Fishing Monthly - Latest Fishing Reports - Updated Weekly

Fishing Monthly - Latest Fishing Reports - Updated Weekly

These reports are updated weekly.
Last Edited: Friday, 28 May 2004

Quick Jump Links:
Byron Bay, Ballina, Yamba, Coffs Harbour.
South West Rocks, Port Macquarie,
Forster, Port Stephens, Hunter Area,
Newcastle, Central Coast, Sydney Northern.
Sydney Southern, Wollongong,
Batemans Bay, Narooma, Bermagui.
Archived Reports, Weather & Tides.

COMPILED WEEKLY BY TONY ZANN IN EVANS HEAD:
e-mail: t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au

Tweed Heads

Blowing, raining but fish there if you can get to them. Wahoo Nice Mile, Spanish spots at Palm Beach, mack tuna everywhere and some kings. Water still warm enough for marlin.
Estuary: Big whiting Chinderah and golf club. Odd bream, still some flatties, divers seeing jacks but none caught.
Beaches: Blown out but big tailor down at Brunswick from the wall.

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

Byron Bay

Bay and rocks fishing well for tailor and school jewfish but unless you’re a local you won’t be able to move – it’s Blues Festival weekend!

David Keevers, Coastal Fishing Tackle 02 66 857 133

Ballina

Bruce at Dave’s Bait Shop says really good flathead through the river from the entrance to Pimlico. Still bream knocking around with some whiting as well. Blackfish improving, still caught on yabbies. Walls for bream in the washes, time to try the jewie lures but don’t forget the long gaff.
Some tailor were spun up around the headlands and should return when swell drops. Whiting and bream remain on the beaches.
Offshore: Silly!
Been a bit blowy at Evans, too, with a fair lump of a swell and a shallow bar no one has crossed for a couple of days. Cool upwelling inshore before the blow and pretty murky. Blackfish along the walls are going OK while the swell is up, try at high tide with weed or cabbage. River has bream, flathead and whiting, beaches should fish OK on the night high tide but it’s a late one and you might have to rug up – and don’t forget the raincoat!

Dave’s Bait Shop 02 6686 2481
&
Tony Zann

t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au

Yamba

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

Coffs Harbour

Beaches: Rough weather but a few schoolies on the beaches, bream and whiting in the gutters.
Offshore: Heaps of reds and some pearlies outside, Easter Classic this weekend. A few bluefin and mackerel off the rocks and from the boats. Bundagen working.
Estuaries running a bit dirty.

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

South West Rocks

Welcome to all our holiday makers, all of us at the shop hope your stay is a memorable one. The long range weather forecast looks pretty good, let’s hope so.
The river is fishing well for Bream at the moment but you do need to get out of bed early and fish first light. After dark is a prime time to get these as well but the mosquitoes will pick you up and carry you away so don’t forget to spray on the Bushman’s. Some nice Flathead in the river with the prime bait being live poddy mullet or herring which are available in good numbers. Small bait traps for the mullet or bait jigs for the herring will do the trick. Black fish are biting with best possies being under the walkover bridge at Back Creek and along the wall in the river, green weed is a little hard to find but we have a wire weed in stock which seems to be working. Tailor are working at the end of the Break Wall at the opening early morning. Jewfish are lurking off the Wall with Col Rowsell picking up a nine kilo specimen early morning.
Smoky Beach is a mixed bag, things quietened down the end of last week but there is still acceptable Whiting, Dart and the occasional Bream out of the surf. Live beach worms are the best bait, but if you can twist up some pippies their great bait as well. Back Beach is fishing well for Whiting with some nice Bream up towards the break wall.
Fishing off the rocks in front of the jail is producing some good tailor at sunrise, with Pilchards or Garfish on gang hooks your weapon of choice. Good Bream available all along the rocks, but you must be there early. Off the ledge at North Gap there have been reports of big green back tailor.
Well they’re finally here, the elusive Snook (spotted mackerel) are up off Grassy. Live slimies are working, as well as pilchards. It is important to berley heavy to get these things excited. Because these fish are excellent eating it does get very busy on these grounds. Please be patient and courteous and enjoy the experience. Good kingfish around Fish Rock with Nice pearlies in off the close reefs.
Don’t forget to check your safety gear and put on your PFD 1 life jackets when crossing either bar. I am sure the Waterways will be on duty.
Keep the 22nd and 23rd of May open for the 2004 Kempsey Toyota Fishing Classic. Over $20,000 in Prizes up for grabs.
Entry forms will be available soon.
I will advise more information as it comes to hand.

