Fishing Monthly Magazine | July 2022 by Fishing Monthly

• BRAVE THE CHILL TO GET THE THRILL •

Level up using live bait • Flyfishing for flathead • Kayaking Baffle Creek • Boat test: Remora Boats 490 • Local area reports

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Features

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Techniques Spotlight

NSW

Luke Truant shows us how to level up with livies

Tested

QLD

Boat test: Remora Boats 490 •

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CONTENTS

OUR COVER July 2022, Vol. 3 No.3 QLD NSW

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QUEENSLAND The Tweed Gold Coast Jumpinpin Southern Bay Brisbane Northern Bay Noosa Bundaberg Mackay Townsville Hinchinbrook Cairns Port Douglas Cooktown Cape York Freshwater

16 18 20 24 26 28 30 34 36 37 38 42 42 43 44 46

NEW SOUTH WALES Pittwater Sydney North Sydney Rock Sydney South Coffs Coast Hastings Forster Port Stephens Swansea Central Coast Illawarra Batemans Bay Bermagui Tathra Albany/Wodonga Hunter Valley Batlow New England Rivers Canberra

50 53 52 54 56 58 59 60 63 62 64 65 66 66 68 68 69 70 71

VICTORIA Warrnambool Portland Cobden Apollo Bay Geelong Port Phillip West Port Phillip East Port Phillip Bay Phillip Island Marlo Gippsland Lakes Lakes Entrance Mallacoota Robinvale Bendigo Ballarat Wangaratta Shepparton Gippsland Freshwater Crater Lakes Eildon Yarrawonga 6

JULY 2022

From the Editor’s Desk...

76 76 77 77 78 80 82 84 85 86 86 87 87 88 88 89 90 91 91 94 92 94

Luke Gercovich with a 95kg southern bluefin tuna taken on spin gear. A Mark Gercovich image. Come and visit Fishing Monthly Group’s official Facebook page for all your monthly fishing information. Download QR Reader to access.

TASMANIA Hobart Offshore

75 74

It’s great to be boat testing again. For a while it was COVID … and after that it was lack of stock. The Sanctuary Cove Boat Show presented an opportunity to get on the water again locally and take some new rigs for a ride. For the last 18 months, they’ve been heading out the dealers’ doors before we could get hold of them. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still some serious supply chain issues in the industry, both boating and fishing, but dealers now have stock on the floor to test and sell. If you haven’t seen our video boat tests, you can catch up with them on the Fishing Monthly YouTube channel - search Fishing Monthly on that platform. We’ve covered dozens of rigs over the years and sometimes it’s nice to see what they look like on the water if you can’t score a test drive. Matthew, who you heard about last editorial, is usually the man behind the camera and I do the easy job in front of it. All of the boat images you see in the tests in the magazine are his work. We look forward to doing plenty more down the track.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA Esperance

103

Augusta

104

Bunbury

105

Metro

106

Mandurah

107

Kalbarri

110

Lancelin

108

Exmouth

110

Karratha

111

Freshwater

112

PRINT STILL POWERFUL You only realise the power of print when you make a mistake. We made one last month by publishing Ross Winstanley’s article. I won’t use having COVID as an excuse, but Ross’ angle, which would have been more suited to a commercial fisher magazine, certainly ruffled some feathers. Although it pointed to a massive win to Rec anglers in Port Phillip Bay, it threw a few punches at VFA and VRFish that are not appropriate for this publication. I apologise for that. The magazine is about helping you catch more and bigger fish. There’ll be more of that in the future. REC FISHING QUEENSLAND WOMEN Queensland Fisheries has launched their group for women in recreational fishing. Connecting fishing-mad women all over the state. Search for the “Women in Recreational Fishing Network Qld” Group on Facebook and request to join if you’re interested. Hopefully this will be as successful as the Victorian network moving forward. PRINT COSTS RISING Like everything nowadays, our print bill went up by nearly 20% this month. Currently, we are absorbing the costs, but this may change at some stage in the future. The best way to lock in the current price is to subscribe – you get the magazine cheaper-per-issue and it’s delivered to your postal address. You can call Kym on 1800 228 244 to get it organised over the phone and, an early hint, it’s a great Fathers’ Day gift!

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Level up with livies

Starlo’s back to basics

Sheik of the Creek

Kayak: Baffle Creek

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Level up with livies BUNDABERG

Luke Truant

Fishing with live bait takes a bit more effort than fishing with dead bait. So why go to the trouble of catching livies? The answer is twofold: you’re going to catch more fish, and bigger fish. Not 100% of the time, of course – there are some days when dead bait works better – but

line with a series of small, chemically-sharpened hooks along it. You put a sinker on one end of the rig, tie the other end to your main line, and send it down to where the baitfish are holding. Hook sizes generally range from around 12-4, and each hook has a bit of sparkle flash and often a glow bead as well, to maximise attraction. They’re irresistible to small fish like yellowtail scad, slimy mackerel, garfish, small

rig up inside the rod at the end of the session. This allows you to potentially get several trips out of one rig (each rig costs around $4-$6). When the sabiki rig is fully inside the tube of the rod, the hooks are all covered so there’s only the sinker exposed at one end, ready to drop, and no hooks that can catch on anything. I have a handy tip with sabiki rods. I’ve found that the swivels on your jigs get caught in the lower ceramic guide near the reel, so I get a screw driver and snap the rectangular ceramic eyelet off. This makes the opening wider which allows the jig to go all the way into the rod without the swivel catching. It doesn’t seem to affect the braid touching the rod, as the braid actually touches the edge of the tubular blank with or without the guide. The alternative to a sabiki rod is, as you may

A honker tuskfish caught on a live bait. finger a few times and then re-tie it – if you haven’t got it caught in the carpet or side pocket. As you might guess, I’m not a fan! When it comes to the

about getting the baitfish to bite – you want to prevent them from swimming around each other in circles. When they swim in circles, they tangle the jig.

