grams and 1 dusky flathead. The kingfish were caught on live yellowtail and the other fish were caught on strips of stripped tuna. Tailor have been caught while fishing off the southern side of the Spit Bridge on the run-up tide using whole pilchards and garfish on ganged hooks. Leatherjackets and squid can be caught in the bay at Little Manly and the western side of the Sow and Pigs is worth a shot on the run-out tide for bream, silver trevally and the odd dusky flathead.Further up stream in the Lane Cove and iron Cove Rivers the bream and dusky flathead have been feeding at the edges of the mangroves and rocky shoreline when the tide has been high. Try using pink nipper, peeled prawns and pilly tails that have been lightly weighted. The flats of Hen and Chicken and Five Dock Bays are worth a shot at high tide for bream, dusky flathead and whiting. You could also try worth the boat hulls in the same areas.
Botany Bay is alive with silver trevally. Ken Newman and I went out last Friday and managed 27 to 1.35 kilos. All were caught on peeled prawns and very little weight. The key to our success was that we were the only ones berleying with bread and pilchards. Small kingfish and tailor to 2.5 kilos can be caught at the Hot Water Outlet. The best time has been an hour after the sun has risen. Then the fish will go off the bite as the first rays of sun hit the water near the Hot Water Outlet. I have also found that the tailor will keep on the chew when the day is an overcast one.
Rod from Gabes at Gymea reports that there have been a number of mulloway to 6.7 kilos caught under the Captian Cooks Bridge. The best times have been about 3 to 4 hours before the sun sets. Bream are feeding in the shallow areas of Oatley and Oyster Bays on the rising tide.
The beaches off Cronulla and Wanda have been producing whiting during the day and tailor at night. You could also try fishing Garie and Stanwell Park Beaches. That is if you can put up with the chill. The Port Hacking is worth a shot for squid and leatherjackets along the shoreline of Deer Park. Dusky flathead are been caught in Gymea Bay on live poddy mullet and small yellowtail.
Soft plastic shads are the go for flathead that have been holding up off the boat ramp at the end of Swallow Rock Drive. Australian bass and bream have been caught by anglers who have been working the shoreline from the weir at Audley and up the Grays Point. Hard body lures and soft plastics have been doing the job.
I have enlisted the help of a number of tackle shops south and north of Sydney. These guys have taken the time to send me a report of what has been going on in their areas. So if you are up or down their way call in and say hello. I am sure that they will point you in the right direction to getting a few fish.
Jason and Virginia Isaac from Ned Kelly’s Bait and Tackle (jasned@ozemail.com.au) reports from the estuaries indicate there are plenty of bream and blackfish in the lower reaches, however the crystal clear water has seen the fish somewhat difficult to tempt. Best results on the bream have been achieved during the darker hours with live yabbies and mullet gut proving the better baits. Limeburners, the coal wall and both of the break walls are all worth a go. Those fishing around the weed beds at night with yabbies have also been scoring the better catches of blackfish. If we get enough rainfall to add a decent bit of colour to the water, look for the action during the day to really take off. Elsewhere in the estuary, flathead continue to be excellent and show no signs of slowing down, enhancing the notion they are a year round proposition, not the summer only species many have grown up believing. Whiting numbers however have dropped off considerably as generally occurs when the water begins to cool, however there are still plenty of active muddies for those still keen on chasing them.
Off the beaches, bream numbers and quality have begun to pick up noticeably, with kilo plus fish becoming common off most beaches over the past week. Following the current full moon phase, I would expect the bream action to be excellent. However on the tailor front, the news is not so good, with catches spasmodic at best. No doubt the calm seas and lack of baitfish have contributed to the choppers temporarily going AWOL. On the mulloway front, still no real signs of the school sized fish which are usually common at this time of year, however the odd better specimen is about for those willing to put in the time. Lighthouse beach has produced the better results, with local angler Mark Mooney scoring a couple of nice fish last week, the best which was incidentally caught on bream gear, going a terrific 26.5 kilos.
