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Bream, Dart & Tailor on the Northern end of Seven Mile Beach. Bream & Tailor off the rocks at Broken Head. Chopper Tailor off the beach in front of the caravan park at Broken Head at dawn & dusk. Bream & Whiting in front of Taylor's Lake and at Suffolk Park. Bream, Whiting & Dart at Tallow Creek & Honeysuckle Hill.
Bream & Chopper Tailor off the rocks at Cosy Corner. Bream, Dart & Chopper Tailor off the rocks at the Chair, Stepping Stones & the Bream Hole.
Bream off the rocks behind the Pass. Bream, Dart & Whiting off Belongil & Sunrise Beach.
Simmo and Dave, Byron Bay Bait and Tackle 6685 7711
byronbaitntackle@yahoo.com.au
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NSW Fisheries has closed the Richmond River from Coraki to Ballina and the beaches and headlands from Lennox Head to Broadwater Beach to all recreational and professional fishing for at least the next week as a result of a massive fish kill after the floods of early February. Fisheries has decided that the fish which managed to escape the killer ‘black water’ should be given enough time to get back and try to repopulate the system unhindered.
A team from NSW Fisheries this week is assessing the damage and what can be done.
The encouraging news is that the river system is likely to recover reasonably quickly, if the Brunswick River is any indicator. Much of the Brunswick went belly-up in 1999 when a truck carrying pool chlorine crashed into the river. While it is a much smaller and shorter river than the Richmond, the Brunswick is now fishing about as well as it ever did.
Tony Zann, NSW Fishing Monthly, t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au
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Surprising sort of a week really – one would have thought that the fishing would have been a little better. In reality it was just a week of fair fishing. Probably the highlight would have to be the whiting, both on the beaches and in the lower estuary. They have been pretty good to the extent that we have sold out of our preserved worms, which I would put up as a product that is arguably unbeaten anywhere. I don't say this lightly. The Bait Place at the BP Servo on Yamba Road has prided itself in the bait department for the past 19 years that we've had the business, and we do take a lot of pride in what we sell.
Jew have been surprisingly quiet with the fresh. Sure, there have been fish taken but definitely not to the degree of past freshes. I have been suggesting to anglers for the past two to three days that Browns Rocks will be due to fire any day, especially for bream and sure enough, today (Feb 21), one of my most reliable anglers reported in. He got there at 7.30am with some live herring and good mullet gut. Fished the making tide and the start of the out. Result: best bream 1.85kg; second-best bream 1.8kg and five other fish all over 1kg and that's just what he kept.
Thursday's my day off and I will be at Brown's early and on the electric, working the northern bank initially and then the deeper water for these big bream on both fly and Taylor Made bream lures, certainly some of the best on the market. See you there, but hey, I think you missed the tide...
Glen Porter, The Bait Place 6646 2017
ports@turboweb.net.au
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Flat out putting out the latest catalogue, no time for anything!
Peter Russell, Fishing Tackle Australia 6652 4611
motackle@midcoast.com.au
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Offshore: Marlin and Spanish about, so are the spotties; kings at Fish Rock with some cobia as well.
Beaches: Bream, whiting coming good on Smoky.
River: Jew and cobia in the lower river, good-sized flathead on livies. Whiting on the sandflats upstream, jew about the Jerseyville bridge. Bass are returning to their old haaunts as the water quality improves.
‘The Phantom’, filling in for Peter and Amanda Jordan, Rocks Marine Bait and Tackle 6566 6726
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Water colour for the last week has been excellent, that crisp blue colour, the reverse of the dull green water we experienced the week before. This is without doubt water from the north and the kind of water we would expect at this time of year. As a result of the better water, rocks, beaches and the lower estuary are fishing well.
Massive changes are taking place in the length of daylight. This phenomenon more than anything else alerts nature to a change of season approaching.
Already the garfish have arrived at Point Perpendicular and from what I am hearing,they are not getting any rest – 'silver flashes' break them up into a scatter moments after they have reassembled. If this is happening at Point Perp, you can safely say that it is also happening at all headlands that normally hold garfish.
It has been a good week off the beaches for bream and whiting; today they will want pipis and the next day beach worms.
The rocks have produced tailor, a few drummer and lots of blackfish. Jewfish numbers have also improved especially from around The Pulpit area and Dunbogan headlands.
Mud crab and river prawn activity since the water cleared is closer to Wauchope than it is to Port.
The peak of the 'big' flathead season in deep water is now taking place. The south breakwall is giving up huge lizards on the change of the tide. Poddy mullet both live and dead along with pilchards are all taking these monsters. I am hearing that the water depth is about 14 feet.
