Gday All. Chasing All Advice

[Hatchy]

Gday all, I’m new to the site so doing the norm and introducing myself. I’m Hatchy from the Sunshine Coast. I’ve just got the fishing bug back. Originally from Tas and was quite spoilt for choice down there. Since moving back to qld for the 2nd time, I’ve noticed how slow the fishing really is here. Don’t get me wrong there’s times where it is quite good. I’m chasing some advice or tips on catching more fish on lures and some local spots I’ve got a couple of fish on lures. I have no problem catching fish on bait and can 99% of the time catch fish using bait. But now have moved to lures, I prefer hard body’s to plastics. I’ve caught a few fish trolling with some shallow divers, and some plastics but I want to increase my chances in the yak. I’ll give any where a go as long as I’m not dealing with too many boats and jet skis. I don’t have a sounder yet and well...my partner she has a better kayak then me, my kayak sucks in any kind of wake. So until I upgrade I don’t want to venture into any large body of water that is open to the elements. I don’t need any x spots but just some advice on where I can increase my chance of getting some larger fish other than bream. I know being winter the variety of fish is some what limited but not totally, as my partner caught a 300mm jack before landing a 410mm bream. Kind regards Hatchy

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

G'day Hatchy

Welcome to the forum, I'm sure you'll get some good advice on here. 

In terms of fishing out of the yak, I am thinking some of the canals, but I don't know what boat traffic is like in them. You would be looking at getting cod, jacks, bream, and flathead. I have never been here, but if you watch some videos on YouTube about them you should pick up some tips  

I have a yak too, we have just put the sounder on mine, yakking is very fun isn't it. 

Cheers Hamish

[ellicat]

Welcome to the Forum, Hatchy.

What end of the coast are you at ?

[Hatchy]

I’m up in Maroochydore ellicat so pretty central to all the coast. Not limiting myself to one area. Noosa I have no clue where to go apart from a bridge I can’t remember what it’s called, but on the way to Hastings and the dog beach. I love Currimundi lake as it’s clear at the moment and quite sheltered from the wind. Have my usual spot off Petrie creek. I’d really love to find a spot for Trev’s as their probably one of my favourite fish to catch. Caught baby yellowfin and diamond but only the one. Any tips on lures whether plastics or hard body’s? And how I should use them depending on the fish? I have done a lot of research on the net and feel I’ve exhausted those avenues. So chasing some local knowledge or info of any kind.
 

 

[ellicat]

I haven't fished Maroochydore for quite a few years, but flathead were a common soft plastic catch on the other side of the island (Chambers ?) that you take the foot bridge to. My go-to for flathead is a ZMan 3 inch paddle tail in pink. Having said that I have recently purchased some Gobblers in a variety of colours in the paddle tail, same size. They look good too. If the other side of the island isn't producing, the beach before you cross the bridge is worth a try. Just a slow roll with the occasional hop will work.

Trevs get caught in the Noosa near Lake Weyba. Google is your friend here. I have never tried there but have seen plenty of reports from there. Mostly plastics again, but don't let them sink to the bottom.

If you don't try you won't catch anything - guaranteed !

Let us know how you get on.

[ellicat]

Also have seen a lot of reports coming from the canals at Caloundra where people have caught trevs. Try where the main channel meets a canal. Late last year I was at Military jetty at Caloundra when someone caught an 88cm flathead on a 6 inch gar. Might be worth a try with a big plastic.

Good luck

[Hatchy]

Yeh fished chambers plenty of times before I had the yak. Caught a few flathead on the road side of the island. And there’s plenty of small bream on the eastern side. Caught a star gazer there which I didn’t know what the hell it was until I got back home and did my research. Tend to be limited fishing land based. Maroochy river is ok if you fish on a weekday while everyone is at work, but otherwise it’s very busy. It’s the reason I stick to the upper reaches of Maroochy.   Haven’t done much live baiting up here, I guess when I was in Tas I was put off by the baracouta, gummy and school were far between. I get that I have to fish systems quite often to know there area, but never seem to have much luck on lures or so it seems to me. I’d be interested how often others catch fish on lures in the estuarary. Also if any one has any info on paddling the Noosa river for bass? Is there any other launch points apart from elanda point to get me closer to my destination so I don’t have to paddle as long?

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hey Hatchy

Sounds like you are starting to get to know where to go for what, and good job on the stargazer. Apparently they are quite rare.  

Live baiting is quite a good way to get many different species, normally you can catch them in a cast net. 

Google mps may help you find different launching areas as well, but they might be a bit trickier to access, etc.

Cheers Hamish  

[benno573]

Hey mate. Welcome to the forum. As a fellow yakker, I understand your comment re jet skis. Absolute bane of my existence.

 

The canals that run off currimumdi lake can hold good trevally - basically if you find the bait you’ll generally find the fish. Pelican waters is another good spot.

 

further south there is some good fishing around the mouth of bells creek and also a few spots in coochin creek. The upper reaches rarely have an issue with jet ski lice and can produce surprising captures at times - jacks, cod, mulloway and flatties.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

3 hours ago, benno573 said:

Hey mate. Welcome to the forum. As a fellow yakker, I understand your comment re jet skis. Absolute bane of my existence.

