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 and jewfish on the Local Reef.
Rock & beach: Some bream, whiting, flathead South Beach. Bream south wall and north wall.
River: Bream around the boat harbor and at the traffic bridge, whiting up river near Kings Creek. With the warmer temperature some mangrove jacks could be up river. Flathead, bream and whiting up Simpsons Creek near the bowing club.

Joe
BP Discount Fishing Tackle Brunswick Heads (02) 66851268
brunswick-fishing@netspace.net.au

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Not much happening, thanks to the incessant black northerly. Cosy Corner for a few decent bream and dart with the occasional tailor to 3kg and the odd school jew. You’ll get sandblasted anywhere else. Bay was full of big slimy mackerel but the tuna boats cleaned them out.

David Keevers, Coastal Fishing Tackle (02) 6685 7133

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Bruce at Dave’s Bait Shop says whiting are improving in the lower river and up to Pimlico on bloodworms, yabbies and beach worms. A few flathead around and they’re improving in size. Blackfish hanging around but the water is clear. Jew behind the RSL on live baits and soft plastics. Smaller ones around Pimlico and Wardell. Beaches were OK for whiting and dart before the wind became a problem. Still just the odd tailor. A few mixed bags from the wider reefs. Mud crabs starting to get hungry.

Very little to report at Evans Head, with onshore winds pretty brisk most days. A few nice blackfish around the walls but the water is very clear, and some flathead upstream. The few boats that have braved things offshore have come home early with the odd fair haul of squire and trag.

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

t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au

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Rain will help and there should be some drains running so target them for bream. Plenty of flathead from palmers Island to Lawrence, especially on plastics. A few school jew around but no real size.

Beaches have been OK on the southern side for a few school jew in the rocky corners on the full moon and the salmon are starting to taper off a little. Northern side for good bream around Woody Head.

Offshore has been pretty patchy in poor conditions. Some one-off catches like 11kg snapper down off Wooli and the leatherjackets are thinning out.

Paul Kneller
Big River Bait and Tackle, Maclean (02) 6645 1834

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Windy and almost raining today, strong breeze will affect all offshore fishing. Water temps have climbed to around 21° on the bank, hopefully heralding the end of our salmon run. Beaches turning up good bream and tailor, also unseasonable. Bottom ends of the estuaries fishing well for small flathead, probably the males awaiting their females so look forward to an early summer run.

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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In the estuary, blackfish have slowed considerably although fish are still available for those willing to put in the time. North wall again has been the pick of locations. Bream remain rather quiet, however reasonable catches have been taken well upstream, with soft plastics and baits achieving results. The water remains quite clear and a good degree of stealth is essential to achieve success. Flathead numbers are picking up with areas upstream of the Dennis Bridge producing better results. The lower reaches have begun to produce a few quality whiting, although there are plenty of throwbacks among the better fish.

On the crustacean front, reports of blue swimmer and mud crabs are beginning to filter in. On the prawning side, time will tell whether Lake Cathie will produce this year, with the lake somewhat of an enigma when closed. When the lake is closed prawning can be sensational some years and poor during others. The general consensus is that this is largely dependant on the time of closure and whether conditions were good for breeding during closure. With a full moon having just passed and the lake slowly beginning to warm beyond hypothermia range, I expect the next week will see a few hardy souls testing the water.

On the beaches, red weed remains an issue with the exception of North Beach but has dispersed a little. For those putting in the time, some nice bream have been taken from Lighthouse and North beaches, together with the odd whiting and salmon. Tailor remain most elusive apart from a very isolated morning fish or two Jewfish have been quiet but a few schoolies were removed from North Beach during the lead up to the full moon. Better results of late have been achieved on a half-in or half-out tide rather than around the top.

On the rocks, tailor have improved a little, as has the quality, with several good bags of fish to over a kilo taken locally and around Point Plommer. Bream have been steady but early morning sessions have achieved the better results. A few school jew have also been extracted from Big Hill, Plommer and surrounds. Drummer remain patchy with most pig enthusiasts agreeing this year has been well below par, although certainly an improvement upon the abysmal 2003 season. With this species not being one targeted commercially, I guess recent years if anything simply highlight the impact weather conditions can have on the feeding habits of most species. With the last two winters being amongst the driest on record, whilst also being relatively calm weather wise with few big southerly swells, it is no surprise the pigs have not fired.

