Fish on the move

Dean Dawson | April 11 »
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The author’s first samson fish was a welcome surprise in between multiple rat kingfish hook-ups.

This month is all about fish migration. While almost nothing in nature is ever absolute, the annual run of migrating mullet, luderick and bream will be almost guaranteed to kick off this month.

Taking advantage of these schooling fish will put you in the box seat for some exceptional action.

But just remember that these fish are migrating for the sole purpose of breeding, so if you find yourself catching bream or luderick hand over fist, use some restraint and keep only what you need for an immediate feed and release the rest.

On a recent land-based game trip Ray Smith and I saw the welcome arrival of a huge school of luderick that were eager to smash every surface bread bait we could throw at them.

We landed eight broad-shouldered, obese specimens in the middle of the day and could have probably continued poling them out for hours but we had more than enough to satisfy our needs.

On inspection, every fish was in full spawning condition. Interestingly, only two fish were female.

Bream, too, will be heavily laden with roe for the next two months and taking bag-limit hauls of these fish is not a good thing. Again, keep only what you can immediately consume and release the rest.

Hot on the heels of the migrating mullet will be big jewfish and there have been some monster fish encountered recently.

Fish over 20kg have been captured in the Clyde River and a friend who wants the details kept hushed snared a 28kg and a 30.5kg fish off a beach not renowned for such action. Jewfish anglers can be among the most secretive anglers of all!

It has been years since I bothered fishing the night shift off the sand for jewfish but I am feeling a little urge to don the waders this season and have a bit of a go.

The daytime soft plastic scene is still producing small fish off the rocks on occasion, with Ray Smith recently releasing a few nice single-figure fish.

He has been hounding the Cronulla Fisheries Office for some appropriate tags to put into these fish and would be great to see if they can come up with a program for such an important species.

I suspect by the time this issue hits the stands the big jewies will be making their presence felt.

EARLY REDS

According to spearfishermen there are plenty of snapper averaging 5kg already occupying the shallow water, which is earlier than normal.

Rock fishers will routinely be in pursuit of big snapper over coming months. Migration once again is a key factor with fish moving into shallow water from the depths as they follow the cuttlefish that begin to mass for their annual breeding cycle.

Shy snapper often throw caution to the wind once a dead cuttlefish carcass floats to the surface, and the reds will aggressively feed right on top.

This is the perfect for scenario for some sight casting with soft plastics or bait from a boat – or, if you are lucky, within casting distance off the rocks.

Last season I was fortunate to find myself sight casting to big snapper blasting the surface as dolphins nicely popped a trio of cuttlefish wide of the ledge I was fishing.

The light onshore breeze kept the carcasses perfectly in the strike zone and a good tally of reds to 4.6kg was the result.

Big kingfish continue to be a hit-and-miss affair with fish sighted following hooked bonito or salmon but rarely feeding more than a day or two each week.

The offshore reefs have been OK for 80cm to 95cm fish taking big live yellowtail and slimy mackerel, and those fishing the rocks have encountered fish to 9kg.

Undersized (sub 65cm) kingfish have been prolific, taking soft plastics, metals, poppers, live baits – you name it.

We have put a number of fish back sporting yellow spaghetti research tags so if you happen to score a tagged fish, be sure to weigh and measure it and send the info to the contact written on the tag.

BLOW-INS

The warm water has meant a few tropical fish have reached the Bay. I recently scored a samson fish off the rocks on a deep-jigged 85g Raider, which was a first for me, and my spearfishing friends reckon there are plenty of them about.

I also had an estimated 4kg spotted mackerel nipping at my white X-Rap in clear water but it failed to find the hook.

Schools of inshore striped tuna of 3kg to 5kg are occasionally passing the rocks, providing some sensational, line-sizzling lure action for those lucky enough to be on the spot.

Shelf-bound anglers are finding good numbers of striped marlin and the odd black around 100kg.

Anglers switch-baiting with live slimy mackerel are scoring good numbers of fish but you need to have a pretty organised crew to successfully pull it off regularly.

Those trolling lures are also getting fish but are finding fish falling off their lures at times – standard on artificial offerings for fish with hard, bony mouths.

School yellowfin tuna are worth chasing and we will also be seeing some bigger ’fin starting to show.

This month will certainly not be too early to start laying down a cube trail for tuna – my favourite of all methods for shelf fishing.

Rat kingfish have been prevalent off the Moruya reefs this season, a welcome invasion.

Images

The author’s first samson fish was a welcome surprise in between multiple rat kingfish hook-ups.

Smithy with another school jew prior to release. The author hopes Fisheries can provide some relevant tags to keep track of the many fish like these released on the South Coast over several years.