Fishing Monthly - Latest Fishing Reports - Updated Weekly

Fishing Monthly - Latest Fishing Reports - Updated Weekly

These reports are updated weekly.
Last Edited: Friday, 29 July 2005

Quick Jump Links:
Byron Bay, Ballina, Yamba, Coffs Harbour.
South West Rocks, Port Macquarie,
Forster, Port Stephens, Hunter Area,
Newcastle, Central Coast, Sydney Northern.
Wollongong,
Batemans Bay, Narooma, Bermagui.
Archived Reports, Weather & Tides.

COMPILED WEEKLY BY TONY ZANN IN EVANS HEAD:
e-mail: t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au

Tweed Heads

Good flathead in the river from the entrance to Boyds Bay and Oxley Cove and Chinderah. Tailor around Kingscliff and Cabarita. Blackfish around Boyds Bay. Offshore some nice cobia at the nine Mile with plenty of leatherjackets and some nice pearlies. Good snapper in close to Cook island and off Kingscliff.

Julie/Graeme, Anglers Warehouse Tweed Heads (07) 5536 3822
anglerswarehouse@shopsafe.com.au
Wayne, Kingscliff Bait and Tackle
Matthew/Charlie, Deep Sea Fishing Charters

Brunswick Heads

Offshore: Heaps of leatherjackets with some snapper around.
Rock and beach: South Beach for some bream and tailor, tailor around the north and south walls.
Estuary: Some big bream and blackfish can be found around the co-op walls. Bream and blackfish around the Spur Wall. Flathead in the lower parts of the river. Flathead and whiting around Kings Creek.

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

Byron Bay

Beaches: Plenty of big tailor and salmon from the rocks and beaches. Heaps of bream everywhere from rocks and beaches. Boaties have been having strife with the leatherjackets and batfish, which are thick, although there’s been the odd cobia and snapper in close.

David Keevers, Coastal Fishing Tackle (02) 6685 7133

Ballina

Bruce at Dave’s Bait Shop says the bream are doing well on the Town Reach on the rising tide with fish up to Burns Point or Keith Hall. A few flatties and the odd whiting in North Creek. Blackfish the big movers with quite a few around, with black weed going well and they’re biting on green weed too now. Best spots the Big Gap, Little Gap, North Wall and Prospect Bridge.
A few bream along the beaches and the odd tailor, although both are tapering off a little from last week’s highs. Still plenty of salmon.
Offshore has been pretty good for snapper and mixed reef fish on the wider reefs and a mass of leatherjackets.
Brilliant weather all week at Evans Head with some nice snapper, the odd good haul of trag and the occasional northern bluefin from the closer reefs and those dreaded jackets out wider, though if you can get past them, the snapper and some pearlies are also out there.
The beaches have some great formations with good bream around the Broadwater rocks, some salmon, the odd tailor and still some nice whiting in the hole in front of the surf club. Blackfish action on the walls at times and some nice bream from the walls and in the river at night. The odd nice flathead and whiting in the river as well.

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

t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au

Yamba

Estuary: Middle Wall, Collis’s, Moriartys for blackfish. The bream are starting to move up as far as Maclean. Oyster Channel fishing OK for jew.
Beaches: Jewies mainly from the beaches on the southern side on worms. Tailor have been quiet and even the salmon are tame, although some nice whiting are coming in.
Offshore has been going quite well for snapper to 4kg, pearlies and a few trag and parrot.

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

Coffs Harbour

Offshore: Conditions are excellent with low swell and good tides. Good snapper on the inshore reefs with Bullocky and Macaulays Wide turning up fish to 8kg this week.. Deeper water fishing well for samson and pearlies with the odd mahi mahi on anything floating. Good tailor and salmon from the rock washes.
Estuaries running very clear but for those who persevere, nice bream, whiting and the odd good flathead.
Beach gutters have settled down with holes and gutters near estuary mouths and headlands turning up bream, tailor and the odd jewfish.