Offshore, snapper remain excellent with good bags of fish to around 5kg taken from basically anywhere from the reefs close off Cathie to around nine miles off Lighthouse. Many anglers have remarked these past few weeks that snapper are as good as they have seen for a long time. Elsewhere offshore, plenty of flatties are on offer when drifting the sand, while the reefs continue to produce the usual assortment of good tucker and rubbish. Leatherjackets are still around in patches although are thinning out by the day. Little to report from the pelagic scene as yet, although look the action to improve once the water begins to warm.

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

cjisaac@ozemail.com.au

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NO REPORT

Lloyd Campbell, Great Lakes Tackle 02 6554 9541

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Estuary: Flathead Tilligerry Creek on plastics, bream around the racks, best bait mullet strips. Trumpeter whiting throughout the bay. Luderick still off the breakwalls.

Beaches, rocks: One Mile for sand whiting. Salmon most places. Stockton has bream, whiting and still full of salmon. Pigs off most rocks.

Offshore: North of Broughton at the Three Mile for jew to 20kg, trag to 4.5kg and snapper to 4kg. Shallows at Broughton for snapper to 7.5kg, kings at East Head Broughton and big kings at Almark. Bream and squire around the island washes. Seas pretty big at the moment so you’ll have to wait until it settles.

Graham Duffy, Salamander Bait and Tackle 02 4982 0711

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Big catches of salmon continue to come from Stockton Beach on ganged whole pilchards, as well as some rare catches tailor after dark. Others report catches of bream on pipis or mullet gut and a 23kg mulloway was caught by Edgeworth`s Michael Raw through the week using octopus leg as bait. Many local jewfish anglers are catching loads of fresh squid for bait from the entrance to Swansea Channel with some extra large specimens caught this week around the Island.

Newcastle Harbour is also producing some good mulloway with the lure casters catching some exceptional fish with the best reportedly a 25kg monster. Dean Bolton and Geoff Abraham of the Central Coast have been making the journey into the Harbour to tangle with the schools of estuary perch and bream that are present using a combination of live prawns and soft plastic lures to catch and release over 20 fish in a session. Others are reporting good catches of flathead from the Hunter River with some nice fish being cleaned yesterday at the Morpeth boat ramp that had fallen to fresh prawn baits. The Paterson and Williams rivers are offering good bass.

This long weekend will see a big increase in traffic on our local waterways and we are reminded by the Waterways Authority to remain calm and act safely at all times and remember it is compulsory to wear a lifejacket while crossing the Swansea Bar. Also this weekend sees the running of annual Glenbawn Fishing Classic with two days of fishing combined with entertainment and prizes for anglers of all ages. For more info contact Peter Warbrick on 6543 7181 or 0408 686 173

Its often said that 90% of the fish are caught by 10% of the anglers. Although I don’t totally agree with this statement I do recognise that certain anglers consistently catch more and better fish than others by following their own formula and by using specific baits or equipment to achieve these results. Gaining assistance in developing fishing skills has always difficult to find with most tackle stores endeavouring to do their best, but now a new service has started in Newcastle to fill this void. Wildfish Enterprises will be running a school of fishing which covers all aspects of fishing including rock, beach and estuary as well as popular lure techniques, rod building and knot tying. The brainchild of local angler and accredited teacher Michael Kaminski, these classes are reasonably priced and supported by the Berkley/Pure Fishing company. For more information contact Michael on 0404 007 702.

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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Out to Terrigal Wide on Tuesday for a shark fish but the water was 16° and slimy green and we didn’t lose a bait. We did get heaps of salmon off Terrigal and North Avoca when we moved inshore. One of the charter boats fished off Forresters Beach for two small makos and a couple of trevally and makos.

Estuary: Aaron got smoked by two big jew near the Rip bridge on octopus. EPs under the boats in Brisbane Water, also the Punt Bridge, where there are also some soapie jew.
Beaches have a few fish with a 27kg jewfish off North Entrance Beach last weekend and salmon pretty thick everywhere.

Rocks have been pretty quiet.

