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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A few tailor around but a lot of choppers. Mackerel still around but it’s tough to get to them in the slop. Heaps of spotties north of Brunswick Heads. A few nice bream around a kilo on the beaches and a lot of flathead around a kilo up towards Grays Lane.

David Keevers, Coastal Fishing Tackle (02) 6685 7133

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Bruce at Dave’s Bait Shop says whiting are still going well during the big-running tides around Pimlico with some good sized fish. Flathead OK with a few big ones in the Town Reach and smaller ones well upstream. A few small school jew around Wardell bridge and further up. Tailor have been the big movers along the beaches and headlands with fish to 4kg. Also some nice bream in the washes with a 2.0kg fish gilled and gutted – a true five-pounder – weighed in yesterday. Spots and Spanish going well outside when conditions allow. A few muddies in the tops of the creeks
I seem to be writing it every week lately, but it’s been pretty ordinary weather at Evans Head again with the offshore scene shut down for most of the week due to a cranky bar and a pretty vigorous onshore slop. That’s a pity because the reefs have been lousy with spotted mackerel and the big fleet last weekend enjoyed some interesting fishing. Some boats bagged out within an hour on freely feeding fish while others had to contend with shy spotties that simply swam around live baits until the livies died of fright.
Beaches have had a few bream, whiting and tailor with some school jew up towards Broadwater in the coffee rock on the evening tide. Good jew tides this weekend. Some school jew, bream and tailor around the headlands.
There are still heaps of bream in the river although they certainly take some catching in the clear water and fast-flowing tides. Brett Young from Sunrise Tackle and I persuaded over a dozen rather nice fish to 37cm in a couple of hours the other morning but as soon as the sun was up the fish shut down. The night bite on bait should be very productive.

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

t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au

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A few sea-run bream in the river and some flathead.
Tailor going well off the rocks but most of them are willing choppers taking metal and pillies. Still heaps of spotties north and south with some snapper underneath them. Gar and slimies along the Iluka Wall so the bluefin tuna should still be working, along with some big tailor. Better sized school jew along the Middle Wall and a few mullet starting to run. Blackfish are also turning up early.

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

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Freshwater in the estuaries has put the bream on the bite with nice fish to a kilo turning up in all systems. Also good flathead to a kilo and rather nice whiting to 600g. Best systems Bonville and Boambee.
Beach gutters have settled and are turning up the odd tailor and bream but it would be nice to see a few jewies.
Offshore, cold currents are creeping up the coast but 24°-25° water still exists less than a kilometre offshore. Plenty of mackerel but get in quick, just in case.

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, action has been excellent and hopefully a good omen for the upcoming autumn season. All beaches from Crescent Head to Forster have produced excellent numbers of bream as well as a few solid whiting, while beaches south of Port in particular have begun to see a little more consistent tailor action. On the jew front, North Beach and around Lake Cathie have given an improved showing with this action set to improve with more favourable tides now upon us.
Off the rocks, things are looking good for the season ahead with most ledges producing bream, tailor, blackfish and the odd drummer. This action should also pick up further once the current southerly settles. Land-based game reports have been quiet but with the warmer water and heaps of baitfish still hanging around, there are still a few weeks left in the season. Keen rockhoppers will recall May 2002 and earlier seasons when the bluefin in particular made a spectacular late showing.
Offshore angling has also had its moments but access has been a day-to-day proposition of late, as has the current with over 3 knots on most days. John from Ocean Star reports several good catches, including plenty of flathead, some nice snapper and pearl perch as well as a few kingfish. A few reports of cobia and Spanish continue to filter in from Barries Bay. Mahi mahi around 4kg remain common while a few marlin are still hanging around with slow trolled live baits the weapon of choice.
In the estuary, fishing has been as good as we have seen for some time. South wall has been producing good catches of quality blackfish on most days with weed and cabbage doing the damage. Both walls have also produced plenty of bream during the darker hours and the current drop of rain will only help further. Flathead have been excellent with areas upstream producing well. Look for this action to move to the lower reaches if the water dirties. Plenty of mullet are also reported to be congregating in the lower reaches, ready for when Mother Nature gives the signal to begin their spawning run in earnest.