Cod are suckers for a well-presented livie. in the long run your catch rates will improve. That’s why the most mad-keen anglers often fish with live baits for both pelagics and bottom fish. It’s well worth spending that bit of extra time and effort. SABIKI RIGS AND RODS Catching baitfish typically involves a sabiki rig, which is a length of

trevally and more. While you don’t need a proper hollow sabiki rod, it will save you money in the long run because you won’t go through as many jigs. Sabiki rods aren’t too expensive; all the ones I’ve seen have been under $100. These rods have a trumpetshaped opening at the top, and you can wind your entire

With two people working as a team – one on the rod, one unhooking fish – you’ll soon fill your livewell. know, a short length of pool noodle. To use it, you wrap the rig around the pool noodle, stab yourself in the

Top: running sinker down to a snelled 8/0 live bait hook and stinger, for targeting trout. Bottom: wire trace and treble stinger, for targeting mackerel. 8

JULY 2022

jigs themselves, I don’t have a favourite brand but I do buy jigs with heavier mono and really small hooks. In my experience, using small hooks seems to give you more hook-ups. If you’re using the larger size jigs and the baitfish are pilchardsized, it will take you a lot longer to get your live baits in the morning. And the reason I like heavier mono is because every now and then you’ll hook up to a bonito or other larger fish and you can land them without losing hooks. Lastly, if you spool your reel with mono rather than braid, you may find you’ll land more livies. This is because mono line stretches, acting as a shock-absorber, so the hooks are less likely to tear out of the baitfish’s soft mouth. Now let’s look at how to work your sabiki rigs. LINE AND LEADER When it comes to jigging for live bait, it’s not just

to the bottom you should start winding with a slow to medium retrieve. If you feel one fish on, you might feel the temptation to pause your retrieve in hopes of hooking a second. Don’t do it – they’ll swim around and tangle the rig, and you’ve just thrown $5 in the bin. Once you feel a fish on, always keep winding. Other fish will get on there as the jig rises to the surface. When you get the fish up to the boat, it’s best to have someone ready to help you. The goal is to minimise the amount of time the livies spend dangling out of the water, struggling to breathe and sometimes falling on the deck. The person using the jig rod can lift the jig up and hold onto the sinker, while the other person takes the fish off. Then the baitfish can go into the livewell as quickly as possible. LIVEWELL Your livewell needs as much flow as possible, so

If you’re tired of tangled rigs and stabbed fingers, get a sabiki rod. It will soon pay for itself. To address this issue I use a heavier sinker on the bottom, at least 4oz. If you’re getting really large yellowtail scad or other big livies, you’ll want an 8oz at the bottom to help stop the fish swimming around each other and tying up the jig. Once you’ve dropped down, as soon as you get

you may want increase your pump capacity. You’d be surprised at how many fish you can pack in when you have a lot of flow. Many tanks that have a multi-point system where the water comes in through a series of small holes. I’ve never noticed a difference between that and a single

pipe. As long as you get adequate flow, it doesn’t matter how many holes it comes in from. In my tank the water is jetted in almost

Keeping your fish alive isn’t just about keeping oxygen levels up, it’s about keeping the temperature down. The water in the bucket can heat

they can make great baits when presented the right way. More on that later. RIGGING For most bottom species and cobia, I like to rig the my live baits on a paternoster (dropper) rig. A paternoster rig consists of one or two loops spaced some distance apart, which will hold your hooks, with another loop

below that holds a snapper lead. I use only one hook on my paternoster because there are big fish in our area; you definitely don’t want two 20kg+ fish on at the same time! When you tie your paternoster, make sure you tie a dropper loop and not a figure 8. This is very important. I can’t count the

If your livie dies, don’t send it back down as-is. You’ll get better results if you butterfly it. vertically, to push that clean water right down to the bottom. You want every square inch of your tank to have clean, oxygenated water. If not, some of the fish may die. If you are using an aerator in a bucket, that’s OK as long as you change the water really often.

up quickly, and that will kill your fish. Each time you pull out a fresh livie, have a feel around the bottom of the tank for any that are stiff. Dead fish can cause a domino effect, where more start dying, so you want to get them out promptly. Definitely don’t throw them away, because

Big coral trout love chomping on livies.

If you’re using big hooks for big fish, you need to strike hard for a solid hook-up.

number of fish I’ve seen lost due to people tying figure 8s instead of loop knots. Tying a loop is no harder than a figure 8, it takes an extra three seconds. If you’re not sure how, have a look on YouTube and you’ll see how easy it is. When I tie the dropper loop for my hook, I always make the loop least 1.5 times

the length of the live bait that I’m using. For example, if the bait is 10cm, I’ll tie a loop that juts out 15-20cm from the main line. The reason is that when a large fish inhales the livie, the livie needs to go all the way into the predator’s mouth before it hits the main line. You don’t want the predator To page 10

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the current. I like to fish them along way back, letting out at least 50m of line. This avoids tangles, and the pressure of the line stops the fish swimming back upcurrent and hanging beneath the boat. THE FIGHT When you have deployed your livie and you feel it starting to swim

From page 9

trying to get the livie in a little bit of their mouth before they hit the mainline. Additionally, a longer loop also allows the live bait to swim a little more freely, live longer, and give a better presentation in the water. If you’re fishing with braid, I recommend making your trace extra long, around 3-4m. A long leader provides a bit of stretch, acting as a shock absorber so that you’ll pull fewer hooks. The stretch also allows you to keep a more even pressure on the fish during the fight, so it’s less likely to come off. The other reason I like a long leader is due to its abrasion resistance. If you hook a large cod, for example, and it gets you into the reef you’ve got a better chance of getting it out if the braid is nowhere near the reef. I generally use 55lb Schneider leader, but 60-80lb fluorocarbon is also a great option. You want a leader with good abrasion resistance, both for structure and teeth, but beware of

The best baits tend to produce the best fish. My hook of choice for this is an 8/0 Elkat Live Bait hook (a Big Gun or Hoodlum should do the job too). These 8/0 hooks catch fish anywhere from 0.5kg to 40kg. When you

and the stinger. You want enough slack for the livie to swim freely, but not so much slack that you’ll keep getting snagged. Too much slack also seems to put the fish off, maybe because it strikes

hook and the stinger. The reason I use wire is to minimise bite-offs from passing mackerel. The forward hook is an 8/0 Elkat and the tail hook is a no 2 VMC treble. I insert the treble on the very top of the fish. You want the hooks to be just the right distance apart, so the livie can swim straight. If the livie is bent, it will die. I don’t use floats, I just throw the livie out with

