Nice angling around Northern Rivers NSW . . . . . . . . . . . by Tye Porter

FISHING around the Iluka and Yamba areas has been fairly good recently, with some excellent catches being reported from the headlands and breakwalls.

The southern end of the Iluka Bluff has been on fire for plenty of large jewfish on minnow lures during a falling tide, with the largest fish weighed at the local tackle shop tipping the scales at 26kg.

Several other fish have been taken over the 20kg mark from this location, with numerous smaller fish ranging in size from 7-16kg also falling to hard-bodied minnow lures.

Both Iluka and Yamba walls are fishing well for jew at night during the high water, with live yellowtail and fresh torpedo squid accounting for the majority of fish, while those who prefer to use soft plastic lures are landing nice school jew around 8kg during the slack low water.

Inside the river there has been an abundance of small juvenile mullet throughout the lower reaches and I have heard jewfish busting into them at several locations in recent weeks.

Several anglers even managed to land nice fish around 12kg when fishing the beach adjacent to the Iluka Bluff using small strips of fresh mullet meant for tailor.

Speaking of tailor, a handful of choppers around 2kg have been taken from both Main Beach Iluka and Shelly Beach over at Yamba with Woody Head, Frasers Reef at Iluka and Lovers Point at Yamba being the pick of the headlands for tailor on metal lures.

Bream are around in healthy numbers, however the majority of fish are in reasonably poor condition – this should change in the next month or so as they gear up for their annual spawning run.

Even though there is still a fair bit of colour in the river at low tide, a feed of whiting is still to be had around the sand flats and along the southern bank of Goodwood Island and humble flathead are biting freely, giving anglers a nice mixed bag.

The offshore brigade has finally had some decent weather, with most boats chasing the good run of spotted mackerel that has kicked off along the coast recently, and there has already been the occasional lucky boat returning with a spanish mackerel or longtail tuna.

February is the month that land-based pelagic anglers get excited over, as it’s the month that all of the breakwalls and fishable headlands along the Northern NSW Coast start to fire for the most prized species, such as spanish mackerel and longtail tuna.

Anglers from as far away as Melbourne make their annual pilgrimage to places such as Iluka in the hunt for these line-burning speedsters, which in itself is a great thing for the local economy, particularly during the off season.

The vast majority of anglers fish with live bait such as garfish or yellowtail suspended under a float, which is by far the most productive way of getting a fish.

However, I only ever sight fish for tuna, casting surface popper lures with my trusty Pacific Composites FSU 5162 rod matched with my aging Alvey 700A5 loaded with 30lb Platypus Low Stretch mono line.

Sure, I might be showing my age by using both a rod and reel that are no longer available but hey, why change something that has worked for me for over forty years?

Even at the ripe old age of 62, I’ll still waddle out to the wall this season in my multipatched King Gee jeans with my Alvey reel, 5162 rod and of course my trusty double-plugger thongs – which I must point out are not recommended for rock fishing but are purely my footwear of choice, especially on stinking hot days.

A few years ago it was quite common to see anglers using small pieces of Styrofoam or balloons as floats for their live bait, these would separate from the line when fish took the bait, which added a lot of needless pollution to the ocean.

These days, the vast majority of anglers use a float that slides up and down the leader so that it can’t separate and pollute.

At Ballina, the South Wall is by far the most productive spot, however it has become somewhat of a trek to get to because access has been blocked to right back to near the caravan park – but on the right day the effort would be well worth it.

Down at Evans Head, places around Goanna Headland such as Joggly Point and Forty Foot are the pick of the spots.

If in doubt on how to get to these areas, the local tackle shop will be more than happy to point you in the right direction.

Here at Iluka and Yamba, it goes without saying that 99 percent of land-based game fishing is done from either breakwall, with it being a given that if the Iluka Breakwall isn’t firing the Yamba breakwall will be – depending on the wind and sea conditions on any given day.

If you fish offshore, the pelagic world is you're oyster because you have the manoeuvrability that landbased fishos don't have.

And, once you cross the Clarence River mouth bar, you have the choice of heading north to the grounds off Woody Head and Black Rocks or heading south to the grounds off One Man Bluff and Minnie Water.

All in all, I'm semiexcited about the prospects for this month, so I'd better duck down to the local IGA and grab a new pair of doubleplugger thongs.

Until next month safe fishing.

February will also see plenty of longtail tuna patrolling the headlands and breakwalls taking a variety of bait – from live garfish and yellowtail to surface popper lures, metal slugs and high speed minnow lures.