Peter Russell, Fish Tackle Australia 6652 4611
motackle@midcoast.com.au

South West Rocks

Things have gone a little quiet this week with most fishos struggling to get a good feed.
Blackfish have slowed down, possibly moving up river but out of all the usual haunts there have been only a few coming in. There are bream off the walls but after mid-morning it is has been a waste of time. Smaller flathead are about in the river but there is a lot of water between them.
Good bream are being caught off the rocks along with tailor and some monster salmon.
Beach fishing is again slow. There have been reasonable bream and tailor coming off Smoky Beach. Little Bay is producing tailor and salmon while Front and Back beaches have had some bream and the odd whiting.
A lack of current at the moment has slowed the fishing down outside with reds difficult to pick up off Grassy. Only a few kings have been reported around Fish Rock with a few reds there as well. There are still plenty of leatherjackets to frustrate you. Guys have been out 20 miles for only the odd yellowfin.
A sleeping giant has been woken; it is called Manning Shelf Marine Bioregion Assessment, taking in some 300km between Port Stephens and Nambucca being earmarked for a marine park. Just how much of this area will be a no-go for recreational fishermen is yet to be seen. Early indications are 30% to 50%. Funds have already been allocated by the Government to create a marine park office to assess this. Get ready for a fight.

Mark and Denise Bird and Paul and Michelle Martin
Rocks Marine Bait and Tackle 6566 6726
rocksmarine@dodo.com.au

Port Macquarie

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

Forster

Offshore: Fantastic sea and weather conditions have not been matched by the fishing action. Most reef fishos are struggling to lose a bait. Having said that, one crew tried something different and went wide last Saturday night. In a couple of hours they had to the boat 68 fish, mainly small mulloway and trag. Don't worry, they only kept a few and expertly released the rest. Another story last week was of a guy who used the light offshore wind to drift from The Pinnacle to The Step. Using strips of slimy he caught five big reds on ground not normally considered much good. A few large tailor have been reported on reefs close in. The secretive Seal Rocks fishos have told me, albeit a few days after the event, that the snapper down their way have been big and aggressive.
Beaches: Some salmon and a few bream down south but generally pretty quiet.
Rocks: Same as the last few weeks. Plenty of big drummer and the best of the tailor and bream. Still lots of blackfish out on the rocks.
Estuary: Big evening tides late last week saw more quality bream and blackfish move into the lake system. Several reports have also come in of large mullet south of Hells Gate. Mulloway action is a little slower than that leading up to the full moon, but a few fish have been taken in the main channel. Under the bridge on the Tuncurry side is still the best place for an evening fish using bait.

Lloyd Campbell, Great Lakes Tackle 02 6554 9541

Port Stephens

Estuary: Loads of blackfish co-op anchorage, Windy Woppa, Corrie training wall. Reasonable bream from the co-op wall. A couple of school jew from the same place to 4kg. Kingies to 15kg on the end of the breakwall – if you can handle them. A few flathead Shoal Bay, Baggies, Cromarty. A few trumpeter whiting on The Paddock at the back of Soldiers Point.
Beaches: Stockton bream are starting to come back on. Noel Terry got a dozen to 1.3kg on Thursday night. Big schools of salmon still on Stockton, One Mile and a few at Fingal. Some chopper tailor at dusk at Stockton around the huts.
Rocks: Plenty of pigs around Rocky, Honeysuckle, Cemetery. Lots of blackfish Morna Point, One Mile Headland, Boulder Bay. Plenty of salmon off the rocks at Sunny Corner with the odd king among them. A few squire at Fishermans, Boat Harbour. Stack of bream around Little Rocky and Snapper Point.
Offshore: Snapper on the chew with George Trinkler and crew bagging out on fish to 4.5kg on 5” Power Baits. Try Sisters, The Guts, North Island and Mungo. The Mayne brothers from Gilgandra have been braining the reds off the back bommie at Fishermans with fish to 5kg on brined pilchards. A stack of nannygai in the deep water off The V. A few kingies around the Looking Glass.

