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: Last few days the bar has been flat mackerel & snapper around local reefs
Rock & beach: Bream on south wall, whiting north & south beaches.
River: Bream & blackfish around the CO-OP walls.flathead & Bream around the highway bridge. Whiting & good size mud crabs up river.

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

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Fishing at Byron on Blues Festival weekend? – get real! You’ll be lucky to find a park. Nice big tailor off Brunswick with a few jacks around the Bruns wall. Not many mackerel of late but snapper to 9kg weighed in on live bait. Some big bream and a few big tailor from the beaches and the swell has dropped back nicely.

David Keevers, Coastal Fishing Tackle (02) 6685 7133

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Ben at Dave’s Bait Shop says it’s been a little quiet but still the odd whiting around Pimlico. Flathead persisting along the Porpoise Wall and the odd medium bream as well. Blackfish are just starting to pick up so they’re worth a throw if you can track down some weed. A few jew and tailor from the headlands but weather was a bit wild earlier in the week. The odd mackerel poking about at Riordans Reef and up north off Lennox.
Good schools of white pilchards in the bay at Evans Head most mornings this week with a few tailor working them around. Not much size in the tailor I’ve spun up with the best going around a kilo and the average run 600-700g. At least it’s something to hold the spotties offshore, although there hasn’t been much boat activity due to the wind. Spaniards might also be worth pursuing in close around the feeding tailor, though I haven’t sighted any big bust-ups and no bluefin activity. Blackfish going quite well around the walls although the dropping seas won’t help there, and some nice whiting around the Iron Gates in the river. Hordes of bream in the river below the bridge but they take a bit of catching. If the trawlers are working, try as they unload in the morning or work the river walls at night with yabbies, live prawns or fillets of yellowtail or trawled whiting.

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

t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au

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Pretty quiet and no offshore reports due to the weather.
Some good tailor around the rocks with Iluka breakwall probably the pick of the spots. Some northern bluefin and even the odd spotty coming from the walls as well when weather permits. Some jew caught from the walls at times but they’re hit and miss. Up-river the bream are going pretty well up to Maclean with the odd school jew. Flathead don’t seem to have happened much of late, which is a disappointment.

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

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Offshore has been pretty nasty for the past few days and the wind will have changed the conditions – interesting to see if the cold current arrives. Recent water of 24° really turned on most of the species with good mackerel – spotties to 12kg and the odd Spaniard to 28kg, cobia and northern bluefin tuna. Plenty of snapper and the usual reef fare with the flathead drifts turning up nice lizards.
Beach gutters were fishing well for tailor, bream and the odd jewfish so they should still be there when the weather settles.
Estuaries have been the pick with reasonable flathead, bream, and some very big whiting.

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 numbers have picked up considerably with both breakwalls giving up plenty of solid fish over a kilo. Bream numbers are solid albeit with plenty of throwbacks, while flathead remain your best bet for consistent action with Limeburners in particular fishing well. Reasonable numbers of good-sized whiting have also been taken. Well up the Maria has been producing the better results. Now is also peak time for mulloway off the walls, particularly if the rough stuff kicks in. Fishing the high tide after dark with live or fresh bait would be well worth a go. On the crab front, again no news of blue swimmers but muddies remain active and are well worth chasing.
Off the beaches, this coming week will be largely dependent upon the sea conditions and to date things are looking good. Bream numbers and quality are on the improve with several reasonable bags taken from Lighthouse, including fish over a kilo. Whiting have been a little quiet. Jew numbers have been down a bit but April onwards is the time to really focus on a schoolie from the sand. North Beach has been the pick of the local beaches, but Lake Cathie has a number of excellent fish-holding formations and will provide a feed for those willing to put in the time. Tailor action is certainly picking up although a little hit and miss on occasions
Off the rocks, tailor remain excellent for those out at dawn or dusk, whilst night anglers have been scoring increasing bags of well-conditioned bream. Lighthouse has produced good numbers of both species with several tailor to well over a kilo. Northern bluefin are around with Hat Head, Point Perpendicular and even the North Wall producing hook-ups. Hat Head has also seen some Spanish mackerel and cobia for those prepared to put in the time and effort.
Offshore, sea conditions have not been at all favourable since last weekend. When conditions allow, the action has been quite good, with Ocean Star scoring plenty of reasonable snapper, some solid samson fish and kingfish, as well as plenty of mahi mahi from around the FAD. Plenty of black marlin are still hanging about, as are Spanish mackerel and the odd cobia and wahoo.

