Spring is tailor time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Gavin Dobson

Spring is tailor time

WHAT’S not to get excited about with all the great fishing happening lately?

Spring is river time here on the northern end of the NSW coastline.

As I mentioned last month, tailor are the fish of the moment in our river systems.

These voracious feeders will eat anything and go anywhere in the estuary.

At night, they love getting up into the shallows and smashing the schools of small mullet that abound.

They are as happy living in a deep hole as they are travelling upriver to decimate a school of herring.

White pilchard are the mainstay of their diet in the river in winter, however now that winter is over, they will feed much more opportunistically.

Often – from now until Christmas – tailor are well upriver, but this year is anyone’s guess.

Personally, I think they’ll stay around the lower half of the river because something is not quite right in the upper reaches.

The fish haven’t returned upstream as they should have, with the general consensus being that there’s far too much silt from all the flooding this year covering the bottom.

The Brunswick River yields some top-eating fish and should continue to do so throughout spring and summer.

The water itself doesn’t seem too bad but there is so much fine silt still that the bottom feeders and dwellers such as whiting and flathead can’t function there.

Whatever the reason, I hope it rectifies itself soon.

As a result, I think river fishing this spring might be more focused on the lakes and up to Tumbulgum.

However, at this stage, from Condong to the weir seems sketchy, unless things improve quickly. Having said that, the lower reaches are fishing very well, as I alluded to earlier.

Whiting are around in reasonable numbers and while tailor will start to disperse, flathead are fast becoming the stars. I had a go for a few flatties recently in the Tweed River and did very well, catching a great feed and a just-legal jewfish as a bonus.

Don’t forget the new rules brought out by Fisheries governing flathead! Lewan was in town recently and he gave the Brunswick River a good workout for a mixed bag.

Flathead and tailor made up most of his catch, though he scored a few small trevally and jewfish too. It’s good to see the Brunswick River fishing well, but it takes only a few millimetres of rain for the water to become discoloured again, due to the still saturated catchment soils. Offshore has been scratchy lately.

A feed can be obtained but most days, it’s a bit of a grind. Inshore was reasonably good, with the close reefs producing nice catches of squire. However, out wider was hard work, with the current running strongly most days and the fishing basically shut down to boot.

Spanner crabs are around in good numbers and it might be worth giving these a go when all else fails. More and more recreational fishos are targeting these tasty crustaceans and why not? They are expensive to buy in the shops, though they aren’t too difficult to catch.

But make sure you’re prepared for a bit of current and have a good anchor and floats. Otherwise, it’s probably still worth a go float lining for snapper on the deeper reefs or chasing kingfish up on Windarra Banks this month.

Though as I mentioned, I think the best fun to be had at this time of the year is in the rivers. A nice warm afternoon fishing is a great way to relax and spend some time on the water. Throw in some hard-fighting trevally and mangrove jack – which will also be on the hunt this month – and things are looking exciting.