Julie/Graeme, Anglers Warehouse Tweed Heads (07) 5536 3822
anglerswarehouse@shopsafe.com.au
Wayne, Kingscliff Bait and Tackle
Matthew/Charlie, Deep Sea Fishing Charters

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A tonne of cornflake weed again in the bay from the Belongil all the way to Wategos.
Offshore: A few mackerel off Brunswick but off Byron, kingies and snapper only.
Beaches/rocks: Tallow has some big whiting and bream on worms. A few chopper tailor with some good ones off The Chair on the cape and around Broken Head.

David Keevers, Coastal Fishing Tackle 02 66 857 133

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Bruce at Dave’s Bait Shop says good flathead along the Porpoise Wall on live bait; school jew in the dirty water at low tide. Tailor from the headlands and walls and in the gutters on Shelly and Angels beaches on dark and early morning. Good whiting in the river on worms at high tide with around dark for the best ones. A fair few bream in the river with some good ones around Wardell. A few GTs to 3kg as well. Muddies up Emigrant.
Worth a try for snapper out wide with mahi mahi on the trap floats. No reports of mackerel.
Evans Head has improved over the past week with the odd Spaniard turning up offshore with cobia and even the odd stray rat yellowfin. Bottom fish were OK before the full moon, no one has been out for two three days but the weather is moderating.
Whiting on Main Beach with some bream and tailor up towards Broadwater. Haven’t heard how the headlands are fishing but there should be some bream and tailor and the likelihood of some school jew.
Evans River has some quality bream but they’re pretty shy in the clear water.

Dave’s Bait Shop 02 6686 2481
&
Tony Zann

t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au

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Offshore: There are some quality reef fish up around South Evans Reef, still not a lot of mackerel and the same could be said for down south.
Some jew and bream holding on Browns Rocks. Live bait for both if you can, otherwise use good old reliable mullet flesh or mullet gut is good in this slightly dirty water.
If you are estuary fishing concentrate around the lower walls over the next couple of days. There should still be a few smaller tailor around and the blackfish are holding in deeper water because of the clarity during daylight hours but most of the cabbage is chewed off, so that says they are coming up on the rocks at night.

Glen Porter, 6646 2017
The Bait Place 6646 2017
ports@reeltime.com.au

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Peter is in New Zealand so only a small report this week from Ashley.
Odds and ends of mackerel, lot of bonito and other bait, a few little black marlin showing up. Good reef fish showing up, snapper and pearlies, and not a lot of current.
Plenty of GTs and jacks up the creeks and the rain has really brought the bass on as they head well up, with the Bellinger fishing well.
Plenty of great whiting on the beaches..

Peter Russell, Fish Tackle Australia 6652 4611
motackle@midcoast.com.au

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Mark and Denise Bird and Paul and Michelle Martin
Rocks Marine Bait and Tackle 6566 6726
birds@tsn.cc

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Jason and Virginia Isaac, Ned Kelly’s Bait and Tackle 6583 8318
cjisaac@ozemail.com.au

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Offshore: I reported last week how two local boats had captured blue marlin wide of Forster/Tuncurry. The day after filing that report I crewed on Adventurer, skippered by John Williams, and we also managed to hooked up to a blue, albeit a smaller model of 125kg. Reef fishos continue to complain about the very strong north/south current that is making it hard to fish, particularly when the wind blows from the other direction. Having said that, there are plenty of bonito, kingfish, snapper and small sharks on offer. Mahi mahi numbers are at there lowest for five or six years.
Beaches: How many shovelnose rays can there be? If you can get past these little devils, you may be a chance for some whiting or bream. There are some tailor around but, as mentioned last week, the beach fishing is average at best. No mulloway to speak of.
Rocks: Forget about the northern bluefin, which are yet to show, and head south towards Seal Rocks for some monster kingfish. 30cm bream or sweep have been the preferred live baits. After dark the mulloway are equally impressive.
Estuary: The bronze whalers are back, with the action off the Tuncurry Breakwall after dark seeing lots of gear and egos destroyed. As you can imagine, with lots of sharks around the mulloway are a little shy. The last few days have seen some quality flathead taken on all manner of lures with the best of the whiting being caught after dark. Better quality bream are being encountered in the lower parts of the lake but it's hard to get past the little stuff. The lake is loaded with mullet.

