2 meters of fluorocarbon leader when chasing any fish on soft plastics. Between 12 and 20lb is ideal for flathead depending on the size of your average fish. With 20lb you are pretty safe even with 70cm+ sized duskies.

For further advice on flathead tackle, techniques or locations drop in and talk to our friendly staff down at Swan Boat Hire.  

Retrieval:

Once you've got the right tackle to target flathead, try to master different retrieval styles, you will only get better with practice. When retrieving your soft plastic for flathead the aim is to get it up of the bottom and allow it sink back down again. Flathead need to the see the lure above their head and will often hit the plastic on the drop. A retrieval method to achieve this, the first is done by lifting your tip and then let the plastic sink back down to the bottom. During the lift you should jerk the soft plastics alternating between 1 and 3 times each lift. While the plastic is dropping, take up the slack and repeat the lift and jerks. You can angle your rod so that your line runs almost parallel to the water or at a 45 degree angel if you want the plastic to lift hire off the bottom. Over time you can use trial and error to design your own unique retrieval.

Hot Spots:

Noosa: Around the big yabby banks in the frying pan. Munna Point bridge. The entrances to all the lakes.

Maroochy: The Bli Bli channel marker stretch. Any of the yabby banks between Chambers Island and the river mouth. Cotton Tree.

Mooloolah: McKenzies Bridge, Kawana Waters canals and Mountain Creek.

Caloundra: The bar, boardwalk, military jetty, the yabby banks between Bells creek and Coochin Creek and the weed banks in Coohin Creek.

Dj and Lee from the Maroochy RSL fishing club decided to wet a line this week along the Twin waters stretch using fresh prawns and live worms to catch 300g whiting and a 1.6kg golden trevally.

Darrin Hamilton took a weeks leave to get some serious fishing done in the Maroochy River and came up with a few nice whiting on live bloods worms from the Bli Bli stretch.

Jason Armstrong has caught some quality fish from the bank in the middle reaches of the river over the past two weeks. This quality mangrove jack was caught around the high tide over night this week.

Travis Hamilton had a day off from school and got to fish soft plastics along the bli bli mud flats. With the help of his father with the landing net, young Travis boated this 69cm dusky flathead after lengthy fight.