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, cobia and mahi mahi on the local reefs and up around Wooyung and Black Rock.
Rock and beach: Tailor on South Beach. Tailor and bream on New Brighton Beach. South Wall for bream and blackfish; jewfish around North Wall.
River: With warmer water in the river good mangrove jacks have been caught, up to 2kg. Bream and blackfish around the boat harbor, bream and jacks around the Spur Wall. Bream and jewfish around the highway bridge, flathead around the Ferry Reserve

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

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Beaches: The usual stuff including some big whiting, some bream, flathead and dart. No jew weighed in but plenty of the smaller stuff. Fish Tallow in the northerly and the town beaches if it ever turns southerly. Tailor to 2kg under the cape on Raider chromies. Offshore is sloppy as hell.

David Keevers, Coastal Fishing Tackle (02) 6685 7133

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Bruce at Dave’s Bait Shop says whiting the main saviours with plenty of bag limits around Pimlico Island, mainly on the bloodworms, but beach worms and yabbies have worked. A few flatties to 5kg lurking around the deeper holes with smaller fish along the Porpoise Wall. School jew from the Town Reach to Wardell. Mud crabs improving by the day now, still mostly in the creeks but a few in the upper reaches of the river. Mahi mahi everywhere around the offshore traps with some quality catches to around 8kg. Around the 42-Fathom reefs some squire and pearl perch.
Beaches good early for whiting, dart, bream and flathead before the northerly turns up.
At Evans Head the whiting have been going OK early along the beaches with Main Beach probably the pick. A nice school jew taken there earlier this week on a yabby bait meant for a whiting. School jew in better numbers around the rocks over the washy sandbars. A few flathead well up the river and some whiting just upstream of the bridge on the high tide. Offshore has been OK for squire, trag and the occasional cobia.

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

t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au

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Lower river still has heaps of whiting on worms and yabbies. Bream quiet but flathead starting to come on well. Blue swimmer crabs and a cobia caught chasing them. Plenty of jewies and the giant herring are going off as well. Earlier in the week and last weekend there were a few spotted mackerel caught offshore with some nice snapper in close. Beaches picking up for whiting, flathead and bream. Little trevally everywhere in the river as well.

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

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Offshore: Blown out most days, sadly a regular occurrence. During the odd bream some nice snapper were taken from the inshore reefs including a 6.7kg fish taken from the rocks on Muttonbird Island.
Beach gutters turning up some excellent whiting with fish to 600g along with school jew up to 8kg and some nice bream.
Bottom ends of the estuaries turning up some big flathead with best of the week 5.1kg. Lots of smaller male fish to keep everyone happy.

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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On the beaches, whiting numbers have picked up considerably with Lighthouse in particular giving up some quality fish. Best bet is to fish the shallower sand bars on the rising tide with worms or pipis and avoid the deeper gutters unless you are keen to do battle with the hordes of salmon that will simply not go away. Despite their culinary deficiencies, these salmon have at least provided some fantastic action over the past few months, with very few species capable of providing the type of challenge a salmon does on light gear. Also on the beaches, a few bream are beginning to show, with North Beach and Dunbogan providing some nice kilo-plus specimens. Mulloway have been scarce and tailor a distant memory for most.
In the estuaries, flathead again remain the star attraction with the Hastings fishing exceptionally well. Prawns and whitebait remain the baits of choice but lures are also accounting for plenty of quality fish. Whiting catches are also on the improve, with numbers and quality excellent for so early the season. Blackfish remain quiet, as too are the bream. Plenty of muddies are getting about for those setting the traps or dillies. Lake Cathie is also looking great, having been opened for a little over a week now, and already some great signs are showing. Whiting catches are increasing almost daily as the clean water works its way right up the lake, while a few flatties have begun to take up residence in the lower reaches. As for the prawns, the period following the opening produced mixed results with a few bumper hauls mixed in with plenty of grass, sticks, toads and other unwanted debris. Next dark will be keenly anticipated by all, especially those who prefer to wield a scoop net rather than the big drag nets.
Little to report from the offshore scene as expected with conditions not at all favourable. However, on the occasions when a few ventured out early, snapper remain excellent, with reefs off Plommer and Lake Cathie producing exceptionally well. John from Ocean Star charters has also been managing some quality kingfish when the current allows, so now is the time to catch yourself some livies and hit the reefs and pinnacles.

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

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Offshore: At last a little bit of variety has been added to the usual snapper and pearl perch reports. Up north wide of Five Mile quality trag are on the chew as well as some hard pulling samson fish. Of course the Reds and pearlies are still there. Small mahi mahi continue to be reported.
Beaches: The salmon just wont go away! Some whiting have been taken with the reports from Diamond Beach being the most consistent. The occasional big bream has been taken by those chasing whiting. Pipis are still the bait of choice.
Rocks: Little to report.
Estuary: The action from the breakwalls has been limited to bream and flathead with the mulloway still not in the mood to feed. Throughout the lake system the flathead are active, as are whiting. The bream in the lower part of the lake are unusually large for this time of the year.

