Fishing Monthly - Latest Fishing Reports - Updated Weekly

Fishing Monthly - Latest Fishing Reports - Updated Weekly

These reports are updated weekly.
Last Edited: Sunday, 11 September 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 sized flathead right at the entrance with plenty around mid-80s. Still plenty of blackfish around Boyds Bay and Drydock Road. A few whiting showing up around the Anchorage and Oxley Cove. Start looking for jacks around the bridges and rock bars, there area few showing up. Crabs going well.
Good tailor south of Cabarita, around Casuarina-Potsville with some nice fish around 3kg and a few horses to 6kg.
A few pearlies and snapper outside with a few doggy mackerel showing up around Mermaid Reef.

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: Very quiet. The odd snapper on the Local Reef.
Rock and beach: Bream and dart on New Brighton Beach, tailor around Seagull Rocks and North Wall. Some bream on the South Wall, tailor and a few bream on South Beach.
Estuary: Blackfish around the car bridge in the South Arm. Try for flathead and whiting in front of the Massey Greene Caravan Park. Flathead just past the traffic bridge. Whiting up the river near Kings Creek. Mud crabs are starting to show up the river.

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

Byron Bay

A bit quiet: Whiting, bream and flathead the main targets on the beaches. Some school jew around Boulder Beach near Lennox.
A few boats went out to the Nine Mile on Thursday night so there might be a few reds out there.

David Keevers, Coastal Fishing Tackle (02) 6685 7133

Ballina

Bruce at Dave’s Bait Shop says the whiting are starting up a little in the lower reaches and as far up as Pimlico. It’s the tail end of the bream and blackfish. Flathead mainly in the shallows but they’re improving daily. A few decent school jew to 13kg behind the CBD on live bait at night with smaller ones up-river. Mud crabs starting to come on the chew.
Beaches have a few whiting and dart along with a few bream and flatties. Tailor seem to be tapering off.
Some good reds out wide with pearlies mixed in with them.
At Evans Head there have been a few decent hauls of snapper and jew from the pros, especially of an evening, along with the odd hit on the trag. The beaches are looking very healthy with plenty of nice water and lots of thieving little dart competing with the odd nice whiting and better bream up towards the Broadwater rocks.
The river has some nice blackfish around the walls but they’ll only bite when there’s a bit of rough water about. Some flathead starting to stir and the occasional pod of sea gar coming into the river along the walls.

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

t.zann@fishingmonthly.com.au

Yamba

Some good bream still around mainly at night from the walls in the lower reaches. Flathead on all the flats and a few nice school jew getting about in the deeper holes. Some nice schoolies from the beaches around Red Cliff, Back Beach and out towards Sandon. Offshore for a few snapper but it’s been a bit quiet.

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

Coffs Harbour

Offshore there have been good snapper in deeper water with fish to 10kg reported this week. Big samson and plenty of rat kings with a few mahi mahi on anything floating.
Beach gutters turning up big salmon, good tailor and still fishing well for bream.
Estuaries have improved out of sight after recent rains with nice bream and flathead available as the tide pushes back.

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

South West Rocks

It’s a little slow here at the rocks, as it normally is this time of year. The fish are hard to find – maybe between seasons.
Fishing the river has been tough with the blackfish harder to get interested as the season heads to its end. Good bream have been up around Jerseyville under the bridge along with flathead further up-river, as well as reports of fish around Clybucca. A couple of jewfish are coming in from the breakwall with Col Rowsell landing a nice 12.4kg fish. Big salmon are on at the end of the breakwall with the odd tailor.
A few bream off the rocks last week, in particular the rocks off North Smoky. There are plenty of salmon around to give you a work-out. Tailor are hard to find off the rocks but enough bream to keep you interested.
The beaches are a little tough, with bream, the odd small whiting and of course salmon coming in off most beaches.
Outside, if conditions are rough it’s not worth going out; there is not much out there. The charter guys are getting reds off Grassy with a few pearl perch. Some nice flathead are coming in as well. Fish Rock has been giving up some kingfish but not in big numbers. They tell me cuttlefish goes really well down there.
The Seabreeze Hotel September comp has been run and won with the standouts being Gary Davey with a 5.8kg jew, Matt Lewis with an 8 kilo king and Mika Saunders 7 species inside. A total of 57 Kilos weighed in and $600 in prizes for the weekend. Next comp is October 1 and 2.
We have a special on GME marine radios GX294 27MHz for only $150. That’s around $50 off so be quick.