Mark and Denise Bird and Paul and Michelle Martin
Rocks Marine Bait and Tackle 6566 6726
rocksmarine@dodo.com.au

Port Macquarie

Off the beaches, bream are on the improve with good numbers and improving quality despite the presence of a big, bright full moon. Mulloway catches are the best have been for a couple of years, with both North Beach, Lake Cathie and most other locations giving up numbers of school class fish. Tailor have been a little hot and cold, with some days providing blanks and others seeing prolonged sessions on better than average choppers. And for daytime anglers, those succulent whiting are still going well, with the top end of Lighthouse fishing as well as anywhere. With all of the above, and every beach holding some tremendous formations, now is simply a great time to dust off the beach fishing gear.
Off the rocks, tailor remain solid with Point Plommer continuing to be the pick of locations. Bream numbers too are well up although the better catches have been taken during the morning sessions, as you would expect the moon about. No real talk as yet of pigs, however abalone gut sales have increased considerably so you can draw your own conclusion to that one. Interestingly enough, Sarah Horneman score a great pig of 2.32 kilos cleaned on a pillie of all things. From a land based game scene, ledges to the north continue to give a few bluefin together with the odd cobia, so this weekend could be a great period should you be seeking some excitement.
In the estuaries, bream have been reasonable despite the moon, with the colour in the water no doubt assisting. Flathead numbers are also excellent with the soft plastic tossers encountering good numbers of fish, and those fishing whitebait also doing well. Blackfish remain patchy at best although a few nice fish have come in from the walls on cabbage. On the jew front, the north wall continues to produce quality fish almost nightly, and with favourable conditions, this weekend should prove no exception.
On the offshore scene, good numbers of snapper continue to be on offer with Chris Mansfield managing a great fish of nearly five kilos. Good results have also been reported on the aptly names Sampson fish, whilst small to medium kings, pearl perch, mulloway and other mixed reef species are present in most boxes. Dolphin fish remain active albeit not quite as thick as in the recent weeks.

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

Forster

Offshore: The action in and around Five Mile Reef continues although not at the levels of previous weeks. Reports are still coming in of quality kingfish, samson fish, some trag and snapper. The Pinnacle has been holding big schools of bait closely followed by bonito. This also seems to be the place if you want to hook a Cobia. Mahi mahi numbers remain low in close. Striped marlin can be found in the 50-80 fathom range.
Beaches: The tailor fishing late last week was good but the current tides see things a little quieter. Bream and whiting have been commonly taken on worms and pipis. As at 8/4 the bottom half of Seven Mile Beach is covered in red weed.
Rocks: Tailor, bream, drummer some blackfish but no land based game action.
Estuary: Wallis Lake is fishing well with some thumper bream in and around the bridge and breakwalls. Big flathead are regularly being taken on live herring which are thick on the Tuncurry side. Mulloway being caught are all small.

Lloyd Campbell, Great Lakes Tackle 02 6554 9541

Port Stephens

Estuary: School jew on the breakwall at night, bream in the marina, squire in there to 36cm as well. Loads flathead Corrie, Baggies, Shoal Bay. School jew Little Island, Soldiers Point and hole off Fame Cove. Blue swimmers Snapper and Goat islands, Wanda Head. Tailor off the Tubes at Tomaree, a few blackfish off the old pool and the co-op wall.
Beaches: Plenty of tailor early and late on Stockton, jew Huts to Wreck; bream under the mullet, a few whiting.
Rocks: Squire Fishermans, Boat Harbour, kingies Sunny Corner, Fingal Head. Blackfish and pigs Cemetery, good bream in the Rocky washes and Snapper Point off Boulder Bay. Bluefin and mack tuna off Tomaree.
Outside: Bing kings East Head Broughton; stacks of bonito around the islands; trag Gibber, V, Tank, Uralla. A few snapper in Broughton shallows, bluefin tuna off Little and Big Gibber. Dollies Minefield, FAD etc, marlin 80 fathoms & out.

