4 minute read
Sydney North
Kingfish on the chew
SYDNEY NTH Steve Winser
Well we appear to have gotten off to a reasonable start to the year, despite the arrival of the ‘all new and improved’ COVID. At least we have seen no lockdowns here so far (touch wood).
With water temperatures on the rise and the persistence of the La Niña cycle and the associated wild weather swings, we are facing some ‘interesting’ conditions for fishing this month.
As predicted, the kingfish action in the harbour has ramped up again, with good numbers of fish in the lower reaches in the 70-90cm range, with the odd metre-plus fish amongst them. These fish are very well fed, which means that they have been picky. Primo squid baits are your ticket to success. True, the odd fish has been coming on live baits, but you want squid for your best chance.
Many kingfish headed offshore to do the spawn thing earlier this year, but now they’re moving back and this month should fish well for them in the lower reaches. By the time you read this, the larger breeders should hopefully be showing up in catches.
Squidding has been sporadic, and a concerted effort is needed some days to catch them. The ribbon weed beds have been producing the best for us, with smaller jigs in the size 2.0 to 3.0 range in orange or green being our go-to at the moment.
The surface fish (salmon, tailor and bonito) have been present in the upper and lower reaches, but have been laserfocussed on very small bait. To tempt them, I recommend using small metals (7-10g range) or 2-3” soft plastics. The fly guys have been doing well on them too, and a live bait tossed into the schools has proven effective also.
The old reliable summer flathead have finally woken from their winter slumber. Fishing the edges and drop-offs, particularly running off shallow banks on the dropping tide, is a good way to catch these fish. Curly-tail soft plastics in the 3-5” range, in orange or natural colours, have been working for us.
Next month should see an improvement across all the aforementioned species, and fingers are crossed that the weather will give us a bit of a break! • Fishing Sydney Tours
From page 58 pelagics are eating. Cast and retrieve at a fairly fast rate for good results.
The reason for this rig is so you can cast out the small occy skirt or tiny metal at distance, otherwise you would be not able to cast it out more than 10-20m except with really light 2kg outfit. A light outfit is often not realistic because you’ll be fishing up higher or in rough rocky terrain in some cases. A client recently landed a nice king on the ever-reliable sea garfish bait. Whole squid suspended 2-6m under the float are working well also. The inside Of South head approx. about 200m into the harbour southward can fish well for these species. It’s also quite good for bream and some rock blackfish as well.
There are whiting at Camp Cove and Watsons Bay beaches, along with bream and some flathead. It can fish best at night because it’s quite crowded during the day. Balmoral Beach in from of the Pavilion in Mosman is also producing these species.
Please note: there have been quite a lot of rock fishing fatalities off the Ocean Rocks in recent months. Remember that it’s mandatory to have a lifejacket, and steel spike shoes are absolutely necessary as well. If Daniel with a nice kingfish from the lower reaches.
takes pride in tailoring every trip to the customer’s preferred species, style of angling, and level of expertise, all within a friendly and relaxed atmosphere at competitive rates. There are some excellent fishing spots that can be accessed straight off Sydney, and we will show you where. We offer harbour, wash and offshore fishing for species ranging from kingfish and mulloway through to snapper and mahimahi. For more info go to www.fishingsydneytours. com.au, call 0481 120 600 or look up ‘Fishing Sydney Tours’ on Facebook.
you’re going rock fishing and you’re not sure about the sea conditions, I recommend that you go beach fishing or estuary fishing instead. There are always other safer options on the day. You can also take a trip with me and I’ll teach you how to fish the rocks safely, and prevent a bad situation from happening.
Be safe, fish smart and have fun! I could write thousands of words about rock fishing safety. • For rock and beach guided fishing or tuition in the northern Sydney region, visit www. bellissimocharters. com.au, email alex@ bellissimocharters. com.au or call Alex Bellissimo on 0408 283 616.
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