A simple way to fish a livie on the bottom is with a single hook through the nose on a paternoster rig. faster and get frantic, that means it’s spotted a predator close by. This is when you want to let out about half a metre of line

When you get a bite from a live bait, maintain a steady retrieve. buying the more opaque leaders. Some of the really abrasion-resistant leaders are white, rather than clear, and they are definitely not as good – at least where I fish. Clear or green leaders get more bites. PRESENTATION In my experience, the best way to rig a livie is to insert a hook up through the bottom of the jaw and out through the nose, pinning the mouth shut. When rigged in this way, a lot of the hook is exposed, so when you get a bite the fish is more likely to get hooked up solidly. When you strike, the hook will come up and usually set in the middle of the top lip. When hooked in the centre of the jaw, big fish are generally easier to fight. That’s because the fish is less likely to turn broadside, using its wide flanks to push against the water as you muscle it in. When the fish is coming up nose-first, it’s much less tiring for the angler. 10

JULY 2022

to puncture. Importantly here, your drag has to be set quite tight; when you’re setting the hook you don’t want to be losing drag. Lastly, keep your fingers off the braid while you’re setting these hooks. If the fish does take drag it’s not going to be good on your fingers!

get really high carbon hooks they don’t usually straighten – I’ve never seen one of those Elkats even start to straighten. Stinger I have found that a running ball sinker rig is better than a paternoster when targeting coral trout and extra-large grass sweetlip. If I’m using a running ball sinker rig, I like to add a stinger hook. I snell the top hook and run the stinger down to the rear of the livie. I usually use the same 8/0 hook for the stinger that I use for the leading hook. If the bait is really small I’ll use a 7/0 for the stinger, but still an 8/0 for the leading hook. I insert the stinger about two thirds down the livie, into its back behind the dorsal fin. Don’t insert the hook too low, or it will pierce the bait’s innards and it will soon die. It’s important to get the right length of leader between the leading hook

the side of their mouth. Pelagics When targeting pelagics or surface snapper (in Bundaberg nearly all our XXL snapper come off the surface), I will run a stinger rig with light single-strand wire between the leading

A live yellowtail was the undoing of this big knobby.

Live baits usually catch a better class of fish than dead baits do.

to allow the bait to swim a little more freely, and hopefully get inhaled. When a big fish scavenges a wafting dead bait, it often won’t hit it very hard. With a live bait, however, you can except a sudden, decisive strike, because the predator doesn’t want its swimming prey to escape. When you get that forceful strike, set the hooks. If you’re using extra thick live bait hooks for big fish, you need to set the hooks well. Pull harder than you normally would to make sure the hook is in and barb is set. Think about how thick the skin is on a 20kg fish that you need

FALLBACK PLAN If you pull in your live bait to find that it’s died on the hook, don’t just drop it down dead and hope for the best. Either put a new live bait on, or butterfly it. Butterflying is great for small to medium size bait, such as a yellowtail scad. Cut from the tail back up to the head on both sides, and leave the tail on. That way, there will be three things flapping in the current, not just the two sides. You can rig your butterflied bait exactly like a live bait. If your bait is a bit bigger, you can still butterfly it but I recommend removing the backbone and tail. This will make the bait more floppy and create a smaller presentation, so you can attract smaller fish, not just 10kg+. If the bait is really large, just take both fillets off, keeping the tail on one of the fillets. Leave a small portion of the backbone attached to the head, and you now have three great dead baits from one livie. If you haven’t used head baits before, you should definitely try it. Lastly, when fishing livies, it’s often good to have at least one person using dead baits. A smelly bit of squid, pilchard or flesh can attract a lot of interest from smaller fish, and the resulting commotion can draw the attention of bigger fish. Just be sure to rotate who’s using livies and who’s using dead baits, so everyone can have an equal chance of catching the fish of a lifetime!

Flathead: training wheels for fly fishers! on the hook shank under its body materials. Natural baitfish colours work well, but so do hot pink or bright lime green (chartreuse), especially if the water isn’t especially clear. Try a few combinations and see what works best on the day. You don’t need fancy fly gear for this caper. A #5 or #6-weight trout outfit will do the job, especially

NSW STH COAST

Steve Starling www.fishotopia.com

If you’ve ever contemplated giving fur ’n’ feathers a go – or making the transition from fresh to salt with your trout fly gear – flathead may well represent the perfect starting point! The depths of winter might seem like a strange time to be talking about targeting estuary-dwelling flathead in most parts of the country, but the fact is, we’re now only weeks away from these popular fish beginning to shake off their cold weather lethargy, especially towards the northern end of their range. Truth is, flathead never

(Scan the QR code accompanying this column to watch a short video clip about targeting flatties on a sinking line, or go to my ‘Starlo Gets Reel’ channel on YouTube to watch it.) Catching flathead on fly is very easily achievable, accessible, effective and fun. Why not make this the year you give the long wand a swing on the salt?

If you do enough of it, you just might get lucky and score a crocodile on fly, like this 90cm beast Starlo tagged and released in his local waterway. saltwater fly fishing: either as first time fly chuckers, or those keen to take their trout gear to the salt. Fact is, catching flathead on fly (or any other offering, for that matter) ain’t rocket science. If you choose an offering that looks vaguely like something alive or edible and move it along just above the bottom where some flathead live, one of

You really don’t need flash gear to catch a few flathead on fly.

