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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No report but I know it’s been bloody wet up there.

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

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Not too terrific the past few days. Sea seems to be settling a little but is still big and the water is black with runoff and very cold, so who knows what it will be like. Huge amount of sand at Little Wategos.

David Keevers, Coastal Fishing Tackle (02) 6685 7133

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The Richmond River flood front should come down on Saturday, meaning the beaches and the seaward sides of the walls will be the best bet early in the piece for bream and jewfish. As the tides begin to push some clearer water into the river later in the week there should be great action in the Town Reach.
At Evans Head there hasn’t been too much water come down the Evans River from Woodburn as yet, although the water is fairly discoloured and murky. For best results as the high tide pushes in, pump some yabbies, let them die and become a little smelly and fish the first 50 metres of the South Wall for bream, whiting and blackfish. These fish love the smelly bait and there should be some good catches. I’m off to check out Airforce Beach for a good gutter for an evening fish with preserved worms and salted tuna.

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

t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au

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Early in the week some nice flathead and a few decent bream just upstream of Maclean. Tailor and salmon were working off the beaches. The good jew that were taking live mullet from the walls were going well and should improve further with the fresh.
The river has changed colour and we don’t know how much is coming down the Orara at this stage.
Blackfish were also going well before the rain.

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

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Estuaries are full of dirty water which should begin to clear towards the end of the weekend with the pushing high tide good for bream as the come back off the beaches.
Beach gutters should really fire with some nice jew turning up before the wet along with some good tailor and the odd salmon. After the big wet expect to find bream, whiting and flathead.
Offshore, the inshore reefs around the estuary mouths should be the places to be for good snapper and the odd jew.

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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Off the rocks, good numbers of bream remain on offer, with Lighthouse, Plommer and Diamond Head producing some nice fish. Tailor numbers have been reasonable with some nice early morning and late afternoon sessions producing fish to a kilo or better. Blackfish remain an option with Point Perpendicular containing good numbers of fish, whilst the odd solid groper has been extracted courtesy of the westerly winds which flattened the seas last week. The big news is the drummer are back with this season shaping up as the best for a couple of years. Local ledges at Lighthouse, Shelleys and Miners have all begun to produce fish but those prepared to travel north or south have been enjoying the better results. Look for some particularly hot action once this current dose of crook weather begins to back off.
Off the beaches, conditions have not been ideal with last week seeing the seas as flat as they been for years, followed unfortunately by conditions which have flattened many existing formations and made beach angling challenging at best. There are plenty of fish about, particularly big travelling bream and some terrific late season whiting. Those who have persisted despite the weather have generally been rewarded with above average results, particularly of an evening. I would expect this coming fortnight to produce excellent results as long as conditions are reasonable. Tailor have been a little quiet but the salmon are now back and as thick as ever. I am yet to come across a bait or lure that salmon won’t take, or a type water they don’t like. A pilchard fished in any hole or gutter will most likely yield some top action.
In the estuary, blackfish numbers remain excellent with the south wall producing more consistent results. Flathead remain reasonable despite the water cooling considerably. Bream numbers have picked up a little and once the current full moon begins to wane, our lower estuaries should be at their best for night breaming. Pretty well anything will catch fish in varying numbers but mullet gut, fished on a 1/0 chemically sharpened suicide hook and minimal lead, will prove deadly.
For outside fishos, when conditions allow, which hasn’t been often of late, the story has been all leatherjackets and heaps of them. Best bet is to make sure there is plenty of wire and long shank hooks on board.

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

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Offshore: Huge seas.
Beaches: Washed away.
Rocks: Dangerous.
Estuary: In flood!

