Fishing Monthly - Latest Fishing Reports - Updated Weekly

Fishing Monthly - Latest Fishing Reports - Updated Weekly

These reports are updated weekly.
Last Edited: Friday, 12 August 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

Estuary: Flathead have turned up early with some good catches throughout this week, plenty of bream in the river, blackfish behind the hospital and at all the usual haunts. Mud crabs were coming out before the weather turned cold.
Offshore: Squire, parrot and pearlies on the Nine Mile and out on the 30s. Some good knobbies and trag, solid jew at night.
Rocks, beaches: Tailor on the headlands and dart on the beaches around Pottsville.

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

Outside. Snapper and jewfish around the local reefs, parrot fish around Wooyung and the Plonk Hole. Heaps of leatherjackels around.
Rock and beach: Good tailor, bream on all local beaches and at Seagull Rocks. Dart on New Brighton Beach.
Estuary: Bream and blackfish around the boat harbour. Blackfish around the Spur Wall, best to fish the first two hours of the run-out tide. Blackfish around the car bridge on the South Arm. Good-sized bream around the highway bridge and construction site of the new bridge at night. Flathead around the Ferry Reserve Caravan Park.

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

Byron Bay

Not much happening. Millions of jackets out wide.
Beaches are quiet with one big long gutter on Tallow Beach and when the tide is up the water is at the terraces and when it’s out you can’t reach the good water. Tiny dart and bream, that’s all.

David Keevers, Coastal Fishing Tackle (02) 6685 7133

Ballina

Mandy at Dave’s Bait Shop says the beaches have some nice bream, a few tailor and plenty of dart.
Blackfish have gone quiet in the river but there are still some nice bream showing. A few flathead in North Creek and the main river and the odd school jew up river.
Try outside for a few snapper but there are still a lot of jackets making life a misery.
I’ve been stuck in Brisbane for most of this week so I can’t say much about Evans Head. Still plenty of bait in the bay when I left on Wednesday with gannets diving everywhere. Apparently they’re a mix of big blue pillies and gar and from time to time they’ll venture in close enough so that fishos can pull a few fair bream and some big salmon out from under them.

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

t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au

Yamba

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

Coffs Harbour

With winter arriving again the water temperature has dropped and fishing has slowed dramatically to the slowest point of the season.
Still plenty of salmon in the beach gutters with the very odd bream and sparse jewfish. Good tailor around the rocks but you’ll have to work hard for them.
Estuaries are gin clear and difficult to fish with the denizens being very flighty. Good presentation is a must in these conditions.
Offshore temperatures have dropped to 18° or 19° with the warmer water out beyond 60 fathoms but the inshore reefs still are turning up good snapper. But, as in the estuaries you’ll have to work hard.

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

South West Rocks

Cool winter conditions prevailed last week and with a fair swell running outside, only a few fishos wet a line for fair results.
Fish Rock is the hot spot this week with excellent kingfish with the biggest reported 13 kilos and a few guys being cut off on bigger fish. Good snapper up to 6 kilos are also around the rock with plenty of pan-size fish to keep you interested. Leatherjackets are still about from the Jail to Scotts. Fishing Grassy was hard work last week dealing with the big swell but a few fish managed to be caught, mainly snapper and small reef fish. Tailor have slowed down around Green Island and along the Jail in close.
Blackfish are still being caught in the river but the numbers have dwindled over the last week, while Hat Head Creek is really firing on the full tide. Bream have also slowed down; if you want these fish you will need to rug up and put in some hours during the cool nights or cold early mornings to be successful. Some flathead are about but are few and far between.
Once again the beaches are slow with the fish very patchy apart from a few bream and tailor coming in off Smoky and Gap beaches. We have had no fish reported from Front or Back beaches but the salmon are not too far away.
Rock fishermen did it tough last week with the bream, tailor and salmon not on the bite.
Results for last weeks Seabreeze Hotel fishing comp were a little lean due to the ordinary weather, but as usual there were plenty of fishos having a go. Be a part of it on September 3 and 4 and win some great prizes.

