5 minute read
Coffs Coast
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, 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 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
Brad Bye with a good-sized bass from the Orara River.
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 species in the creeks this month will be big lizards. The big girls and attendant males will be all over the
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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be plenty of bream about in the washes, and school mulloway should continue their bumper season into January too. Dart and summer whiting will also be thick in the beach gutters. It’s a great time to be on the rocks or beaches with a bait out. OFFSHORE
If you enjoy your pelagic fishing, now is the time to get excited. Warm currents pushing south have brought all sorts of goodies with them, and from this month onwards we can expect spotted and Spanish mackerel, marlin, tuna, wahoo, mahimahi and plenty of other tropical oddballs to grace our waters.
Mackerel fever will see most fishos targeting the razor gang, and I’d be pulling hardbody lures around the islands or trolling dead or live baits around the inshore reefs if you want to find mackerel. Anchoring up with live baits under floats is a surefire way to find Spaniards in shallow water of 30m or less. You’ll be able to find slimy mackerel and yakkas at either McCauleys Wide or the Wide Bait Ground. The gaggle of boats there every morning will help you to locate these spots if you don’t have the marks.
Out wider, marlin are on the cards and this month all three species will be off the coast with blacks in close, stripies on the 100m line and big blues out over the edge. There will be dollies on the FAD and traps, and no doubt wahoo lurking in the wings.
If warm water sportfishing is your thing, then this is your month to get amongst it!
Adrian McIntyre with a slab of a cod taken on an Imakatsu Battle Bait in the Mann River.
FISHING NEWS
Drone spots illegal fishing
Operation Riddler’ is the name of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) apprehension of illegal rock lobster fishing. This well-executed operation resulted in the first successful prosecution with the use of a UAV within fisheries compliance.
The targeted operation was conducted over numerous days in a remote stretch of coastline in harsh conditions, where officers used an array of modern technology and surveillance techniques to capture the evidence of the illegal fishing practices.
With the use of a hi-tech drone, Fisheries officers could maintain an eye in the sky and capture and relay crucial evidence to ground and boat crew with ease. The use of such new and evolving technology is just another modern step forward for NSW Fisheries officers to combat and deter illegal fishing practices. The offender was prosecuted and convicted on eight separate charges, and ordered to pay $2700 in fines.
For more information on fisheries compliance, visit www.dpi.nsw. gov.au and search for ‘compliance’.
To report illegal fishing, call the Fishers Watch phone line 1800 043 536 or report online at www.dpi.nsw.gov. au/fishing. – NSW DPI Fisheries