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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Craig Wraight
BP Discount Fishing Tackle, Brunswick Heads
ausie_28_red@yahoo.com.au
Phone (02) 66851268

David Keevers, Coastal Fishing Tackle 02 66 857 133

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Mandy from Dave’s Bait Shop says there are school jew throughout the river. Bream starting to show with decent flathead all the way up to Wardell. The odd whiting in North Creek.
Beaches for tailor and bream north and south of town. No outside reports.
I haven’t been at Evans this week but Neil from Evans Head Sports and Marine says there have been good bream and flathead along Airforce and Main beaches with the odd jew. Some good lizards and a few whiting in the river. Some snapper and trag outside.

Dave’s Bait Shop 02 6686 2481
&
Tony Zann

t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au

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Glen still overseas but Paul Kneller from Big River Bait and Tackle says blackfish have turned up in good numbers at all the recognised spots. Bream have been a bit patchy with the better ones from Browns Rocks, the seawalls and Moriarty’s at night. School jew going OK in Oyster Channel and around the Broadwater. Better flathead from Browns Rocks to the Broad.
Beaches: Tailor a bit patchy with the odd big fish but not many choppers. Poppers are working well. Jew a bit slow.
Outside: Patchy with some good hits on the snapper, pearlies and trag but the water is variable. Plenty of mack tuna and northern blues.

Glen is away.

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

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Offshore: Still some spotties around with fish from 5kg to 10kg. Some snapper and pearlies.
Good bream around the ocean rocks with plenty of luderick for the weed and cabbage brigade around the rocks as well. Good tailor and the odd jew also turning up around the rocky washes.
Estuaries starting to pick up as the bream move in with plenty of school flathead available as well. Luderick moving in and out with the tides.

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
rocksmarine@dodo.com.au

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The June long weekend is traditionally a great time for angling in this part of the world. Things have picked up noticeably over the past week and it looks like our winter season will now get properly under way.
The big improver over the past week has no doubt been the Hastings estuary with good numbers of bream now inhabiting the lower reaches. Pick of the baits for bream remain mullet gut or mullet strips with the top of the tide fishing particularly well. This coming dark should see the lower estuary at its best, particularly if we get a decent drop of rain. Whether the blackfish this season will prove as prolific as past years remains to be seen, although judging by the size of the schools seen off headlands and in the estuary weed beds, things look promising. Flathead numbers continue to surprise although we would expect results to slow shortly in line with cooling water temperatures.
On the beaches, bream numbers have at last begun to pick up, with North Beach giving up a couple of good bags in between periods of either no sea or a raging current. If you can find some good sand spits with little current and fish the rising tide, you are a big chance of scoring a decent feed. Tailor continue to be a little hit-and-miss, although with plenty of feed and working birds about, be mobile and some nice choppers are on offer. Keen beach anglers will have noted the water has begun to cool, with this change slowing whiting and boosting salmon numbers. Grants Beach and areas further south have seen large salmon schools over the past week. Whilst many rank the humble salmon in the same culinary class as a sun-dried pilchard, there is no doubting their sporting qualities and it is pleasing to see this species improving in numbers each year after being absent for so long prior to the late 1990s.
Off the rocks, tailor are firing well with areas around Port and further north giving up numbers of quality fish. We are beginning to hear more frequent reports of tailor in the greenback category with the next few weeks at least expected to fish particularly well. With the water beginning to cool, drummer are on the improve and ledges to the south are producing the better results. Also on the improve are blackfish. Look for some top action around the more washy headlands.
Offshore, John from Ocean Star Charters reports of several successful outings, with good snapper and pearl perch, together with a continued run of mahi mahi . The flathead grounds are also fishing well, while leatherjacket remain thick in places but the larger specimens are yet to arrive in numbers.

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

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Offshore: The seasons remain confused with mild sea and air temperatures continuing. Reef fishing was slow but over the last week captures of trag have improved along with the occasional big snapper. If you don't use live bait you are reducing your chances dramatically. A few mahi mahi remain out wide but they must be about to head north as the winter we are yet to have has to be just around the corner. Further proof that things are a little out of whack come from Latitude Rock, just south of town, which saw a large pearl perch taken 100 metres offshore in 10 metres of water. The textbooks tell me this isn't supposed to happen! Also in and around Latitude are thousands of tailor. Once the sun is up it's best to fish deep on the seaward side of the rock.
Beaches: Tailor and salmon will continue to be the targets over the coming long weekend. Beaches to our south remain the most productive. Small mulloway are worth chasing late afternoon or just after dark.
Rocks: Bream, blackfish, drummer, groper, you name it, they are all on offer. The rocks at the southern end of Seven Mile Beach, Blueys and Seal Rocks have all produced quality fish. Take a hike into Cape Hawke if you’re fit,
Estuary: The last few days have finally seen some traveling bream drop in and have a swim in Wallis Lake. Providing they haven't heard that they can be caught only on Berkley 3” Bass Minnows, the rest of you (lure-tossers) stand a chance with other forms of hard-body and soft plastic lures. Don't get me wrong, Bass Minnows are good but the Johnny-come-lately trend-followers who spend more time believing rather than fishing and finding out for themselves are starting to drive me and other Tackle Shop proprietors mad with their expert opinions. Just for the record, I'm also a lure-tosser and have been long before the current wave of interest in this form of fishing started. Last weekend I caught bream on 2” Atomic Fat Grubs in brown crawdad, motor oil and gold; Squidgy #2 Wrigglers in bloodworm; Eco Gear Paramax in pumpkinseed, Attack Minnow hardbodies in fire tiger pattern, a Yo Zuri Arms Popper (you can't buy them any more!) and I fed half a packet of Bass Minnows to the leatherjackets.

