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: Cobia, Spanish mackerel and nice spotties around the Local and off Wooyung.
Rock and beach: Some nice whiting being caught on South Beach. Big tailor on local beaches. Bream on South Wall. Tailor are hanging around Seagull Rocks and look to be staying there with plenty of bait in the corner of North Beach.
River: Flathead around the traffic bridge and bream around the co-op walls. Plenty of blackfish on all the river rock walls. Jacks around the Spur Wall and boat harbour. Whiting and jacks up-river and good mud crabs.

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

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Plenty of mackerel still, spots and Spanish. Also a few wahoo. Acres of bonito in the bay.
The occasional big tailor in the holes along the beaches. Big whiting hanging in the surf with a few nice bream, Some good dusky flathead in the bay beaches.

David Keevers, Coastal Fishing Tackle (02) 6685 7133

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Bruce at Dave’s Bait Shop says good whiting persisting in the river up to Pimlico and in North Creek. Flathead hanging on OK with a few big ones in the lower estuary and a few school fish above the ferry. Lot of little bream in the river with a couple of blackfish beginning to be caught but weed is a problem.
Walls have better bream and plenty of tailor improving in size and numbers. A few whiting and flathead along the beaches with plagues of small dart.
Mackerel going well offshore with Spaniards off the northern headlands to Lennox, no reports of spotties as yet. Wider reefs around the 48 fishing well for snapper and pearlies.
A good run of bream in the Evans River with best catches at night below the bridge. Beaches have a few nice bream, some quality whiting and the odd school jew around the Broadwater rocks and from the headlands. Tailor form the headlands early morning and evenings.
Offshore there are some Spanish mackerel and the odd nice spot with live bait the best way to go. But there are acres of big slimies and yellowtail everywhere so you may need to hunt for the smaller slimies the spotties want. Also a few yellowfin about and the odd snapper and tuskfish working the inshore reefs.

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

t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au

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Offshore: Heaps of spots and Spaniards to 17kg as well with Woody Head and Angourie both going well. Good snapper coming in, too. The odd nice black marlin ‘ruining’ the mackerel fishing. Plenty of good tailor around Woody Head with lots of bait in the bay earlier in the week.
River: A few fair bream at night on bait around Browns Rocks and lower down, flathead to 3kg spread out but better fishing down around Iluka and Yamba.

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

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Offshore: Excellent conditions with water on the shore 25° and warmer as you head out. A good run of small black marlin and the odd sailfish. Treat these small fish sensibly. Spanish mackerel are out there around Bundagen and Barcoongerie. The normal run of snapper and reef fare continues.
Beaches have settled down with some good catches of bream, dart and tailor taken at dusk and dawn.
The fresh in the estuaries will stir things up this weekend and should start the bream 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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Off the beaches, catches have been reasonable, with marginal results for some and solid hauls from others. For those who persisted, some thumper bream have been snared along with a few chopper tailor, whiting and the odd school mulloway. Lake Cathie and North Beach have been the pick for bream and schoolies, while Lighthouse has seen the better of the tailor and whiting. Stingrays and shovels remain thick during night sessions but will quieten down over the next few weeks. Red weed remains an issue, particularly on North Beach although on most days you can locate a section where the weed is not too bad if you are prepared to hunt about. If you can locate clean water when a fair bit of red weed is around, you will generally find fish.
In the estuary, blackfish numbers and quality are improving and the shallower weed beds are now holding more fish than many of the shore-based locations. If you are prepared to fish such areas, the fish are there to catch using both traditional methods with either weed or cabbage, or as many are now adopting, lightly weighted yabbies. You can catch blackfish, bream, whiting and flatties on the yabbies. Some good flathead are on offer from areas around Rawdon Island and the Maria, while bream numbers are picking up marginally. Whiting have been somewhat down but well up the Maria and Limeburners continue to be the pick of locations. Plenty of well-conditioned muddies on offer but blue swimmers have proved a non-event. Don’t give up yet because the 2002 and 2003 winters provided some of the best blue swimmer action you could wish for.
Off the rocks, the odd tailor and bream and blackfish are on offer for those willing to put in the time, with areas north around Plommer and Hat Head fishing reasonably. A few encouraging reports have also come in from Point Perpendicular and Lewis&Mac226; Rock for blackfish and the odd drummer. Few reports of LBG action from Hat Head or Point Perpendicular. Shouldn’t be too long before some northern bluefin tuna show up, with hopefully a more cobia and Spanish with them.
Outside reports have been sensational from a pelagic perspective, with just about every desirable species on offer. Plenty of small black marlin out wide and in to around 20 metres. Best results have come from around Hat Head with slow trolled live slimy mackerel. Finding a consistent bait supply has been the hardest part. The FAD continues to hold plenty of mahi mahi although locating it in the current can be challenging. Good numbers of wahoo are about while the odd cobia and Spanish mackerel have also been encountered. Little to report from bottom fishos courtesy of the consistent currents but the reefs close off Cathie and Plommer have given up a few nice reds to around 3 kilos.