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

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Lloyd Campbell, Great Lakes Tackle 02 6554 9541

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Estuary: Bluefin tuna in the channel running up to Nelson Bay and on the Salamander wreck. School jew on the wreck, Middle Island, Karuah. Good flathead Baggies Beach Corlette groynes, Corrie Island. Good bream on The Tubes at Tomaree, Boulders, under Yacaaba and any of the racks around Oaky and Rocks Awash. Blue swimmers Tilligerry Creek, Snapper Island. Muddies in the Karuah Branch Arm and Tilligerry Creek. A few tailor of an afternoon off the co-op wall, Little Beach jetty, The Tubes.
Beaches: If you can fish it, jew around the Huts and the Wreck on Stockton, big tailor around 7km down. A few whiting lingering. Anywhere where the mullet are schooling you should pick up tailor and jew. Protected beaches like Fingal, Box, Wreck should have bream, tailor and whiting.
Rocks: If the swell allows there should be big snapper from Fishermans, Boat Harbour and Fingal. Blackfish and bream schooling up around Cemetery, Rocky, Boulder Bay. LBG boys might get a crack at Tomaree for bluefin and cobia.
Offshore: When conditions allow, snapper in the shallows anywhere from Fishermans, Boat Harbour Fingal, Broughton, North Island, the Sisters. Tailor on the troll around Cabbage Tree, Tomaree and Little Island. Bluefin off the front of Yacaaba and the Gibbers. Trag on The 21, Gibber, Uralla, Bulahdelah, The Tank. A few black marlin around in 50 fathoms, mahi mahi on the traps.

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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Wind has been awful and ocean the same, so there’s nothing to report from offshore, the beaches or rocks.
A few good reports of quality flathead around The Entrance on soft plastics with plenty of 50-60cm fish. They’re also in Brisbane Water. A few nice jew on the rail bridge at Woy Woy on lures. Bream and EPs won’t like the coloured water, try smelly baits around The Rip for a few bream. If the sea settles down there could be some big jewies back at Avoca.

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

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Last week was the week of the average angler, or at least the week that the Average Anglers Fishing Club held their Sydney Harbour fishing competition. Many a harbour fisho has done it hard during the last few days and moans and groans about the lack of decent fish were becoming prevalent again, so it was refreshing to see some good fish taken. Congratulations must go to Cameron Munroe, who won the day with an unexpected catch of two nice John Dory, both around 600g, and reports were that there was plenty of other no-frills fishing to be had. Heaps of flatties are coming aboard from the drifting grounds that head west from Middle Head and continuing that westward journey will lead you toward some nice schools of frigate mackerel and some other various pelagics schooling up inside The Spit bridge. Small metal slices and light lines are the keys to a profitable session.
Pittwater is fishing similarly, with a bit of a downturn in general fish activity but still lots of action to be had if you smart about it. Schools of frigates and bonito, especially Watson’s leaping bonito, can be seen busting up through tightly packed balls of bait as the sun rears its head of a morning. Tailor are also getting a piece of the action though most of them are deeper under schools of slightly larger bait and can often be a little harder to find. Kingies are also still doing the business even though the water is getting a touch cooler, and the odd amberjack still haunts the moorings off Avalon. Live squid is still the go but failing this, some fresh good-quality stuff cut into strips will at least put you in with a show. The bream run has slowed a little in Pittwater, with the majority of fish now to be found up into the Hawkesbury around the racks and bridges.
Inshore fishing seems to be well and truly the go though, when you hear stories about the lack of action offshore over the weekend. That 24°-26° blue stuff that was off the shelf has turned into 22° green murk as southerly currents make their impact, turning back the promising start to the marlin season. There are fish north and south of Sydney, but none here. The Broken Bay Game Fishing Competition sent about 70 boats on their way last Saturday for a return of only eight marlin. At least there were a few smaller yellowfin about in around 60-70 fathoms, and out wide a 336kg Tiger Shark was boated. An 18kg mahi mahi also came aboard Black Pete on Saturday, taken from under flotsam that was clumped along a current line.

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

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Lake: Nice bream near the kiosk on whitebait and prawns. Good flathead near the drop-off on silver soft plastics. Blackfish on weed on the eastern side of the bridge. Back of the lake around Mt Warrigal for blue swimmers but they aren’t big.
The harbours, like Shellharbour and Kembla, have produced great blackfish sheltering from the wind. Try the northern sides of the headlands for drummer and bream, try Beakie Bay and Bombo.
Offshore too rough but there were nice snapper in close around Bass Point and trevally around the Five Islands. Water is only around 19°.

Garth, Deans Bait and Tackle, Windang 4295 1615

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Estuary: Still a few bass upstream but they’re starting to slow down. Black bream and plenty of small tailor and a few small school jew as well. Tuross is probably the pick. Still the odd whiting at the front of Tuross, too. Plenty of yellowfin in the lower Clyde.
Beaches: Good catches of flathead and whiting in the corners.
Rocks: Plenty of salmon and even frigate mackerel and if you get one, put it out for a king. The odd report of northern blues at Pretty Point. Snapper haven’t stopped with all sizes available.
Offshore: Still a few marlin about with 14 in one day a while back for one boat along with some mahi mahi.

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

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No one has fished much for a week in shocking weather but it’s clearing up pretty well. Last Sunday a few boats got out and Tuross Canyons went well for yellowfin, mahi mahi and marlin with heaps of baitfish. Around the island a few charters did OK for fair kings to 90cm.
Inlet is producing flathead and the bream are going pretty well along with heaps of trevally and mullet.
Beaches have been too rough. High rock at Missionary Bay has been OK for salmon and tailor.

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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