Southerly and south-easterly winds in the last week have kept most offshore boats at home. Both charter boats got away last week and secured good catches of snapper. Sea Quest had 74 good snapper and a few other reef fish to clean after their outing mid last week – this was between nine fishermen. Fishing was slow for most of the outing with the feeding fenzy coming just before the barometer started to fall. Those fishermen now understand the power of the barometer, or put more accurately, the effects of a falling barometer.
The winter fishing season is now not far away.
Lloyd and Helen Hewens, Ned Kelly’s Bait and Tackle 6583 8318
nedsbandt@bigpond.com.au
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Offshore: Water temperature and quality have improved, with small dolphin fish in good numbers. Schools of bonito plentiful. Kingies to 10kg from The Pinnacle. No billfish reported.
Beach: Small tailor about but no beach is providing better results than others. Whiting remain, although in lesser numbers.
Rocks: One yellowfin tuna of about 10kg spun up on a Raider lure at Charlotte Head last Saturday (Feb 17). Balance of captures comprise bonito and rat kings. Tailor and bream worth pursuing.
Estuary: Breakwall still producing jewfish and the best of the bream. The lake continues to fish well although the size of the flathead is smaller than in high summer. Bream and whiting well-spread through the system.
Lloyd Campbell, Great Lakes Tackle 6554 9541
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Estuary: Dark of the moon has seen an increase in bream activity. Good catches from the Tubes at Tomaree Head, tthe jetty at Little Beach and the co-op breakwall. Garfish schooling up inside the estuary - Shoal Bay and Sally wharf. Early run of luderick on the co-op wall on the last of the run-up tide. Flathead at Wanda Head and next to the hospital gates at Shoal Bay.
Rocks: Jewfish at dusk ot Sunny corner and Rocky. Plenty of schoolies around 4kg-6kg on large prawns. Tailor handing on most headlands, with a good run of fish up to 2.5kg. Luderick schooled up from Cemetery Point to Fishermans, with big bronzies from 1kg to 1.4kg.
Beach: Stockton producing a good run of breamn. whiting tapering off a little. Jewfish from the huts to the Sygna wreck.
Offshore: Conditions a bit ordinary with south-easter all week. Water temp rising and should improve marlin action for interclub over the next two weekends, Small dolphin fish on the traps from 30 fathonms out. Good trag on Gibber and 21 reefs; school jew around Little Rocky and trag and kingies on the Uralla.
Graham Duffy, Salamander Bait and Tackle 4982 0711
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Harbour: Quite a lot of mulloway on live yellowtail or fresh squid; also some small flathead.
Lake Macquarie: Blacksmiths Breakwall at night for small tailor; good bream from Salts Bay; decent flathead in the channel, mostly on live poddies; the lake has a few squire, especially around Belmont Bay.
Beach: Blacksmiths for whiting; Red Head for the odd tailor and a few good whiting; Dudleys for Bream and occasional tailor; Stockton for school jew behind the hospital; Birubi end for whiting; a few tailor around the Sygna.
Offshore: Dumping Ground and Stockton Bight for plate-sized squire and flathead; around the ships or the traps for a mile of dolphin fish. Billfish quiet.
Russell, Tackle Power Newcastle 4943 8388
tacklepower@pigpond.com.au
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As predicted last week, Berowra Flats provided plenty of flathead as well as some large bream 1kg to 1.5kg. Calabash Bay also showed bream round the 850g mark and small flathead. Our catch of the week was by Louie Tornatola at Long Shore, who landed a 4.875kg flathead caught on prawns. There were also some jew and bream to 850g caught on prawns as well.
Phil T, however, found it a bit slow around West Head, so he headed up to the southern end of Scotland Island, finding tailor, trevally, and kingies to come home with a nice catch.
Our resident fisherman, Craig, did not have as much luck but did come back to work with a great tale about a huge dolphin fish that got away, three hours in hospital and a hook embeded in his hand.
Have a great week!
Windybanks Bait and Tackle, John & Anne Windybanks 9477 1501
windy@tig.com.au
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Frigate mackerel are patrolling the harbout from Sow and Pigs across to Middle Head, in to Chinamans Beach and out to Dobroyd Point. These small tuna species are busting up baitfish all over at the moment: “Over there – no, over there – look, they’re behind us!” are the cries from the boats. Tiny baitfish profile lures are the only thing they’ll take. Good-sized tailor are on the chew in the Manly Cove area. Des from Fishabout Tours and FOW staff caught heaps around the 40cm-50cm mark on large barramundi Mauler lures. After trolling and then spinning up the tailor, Des fished the Wedding Cakes and caught a few kingfish on squid and there were good bream underneath the kings. Quarantine Point also turned on some kingfish on live slimies and a 4kg flathead took a strip bait.