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

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Offshore: Black marlin remain common in close with the weather being the biggest factor in preventing more captures, particularly for those fishing from trailer boats. Out wide striped marlin and continue to cap off what's got to be the best start to our game fishing season for many years. While game fishing can cost you a few bucks at the best of times, the wahoo are robbing a few unlucky anglers of their favourite lures. While the reefs are not fishing particularly well, the FAD is holding plenty of mahi mahi. Bonito are reasonably common at The Pinnacle.
Beaches: At last tailor are being caught on most beaches, as are a few better whiting. The tailor are more than happy to take a metal lure, thus saving the pilchards for another day.
Rocks: No LBG action – yet!
Estuary: Lots of mulloway have been caught from the breakwalls over the last few days. Fresh squid, live bait and plastics seem to have accounted for an equal share. Chris from Forster Beach Caravan Park is catching quality bream and flathead every morning on all manner of plastics. He also tells me that a few bonito have been spun up off the end of the wall over the last few days.

Lloyd Campbell, Great Lakes Tackle 02 6554 9541

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Estuary: Flathead Sandy Point groynes, Shoal Bay Beach, Baggies Beach, Corrie shortcut. Bream to 1.49kg Russ Jobson Middle Island, school jew to 9kg. Stack of bream in the racks at Oaky, Rocks Awash and the Duck Hole wrecks. Whiting on Jimmys Middle Ground, Manton Bank.
Beach: Stack of school jew Samurai, One Mile, Stockton. Bigger jew Green Hill at Fingal. Good run of tailor to 2kg on Stockton and Middle Rock.
Rocks: Tailor on One Mile headland, Cemetery, Fingal Head, squid in the bays. Try LBG at Tomaree, the water’s 23.5° off the rocks, for cobia, bluefin.
Offshore: Trag on the Gibber, jew on Mungo, The 21, The Vs, the Tank and Bulahdelah. The Guts for a 28klg cobia on Thursday. Mahi mahi on the traps especially Minefield, Boulder Wide, FAD. Baby black marlin around 30-40 fathoms, stacks of stripes and blacks 60-80 fathoms, heaps on the shelf.

Graham Duffy, Salamander Bait and Tackle 02 4982 0711

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

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Heaps of bonito from the rocks including the smaller Watson’s leaping bonito. A few frigate mackerel showing up as well. School jew to 4kg in Brisbane Water with bigger jewies off Juno Point. Plenty of kingfish around and report of a spearfisher being chased from the water by a 2.5m white shark. Mahi mahi and marlin putting in a good show. Heaps of flathead in the lakes and estuaries.