Jo Starling unhooks an average dusky flathead taken on fly. actually go off the bite completely, especially up north. Late August and September will see some of the year’s best dusky flathead action starting to kick into gear from Hervey Bay south through the Gold Coast and into the far northern rivers of NSW. A month or so after that, this seasonal action will progress further south toward Sydney and, by October, the lizards, frogs or whatever else you wish to call them will be chewing all the way to Victoria. Ditto the sand, blue-spotted, bar-tailed and other varieties found everywhere from Tasmania to Western Australia. To my mind, flathead are the perfect recreational fishing target. They’re abundant, widespread, usually not too hard to catch, and great to eat. Could you really ask for much more from a fish? They also respond to a wide range of presentations: from bait to lures and even flies. 12

JULY 2022

In the past, I’ve often referred to flathead as ‘training wheels’ for anglers making the transition from baits to lures… or from

hard lures to soft lures. But they also make the perfect ‘L-plate fish’ for those dipping their toes into the fascinating world of

Any weighted baitfish pattern will catch flatties. This is an articulated fly called a Game Changer.

Flathead are suckers for a fly fished on or near the bottom. Adding weight to the fly in the form of bead chain or dumbbell eyes really helps to keep it down through the retrieve.

these fish will eventually grab it… and often times, that ‘eventually’ doesn’t take long to happen! Any baitfish-profile fly will fool a flattie. Popular patterns include Clousers, Bend-backs, Deceivers, Polar Minnows, Game Changers and the like. Ideally the fly should be somewhere between about 6-10cm in overall length, tied on a No. 2 to 2/0 hook, and have a little bit of weight incorporated into its design in the form of bead chain or lead dumb-bell eyes, or some lead wire wrapped

if your flies aren’t too big and bulky. But if you’re buying a rod and line (the two most important components) specifically for this task, I’d probably choose a #7-weight. You can use a standard full-floating line but, if you do, add a longish leaders (at least 3m), use weighted flies, and confine your activities to waters shallower than 2m and areas without lots of current. A slow-sinking, sink-tip or intermediate line is probably a better all-rounder for flathead.

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Scan this QR code to watch a short how-to video about catching flathead on fly, or go to the ‘Starlo Gets Reel’ YouTube channel to find it.

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Southern

OLD

Beach basics produce bounty THE TWEED

Leon McClymont

The winter fever for landbased fishos means fishing for big greenbacks and big silver slobs. If you’re in

worth a look as well. For the headlands and break walls, the rock fishos have been hitting first light with spinners targeting greenbacks, and fishing the larger tides at night with big hardbody lures and large baits

areas are a great spot to invest your time if you’re in search of the what can seem like a mythical creature – after spending hours casting lures and soaking baits only to leave empty-handed. But they’re not meant to come

Lachlan Hohnberg with his first ever mulloway going 20kg on a Croaker hardbody. the hunt for them in and around the Tweed area, the beach gutters, break walls and headlands are where you need to be. Black Rocks to Wooyung has some great looking gutters at the present time of writing. They have been producing good size dart and whiting in the day on the low tide. As the tides push in of an evening/night, the tailor have been moving in and are feeding well on Tweed Bait pilchards, garfish and strips of bonito. Some lucky anglers have also had good success in these gutters using beach worms for school mulloway, along with some other quality table fish in the mix as by-catch, such as bream, tarwhine, whiting and dart. Other good gutters are still holding fish along Cabarita to Cudgen that are

mulloway, we are talking over the 30kg mark, are a fish of a lifetime and I’ve known blokes to hang up their hat once catching their fish. For many, it just serves as another benchmark to beat and bragging rights to their mates. Only the elite anglers manage to catch and tame these beasts consistently, and a lot of them keep their trades and locations top secret and only divulge titbits of information and are often known to mislead their opposing anglers to different locations (having a chuckle to myself). As for offshore fishers, it’s when the currents slow allowing for float lining and bottom bashing for snapper, pearlies, kings and other reefies. But this time of year and the pinnacle of offshore fishing would have to be deep dropping for flametail snapper and bar cod and other deep delightful

No bluffing from Nathan Dodd, showing his hand with a pair of kings.

Mark Bennett and his mate caught this good haul on beach worms after dark. in the wash for mulloway. With plenty of mullet still schooling up, making easy prey for the mulloway, these

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delicacies that can be pulled from the depths. There are some really good size snapper on the 18-36 fathoms. The pearlies have been chewing well on the 36s and 50 fathoms. Kingfish and cobia are moving in thick with the migration of the whales in full swing now with some solid size fish coming in the last couple of weeks. The best technique for the cobia has been anchoring up on some ground and float lining

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Blake Hawkins caught these tailor off the beach using Tweed Bait pilchards.

pilchards/baits or livies out the back. Always remember to berley when targeting cobia they can’t resist an easy feed and will follow a berley trail for miles and often swim right up to the boat as if to say ‘can I have some more please’. I haven’t heard too much on the wider front at the time of writing as the weather hasn’t really allowed many anglers to head out wide so hopefully more of that front next issue. As for the rivers and estuaries, there are plenty of whiting and flathead in the shallows. Tailor have pushed in these waters also and are working in schools, along with the trevally terrorising baitfish. Plenty of soapies and the odd school mulloway are being caught in the deeper holes using vibes and plastics, or dropping baits onto the school below once sounding them up. If you can find the mullet schooling up in the river you can sure bet mulloway aren’t far away, it can pay to return at night when the mulloway will tend to start to feed and you can often hear them boof the mullet off the surface. Don’t let it fool you, being in the river doesn’t mean you’re only going to catch small fish, some jaw dropping size mulloway can still be pulled from our rivers and estuaries with several over the 20kg mark being taken from the Tweed River this season alone.

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Southern

OLD

Reefs rev up in the rain GOLD COAST

David Green

Summer and autumn had more rain than I ever remember! Floods and rough seas have limited access to the offshore grounds this year, but the rain has invigorated the reefs and, if the weather returns to a more normal pattern, the fishing should be excellent on the offshore grounds this month. If the water clears up and the westerly winds blow, cobia are a good target species on the inshore grounds this month. Already a few good fish

over 15kg have turned up on the artificial reefs just north of the bar, and these great fish should increase in numbers this month. Cobia always turn up at the same time the hump back whales arrive off the Gold Coast. To catch cobia on a reliable basis, nothing beats a good berley trail and a large live bait. They aren’t overly fussy when it comes to what type of live bait you use. I’ve caught them on tailor, slimy mackerel, tarwhine, goat fish, snapper and teraglin. The key is to have a sizeable offering that is quite active, and to berley using pilchards or chopped tuna.