Graham Duffy, Salamander Bait and Tackle 02 4982 0711

Newcastle

Numbers of flathead being caught in Lake Macquarie with Adam Medcalf from Dudley catching a number of sizeable species, all on softies, at Blacksmiths breakwall. One fish he showed me weighed 2.75kg. Adam said the fish couldn’t resist Squidgies. Other reports are of similar sized fish coming from the south end of Lake Macquarie and Belmont Bay. With the weather coming good you'll find this weekend should give you all the access needed to tame a big lizard at your favourite flattie haunt. Come in for some 'softie' training any time over the weekend with some hot deals on multiple pack purchases.
Offshore locations will be accessible this weekend and with the tide rising in the mornings and late evenings, coupled with the back half of the moon, most spots should produce some good catches. This is the week that I like to go to Broughton Island for snapper. Water is around 17°-18° and blue, with some bonito around the headlands of Redhead and south to Snapper Point.
Still a few luderick around at the favourite spots, get your green weed at Belmont Lagoon. Some bigger fish are being taken in front of the Coast Guard tower at Swansea Heads.
I'll catch up in two weeks as I'm going fishing at Broughton Island next week. Our newest staff member, Jan, will update you. Don't forget we still have outboard motors on sale for a limited time.

Peter Sanderson, Fisherman's Warehouse (02) 4945 8922
enquiries@fishermanswarehouse.com.au

Central Coast

Offshore: Kingies in good numbers with the charter boats and pro boats doing well. Some good snapper also going well. Current strong from 40m out but inshore snapper, trevally and mowies. Massive salmon schools Broken Bay and Avoca. Cowan Creek has some big kingies terrorising the big bait schools. Some good bream in there as well. Blackfish at The Entrance but not as many as a few years ago. Beaches pretty quiet apart from the odd tailor and salmon of an evening.

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

Sydney Northern

After a few weeks of pretty average fishing, pretty average reports, and very little rise in average inshore water temperature, the last thing you would have expected from a recent trip out would be hooking up on estuary kingfish. 14° July kingies are not the most common fish around Sydney, especially in the estuaries, even though July may be often the time that offshore reefs produce some large kings in slightly warmer waters. It was with great glee then that Pete Le Blang landed five good kingies in two days last week, including a 7kg fish (and a 4.5kg for yours truly), from well inside Pittwater while downrigging live squid and squid heads along the ‘kingfish highway’. The squid seemed harder to get than the kingies, though there are patches of squid moving in to breed. Unfortunately the salmon and tailor in Pittwater are a little less enthusiastic, though they are definitely still there. They seem to surface sporadically around the mouths of bays all throughout the area, including Taylors Bay and Lovett Bay, though they’re so skittish they will vanish at the mere hint of a boat and they’re not overly keen to strike at lures, either. There are a couple of trevally around the bay, but not in good enough numbers to really start targeting them. A month or two should see them arrive in a little greater number.
The Harbour continues to be very quiet, especially around the North Harbour end. Clear and cold waters are not providing much shelter or food, and even the salmon that were out the front in small numbers have dissipated. Some bream are still in the Harbour, from the mouth of the Parramatta down as far as Watsons Bay, particularly around marinas and other similar structure. The average size does seem to be a little smaller than in previous weeks, though. Des Toms of Hook’em Cook’em Charters agrees it has been a hard week but believes an improvement to the Harbour’s fishing stocks might well be on its way. He has found a few trevally lately slowly filtering in through the Heads, with hopes of more to come.
Offshore fishing has had little to report this week, though there is quite a bit of good water out there, especially to the North of Broken Bay. Dilligaf took a venture toward Port Stephens, starting the trolling from Broken Bay, and though the water looked good for much of the way and big fish could be seen on the sounder under schools of albatross, nothing would rise. That is until they found themselves inside the shelf at Port Stephens, where a 65kg mako shark smashed into a McGoo Evil Lumo, leaping out of the water as it did so. As usual it happened at the end of the day, and with darkness encroaching new FOW staff member Andrew Thorpe landed the shark. Nice work Thorpie, pity about missing the footy though!
The beaches are also having a bit of a shark run, though with slightly smaller bronzies. Night fishos hoping for jewies have hooked up a fair few lately, mostly on some type of oily fish including slimies and striped tuna. Manly, Dee Why and Narrabeen have all provided a few this week. Pigs are still the call of the day for ledge fishos. They are not getting any smaller, still getting up to the 3kg mark with regularity and even over it at times, and there are decent numbers hanging around most headlands. Ab gut and bread are the key ingredients.
So why are you just sitting there?!

