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

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Bay looks nice, water has cleared up. Some nice big whiting around the Belongil. Pro pipi harvesters are ripping off the pipis big-time and there were millions there before they turned up. A few good big jew around on lures around Broken Head and under the lighthouse. Good tailor around 2kg also hanging around and there’s plenty of bait in the water, so things are improving. Bigger bream on Tallow Beach on dark.

David Keevers, Coastal Fishing Tackle (02) 6685 7133

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Bruce at Dave’s Bait Shop says whiting and flathead have been pretty good from the Porpoise Wall through to around Pimlico Island. Some lizards to around 5kg, so they’re working well. Whiting are taking bloodworms. Some decent jew in the Town Reach and a lot of smaller schoolies Pimlico and above. Jewfish weather around the walls for the next couple of days so get out some lures or live bait. North Wall surf side and South Wall river side should be OK in the washes for bream and whiting in the southerly. Be careful on the beaches, especially with the swell and big tides.
Howling southerly and solid swells at Evans Head. A few blackfish along the walls and some nice flathead well upstream. Believe it or not, the bar is find on the high tide but there are some scary swells from about Half Tide Rocks out and you’ll get a hammering as soon as you round Joggly.

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

t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au

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River: A small fresh has come through and there are plenty of bream around but the bait fishos will encounter plenty of fork-tailed catfish that will make life a misery. Flathead everywhere, with the best from Browns Rocks to Harwood. School jew still going quite well on plastics in the river. Good whiting in the lower reaches around the canals and shallower creeks and channels.
Who’d own an offshore boat here over the last few weeks? All they’d be doing is cleaning cobwebs off it.
Rocks and beaches have been pretty unstable with all the dodgy weather but they should produce some fish when things settle.

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

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Strong winds and big seas will put a dampener on this weekend, at least at first.
The estuaries will fish well for bream and luderick as they take cover. Southern corners of the beaches should also be worth a throw for the salmon that now appear to be permanent residents. There should be the odd tailor and jew with them. Flathead starting to school in the lower estuaries as the summer run gets under way. before the blow there were indications of whiting in the beach gutters.

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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It was great to see a decent drop of rain last week after so much dry weather. It was just what the doctor ordered. Already some improved results are showing and this should continue over the coming weeks.
On the beaches, the big swells have created havoc, shifting vast quantities of sand and changing some well-established formations. You only need to visit North Beach, particularly the first vehicle access track past the houses, to see results of the big seas. What only a week ago was a gentle slope with plenty of beach holding good formations has been transformed into a two-metre sheer drop from the dunes. Once the seas settled, there were improved results.
The lower end of Lighthouse has held a few bream and salmon, along with increasing numbers of whiting. Plenty of exposed coffee rock adds to the challenge. North Beach continues to produce heaps of salmon, along with the odd school jew on the evening tides. During the day, and particularly during the dirty water, whiting were excellent, whilst a few quality bream were also on offer. This week should also yield good results as the beaches always fish well about a week or so after a flood.
In the estuary, the fresh obviously has had a significant impact on results. The focus has been mulloway off the walls on lures. While many a lure was tossed, results were rather disappointing with only a couple of fish extracted, the best around 24 kilos. The co-op yielded a few blackfish during the height of the fresh, with black weed the bait of choice. A few bream and flathead were also snared, with the run-in tide producing the better results. A couple of interesting catches from the estuary this week included a 550 gram whiting from Rawdon Island along with quite a few bream, proving not all fish move downstream. The south wall produced a bumper 3.5 kilo snapper for Darryl Gill on whitebait.
It will be interesting to see what effect the fresh has on Lake Cathie prawns this coming dark. Last moon was most encouraging but a good fresh can lead to great results in the lower reaches or the prawns going to ground for a while. With the lake level now well above 1.2 metres, it will be interesting watching those who take to the lake tip toeing around the shallower areas. The Hastings should by now be on fire for muddies so its definitely time to get those traps and dillies in the water.
Offshore results obviously have been quite limited given the conditions. Last weekend a couple of boats put to sea, with snapper catches again excellent, particularly for those fishing the closer reefs. Plenty of quality flathead are also on offer.

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

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Offshore: Last Sunday saw a reasonable number of boats work areas north and south of port. Those who went north reported sweep and leatherjackets in plague proportions with a few small snapper. Ocean Quest Charters went south, wide of Seven Mile Beach, and caught a bag of quality snapper, plenty of pearl perch and also found the sweep. My tip is to use live bait and drop these through the schools of sweep in the hope of finding something of size lurking below.
Beaches: The salmon have returned in numbers and are crunching all manner of lures and baits. Some quality sand whiting are being caught.
Rocks: Expected to hear of more snapper being caught off the rocks as a result of the recent heavy seas and the fact that this is the time of the year we traditionally experience such action. Rock fishing generally has been a little quiet.
Estuary: The recent 300mm-plus of rain turned our otherwise crystal-clear lake into a muddy swamp which once again didn't provide the mulloway action we usually see after a fresh. The run-off did, however, concentrate large quantities of bream in the lower part of the lake which should please those fishing the ABT Grand Final over the next few days. For those that can find a spot between BREAM boats there are plenty of flathead to be had.

Lloyd Campbell, Great Lakes Tackle 02 6554 9541

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Estuary: Trumpeter whiting Kangaroo Point and Tahlee; flathead at the mouth of Tilligerry Creek. A bit of fresh in the bay is clearing. Crabs in the tops of the creeks. Stacks of bream Rocks Awash, Corrie Island shortcut and the breakwall.
Beaches: Jew coming through on Hawks Nest and Stockton. Sharks following the salmon on Stockton. Tailor on Stockton with some bream. Whiting on Fingal and One Mile.
Rocks: Stacks of bream around Rocky and Fingal Point. Salmon and tailor Sunny Corner and One Mile. Blackfish on Cemetery and Gypsys. Squire off the southern headland at Fishermans.
Offshore: Some yellowfin at last, up to 30kg on the shelf and 70 fathoms in Stockton Bight. Striped marlin spotted last weekend on the shelf. Snapper in the shallows around Fishermans, Broughton and the Breakers. Jew on The 21 and The Tank. Tailor on Cabbage Tree and Little Island. Flathead off Broughton on the drift.

