MASS SCHOOLS OF GAR IN THE LOWER MOOLOOLAH

It’s that time of the year again when mass schools of ‘three-by-two gar’ and sea gar school up in the lower reaches of the Mooloolah River providing hours of fun for those keen angler chasing a feed of fish or bucket full of bait. These fish tend to school in the area during the winter months giving angler a chance to fine tune their float fishing skills. Three-by-two garfish are a high quality eating fish and are a targeted by many for this reason. They are also an excellent fresh and live bait that can be used in a number of applications.

Hook them up soon after captures as live bait for jew, tailor and flathead.

You can also rig them as whole fish on gang hooks similar to pilchards for a big tailor off the beaches. Fillet or chunk them for bream and flathead bait in the river or off the beach.

You don’t need any specialised fishing equipment to catch gar. Just use an extra light spin outfit with a float, small split shots and a size 10 or smaller hook at the bottom. The distance between the hook and the float should be adjusted to match the water depth, where fish are feeding and it’s good to use a berley trail to have them in a feeding frenzy. This length should be somewhere between 30 and 60cm, with an adequate number of split shots to allow for tidal flow.

Peeled river prawns cut into small portion and white bread compressed on the hook are probably the best two baits for gar. It pays to fish in your berley trail by using a very slow retrieve or just let the bait sit still.

Berley with chunks of bread or a few handfuls of bread crumbs with a splash of tuna oil to attract the fish.

Gar will feed well on most stages of the tide, but I find that the last few hours of the making tide produces best result for me.

There isn’t a size limit on gar, but there is a bag limit of 50 fish per person.

Equipment required to do the job:

Light spinning rod and reel combo with light line

#10 long shank hook

Size 0-1 split shot sinkers

Pencil or ball float

Float stoppers

Bag of bread/bread crumbs

Bag of green prawn

The schools of gar holding up in the lower Mooloolah river should continue to do so for at least another month, giving anglers a chance to get a piece of the action.

LOCAL FISHING REPORT

Noosa: Trevally in Woods Bay and the Sound at night on the outgoing tide. Flathead averaging 50cm to 60cm throughout the river. Bream and tailor from the river mouth through to Teewah. Luderick off the rock walls at the river mouth and around the Platform.

Maroochydore: Good numbers of whiting from Goat and Channel Island. Chopper Tailor and Bream from around the Mouth on the top of the tide. Trevally on soft plastics around the Bridge Pylons and in the Cod Hole. Bream around Chambers Island and Picnic Point. Flathead from the Bli Bli Islands through to the mouth of Eudlo Creek .

Kawana: Large schools of Bream around the rock walls. Bream, Sand Flathead, Tailor and Tarwhine off the beach at Kawana. Chopper Tailor off the rock walls and Point Cartwright at night. Good numbers of Gar from La Balsa Park to the Sand Basin and around the boat moorings. Luderick from the Kawana rock wall.

Caloundra: Snapper up to 3kg at Currimundi Reef. Tailor from the Bar through to Happy Valley. Bream From the Pelican Waters Canals and the Blue Hole. Luderick, bream and flathead off the boardwalk. Flathead throughout the lower reaches of the passage.