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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Offshore: Good size snapper and cobia around the local reefs. Snapper and jewfish around Wooyung.
Rock and beach: Big tailor on all local beaches and around the north and south walls. Blackfish inside the south wall.
Estuary: Big bream and can be found around the co-op walls. Bream and blackfish around the Spur Wall. Jewfish at night up-river towards Mullumbimby. Whiting in the upper parts of the river.

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

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Busy this week with quite a lot of good tailor from the beaches with a few jew from the headlands. Still a lot of bream and flathead. Most of the beaches and rocks good. Snapper and even spotties well out wide with the edge of the Nine Mile going well.

David Keevers, Coastal Fishing Tackle (02) 6685 7133

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Bruce at Dave’s Bait Shop says bream are improving through the river with a few snowies getting caught. Some bigger flathead in the lower river and school jew from the ferry to Wardell and above. Blackfish going exceptionally well in all the usual spots.
Beaches and walls have a few choppers with better fish to 4kg after dark. Bream also along the beaches with a few dart.
Good snapper and pearlies on the wider reefs out to the 48-fathom marks.
Very clear water and very flat seas in close at Evans Head with a severe joggle out on the horizon. Inshore reef fishing a little slow, as it always seems to be when the westerly first kicks in and the water clears. Plenty of bream in the river with the better ones after dark and before the moon comes up. Also some nice ones along the beach and the odd school of tailor poking through.

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

t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au

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Miles of tailor have just turned up along the southern and northern beaches and headlands, with Woody Head going very well. Some reasonable fish among the choppers. Salmon in among them as well with fish to Browns Rocks in the river as well. Still good bream in the lower reaches with Middle Wall and Moriartys going well. Patchy flathead and some jew around Moriartys and Harwood. Some blackfish about with flathead upstream of Maclean going OK. No offshore reports apart from the usual trag, parrot, pearlies and the odd squire.

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

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Offshore: Still a few mackerel turning up but they won’t last long now. Good snapper on the close reefs along with some big samson.
Beach gutters fishing particularly well for tailor, bream, dart and salmon.
Estuaries firing for bream which have taken up residence now. Plenty of small flathead and some very nice whiting. A few blackfish around as well.

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, bream numbers have been excellent despite the full moon, with plenty of good bags taken from most beaches. While no bumper specimens have been recorded, the quality is excellent and all fish are well conditioned with very few throwbacks. Tailor numbers remain sporadic although those fishing the dawn session have been scoring a few fish to around a kilo or so. The salmon are also beginning to become more prolific each day, with most fishos encountering a couple each outing. We are yet to be inundated but there have been a few very big schools just offshore, so I would expect numbers to increase markedly in the next few days, particularly if the cool westerlies continue to blow and the swell stays down. Whiting numbers have picked up again as they did around this time last year. A few school jew have begun to show but numbers remain down a little on usual.
Off the rocks, tailor remain reasonable with Point Plommer and Big Hill the pick of locations. Drummer have begun to pick up nicely, with Point Perpendicular and Diamond fishing more consistently than the local ledges at present. The local areas should also begin to fire shortly, particularly if the water temperature cools. A few bream have been on offer around Lighthouse but with a big moon and little sea at present, the fish have been a little on the shy side. In the estuary, bream numbers in the lower reaches have begun to pick up, with the coal wall and surrounds fishing quite well. The fish remain a little finicky but light lines and patience during the darker hours will produce results. I expect the next few weeks to be excellent, particularly once the full moon begins to dim. Flathead numbers remain excellent, with whitebait proving the bait of choice. Plenty of blackfish around Limeburners and the breakwalls, with this year already proving far more consistent than 2004. Rumour also has it some diehard crabbers can’t wipe the smiles from their faces, which is certainly an unexpected bonus for this time of year.
Offshore action during the past week has been dominated by the return of big chinaman leatherjackets, with hordes of fish over a couple of kilos out around the 85-meter mark. If you can escape the jackets, John from Ocean Star reports there a few kingfish on the wider reefs, along with some excellent snapper and pearl perch. A few mahi mahi are still hanging around the FADs, whilst a couple of marlin have been sighted feeding on the bait schools closer in.

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

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Offshore: Last weekend saw a few boats hit the reefs, which generally fished below par. Sea Quest went south and produced the best bag of small snapper and big pearl perch that I know of. A few guys have reported trag in numbers. The current forecast doesn't look too flash for the coming weekend with Sunday the best prospect to head out.
Beaches: The less than spectacular beach fishing season continues. Whiting from Boomerang Beach provide an alternative to chasing the elusive tailor.
Rocks: At least the rocks are fishing well. The drummer action at the moment is first rate. The best of the bream and tailor will come to those on the stones.
Estuary: A late run of travelling bream came into our lake system late last week and provided some great action for those that tracked their progress up the lake. A couple of quality mulloway came from the main channel over the last few days, again falling to plastics. The blackfish are not thick in numbers but are certainly thick in size.