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

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Offshore: The forecast for the weekend looks OK and should allow most craft to sea. Sharks have again been in big numbers and coupled with the bonito and tailor have made it difficult to berley up schools of live bait. Cobia are present off our part of the coast with marlin holding a little wider than they were a few weeks ago. The reef fishing is again being plagued by leatherjackets biting off rigs being dropped in deeper water. Trag are on the chew but fish as the sun goes down for best results.
Beaches: Just when we thought the best of the whiting were gone some stud fish to 45cm have shown up on beaches from Blackhead to Seal Rocks. Big bream are moving up the coast, as are tailor. Once again the reports from Seal Rocks have been a standout but most beaches have had a degree of action.
Rocks: The previously mentioned bream and tailor are even more accessible from the rocks. Forget the live bait, one tailor angler got spooled on a northern bluefin tuna while spinning for tailor at Jannies Corner. Lots of second-hand reports coming in of some big drummer.
Estuary: Every day sees more mulloway coming from the Tuncurry Breakwall. The water remains a little dirty from recent rain and with it comes some outstanding bream fishing. Some of the bream being caught are travellers from down south and stand out with their shiny silver appearance. The old-timers are taking advantage of the excellent run of bream and are filling their freezers to the limit. Where will they put their 20 blackfish a day when they come on the bite? Silly old coots!

Lloyd Campbell, Great Lakes Tackle 02 6554 9541

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Too busy today but not much has changed from last week. Check the archived report.

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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Mahi mahi on the FADs going well, squire and kings at the bommies at The Entrance on soft plastics. Long-finned perch on the Perch Grounds. Bonito off the rocks at Avoca and Terrigal Haven. Frigates have gone quiet. School jew in Brisbane Water and bigger fish at Flint and Steel and the other usual Broken Bay haunts. Good flatties from around Box Head on the flathead drift there. Bream at The Haven at night.

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

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You could be forgiven for being a bit surprised at the 23°-24° water still along the coast, given how quickly the conditions have degraded onshore during the recent southerlies. The cooler rainy weather has not yet gained a full foothold and in a small way has actually improved things by providing some spark to the estuaries. It does, however, also look like some of the predominantly winter species are starting to return, at least to the Harbour.
Many of the summer pelagics have done their dash in the Harbour for this year with only small catches of bonito or mackerel during this week and even the resident kings becoming a little tentative on the bite, especially those around the more open parts of the Harbour. Des Toms of Hook’em Cook’em Fishing Charters reckons the most active kingfish population at the moment is working around the Spit Bridge and generally inside Middle Harbour. They are a bit on and off the bite but will take everything from squid to live yakkas and metal slices to plastic slugs. Mitch McGovern had some great land-based fun earlier in the week at Seaforth, flicking Berkley 3” Bass Minnows at passing kingy schools as they roamed the area back and forth for much of the day. Only a couple of fish were landed, even though plenty more were hooked, mostly due to his choice of 6lb braid and many a close mooring!
Travis Laughton and his brother have been doing the bream thing again, this time flicking grubs and minnows around Cremorne and Kirribilli. One of the bream came in at 1.3 kilos live, a nice fish in anyone’s book, but the most extraordinary part of the adventure was an estuary perch over 2kg that smashed a watermelon Bass Minnow deep within this very salty water. Flatties and flounder have made a bit of a showing this week, moving in around North Harbour and Middle Head, and are showing a particular liking to whitebait on the drift. Small hooks and light line are the key. There are plenty of Trevally spread throughout the Harbour responding to berley trails and unweighted baits. Try lobbing a peeled prawn into a pilchard berley trail around either of the Wedding Cake markers or down by Fairlight Reef. Plenty of squire are also getting around in these same regions, loving a bit of fresh squid, and the occasional john dory is pinching yakkas from Dobroyd Head and Clifton Gardens.
Pittwater has not yet fully succumbed to the winter water. Kings are somewhat abundant in comparison though the average size fish has dropped lately, getting closer to the 60cm cut-off. This allows fishing with much lighter gear, as Pitty barge skipper Justin Robertson found to his delight when landing a 66cm thick-set fish from right among the moorings. Pittwater Pete Le Blang has also been getting into the action, hamming it up around the Supermarket, where he is taking up to 15 of these smaller fish in a session. He has seen plenty of bigger kings still around, with a few of the cheekier ones even nosing in right up to the boat, but they couldn’t be bribed with all the oil in Texas.
Small pelagic schools including the fantastically coloured Watsons leaping bonito and some frigate mackerel are doing the rounds of a different moorings of a morning. If you can’t see them, try anchoring up in a likely spot and berleying heavily. This usually brings them around pretty quickly. Plastic 6” slugs are the weapon of choice. Big trumpeter whiting, flounder and flatties are somewhat abundant on the flats and all are taking whitebait with a vengeance. Drift into and around sandy bays as the tide nears the top.
With the Hawkesbury BREAM tournament on this weekend it is also pleasing to report some big bream are about in Broken Bay, around Flint and Steel reef in particular. Several fish of about 1.5kg cleaned have fallen to prawn baits right on the reef this week and there will be lots more upstream in the racks and around the bridges.

