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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Outside: Snapper, black kingfish & jewfish local reefs.
Rock & beach: Some tailor local beaches Bream south wall, tailor & bream north wall.
River Black Fish & bream around boat harbour & sper wall, bream & flathead at the traffic bridge, whiting & flathead up river as well, jewfish & some jacks up towards Mullumbimby.

Joe of BP Discount Fishing Tackle Brunswick Heads

ausie_28_red@yahoo.com.au
Phone (02) 66851268

NO REPORT

David Keevers, Coastal Fishing Tackle (02) 6685 7133

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NO REPORT

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

t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au

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NO REPORT

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

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NO REPORT

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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Beach fishos at present are having to put with that seasonal curse, the dreaded red weed, which has inundated many local beaches, primarily Lighthouse locally as well as North Haven, Dunbogan and Crescent Head. North beach to date has remained reasonably clean however some traces can be seen it will most likely get worse in not too distant future. The trick with red weed is simple but at times difficult, and that is to fish where the weed isn&Mac226;t. It&Mac226;s quite surprising how well a clean section of sand can produce when most of beach is otherwise not viable. I guess the fish hate the red weed as much as we do. However on the positive side, a few school mulloway remain on offer for those fishing with worms at night, along with the odd bream and whiting. Salmon remain common although not in the numbers seen over past weeks, whilst in the main, tailor have simply gone AWOL for the time being.
Little to report off the rocks apart the very occasion tailor and a few bream during early morning or evening sessions. Drummer remain somewhat elusive however those willing to chase fish and burly heavily have been rewarded with the odd few pigs. Also off the rocks, a few solid blackfish have been reported and hopefully the cooler water will see them feed a little more actively over the next few weeks, whilst those keen to test their tackle on groper should also take this opportunity before the nor easters again fill up traditional haunts.
In the estuary, flathead are again the pick of the targets, with areas well upstream in the Hastings, Maria and Limeburners continuing to produce the better results. As the waters warm which will happen over the next few weeks, or earlier if any decent rainfall is received, expect the action to also pick up in the lower reaches. On the blackfish front, catches remain somewhat inconsistent, as too with bream, however a few more whiting have begun to show with Blackmans Point and surrounds giving up a few nice fish. Starting to hear a few positive reports on bass too which is encouraging, as long as bag limits are strictly adhered to, or preferably a catch and release policy adopted by all.
On the outside scene, the buzz word at the moment is snapper. John from Ocean Star has been managing some great fish to over five kilos for his delighted clients, and could have boated a few much better fish had a couple of corporate clients adhered to professional advice from his deckies in respect to drag settings, and resisted the temptation to crank that star drag right up. Dominic Vidot and a mate also got among some great fish last week, with the best pulling the scales down to 5.6 kilos. Along with the snapper, a few decent kingfish have begun to show up, although there are plenty of rats or juvenile kings mixed in with the better specimens. Reports on the redeployed FAD are also encouraging, with plenty of dolphin fish and small kings hanging around, albeit a little difficult to tempt at the moment with water a tad cool. Looks good for summer though.

Jason and Virginia Isaac, Ned Kelly’s Bait and Tackle 6583 8318

cjisaac@ozemail.com.au

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Offshore - Reef fishing continues to provide the only real action outside with reports of quality Snapper and Kingfish coming from the Seal Rocks area. Some bigger Kingfish were said to be caught in and around the Five Mile Reef area as were the occasional Pearl Perch. I fished the Hot Currents Tournament out of Coffs Harbour over the last weekend and found the going tough. Water quality out wide is good and contains a few early Mahi Mahi. Billfish were hard to come by. The East Australian Current is pushing down hard from the north in which we sited quite a few Manta Rays. Keep an eye out for some Cobia if your up that way. Some school of Bonito have been working in and around Snapper Rock.

Beaches - The Sand Whiting a few and far between but when you get one it's big and worth the effort. A few Salmon continue to linger.

Rocks - refer my last ten reports

Estuary - Some of those big Kingy's were so keen on chasing baitfish up the main channel that they became caught in the shark net at the Tuncurry Rockpool. A couple of them were set free but one was not so lucky. The Tailor that have been common in and around the bridge have thinned a little to be replaced by an ever increasing number of big Sand Whiting. Dusky Flathead are well and truely worth targeting with one of the few remaining Fly fisho's in the area finding them easy pickings. Still plenty of ABT Grand Finalists fishing prior to the Grand Final pre fish ban which comes into effect in a week or so. I'll keep what I know about the whereabouts of the Bream to myself for the time being!

Lloyd Campbell, Great Lakes Tackle 02 6554 9541

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NO REPORT

Graham Duffy, Salamander Bait and Tackle 02 4982 0711

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BIG BRENDO TRIUMPHS IN BREAM GRAND FINAL
Last weekend saw the completion of this years state bream competitions with the grand final at Port Stephens being taken out by popular local angler Brendon Hughes of New Lambton Heights. After securing the "NSW Bream angler of the year " title earlier last month "Big Brendo" continued to catch consistant pairs of bream over the three sessions of the grand final to beat Scott Towner of the Central Coast and overnight leader Brent Hancock. His winning fishing method was to cast lightly weighted soft plastic lures around and when the tide allowed over the many oyster leases of the bay and then slowly work the lure back through the racks.He recieved a cheque for $3000 and a swag of prizes for his efforts.

WHAT'S BITING
Offshore anglers are finding good numbers of Tarwine from the inner reefs with a swag coming from Carls Reef earlier this week as well as some squire for the anglers aboard Taylormade Fishing Charters.Visting anglers Kim and Steve Bain caught some nice snapper on soft plastics around the washes of port stephens through the week and if the sales of deepwater jigs are any indication there are kingfish to be caught outwide.

