School holiday fun for the kids

TATHRA Darren

Redman

djsxstreamfishing@bigpond.com

The Wharf is fishing very well at the moment, with a variety of species hanging around. This is great for families on holidays as the kids can get stuck into the many baitfish schools that are here.

Yellowtail and trevally are regular captures with the visitors, along with the ever-popular slimy mackerel making up the bulk of the captures. Also on offer are passing schools of salmon, frigate mackerel and bonito, which all can get very interested in a well-presented lure.

With the kids having so much fun on the baitfish, there is a likelihood of larger predators like kingfish or sharks patrolling the fringes. A baitfish floated out under a float may end in the mouth of one of these large pelagics.

Out to sea, the offshore fishing has also fired up, with both the gamefish and bottom dwellers on the chew. Marlin are still around for the game fishers, with all three species now in the area. If it’s a big blue marlin you’re looking for, now is the time to target one. Tathra Canyons out over the continental shelf has in the past seen many an epic battle on these great fish. Probably the best way to encounter one is with a spread of large skirted lures, as you can cover more water to find where the fish are. shore and flick soft plastics around the reefy outcrops. You can have success in anywhere from 1-2m of water through to as deep as you can get your plastic down to the bottom. You can catch a variety of species in this manner (and some of the odd balls that show up may shock you). The main target species on the short list will be snapper and flathead off the bottom and a host of pelagics including kingfish, salmon, small tuna through to trevally.

Once you have raised a fish or two in a certain area you can then switch to live baits in the form of slimy mackerel or small striped tuna.

There will be other species also encountered whilst chasing the billfish. Anglers can expect to find anything from your subtropical dolphinfish and spearfish through to a variety of tuna species, including albacore, and definitely a mixture of different sharks.

Calm conditions are giving the bottom and reef fishos plenty of scope to work different areas in a range of depths. The wider reefs out in 70 fathoms (and there are some good ones out from Tathra) are producing some very nice snapper, mowies, tiger flathead and very big trumpeter. Berleying while out in this deeper water setting baits for either sharks, tuna or marlin may produce whilst fishing down deep.

For those who just want to fish in the conventional ways with bait off the bottom, there’s a wide variety of species on offer at present. This also allows you to fish the deeper water, with the Twelve Mile Reef fishing the best. Large snapper, tiger flathead and trumpeter are much soughtafter, and if you are geared up to run live baits on game gear, anything may be possible.

It is also a good time of year for shore-based anglers as there are a lot of surface fish moving in close to the rocks and beaches. Kingfish, bonito and salmon through to the likes of bream and trevally may be encountered. It is also a great time for chasing pigs (rock blackfish or drummer) especially early in the morning and late in the afternoon when the shadows creep over the water. The best area for this is around the blue pool, out on the main headland.

Along the beaches the weather is still pleasant enough to fish at night, and it’s a good time to target gummy sharks, particularly on the full moon. Nice, deep gutters on the bigger beaches should carry their share, and mixed in will be salmon and tailor with the chance of a jewfish.

Bream fishing in the estuaries and lakes is fantastic. Large schools of southern yellowfin bream have moved into most of the systems, especially those which have open to the ocean due to those late summer rains. You will encounter these fish through most of the estuaries, although the better fishing is now in the lower parts where the warmer water is being pushed in by the tides. Fishing the first of the run-up with either lures or bait will produce.

My favourite approach is to fish with striped tuna, both as bait and berley for maximum results.

Flathead are still in reasonable numbers, and are being taken on both lures and bait in the Bermagui River and Wallaga Lake.

Fishing for blackfish around the rock walls, boat ramp, harbour, and bridge at Wallaga is very solid, with plenty of fish being taken on the last of the run-out tide using both green and cabbage weed.

Brogo Dam is at 100% capacity and is fishing quite well. Plenty of black crickets are encouraging the bass to feed near the surface, providing plenty of top water fishing for anglers. Of course, you can use the crickets as bait although anglers using small surface lures and flies are enjoying many memorable moments too.