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

Port Macquarie

On the beaches, there are some reasonable formations on both North and Lighthouse beaches and these are continuing to develop as each week passes without big seas. While reports from Lighthouse have been a little slow, except for the odd bream, salmon and tailor, North Beach has continued to produce more consistently. Best results have been at night or early morning, with bream to over a kilo, some nice school mulloway as well as the odd big greenback tailor and plenty of salmon. The area immediately surrounding Lake Cathie is also worth a go, especially with the dredging project likely to create feeding interest for a number of species.
Off the rocks, drummer numbers and quality have been as good as they been for several seasons. Best results over the past week have come from Point Plomer and Point Perpendicular but Lighthouse and Shelly headlands have given up the odd good fish. Matt Smith and Jarron Jensen got into the drummer with their bag limit of pigs with many over 3 kilos and one over 4kg. Along with the pigs, a few groper are on offer but the more exposed ledges need to be treated with caution. Some nice bream and better than average tailor, best results late afternoon and into the evening.
In the estuary, the water remains clearer than we would like and anglers have had to work a little harder for better results. Blackfish have been inconsistent with reasonable catches one day and little the next. This seems to have been the case for most of this season. Best results have come from the North and Coal walls, although Limeburners and the Maria have also given up the odd good bag. Elsewhere in the estuary, a few bream remain around the walls and leases with best results at night. Best news is the continued good showing of flathead. The flattie population is as good as many can remember with numerous fish to around 6 kilos on both lures and bait. Thankfully, most of the larger specimens are now being released to breed again. Pick of the baits by far has been whitebait but frogmouth pillies, smelt and prawns have also accounted for some nice fish.
Outside there’s little to report courtesy of the blustery southerlies, but John from Ocean Star has been finding some great snapper and pearl perch when conditions allow, together with plenty of other mixed reef species. On the closer sand drifts, the flatties have been excellent with little difficulty in scoring a bag limit of fish and little need to keep anything under 40cm.

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

Forster

Offshore: There must be a change of season under way because rainbow runners and samson fish are already being reported. Still plenty of snapper and pearlies around, albeit a little on the small side. Reports of kingfish at Seal Rocks could make that trip worthwhile.
Beaches: A few mulloway have come from beaches, particularly Seven Mile. Still lots of salmon and whiting numbers are on the increase.
Rocks: What Tailor that are around have come from rocks, particularly Janies Corner. What is unusual is they were caught in the middle of the day at low tide. These fish in some cases were so big they couldn't be lifted with rod alone. Those diving the rocks tell me the mulloway numbers are enormous. Drummer remain active.
Estuary: A few small mulloway came from the Forster Breakwall over the past few days. Flathead activity has jumped to a new level with the lizards very aggressive on lures. The bream are establishing themselves in the river systems and are already providing some action on surface lures.

Lloyd Campbell, Great Lakes Tackle 02 6554 9541

Port Stephens

Estuary: Good showing of flathead in the back reaches of Tilligerry, Karuah and the Myall. Colesy got 27 last Saturday in Tilligerry on plastics. Nice bream on the co-op wall on both sides, plenty of blackfish there, too. A few school jew around the Salamander Bay wreck and the Anchorage. Plenty of trumpeter whiting in The Paddock at the back of Soldiers Point. A few muddies from Fenninghams Island Creek. Squid around the Shoal Bay moorings.
Beaches: Shedloads of salmon on Stockton and if you can get through them there are some good tailor at dusk. A few bream turning up on Stockton with the odd sand whiting. A few whiting on Fingal Spit. Bream in against Middle Rock.
Rocks: Pigs in Boulder Bay, Boat Harbour. Plenty of blackfish on Cemetery and Gypsies. Tailor and salmon on One Mile Headland.
Offshore: A few kingies out on The Mountain if you can get past the leatherjacket army. A few yellowfin out over the shelf. Some schools of mack tuna and stripies in 50 fathoms. Nannygai and jackets on The Tank. A few snapper on The Gibber, The 21 and The Vs. Flathead off the back of Mungo and the Lighthouse Drift. A few flounder in Providence Bay and some reasonable bream in the Fingal washes.

