NSW
Finding the sweet spot BATEMANS BAY
Anthony Stokman
My survival tip for 2023 is to fish more! We should have a reasonable run of fish this January, and
in full swing and loading bait up on the shelf. The FAD is in, and bait will be trying to hang on to it as predators like dolphinfish, kings and marlin come to pick them off. I’m hoping for a better season than last year as it was a bit
marlin and if it’s a bit quiet and the current is favourable then get out the electrics and fish the bottom. If there is too much current out wide, you can come in for a micro jig for snapper. The world is your oyster. In closer, the fishing has been quite good with the snapper run continuing, and some good-size kingfish swimming along our ledges. Casting stickbaits, metals or large plastics from places like Snapper Point and Pretty Point could get you a big king, and as the season goes on hopefully we will see some bonito, mac tuna and maybe some longtail later in
the season. I’m expecting a reasonable run of pelagics like last year, and after all this rain and with some more balance coming in the weather, we should see a couple of good years ahead. Salmon and tailor are a regular by-catch from the ledges, and with the amount of tailor that have been around you can expect plenty of them on our beaches. They can be a bit of a problem when you’re whiting fishing as they will destroy light rigs, but that still doesn’t make me resort to wire rigs. I know a lot of people go there, but I can’t do it – fluorocarbon leader
Ollie has been on top of the flatties lately.
Peter White with an early season bass. although there has been a lot of rain, we have had plenty of breaks in the weather on the south coast for things to flourish. Fishing offshore this January you can expect to cross paths with marlin, dolphinfish, possibly kingfish and a slight chance of tuna. The Eastern Australian Current should be
slow and very hit-and-miss, and this year is starting very similar, but let’s hope all this rain has made some impact. Boat owners have nearly everything covered these days, from trolling lures, live baits, electric reels, jigs and more. So, check the weather and make a game plan. Get out early, hit up the FAD, try out the shelf for a
Jordan White with a nice 86cm South Coast flathead.
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for me. The whiting fishing will pick up this month, and fishing light will always be the most successful. For many years, people have been using the same old ways to catching whiting, with beach worms, nippers or pipis on a paternoster rig, and later on, catching them on surface lures. However, over the last few years, anglers have been trying artificial worms, which go very well with bait on paternoster rigs. This is great for convenience, because you’ll have your bait sealed and handy, with no need to refrigerate or spend the time and/or money sourcing live worms. I recommend that you check out Marukyu Worms and the new Gulp Worms. They will work well on other species like bream and bass also. Speaking of bream, they have been one of the most consistent species over the last few months during the dirty water, and now they are in primetime: summer. The estuary has been pumped with rainwater, and the colour has shown it, but the bream doesn’t mind the dirty water and we could get a bite out of them. Now that the weather has given us some relief and summer is here, it’s the bream’s time to shine, and we can expect good numbers. Another species that’s happy in the discoloured water is the mulloway. Although they have generally been small over the last few years, there have been
plenty of them. Over the last few months we have been seeing some larger ones, and I expect to see some good fish getting caught this summer. Freshly-caught squid and live mullet are still the best baits. Squid love clean, clear water so they have been hard to find lately, so live mullet and yakkas are probably your best bet. However, casting 4-5” shads and paddletail lures is the most exciting way to target mulloway, and there is a massive range of lures that do the job these days. The estuary will be good for crabs this season, and if some of the lakes close up, we might see a good end-of-season run of prawns. Further upstream the influx of water has made the bass fishing tough, but this could improve in the coming weeks if the rain can hold off a bit to let things balance out. It seems the further you go out to sea or further inland is a bit touch-and-go, and the sweet spot is in the middle. The estuaries to inshore reefs will be hot this January, and hopefully the rest will get cracking as the season progresses. Happy New Year everyone. • For more up-to-the-minute information on what’s biting where, drop into Compleat Angler Batemans Bay and have a chat to Anthony or one of the other friendly staff. They’re located at 65A Orient St, Batemans Bay (02 4472 2559). JANUARY 2023
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