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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Plenty of good sized snapper on the reefs.
Big bream and a few tailor and large salmon. A lot of spotted hind around the cape, not much in the way of jew.

David Keevers, Coastal Fishing Tackle (02) 6685 7133

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Bruce at Dave’s Bait Shop reckons the bream have been good along the Town Reach on the rising tide on fresh mullet, mullet gut and chook gut. Flathead and the odd whiting in with them. River is murky on top but good water underneath. Just the odd school jew around the RSL and the sea walls, especially at night.
Tailor and salmon along the beaches have been great with quality tailor to 2kg and salmon to 4kg. A few good bream as well. Offshore on the wide grounds for mixed reef fish including some nice pearlies. Leatherjacket plagues have moved in with a vengeance eating everything.
Having been in Brisbane for the last few days I can’t really report on much from Evans Head but with more than 1000 anglers competing in the Classic there over the past week, I’m sure there would have been some big catches and plenty of full freezers leaving town this weekend.

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

t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au

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Bottom end of the river fishing brilliantly down along the Middle Wall for bream and school jew. Good flathead in Oyster Channel and some great crabbing. Most of the action between Palmers Island and the mouth. Collis’s Wall going well for blackfish.
Good tailor about but not many chasing them. Brooms Head brilliant for fish to 4kg and good fish on the north side as well. Salmon, of course, with some in the river as well. Some good snapper outside but no monsters. Leatherjackets have started, dammit!

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

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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 beaches, the high tides after dark have been producing plenty of school mulloway around Lake Cathie and on North Beach, with worms the bait of choice. No doubt the good rainfall of late has contributed significantly to this run, particularly with Lake Cathie now open to the sea. Bream numbers remain excellent with this season already proving the best for several years. Fish well over a kilo are common with all beaches from Crescent Head to Crowdy producing. Salmon numbers are increasing but to date they have not reached the plague proportions experienced last year. Tailor numbers remain most disappointing with the beach tailor scene this year proving a big non-event, despite most beaches offering plenty of deep water close in.
Off the stones, drummer continue to be the target of choice with most local ledges continuing to provide fish albeit not quite to the extent of a week or two ago when the pigs truly arrived. Abalone gut remains the bait of choice, although cunjevoi has also accounted for many fish. Good news on the groper scene, with numerous fish being encountered and not always by anglers targeting them. Traditionally, the premier bait by far when chasing groper has been rock crabs, red, green or black, but we have had many reports of captures and bust-ups on ab gut or cunjevoi. Groper bag limits of two fish per day need to be strictly adhered to.
Elsewhere off the rocks, bream numbers are solid while good blackfish are on offer, albeit patchy at times. Tailor numbers remain a little disappointing although there are some quality greenbacks from Diamond Head and Point Perpendicular.
In the estuary bream numbers have been excellent with many top-quality fish on offer, particularly at night. With the full moon coming up, expect this nocturnal action to slow a little but the following dark should again fish well. Blackfish numbers remain excellent with the south wall and Limeburners providing the bulk of the action. A few good quality flathead remain on offer, particularly from the shallower areas around Pelican Island and along the Coal Wall.
Outside, conditions have been a little inconsistent over the past week but those who have ventured out when conditions allow have generally been well rewarded. Most boxes have contained plenty of small to medium snapper, flathead and kingfish, together with some excellent pearl perch. Leatherjackets remain solid but perhaps not quite as thick as they were a couple of weeks ago. Just make sure you have 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: Very inconsistent reports have been coming in with most reporting lots of undersized snapper. One crew fished wide of The Pinnacle and found a solid patch of pearl perch. Even the tailor at Latitude Rock are quiet.
Beaches: Not much to report as the beaches slowly recover from another pounding.
Rocks: At least the rocks continue to fish well. Strong offshore winds are predicted over the coming weekend. This should see the rocks safe to fish but might not provide much wash to fish in. Big schools of bream are still holding up around the Seal Rocks area.
Estuary: The mulloway action has improved with some quality fish coming from the Forster wall around the top of the tide and early run out. Those in the know are enjoying some terrific blackfish action around the lower oyster leases. For those that sit on the same rock day after day, the fish are hard to come by. Big bream are being reported but you'll have to look for them as they rarely stay in the same place for long. The unseasonably good run of flathead continues.

Lloyd Campbell, Great Lakes Tackle 02 6554 9541

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Outside: Squire on the washes and the outer islands and the shallows around Broughton Island. Trag off Boat Harbour and up off Big Gibber. Drummer in the washes in front of Fingal. Tailor off most of the headlands.
Beaches: Tailor and salmon on most beaches, best being Stockton and Fingal. Bream off Stockton and One Mile.
Estuary: Bream on the breakwalls, racks and the back of Corrie Island. Flathead around Cromarty Bay and Corlette. A load of trumpeter whiting over most of the flats. Blackfish off the breakwalls. Plenty of squid through the port, especially Shoal Bay and Soldiers Point moorings. School jew coming through with one of 12kg off the breakwall during the week.
Rocks: Blackfish off Birubi; bream, pigs, tailor and squire off the Tubes at Tomaree. Squire at Boat Harbour and Fishermans..

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: Kingies in around 100m of water the mainstay with some quality fish. Salmon schools ate still popping up all over the place in close. Bottom fishing in 30-40m is good for snapper, sweep and mowies but the wider grounds are not so hot.
Freezing cold in the estuaries and not much happening.
Rocks: After the swell the pigs and groper should be good.