Lloyd Campbell, Great Lakes Tackle 02 6554 9541

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Estuary: Bream Rocks Awash, Boulders, co op wall. Jew Middle Island, Salamander wreck. Good run of big blackfish co-op wall, Tubes and Tomaree. Flathead Karuah Branch Arm, Tilligerry Creek.
Beaches: Stockton for bream from Lavis Lane entrance down to the wreck. Heaps of salmon, droves of them. Tailor arvos. Whiting Fingal, One Mile.
Rocks: Snapper to 5..5kg at Fishermans, tailor One Mile, Cemetery, Fingal. Pigs Honeysuckle Boulder and Rocky. Bluefin to 25kg off Tomaree.
Offshore: Snapper in the Broughton shallows, Boat Harbour, on plastics as well. Flathead on the Gunsight drift. Bluefin both Gibber headlands. Jew on The Tank. Mahi mahi to 8kg on the FAD, some good kingies around East Head and Looking Glass at Broughton.

Graham Duffy, Salamander Bait and Tackle 02 4982 0711

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With the long weekend upon us our region is offering some exciting fishing options in the salt and fresh water with reports for this time of the year at a all-time high. Our beaches are offering some good options where anglers are able to fish through the day for bream, flathead and salmon, then for hungry schools of tailor before dusk and then mulloway after dark. Most are catching these fish on cut or whole pilchards but some of the larger bream are being caught on the pipis that are available from Stockton and Blacksmiths beaches.
Newcastle Harbour and the Hunter River have cleared up due to a lack of rain and the constant westerly winds but are still offering a array of options for this weekend including flathead, bream and blue swimmer crabs from the bridge upstream and mulloway, luderick, hairtail and bream down to the harbour entrance. Two anglers from the Valentine Bowling Club Fishing Club caught personal bests through the week in the harbour with David Birt landing a 24.7 kilo mulloway on bait and Mick Moss a 1.65 kilo bream on an Atomic Fat Grub soft plastic lure.
Lake Macquarie has been inundated with breamers pre-fishing for this weekends Tacklepower Pro Bream event with fishing reported to be difficult for some with ultra-clear conditions. Others report solid numbers of bream as well as heaps of squire, pike and tailor. This event kicks off on Saturday morning with three live weigh-ins over the two days at Wangi Wangi Tourist Park with the general public welcome to attend.
Good catches of squid are coming from the channel and flathead are being caught throughout the lake with David Smith landing seven fish for 14 kilos and Michael Skinner a 3.2 kilo fish (club record) during Swansea Bowling Club fishing club’s outing last weekend.
Offshore options continue to be good with the southern parts of The Farm producing snapper, perch and yellowtail kingfish when conditions allow with Mark Cumming landing a 3.2kilo kingie this week. Stockton Bight has good numbers of flathead and some are catching teraglin and tailor as well. Mahi mahi are still coming from the anchor chains of the visiting coal ships.
Good catches of bass are coming from our local impoundments with our man in Muswellbrook, Wayne Parry, landing 18 big bass in an afternoon at Lake Glenbawn using Jackal bibless lures while others struggled with spinnerbaits.
This weekend is the last chance to fish for trout in NSW streams so many will be heading for the Snowies, New England or the Barrington Tops before the season closes.

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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The fine, mild winter weather continues to stay around. The days on the water are perfect but we are desperate for some good heavy rain. Water temperatures are still hovering around 19° and the local estuary waters are still very clear. Reports of fish this week are fairly thin with the outside fishos leading the way with some solid salmon and tailor taken close to the coastline on unweighted pilchards, small metal lures and flashy saltwater flies. Some slimy mackerel have also been schooling with the salmon but they are only small fish. On the deeper reefs the trevally have moved in for the winter with some good catches coming from the 60-metre mark. Sweep and morwong are also taking baits out in the same area.
Catching fish in the estuary is proving very difficult because of the clear water conditions but those big winter whiting are still biting well. You need live bloodworms or squirt worms for bait but getting the bait will be worthwhile when you hook one of these line burners. Blackfish have also continued to bite with some nice size fish coming from Erina Creek and Linton Channel on the run-out tide.
The Hawkesbury River should fish better this week as the moon fades. We spun the oyster leases down there last week and only caught some average size bream and a few small flathead.
This week we have been told that a natural gas drilling rig looks set to built off the NSW Central Coast. Yes that’s right, a huge drill rig just 6km offshore. Already the pro fishers are up in arms about where the rig is to placed and also the no-fishing zone that will be placed around the rig site. As more information comes to hand I will keep you posted.