Lloyd Campbell, Great Lakes Tackle 02 6554 9541

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Graham Duffy, Salamander Bait and Tackle 02 4982 0711

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This month there are a number of fishing competitions in our area with this weekend’s Big Fish Bonanza game comp being held out of Swansea. The Lake Macquarie Game Fishing Club is expecting over 60 boats from throughout the east coast to compete with great prizes available. Weigh ins of some of the captures will be held from 4pm over the two days at the club’s weigh station near Swansea bridge.
This weekend the Newcastle District Anglers Association will host the NSW estuary teams event in Lake Macquarie with their weigh-in at the boat ramp at Swansea on Sunday from 10am.
The first round of the NSW Bass Pro will be held on the Paterson and Hunter rivers over the weekend of February 21 and 22 from the newly rebuilt Queens Wharf facility at Morpeth. For more information on this catch and release bass tournament contact Chris Craig on 02 49 733 373
Fishing in our local area continues to shine with great reports from the local beaches the highlight. The bumper sand whiting are still available along most beaches with the northern area of Stockton producing huge numbers of 500g fish with some angler catching three fish to every worm. Bream and some large flathead have also been caught, as well as a number of tailor, with the breakwalls of Blacksmiths and Stockton surrendering good numbers.
Some amazing captures of Mulloway in Newcastle Harbour have been reported over this last week with the best being by Chad Kelly, who landed fish of 20kg and 24kg one day and then returned to land a 21.5kg fish the next day. Many other large fish have been reported with most fish falling to live yellowtail or slimy mackerel. Bream are also available in good numbers with Terry Slupik and mate Danny reporting fish to a kilo from the Stockton bridge area with pilchards the best of the baits.
Lake Macquarie and the Fullerton Cove area has seen a abundance of blue swimmer crabs with Cardiff crabbers Luke and Jack McIvor providing great feeds of crab to their lucky parents over the weekend.
Offshore has seen the appearance of mahi mahi with anglers reporting fish to 8kg.
Our local impoundments have slowed with both Lake Glenbawn and Lake St Clair still producing bass for anglers willing to troll the lower regions of the dams with deep-diving lures or bait-fish the timbered areas. Many fishos are targeting the schools of silver perch with garden worms.

Jordan Armstrong,
Tackle Power Fishing Stores,
Jordan@tacklepower.com.au

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Peter Sanderson, Fisherman's Warehouse (02) 4945 8922
enquiries@fishermanswarehouse.com.au

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Solid fish around including a 30kg jew on a full squid on a Gosford Beach, 21kg king on a live slimy from Avoca rocks with another 12kg one on a live gar at Little beach. A 27kg jewie also taken off Gosford Beach on a squid. Plenty of flathead in Brisbane Waters but you’ll need live poddies to get them. Plenty of blue swimmer crabs.
Outside fishing is slow in raging currents. Fish in close or fish the surface. Some small kings and mahi mahi and before the current took off there were striped marlin from 60-100k taking trolled skirts.

Gary Oxley Coastline Bait & Tackle, East Gosford ph/fax 4325 4255
kathgaz@bigpond.com
http://www.coastlinefishing.easysites.ws