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: Last weekend’s results were nothing to rave about but a few days ago Larry and his mates went out and brought home five reds from 2kg-4kg. Unfortunately I don't know where he got them, but pillies were the bait. Water temperature is all over the place with reports varying from 16° to 19°. Bring on summer!
Beaches: The beaches at Pacific Palms are loaded with salmon and little else.
Rocks: In past weeks the drummer have been going off but in the last week this action slowed. In its place has been some of the best tailor fishing for years. Unseasonably large fish, one I know of was well over 5kg, have been caught mainly on pilchards. Best results have come by floating the bait under a bobby cork.
Estuary: The Blackfish massacre is in full swing. The silly old buggers can now catch their bag limit (and more) every day and fill their freezers with a lifetime supply of fillets. Lots of flathead are active despite the water being quite cool. With a little imagination the bream are not hard to find.

Lloyd Campbell, Great Lakes Tackle 02 6554 9541

Port Stephens

Ordinary weather: windy, cold water. Plenty of blackfish and apart from that, the same as last week!

Graham Duffy, Salamander Bait and Tackle 02 4982 0711

Newcastle

Pete has returned from Broughton Island and things were not as be expected. A few fish were caught but nothing to brag about. They all enjoyed their time there and said it was good to get away. He might fill you in when he gets back from his holidays.
There have been reports of flathead and bream around Swansea Channel and once again soft plastics have been the weapon of choice. We still have our special on PowerBaits (four packs for $30) so get in and get fishing. Good sized whiting are still being caught on live bloodworms in the channel, as are some decent bream that haven't succumbed to a soft plastic yet.
Blacksmiths Beach has a few tailor and salmon on offer with a few flathead also around. Last Sunday morning Jason weighed a jewfish brought in by someone who had been fishing ’locally’. The location is not too far from Blacksmiths Beach and the bait used was fresh squid. A nice fish of 9kg was a surprise considering the water temperatures at the moment. It goes to show you that just because they are not supposed to be there doesn't necessarily mean they aren't.
Luderick have been a hit and miss affair of late particularly around Lucy's breakwall with some days producing plenty of fish for everyone and other days nothing. Cabbage has been a more popular bait at Lucy's while elsewhere Belmont Lagoon weed has done well.
Offshore fishing has also been a hit-and-miss affair this week due to conditions. Most have been holding back for the weekend which looks like it could be good. Snapper have been about and after the blow we've had and the cold weather, one would hope that things will improve. The Farm would be the better option for snapper, kingies and perch but leatherjackets can still be a problem at times.

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

Central Coast

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

Sydney Northern

The mild winter we have had this year seems to have almost moved on, as spring approaches and finally some substantial schools of salmon start to arrive off Sydney. Just what’s required to brighten up an angler, and the last week has had even more to savour than that. Snapper to 4kg on gravel off the northern beaches, even bigger silver drummer in the same areas, plus sharks big and small, massive trevally, winter whiting, frozen kingies, and the list goes on. The only unfortunate part is the amount of downtime between fish feeding times.
Sydney Harbour has been one of the poorer fisheries in the area of late, with crystal-clear cold water not helping, but things are on the up, especially around the Heads. Massive schools of salmon have been appearing on the surface around the inside and outside of North Head, with patches of fish stretching as far north as Curl Curl. The schools are very spooky and will dive at the inference of a boat in the area. Sneaky electric motor work is often called for in this situation, or failing that, a well-thought-out drift will bring you into contact with fish. A few of these salmon are finding their way inside the sheltered Harbour bays, and can be picked up trolling, or even on soft plastics, in some unlikely areas. Narada Taranto managed to hook up a nice one while flicking 3” watermelon Bass Minnows around Fort Denison, ostensibly for bream. There were no complaints there. Blue Bombers and Rapala Magnums 10-15cm long are also accounting for a few fish when trolled around Middle, North or South heads. Mostly it has been salmon that have pounced, but a lucky few anglers have hauled up small kings using these methods this week.
Pittwater is firing away as usual. Russ from Pittwater Offshore Removals berleyed heavily around the mouth of Lovetts Bay and then fed tiny pieces of unweighted squid into the trail. Not a bad method, and he was duly rewarded with a (by Sydney standards) monster 72cm silver trevally. Apparently there were a few more under the boat as well, though they passed on unhooked. Kingfish have also been taken every day this week – not really what is expected for the middle of winter but who’s going to complain? Live squid are the key, and they can be either down-rigged and slow trolled, or fed into a well-set berley trail. The squid are not overly prolific at the moment but a few can be found on weed beds around West Head and other weed beds on the west side of Pitty. Yakkas are very occasionally being taken by kings as well, though are just as hard to catch with all the sweep and other small rubbish fish in the bay. The algae on the bottom inside Pittwater is hindering drift fishing but around the mouth of Broken Bay some good drift fishing for flounder and flatties can still be had.
SGFC had their mako shark tournament last weekend and quite a few sharks were chummed up. 48 makos were tagged and 8 weighed in during the event, with the winning boat, Ever Willing, weighing in a 207kg shark. Malolo had a good weekend. They hooked up and were busted off from two big makos after having 4 between 100 and 250kg milling around in the chum trail under the boat, but felt better when crew member Rob Lang took on and beat a 37.7kg yellowfin to take out biggest yellowfin. Browns Mountain was the centre of most of the action. For the bottom bashers, a good weekend was had on the close reefs, with snapper, mowies and smallish flathead all being landed. The current was very up and down, and fished poorly during times of no run.
Sharks have been haunting the beaches as well over the last few weeks, especially at night. Though not quite the size of the makos, these bronze whalers are still about a metre long and will give you a great fight. Doc Harper has been having a ball on them for some time now and recommends the odd fillet should be taken home for a great tasting BBQ. Any oily and heavily scented fish bait will put you in with a great shot at hooking up a few. Other sharks have also been abundant this week, including Port Jacksons and a few other less familiar species. They are just as keen for your fish bait as the harder fighting bronzies. Regular Fish Outta Water customer Charlie managed to miss all the sharks and land a massive whiting, nearly 14”. It must be something to do with the South Oz blood.
Rock fishing has been great this week. Blackfish are sucking on fresh green weed set into the washes around most headlands. Warriewood has been good. Plenty of Pigs are still roaming the rocks, smashing into ab gut and bread mixes and to top it off the closely related silver drummer have also put in a bit of a showing this week, with fish around 4kg taken from the close gravel beds.