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

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One extreme to the next appears to be Mother Nature’s option of weekend fishing. Last weekend was a complete about face with strong westerlies and way too much water clarity almost spooking them off the bite.
Mick Lyons of Allie Hunter Charters opted to chase snapper and morwong instead of trolling the super glass boating with the rest. Sydney game boat Tantrum caught 7 albacore 10km past Browns Mountain. Trolling and cubing was required to entice them to the surface before their reluctance returned them to the thermocline 150 feet down.
Sydney Harbour still has its dormant moments but there’s an influx of Harbour john dory reports from all locations, boat and land based. Des Toms from Hookem Cookem says he’s never seen so many. North Harbour, Clifton Gardens, Balmoral, Dobroyd Point, Spit Bridge and Manly are the spots. I even managed two on Monday night off of Balmoral Wharf on live yakkas. It was a three-hour wait then I got two within 10 minutes at the top of the tide. A 2m drop under a bobby cork did the trick. Trevally entering the Harbour are congregating at Dobroyd Point while upstream at Pickering Point in Middle Harbour, bream are on the chew – salted slimy fillets in unweighted strips the preferred method.
Pittwater is a bit quieter than usual with no salmon possibly due to those westerlies blowing all the bait schools offshore. Pete from Harbour and Estuary Charters reports small jews at Gunyah Point, bream and flathead to 59cm along Palmy and some larger trumpeter whiting on peeled prawns.

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

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Joel Western fished with his Dad off the northern side of Bare Island in Botany Bay earlier in the week for six luderick, four drummer and two yellowfin bream on peeled No 1 Clarence River prawns. They were using a combination of soaked chicken pellets and bread for berley. Joel also saw a couple of tailor and salmon caught by other anglers. There were using whole garfish on ganged hooks. Snapper have shown up on the rock platform at Coal Cliff. Best baits have bee fresh yellowtail fillets. Try using a paternoster rig or suspend the baits about three and a half metres under a bobby cork.
The Port Kembla breakwall is still producing bream, salmon, tailor and the odd bonito. Best baits are whole pilchards on ganged hooks. It is also worth having a couple of Raider lures to cast out and retrieve fairly quickly. The south end of the beach and rocks at Coogee are worth a try for drummer and luderick, especially after there has been a bit of a blow from the south and the swell has started to die down.
If you are after a squid Port Hacking is the place. Try a variety of colours in your squid jigs. What they like one day they might not like the next. I prefer orange, pink, green and blue in a No 2 size.
Both Botany Bay and Port Hacking have plenty of six-spined and yellowfin leatherjackets. Small long-shank hooks and small pieces of peeled prawn on a paternoster rig has been the best way to get a feed. Remember that even though there is no size limit you are only allowed to keep 20 per day per person.
Fishing classes
Classes at Mako Tackle on how, where and when to fish the waterways of Sydney from the shore and boats will run for three consecutive Tuesday nights for $80. Email me at gbrown1@iprimus.com.au or phone 0422 994 207 or next time you are passing the shop come in and book.

Mako Tackle
Gary Brown / Greg Mercedes 9600 6999

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Nice blackfish and bream under the bridge on weed and squirtworms. Good bream in the channel and near Mt Warrigal on lures in bright colours. Mullet and blackfish up near the weir in Mullet Creek.
Beaches: Tailor, bream and salmon off Windang Beach near the surf club and radio towers on strip baits, mullet and worms. Whiting on worms at MM Beach. Corrimal Beach has good bream on worms and pipis. Jewfish around Helensburgh and Stanwell Park.
Rocks: Heaps of salmon and tailor and a few kings off Windang Island on pillies and live baits. Bass Point for bream and drummer on ab gut and royal reds.
Offshore: Mowies on Wollongong and Bandit. Small bonito and salmon on the troll off Hill 60 and South Shellharbour. Out wide for blue eye and gemfish off Kiama. Some yellowfin down off The Banks on live baits.. Water about 19°.

Garth, Deans Bait and Tackle, Windang 4295 1615

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Outside: A few good kingies around the place with plenty of snapper in close along with salmon, tailor and heaps of trevally.
Rocks: Snapper, tailor and trevally with Dean Heycox got a 9.1kg red off the rocks a couple of days ago. Lot of bream from the rocks and the beach corners. Still a chance for a jew of a night.
River: Slowing down but still the odd bream but plenty of luderick up the river. Some small school jew from the Clyde on bait and plastics.
Beaches: Plenty of flatties from the beaches on lures and bait, especially in the quiet corners..

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

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Offshore: A little slower but still some patches of yellowfin on the troll with some fish to 50kg. Marlin are lingering fairly well. Plenty of striped tuna with the water 18° in close and 20° on the shelf. Kings in on-and-off mode on jigs or live bait.
Beaches: Salmon and tailor on the beaches and around the rocks.
Estuary: Still jew and some nice flatties around with some good bream also biting.

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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