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

Sydney Southern

Blackfish going well around Tom Uglys Bridge and the Woronora River. Whiting up near The Moons on the Georges River.
Try around the headlands for tailor and also tailor at night off Cronulla Beach. Jew to 12kg but a lot of small sharks as well. Seas have been a bit flat. Drummer around the rocks. A few squid have shown up off the rocks.
Snapper have been quite good outside with good fish around Stanwell Park and Bellambi. In the bay the undersize snapper have been a pain but there are some better ones there as well. Trevally around Watts Reef.

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

Wollongong

Lake: Southern foreshores around the channel for nice trevally, bream and of an evening some tailor as well. Blackfish at the Bowling club wall and Bevans island.
Bream on Windang beach in fair numbers on prawns and worms. Windang and Warilla beaches have tailor to 1.5kg on ganged pillies. East Corrimal and Stanwell Park for good bream. Crooked River at Jerroa for whiting.
Rocks: Windang island north side, Bellambi Point and Flagstaff Point for drummer and bream. Berley heavily and fish early for best chances. Try Killelea Point and Bombo for trevally and bream on royal reds.
Offshore, snapper to 1.5kg in 30 metres and reds to 4.5 patchy out to 50 fathoms.

Garth, Deans Bait and Tackle, Windang 4295 1615

Batemans Bay

Estuaries: Rivers have cleaned up since the rain and have been fishing quite well near the entrances. Bream, flathead and trevally have been at the mouth of the Clyde with a local weighing in a 5.5kg flattie this week. Quite a few school jew in the deeper holes around places like Big Island, the Power Lines and Snapper Point.
Rock, beach: Plenty of big bluenose bream and lots of blackfish. Water is clean and the blackfish are a bit flighty. Some nippers or good green weed should work on them. Plenty of salmon but they’re a bit patchy, try Binji, Rosedale, the windsock at Moruya and up at Bawley Point.
Offshore: Snapper are still going well with a lot of fish to 1-2kg with the very close reefs fishing quite well. Slimy mackerel schools have been there so a slimy head could be a good bait for a big one. Mowies, squire and mixed reef fish on the closer grounds where there should also be a few salmon.

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

Narooma

Offshore: No reports of yellowfin up this way but apparently some good ones further south. The island is improving for bonito and kingies and the bottom fishing is good for mowies, snapper and plenty of flatties.
Rocks, beaches: Quite a few drummer around but the swell is a little low to keep them biting hard. Reasonable salmon and chopper tailor, both in fair numbers.
Estuaries: Jewies have gone quiet since the rain and the flatties are fairly sluggish in the 12° water. Tailor, trevally and bream don’t seem to mind the cold water and are going OK. Tuross has had the best flush out in eight years and should fish well as it clears.

Darryl, The Ocean Hut (02) 4476 2278

Bermagui

Estuary: The rain has opened all the lakes and the big tailor that had been landlocked in Wallaga lake became very active, with fish from 3kg to a thumping 5.2kg caught. Bream and jewies also hung around the mouth for a while but they’ve tapered off. A good run of trevally in Bermagui harbour with the odd nice blackfish.
Rocks: Drummer have been terrific with plenty of bust-offs from unstoppable fish.
Offshore: Reef fishing is brilliant with a great run of snapper averaging a kilo. Lots of mowies and pigfish. Plenty of tiger flathead showing on the reef edges and some quality fish among them. A boat out yesterday (Thurs) got five small southern bluefin to 9kg and last weekend there were some fair yellowfin, but out very wide.