Off the rocks, tailor catches are consistent if not spectacular, with Point Plommer, Hat Head and around Lighthouse locally fishing well. Also encouraging are increasing reports of drummer despite the presence of plenty of sand, with this action likely to further gain momentum in line with the water continuing to cool. Time to dust off the Alvey and double strength hooks, and stock up with plenty of abalone gut for the next few months. Like the beaches, bream numbers and quality have improved markedly, with dawn sessions producing the better results as is usual with the full moon out at night.
Offshore fishing has been quite good for this time of year, with good numbers of pearl perch and a few solid snapper on offer close in off Plommer and Lake Cathie. On the snapper front, soft plastics continue to achieve excellent results, with many first timers surprised at both how easy and effective this method is. If you haven’t already given them a go, simply pick up a few from you local tackle store, ask for a quick pointer, and head to any reef preferably in 30 meters of water or less. You may be in for a pleasant surprise, with the quality of the results often far exceeding that from traditional bait sources.
Peter Le Blang from Harbour & Estuary Fishing Charters (http://www.estuaryfishing.com.au/) reports that the last couple of weeks have seen the water temperature drop to 18-20 degrees in Pittwater. This drop has not really affected the fishing though.
There are still kingfish in Pittwater but on occasions they can be hard to find. This is normal for this time of the year, as small pockets of bigger fish seem to start to take up residence in Pittwater. Getting them to eat your offerings is still simple enough if you can find what they are eating.
Peter’s records show that from June through to September the bigger kingfish seem to prefer small cuttlefish (kingfish M&M’s because of their crunchy outer shell). The next best bait is yellowtail closely followed by garfish and squid strips. This time of the year can be difficult if you don’t have a decent sounder or one that you can trust. For instance you need to be able to identify structure, baitfish and of course predators, including their size as well as position. A good sounder will give you this information and can be vital when down rigging.
Winter traditionally has cold water and Pittwater’s water temp will drop as cold as 14 degrees. Most people say that this cold water is a bit chilly for kingfish, but this is not entirely true. Most seasons we still target and catch kingfish in this cold water after locating them with our sounder.
Peter’s formula is:
Down rig your small kingfish M&M at the same depth as your predators. Small live squid (kingfish Tic-Tacs) will also work but quite often are eaten by leatherjackets and bream.
Stick with the found predator as it may take up to two hours for the fish to react and devour the live bait.
Keep the bait moving.
Fish structure in the bays on the run out tides.
By having fishing records you can look back at what has worked in previous years and try it again.
Last Friday Peter had two anglers, Carolyn Rosser and her son in-law Nathan Milliner; they managed to get 5 kingfish. They day started with us trolling rigged garfish on the downrigger with no takes or looks. They caught 4 squid in about 6 casts and we kept trying, as Carolyn had not yet caught a squid. After half an hour we started out to see if we could put Carolyn on to her first ever fish. The baits were set out on the downriggers and at Careel Bay deep amongst the moorings the first of our squid was smashed. Nathan was onto the first fish and after a spirited battle on the 15kg outfit a kingfish of 67cm was hoisted aboard. Nathan and Carolyn were ecstatic and it was Nathan’s first ever kingfish. A look at his face and you could tell that the adrenaline was still pumping through his system and kingfish fever was starting to take hold of this otherwise mild mannered quiet man. The baits were set out again and on the very next pass we were on again. Once again the small squid was hit and hooked up to a slightly better fish. Once again the fish fought hard and Nathan was becoming evermore confident. Within 5 minutes a 70cm fish was landed.
Carolyn was next up and being a mature aged lady was a bit apprehensive at trying to catch a kingfish as her first ever fish.
The next pass over The Big One saw us hooked up to a fish of 67cm and Carolyn after initially struggling, subdued the hard fighting fish and it was in the net after 5 minutes. Carolyn’s fish was special for me as I have been reporting for ABC Central Coast Radio for a fair while now and the fish was caught live on Radio. Carolyn was asked to talk on the radio about her capture and the excitement in her otherwise calm voice was priceless.
