Fishing Monthly - Latest Fishing Reports - Updated Weekly
COMPILED WEEKLY BY TONY ZANN IN EVANS HEAD:
e-mail: t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au
Tweed Heads

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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Brunswick Heads

Outside: Been catching snapper, tag & jew fish local reefs.
Rock & beach: Some tailor on local beaches. Bream whiting flathead south beach. Bream & Blackfish south wall
River Black Fish & bream around boat harbor & bream at the traffic bridge, whiting up river & jew fish up towards Mullumbimby

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

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Byron Bay

David Keevers, Coastal Fishing Tackle (02) 6685 7133

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Ballina

Dave’s Bait Shop (02) 6686 2481
&
Tony Zann

t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au

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Yamba

Glen Porter,
The Bait Place (02) 6646 2017
ports@reeltime.com.au

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Coffs Harbour

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

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South West Rocks
Once again the weather was not kind to us early last week so there were only a few boats venturing outside.
Due to the conditions most fisho’s tried the river for reasonable catches. Fishing the South Wall proved a top spot with some nice Bream and Flathead being caught last week. There are still some Blackfish around but they have slowed down a little. The best locations are the wire fence and the Jew Bite off the wall or if you have a boat the North side of the Wall, the Cut Through and Cox’s Wharf. Good Bream are around the Boat Shed late afternoon and into the night. Hopefully the recent rain will put a bit of colour into the river. Smithtown and Kinchela is fishing well for Bream in the deeper holes.
Smoky Beach (thank you Mrs McDonald for bringing to my intention my incorrect spelling of this pristine area) has been fishing well for Bream out of the holes. Tailor and Salmon are still coming in early in the morning. Gap Beach was the place to be for Josh Londero from Maitland who was fishing for Jew with Squid bait and caught a 4.5 kilo Tailor. There are a few Bream of this beach as well. Back Beach is still the home for Salmon at the moment from about the middle of the Beach up towards the River mouth. Front Beach has Bream and Small Whiting coming in.
The Rock fishermen are still getting a few nice Tailor and Salmon. It is worth the trek down from the Lighthouse to fish the rocks for good Bream and Tailor and the odd Drummer. Bream are being caught around the Gutter and down to Little Bay. Tailor are also off the rocks at the North Gap. Watch the swell at these locations; we have had reports of wet fishermen last week.
Fishing outside has been hampered by the ordinary sea conditions but some good fish have been caught out there. Snapper are around the dot and up North towards Scotts. Pearl Perch are in the deeper water. Last week I suggested the Leather Jackets are slowing down, I was wrong; it seems they will be around while the water is on the cool side. Col Rowsell weighed in a nice 12.6 kilo Jewie.
The Seabreeze Hotel held its monthly fishing comp last week, there was a good turn up considering the conditions with 92 kilo’s of fish weighed in and a total of $675 prize money. Anglers of the month winners are Mika Saunders for inside fishing and Hayden Davey took out the junior title, while Rod Payne is the Angler of the month for the outside fishing category and Selby Muddle scooped the junior prize.

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

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Port Macquarie

On the beaches, the bad news is several local beaches have had a significant early season influx of red weed, with Dunbogan and Crescent Head in particular not looking real good. This weed has been hanging around in small patches for some time now, however the onset of the first real nor easters of the year has seen much larger patches move in. If we don&Mac226;t receive decent rainfall and or a big sea in the near future, this summer could see weed a far greater nuisance than recent years for those keen on tossing a line from the sand.
However on the positive side, there are some reasonable formations on both North and Lighthouse beaches, and these are continuing to develop as each week passes, having been completely flatten a couple of months ago. Whilst reports from Lighthouse have been a little slow, except for the odd bream, salmon and tailor, North beach has continued to produce on a more consistent basis. Best results have been achieved either at night or early morning, with bream to around a kilo on offer, some nice whiting, as well as tailor and plenty of salmon. School jew have been only reasonable with plenty of time put in for only average results.
Off the rocks, drummer numbers remain reasonable and certainly a considerable improvement on 2003. Best results over the past week have come from Point Perpendicular however locally Lighthouse and Shelleys have given up the odd good fish. On the positive side, a few solid tailor and bream have been snared, with Plommer and Diamond Head faring quite well. Have also had the odd report of some hectic action on salmon for those chasing tailor on either pillies or lures.
In the estuary, the water colour remains clearer than we would like, and a result anglers have had to work hard for average results. Blackfish remain a little inconsistent, with reasonable catches one day and little the next. Best results have come from the North and Coal walls, although Limeburners and the Maria have also given up the odd good bag. By all reports, the fish have yet to fully complete their spawning cycle, and generally speaking, once this is finished results should pick up considerably. Elsewhere in the estuary, a few bream remain on offer around the walls and leases with best results achieved at night, however the best news remains the continued good showing of flathead. Based on early season reports, this years flattie season is again looking excellent, with fish to around 3 kilos being snared on both lures and bait. Pick of the baits by far has been whitebait, however frogmouth pillies, smelts and prawns have also accounted for some nice fish.
On the outside scene, little to report courtesy of the blustery southerlies, however John from Ocean Star has been finding some great snapper and pearl perch when conditions allow, together with a few nice mulloway. Leatherjackets remain quite thick in places, with local angler discovering jigging with a raider a quite effective method of catching this species without losing significant amounts of terminal tackle. Stands to reason doesn&Mac226;t it given the hiding they give your sinker when thick, although just don&Mac226;t expect your lure to end the day in quite the pristine condition it may have started out in.