Lloyd Campbell, Great Lakes Tackle 02 6554 9541

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Big wind and not too much expected this weekend. Check out last week’s report for a few ideas if the weather lets up.

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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Rockhoppers have got to be one of the few bands of fisherman that actually look forward to this time of year, at least as much or possibly more than snapper or yellowfin fanatics. While the coastal pelagics are almost entirely lacking, it is just a matter of picking up some ab gut and you can get another couple of months of adrenaline rush with big black pigs on hand. The rest of us just sit patiently waiting for some action, in enclosed waters that have been as cold as 15° this week.
It’s not even just drummer keeping the Northern Beaches firing, though some of the pigs caught lately from North Dee Why and around Queensy have run 3kg. Bread, as well as the standard abalone gut, have both been successful pig enticers. Bread berley doesn’t hurt either. Fresh weed fished around the ledges and washes near this berley should entice a couple of decent blackfish as well.
Beach fishing has had a few good nights of late as well. If you ask Dave Fox he will surely tell you how happy he was with his first nice beach jewie early this week, a fish sitting just over 19kg. A nice Narrabeen gutter and squid heads combined for that fish. We continue this year’s run of free annual Fish ’n’ Tips nights each Thursday, with a different guest speaker each week. Drinks and nibbles provided. Be sure to ring and claim your place!
For most of the year fishing reports on Pittwater are easy to write and full of fish. This week it ain’t. Colder sea currents, combined with some cool fresh Hawkesbury River water, add up to some frozen lethargic fish. The kingies which held sway for so long this summer are no longer the dominant species, as they vacate and slowly but surely small schools of salmon and tailor arrive. A few salmon are already around out the front of the Joey, and occasionally schools will pop up herding baitfish, but they are pretty unpredictable, with Pete Le Blang of Harbour and Estuary Charters finding them on the surface one day and not the next. They are taking small flies including candies and eyes when you find them, as well as small metal slices and even occasionally a CD-7 or 9 sized Rapala trolled around the headland. If you can’t find anything out the front, there are still a couple of trevally inside Pittwater around structure, though remember berley is pretty crucial. A few big bream may also come to explore your berley, especially if you are in the vicinity of West Head, and will fall to unweighted baits in similar fashion to the grunters. Bream in the high 40cm have been taken from around there, and are showing up in the Hawkesbury especially high upstream toward and past Spencer.
The Harbour is quite simply quiet. Bream fishos might argue the point as they stalk marinas around the mouth of the Parramatta River, hunting out a few of the big kilo-plus bream that are seemingly stacked in, but then they didn’t do the Fish Outta Water all-night jewy mission and return home empty-handed and bloody cold. There is so much bait in the harbour, including some delicious small slimy mackerel and some large squid, but the predators are either full or on holidays. The jewfish may well have moved upstream anyway as it is near to their spawning time, but the tailor are not exerting the influence they often do in Winter.
Offshore fishing has been up and down this week with conditions not always the most accessible, but some good catches were taken nonetheless. Parksey turned his hand from the Long Reef Snapper fishing he has been having success with during recent weeks, to see if he couldn’t find a fin or two out round Browns. And he could, landing three nice fish from 15-25kg. Small skirts around 6” were his key, in yellow and green. Most of the fish are off the east edge of Browns, north and south, from 2 to 10nm out. Bigger fish have been seen feeding out further, though they’ve been harder to tempt this week. There are still a few good snapper around in about 60m for those who can’t make it out for the big ’uns.

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: Blackfish under the bridge on the southern side with bream around the pylons on plastics. Kanahooka side has bream on bloodworm plastics. Western creeks working well for mullet and bream on peeled prawns and bread.
Beaches: bream on Windang and Coniston on mullet strips and worms. A few jewfish in the harbour on squid and live yakkas.
Rocks: A bit quiet due to the flat seas but some nice groper off Windang Island and drummer at Beakie Bay at Bass Point.
Offshore: Nice reds off Bandit Reef and the Five Islands and just off Windang. Trolling has produced salmon and tailor around Shellharbour. Out wide has been a blow-out but gemfish and blue-eye cod when conditions allow. No yellowfin reports.

Garth, Deans Bait and Tackle, Windang 4295 1615

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Estuary: Still some big flathead from the lakes and the odd big tailor and jew. Wagonga going well but the Clyde isn’t. Moruya river has plenty of small tailor, trevally and a few lehargic flathead.
Beaches: Plenty of salmon running with a few tailor but no reports of jew. Plenty of bream in the rocky corners.
Rocks: Blackfish and plenty of big black drummer to 2kg. Plenty of little pinkies around Durras and also some groper to around 9kg.
Offshore: Plenty of snapper to 2.5kg. Kings a bit quiet but mowies and jackets are also out there.

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

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Offshore: Kings are pretty good at the island on jigs. Still plenty of yellowfin and albacore out wide if you can get to them. Bottom fishing is still OK.
Beaches: Plenty of salmon and tailor with a couple of gummy sharks on the bigger beaches.
Estuary: Flathead, trevally and bream on lures. Plenty of blackfish in there, too.

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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