Lloyd Campbell, Great Lakes Tackle 02 6554 9541

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Estuary: Flathead inside Corrie Island, Cromarty Bay, North Arm Cove. Good fish to 5kg. Bream from the racks and the Nelson Bay wall. School jew off the breakwalls, Anchorage, Middle Island. Trumpeter whiting throughout the bay, sand whiting Shoal Bay. Plenty of squid around the Shoal Bay moorings.
Rocks: Drummer and bream from most headlands.
Beaches: Sand whiting Fingal, Stockton. School jew along Stockton and plenty of salmon.
Offshore: Washes around the inner islands for bream and squire. The 21 Reef for trag. Shallows around Broughton Island for squire. Out on the shelf there are still some yellowfin.

Graham Duffy, Salamander Bait and Tackle 02 4982 0711

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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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Jewies starting to come into Broken Bay and the estuaries after the rain. Try under The Rip bridge. Big bream starting to fire around the boat moorings and leases in Brisbane Water. Blackfish on the bite. Prawns are running at The Entrance. Flathead also going well on soft plastics. Some big tailor off the beaches but not many salmon. Squid at The Haven.
Offshore there are some yellowfin tuna out wide off the shelf and a few mako sharks. Bottom fish include trevally, morwong and snapper off Terrigal Wide.

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

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Sydney Harbour’s water rose to 19.4° during the week but action down was still winter-quiet with a with only a few species showing interest and some bait rocking up. Des Toms from Hook ’em Cook ’em Charters reports a school of slimies and yakkas at Dobroyd Point in deeper water taking fillet strips. This same bait is working at Sow and Pigs for bream and trevally. There appears to already be two aggressive kingfish schools holding fish from 3-5kg with one around Rose Bay to Watsons and Double Bay. The second pack was roaming west of the Spit Bridge in Middle Harbour. Best results have come from live-baiting down deep around popular structure.
Small-boat fishos worked inshore reefs for flatties and plenty of trevally to 60cm. Pan-sized reds and big sweep invaded Long Reef, swiping baits intended for bigger quarry. The bait station out past Browns Mountain fished well for Mick Tess aboard Yakatoon, which hooked 20 yellowfin tuna to 10kg on VIB diving lures.
Some beaches fished well for tailor, salmon and bream, particularly in the afternoons. Jeff Yorsten fished Narrabeen and Dee Why for these fish with fillets of mullet and bonito too tempting in the surf.
Pete Le Blang reports Pittwater is a hive of activity with kingfish results on every charter. Live squid, yakkas, and fresh squid heads downrigged around Stokes Point, Longnose Point and The Basin result in hook-ups on fish to 90cm with bigger bust-ups quite common and par for the kingfish course. West Head and Barrenjoey are working for squid, yakkas and pencil gars. A live squid over the edge doubles your hook-up ratio straight up.

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

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Mako Tackle
Gary Brown / Greg Mercedes 9600 6999

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Lake: Prawning run is going well in the back channel and Primbee Point with scoopers getting up to 2kg a session. Prawn the run-out tide for best chances in the back channel although further up the lake the tide isn’t so critical. Flathead going well around Lake South sand flats and the drop-off on hard and soft lures and prawns. In the channel, Bevans Island on the bend is good for bream and flathead and the sea entrance has had some whiting on worms. Blue swimmer crabs making an early showing.
Beaches: Best in the deeper gutters for salmon on pillies and lures at the southern end of Windang Beach, northern end of East Corrimal and mid-way down Seven Mile Beach at the Berri crossroads. Whiting at North Wollongong, Fishos Beach at Port Kembla and Windang Lake entrance.
Rocks: Southern sides of headlands best for bream and squire on royal red prawns and strip baits. Best spots include Bombo, Black Head at Gerroa and Bellambi Headland.
Offshore: Morwong to 3kg at Stanwell Park Reef, Wollongong Reef in 60 fathoms, the reefs off Bombo Headland. Strip baits and squid working well. Flathead at Minnamurra, Windang 160 feet and Towradgi Sands.

Garth, Deans Bait and Tackle, Windang 4295 1615

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River: Plenty of bream around the racks in the river, flathead all through the system and some good garfish as well. Jewfish going well in the river with James Gale catching a 21kg job under the bridge on mullet this week. Another small one around 3kg was caught and released that night. Plenty of estuary perch well upstream and the bass heading upstream above Shallow Crossing.
Rocks have plenty of pigs and a good run of snapper still going, though they’ve slowed down a little.
Beaches have whiting, bream and flathead. Yesterday on the beach I got a squid on my Slavko Bug and then a flattie and then switched to a 3” Bass Minnow and caught a shovel-nosed shark.

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

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Estuary fishing well for jewies and some good flathead. A 20lb flathead caught last Sunday by Peter Kettelwell on a soft plastic and the fish was released, so it could be yours next time! Plenty of whiting also in the estuary and they’re preferring nippers over bloodworms for some strange reason. Plenty of tailor with some good fish among them. A couple of kingfish caught at the marina, too – strange, considering they’re not catching them at the island yet.
Beaches a bit hit-and-miss.
Offshore: Sand flathead conspicuous by their absence. The island has some nice bottom fish but kings rare so far. Out wider the best fishing is 1000 fathoms and beyond, where there are yellowfin and albacore.

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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