The pelagic fishing is at its peak

SOUTH WEST ROCKS Vic Levett

At this time last year we were in flood with chocolate water to the horizon and very poor fishing. Thank goodness that’s behind us and the fishing action has gone through the roof.

March has seen very consistent fishing offshore, with mahimahi (dolphinfish) to 1.6m being caught under the DPI FADs. Live baits have been the number one bait by far, but the dollies have also been readily taking artificial baits such as stickbaits and soft plastics.

It’s very much mackerel season, and there have been some ripper Spanish being caught by boats slow trolling live baits such as slimy mackerel or large yellowtail. Unfortunately, sharks are still taxing many of the hooked fish. Some boats have been fishing on the sand away from the reef structure, and had better success eluding the taxman.

Spotted mackerel have turned up in good numbers as well, and are responding well to pilchards fished in a berley trail. Light singlestrand wire down to as little as 28lb has been fooling the sometimes wary spotties. The usual grounds such as Grassy and Scotts Heads have been the main focus for these tasty speedsters. There have also been plenty of juvenile black marlin getting amongst the mix.

Out around Fish Rock, the odd wahoo and bulk small yellowfin tuna have been keeping the stick baiters happy.

The real buzz this year is the amount of cobia kicking around. Find the sharks and the cobes won’t be far away. Once again, live baits fished close to the bottom on any of the major inshore reef systems have been producing the majority of the cobia. Local gun angler Jack Rebah has been consistently landing fish to a metre drifting with livies.

Bottom fishing has been difficult lately, with the often strong current associated with this time of year. Some good tuskies and pearlies have been boated when the current has allowed.

April is probably one of the best months to visit the slot limit of 36cm to 70cm has clearly benefited the sustainability of this species. Tropical species such as GTs, cobia, giant herring and even yellowfin tuna have also been caught in Macleay over the past month. increase in tailor numbers this month with the cooling water, although they’ve been in pretty good numbers all summer. Bream, luderick and the odd drummer should also start to appear in the washes, and there’s always a good chance of a solid mulloway at this time of year.

The beaches will be offering similar options, with bream, tailor, whiting, mulloway and the odd dart filling the gutters. The larger mulloway will be patrolling the usual beaches to the north of Coffs, so don’t discount a night session for larger silver ghosts.

OFFSHORE

We are smack bang in the middle of our annual mackerel run, and there have been plenty of solid Spanish and spotted mackerel falling to lures and live baits. Slow trolling slimy mackerel is a sure-fire way to locate mackerel. mid north coast. The weather is mild, crowds are down and water temperatures are above 25°C. All the pelagics that this area is famous for are at their peak.

April is also a good time to be fishing around the islands for wahoo, mackerel and yellowfin tuna. On the bottom we should start to see some bigger snapper moving in a little closer, and there will also be trag and pearlies around the 60m and 80m lines. Depending on currents and water temperature, marlin may also be an option out beyond the shelf.

The Macleay River fishes well at this time of year, but water clarity on the high tide can be too clear at times, which can make it difficult to fool some of the species. Fishing around the low tide can improve your chances on species that rely on sight, such as mangrove jacks and mulloway.

There have been plenty of large flathead caught and released this year. The new

Whiting, flathead, bream, dart and the odd small mulloway have all been taken out of the many gutters that adorn the beaches. This month should see the beaches improve even more.

With the better weather and sea conditions associated with this month, we can expect the headlands to produce good mulloway, cobia, longtail tuna and mackerel. Jason Tran recently had a good session off the rocks, landing cobia and two Spanish mackerel on his hand-made Untamed stickbaits.

Overall, it’s peak season up here and if I was to recommend a month to fish on the mid north coast, it would be April!