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

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Forster

Lloyd Campbell, Great Lakes Tackle 02 6554 9541

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Port Stephens

Graham Duffy, Salamander Bait and Tackle 02 4982 0711

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Hunter Area

Having just returned from this years annual tackle trade show held at the new convention centre on the gold coast I can report that your local tackle store will be bulging with new product in the near future. A wide array of rods, reels, lures,lines and accessories are being released onto the market to support the latest craze in soft plastic lure fishing as well as specific equipment to suit offshore deepwater jigging.

Shimano Australia have upgraded many of their reels including new baitcasting models in the chronarch,calcutta and calais range as well as releasing a new model to be known as the corvalis.In spinning reels there is new stella,sedona and slade models as well as new models of their T-Curve rods and additions to the raider rod range of spin sticks. In squidgies we see the new 3` and 4` minnow range for Bass,bream and snapper as well as large trolling baits aimed at billfish.

Dynamic new lure makers River 2 Sea are releasing a new range of deepwater knife jigs known as the amoebic range for offshore anglers who target kingfish,amberjack and other deepwater species. They are also developing additions to there surface and lipless lure range popular with many freshwater anglers.Pure fishing have added to their popular berkley powerbait range of soft plastics with new models in the fresh and saltwater lines including a crab replica that will be popular with the bream spinning fanatics. A new fireline is also due to be known as XDS, a new "Dropshot" range of graphite rods,and a new lure that I cannot wait to try on both our local salt and fresh water species called the tail dancer that mimics a wounded baitfish.Other exciting new offers include the Daiwa procaster V range of one and two piece spinning rods,the new checkmate metal lures from Wilsons and the new tackle storage boxes from flambeau.

Whilst in queensland I managed to spend a couple of hours fishing on one of the states many stocked freshwater impoundments "Lake Sommerset just 1& 1/2 hours out of brisbane.If you ever get the opportunity to visit this place do so as the Bass fishing I encountered was amazing with fish well over 50 cm common and good numbers available due to their ongoing stocking programme.

If you have ever considered or have recently purchased a Lowrance GPS system you maybe interested in attending a free GPS Information evening on the basis of this new technology to be held at Tacklepower`s Charlestown store on Monday 13th September from 6pm.Seats are strictly limited so to book call the store on 49 438780 to reserve your place.

Tight Lines,

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

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Newcastle
Guess who's back from holidays? yes it's me.

Congratulations to Shane for filling in some big shoes while I was away, doing a great job and keeping you all informed.

How's this, the first week of my holidays was spent at Perisher with the accompaniment of 120-160km s/w winds on the slopes, just imagine being towed up the slopes with the 'it's bar and having your legs wind blasted with lumps of ice the size of 10 and 20 cent pieces and then being blown over while trying to have a ski lesson! The wind had such intensity that when we were driving home down to Jindabyne there was an incident where a semi-trailer had been blown over onto it's side with the road closed to traffic until it could be cleared. UNBELIEVABLE GOING'S ON!!.
Having arrived home the day after(Sat') at 12.00pm,I then packed to go to the "Fillet and Release Tour" at Broughton Island at 3.00pm the same day only to have infront of us MORE intense wind. Michael Guest and Shane were on their way back from a day fish at Broughton Is and rang me at 3.30pm to say that the wind speed was around 60-80 knots and extremely unpleasant, so what did we do?, went any way.
We arrived at the bay at 6.15pm(pitch black) and the whole situation felt like the movie "The Perfect Storm" and we were about to venture off the Broughton Island with a fully laden boat, pitch black and extreme/adverse conditions. The ONLY positive was that the wind direction was that it would be behind us all the way and that it was. We arrived at the island at around 8.00pm and 'kissed' the sand on arrival. The rest is history.
So the moral to the story is that don't be afraid of strong wind, just be sensible. ha,ha.