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Perfect mornings followed by afternoon storms, along with some warmer water and reports of baitfish all over the place. Des from Hook’em Cook’em Charters reports bait schools around the harbour have continued to go off. Tailor, salmon and bonito are chopping on the surface with a few hard-fighting trevally. Also lots of kingies caught – mostly staying deep around the bait. Most kings falling to live yakkas with big soft plastics (Squidgy in drop bear colour and green/yellow) and deep Rapalas also bringing some big fish. Large surface schools have been reported going off around Middle Harbour heads. Big slimy mackerel schools inside South Head and outside from Bluefish Point to Long Reef. Tailor and bonito in good schools right up the main harbour. Chrome/blue metal jigs fast retrieved or trolled have brought best results.
The light flush of rain has also brought lots of reports of bream on the bite in the upper reaches. Pat from Newport fished the light murk around the moorings in Careel Bay for three hot morning sessions this week. His biggest bream just over 1.5kg. on a Squidgy bloodworm. The stormwater flush has also brought the jewies on the bite in the Hawkesbury system. Most jewfish reported are 4-8kg with the freshest squid as best bait. Kris from Marsfield caught three fish around 7kg each.
The outside drifters are reporting flathead in good numbers with a few big 80cm-plus along with some good size mowies. Best results on the drift 1-2 km off North Head. Around Long Reef some solid kings have come in between the XL-sized bonito. Be prepared with some solid trace.
Pittwater/Broken Bay has seen much the same high level of activity. Charter skipper Pete LeBlang has had a huge week with solid kingies inside the ’Joey smashing surface soft plastics. His only complaint was so many the tailor chomping the bums off his softies. Also few good cobia up to 10kg around the same schools.
Out wide, Mick Lyons from Allie Hunter Charters has continued his good form on billfish . After seeing good numbers of striped marlin every day – averaging 70-90kg – he said ‘why would you go flathead fishing when it’s been easier to catch a billfish?’ Similar reports from lots of boats – ranging from Botany Bay up to wide of Terrigal – including a 120kg striped marlin near Broken Bay Wide and another called over 130kg wide of Long Reef. Various FADs along the coast have attracted good schools of mahi mahi. Most caught fish are around 4-6kg but the more wary big ones are there if you can separate them. A pair of monster bull mahis –17kg and 21kg – were taken from one club FAD.
So, what are you waiting for?

Peter/Kurt
Darren Thomas, Fish Outta Water 9949 9488
captainkurt100@hotmail.com

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Mako Tackle
Gary Brown / Greg Mercedes 9600 6999

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Garth, Deans Bait and Tackle, Windang 4295 1615

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With the holidays well and truly over, your favourite jetty, rock wall, beach or rock platform should be vacant once more, not to mention the chaos at the boat ramps. With February and march the best time to fish this area and with no holidaymakers to speak of until Easter, it’s a great place to be, with tuna and marlin outside and garfish, perch and bream in the rivers.
Offshore: With the water up around 22° the snapper fishing has dropped off but the kingfish are now in full swing with reports of fish from little rats to 10kg models and I’m sure this season we will see a few big hoodlums in the 15-20kg category. The fish have been getting bigger every season since they banned the floating traps. Don’t forget there are smaller game fish out there, like the hundreds of salmon and trevally that are out there every day, and the flathead grounds are firing as well.
Rock/beach: I took a few family members and friends for a fish yesterday. We found a rock platform at the end of a beach out of the wind and used pilchards for berley and bait. It wasn’t long before several bream around a kilo and a few silver trevally turned up right at our feet and a heap of tailor appeared at the back of the wash zone. We spent a couple of hours extracting a few fish before heading home. I’m sure you can have similar success by berleying behind or on most of our beaches.
Estuary: Rivers and lakes still firing with plenty of everything. Jewfish on bait at night and on plastics during the day. Bream around oyster racks and rock bars and flathead around weed beds and shallows. There seems to be an abundance of garfish and flounder – I have never caught so many flounder and I’m tossing lures around oyster racks for bream and still managing a few every trip. If you targeted them you should get a sensational feed.

Rodney Stockman,
Harry’s Bait and Tackle
ph 02 4472 4393, fax 02 4472 3405

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Darryl, The Ocean Hut 4476 2278

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Darren Redman and Mark Rose,
Bermagui Ocean Hut and Charter Booking Service, 6493 4688

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