Darren Redman and Mark Rose,
Bermagui Ocean Hut and Charter Booking Service, (02) 6493 4688

Archived Weekly Reports

Year 2005 Weekly Reports
7/01/2005	14/01/2005	21/01/2005	28/01/2005
4/02/2005	11/02/2005	18/02/2005	25/02/2005
	18/03/2005	25/03/2005
1/04/2005	8/04/2005	15/04/2005	22/04/2005	29/04/2005
6/05/2005	13/05/2005	20/05/2005	27/05/2005
3/06/2005	10/06/2005	17/06/2005	24/06/2005
1/07/2005	8/07/2005	18/07/2005	22/07/2005

Year 2004 Weekly Reports
05/01/2004	09/01/2004	16/01/2004		30/1/2004
06/02/2004	13/02/2004	20/02/2004	27/02/2004
05/03/2004	12/03/2004	19/03/2004	26/3/2004
02/04/2004	08/04/2004	16/04/2004	23/04/2004	30/04/2004
07/05/2004	14/05/2004	21/05/2004	28/05/2004
05/06/2004	11/06/2004	18/06/2004	25/06/2004
02/07/2004	09/07/2004	19/7/2004	23/07/2004	30/07/2004
06/08/2004	13/08/2004	20/08/2004	27/08/2004
03/09/2004	10/09/2004	17/09/2004	24/09/2004
01/10/2004	08/10/04	15/10/2004	22/10/2004	29/10/2004
05/11/2004	12/11/2004	19/11/2004	26/11/2004
03/12/2004	10/12/2004	17/12/2004	24/12/2004	31/12/2004

Year 2003 Weekly Reports

07/01/2003

10/01/2003

17/01/2003

24/01/2003

31/01/2003

07/02/2003

14/02/2003

21/02/2003

01/03/2003

07/03/2003

14/03/2003

21/03/2003

28/03/2003

04/04/2003

10/04/2003

17/04/2003

24/04/2003

02/05/2003

09/05/2003

16/05/2003

23/05/2003

30/05/2003

06/06/2003

13/06/2003

20/06/2003

27/06/2003

04/07/2003

11/07/2003

18/07/2003

25/07/2003

01/08/2003

08/08/2003

15/08/2003

22/08/2003

29/08/2003

05/09/2003

12/09/2003

19/09/2003

26/09/2003

03/10/2003

10/10/2003

17/10/2003

24/10/2003

31/10/2003

7/11/2003

14/11/2003

21/11/2003

28/11/2003

5/12/2003 12/12/2003 19/12/2003 29/12/2003

Year 2002 Weekly Reports
04/01/2002	11/01/2002	18/01/2002	25/01/2002
01/02/2002	08/02/2002	15/02/2002	22/02/2002
01/03/2002	08/03/2002	15/03/2002	22/03/2002	29/03/2002
05/04/2002	12/04/2002	19/04/2002	26/04/2002
03/05/2002	10/05/2002	17/05/2002	24/05/2002
01/06/2002	07/06/2002	14/06/2002	21/06/2002	28/06/2002
05/07/2002	12/07/2002	19/07/2002	26/07/2002
02/08/2002	09/08/2002	16/08/2002	23/08/2002	30/8/2002
06/09/2002	13 /09/2002	20/09/2002	27/09/2002
04/10/2002	11/10/2002	18/10/2002	25/10/2002
01/11/2002	8/11/2002	15/11/2002	22/11/2002	29/11/2002
06/12/2002	13/12/2002	20/12/2002		30/12/2002

Year 2001 Weekly Reports
25/1/2001
01/02/2001	08/02/2001	15/02/2001	22/02/2001
02/03/2001	09/03/2001	16/03/2001	23/03/2001	31/03/2001
6/04/2001	12/04/2001	19/04/2001	26/04/2001
3/05/2001	10/05/2001	17/05/2001	24/05/2001	31/05/2001
7/06/2001	14/06/2001	21/06/2001	28/06/2001
5/07/2001	12/07/2001	19/07/2001	26/07/2001
3/08/2001	10/08/2001	17/08/2001	24/08/2001	31/08/2001
7/09/2001	14/09/2001	21/9/2001	28/9/2001
5/10/2001	12/10/2001	19/10/2001	26/10/2001
2/11/2001	9/11/2001	16/11/2001	23/11/2001	30/11/2001
7/12/2001	14/12/2001	21/12/2001	28/12/2001