Central Coast

Prime time for anglers

CENTRAL COAST Jamie Robley

Autumn is my favourite time of year for two reasons. Firstly, because it’s almost always the most stable season as far as the weather goes and secondly, it’s often our best season for fishing. In other words, it’s pretty hard to beat!

Bream are normally around in big numbers during March, and from what I’ve seen and caught myself lately, I’d say we are in for a very good month ahead. Brisbane Waters and the lakes are chock-full of bream at the moment, but you’ll also run into them in the smaller coastal lagoons. So if you live anywhere from Wamberal down to Avoca, don’t neglect these local spots this month.

I was recently walking around the shoreline at Gosford and spotted quite a few very large bream, well over the 1kg mark. It was the top of the tide and the water quite clear, with the sun shining overhead. Clear water, right on high tide, during the

There have been a lot of small mullet along our beaches in recent weeks, attracting larger predators. Mulloway are the first prize, but anything from sharks to oversized tailor are also likely to take a bait or big lure in the coming weeks. For some light tackle fun, head to Terrigal Haven this month and chase frigate mackerel, bonito, tailor or squid.

Flathead should be relatively easy to score this month. The Entrance is the main place to try when fishing the lakes, but the flatties are more widespread throughout Brisbane Waters.

From page 68

We have also seen the return of bonito along our coast, finally. They are a bit lacking in size, but they make up for that in numbers.

Just offshore we are seeing a lot of trag continue, along with a few reds.

Bonito, mac tuna and frigate mackerel are being encountered in relatively good numbers along the coast, but they are small fish. We are also seeing a few rat kings (55-62cm), which are good sport.

A few tailor are starting to make tracks in now. This increase of tailor along the rocks and beaches started a tad earlier than usual, perhaps because we had a cooler than usual summer.

February into March is our change of season, and it’s a really important time of the year. It’s when we see the last of our summer species overlap with the arriving winter species, creating an amalgamation of both. March into April and even into May, is the peak time of the fishing calendar, not only for offshore fishing but also for beach and estuary fishing, because migratory fish such as tailor, salmon, bream and the like are on the move. There will also be mullet runs as we start to head into April, with a bit of luck, which makes for great fishing.

There are tailor on the beaches, still a few whiting, and bream and mulloway which is great for our coastal strip. We are seeing good catches from Belmont, Blacksmiths Beach and down towards Catherine Hill Bay. The whiting are starting to thin out a bit, but that’s made up for by the increase in bream numbers in the estuary and the tailor influence as well. Mulloway will be in the lake in reasonable numbers, too.

The beaches will further improve as the month progresses, with a lot more tailor and a few flathead as well.

Some of the tailor that have been along the beaches have started to move into the lake. Most are being caught on trolled deep divers, but some are also being caught on chrome slices. A lot of anglers have been casting lures for flathead and seen the tailor busting up, and then switched to 40g chrome slices and started spinning the surface for them. The tailor will generally bust up only 10 minutes or so before they go down, so you’ll want to be quick. If you don’t have the energy, put out a deep diver like a Tail Dancer and see what you come up with.

And of course, along with the tailor have been quite a few school mulloway. They are being caught on both bait and lures, mostly vibes such as Zerek Fish Traps and Samaki Vibelicious, and soft plastics such as 5-7” jerkshads and paddle tails.

We have seen a real resurgence in squid numbers, and this should continue in the coming weeks. You can catch them drifting, preferably over sand in 5-8m of water, in areas such as Belmont Bay, Murrays Beach, Wangi etc. I recommend that you use smaller jigs from around 1.5 up to size 2.5, no bigger. Yamashitas work well, along with Shimano Flash Boosts and the old faithful YoZuris. • Fisherman’s Warehouse Tackle World has a large range fresh and frozen bait as well as a huge range of rods, reels, lures and accessories. They also sell and service outboard motors, and have a competitivelypriced selection of new and second-hand boats. The friendly staff are all experienced local anglers, and they’re always happy to share their knowledge, whether you’re a novice or experienced angler. Drop in for a chat at 804 Pacific Highway, Marks Point, or give them a call on (02) 4945 2152. You can also find them on Facebook, or check out their website at www.fishermanswarehouse. com.au. middle of the day is not a good time to expect to catch big bream. Unfortunately for me, neither was the following morning when I returned with the old kayak. Yes, I did score a number of bream, but those solid specimens I’d spied the previous day wouldn’t touch my lures. Typical fishing isn’t it.

Flathead and whiting are also very active around the Brisbane Waters system at the moment. You’ll find bream, flathead and whiting virtually anywhere at this time of year, from the upper reaches of Narara and Erina or flathead and whiting. A few squid show up here at night, and the occasional jewfish certainly isn’t out of the question.

Crabs and prawns have also been going well through the warmer months and they’ll still be worth chasing this month. I’ve seen quite a few locals putting their witches hats out for the crabs around the lakes, and they’re scoring quite a few good-size mud crabs, along with the more common blue swimmers.

The Entrance is getting back to normal now, after the summer crowds turned this tailor, bream and jewfish after sunset. At this time of year we can also expect just about anything to turn up along our beaches, including salmon, sharks, eagle rays, snapper, flathead, dart, frigate mackerel and even the odd bonito and kingfish.

I’ve been seeing big numbers of small mullet in the more sheltered spots lately, and that is a major attractor of predators ranging from bigger tailor to jewies and sharks. So I can highly recommend bringing out the big gear and hurling out a live mullet, pike or tailor around sunset or

Patonga Creeks, right down to Ettalong and into Broken Bay.

However, I always recommend Woy Woy as one of the best places to start, especially if you’re visiting the Central Coast. Woy Woy is very central itself, and with excellent launching facilities at the Lions Park, it’s extremely convenient for all craft, ranging from little kayaks up to larger oceangoing vessels.

No boat, no problem, as there are a number of quite reliable shore-based spots to try this month. The road and rail bridges just north of the town and the next to the Fishermen’s Wharf are well worth trying for bream, place into a bit of a circus at times. March is possibly the most productive month to fish around here, anywhere from the mouth to the bridge and further west or north, around the islands. Once again, bream, flathead and whiting are the prime targets. The previous two years we experienced serious flooding at the end of summer and early autumn, so fingers crossed that doesn’t happen again. If it does, you can still catch fish soon after the water levels drop back to normal, but really, it’s something we certainly don’t need.

The beaches are firing right now, with bream and whiting during the day, and at night. For those inclined to do so, casting oversized poppers, large swimbaits or big soft plastics can also be worth a try, especially in the more sheltered spots adjacent to rocks or reef.

Bonito and kingfish are also the primary targets for those fishing offshore or from the rocks right now. Thankfully those strict travelling rules imposed upon us last year seem to be a thing of the past. This means that the more serious offshore anglers can also head up the coast to chase marlin, mackerel and other big fish in the coming weeks. Regardless of exactly where you fish this month, it looks like being a good one!