Hey benno573

Well, today when I was out at the park I saw something one step up from annoying jet skis...

This absolute clown decided to get his rubber dinghy out, go speedy down the river (which was bad enough), but as well as that he popped a "wheelie" on his boat, or he pulled the front up nearly vertically. He didn't have a muffler on his engine either.  

Cheers Hamish

P.S. I got a PB catfish of 50cm, report later.

[Hatchy]

12 hours ago, benno573 said:

Hey mate. Welcome to the forum. As a fellow yakker, I understand your comment re jet skis. Absolute bane of my existence.

 

The canals that run off currimumdi lake can hold good trevally - basically if you find the bait you’ll generally find the fish. Pelican waters is another good spot.

 

further south there is some good fishing around the mouth of bells creek and also a few spots in coochin creek. The upper reaches rarely have an issue with jet ski lice and can produce surprising captures at times - jacks, cod, mulloway and flatties.

I actually prefer the jet skis going past faster then slow as the wake is less. But in saying that, how fast the hook up some of the small creeks is quite dangerous. I’m glad you brought up coochin/bells creek. I was trying to get there the other week after work but had some really big days and I wasn’t going to explore in the dark. I read it there’s a few break ins. Any particular places worth launching that don’t require a massive battle to get to the upper reaches? I hadn’t been there since I was a little fella and I’m sure it’s all changed. I did come across a big boil up in Currimundi the other week before I started work I presume was trevally, threw plenty at them but nothing got a hit. I’m probably going to hit up Noosa over the this week before I start work and hopefully get some decent hits, got a new Jackall lure that looks a little like a prawn colour wise. Really appreciate all the info from everyone, just trying to learn as much as I can as quick as I can to stop the dreaded

[Hweebe]

Have caught Trev's Noosa river, night time land based. Look for the baitfish and they will be around. On nights when it was quite enough we could here the splashing when they broke the surface and we would cast poppers out with some success. Many times they were out of reach  but in a  kayak i think this would open up things for you.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hey Hweebe

Sounds like the Noosa River might have a healthy population of trevally, if I'm ever up there I'll be sure to give it a crack (I love eating fresh GT's too! ). 

Cheers Hamish

[Hatchy]

Any signs for bait fish other than the obvious? Obvious being boil ups, jumping or being chased, using a sounder. How do you find them if there’s isn’t a lot of movement? Has anybody tried burley buckets? If so is it worth lugging it around? I know in Tas the fish and squid loved aniseed. But I mainly used the burley, whether thrown or kept in a burley bucket fishing from a pontoon in a very deep channel so it wasn’t a pain in the butt.
 

Water clarity will play a factor visually not being able to see the bait if they are a little deeper. The pressure has been great for fishing lately. Going for a before work flick tomorrow in a Noosa canal and will be trying a 4ft diver that resembles a prawn. Wish me luck

[Hweebe]

1 hour ago, Hatchy said:

Any signs for bait fish other than the obvious?

Bit of trial and error and you will know where. But at night Any well lit pylon or structure and you will find bait fish holding tight. A strong headlamp at night is a must because the silver flicker through the water will be obvious. Cast net then confirms if this is the case if necessary.

Structure is king for finding baitfish. They are not as easy to find in open water. In a yak I don’t see the point burleying as you can move to the fish. I kind of reserve burleying for when I’m going to be at a spot for a while.

The lures typically used to target flathead can sometime also jag a Trev on the troll. On your yak if you scope an area around low tide to look for some flathead lyes, these ambush points are good areas to try as flaties lye here waiting for the unsuspecting bait fish to come by

 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hey Hatchy

Like Hweebe said, baitfish will be around structure. The key is to find a non snaggy area for you to be able to collect live bait (if you want it). Otherwise, casting your line tight in the structure will be better (in general) for getting predators, as they will be where the bait is.  

Cheers Hamish

[GregOug]

Welcome to the group Hatchy

[kmcrosby78]

Some good advice already on here. Definitely lots of trevally in the Noosa - keep an eye out for Noosa River fishing reports (Google it  ).  They get a good variety of them in the Woods Bay area, which in my limited experience is reasonably quiet in a kayak. I also caught some bluefin and golden trevally on live bait (poddy mullet) landbased at the mouth of the river last year. Walk out along the sand from the corner where it meets the rockwall (although the channel may have changed since I was there last September). I didn't throw my line out real far, just far enough to be in the deeper water at the bottom of the drop off for any patrolling fish. If you do this, have a metal slug rigged up in case you spot any surface action  

 Good luck - let us know how you get on.

[Hatchy]

So I didn’t get a chance to have a quick flick before work yesterday as I had some other stuff going on. Weather seems to be not really good today, but hoping I may get a chance on the weekend even if it’s only land based. I do have a couple of metal slugs which I have been flicking around here and there. Benefit is their great cast ability. 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hey Hatchy

Yes, the weather is quite crap today to say the least... Where I am it was just pouring. 

Hopefully the water is not affected where you are, as the rain would most likely dirty it up.  

Cheers Hamish