Big mulloway, like this 22kg specimen, are a top target this month.

Cobia are a great fighting fish and on light tackle take quite a while to get on board. They are extremely strong. They also respond to soft plastics and drifted strip baits. Good areas to try this month are the 18 fathom reef off Surfers, the Blocks (artificial reefs in 23m of water just north of the seaway), 27 fathoms northeast and Mermaid Reef. The wreck of the Sea Dragon, north east of Jumpinpin Bar, is another good spot. Out wider on the 36 and 50 fathom line there should be good snapper and pearl perch this month prior to the closed season that commences on the 15th of this month. Snapper fishing has been very patchy over the past few seasons and the water has remained quite warm over most of winter. There are also a lot of smaller 28-30cm fish around which may reflect over fishing in the area. The best way to get a feed of good snapper is to fish a tide change at dawn or dusk and use good fresh strip baits, pilchards or soft plastics. Each season just seems to get a bit tougher, but there are still some excellent fish around. A lot of anglers are moving to wider grounds in the closed snapper season and fish the 200-300m depths targeting flame snapper and bar cod. At night on the inshore grounds there should be some good mulloway fishing on the 18 and 24 fathom line. Live slimy mackerel are the best bait and nearly all the action starts after sunset and into the night. Most of these fish are between 100-115cm long and at times it is possible to catch your bag limit very quickly. Due to

A pretty flame snapper found in 200-300m deep water. barotrauma these fish are almost impossible to release in good condition, but they are a great table fish. For the game fishers there will still be a few blue and striped marlin around on the edge of the continental slope with the chance of yellowfin tuna as well. If the water temperatures stay over 23ºC the game fishing should be quite good this month. Blue marlin can be caught in every month of the year off the Gold Coast. RIVERS AND ESTUARIES After months of rain and flooding, the Gold Coast estuaries are primed to produce some great fishing. July is a great month to fish the Gold Coast estuaries and there is a lot of fish movement throughout the system as migrating schools of bream, sea mullet, tiger mullet and black bream move towards the entrances in preparation for spawning. Flathead become a lot more active as the water starts to cool down. Big mulloway are a good target species this month.

Most of the bigger fish are caught at night using live mullet around the eddies in the seaway and around the mouth of Swan Bay near Jumpinpin. The best time to fish is around the change of high tide. Some of these fish are between 120-130cm long and the bigger fish target the large schools of tiger mullet that school up at night along the rock walls. A cautious approach is required, minimising noise and light on the water. I’ve been chasing these fish for many years and most of my bigger fish have been caught in July. Flathead fishing should improve this month and a lot of 40-60cm flathead should be active in the central part of the Broadwater, from Crab Island through to Tippler’s Passage. Work the draining channels using soft vibes, plastics, blades and small hardbodied lures. Trolling the extensive flats can also be very productive. If the water clears up the fishing should be quite good. If the wind blows strongly from the north

or northwest the fishing can be quite tough and it pays to look for patches of cleaner water. Squid are another good target this month and in the day can be caught by working squid jigs over the top of the weed beds at high tide. In general the best conditions are a high tide, a still calm day and clean clear water. There have been plenty of big tiger squid around this winter and they make excellent eating and some of the bigger ones are nearly a kilo in weight. I find it is important to change your lure fairly regularly until you find the lure the squid are most responsive to. I like the Yamashita jigs. They are a bit more expensive but last quite well and catch a lot of squid. Overall, July is a fantastic month to come and fish the Gold Coast. There are always plenty of options and the day time lure fishing available in the Broadwater can be quite exciting across a range of species. Be careful of strong westerly winds this month, and hopefully we won’t be subjected to endless rain!

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Southern

OLD

Good captures at high tide JUMPINPIN

Bo Sawyer

At the time of writing the water quality has been pretty ordinary, to say the least, but there’s still

mulloway and flathead this past month and have got some quality fish in the boat. It’s been a challenge fishing with some of the windy days we’ve had, but thankfully in this awesome system there’s plenty of

bream swimming around and the quality fish have been biting as well. I’ve been getting a few as by-catch chasing flathead along Kalinga and the Pin bar. I’ve been using bigger plastics and jigheads so

Bo with a nice flatty caught along Kalinga Bank. been some cracking fish around with the majority caught around the higher parts of the tide. I’ve been fishing for

gauge hooks are also a good idea to increase your hook up rate. Bring on the mulloway! Cold temps and light westerlies are my favourite when chasing the silver ghosts. They have been pretty active around the powerlines and at the mouth of the Logan, and there’s also been some big ones caught around the Pin bar. Sharks are a real nuisance when live baiting, unfortunately there’s not much we can do about this. Deeper holes are another great option for mulloway and I’ll usually scan a few of these on my sounder when heading out to the pin just in case there’s a few hanging around. Live bait, such as mullet or yakkas are a great option, otherwise soft vibes or large plastics will do the trick. If I’m chasing them on lures I’ll spend more time looking for them on my sounder then actually fishing for them. Flathead are still being caught in really good numbers. I’ve been flicking plastics for them out in the Pin bar and Kalinga Bank around the high while the

hiding spots for us to wet our lines. Let’s start with the bream fishing. They’ve been plenty of good-sized

Benno with a stonker flathead fishing the flats. Gold Bank, Whalleys Gutter and Eden Island, as well as Kalinga Bank and the Pin bar as mentioned before. Cold early mornings with little wind will produce VERY hot bites up on the flats as well. There’s been some nice whiting caught around the northern lagoons and Gold

That’s it from me this month guys. Don’t forget the King of the Pin competition has been rescheduled to the 22-24 July. It will be a fantastic weekend and competition so make sure to check it out. Brett from Jacobs Well Bait and Tackle has plenty of fresh bait available as

Jarryd has been catching some great whiting in the Pin with yabbies. You can check out his adventures on Facebook ‘Caught on Fishing’.

