Summer species start stirring things up

Hello and welcome.

Summer has well and truly kicked into gear on the north coast.

The typical summer species have already started showing up in numbers and, apart from potentially being a little dry this summer, on the fishing front, it is setting up to be a cracker.

With the reasonably dry run of weather we’ve had, the river is currently looking amazing.

Some may even say it is too clean in the lower reaches of the river – if that’s possible.

Bream have begun to make their way upriver for the summer.

If the dry weather continues, I expect to see some good numbers upriver around Wardell, and we may even see fish around Broadwater and beyond.

As is usually the case at this time of the year, bream have been favouring the rock walls but have also shown up on the sand flats on rising tides.

Most of the fish on the rock walls showed plenty of interest in bait such as prawns, mullet and other cut bait.

Deep-diving hardbody lures have also had some success, and I expect to hear about good captures over the next few weeks on lightly weighted soft plastics as well.

Small minnows and curl tail grubs will be the best bet to tempt even the fussiest of bream.

In clear conditions, more natural-coloured plastics will be the best bet, with a jig head weight of 1/12oz or less.

Flathead are making the march towards the mouth of the river in preparation for their breeding run for the season.

At present, the better numbers of fish are still between the ferry and Wardell, though we have seen good captures in the lower reaches of Emigrant and North creeks, as well as the main river.

Anthony had fun with mangrove jack.

With the weather heating up and, in an attempt to beat the heat to some degree, some of the fish have moved into slightly deeper water.

Blades, vibes and soft plastics all had some success of late, particularly those in more natural colours.

Over the course of summer, usually flathead will bite on a number of different bait, including prawns, pilchard, mullet, herring and yabbies.

I suggest always taking a couple of different options with you because there are no guarantees that flatties are going to be interested in only one particular bait.

Whiting and mangrove jack have also popped their heads up in anticipation of summer.

I would say that jacks were a little slower than the whiting, but if you’re keen to chase a couple, I suggest targeting the rock walls further up the river, as well as Wardell Bridge and the bridges around Broadwater.

Early in the season, suspending hard-body lures is always a great option, as you have the ability to leave the lure in the face of the fish for longer periods of time.

The ability to then twitch the lure in close proximity to the fish will often illicit a strike, as oftentimes, a moving lure may be ignored due their lack of aggression early in the season.

Whiting conversely were already keen to attack a moving lure. Small poppers and stickbaits accounted for a number of quality models, with the more transparent and natural colours having the best results so far.

A run-out tide in the afternoon has been the best time to target them, however the main thing to note was that most of the fish were in less than 1.5m of water.

As we move through the season, they usually push into slightly deeper water due to the heat.

When this happens, surface poppers are definitely the best option.

Bass have been another species keen to play already.

Most of the winter schools have broken up and the fish have moved onto the banks. They seem to be moving upriver as well, with plenty of fish above Coraki now.

Early morning and late afternoon offered some surface activity, with frog imitations, fizzers and buzz baits proving effective.

Later in the day, diving crankbaits, spinnerbaits and jigs have all accounted for fish.

As for the fish in the lower reaches of the river, lure colour choice has been more natural, except during low-light periods when darker colours also worked quite well.

Offshore has been a struggle through winter, so with the water temperature remaining quite high, most of the snapper has stayed on the wider grounds. Now that summer is upon us, the water temperature is slowing beginning to rise, which will mean snapper will most definitely stay out for a while.

We have seen mahi mahi around the fish aggregating devices and, with the current already marching down the hill at a great rate of knots, it is now making me wonder whether we’ll see an early arrival of mackerel on the close reefs.

I suppose time will tell, but I for one am going to dig the mackerel gear out and start getting ready, just in case.

As usual for summer, the current has made fishing wide of the 42-fathom line a very difficult proposition but, if you’re keen to do so, I would check the 48s for pearl perch and small amberjack or stick around the 32s for a mixed bag of flathead, small snapper and teraglin. Well, that’s about all from me this month, until next time – tight lines!