Scoring bites from bait schools
W
Tailor were everywhere this winter. Ben Collins with a good specimen, taken on the flats when targeting flathead.
In crystal clean water, Ben Monro sight casted a flathead next to the boat.
ELCOME to the last month of the season. It’s the best winter I’ve seen for many years and this month should be no different to the first two. Large quantities of flathead, bream and tailor have been feasting on the abundant bait schools throughout the bays, rivers and creeks. The amount of bait on offer over the past few months has been amazing and the fish know where to find it. Bramble and Deception bays have held huge schools of small whitebait for months now and the fish have been feeding on it all day, even though very little structure is there for the fish to hold on. During winter, I tend to spend a lot of time fishing in the rivers and creeks, but the bays have been too good to go exploring elsewhere.
Local Luring by KEITH STRATFORD
Birds give the presence of bait schools away and can be spotted from a distance, with multiple schools of bait available for birds and fish to feed on. Some were in deeper water of about 3m and some were in the shallows, 0.3-1.5m deep. The deeper schools mostly hold tailor and some bream down deep, and small numbers of mack tuna also come in to feed on the small bait. In the shallows, the schools of bait have been holding tailor, big bream and huge numbers of flathead. The flatties have all been school sized fish, ranging from undersize to about 60cm.
I haven’t come across anything bigger yet, but I’m sure there are a few among them. Schools of bait are constantly moving, so when the action slows, it’s worth moving along with the bait. We have had some amazing sessions chasing the fish in the shallows. Some very big bream have also been feeding in the clear low water. I took Ben Collins out for a fish on the flats recently and we had a great day, landing good numbers of bream, lizards and tailor. Ben showed his years of bream fishing experience, boating a number * continued P15
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Bream were feeding on small baitfish among tailor and flathead.
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Page 14 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, August 2024
Ben caught a nice flathead in shallow water.
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