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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David Keevers, Coastal Fishing Tackle (02) 6685 7133

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Matt at Dave’s Bait Shop says the river still has school flathead and increasing numbers of bream but it’s been windy. Blackfish turning up along the walls.
Whiting on South Beach. The odd nice tailor and jewfish from the walls and headlands.
A brisk south-easterly at Evans Head yet again with a fair lump on the sea and a shallow bar. Nice blackfish around the walls on weed and a lot of bream, mostly undersized but a few crackers around 2kg in with them. Plenty of run on the beaches but the more sheltered holes have some good bream. The odd tailor and bream around the headlands and still plenty of bream in the river.

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

t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au

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Offshore when the weather was good there were some spotties hanging around with some fair reds. Pearlies and parrots as well.
Beaches have plenty of jew to 24kg, try Shelley and Red Cliff, and also around the headlands with chopper tailor as well and a few bluefin around Lovers. Good bream, with Shark Bay producing well and there are flathead there, too.
River has some good flathead and quite a few school jew. Bream are everywhere and blue swimmers are going great guns up Oyster Channel. Blackfish pretty thick through to Lawrence.

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

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Offshore: Still plenty of mackerel on the inshore reefs with good snapper as by-catch. Best red this week went 8.5kg went to Kylie Sheridan, who was chasing mackerel at the time.
Plenty of bream up to a kilo hunting along the beach gutters. Good bream going in and out of the estuaries on the tides. Reasonable whiting from the estuaries with some nice flathead in the lower ends. A little fresh water expected this weekend should stir things up again.

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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The spawning run of our bread-and-butter species is just about ready to commence. All we need now is for a decent cold westerly to blow and the mullet that have begun to congregate in the lower part of our estuaries will put to sea for their annual migration up the coast. This usually signifies the commencement of some pretty hot fishing over the following couple of months and given the positive signs over recent weeks together with more consistent rainfall, this year should prove more productive than recent seasons.
Look for bream catches to increase markedly over the next month as they start their spawning run shortly after the mullet. Expect top action primarily on our beaches, headlands and lower reaches of our estuaries during the next couple of months before they begin to move back upstream. Bait is mullet strips or mullet gut during this period. For those fishing the beaches, don’t overlook the pipi as big travelling bream are renowned for their penchant for this morsel. Also look for improvement in tailor and blackfish over this period, not of course forgetting their predatory followers, the mighty mulloway.
Things haven’t been too bad over the past week. On the beaches, bream numbers have been a little inconsistent but there have been some top fish about to a kilo or better. Whiting remain reasonable with Lighthouse and North beaches still producing excellent fish. Tailor have been seen gorging themselves on whitebait but the action has been beyond casting distance and catches have been hit and miss. If these bait schools move closer in, look for some top action.
In the estuary, bream have been the pick of species with bag limit catches by those fishing at night common. Best results have been achieved around the Coal Wall and up Limeburners. Blackfish have also been quite good but still tend to be a little inconsistent at times. Flathead remain a viable option and while not as thick as in recent weeks, the quality has certainly been better. There are stacks of mullet in the lower reaches.
Off the rocks, tailor numbers and quality are a little better with the Lighthouse and Point Plommer reasonably consistent, whilst the odd solid bream has also been snared. The odd drummer has been taken from Plommer and Big Hill. Still a few northern bluefin tuna about, with those putting in the time snaring the odd fish. Hat Head and Point Perpendicular remain the most viable options.
Offshore fishing has been reasonable although the currents have generally made conditions awkward for bottom bouncing. For those who did venture out, a few good snapper, kingfish and the ever reliable flatties remain on offer although in general, many of the wider reefs have been close to unfishable. Mahi mahi remain in reasonable numbers although most FADs or buoys were down with the current. Still a few cobia about with fish taken from Barries Bay and close in off the lighthouse.

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

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Offshore: Another run of small mahi mahi as the warm water continues to push from the north. Blue marlin and wahoo reported on the shelf off Crowdy last weekend. Bonito, mack tuna and tailor working in close. Most reefs will produce reds, some samson and pearl perch.
Beaches: A little red weed reported to the south but generally beaches fishing well for tailor and bream.
Rocks: LBG continues, albeit a little slower than previous weeks. Northern bluefin still cruising the coast, early season drummer particularly around Seal Rocks. Plenty of bream and tailor.
Estuary: Big schools of mullet ready to run to sea should liven up the mulloway fishing from the breakwalls. Plenty of bream active in the lake and flathead still around. Quality blue swimmer crabs reported in the lake. The ABT megabucks will be on May 7 and 8.

Lloyd Campbell, Great Lakes Tackle 02 6554 9541

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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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Offshore: Acres of mahi mahi out there with charter boats bagging out at times. The odd bigger one, too. A few kingies being jigged up and some good bust-ups as well but the current has been raging at times. Nice blue marlin on the Norah Canyons with some big yellowfin sighted as well.
Beaches: Plenty of salmon and tailor from the beaches, particularly Wamberal and Terrigal. Good whiting along Terrigal Beach with some good bream around a kilo as well.
Estuary: Some nice bream around some of the oyster leases and a few flathead still hanging on. Some nice school jew around 5kg at The Rip bridge at night.

