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No Report this Week
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 to all forms of recreational and commercial fishing until April 1 to allow marine life to inhabit huge areas which were subject to widespread fish kills in early February. The coastal area from Lennox Head south to about Patchs Beach is also closed to all forms of recreational and commercial fishing apart from trapping and line fishing. The good news is that the coastal area is also closed to trawling and beach hauling, meaning the prawns flushed out of the river will grow and the heaps of pilchards, gar and other bait fish moving down this stretch of coast will be left alone.
Tony Zann
tzann@fishingmonthly.com.au
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Probably the highlight of the week would have to be the run of tailor along our part of the coast, particularly in the past five or so days. This activity along the rocks also heralded a big increase in the offshore activity. Primarily I speak of the closer, inshore reefs which, since last Saturday, have shown better capture rates. Snapper, teraglin and a few Spaniards have been the highlights but the fishing is still a long way from being what anyone could describe as anything near red-hot. I hear there are lots of black tip sharks over at Woody Head Bay. Great fun off the beach if you want to stretch a bit of string and pretty good on the chew if you need some fine-tasting flake. The best tailor for the week is reported to be 9.6kg. It has been photographed and weighed and I have spoken to a couple of blokes who witnessed the fish. This is the biggest tailor that has been taken in our immediate area for probably 15 years, though I might need correcting on this. Grahame Parker, a professional at the time, weighed an 18.5lb fish with at The Bait Place at the BP Servo on Yamba Road all those long years ago and I do have a photograph somewhere.
Good whiting being taken on almost all the beaches but sadly, live beach worms are very hard to find, with the professional wormers terribly disappointed at the lack of product available.
Good flathead back in the estuary, mostly on live bait. The better fish weighed this past week at our business went 3.1kg, 3.3kg and 3.6kg, all by different anglers. By the way I did make it to Browns Rocks last Thursday for 8 bream, all taken on Taylor Made Lures, the water was still pretty dirty but if you are in the area and want to get a big bream, this is the spot for the next couple of weeks.
Glen Porter, The Bait Place 6646 2017
ports@turboweb.net.au
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Offshore: Nice snapper and plenty of spotted and Spanish mackerel, with the Spaniards outnumbering the spots 2:1 at the moment. Water temps 22°-24° on the beach and 27° out wide. Some nice reef fish like mowies, pearlies and trag as well, with heaps of bait.
Longtails around the wall and Muttonbird Island. Excellent luderick from the back of the quarry.
Beaches for some nice whiting and bream with the odd jewie thrown in.
Estuary: Some good flathead in the 2-4kg range with doog bream and whiting thrown in as well.
Game: No reports.
Peter Russell, Fishing Tackle Australia 6652 4611
motackle@midcoast.com.au
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The fabulous fishing brought about by the recent floods has slowed a little but offshore there have been good catches of dolphin fish, yellowfin tuna and the odd cobia. The good news is that the spotted mackerel have shown up in ever-increasing numbers. There also are still miles of bait fish.
The catch of the week was a 16kg cobia and a 26kg Spanish mackerel, both taken off the rocks by a pair of anglers on consecutive days.
The Macleay River has cleared up nicely and good catches of flathead have been taken.
there have been good catches of whiting, bream and flathead from the beaches with some nice tailor taken at sunrise.
Peter and Amanda Jordan, Rocks Marine Bait and Tackle 6566 6726
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It has been a mixed week in the Hastings. Offshore was not as good as you would expect for late summer/early autumn. The current is out of the north, the colour of the ocean is right, the bait fish are in place but the predators, the Spanish, spotties, marlin etc, are doing very little. The pelagic that is performing offshore is dolphin fish. There is no shortage of these but they are not whoppers. Be sure to take an esky and ice – these fish need extra care if they are to present in top order.
North of our Port there are good numbers of kingfish to be had. With the kings are a scattering of cobia and teraglin.
Mud crab fishing is still good. You will, however, need to concentrate your efforts upstream, rather than lower in the estuary.
The big flathead season right now is as good as it gets. It won't be long before this species begins to taper off. Generally by Easter it is all over. Local deep-water spots in the river, particularly the bend on the south wall, using live bait is where to be if you want flathead action. You need to fish around the top or the bottom of the tide.
Whiting quality along the beaches has jumped significantly. However, I cannot say that I know of anyone who is bagging out.
It has been a long time since tailor fishing has been as good as it is right now. They aren't whoppers but there sure are plenty of them. Both the beaches and rocks are holding school tailor.
Lloyd and Helen Hewens, Ned Kelly’s Bait and Tackle 6583 8318
nedsbandt@bigpond.com.au
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Offshore: Water remains warm and blue with increasing numbers of bonito, frigates and bait fish. Dolphin fish to 1kg remain common. Small black marlin were sighted in the Seal Rocks area last weekend. the Pinnacle remains popular for kingfish and mulloway.
Beaches: Tailor are now present on most beaches, although most captures are of just legal length. There are excellent sand whiting off the beaches in and around Seal Rocks. Dart are in plague proportions.
Rocks: LBG remains limited to rat kings. Local legends predict the longtail tuna will arrive with the next full moon, about March 10. Reasonable catches of tailor will come from most rock platforms. Rocks to the south of Blueys Beach have produced excellent bream and blackfish on cunje.