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

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It is never the greatest of fishing years when by mid-way through February you’re still wondering when the big rush is going to happen. When you’re still hoping beyond hope that those schools of pelagics that must be out there in the deep blue will end up somewhere near you. Or at least that there will be some better schools of kingies working their way into the Harbour. We may yet see the kings but for now we can be thankful the hard fighting bonito have come to start the party. Schools predominantly comprising tailor and a few salmon have done the rounds of the Harbour most of the summer, often with small numbers of kingfish underneath. These packs of fish are now infused with bonito and are balling up bait in impossibly shallow waters around Dobroyd Point and into North Harbour around Little Manly. Mornings are providing the most action with the surface erupting as baitfish are balled up and systematically slaughtered. You can usually follow birds to the fish when there is this much surface commotion. If you can’t find them there are some pretty tasty sized flatties around 50cm moving in to the harbour, easily taken on the drift with some fresh pilchard or whitebait.
There have been stacks of marlin taken in the past week but the bad news is they were mostly taken up north around Port Stephens, where every game fisherman worth his salt seems to be. There is the odd hook-up off Sydney but it is peasant labour in comparison. Mahi mahi have managed to turn up closer to home, which would be great if there was a wave rider buoy for the masses to fish at. Not everyone has access to their own FAD and those who don’t are now having to travel to the Broken Bay buoy, about 20 miles out. There is some good fishing on the closer reefs though, as long as jewies and kingies keep you happy. A FOW customer was out at off West Reef fly fishing for kings this week and had a 65cm rat king follow his fly while stripping it in. He nearly fell out of the boat when out of the abyss a king conservatively called for 25kg emerged next to its smaller cousin, head-butting his 25mm Clouser before coming up to inspect the boat and then vanishing as quickly as it had arrived.
North definitely seems the go, with Pittwater still humming along as it has done all summer with no shortage of 75cm-plus kings and now quite a few bonito schooling on the surface. Get stuck into them with small metal slices about 20g on light gear and you’ll have fun all day.

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

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Good flathead in the channel along the rock wall and plenty of flounder at the drop-off, whitebait the best bait. Good prawns around Primbee and Griffins Bay. Blackfish showing in Minnamurra near the railway bridge on green weed and nippers.
Beaches: Whiting on Kembla Beach on blood or beach worms, MM Beach for nice bream. South Shellharbour for good tailor and the odd nice salmon on mullet strips.
Rocks: Good trevally off Port Kembla rocks, small jew to 5kg in the harbour on live yellowtail with bonito off the southern breakwall. Beaky Bay at Bass Point on half by three quarter lures. Kings off Kiama Blowhole on squid or live yellowtail but you must berley. Plenty of slimies down there, too.
Offshore: Plenty of good mowies off Wollongong and Coniston. Troll bonito on the Church Grounds at Shellharbour on Christmas trees. Some nice mahi mahi on the traps wide of Port Kembla with blue or green trolling lures best. A few fingers of cold water upsetting the fish with water yo-yoing between 19° and 22°.

Garth, Deans Bait and Tackle, Windang 4295 1615

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Offshore: A few marlin caught until this week when they seemed to disappear. Water still quite cobalt out wide and plenty of slimies but the longliners are taking their toll. On the reefs there are snapper but they’ve slowed a fraction but a lot more kingies are coming in. Reports of bigger fish of late.
Rocks: Dean Dawson landed a 13kg king and reports of fish to 17.5kg off Burrewarra Point. Salmon a bit quiet.
Beaches: The odd whiting up towards Tabourie and a few around Tuross.
Estuaries: Clyde still fishing well for bream. ABT members get 10% off during the BREAM comp at the end of the month. Good flatties and stuff like big long toms. Bass great guns in the upper reaches with fish to 52cm with the Deua seeming to hold bigger bass than the Clyde. Not too many reports from the lakes.

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

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Estuaries: Flathead, bream, trevally all going fairly well. Some good jewies in the inlet recently. Some nice whiting on the sandflats but they’re hard to catch, No bloodworms, no whiting
Beaches fishing better for some good salmon and tailor with 1080 south of Mystery Bay probably the pick.
Offshore: Good flathead on the 30m line but there are green toads and leatherjackets with them. Kingies at the Island are going very well again fish to 12kg. Out wider for a few marlin but the longliners are caning the area. Big blue marlin sighted as well.

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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