Newcastle Harbour is offering good fishing options with reports of luderick and Mulloway from the river and some nice Flathead and bream coming from the harbour.
Heath O`Neil of Homesville and his mate Andrew Graham fished the harbour last week using the popular berkley 3" minnows in pearl watermelon colour and landed 11 flathead up to 2 kilos as well as a soapy jew and a kilo Bream.

Reports from Lake Macquarie is of small numbers of flathead available around the entrance to the channel and a early showing of Blue Swimmer crabs around the southern end of the Lake. Others willing to fish the feeder creeks of the lake are catching the bream with Peter Marsh landing some nice fish on lures over the weekend and Bernie Cornish and Ron Ashman finding Bream and Flathead through the week.

A team of us ventured to Lake St Clair this week with mixed success.We found some bass along the banks early, using the lipless crankbait lures with the overpriced "Jackalls" producing and then changed to soft plastics and fished the shallower weed beds to land a better class of fish.Casting right to the edge of the weed the scented plastic is then hopped of the bottom a few times to encourage a strike and is a lot of fun on 4lb fireline.

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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NO REPORT

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

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The arrival of a good size swell in conjunction with hammering rain & 30+ knot souwesterly breezes, these 3 ingredients certainly stirred up plenty of fish cause they was bitin everywhere.
Offshore fishing had the first marlin report for the season Broken Bay gameboat ‘The Pump’ hooked a 100kg striped marlin, the yellowfin have gone quiet again with only one 30kg fin captured, although the Woolongong boys did weigh an in comp capture at 48kg, so it may not be over just yet.
Sydney Harbour has an abundance of surface activity including the previously reported salmon & schools of trevally, the salmon are ridiculously fussy in their acceptance of lures & baits , not like the trevally that took just about anything teased before them. Fishing just inside Nth Head we found in preference to herding.
A silent drift was equally as productive with 3 inch soft plastics a good selection for catching either species, a quick look around had me witnessing up to 6 boats all with single or double hookups & trevally seemed to be on the menu at a few households tonite.
The bottom bashing brigade had been busy on trevs, leatheries & some worthy snapper averaging 2-2.5kg with James Thackeray of Black Pete Marine drifting Longy producing a 4kg model using the ever reliable pillie.
The rugged conditions kept local rock fisho’s fairly quiet, a 4.25kg drummer enticed with bread berley & hooked on a red crab during an arvo session earned Tim Mondzheyously a spot in the running for the Fish Outta Water/Weekender Winter Foto Comp. Tim will score a FOW cap with the major prize fishing charter to be drawn in Oct/Nov generously donated by Pete Leblang of Harbour & Estuary charters up Pittwater way. Pete tells me more signs of activity are noticeable with salmon boiling & taking small slugs with tailor to 45cm moving about. Some 4-5kg sambos have been caught with these tailor in their stomachs.
Pete has had catches of bream & good flounder this week, some good sized kings have been sighted on the move & not quite in the zone yet.
Fish Outta Water’s inhouse Fish’n’tips talk has the bye this week but next Thursday night (30/09/04) resumes with Mike Felton holding the floor discussing all aspects of fly including local pelagic saltwater species & the outfits required. Mike is the proprietor for Felty’s Flies & reels used by all types of fly guys including Team Strudwick who are very generously offering yet another ‘Sic Stic’ rod as the evening's prize. Valued at $189, these rods are rippers so ring ahead on 9949 9488 for your free booking & I’ll see you at 6pm next Thurs night.

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

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Bar Point in the Hawkesbury River has been producing the odd good catch of bream. The best time has been about an hour either side of the hide tide. Make sure that you use a leader of about 1m to 1.5m in length. Also a place that is worth a try is the section of the river called the Vines.
Further downstream at Flint and Steel the outgoing tide is producing the odd bream, mulloway and dusky flathead. The northern corner of Lion Island is worth a shot for snapper and bream on the run-up tide. Try trolling the shoreline of Box Head for tailor early in the morning.
Palm Beach has had a number of schools of salmon working the gutter. Try using either whole pilchards or garfish.
The entrance to Sydney Harbour and Rose Bay are both worth a try for Australian salmon. Small soft plastics or small metal lures are the go. Tailor have been spun up in the early hours of the morning on the southern side of the Harbour bridge. Goat Island is worth a try for bream with soft plastics.
Silver trevally can be caught while at anchor at Bare Island, Watts Reef and the end of the third runway in Botany Bay.
What’s on
For the dates of the next fishing class on ‘How, Where and When to fish the waterways of Sydney from both the shore and the boat’, you will need to call into the shop and ask Greg or phone 0422 994 207 and book in, or maybe the next time you are passing the shop you could go in and book in for the class. The class will cover every thing you need to know to get you amongst a few more fish. The cost for three nights is $80 per person. The areas that I cover in these classes are the Port Hacking, Georges, Woronora, Parramatta, Lane and Iron Cove and the Hawkesbury Rivers, Middle and Sydney Harbours, the northern and southern beaches, as well as the Pittwater. The next class at Mako will be starting on Thursday November 11 and will start at 7pm and finish at 10.30pm. You will need to book in and pay to ensure that the class will run.

Mako Tackle
Gary Brown / Greg Mercedes 9600 6999

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NO REPORT

Garth, Deans Bait and Tackle, Windang 4295 1615

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NO REPORT

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

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NO REPORT

Darryl, The Ocean Hut (02) 4476 2278

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

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