The September Fishing Report, Week Three 2006, Noosa, Queensland, Australia, brought to you by Castlemaine Perkins.

OFFSHORE: It's a bit hard to believe, looking at this week's report photos, but we had strong (to almost gale force) 30 Scarlet Sea Perch

knot+ south easterlies hammering the coastline earlier in the week. As a result, there wasn't a lot for the offshore brigade to do during that time other than browse the walls and shelves at Davo's while waiting patiently for the winds to abate, the associated 2.5m+ swell to drop and the almost torrential rains to finally ease off. And (eventually) ease they did, just in time for the weekend warriors to do their stuff, although the 20 knot southerlies didn't exactly bring the TGO conditions some optimistic anglers were hoping for. Still, beggars can't be choosers and from Friday on conditions could certainly be classified as 'fishable', even if at times they were a tad lumpy. Those who ventured out over the weekend reported that Squire, Moses Perch and Parrot Fish were common to all locations. In addition, Chardon's Reef produced Teraglin Jewfish while at 'The Coffees' the bonus species were Snapper, Parrot Fish and, as per the photo above, quality Cobia or Black Kingfish. Melbourne angler Frank Egan boated the 18kg specimen he's posing with while out there yesterday on a full day Cougar One charter. He was armed with a Shimano Backbone rod and a Shimano Charter Special reel loaded with 20lb line. North Reef was the only other real producer this week but those who dropped the pick there were more than happy with the catch, coming back with Pearl Perch, Teraglin Jewfish, Parrot Fish and, as you can see by the next two photos; Snapper and Scarlet Sea Perch. John Cornelius (right) from Nambour was out there yesterday on a full day Cougar Too charter when this 4kg 'Scarlet' monstered his Pilchard bait. He was armed with a Wilson Live Fibre rod and and Alvey 825C reel loaded with 30lb Pioneer Flexline. And on the previous day (Saturday), again on Cougar Too, Ipswich angler Steve Camplin (below) nailed the 4.2 kg 'Knobby' he's pictured with. He too was armed with a Wilson/Alvey offshore combo.
Snapper

ONSHORE: There weren't a lot of surf anglers out on the coastal beaches this week and under the circumstances it wasn't too surprising. Having said that, there are always a few die-hards who are determined to wet a line no matter what

the conditions. The only reports of any note, however, were from Sunshine Beach where Dart and Whiting were the standout species. In the river, the flush from the recent rains tended to slow things down somewhat so those that were chasing a feed had to put in a lot more effort to get a result. Overall, however,it was rather patchy. The river mouth area produced a wide variety of species such as Flathead (soft plastics), Whiting (live worms), Bream (Squid and Mullet flesh baits) and Trevally (cast metal slugs). Whiting were also worth targeting along the Gympie Terrace stretch (live Beach and Blood Worms and live Yabbies got best results) and around Munna Point where, as you can see by the photo on the right, the odd quality Trevally was on the prowl. Hayden Bertoli-Simmonds from Brisbane has featured in our reports a number of times over the years and this time it's with a quality 2.8kg 'Tea Leaf' he picked up at the Munna Point Bridge this morning. Hayden, who was armed with a Whiting rod and a Gladiator threadline reel loaded with 8lb line, used a live Prawn as his draw card. Apart from that the deeper waters near the council chambers at Tewantin had a bit of Mangrove Jack (surface poppers) activity while the Noosa Waters canals yielded small Trevally and Mangrove Jacks plus the odd quality Bream. Things were very quiet on the freshwater scene with just the odd Lake MacDonald Bass chasing surface poppers and Jackals around Borer Creek.