Sydney
NSW
Spectacular fishing on the surface schools PITTWATER
Marc Ternen
Up around Pittwater, the area from Sinclair Point has a nice cove and beach where we get a lot of nice whiting at this time of year. You can get good results on 20-30mm clear poppers (e.g. Sugapens) or small stickbaits (e.g. Samaki Dirty Dogs), working them from shallow water back to deeper water. You can also encounter some thumper bream, and there’s the odd pelagic there as well; many fish like the drop off into deeper water. Soft plastics are very popular in around Sinclair Point also, particularly small 2” grubs. In the areas from First to Third Head, a lot of the guys drift for flathead, and it’s pretty easy – just a paternoster rig and any type of fish bait such as tuna, mullet or bonito. The area right through from Stokes Point to Sandy Point has been a surface fish bonanza. There are a lot of mixed schools and it changes every day. You can encounter bonito, tailor, mac tuna, and small to medium
size kingfish. There’s a lot of small bait holding up through those points, so you need to match the hatch with a 10-15g shiny metal or a 2-3” white soft plastic. This kind of fishing is really enjoyable. The schools are vast, and moving with the bait. It’s good fun in the morning and afternoons, particularly those afternoons when you can fish the points during a nor’easter. THE HARBOUR There is a lot of accumulated bait right throughout the harbour, virtually from North Head right through to the Harbour Bridge region. Good areas include Georges Head, Vaucluse Point and around Bradleys Head. There are a lot of mixed schools – hordes of bonito, plus tailor, kingfish and mac tuna. While you’re targeting surface fish, it pays to have a line on/close to the bottom to pick up other species, such as kingfish and jewfish. These scavengers get an easy meal from the scraps floating down from the melee above. I’ve seen some beautiful fish taken off the bottom in this way, including 8-10kg kingfish and jewfish from 50-110cm.
You can catch them on large baits, such as big squid strips and big whole pilchards. Live or dead yellowtail or slimy mackerel can also be effective on these larger predators lurking below. Lady Bay wreck has seen consistent catches of kingfish, with most being caught on squid. Small slimy mackerel can also work some days. Obviously live baits are best, if you can get them. The Edward Lombe wreck is also yielding some good fish. The kingfish like to sit around that mid-harbour structure, and there is plenty for them to eat there. I have seen some great catches of big, silver sea bream in and around Store Beach lately, mainly on peeled local prawns. Anglers are getting consistent catches on 4-6lb line, fishing quite close to the beach and the point. If you’re land-based, I recommend fishing around Pickering Point wharf up in that middle harbour region, and under Roseville Bridge. Those areas are producing lovely catches of bream, whiting and flathead, and it’s very accessible by land, with parking close by. You can also try fishing around
the large wharf at Clifton Gardens. I saw a guy with a couple of nice bream there, and he said he’d lost a kingfish off the wharf. OFFSHORE I’ve seen a lot of mahimahi (dolphinfish) around on the FADs. The wave rider buoy at Long Reef has also fished well for dollies. A small trail of pilchard pieces will keep the dollies following your boat instead of other boats. Feed your bait out in the same fashion and you should score a bite. I personally prefer fishing with 3-4” white soft plastics, and you can also get good results on 30g micro jigs. Drop your jig down 30-40m, and work it back up to the boat. We particularly like the Eureka Ghost micro jigs, which come rigged with a small assist skirt. The Broken Bay traps are also producing mahimahi, but remember the traps are people’s livelihood, so try not to run over them or leave lures lying on them. We all want to fish there for years to come. Broken Bay wide typically produces trag at this time of year, along
in the harbour. Strangely enough, the dolphinfish (mahimahi) have been poor to non-existent. And to address the elephant in the room, the high numbers of sharks have been beyond annoying. The amount of fish we’ve lost to them is infuriating, not to mention the hot bites that have been shut down. This sort of thing is now happening every trip, and we’re often having to move around a lot and adjust our approach to beat the taxman. The harbour has been fishing very well, with many different species to be had. That said, the aforementioned shark problem means you
need to be quick on your feet. This month you can enjoy some good fishing on surface species, including salmon, bonito, tailor and kings in the upper harbour reaches. You can catch them on metals in the 10g size, or on soft plastics in the 75mm to 100mm size range. The kings are present at the moment, with some big fish among them. Unfortunately, again, the shark issue has made it a challenge; the razor gang
tends to turn up right on cue after a couple of fish have been hooked. Again, your ticket to these better fish are fresh squid. The kelp beds have been fishing the best for squid, with jigs in the 2.5 size working best. If you want to know what the fishing will be like in the coming weeks, well… it’s pretty much anyone’s guess at this point! A lot will depend on the settling of the water temperatures/ conditions, so having an
Range of pelagics in harbour SYDNEY NTH
Steve Winser
This has got to be the strangest season we’ve seen for a long time. For a long period of time, the water was cold and we were beginning to think the warm water was never going to come. Now it’s super warm and the overall zeitgeist of the season has been turned on its head. A multitude of tropical species have been turning up, including cobia, spangled emperor, Watsons leaping bonito and a host of other visitors, especially
with good-size snapper and morwong (the odd big jewfish can also show up). The standard rig is a 2-hook or 3-hook paternoster, and I like to use oily tuna baits such as bonito or striped tuna. The Colours area is fishing well for solid kingfish. I’d be taking a heavy rod and fishing a good size bait there, as I’ve seen some brute kingfish come from that area. It doesn’t take them long to duck down into that reef. You may also encounter the odd big snapper or samsonfish as bycatch. The Japanese midget sub wreck is producing kingfish, teraglin, good-size snapper and some beautiful jewfish. Try to get your drift line as close as you can to the structure without drifting directly over it. Baits of tuna and squid are effective here. The Myola has been fishing well for trag, and the best times are at first light and at sunset into the night. These fish like a big tide and will often bite right though until the next tide change. The lake has been closed for development around the Ocean Bridge area. Areas to target this month would be around the Middle Creek and
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54 APRIL 2023
Eric with a mid-range harbour king.
Deep Creek region, and the Pipe Clay Point area. Soft plastics are your best bet given you’ll be fishing a vast region in that back end of the lake, continually moving and casting. 3” plastics are the go (e.g. Berkley Shimma Prawns), in colours that resemble the local bait, e.g. smelt, motor oil and pumpkin seed. I have seen some excellent bream taken around Middle Bridge and behind the Narrabeen Kayak Club. Most have been caught on small grubs and peeled prawns, and fishing light is key. • If you need fishing gear, quality bait or a chat about what’s biting, head to Narrabeen Bait and Tackle. Owner Mark, his son Marc and long-time staff member Chris have been local fishermen for 30 years – so there’s not much they don’t know about Pittwater or Northern Beaches fishing, and they are happy to answer any questions you may have. The store stocks an extensive range of tackle, and their live and fresh bait range is renowned as one of the best in Sydney. It is sourced locally and includes live beach worms and nippers. Drop in and see them at 1469 Pittwater Rd, North Narrabeen or phone (02) 9970 6204.
Eric with a topwater salmon. open game plan and being quick to adapt that plan will be the key to catching consistent bags. 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.