Graham Duffy, Salamander Bait and Tackle 02 4982 0711

Newcastle

Reports of decent jewfish, tailor and snapper being caught in the lake on deep-diving lures so it could be worth experimenting with downriggers.
A 4.5kg milkfish was caught at Erraring power station outlet by Anthony Wilson while fishing for luderick with green weed. These fish are commonly caught in the northern Australia by fly fisherman but are rare in our waters.
Jason fished the Swansea Channel through the week for some nice bream and whiting. One of the Bream went 38cm and most of the fish were roed up and possibly on the move back into the lake.
Steve Norris spun up 12 flathead in 15 casts, the biggest going 4kg. Eight fish were released and all were caught on lures, mainly Berkley Gulps in deep water.
Dan Hughes was visiting his mother at Harrington and spent some time fishing the breakwall with 100mm Squidgies in true blue colour and was rewarded with a 10kg jewfish.
Special on Gimbal belts: 1 for $19.99, 2 for $35, 3 for $50.

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

Central Coast

Salmon everywhere, especially around Box head and Lion Island. Some good catches of flatties inside and outside. EPs in the estuaries.
Snapper, mowies and trevally offshore. Kingies have gone off a little. Jackets still there but have thinned out a bit.
Salmon and some tailor from the rocks and beaches with a few jewies around The Rip bridge and a few along North Entrance beach.

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

Sydney Northern

Another week closer to summer and we are experiencing some fishy times at last. From some nice trevally moving inside Sydney Harbour to a couple of nice size jewies off the beach, things are on the up.
Pittwater continues to sparkle for the inshore fishos, simply because of the kings. The last few weeks have seen Pete Le Blang of Harbour and Estuary Charters land kingies almost every day and this week he saw plenty more good fish, some up to 90cm. Keiren Jones sneaked around and managed to pull in a 78cm fish over the weekend and Ada Kwok landed herself a very nice 84cm fish on Tuesday, both courtesy of a down-rigged live squid. Occasionally there have also been a few smaller kingfish spotted, including some around 40cm at the entrance to Pittwater, which could herald the start of the kingies for summer! The water in the area is still pretty frigid at 15°and fightwise, these frozen fish can be a pale imitation of their summer selves. Some decent trevors are still hanging around over the wrecks in Pitty but their numbers are dwindling and they can be hard to track down. Afternoons are providing a little bit of tailor action, especially on the run out tide.
Offshore fishing has been a little up and down of late but there have still been quite a few really nice reds coming in, especially from the boat of Nathan Bacales. Wide off Long Reef has been the epicentre of the action. The freshest squid, as lightly weighted as possible, floated down into the gravel will get you the bites.
Beach fishing has had a couple of ho-hum weeks when sometimes even the sharks wouldn’t bite but that looks set to change. Dee Why Beach has been the choice for a few bream of late, with some fish around a kilo. Darren Thomas managed to sneak down for an evening this week, throwing some worms on light line, and was pretty stoked to have a good run after only a couple of minutes. Then the ‘good run’ turned into a better run and don’t jewies love beach worms! Couple of minutes later and the 7lb silver schoolie flopped up in the wash. Top that with three nice bream, as he did, and you have a good night.
Sydney Harbour has been the slowest of all the Sydney fisheries over the winter, with the incredibly clear water and quite frigid conditions not being conducive to many fish, but things are slowly starting to change. The salmon out the front are the biggest indication of this, but at present most of these are holding off North Head and they don’t seem too eager to rush inside. There have also been a few quite large kingies attacking the schools out the front but again, they seem happy to hold around Bluefish Point. Some decent schools of trevally and good numbers of small squire give a bit of hope for the future.
Watsons Bay has been a hotspot for Des Toms of Hook’em Cook’em Charters, particularly when he can’t get a crack at the salmon. A heavy berley trail feeding toward good structure in that area has produced nice sized trevs on unweighted peeled prawns, and some nice 28 – 38cm squire have taken squid strips fished in the same manner. The odd tailor is also about in the Harbour and into North Harbour and can be taken on fresh pilchard fished around deeper structure in those areas.