Sean with a stonker mulloway caught in the Pin. 20

JULY 2022

I can only imagine how many you can catch along here by using 2-3” lures and 1/8-1/4 jigheads. Bream are much shier when taking lures, so drop your leader size down (mind you I was getting them on 16lb leader, but you will get way more hits fishing lighter). If you’re a bait fisho then lightly weighted flesh baits, yabbies, prawns and white bait are dynamite. Thinner

water is nice and clean. Then fishing in closer around weed edges and anywhere that has water running off it. Using 3-4” plastics and 1/4-3/8 jigheads will yield the best results if you’re willing to move around and fish a lot of ground. If you like using bait then either small livies, prawns or pillies will do the trick. Try fishing the northern lagoons, North Crusoe,

Royce has been catching some very nice bream around the Jacobs Well area. Bank using live yabbies and sand worms. Whiting are more active in the warmer months but with so much bait getting flushed around they’ve still been biting relatively well.

well so stop off and see him on your way out if you need anything. • To see more of my fishing adventures on Instagram, follow The Bobo Boat (@ thebobo_boat)

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Southern

OLD

Snapping up some squire MORETON BAY

Spero Kartanos

The squire/snapper have come on throughout the bay, and it’s shaping up to be the best winter snapper seasons we’ve had for a few years. With the month-long closed season starting on 15 July, now is a good time to get out there and catch a snapper or two. Good spots to try include the bay islands like the eastern side of Green Island, Mud Island, Peel Island, Lazaret

gutter, and the drop-off from the Huybers light at King Island, all the way to Ormiston. The best baits at the moment for the snapper are whiting heads or whole whiting, whole garfish, and basically any small, whole fish. Cuttlefish heads and whole small squid are good baits too. And if you’re ever mackerel trolling and find you’re getting pestered by grinners, don’t throw them back – keep them and cut them up into flesh baits for snapper. Snapper adore eating these toothy pests. Just the other night I was berleying with grinners, and then put half

a grinner on as bait and got a 72cm snapper. I have seen them numerous times in snappers’ stomachs, along with the usual squid and whiting, and even whole octopus. I rig my bait on a running ball sinker rig, with just enough weight to get to the bottom, and 4/0-6/0 red octopus hooks. I fish with mono rather than braid, because I like my line to have some stretch for when the snapper go for a run. I run a 15lb mainline and 20lb trace. When it comes to rods and reels, I recommend a 17-20lb, 7-8ft spin stick, matched to a

The author with a quality bay snapper.

4000-6000 Shimano Baitunner or Penn Live Liner, so the snapper can run with the bait. Or, if you’re old, you can use an Alvey. Many older anglers still love the sound of a running Alvey when a snapper hits! When you get a hit from a snapper you should let it run for around 5-6 seconds and then strike. With the hooks we have today, as the snapper grab the bait and run they’ll often hook themselves. In my experience, the best time to target these fish is during an outgoing tide in a south-easterly, when you can line yourself up along the edge of a drop-off. During high tide the fish tend to go up in the shallows to feed, but as the tide is dropping all those fish have to move into the drop-off – and you’ll be there ready for them. Cuttlefish and arrow squid are also popular targets in winter. You can catch both species in depths of around 23-30ft out from Cleveland Point, plus Green Island and Saint Helena. The idea is to put a ball sinker on top of your squid jig, and drop it to the bottom and just lift it a couple of feet off the bottom while you drift. These cephalopods will be available all through winter, and maybe into early spring as well.

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Ron ‘The Whiting Master’ with a nice Moreton Bay squire. School mackerel are a year-round proposition in the bay, but now is a particularly good time to target them. If you want to learn how to catch schoolies trolling with a paravane, look up ‘school mackerel’ at wp.fishingmonthly.com. au. And if you run into some

grinners while you’re trolling for a mackerel, you know what to do with them! • Spero Kartanos uploads his Morton Bay fishing reports and photos weekly (sometimes daily!) at wp.fishingmonthly. com.au. You can also read his feature articles there by typing ‘Spero’ in the search box.

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Southern

OLD

Rug up for winter fishing BRISBANE

Gordon Macdonald masterbaitertackle@hotmail.com

We are well into brass monkey season now, anglers have been making the most of the cooler weather species on offer. Snapper, mulloway, luderick, squid, bream and tailor have been some of the more prominent species however there have also been a lot of other angling options. An early morning or night time session will require several layers of clothing plus some sort of warming liquid however the piscatorial rewards will definitely maker the effort worthwhile for most. Let’s look at a few of your July targets. SNAPPER So far this year the snapper fishing has been excellent. Most days it is not hard to get a bag limit of quality fish. With the month long snapper closure starting on 15 July, anglers only have a couple of weeks to target them this month. Hopefully this will coincide with good weather so anglers can get a good crack at them. The fishing in the bay has been heightened by regular rains this year, which has heightened nutrient levels and promoted baitfish presence. Additionally, the murkier water has resulted in larger fish coming into shallow water due to them feeling less conspicuous than when water conditions are clearer. All the artificial reefs and bay island margins have been fishing well with snapper to over 90cm being caught in these areas on both baits and lures. With fuel prices so high it is great to be able to score fish like this without having to trek the long distances offshore to deeper waters. A quick morning or afternoon session can yield a full bag limit of quality snapper as well as others such as sweetlip, mulloway, school mackerel, cod, tuskfish and flathead. Lures such as soft vibes, jighead rigged soft plastics, blades, micro jigs and deep diving minnows will all attract quality snapper and others. How and where you use them will alter the final result considerably. Consistent results come with experience from time on the water and observation. Every trip out will add a little more to the puzzle and you will never stop learning as there are so many variables that go into affecting the ecosystem and how it operates. Normally 26

JULY 2022

by this time of the year the water is rather clear and the deeper areas are best to fish during the high light conditions. However, clarity is lower this year therefore the shallower areas can also fire during these times. During the low light conditions such as early morning and late afternoon, the snapper will be found in much shallower waters and will move around a lot more readily. These times often provide some prime fishing around the bay island margins. Tidal stage, moon phase, tidal variance, water clarity, water temperature, baitfish presence and many other factors go into determining the possible productivity of any area at a particular period of time. Most of my fishing is done while drifting over areas and casting soft vibes, such as Samaki Thumpertails, up current. These are retrieved back with the water flow using a series of slow winds, hops and occasional erratic changes of pace. On any given day it pays to try different retrieves until you find their preference. Sometimes when fishing solo, I will drag a jighead rigged soft plastic aft. Current strength and water depth will determine the jighead weight needed and this can vary between 1/6oz and 3/8oz. the idea is that you have the soft plastic sitting in the lower third of the water column without it getting all the way to the bottom where it can snag. The rod is fished in the rod holder and the gentle movement and rocking of the boat is enough to impart some action into the plastic.

