Sydney South

Good kingy catches on livies

SYDNEY SOUTH Gary Brown

gbrown1@iprimus.com.au

By the time you read this, there should have been an increase in the number of catches kingfish in the Port Hacking River and Botany Bay, as well as offshore and off the rocks. Even though it has been hard to get live bait at times, it’s worth persisting because live has been working much better than dead, if reports are any indication.

In Botany Bay there are a number of places that you can try for live bait when fishing out of a boat. Try the northwest corner of Yarra Bay for squid and yellowtail, Watts Reef for squid, the eastern side of Bare Island for yellowtail, slimy mackerel and squid, the end of the third runway, the break wall at the Foreshore boat ramp and the western side of the retaining wall at near the gas storage area. Kingfish numbers have increased in both the Port Hacking and Botany Bay. You will need to find the live bait to increase your chances of tangling with a kingy.

If you want to keep some trevally for a feed, be sure to bleed them first and keep them on ice or the flesh will go soft.

You could also try the weed beds that stretch from the oil wharf to Towra Point for squid and river pike and garfish.

As for the Port Hacking River, you could try drifting the main channel over the sand from Lilly Pilly to the entrance to Gunnamatta Bay for squid, the weed beds upstream of Maianbar for river pike and garfish, and

Yowie Bay, Dolans Bay and Water Street ramps for yellowtail.

You can also fish the inside of Jibbon Point, Bundeena and Maianbar, Salmon Haul Bay and any of the deep bays where there are boats mooring on swing moorings. Pick a spot and start berleying with chicken pellets mixed in with pilchards.

Another live bait I’ve used when chasing kingfish in the Port Hacking River are pink nippers. Yes, pink nippers! Just get three large nippers with their claws still attached and put them onto a 4/0 hook and suspend them under a bobby cork and set it out the back of your boat in the berley trail. If there is a kingfish about, they can’t seem to resist them.

If you are after a feed of bream and trevally, they should be moving about freely in the bay at all the usual places. I find that when fishing deep water places like Trevally Alley, the only way to go is to anchor up, berley and fish with a very small running ball sinker down onto the bait.

When fishing places like the end of the third runway, I will usually have a no. 2 or no. 3 ball or bean sinker running down onto the swivel and a leader of at least a metre. At both of these places I will use either peeled prawns, half pilchards, strips of mullet or slimy mackerel.

Tailor and salmon should be chasing the baitfish throughout the bay, so keep your eye out for feeding birds or splashes from feeding fish. While keeping an eye out you could also try trolling some metals or diving lures out the back. If you are not sure what types to use, you can always pop and see me at the BCF store at Taren Point, and I will show you.

If you venturing offshore to the Peak of 12-Mile Reef you could try for kingfish, snapper, morwong, trevally and leatherjackets. If you prefer to drift for sand flathead, try starting in 30m off Maroubra and drift out until you work out what depth they are at.

Half pilchards, squid, mullet and salted slimy

mackerel are worth a shot this month. You could also try using soft plastics such as ZMan 4” and 5” Curl TailZ on 3/4oz and 1oz jigheads.

Maroubra and Coogee beaches on the northern side of the bay will be worth a shot for bream, whiting and dart throughout the day. Beach worms would be your best bait. You could also try half pilchard for the bream.

In Bate Bay, anywhere from South Cronulla to Greenhills will be worth a shot for bream, whiting and dart. It will be just a matter of finding out which gutter they are feeding in. I have found that over the years the early morning and late afternoon sessions have been the best, as you can avoid the crowds, swimmers and surfers.

If you are into fishing at night you could try for sharks, tailor, salmon and mulloway. I have also found that you don’t necessarily have to use live baits; whole and stripped squid, yellowtail and pilchards do just fine.

The Port Hacking River will be worth a shot for bream, trevally, whiting and flathead. It will be just a matter of finding a quite spot and anchoring up, laying out a berley trail and waiting for them to come.

If you are looking for a few places to try for trevally in the Port Hacking River, I would suggest that you anchor up in any one of the deep bays that can be found here, start a small and steady berley trail, and fish with a very small running ball sink onto the bait. If they don’t show up after about 20 minutes, try another spot.

You could also try anchoring up in the main channel – just remember to keep close to the side of the channel. Here I would use a running sinker down onto the swivel, with at least a metre of leader. Use either peeled prawns, nippers, worms, half pilchards, fillet of pilchard or a small piece of chicken breast.

Don’t forget to keep those pictures and reports coming into gbrown1@iprimus.com. au, and trust me – I won’t give away your favourite spots.

Fish as light as the conditions will allow when fishing for trevally in deep bays.