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 and trag around the local reefs.
Jewfish and big tailor can be found around the north wall, south wall and beaches. There are some whiting to be found on north and south beaches.
Bream and blackfish can be found around the co-op plus bream around the Spur Wall. Flathead and bream also around the highway bridge. Good size mud crabs up the river towards Mullumbimby.

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

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A few nice tailor and some good jew to 13kg from Broken Head down to Lennox. Tailor in the deeper holes and in a good gutter around the old jetty near the Belongil. Big whiting on pipis around the Belongil, too. Plenty of bream and flathead on the beaches in the bay. Big dart along Tallows but they’re out wide. Not much from the boaties.

David Keevers, Coastal Fishing Tackle (02) 6685 7133

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Bruce from Dave’s Bait Shop says the flatties are still hanging on all right with some bigger ones along the Porpoise Wall and above the ferry. School jew the movers this week with some decent fish to 10kg around the coal wharf and the RSL with smaller fish above the ferry. Blackfish just starting to come in but weed is still a problem. A few bream turning up but they’re mostly small yet. Pros just caught a decent lot of mullet on Thursday.
Walls and beaches have tailor and a few bream. Jew good on lures and live bait around the walls and headlands.
Still mackerel outside and a lot of snapper on the wider grounds. but not much chance of getting at them for a while.
At Evans Head it looks like another weekend gone west, with big lumps of water all over the ocean and plenty of wind pushing them around. At low tide there’s a 5m strip of sand showing along the last 40 or 50 metres of the south wall and the bar has been navigable only from half-tide up during the week when the swell died down.
It should get rough enough to get a few jewies on the chew along the north wall and maybe up towards Airforce Beach if there’s enough of a gutter up there. A little rain might also help the mullet get going, which will help kick the jewies into gear. Some good bream in the river and probably a few more refugees from the ocean and the blackfish should fire up.

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

t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au

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Offshore: Before the rain hit there were a stack of spotties and plenty of school Spaniards earlier in the week. Reefs on the southern side fished better. Some snapper among the mackerel with pearlies, tuskfish and trag.
Rocks, beaches: Some great tailor to around 4kg about from the rocks, especially the southern areas. Good jew off the walls during the dark but a lot of sharks hitting mullet baits.
Estuary: Blackfish pretty quiet but the bream are picking up quite well around the mouth and up around Maclean. Only a few starting to come off Browns Rocks. Flathead up to Lawrence with some good quality fish among them, with fish to 80cm.

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

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Rain, rain and more rain. Still a few spotted and Spanish mackerel in the best season for years. Rockhoppers have been getting masses of mack tuna and a few bluefin. Some good tailor from the beaches and headlands with fish to 2kg common. Bream in the harbour and around the south wall. Rivers have a few bream on plastics and a few blackfish but they haven’t really kicked off yet.

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, flathead remain solid with most locations in the lower reaches producing well. Blackfish are a viable option but have become a little patchy, particularly around the breakwalls. Limeburners and the Maria have begun to produce a few good hauls. A few encouraging bream reports, particularly from those fishing at night although numbers are down from a few weeks ago. Many of the larger fish, visible during the day in the clearer waters, remain a little shy to traditional bait methods but soft plastics or hard-bodied lures may be well worth a try. Stacks of garfish are also hanging around the Back Channel area. Still a few muddies hanging about with the vast majority of the crabs in excellent condition.
Off the beaches, tailor remain a rather frustrating target with good catches one day and hardly a fish the next. The trick is to locate the food, schools of whitebait, and the tailor are generally not far away. Diving terns are dead giveaway. Bream numbers have begun pick up quite nicely with catches from North and Lighthouse beaches of quality fish well over a kilo. A few solid school jew have been extracted from North Beach and around Diamond Head, although numbers are down a little for this time of year. A few whiting are about around the top end of Lighthouse.
Off the rocks, tailor numbers remain reasonable with Lighthouse and Plommer producing consistent hauls. Drummer numbers remain encouraging for so early in the season. Look for a sharp improvement once we receive our first real big southerly seas of the season. Point Perpendicular and Point Plommer are worth a look, while Rockys has also produced fish. Bream are continuing to improve. Little to report on the bluefin scene, although ledges not far south are still providing action.
Outside action remains quite reasonable with plenty of mahi mahi still hanging around the FAD and traps. Bottom-bashers are still doing battle with fickle currents but for those persisting good snapper and pearl perch continue to come from the reefs off Plommer, along with a few kingfish and samsons. The flattie grounds are providing an excellent alternative, as are the leatherjackets, which are quite thick for this time of year. Water temperatures remain reasonable and while the game season is drawing to a close, we have had a few reported marlin sightings.