Plastics that emit action at low speeds, such as curl tail grubs, paddle tail shads and Atomic Prongs are ideal for this pursuit. The strikes are often savage, enough to set the hook in most instances. I have even caught several large longtail tuna on these dead-sticked soft plastics around the bay island margins and artificial reefs. Quality baits will always produce better results than poorer quality offerings. Freshly caught or live offerings are prime. Fillet baits from pike, mullet, bonito, bullet tuna, large herring, yakkas and slimey mackerel are great offerings when fished close to the bottom and lightly weighted. Whole fresh herring, banana prawns, pike, yakkas, squid and slimey mackerel are awesome offerings. Live baits are even better and well worth the effort to acquire, especially if you are aiming for the trophy class specimens. How you decide to target your snapper in the coming weeks is up to you however this year will be one of the best seasons for many years so get out and get amongst them. LUDERICK By now water temperatures should have dropped enough to promote some prominent weed growth on the rock walls, pontoons, bridge pylons and any other structures permanently in the water. This will mean that larger numbers of luderick will have moved inshore on their breeding run. These omnivores have a liking for these numerous weed varieties yet will occasionally take a liking

Mark with a great eating size snapper that was part of a bay bag-out late one afternoon. to a saltwater yabby, peeled prawn, fillet bait or squid strip. I have even had them hit lures and baitfish profiled flies on occasion. However, your best bet for consistent catches are weed baits suspended beneath a near neutral buoyancy float and drifted along rock walls and harbour walls. There are a lot of different places in southern Queensland to chase luderick with wellknown areas including the Caloundra Wall, Gold Coast Seaway Walls and Boyd’s Bay Bridge on the Tweed. In the Moreton Bay area, you can try the Sunken Wall and retaining wall at the mouth in the Brisbane River, Boat Passage rock walls, canal entrance walls, harbour walls and many other locations. If there is prominent weed growth in the area then there is a high likelihood that luderick will be lurking. You will likely

A quick morning spin session produced this trio of tailor. For the best palatable quality, bleed immediately after capture.

need to adjust the depth of your weed baits below the float until you determine the depth at which they a feeding. A small rubber float stopper on the main line above the float will assist with this. Keep your luderick live until just before dispatch and fillet. Remove the black gut lining and you will be left with tasty white fillets that can rival the palatable qualities of many other reputed table fish. SQUID AND CUTTLEFISH Both these cephalopod species should be around in great numbers over the coming weeks and months. As westerly winds increase clarity around the inshore areas, greater numbers of tiger and arrow squid will abound. These are commonly tempted with egi in the 1.2 to 2.5 size with reputable brands such as Yamashita, Yozuri and Daiwa Emeraldas being good options. During the darkened hours the squid will come closer to shore and are often easier to catch. Many use high powered head torches to firstly locate the squid before presenting the egi close by and hoping it will be to the squids liking. Often several egi changes over consecutive casts will be required before a candle (the squids longest tentacle) is thrown out to connect with the rowed barbs at the back of the egi. From here it is just a case of keeping the rod tip high and slowly winding in your prize. Out in Moreton Bay, squid are most common around the shallows of the bay islands and weed bed areas. Areas that provide cover for the chameleonlike squid (reef, rock, rubble, weed and discoloured bottom) are all worth trying when water

clarity is high. Usually egi in the 2.5 to 4.0 size are used in these more open water areas however a baited squid skewer will also tempt these tasty cephalopods. These can be suspended beneath a small float and drifted behind the boat whilst you are casting plastics around the bay islands or drift fishing baits for whiting around the Sand Hills and other flats areas. On the lower stages of the tide, squid will be forced into the channels adjacent these flats areas so these also offer another scenario to try. Cuttlefish will also abound in these same locales at times but are more likely in the deeper channel areas out from the bay islands plus the Rous and Small Ships Channel. Common technique is to drift egi close to the bottom. Usually this will require extra weighting of the egi, dependent on water depth and current. This can be achieved by adding weight to the actual egi or fishing it on a paternoster style rig with the weight on the bottom. The ideal scenario is to have the egi drifting within a few feet of the bottom without it fouling on the weed and other debris. Cuttle fish make great eating as well as being a prime bait for quality snapper. MULLOWAY With snapper off the menu for the latter half of July, many will target their efforts towards mulloway. I prefer them to snapper as an eating fish and they have a much greater yield of meat as well. Mulloway can be taken with the same aforementioned snapper techniques however specific targeting using larger lures and baits should increase results.

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Schools of snapper will often roam the artificial reefs and are usually easy to locate with a quality sounder. Presenting offerings in front of the roaming fish is usually successful. A more relaxed approach can be taken by using live baits, which emit vibration, allowing the mulloway will home in on them. Larger mullet, pike, slimeys and yakkas are prime however big banana prawns, herring and even biddies will suffice. Large fresh fillet baits, squid, cuttlefish and many others will work well. The Brisbane River produces some quality mulloway fairly consistently and deploying baits along the declines into the main river basin, Clara’s Rocks, around the Gateway Bridge Pylons, dredge holes at the river mouth, Caltex Reach and adjacent the numerous jetties and wharves (adhere to distance regulations) will likely reward, especially at night when boat traffic is minimised. I prefer to target mulloway using large soft plastic paddletail shads or prawn profiles rigged on a jighead and also soft vibes and blades. These are cast around the aforementioned areas or anywhere that offers good

baitfish concentration, such as leads beacons and bay island ledges. The larger mulloway are often not found in the larger schools like the smaller specimens with many of them being loners. These big fish can often be a bit more wary and harder to tempt, especially

on lures. Big baits are the way to go for the 15kg+ specimens if you are serious about catching one. Mulloway numbers are very healthy in Southern Queensland and I expect this winter to be another great season for them. TAILOR Already this year

there has been some good numbers of quality tailor taken in the Moreton Bay region. The land-based anglers have been getting results from platforms such as the Scarborough and Woody Point Jetties, Manly Rock Wall, Old Hornibrook Bridge, Raby Bay Canal Entrances

