4 minute read
Coffs Harbour
Fishing is heating up
COFFS HARBOUR Dayne Taylor
Spring is a fantastic time to hit the coastal estuaries – the days are magic, and the weather really turns it on. Just like the daytime temperature, the fishing really heats up!
The first couple of hot days where the humidity cranks it right up in spring the job just fine.
The NSW bass season has officially been open for the past month, and a lot of great fish have been caught and released already. I’d expect the topwater action to improve over the next month as the water temp rises and the cicadas start to emerge, and the bug life increases with the warmer weather patterns. Spring is an ideal time to get that aggressive to get her to bite also.
On the beaches and around the headlands we are continuing to see a good run of tailor, and the odd salmon has been hanging around also. Both metal slugs and ganged pilchards have been doing the trick.
Off the headlands, some really nice-sized mulloway have been taken. Paddle tail plastics and shallow diving crankbait lures around the
Whiting are always a welcome catch.
are a great time to go and target a few mangrove jack. We are lucky enough to have jacks call our part of the world home all year round, but they really do come to life when the water temp starts to climb. Reaction baits like topwater poppers or walk-the-dog style floating stickbaits are great tools to help search for a pack of fired-up jacks. Once you have encouraged a bite or two, switch things up between suspending jerkbait lures and soft plastics. Anything that replicates a poddy mullet around the 100- 80mm size in either a paddle tail or curl tail will do reaction bite out of a bass, so traditional methods like spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, and soft pastics with a beetle spin attached are perfect this month. Never rule out a topwater either though!
The flathead fishing has been great down around the middle sections of our estuaries, and some quality larger female fish have been caught and released in recent weeks. Typically, you will come across a patch of fish in the mid-30s to mid-40s hanging around a larger female trying to impress her, if you start to catch a couple, keep plugging away because you might be lucky enough 6” size work well to mimic a mullet or tailor in the washes. Be sure to upgrade the hardware to handle these big powerful fish. And of course, your line and leader will need to handle some serious abrasion, so a leader and line class around 60lb or more is required.
A few locals have also enjoyed some quality black drummer fishing from a few small headlands lately. If you have not fished for drummer, I suggest you give it a crack. They pull extremely hard and are the masters of bricking you in rock ledges. Find an area adjacent to a ledge that has a good amount of white Snapper are being caught on a range of lures and baits.
water covering it, berley up with some bread, and fish with a small bean sinker and a size 1 hook. I suggest a 30lb line minimum, as they do pull you through a lot of nasty stuff on the rocks and the sheer size and weight of these fish can sometimes take a bit of lifting from the water to land. OFFSHORE
Snapper are plentiful at the moment, and the larger models have made their way towards the deeper reefs and gravel grounds in around the 30-60m range. Slow pitch metal jigs, octo/ squid style jigs and of course strip baits dropped in these depths will provide great numbers of snapper along with a plethora of other mixed reef species schooled up together. Some great pearl perch, Venus tuskfish and teraglin are always welcome by-catch whilst fishing these same depths. A quality GPS/ sounder makes finding and staying on these deeper water fish much easier.
The kingfish will be in town this month. Of course, the Coffs Coast has a population of kings all year round, but traditionally we see some better numbers of 1m+ kingfish through springtime. Topwater stickbait lures and big knife jigs are a great way of tempting one of these bigger fish. A well-presented bait dropped to marked fish on the sounder on a downrigger is very irresistible though. Slimy mackerel and yakkas are my preferred live baits, but the kingies will also make short work of a whole squid.
Until next month, cast like there’s no tomorrow and retrieve like you have all the time in the world.
Some good pearl perch are being caught by anglers targeting snapper.
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