Off the stones, ‘Mr Ab Gut”, Lester, caught some good drummer to 3kg at Curl Curl. Some reasonable blue groper from Long Reef Point with one chap scoring well on fresh cunje and red rcrab baits. Luderick are enjoying th ediscoloured walter in the estuary systems. Blackfish biting on string weed on the Clontarf side of Spit Bridge about two to 2.5 metres down.
Mick Lyons, from Tiger’s Charters, warns about the oodles of silver toadfish infesting the close reefs and biting off hooks and rigs destined for other species. It can be hard to catch anything else when they’re about.
Offshore, there are so many small dolphin fish that you can nearly walk on them. After trolling through patches of small dolphin fish on the shelf all Sunday morning , Captain Kurt and crew finally found a concentrated school and worked it for half an hour before a 70kg black marlin took a bait and headed for the horizon.
What’s on: Fish Outta Water is organisaing a ‘Restock the Lagoon’ weekend after the devastation at Quenscliff Lagoon we reported last wek. We’re encouraging anyone who fishes the harbour or the rocks to keep their catch alive. FOW will have two large purpose-built transport containers meeting at a designated point on the hour to receive the live fish for transport to the lagoon. There will be barbecues at the lagoons park, a pointscore competition for fish caught and prizes and giveaways. FOW will soon have a donations piggybank with proceeds to purchase fingerlings to restock the lagoon.
Peter/Kurt, Fish Outta Water 9949 9488
fishon@ozemail.com.au
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Whiting have been caught off the sand flats at Dolls Point on nippers and blood worms. The trick to get the bigger ones to take the baits is to keep the rig moving. You could also try the area of sand on the southern side of the Cooks River breakwall, the sand bar at the Moons and the stretch of beach up stream of the Alfords Point bridge.
Flathead have been caught on lures off Bonna Point, between the groynes at Kurnell, the sand flats at the entrance to Woronora River and the Gertrude oyster leases in the middle half of the Georges River. Try using Mann’s Stretch 5s and 10s, Esoteric Shot lures, Bo Bo lures and the Salmo Bullhead.
Luderick have been caught on fresh green weed and squirt worms near the pylons at Captain Cook Bridge during the first two hours of the run-out tide. Como bridge on the north side has produced a couple of small mulloway on fresh squid baits on the last of the run-up tide.
Bream and mullet have been caught in the upper reaches of the river on a rising tide. The small concrete platform beside the walkway bridge at Prince Edward Park in the Woronora River is worth a try. Try using a Ned Kelly pole, a very small foam float and rolled up bread. Berley will help.
The seas have been up a bit lately , making it hard to fish outside. Those who have got outside have been getting mowies, snapper, kingfish, sand flathead, bonito, leatherjackets and trevally.
What’s On.
On March 31 and April 1 the St George Motor Boat Club will hold a massive fishing competition to support the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation. There will be tackle talks, an auction, sporting personalities, media, entertainment, BBQ , free stuff, lucky ticket draws, raffles, refreshments and of course prizes for the heaviest, snapper, flathead, luderick, whiting, bream, mulloway and sharks, as well as a tag-and-release comp. If you would like to enter you can come into Mako Bait and Tackle get your ticket for a $20 donation to the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation.
While you are there, you might also like to book into one of the series of fishing classes to br run at the shop on How, Where and When to Fish Port Hacking, Botany Bay, George’s and Woronora Rivers. I will be covering types of techniques, baits, rigs and fish species over three consecutive Monday nights from March 12 at 7.00pm. For further information you can contact Greg or John at the shop on 9600 6999, email me at gebrown@sia.net.au or phone me on 0417 690 508.
Gary Brown/Greg Mercedes Mako Tackle 9600 6999
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Inlet: Flatties to 7.2kg taken on lures and poddies. Good tailor to 2kg; whiting on the sand flats on nippers and worms. Solid bream around the highway bridge and the oyster leases.
Beaches: A few salmon, tailor and bream and the odd gummy shark.
Reef: Mowies and small snapper with the odd long fin perch and pigfish. Kingies are solid one day and quiet the next, but some good fish between 10kg and 12 kg are coming in.
Blue water: Good sharks (biggest a 330kg mako), with hammerheads and bronze whalers in abundance. Marlin appear to have arrived, with 12 known to have been caught and released on Wednesday. Good numbers of small dolphin fish, best area is around The Kink.
Darryl, The Ocean Hut 4476 2278
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No report this week.
Bruce and Dawne Grant, Wonboyn Cabins and Caravan Park, 6496 9131
wonboyn@asitis.net.au
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