On with the fishing report!
GENERAL
Reel Repairs
As most of you will now, we perform reel repairs and now have a service where we can steam clean your reels to return them to their former newish appearance. I have some examples for you to sight and I can guarantee that you will be amazed at the difference.

UNDERWATER FISHING CAMERA
I've come into contact with a supplier who is importing an underwater tv/camera that I believe will add a new dimension to our fishing. The camera heads are of a remote style or on a lead, waterproof and can be lowered to a depth of 30m.If darkness is a problem, the camera heads will still operate under an infrared mode. The screen is of a colour LCD type which can be dash mounted and will also show your fav' t.v.channel if it is not being utilized as a fish finder. Check it out on www.agcam.net <http://www.agcam.net>

LAKE MACQUARIE
Don't tell too many people that the prawns are on the move in the channel and this weekend will see a good tide to try your luck, we now have 'miners' style hard hat-lights that will make your prawning easier, priced at $79.99,they are well worth having as it can be used year after year.

The Flathead are also being caught in bag limit numbers, mainly behind the Swansea co-op and the deeper water off pulbah island. Bream have been a little quiet but the Whiting have certainly made up for the loss. Try the shallower sandy spots of Swan bay and Marks Point dropover.

OFFSHORE
Carls reef off Newcastle has been the hotspot for all your reefy fish, ie. Tarwhine, Snapper, and Kingfish have been the main spieces that are in abundance.
Also in the same area, the gravel patches off the Sygna are fireing on all cylinders for the Flathead. have a drift around that area and you'll be catching them two at a time.

Plenty of schools of Salmon off Swansea with Trevally and Kingies' mixed in .

SOFT PLASTICS INFO' NIGHT
For those interested, we will be hosting a soft plastics info' night on Wednesday 22/9/04 starting at 6.00pm sharp at our shop. Interested?? ,phone us on 49458922 to BOOK your seat, numbers filling fast and only 50 seats available.!!!!!!!

WEEKEND WEATHER OUTLOOK
Sat=w/nw 10/20 knots ahead of a s/sw change 20/30 knots in the evening
Sun=s/sw 15/25 knots reaching 25/30 knots.

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

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Central Coast

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

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Sydney Northern

As our days about face and become longer plenty of fishos are getting amongst them. Alex Bellissimo fished the stones through the week catching trevally to 2.2kgs and bream to 850 grams, plenty of berley and unweighted baits flicked into the Dee Why wash resulted in these captures. This time of year most edges of reef will provide snapper along the deeper headlands, Alex caught them to 1kg and assures me your absolute longest cast is required and striped tuna is his pick of the bait for these guys. Tom Goldsmith went pig fishing up North Avalon using ab gut and landed a very worthy 8lb drummer after a solid confrontation.
The tuna out wide have been quiet but mako sharks are still quite prolific and taking baits. Closer to shore at the 6km mark, flatties are eagerly accepting most offerings and the odd good snapper aren’t too shy either, pearl perch have been the other consistent offshore species reported.
Those salmon, you know the ones that are spread from the inner harbour right up the coast – North Heads resident population are extremely boat shy but are providing cover for trevally and the odd rat king. Clifton Gardens has tailor accepting trolled and cast metal slugs, harbour squid have just spawned and plenty of small arrows are getting about most haunts but the tiniest of jigs are still too small – give em 2-4 weeks for results, the bigger eastern calamari are still working jigs in respectable numbers.
This weeks in-store FREE Fish ‘n’ Tips seminar (6pm this Thursday night) will be presented by Pete Le Blang of “Harbour & Estuary Charters”, Pete’s very successful charter is based in Pittwater and with 200+ legal kingfish captures last season has the place pretty wired and some quite interesting techniques on various species including daytime down-rigging. Bookings are filling quick so ring 99499488 to reserve a spot now, plenty of quality prizes are available from our suppliers so don’t miss out!
The Fish Outta Water/Weekender Winter Photo Comp was won by Mike Heltborg with a ripper soft-plastic eating bream from up the Hawkesbury, Mike goes into the draw to win the free fishing charter with Pete Le Blang which will be drawn in Oct/Nov.
See ya Thursday night…..

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

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Sydney Southern

Mako Tackle
Gary Brown / Greg Mercedes 9600 6999

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Wollongong

Garth, Deans Bait and Tackle, Windang 4295 1615

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Batemans Bay

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

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Narooma

Darryl, The Ocean Hut (02) 4476 2278

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Bermagui

Darren Redman and Mark Rose,
Bermagui Ocean Hut and Charter Booking Service, (02) 6493 4688

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