NSW
Hunting out the best spots in May ILLAWARRA
Greg Clarke
The best of this year’s fishing is behind us now, but May is typically not too shabby if we get a lingering autumn and some warm days before the southwesterlies set in for the winter. The rockhoppers generally do alright this month as the light westerlies calm the ocean, making it safer and easier to fish. If there is a big blow then the fish get a bit of a roll on after conditions settle, so you are on an each-way winner.
far down the coast at this time of the year. Heaps went down the coast early this year so it stands to reason there should be a few still hanging about. Keep an eye out for schools of garfish hurtling along and jumping out of the water, which can be a dead giveaway there are tuna about. Longtails love garfish (as do most other pelagics). They are a premier land-based sportfish and viable target this month. Most of the headlands with any depth at all will have salmon, bonito and the odd mackerel tuna eager to grab shiny metals. The good old pillie under the bobby
are in with a shot. Tailor and salmon can be a nuisance to the jewie anglers but they are great fun on their own, and there are heaps on most beaches during the late afternoon, evenings and early mornings. In the mornings the bite gets slower as the sun get higher, and in the evenings the bite gets better as the sun goes down and evening sets in. Bream are in good numbers, picking up the scraps. If the guts keep getting picked out of your pillies, it’s time to put on a small bit of bait and pull a few bream. If you can get some
A lot of longtails went down the coast this season so they will be hanging around this month off the rocks and in close for the boaties. Kingfish are a good target for the live bait guys, with some nice fish down around the southern ledges in the Kiama neighbourhood. Live baits from the harbour are worth carting out to any of the deepwater points, or a fresh squid jigged up before daylight and slipped back out could pay off. The live slimies and yakkas will get results on the kings. as well as a lot of bycatch with plenty of solid salmon about – although they can be a pest, as can the bonito. It’s great if you are targeting them on light tackle but a nuisance on 24kg when chasing kings. There can also be a few small mackerel tuna still lingering about, and these go straight back out as big kings love them. Keep casting and retrieving small lures while waiting for the bigger fish. Aside from bonito and salmon there are other more welcome bycatch species in the way of big mackerel tuna to 8kg and some solid longtail tuna that get this
cork does well too. The washes will start to get more bream in them as the month progresses, and a little bread berley will get them going as well as bringing in a few nice drummer. The drummer will start to get going now that the water has cooled a bit, becoming more active. Trevally will start to build in numbers too, and the big bronze blackfish will be all along the coast and in the harbours in big numbers if we get a bit of rough weather. On the beaches it can get a bit chilly during the evenings but we can get some rippers. On the big tides during the evening this month is the time to target jewfish on all of the better jewfish beaches. That said, you never know where they might pop up next, so just about any beach with a decent gutter is worth a look. There have been plenty of schoolies about lately. Big fish can show up anywhere, so if you have a bait in the water on the right tackle you
beach worms there are still a few nice whiting about. They are getting a bit patchy, but what they lack in numbers they make up for in size. Flathead are just about finished, with only the odd specimen being caught. This won’t change unless we have a bit of rain and the creeks get flushed, then we might get a few for a week or so. It’s the same in the estuaries with the flathead on the wane and the bream getting a move on (the flathead are still worth a shot if we get a few warm days in a row). The bream are the go on small hardbodies, blades and plastics, or you could go the old-fashioned method and use bait, which still catches heaps more fish. The entrance to the lake and along the break walls is a top spot, with blackfish holding along the southern break wall. Weed might be a bit scarce but it’s worth getting for best results. Salmon and tailor are coming in and out with the tides, taking metal lures and
pilchards. There are some thumping whiting on the flats around the entrance, albeit not in big numbers. Minnamurra is going alright, with plenty of bream around the bridge pylons, along with the odd solid trevally. Blackfish are being caught along the ribbon weed edges in the big straight section running to the entrance, and a few nice whiting are in the sandy shallows in the same area with flathead being a bit of a lottery. Offshore the fishing is still pretty good but it will decline rapidly as the month draws to a close and the cold water moves in. For the drifters, flathead have slowed a little over the sand but are well worth chasing, with good catches all along the coast. Morwong catches are picking up, and there are a few pigfish showing up with the cooler water. There are also enough small snapper around to keep most anglers happy. Those chasing snapper are having a bit of success picking and berleying. These fish stayed around for a while after the April run, and a few nice specimens have been coming in of late. Thile the guys using plastics are going alright too. Kingfish have been on the chew since Christmas, only shutting down from time to time before getting going again. Some days are good, and others are great. All the usual spots like the islands, Bellambi, Bass Point and Rangoon are worth a shot this month. The big fish action should be further out, with the yellowfin tuna hopefully making a show. They were around in April over the shelf, with fish ranging from 30-80kg. It was nothing to have four or five jumping out of the water at a time, accompanied by thousands of mutton birds. At the moment they are a bit patchy but they could show up at any time. If the tuna are not about it is time for the big blue marlin that seem to frequent the shelf at this time of the year. Towing big skirts brings a few good fish down each season out beyond the Kiama and Stanwell canyons. If you miss the blues there are a few stripes around to keep things interesting, and maybe even the odd black, so a grand slam may even be possible. That would be a good day. The odd black may still even show up on the close-in reefs if the water temperature doesn’t take too much of a dip. There have still been a few mahimahi about on the FADs, so they are worth a look too if a bit of current
The bream will be numbering up on the beaches this month. is running. Out wide the current should have backed off a bit for the most part, so some deep water bottom donging should produce trevalla, gemfish and other deep water delights.
Along the coast the salmon are in the washes, so casting pillies and lures will score plenty of hits. There are also heaps of bonito over the shallow reefs and around the headlands. Good luck.
You don’t need the latest gear to catch fish. Angus Low, 13yo, caught this impressive 43cm bream on his dad’s vintage 1983 Jarvis Walker fishing rod, and scooped it out of the water with a plastic bag!
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