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Red-hot fishing is continuing COFFS COAST
Rob Taylor
It would seem that a bumper start to 2023 is upon us! With ocean currents licking our shores
smashing bait schools in the Kalang and Bellinger systems, making for great fun on light tackle and lures. Big jacks have also been hunting the snags, rock walls and bridge pylons, and some really epic-sized fish have
been caught of late. The bass also continue to fire in both big and small water, and with cod season now open it’s been a year to remember in the sweetwater. This red-hot fishing should continue throughout January,
Brad Bye with a good-sized bass from the Orara River.
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species in the creeks this month will be big lizards. The big girls and attendant males will be all over the
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local systems, and not much beats a hot summer afternoon drifting the flats for flatties. Again, baits and lures also work on flathead. When I’m targeting these fish, I generally prefer to use lures because, well, it’s just more fun! ROCKS AND BEACHES January marks the start of our local land-based game season off the Coast Coast, with longtails, Spanish mackerel and the odd king being the main targets. Longtails should be arriving in numbers, and floating out a live yakka will do the trick. Use gar or big dead baits like bonito if you want to try for a big Spanish. Many of the local headlands and walls can be good LBG spots, depending on the conditions at the time. Given the warm water, tailor and drummer numbers will be down but there should
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Lachy Sullivan with a thumping red dog. It’s now prime time for jacks on the Coffs coast.
Striped marlin are patrolling the 100m line this month.
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and cicadas in the trees, it’s set to be a fun new year on a host of species, from bass to mackerel. The EAC well and truly kicked in early this year, and with it came mackerel, both spotted and Spanish, longtail tuna, small black marlin, wahoo and mahimahi (dolphinfish). It really is a smorgasbord out there at the moment. And don’t discount bottom fishing (if you can get out of the current) as there’s still the odd snapper and trag around for those floatlining or drifting with baits. All of the creeks and rivers have been fishing well too, with flathead, GTs, mangrove jack and whiting throughout all of the systems. GTs in particular have been
so make sure you wet a line this month as it will be worth it. Let’s take a look at what’s in store this month. CREEKS, RIVERS AND ESTUARIES As mentioned, a plethora of summer targets are on offer in the local creeks and rivers at the moment. We’ve been having a ball on the local GT population, with fish up to 75cm being taken. They’re not GBR monsters by any stretch, but target them on the right tackle and you’ll have a ball. Use light gear and troll or cast crankbaits or surface lures around the Kalang River, and the GTs will find you. Big mangrove jacks will be a prime target this month, and I’d be looking at rock walls, snags, bridge pylons and the local marina if you want to pull a big red dog onto the bank. Lures and live baits work well, with live baits being the choice if you want to be sure of finding fish. The other main target
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