Graham Duffy, Salamander Bait and Tackle 02 4982 0711

Hunter Area

With the Easter break and school holidays upon us we are reminded to check the validity of our recreational fishing licence before we venture to our favourite fishing location.
NSW Fisheries officers will be working overtime checking fishos’ during the break and with most licensed oulets closing for the good friday its best to purchase or renew your license beforehand. Licenses are available in 3 day,1 month, and 1 or 3 year time frames and are available from quality tackle stores ,NSW Fisheries offices and selected Shell service stations throughout our region. With the abundance of certain species like tailor at this time of year we are also reminded to limit our catch to what is personally required instead of catching our bag limit.
Most of our local areas are producing good fish with the Newcastle Harbour offering a mixed selection for most punters willing to try. Luderick have been caught from the rock walls around the harbour with fish to 1.5 kilos falling to the local cabbage weed this week. Bream continue to move throughout the harbour with early morning anglers on Sunday bagging good fish from the Brewery wharf with either chicken fillets slices or the ever popular mullet gut producing. Others report mulloway and some very good tailor from Stockton breakwall. Further up the system the river is offering blue swimmer crabs as well as Flathead and bream.
Lake Macquarie continues to produce with reports that flathead are being caught from the channel area and Belmont Bay is offering tailor, bream and flounder. We fished the bay on Saturday afternoon with soft plastics and were successful in tricking some bream, squire and tailor on the new Berkley 3" Minnows.
Over 1280 anglers competed in the trailer boat competition held at Port Stephens over last weekend with over 480 boats sharing the local ramps. The weather behaved itself this year and most boats ventured offshore to catch a range of species including marlin, tuna teraglin, mulloway, snapper and cobia. This year`s senior angler went to local gun Andrew Boughton with Ted Browning securing the Junior title and champion boat going to the crew of "Slimy". From all reports and very sociable time was had with a swag of prizes mainly going in the lucky anglers draws throughout the weekend. Next year`s event dates are set for 18-20 of March.
Last weekend also saw 55 anglers fish the third round of the NSW Bass Pro series on the murky waters of the Hawkesbury river with over 220 fish weighed and released. The largest fish (1.04kg) was caught by Gary Bakewell of Maryland who also combined with Wallsend`s Jamie Kinder to capture the Tackle Power champion boat prize.
After another death on one of our local rock platforms this week we are also reminded that no fish is worth loosing your life for and that safe rock fishing techniques need to be learnt and certain safety equipment need to be taken before venturing onto the rocks.

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

Newcastle

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

Central Coast

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

Sydney Northern

Darren Thomas
Fish Outta Water 9949 9488
fishon@uunet.com.au

Sydney Southern

Mako Tackle
Gary Brown / Greg Mercedes 9600 6999

Wollongong

Estuary: Entrance open and rushing, blackfish under the bridge but weed hard to get, flatties opposite the bowling club. Plenty of flounder as well. Big bully mullet at the entrance. Back of lake at Berkley for plenty of bream. Mt Warrigal for soft plastics and at Berkley Point, red and bloodworm patterns.
Beaches: MM great for bream and whiting on worms and pipis, Windang entrance great for bream on worms.
Rocks: Bream and drummer around the rocks Beaky Bay at Bass Point. Blowhole for salmon and tailor on slugs, also slimies. Nice fish off southern breakwall Port Kembla, salmon to 3kg.
Offshore: Mahi mahi to 5kg on the traps on trolled skirts and live slimies. Mowies off Wollongong Reef and the islands with some kings on jigs and livies. Kings to 80cm.