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

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‘Sharks patrol these waters.’ Just ask the bloke at Bronte who had to force-feed a 2m+ shark his surfboard late last week to avoid becoming a casualty himself. On top of this there have been several shark sightings in the last few days all over Sydney. In Pittwater a large hammerhead around 7-8ft was sighted on the surface, swimming off towards Broken Bay mouth with a float and line still attached, and several bronze whalers have also been seen in quite shallow water in Pittwater and the Harbour.
Game fishing in the last couple of weeks has been pretty heavily shark-based as well and some monsters have been landed. The weekend tournament held by Sydney Game Fishing Club was taken out by Rampage with Steve Millgate landing a 494 kilo tiger shark. Some smaller tigers and several makos were also accounted for during the day with most boats getting in on some action. It’s not such good news for the marlin hunters off Sydney, with literally zeros until you get up around Newcastle. This may be in part due to the masses of baitfish off Sydney, leading to well-fed and uninterested fish. Mahi mahi have at least been about, though they are mostly small and can be patchy. The FADs and markers quite close to shore are the main targets, such as the Dee Why wave rider buoy which has been holding fish intermittently.
Pittwater is still warmer than the rest of Sydney and it is still producing good size kings. Pete Le Blang of Harbour and Estuary Charters fished the supermarket for a nice fish of 88cm, and has been having good success along the moorings behind Royal Motor Yacht Club. Live squid is still the gun bait, with fresh squid heads a close second. West Head has fished well for kings, and there are also a few squid on the kelp beds in the area. Mornings have seen frigate mackerel busting up inside the moorings of several of the bays in Pittwater, such as the Basin and Careel Bay. These smaller pelagics tend to follow the smaller baitfish so if you can berley the bait around your chance of seeing frigates increases exponentially. Plenty of bream are being taken on unweighted whitebait in the same manner, having followed the berley trail in. On the drift the odd flounder and flatty will also succumb to whitebait or slimy strips.
Though the Harbour is still a little cooler than Pittwater, it is at least experiencing some small kind of late summer revival. Kings have been slightly more active than recent times and some decent fish of around 3-5 kilos have been taken on fresh squid this week. Des Toms of Hook’em Cook’em Charters also found a small school of amberjack to 5kg to go with the kings. The other slightly surprising fish to arrive in good numbers this week was the Samson Fish. Anton ‘The Czech’ Dvorjak caught 17 and released 15 of these hard-fighting fish during a hot two-hour session inside North Head, mostly on live yakkas and squid guts. Massive schools of cowanyoung are in the same area, as well as around South Head, with big kings and salmon to 8lb under them. Trolling Rapala CD 11s and Nilsmaster 12s should get you down to the bigger fish below. The john dory seem to be a little quieter than they have been in the last two weeks, but there are a few still hanging around Clifton Gardens especially. Jewfish have also been a sporadic catch in the Harbour this week, taking live yakkas or fresh squid strips.
Beach fishers have had a reasonable time of it this week. A couple of smaller jewies have taken to mullet fillets just after dark, and tailor have been crashing into ganged pilchards all day and night. Mornings have been particularly active with salmon taking baits including squid heads and pillies, as well as small metal slices.

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.

Estuary: Blackfish in the back channels on green weed and berley. Crabs at the entrance on handlines – no traps allowed in the channel. Good bream along the breakwall on peeled prawns in a bread berley or at Mt Warrigal on bright soft plastics. Near the drop-off for pan-sized flounder on whitebait and prawns.
Beaches: Nice flathead on MM Beach up the Kembla end on mullet strips and whitebait. Bream around the entrance on the same baits and also worms. Jones Beach has a few jewfish on yakka strips or squid strips or heads. Bombo at Kiama for good bream. Corrimal has salmon and tailor on pillies and there are also salmon off the rocks on 1/2 by 1/4 lures. Water is about 19°. Kings on livies around Kiama. Good bream at the Bombo Boneyard on bread and royal reds, Bass Point for drummer on ab gut and royal reds.
Offshore: Mainly around the islands for squire around Pig island and Windang, also try close around Bass Point for bream. The odd salmon and tailor on the troll in close. Snapper off Bandit.

Garth, Deans Bait and Tackle, Windang 4295 1615

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Estuary: A few bream and quite a few flathead but things could be winding down for the season. Blackfish around the T wharf with a few fish heading out of the river. Quite a few school jew to 6kg in the river during the day.
Rock and beach: heaps of bream and some nice flathead in the corners of most beaches with hard-bodied lures, tuna chunks and mullet going well. Bawley Point has bream, salmon, mullet and pigs from the rocks.
Offshore: Mako and gummy sharks out wide, snapper and mowies to 2kg on the reefs.

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

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Offshore: Not too many reports from out wide but the occasional yellowfin and marlin out there. Around the island good kings on live baits and poppers of an afternoon. Bottom bashing for mowies and snapper is pretty good.
Beaches: Still good salmon and tailor from most beaches and from the rocks as well, where there are also bream.
Estuary: A notch below red-hot with plenty of flatties, bream, trevally, squire and still a few whiting.

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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