Port Stephens

PORT STEPHENS Paul Lennon

Summer is here and it’s not just the weather heating up – the fishing is hot too.

The rising water temperatures will see whiting become far more active this month. You will Shoal Bay, Nelson Bay and Little Beach all great areas to try. Live worms are a must when targeting whiting in these parts, and light leaders around 6lb will also greatly improve your catch rates.

The most exciting way to catch whiting, however, is to use surface lures like small poppers and floating environments are what you want to look for, such as the areas around Taylors Beach, Tahlee and Pindimar up to Tea Gardens.

Still on surface lures, and bream will also be on the chew, with the shallow rock bars around Soldiers Point to Myall River fishing well on the high tide.

If you like fishing for

The FAD has been holding dollies to 5kg, and larger models have been taken as by-catch by anglers chasing marlin.

Soft vibes and plastics have been accounting for some good mulloway.

find good numbers of them along the shallow beaches towards the bottom end of the bay, with Jimmys, pencil-style patterns, which are lethal when fished in the right areas.

Shallow flats Shoal Bay, Corlette and Taylors Beach.

Karuah has been turning it on for mulloway, with soft vibes and plastics accounting for good fish up to 1m long around the pylons of both bridges and rocky shoreline drop-offs.

Live baiting around the deeper waters near Middle Island and Fame Cove as well as Corlette Wreck is another really good option if you’re chasing mulloway. BEACHES

Most of the beaches at this time of year will fish particularly well for bream, whiting, dart and the odd flathead.

It’s important to not just fish anywhere along an ocean beach; you want to find an appealing looking gutter or trough of deeper water.

Once you’ve done this, your chances of success will increase dramatically

There is the chance of a few kings this month. when you combine the right baits such as live worms or pipis with a late afternoon/ early morning high tide. ROCKS

Bonito should start to appear this month, and can be a load of fun with a 20g metal spinner casted and retrieved from a point or headland.

If the bonito aren’t there you still have a good chance of coming across a few tailor, salmon or a rat king too.

Calamari are yet another option from the rocks, with a 3.0 sized jig the best way to go. Squid prefer calm conditions, so protected bays and coves are often hotspots for them. OFFSHORE

FAD has been holding plenty of smaller dolphinfish (mahimahi) to around 5kg, and there have been some impressive early season models to 20kg taken as marlin by-catch on the shelf lately.

It’s already shaping up to be a good year outside, with reports of striped marlin on the shelf and some big blues pushing 200kg a little wider.

Snapper are being caught inshore around Broughton to Seal Rocks, as well as some nice pearl perch.

flathead, December is right up there with the best times of year to catch them, especially a really big girl. 90-120mm paddle tail or grub type plastics, as well as hardbodied lures around the same size that dive to around 1m, are extremely effective. Most of the time, they will significantly out fish bait. The trick is to be constantly on the move, with a dozen casts fanning an area before moving along to fresh ground. Karuah and Tilligerry are great areas for this, but if you’re land based you will still find some around

the beautiful Port Stephens estuary system with a calm water fishing charter that can be designed to suit your needs from family bait fishing to hardcore lure and fly fishing anglers.

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