The areas to target bream are amongst the moorings from Newport through to Bayview. The bream in these areas are wary fish and bread burly is normally required to attract these fish from their holding areas. The best bait is fresh prawns or bread if the seagulls don’t get it.
Larger flathead are still being caught along the river. Captures have come from both sides of the river with the points the common theme. These larger flathead to 75cm are eating live yellowtail. The Basin and Mackerel Beach areas have been also seeing these larger fish caught but the best bait has been mullet or whitebait. Both these areas are great for soft plastics fishing when targeting flathead and I am sure they will produce a few fish in the coming days.Paul Martin (rocksmarine@tsn.cc) reports that Cobia were on the bite again this week with some nice fish being weighed in at the shop. Most of these were landed off the Jail Grounds with the biggest going 32kg and plenty around 20 to 30 kg. Fish Rock produced some pan size Snapper and the odd King Fish. Leather Jacket have been reported out wide in good numbers but not much else with them. Grassy and Scott’s reports have been scarce but for a few Snapper and Pearlies. The Boulders is still the place to get your live slimies and yellow tail. Good reports of Tailor off Smoky Beach this week with some real thumpers. Garfish being best of the baits.
Good Quality Bream are about but not in any numbers. Tailor are on Gap Beach on the North end while Front beach is being netted for Mullet so forget that and Back beach has been quiet. A much better week for the rock hoppers with some nice Tailor and Bream coming in off most ledges. Hat Head and Further South has been producing Northern Blue Fin and the odd Cobia of the rocks. Finally we have had schools of Black fish come in to the river, to quote one fellow the wall was black with them but they had no interest in feeding. Bream numbers are up this week with some quality fish being caught. Flathead have been working well off the flats taking fish baits live and strip bait. The shop still has discounted selected Shimano winter clothing on sale.
Darren from Bermagui Ocean Hut Fishing Tackle, Dive and Charter Fishing Service mailto:%20(%20enquiries@bermifishinghut.com.au) reports that Yellowfin are still around in good numbers allowing anglers plenty of opportunities to chase them. Mixed in are Albacore and Striped Tuna with some very respectable Makos showing up in burley trails. We are now on the moon and the number of Snapper are increasing especially on the shallow reefs. Good Bream and Blackfish are in most of the Estuary systems plus there is some good Drummer fishing to be had from the rocks.
As mentioned the shallow reefs down south around Goalen Head and the Three Brothers are producing good captures of Snapper. Most fish are being taken on bait, although there are a few anglers having good success jigging soft plastics. Out from the beaches Sand Flathead are still around in good numbers and mixed in is the odd Gummy Shark. With these calm conditions the Twelve Mile Reef would definitely be worth a look especially for Tassie Trumpeter.
Trolling and cubing are both very effective ways of catching Yellowfin with both working well at present. In the last week Tuna to 70 Kg have been taken with quite a lot of 30 - 40 Kg and an increasing number of 10 -15 Kg fish. Mixed in are some nice Albacore ranging to 10 Kg plus for those berleying there is the added bonus of quite a few Makos which seemingly are attracted by the schools of Tuna. There is a lot of Kingfish at Montague Island which are up on the surface chasing Sauries.
There is a large school of Luderick hanging around Wallaga Lake bridge, these fish are quite large and are being caught using Green Weed. In the Bermi River there is also good schools of Blackfish which again are responding to both Cabbage and Green Weed. Reasonable numbers of Bream are being taken on the incoming tide, mainly in burley trails using Striped Tuna for bait. There are plenty of Trevally in the Harbour to keep the kids amused and the best place is straight in front of the cleaning table where the Tuna frames are being dumped.
Calm seas in the past week have allowed anglers easy access to the Rock platforms. This has resulted in some very good captures of Drummer with fish reaching 3 Kg. Abb Gut and Cunjevoi are the best baits with the rocks around the Blue Pool being the better areas. There is still plenty of Salmon around both to be taken from the Rocks and the Beaches alike. Mixed in with them are some very nice Bream, quite a few Mullet and I should expect for those who want to brave the conditions that there should be some Gummy Sharks of a night.
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