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

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Sam Rowe found his way out to the ocean ledges early in the week and was rewarded with a couple of nice pigs, one over 3kg, all on fresh bread.

Six-metre waves are not an angler’s cup of tea, so it was no surprise to see a very fishless weekend. Most beaches were massive and closed out, offshore was unlivable with even bigger waves than the beach, and the Harbour was pumping with monster surf pounding into the Heads and crunching over the reef at Dobroyd. The 50-knot winds didn’t provide much of an incentive, either. Thankfully, the week started to throw up some nicer conditions, and funnily enough it seems the fishing improved!
Pittwater actually enjoyed somewhat of a renaissance during the week, as the water temperature lifted from 12° to a much more palatable 16 and the fish are happier for it. Baitfish are a little more plentiful, especially the larger baitfish, including the 20cm yakkas and horse slimies that are in residence around West Head. A good berley trail should bring a few around.
There are quite a few nice Squid around as well, spread out over the length of Broken Bay where good weed and structure are available. The abundance of squid may be due in part to the lack of kingies, but never fear, Pete Le Blang of Harbour and Estuary charters reckons about 47 more sleeps until the kings return, based on their previous yearly habits. For now, though, there are a couple of tailor and salmon exploring around Soldiers and Longnose points. Mornings are the best for a bit of sambo action, as this is when they are on the surface and can be more easily located. Trolling the area at other times with Rapala CD-7s or CD-9s will still occasionally toss up a salmon, though it’s more likely that you’ll hook up on one of the rogue tailor around in the same area. Small bream are on the bite and can be berleyed up from many of the usual haunts, including West Head and Longnose Point. Trevally will also respond to a berley trail around the entrance to Lovett Bay. Leatheries are still on the prowl, as they have been for months, around weedy structure and deep reef. Peeled prawns have been the temptation.
The Harbour is still struggling, and hasn’t lifted it’s game at all. The best that can be said is that there has been a slow run of decent flatties moving in and toward the upper reaches of the harbour. Drifting the grittier sand flats with pillies or slimy fillets should see you find a fish or two. Bream have held their position around the city wharves, moorings and structure, and there are a few good catches also being taken around the mouth of the Parramatta River. Soft plastic grubs and wrigglers jigged around the deeper structures are having success. The more open parts of the Harbour still have the occasional Trevor and a few rogue salmon have been trolled up in isolation, but the schools of salmon out the front of the Heads are very patchy and yet to make their presence really felt.
The beaches and rocks have felt the brunt of some wild winter weather this week but are still fishing consistently. Curly and Dee Why have both continued to throw up some decent hauls of trevally off the beaches, with a few tailor and salmon continuing to be interested in metal slices spun off the headlands. The real ledge fishing at present, though, continues to be the short, blisteringly sharp fight of the big black drummer.

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

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Watts Reef has been the best spot for good size tailor which have been caught on floating baits. Best baits have been pillies and garfish, also being caught at Watts have been trevally on squid and pealed prawns.
Bream have been hard to find but if you burley hard and be patient with all the under size snapper you will get a feed near the oil wharf.
The channel marker near Georges River sailing club is producing trumpeter, whiting and bream on live worms but once again the only problem is the under size snapper.
They are still getting the odd school Jewfish under all the bridges as well as from picnic point.
There still catching Whiting up the river but the size has not been as big as the previous week, blood worms still the go.
Just a little reminder to those people who went fishing at Lugarno this week please clean up after you finish fishing or you will spoil it for the rest of us.

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

Lake: Flathead moving down to the channel after the big wet, biting on whitebait, prawns and soft plastics. Work the flats south of the drop-off and deeper around the bowling club. Bream on peeled prawns near structure of an afternoon. Try the bowls club wall, the southern bridge pylons and the Reddall Parade wall. Blackfish along the wall at the entrance on Windang Beach.
Beaches: Flathead and salmon on northern Windang, southern Coniston and East Corrimal on pillie tails and mullet strips. Bream at the lake entrance and Bombo at the northern end on worms and prawns.
Rocks: Headlands have drummer; try Bombo, Kiama Blowhole and Hill 60 with royal red prawns. Salmon and the odd tailor at Hill 60 and Windang Island.
Offshore: Snapper to 1.5kg in 50m or less, concentrate on Wollongong Reef shallows, Gap Island and Bombo Reef at Kiama. Mowies and small jackets in most other areas.

Garth, Deans Bait and Tackle, Windang 4295 1615

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Rodney Stokman with a quality flattie from a rocky beach corner.

Luke Barranowski with a great pair of 55cm tailor.

Offshore: Not much in the way of game fish. Snapper still firing with good catches from Don Brown at Durras keeping on pulling them in. Salmon getting thicker and could become a bit of a pain. The usual mowies and other reefies. Plenty of trevally in the berley trails on pilly fillets.
Rocks: Big pigs and it’s been a great season for them with bluenmose bream mixed in. Blackfish are also stacked up pretty well. Salmon and tailor with some nice squire as well.
Beaches: Salmon are thick and some nice flatties where the rocks meet the sand along with some good bream.
Estuaries: Still quite dirty after the rain big look around the entrances and fish the dirty and the clear. Most of the lakes that haven’t burst open of their own accord have been opened by local council workers.

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

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Rain, big seas and dirty water.
Estuaries muddy but Wagonga starting to clear. Tuross has had the best flush for years.
Offshore a waste of time with the big seas. A pro went out to the island a few days ago but the water was very variable.
Rocks impossible to fish until now, when the guys have just started into a few drummer.

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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