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

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Offshore: A great week of weather and fishing is coming to an end with strong winds and a big swell predicted for the weekend. Seal Rocks has produced cobia, kingfish and at least one black marlin. Cobia have been reported at a number of sites, particularly areas were Bonito are working. Mahi mahi and kingfish have been caught at the FAD. Mack tuna and northern bluefin are in big numbers close to headlands. Snapper and pearl perch came from reefs in close. Leatherjackets remain a pest.
Beaches: Tailor and bream have been consistent with the best reports coming from areas south, particularly Celito Beach.
Rocks: LBG action is in full swing with cobia, mack tuna and of course northern bluefin on offer. Unfortunately, sharks are everywhere and have cut short more than one fight. Traditional bait fishing has seen lots of tailor, bream and a fair number of drummer caught.
Estuary: Big bream continue to be reported by those using baits whereas those on lures have found the better quality fish a bit shy. Bait fish has been so plentiful in the main channel that for three days in a row (last Saturday, Sunday and Monday) northern bluefin were coming into the estuary to have a feed. Those fishing last weekends Megabucks BREAM competition also reported kingfish in the lake. Some mulloway have been taken, as have some blackfish.

Lloyd Campbell, Great Lakes Tackle 02 6554 9541

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Estuary: A few yellowfin tuna moving into the bay for the first time in 20 years, with fish to 26.5kg off the wreck in Salamander Bay. Mostly bluefin and mack tuna up as far as Soldiers Point with a stack of baitfish bringing them in, whitebait, gar and slimies. Good run of bream on the Boulders, Corrie Island short cut, Rocks Awash and Oakey. Mullet and mullet gut the best baits. Plenty of blue swimmers at Pindima, Tilligerry and Snapper Island with muddies up the back creeks on Oyster Cove. Some schools of tailor on dark around the Tubes. Plenty of squid around the moorings, especially in Shoal Bay.
Beaches: Salmon coming back in droves with acres of them on Stockton and the front beaches like Box and Zenith. A few bream travelling on Stockton. A few jew on Little Gibber and the Stockton wreck.
Rocks: Plenty of tailor Cemetery, Sunny Corner and One Mile headlands. A few pigs around Boulder and Rocky. Salmon on most headlands. A few surface species off Tomaree. Blackfish from Cemetery to Tomaree in any bay.
Offshore: Snapper in the shallows around Fishermans, Boat Harbour and especially up around Broughton at The Sisters, Cod Rock, North Island and East Head. A few jew on The 21, the Vs and The Tank. Trag on the Gibber, Uralla, The 21. Stacks of bonito and mack tuna on the troll around CABBAGE TREE. A few tailor off the front of Box and Zenith. Stack of squid at the gantry in Boulder Bay.

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

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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: Some nice bream in the channel near the breakwall and some good flathead, too. Prawns and whitebait the best. Legal swimmer crabs also taking baits. Around Mt Warrigal for nice bream early and late at Berkley boat harbour. A few flounder near the drop-off along with a few flathead.
Beaches: MM Beach at Port Kembla good for flathead and bream on worms and pipis, with some nice salmon and tailor in water to 21°. Nice trevally off the rocks at Hill 60 and slimy mackerel at Kiama, where kings are chasing the slimies.
Offshore: Water has cooled off a little but nice reds around Pig Island on the eastern side and good bream around Shellharbour near the gravel loader. Flatties still going well on the drift but the leatherjackets are a frustrating plague with some fish to 2kg cleaned.

Garth, Deans Bait and Tackle, Windang 4295 1615

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Estuaries: The Clyde still fishing well with oyster farmers reporting loads of big bream under the racks. Also a good time of year to chase big bream and estuary perch in the upper reaches. Fish the rock walls and tree snags with big baits or lures deep and slow and be patient. Fishing in this manner will also score the odd jhewfish and there have been lots of school jew falling to baits recently. Most of the small landlocked back creeks should produce good catches of big black bream over the next few months.
Rock and beach: Luke Barranowski and I have been fishing nearly every afternoon and evening in the corners of the local beaches and have been catching plenty of bream at high tide on hard-bodies lures. Terry Brooks and I have been using soft plastics, mainly to cover more ground, to catch 10 to 20 flathead in about 90 minutes. Some of the fish have been up to 60cm and big or small, they’re all quite fat and getting ready for winter. There have been quite a lot of small snapper in close to the rocks. They’re a kilo to 2kg and within five meters of the rocks so even the worst caster can target these fish. The snapper come in for the squid, which are in close at this time of year, so squid should be the bait of choice. But I don’t mind just floating out a blue pilchard and I’ve hooked plenty of snapper lately doing this along with loads of salmon and big bream in between the reds.

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

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Outside: A few kings at the island, mainly on jigs. Out wide a few tuna but mainly down south. A couple of marlin caught with some monster blues smashing up heavy gear.
Rocks: A few blackfish, salmon and tailor around with bream around the breakwalls and gutters.
Beaches: Salmon, tailor, bream and jewfish with the water around Tuross very productive.
Estuary: Lot of flathead and trevally on plastics with nice tailor to 2kg on metal lures. Some nice jewfish turning up mainly on live baits. Still a few bream around the racks and walls.

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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