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

Sydney Southern

Mac's Bait Bar Outside Botany Bay around surrounding beaches and headlands there have been good reports of salmon and tailor. Cape Banks has produced good numbers of drummer but not many large ones. Further offshore, near Browns Mountain, there have been a lot of sharks getting caught and some makos that have been hooked have been over the 200kg mark.
Lady Robinson Beach near Brighton is the place to target flathead on the drift with pillies and squid. Blackfish are being caught around the Picnic Point area. Caravan Head on the slack water is producing school jew and bream on squid and prawns. Trumpeter Whiting are being caught around Lugarno on live bloodworms.

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

Wollongong

Lake: Under the bridge and near the boat shed for bream late in the day on prawns and squirt worms. Blackfish opposite the boat ramp and southern breakwall on weed and worms. Macquarie Rivulet and sometimes Mullet Creek for bream and blackfish.
Beaches: Northern beaches for salmon at East Corrimal,, Fairymeadow and Coniston. Bream at Bombo and Warilla with some flathead at the Windang entrance.
Rocks: Pigs abundant at Flagstaff Point, Windang Island east and Bass Point north side. Tailor and salmon around the headlands try Blackhead at Gerroa and Bass Point.
Offshore: Try shallow reefs under 30m for bream, and snapper on royal reds and squid. Trevally, jackets and mowies deeper with sharks out wide in fair numbers.

Garth, Deans Bait and Tackle, Windang 4295 1615

Batemans Bay

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

Narooma

Offshore: Blue water is very quiet but not many out fishing. Reefs have flatties, snapper and mowies in good numbers. In close the water is 14.5°.
Rocks, beaches: Plenty of salmon and a few tailor with the pigs and blackfish kicking on well.
Estuaries: Wagonga Inlet is alright for flatties, blackfish and tailor but the water is only 12°. Dalmeny Lake has good flatties on plastics. Tuross Lake also has some flatties but no jew since the flush-out.

Darryl, The Ocean Hut (02) 4476 2278

Bermagui

Offshore: Wild wind for the past few days and few anglers about. Water still a little dirty but boats headed offshore Friday. Snapper, mowies, tigers and sand flathead came in in good numbers.
Beaches, rocks: Barragoot Beach has been good for tailor and salmon. Still a few pigs and jackets around most of the rocks.
Estuary: Very cool and dead apart from a few tailor, trevally, bream and blackfish in the harbour and Wallaga Lake.

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	29/07/2005
5/08/2005

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