Garth, Deans Bait and Tackle, Windang 4295 1615

Batemans Bay

Beaches for small bronze whalers at night, lot of flathead in the river, reddies off the rocks up Durras way, heaps of salmon off most of the beaches.

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

Narooma

Estuary: Fishing real well for jewies, bream, flathead and whiting. Work edges of the weed beds.
Beaches: Salmon, tailor and still some nice whiting on the beaches. Plenty of beach worms about.
Offshore: Island alive with bonito, kingies, sauries everywhere. Best run of snapper for years. A few yellowfin and marlin turning up.

Darryl, The Ocean Hut 4476 2278

Bermagui

Offshore: Still stripes, blues and blacks; yellowfin in 1000 fathoms. Current going south at 22°. Kings and bonito at Montague. Reef fishing good, flathead are tough and leatherjackets are in plague numbers.
Beaches: Salmon and some big tailor with bream and whiting in the gutters.
Bonito off the rocks.
Estuaries: Reasonable bit tapering off a little with the lower reaches fishing well for bream, flathead, blackfish, trevally.

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

Archived Weekly Reports

Year 2004 Weekly Reports
05/01/2004	09/01/2004	16/01/2004		30/1/2004
06/02/2004	13/02/2004	20/02/2004	27/02/2004
05/03/2004	12/03/2004	19/03/2004	26/3/2004
02/04/2004

Year 2003 Weekly Reports

07/01/2003

10/01/2003

17/01/2003

24/01/2003

31/01/2003

07/02/2003

14/02/2003

21/02/2003

01/03/2003

07/03/2003

14/03/2003

21/03/2003

28/03/2003

04/04/2003

10/04/2003

17/04/2003

24/04/2003

02/05/2003

09/05/2003

16/05/2003

23/05/2003

30/05/2003

06/06/2003

13/06/2003

20/06/2003

27/06/2003

04/07/2003

11/07/2003

18/07/2003

25/07/2003

01/08/2003

08/08/2003

15/08/2003

22/08/2003

29/08/2003

05/09/2003

12/09/2003

19/09/2003

26/09/2003

03/10/2003

10/10/2003

17/10/2003

24/10/2003

31/10/2003

7/11/2003

14/11/2003

21/11/2003

28/11/2003

5/12/2003 12/12/2003 19/12/2003 29/12/2003

Year 2002 Weekly Reports
04/01/2002	11/01/2002	18/01/2002	25/01/2002
01/02/2002	08/02/2002	15/02/2002	22/02/2002
01/03/2002	08/03/2002	15/03/2002	22/03/2002	29/03/2002
05/04/2002	12/04/2002	19/04/2002	26/04/2002
03/05/2002	10/05/2002	17/05/2002	24/05/2002
01/06/2002	07/06/2002	14/06/2002	21/06/2002	28/06/2002
05/07/2002	12/07/2002	19/07/2002	26/07/2002
02/08/2002	09/08/2002	16/08/2002	23/08/2002	30/8/2002
06/09/2002	13 /09/2002	20/09/2002	27/09/2002
04/10/2002	11/10/2002	18/10/2002	25/10/2002
01/11/2002	8/11/2002	15/11/2002	22/11/2002	29/11/2002
06/12/2002	13/12/2002	20/12/2002		30/12/2002

Year 2001 Weekly Reports
25/1/2001
01/02/2001	08/02/2001	15/02/2001	22/02/2001
02/03/2001	09/03/2001	16/03/2001	23/03/2001	31/03/2001
6/04/2001	12/04/2001	19/04/2001	26/04/2001
3/05/2001	10/05/2001	17/05/2001	24/05/2001	31/05/2001
7/06/2001	14/06/2001	21/06/2001	28/06/2001
5/07/2001	12/07/2001	19/07/2001	26/07/2001
3/08/2001	10/08/2001	17/08/2001	24/08/2001	31/08/2001
7/09/2001	14/09/2001	21/9/2001	28/9/2001
5/10/2001	12/10/2001	19/10/2001	26/10/2001
2/11/2001	9/11/2001	16/11/2001	23/11/2001	30/11/2001
7/12/2001	14/12/2001	21/12/2001	28/12/2001