The Sunshine Coast offers up a plethora of fishing opportunities. Fishermen who visit the coast have the opportunity to tangle with freshwater bass through to big game black marlin and everything in between.
The freshwater impoundments in the hinterland ranges are stocked with feisty Australian bass , golden perch or yellow-belly and one of the best freshwater sport fishing targets, the southern saratoga. The upper reaches of the coastal river systems also offer great wild bass opportunities. Throw the chance of a mangrove jack in to the mix, and drifting the upper reaches of our magnificent rivers can deliver a great day of angling.
Take a look at the freshwater fish gallery here.
The Sunshine Coast is blessed with a number of major rivers that flow from the hinterland ranges right through to our magnificent coastline and each river offers a different fishing experience to anglers.
The Mooloolah River is a relatively small meandering river and is our major commercial port because of its protected entrance. It offers excellent bream and whiting fishing.
The Maroochy River is a bigger river system but is much shallower, particularly the lower reaches. This river provides the perfect playground for dusky flathead and sand whiting in the shallows, and mulloway in the deep holes and around the mouth. The Maroochy is also renowned for the abundance of mangrove jack in its tributaries and rock bars, as well as great land based fishing from both the northern and southern shores of the river mouth. Good catches of golden, silver and giant ( trevally and tailor are a regular occurrence.
The Noosa River is a completely different animal. It is fed by a sequential lake system surrounded by a national park. The river offers great estuary fishing and is renowned for its healthy populations of trevally. The freshwater upper reaches offer mangrove jack and good populations of bass. From time to time, barramundi are also caught in the Noosa River.
Check out the Estuary and BEach fish gallery
The Sunshine Coast has a reef system that runs from north of Noosa to Caloundra, extending in to Moreton Bay, and running as far east as the Barwon Bank which lies inside the continental shelf. In general, these reefs produce abundant catches of snapper in the winter and spanish, spotty and school mackerel in the summer months. Other species commonly caught regularly include pearl perch (Glaucosoma scapulare), spangled emperor, grass sweetlip, cobia and parrot/tuskfish. Catching a feed on the coast is always on the cards when fishing our reefs - as long as you know how!
Click here to take a look at the Offshore fish gallery
If you’ve at least mastered the basics of fishing, then River to Reef will be a handy guide to help you zero in on the fishing activities that suit you and put you in the right place to make the fishing trip a success. Click here to buy the book now.