Lloyd Campbell, Great Lakes Tackle 02 6554 9541

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Estuary: A bit of fresh should stir it up. A few jew Middle Island, The Wreck. Good run of bream around Corrie Island and the breakwalls. Plenty of blackfish along The Tubes, breakwalls. A few flathead in Tilligerry.
Beaches: Stockton for a good run of bream, plenty of tailor and salmon. Good bream around Middle Rock on Samurai. Tailor on Box.
Rocks: Pigs will be out now the seas are stirred up, Boulder Bay, Rocky Boat Harbour. Good chance of a snapper off Cemetery, Fishermans. Plenty of blackfish Boulder Bay, Skate Bay. A few tailor off One Mile Headland.
Offshore: Once the sea settles down there’ll be snapper in the shallows around Fishermans, Sisters, Mungo. Flathead on the 40-metre mark Lighthouse drift. A few jew on the Tank, 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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Freezing cold weather, monster swells, wet arses and no fish. It’s been a great week to be a Sydney fisho. (Did somebody say ‘pub’?). Water temperatures have dropped as much as 5° in the last three weeks, especially inshore. The 18° offshore water seems to be having little influence in places like Pittwater (14°) Brooklyn (13°) and Sydney Harbour (14°-15°) and the fishing is suffering because of it. Hopefully the rain will bring some impetus to proceedings, washing organic debris and other matter into the waterways that promote algal growth and help start new food cycles.
Pittwater has suffered the quickest decline in fortune, being able to boast almost 18° within the last fortnight. The resident fish are not particularly excited by their new conditions either, and have literally shut down. Pete Le Blang of Harbour and Estuary Charters has found a few size john dory around Coasters Retreat holding under the bait schools in the area, but recommends you spend this week off the water, whether getting ready for the winter salmon run, or just gaining Brownie points from significant others. There have been salmon around inside Pittwater as well as inside the mouth of Broken Bay and out around the ’Joey but the surface action is scarce and the fish haven’t changed pattern since last report. Their spookiness may have something to do with all those dark shapes under the schools. Sharks? Dolphins? Seals? Pete reckons the most likely answer is massive steamtrain-like winter kings. Now that would be nice.
The Harbour has been shut down for a few weeks now, with fishing consistently on the wane, but that seems all set to turn itself around as salmon start to do their thing. Trevally have been pretty much all she wrote for the more open parts of the Harbour, but there has been some great bream fishing upstream in Middle Harbour up past The Spit, and around the mouth of the Parramatta and Lane Cove rivers, where stud fish over a kilo have been relatively common. Both of these fish should hang about in decent numbers, but even then, without the salmon it would be a quiet winter. Thankfully the salmon have already shown off the Heads, balling bait onto the surface whenever the conditions are calm enough to do so, and a few enterprising schools have followed baitfish into the Harbour proper. Try trolling a red-head Rapala around Middle Head if you can’t find any surface action.
The beaches have been rough places to fish for the past week. Massive swells that don’t look like abating soon have made conditions downright dangerous, even deadly, for rockhopping on some recent days. If things change, there will be some good pig fishing to be had but until then, salmon and jewfish off the beach are the go. Big jewies are continuing to be landed including Alex Bellissimo’s recent night out where he caught a 14kg fish and dropped one near twice as big.

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: After all the rain we need to wait until the lake settles down. The bream and blackfish should improve after that. Try over near Mt Warrigal or right down at the entrance as they’re opening the lake.
Beaches: MM Beach the pick with bream in numbers and salmon and tailor. Windang is also protected in the southerly swell.
Rocks: Dicey now but when it settles bream and drummer Bombo and Windang Island.
Offshore: Later!

Garth, Deans Bait and Tackle, Windang 4295 1615

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Estuary: Salmon, trevally and tailor have been entering some of the river systems. The trevally are fat and healthy and tailor of 1kg - 2kg are common with the odd exceptional fish caught. There has been a bit of rain as you know so it might be hard to get out but when it stops the fishing can be quite good. All the fish in the rivers and lakes are making towards the entrances and it’s a good time to catch flathead as this area has small landlocked lakes all over the place – if they haven’t broken open to the sea.
Rock and beach: Some friends have been spinning the beaches for salmon and tailor and are also catching bream in the rocky corners. A lot of drummer are being caught, or should I say lost, as most of the stories have been of large fish and have been devastating anglers.
The cold weather and rain have kept most people indoors but the fish are there - you just have to go down and catch them. I found this out yeste4rday afternoon (Thursday) when I cast hard-bodied lures for three bream, two flathead (one of 65cm) and a blackfish . There has been the odd jew coming from the beaches with Aaron Bunn weighing in one of 11kg on Wednesday.

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

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Offshore: Try again later. Kings and bonito were good before the rough out at the island.
Estuary: Pretty dirty with all the rain. It was very good before
Beaches should have tailor and salmon once the sea settles.

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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