Sydney North

SYDNEY NTH Steve Winser

With water temps at around 16-18°C, as per usual at this time of year, the reliable wintertime standbys have been producing well.

The bottom bash brigade are doing well on the near-shore reefs, with good numbers of mid-size snapper, morwong, flathead etc guaranteeing a feed literally minutes from the heads. Just a standard paternoster rig with cubes of pillies and prawns will ensure dinner.

The harbour kings are still present in reasonable numbers, although their diet is changing a little as they get ready to do their offshore spawn. They are showing a preference for those little harbour cuttlefish over squid at the moment, and some days they are very picky indeed.

The washes as usual at this time of year are on fire, with black drummer and blue groper in numbers on all the ocean washes – provided conditions allow you access. Extreme caution is to be exercised if you are new to this type of fishing from a boat. Things can

Aleco with a nice harbour blackfish.

From page 55 of tarwhine off the beach are caught on pink nippers, beach worms and prawns. They don’t mind a squid strip as well. Unlike bream, they are only occasionally caught on a fish bait. Tarwhine fight harder than a bream for their size; when you encounter them over 35cm you will notice their pulling power.

Residential whiting up to 34cm are on selected beaches. It seems there have been several beaches this winter/spring that have had some residential whiting available. Manly, Dee Why, Mona Vale and Mid Palm beach are good spots for the whiting. There are salmon also on these beaches, but the tailor are harder to find.

It’s still pretty early in the season for all of the above species, but getting towards the end of October may see the beginning of the whiting run. The salmon will also increase in numbers off the beaches.

Enjoy your October and stay safe. • For rock and beach

Kiwi angler Vern Hines has ticked another fish off the bucket list. He was impressed by the pulling power of this species and the superb eating quality. Eric with a ‘squirey’ size red.

go pear-shaped quickly if you are not observant at all times, and there are no second chances. Stay away from the shallow water unless you are very familiar with the region, and be very wary on a dropping tide as the sets can stand up sharply as they come in.

When we fish the ocean washes, we use 15kg braid with a 15kg mono leader, a 2/0 hook and lightly weighted prawn baits.

The winter harbour standards of bream and blackfish are guaranteeing a feed every trip. The blackfish have been the best I can recall for many seasons, with numbers in the 20+ range a regular occurence. Just about any ribbon weed bank in the harbour is holding profusions of these at the moment.

Next month should see a continuation of the excellent run of the abovementioned wintertime regulars. At some point the kingfish will head offshore for a couple of weeks to do their spawn thing, and then they will return ready to eat. Predicting exactly when this will happen is not easy and will depend a lot on conditions, so we’ll have to wait and see.

Tight lines all. • Fishing Sydney Tours 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.

Damien Gough with a giant hairtail measuring 1.81m long that he caught at South West Rocks.

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