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

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Mitch, Mac's Bait Bar
428 Princes Hwy Blakehurst
ph 02 9546 1341, mobile 0411 661 911.

Lake: Bream around the channel off the weed beds around Bevans Island and the last markers in the channel, try chook gut and prawns. Flathead at Mt Warrigal and the humps at the drop-off but you might have to work hard. Crabs coming on well for a late-season spurt, best sites lake south and the channel. Boaties chasing bream at Macquarie Rivulet and Mullet creek.
Rocks anglers having fun on blackfish at Flagstaff Point, the northern side of Windang Island and Bass Point. A lot of salmon and tailor on most prominent headlands with metal lures and blue pillies.
Beaches: Best sites Coniston on the southern end for flathead and bream, Windang lake entrance for whiting and Warilla Beach at the southern end for flathead on pilchard tails.
Offshore: Morwong to 2.5kg and smaller snapper with good numbers of leatherjackets. Mahi mahi still quite busy.

Garth, Deans Bait and Tackle, Windang 4295 1615

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River: A few bass running towards the salt now but they’re still willing to bite. Large EPs in the salt with some big black bream and a lot of small yellowfin bream. Bigger yellowfin bream are also running out to the ocean rocks with good catches at the river entrances. The odd legal squire even being caught in the rivers along with plenty of large flathead. Jack Tait caught a 1.2-metre hairtail along a rock wall in the Moruya river.
Rock and beach: Plenty of tailor and salmon with the odd jew off the beaches and even a few snapper off the beaches up Durras way. Plenty of trevally and bream off the rocks along with tailor, salmon and the odd northern bluefin off Pretty Point. Also second-hand reports of the odd cobia from the rocks up Ulladulla way.
Offshore: Snapper are on one day and off the next but when they’re on, quite a few are coming in. Don Brown and a mate caught a dozen nice reds around 2kg off Durras. A few small yellowfin tuna out wide along with plenty of striped marlin and a few big blues further south.
Check out the Jarvis Walker catalogue out now for some great deals. We also have some limited edition Shimano threadline reels from $69.95 to $99 – great for bream spinning and a 10-year warranty.

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

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Estuaries: Good flatties, plenty of bream and some nice tailor. Best flathead up the back end of the lake
Beaches fishing well for some thumpers of salmon and good bream, you could try virtually anywhere and succeed.
Offshore: Good kingies have fired up at Montague Island and Potato Point. The reefs are fishing really well for the usual mowies, snapper and long-finned perch. Flathead a bit hard and the leatherjackets are giving the drifters a hard time. Plenty of striped marlin with the odd big blue to keep you on your toes. Albacore in big schools with one around the back of the island for around a fortnight, with some rat yellowfin also on offer.

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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