Graham Duffy, Salamander Bait and Tackle 02 4982 0711

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Reports from the murky Lake Macquarie are of some nice bream after the rain with Graham Sharpe landing nice bream and quality whiting on live bloodworms from near the sand islands last week. Ron Ashman and Ron Kennedy caught a swag from the northern end of the lake on small hard-bodied lures. There have also been a good number of blue swimmer crabs caught in the witch’s-hat traps, with the Bolton Point area very productive.
Snapper in Lake Macquarie continue with Chris Russell catching and releasing a two 1kg fish last weekend. Out testing his new Loomis IMX rod and Shimano Stella reel, Chris caught his fish on grey 3" Berkley Power Minnows around the yachts while fishing for bream.
The sixth annual Invitational Glenbawn Challenge was held last weekend with the conditions harder than previous years. Champion Angler went to Wayne Greentree who combined with son Scott to win champion team title. The largest bass (494mm) was caught by Bradley Harrison, best other species went to John Stevenson (golden perch of 505mm) and the wooden spoon title went to Dominic Harnett.
Having just returned from a 7 day fishing charter along the western side of Cape York, you quickly realise why so many fishers travel north every year. Our adventure saw seven keen anglers fish the rivers, creeks, beaches and offshore reefs north from Weipa aboard the Eclipse Dee, catching 46 species of fish and being amazed at the rugged beauty and isolation of Cape York. The fish grow big up there with a golden trevally caught by Phil Axtens in excess of 14kg as well as fingermark, queenfish, tea-leaf trevally and barramundi around 6kg and the mangrove jacks and giant herring averaging close to 4kg. Current NSW Pro Bream Champion Brendon Hughes and his father Paul fished only with soft plastic lures, landing the better class of fish for the week. Their main success was on the Berkley 4” and 5" Power Minnows in pearl watermelon and smelt colours on a slow retrieve. The mother ship, Eclipse Dee, is a floating lodge skippered by the experienced Dick Foster, who provides quality meals, superb guides and equipment and makes you feel at home. I can wholly recommend the operation and am thankful that we made the right choice for our group.

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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Weather has been pretty rotten most of the week. On Tuesday with Scott Thorington of Haven Charters we got some silver trevally including some decent-sized ones, some fair mowies, nannygai and some plagues of sweep. Water in 40 metres was better than on Terrigal wide, where there wasn’t much going on apart from small nannygai.
Brisbane Water has some bream, baby squire, a flathead and estuary perch under the boats around Saratoga.

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

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

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The Parramatta River and upper Sydney Harbour is running hot at the moment for bream, mulloway and flathead. Places to try on the run-out tide are Bradleys Head, Bottle and Glass rocks, Darling Point and Kirribilli Point. On the run-in tide I suggest you try Mrs Macquaries Chair, Luna Park wharf, Goat Island and the Gladesville Bridge. Sow and Pigs is worth a try for trevally, bream and the odd kingfish on the run-out tide. Tailor have been feeding just off Middle Head and in the channel on either side of the Spit Bridge.
Lane Cove River is worth a try with minnows and soft plastics for bream and flathead. Ross Chamberlain fished there on Wednesday for flathead and caught a 3.4 kilo mulloway, two flathead to about 40cm and a 650g bream.
Stanwell Park and Garie beaches have been producing the odd salmon but due to the dirty water the tailor have moved in, closely followed by the odd mulloway. So if you put out a tailor fillet you will be in with a good chance of getting a mulloway or two.
Port Hacking is producing bream and sand whiting at the top of the tide on most of the sand flats. Best baits have been pink nippers, whitebait and blood and beach worms. You could also try using a few tube worms.
Botany Bay is still muddy from the rain, but don’t let that stop you. Get hold of some tube worms and fish from the top of the tide to the bottom and work your way from Dolls Point to the entrance of the bay.
The Georges River is still a bit muddy, but the stretch of water from Lugarno to The Moons is worth a try drifting for bream and flathead. There have been plenty of mullet schooling in the area as well – catch a couple and use the fillets for mulloway baits.
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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Estuary: Plenty of water in the lake! Nice bream at the entrance on chicken gut with flathead near the back channel kiosk. Bream around Mt Warrigal on soft plastics and also at the humps at the caravan park.
Beaches: Rough seas but nice salmon earlier on Windang Beach and South Shellharbour. A 10kg jewfish off The Farm at the southern side of Bass point on a blue pilchard. Bream and drummer around the Boneyard at Bombo in the swell.
Offshore: Bad now but earlier there were some squire around the islands. Trollers were also getting salmon and tailor at Bass Point with kingfish below the salmon. Kings also off Kiama. Water is around 18°-19°. Nothing much out wide apart from a shark or two.

Garth, Deans Bait and Tackle, Windang 4295 1615

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

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Wind has settled nicely, swell is still up.
Estuary has cleared and is fishing fairly well for bream and flathead, but the tailor have gone a bit quiet. Some whiting on the sandflats and some good trevally getting about. Still jewies around in the drop-off into the inlet.
No reports from offshore since Tuesday, when they got a few nice albacore. Some reports of big yellowfin to 19kg off Burrewarra Point in an eddy of dirty water from 60 fathoms to the shelf.

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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