Aaron

Freddys Fishing World (02) 4367 5555
Shop 1/ 229 The Entrance Rd Erina

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NO REPORTS

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

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There have been a number of very good reports coming in from both Garie and Stanwell Park beaches. Rob Gladden fished off Stanwell Park beach on Wednesday night and caught two mulloway at 6kg and 4.5kg. Both were caught on live squid that he had caught off the rocks at the north end of the beach. Rob also said that there were two other anglers there earlier in the afternoon who had caught six dart and five bream on pink nippers. Peter Johnston caught a 5.4kg mulloway while fishing for salmon off the north end of Garie Beach using whole pilchards on 4/0 ganged hooks.

The rock platform at the north end of Garie is also worth a try for salmon and tailor. There have also been a number of bream caught there as well.

Kurnell is the place to go if you are after luderick or drummer. Try Yena and Little Yena. Make sure that you berley with plenty of bread. Royal reds, abalone gut and pink nippers have been the best baits.

Botany Bay is starting to hot up. Silver trevally, bream and flathead can be caught at Bare Island, Watts Reef, the Hot Water Outlet, the end of the third runway and at Towra Point. Due to Sydney experiencing a bit of rain you will need to concentrate your efforts where the clean water line is.

Morwong, snapper, the odd kingfish and plenty of sweep have been caught at The Peak, The Twelve Mile, the Kurnell Lighthouse, South of Jibbon Bombora and out in 40 metres off Garie Beach.

Parramatta River is now worth a try for bream and flathead. You could try under the Gladesville Bridge, Woodford Bay in the Lane Cove River, Bradleys Head, Point Piper and under the Harbour Bridge.

Sow and Pigs is worth a try on the run-out tide for silver trevally, leatherjackets, bream and the odd kingfish may start to show up. Between the Heads it is still worth looking out for those salmon and tailor schools. Manly Cove is worth a try for leatherjackets in and around the moored boat.

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 Thursday nights for $80. Next class starts on November 11. 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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Estuary: Nice garfish around the Humps at the back of the lake. Bream still in the creeks on soft plastics and peeled prawns. Big flathead near the entrance on whitebait slowly retrieved.

Beaches: Salmon aplenty on Windang and Warilla beaches on pillies and lures. MM Beach for nice bream on chicken gut and pipis. Flathead on Port Kembla Beach on strip baits.

Offshore: Some nice medium reds off Windang and off Rangoon Island. Troll around Shellharbour for salmon and some tailor. Rat kingfish also around Port Kembla and the Shellharbour Church Grounds. Makos off the Kiama Canyons.

Garth, Deans Bait and Tackle, Windang 4295 1615

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Offshore: On the continental shelf there have been albacore, with up to 40-odd tagged and released. Also the odd yellowfin with a couple up to 45kg. Charter operators are reporting good snapper outside with plenty of salmon and tailor and an early run of rat kings on the reefs.

Rocks, beaches: Newcomer to the Bay Jack Tate is taking on the local fish. Jack has caught plenty of snapper to 2.6kg. Others have also reported good catches of reds and the few trips I’ve made off the rocks this year have nearly always rewarded me with at least one small pinkie. There have been plenty of salmon, which seem to run all year round now.

The beaches are starting to fire with flathead back on the chew. You can go one day and catch one or two and come back the next and get 15-20. bream are on the beaches with quite a few luderick. I managed to hook 10 luderick the other afternoon on a hard-bodied lure so they’re thick. If you want to learn more about luderick on lures, watch this space as I experiment. At the moment all I can tell you is to try a No 1 Squidgy Wriggler in the jelly prawn colour wherever you think you can catch luderick. I’ve been experimenting with an orange Slavko Bug hardbody with a fast, erratic retrieve with lots of pauses.

Rivers: The Moruya River is still seeing big schools of salmon although over the past couple of weeks they seem to be moving in and out of the system, so one day it’s fish every cast and the next nothing. There have been good-sized tailor most days. Estuary perch are on the move with the recent rain and the bream are starting to move back into the oyster racks. In another month or so the Clyde should be fishing really well again.

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

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Wet! Two days’ rain so far. Have been albacore to 14kg outside over the shelf and in close, only 2km offshore Sunday and Monday. Bottom fishing OK for snapper and mowies.
Rocks: Salmon and the odd tailor with a few drummer.

Estuary: Tailor and flatties in the lake on hardbodies and there’s a big school of salmon in there, too. Also some jewfish lurking around and there are some in Tuross too.

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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