Breakwall and estuary: Mulloway are still being taken from the Forster Wall on any run-out tide, day or night. Fresh occy remains the most successful bait. Bream and tailor are also plentiful. Occasional reports of snapper from the very ends of the walls. The estuary remains alive with whiting, flathead, bream, mullet and garfish. Big bream have been caught at low tide in shallow water using small surface poppers or by skipping a DOA Prawn and then allowing it to settle. Some large flathead have been the by-catch of this DOA skipping.
Lloyd Campbell, Great Lakes Tackle 6554 9541
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No report this week.
Graham Duffy, Salamander Bait and Tackle 4982 0711
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No report this week.
Russell, Tackle Power Newcastle 4943 8388
tacklepower@pigpond.com.au
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The Kingfish are biting! We have had reports from every where in the harbour and Broken Bay, but exact locations? Nobody’s telling! Biting on almost anything: live yellowtail, Raiders, Wonder Pilchards, and nothing but a shiny hook. Just find a good spot and you should have an exciting time.
There have also been reports of School Jewies at the northern mouth of Jerusalem Bay on squid strips. Flathead on the drift at Berowra Flats and around Lion Island. Beach anglers will also find tailor around a kilo off the northern beaches from Narrabeen to Palm Beach on spinners.
Snapper are starting off West Reefs, Broken Bay. Use large
prawns, squid and pillies.
Windybanks Bait and Tackle, John & Anne Windybanks 9477 1501
windy@tig.com.au
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Divers at Long Reef have been witnessing packs of 20kg kingfish patrolling the drop-offs around White Rock Reef. Although at this size the bandits are hard to stop, the use of a downrigger with a 24kg rod and a huge live bait or fresh squid should give the angler half a chance. The huge schools of yellowtail rippling the surface in the same area would be providing food for the kingies and other predators.
Also on the close-in reefs, morwong, flathead and plate-size snapper are succumbing to striped tuna and squid. Mick Lyons from tiger’s Charters reports that Whale Reef and the Nine Mile are good places to start. Mick warns to watch out for NSW Fisheries officers, who boarded his boat at North Head during the week searching for undersize fish. The officers have been paying attention particularly to undersize kingfish, so you have been warned!
On the beaches, jewfish have made a showing, with FOW’s Darren Thomas landing his first beach jewie, a 6kg fish.
In the harbour, the small boat brigade have been working the Wedding Cake channel markers for kingfish between 75cm and 85cm on strips of fresh calamari. Tailor are still chopping up bait between Dobroyd Point and across to ‘Point Ferry Disaster’. Also in Manly Cove, blue swimmer crabs are jumping onto baited hooks and squid jigs destined for more betentacled fare, reports Paul the Irishman from FOW. Now is the time to set witches’ hat traps in the sandy areas throughout the harbour. Remember, the females with eggs cannot be taken and the minimum body length is 6cm, with a total of 20 the daily bag limit.
Offshore, the luck of the Irish continues, with Paul, our Irish fly guru, seducing 13 dolphin fish on the fly rod at the wave-rider buoys. Black marlin continue to maraud the shoals of small dolphin fish on the shelf. Most boats are seeing at least one or two marlin a day and the lures working best are the same size as the bait. Pakula makes great soft-head lures for this purpose in the Shaker, Sprocket and Roach Head shapes. For March, FOW has 20% off all Pakulas.
Peter/Kurt, Fish Outta Water 9949 9488
fishon@ozemail.com.au
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I was out on Botany Bay last Saturday and was amazed at the number of boats that were on the water. There would have been about 10 to 12 boats just off Henrys Head, 10 boats fishing the eastern end of the Port Botany breakwall, eight or so boats off the end of boat runways. There were also boats at the end of the oil wharf, Watts Reef had a few, and there were about half a dozen at Captain Cooks Bridge. This was due to an inter-club fishing competition from 3pm on Saturday to noon Sunday.
There were tailor, bream. trevally, snapper, luderick, kingfish and many other species caught over the weekend. A variety of baits, from chicken gut, tuna, mullet, prawns, squid, garfish, whitebait, bonito, live worms and nippers were used.
Now that all this commotion has gone, I would suggest you try the above places in the bay and maybe Lilli Pilli, Gunnamatta and Gymea Bay for flathead and whiting.
The rocks at the north end of Garie Beach and Stanwell Park have been producing some great catches of bream.
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 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 in to 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 for one of the series of fishing classes at the shop on How, Where and When to Fish Port Hacking, Botany Bay, Georges and Woronora rivers. I will cover techniques, baits, rigs and fish species over three consecutive Monday nights, starting on March 12 at 7pm.
For further information phone Greg or John at Mako Tackle 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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Estuary: Tailor in the main lake with the bigger fish falling to downrigged or paravaned lures. Bream and flathead in good numbers; good blackfish but weed a bit scarce.
Beaches: Tailor to 45cm, a few bream and the odd salmon. More salmon being trolled up just outside the breakers.
Reef: Good mixed catches of leatherjackets, morwong, small snapper, wrasse, with kingfish on jigs, squid and yakkas.
Blue water: Sharks (hammerheads, makos and bronzies), a few marlin (mainly small striped). Plenty of bait fish, including stripies, sauries, slimies. Water temp between 22.7° and 24.9.
What’s on
Narooma sport and game ANSA convention starts March 2.
Darryl, The Ocean Hut 4476 2278
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No report
Bruce and Dawne Grant, Wonboyn Cabins and Caravan Park, 6496 9131
wonboyn@asitis.net.au
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