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

Sydney Southern

Mac's Bait Bar Again outside Botany Bay continues to fire and inside continues to be slow .
I fished off a boat into the white wash near Wattamolla and caught some nice bream on nippers. When looking for a spot to fish in close to the rocks, watch the swell for a while and try and find deep water or a kind of gutter in close with white wash and cast an unweighted or lightly weighted nipper and hang on.
Night fishing off Wanda beach has produced jewfish up to 20 kilos on squid.
Salmon and tailor have also showed up at most of the beaches. Best baits have been garfish and pillies.
Inside the bay trevally have been around the breakwall on the run-out tide on squid and prawns.
Over near Bare Island there have some squid getting caught on squid jigs, with pink and green working best.
Cape Banks and Cape Solander have produced drummer on nippers and peeled prawns.
Tom Uglys and Captain Cooks bridges have produced some tailor as well as the odd bream and there are still plenty of blackfish on worms, pillies, nippers and green weed.

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

Wollongong

Lake: whiting in the channel between the islands on worms. Blackfish along the breakwall on weed and worms. Flathead starting around the Humps on whitebait and prawns. Bream on pink soft plastics at Mt Warrigal with good bream near the road bridge over Mullet Creek. Mullet on bread in Macquarie rivulet.
Beaches: Thirroul for jew from 3kg to 10kg. Good tailor on Coniston Beach. Port Kembla beach for nice bream on mullet fillets. South Shellharbour for flathead on mullet fillets.
Rocks: good pigs and bream off Windang Island on royal reds and ab gut. Barrack point for blackfish on weed. Kiama for nice salmon on metals.
Offshore: Mowies off Bellambi, nice bream off Pig Island with smaller snapper in close to Shellharbour. South East Grounds for some big snapper out wider.

Garth, Deans Bait and Tackle, Windang 4295 1615

Batemans Bay

A few trevally in the estuaries with a few flathead around the mouth and bream starting to move in. Plenty of trevally in the weed in the Moruya River with green plastics the way to go there.
Beaches have a few big bream and flatties are biting one day and not the next.
Some snapper on cuttlefish from the rocks and the odd salmon from the beaches.
A few snapper and mowies offshore.

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

Narooma

Offshore: Not many going out but there have been huge yellowfin of 40kg-plus and albacore to 18kg out off The Kink and Tuross. Temperature is all over the place wherever you go, anywhere from 20° to 14°. No reports around the island apart from bonito.
Estuary: A little action on the jewfish at Tuross and Wagonga with water bumping from 12° up to 17°in some parts. Flatties moving about the inlet freely and bream and trevally are still in there. Good EPs in Tuross down near the boatshed, which is like years ago
Rocks and beaches: Beaches for abundant salmon and tailor, try Brou Beach and most beaches with a good channel will hold them. Surf poppers working best. Still a few small pigs and a few blackfish around.

Darryl, The Ocean Hut (02) 4476 2278

Bermagui

Offshore: Albacore and yellowfin last weekend with albies averaging 7kg and one weighing at 12kg and a yellowfin about the same size. Plenty of striped tuna to 6kg. Reefs for plenty of snapper and some good mowies and tiger flathead.
Beaches still fishing pretty well for salmon and tailor.
Still a lot of blackfish at Wallaga and Bermie Harbour, where there are also bream and trevally.
Salmon, tailor some good drummer and jackets from the rocks.

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	12/08/2005	19/08/2005	26/08/2005
2/09/2005

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