As westerly winds produce clearer water conditions, squid numbers will flourish throughout Moreton Bay and its foreshores.

and around the Gateway Bridge. Drifting whole fish baits a few metres below a float is usually rewarding. Boaties have been doing well also with tailor schools showing up around the bay islands, artificial reefs and occasionally in the channels adjacent the major banks areas. Tailor are a ravenous species and will attack a broad array of baits and lures. Casting out a pilchard, whitebait, hardihead, diver whiting or other small fish bait and allowing it to drift down through the water column is a good approach. Slowly retrieving it back to the surface will also attract strikes. All manner of lures will attract bites however when the tailor are actively feeding on schooled bait then a higher speed retrieve with a chromed slug, slice or blade will usually produce. Surface offerings such as walk-the-dog stickbaits and poppers are a fun way to catch them with exciting surface strikes. Trolling minnow lures along the retaining wall at the mouth or the Brisbane River can be very productive on an early morning or late afternoon rising tide. Snapper and cod are also likely to fall for this approach.

CONCLUSION With so much on offer, anglers will have a difficult decision as to what to target on their next trip out. This is great problem to have as results for a lot of species will be positive. Increased nutrient levels resulting in heightened baitfish numbers will draw a lot more quality species into the shallower Moreton Bay waters. More wary species, such as big snapper feel less conspicuous in the shallower waters when it is a little discoloured waters which heightens chances for the average angler to score great results. The water clarity will be dramatically affected by westerly winds at this time of the year. Although cold conditions can deter many, the quality of fishing on offer will usually make your early morning or late afternoon efforts worthwhile. Daytime sessions out in the winter sunshine, especially in calmer conditions make you feel lucky to be alive. With limited opportunities due to rain and wind for the first half of the year, anglers should relish the opportunity to get out, especially with such quality fishing on offer.

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Southern

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Success is in the planning NORTHERN BAY

Tackle World Lawnton

What an interesting time we have had since the floods earlier in the year. Finding a window to get out for a fish with persistent winds and rain patches has made it quite hard, but for those who have planned and taken the opportunity they have been rewarded with some good catches.

mixed in with other species. Sand crab catches have been exceptional after all the flushes we have had over the last five months. All in all the fishing has been good, and July is looking to be a great month no matter what type of fishing you like to do. ESTUARIES We can expect good fishing in the estuaries this month. Bream, winter whiting, tailor and flathead will be common catches.

presentations and they readily take lures of all types and sizes. My favourite way to target them is throwing soft plastics in areas where they may congregate. There is no right or wrong soft plastic to use, they eat them all – if one type isn’t working maybe try a different one. If there are still a few prawns around I would match the hatch, and try a prawn imitation. The most important thing when fishing soft plastics is

on the river systems where bait congregate. Get that plastic down to the bottom and give it some lifting jigs and wind in the slack line as the lure heads to the bottom again. Continue this all the way back to the boat. The more you practice this and refine your technique, the more flatties you will catch. Don’t forget if you are keeping a feed, release the big fish so they can breed. Current regulations for dusky flathead are a minimum of 40cm with a bag limit of five fish. If you catch a fish over the size of 75cm, it must be released. MORETON BAY Amongst other species, expect some good catches of mulloway, grunter, grassy sweetlip and snapper offshore in the bay this month. Snapper will be the main target species in the bay, and going by recent catching it’s

There was plenty of afternoon snapper fun on plastics.

Marley King with a nice flathead. The estuaries have been producing good catches of bream, flathead and some good reports of school mulloway for those who put in the hard work. For anglers that have been able to get offshore we have seen some excellent snapper caught

Flathead have been fishing well of recent in The Pine, Caboolture River and Pumicestone Passage, and it’s expected that they will continue to be in good numbers throughout July. Flathead can be caught on many bait

make sure the plastic gets to the bottom of the river. Adjust your jighead weight depending on the conditions you are fishing in. If the water current is flowing strong, then up the lure size. A good starting point by boat is head to the bridges

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Fresh out of the trap! Make sure you sort through and release the jennies. looking like a good snapper season this winter. Fishing the rubble grounds, artificial reefs and the inshore reefs off Redcliffe are your best bet of catching a feed. The low light periods are usually the best bite window when chasing the bigger fish, but it’s not uncommon to catch them throughout the day. A lightly weighted jerk shad type plastic is always a deadly way to catch snapper and they also readily take fresh baits. Snapper can be active in many parts of the water column and not just on the bottom, so be prepared as they can often hit when you don’t expect. With the water starting to clean up as well, we can expect squid number to increase. This is the best time of year to target them so get out those jigs and have a go! It’s also worth putting out some crabs pots as well this month. Recent catches of sand crab have been excellent recently and should continue over the next month or so.

will come into play this time of year and is a fun way to target them. Either cast and retrieve through the school of fish vertically for them while keeping an eye on your sounder. There are some big bass in these schools, so get out there and try and upgrade that personal best. Redclaw catches have also been good of late and hopefully there should be a few around still in July. On a side note, for those who fish the creeks for bass, just remember it’s now closed season for bass in tidal waters from 1 June to the 31 August. • For more up to date information on fishing in and around Brisbane call into the guys at Tackle World Lawnton and they can point you in the right direction. The friendly staff at Tackle World Lawnton cater to all levels

Schooled up dam bass are on the cards in July. FRESHWATER As with every winter, the schools of bass will start to congregate deep in spawn mode in our dams. Slow fall jigs and spoons

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Southern

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Cooler weather will make changes to the fishing NOOSA

Peter Wells

With winter well and truly with us, it is a little harder to get your nose out from under the doona, but with winter comes clear skies and quite often those favourable westerly winds that makes the run out super smooth. With the pelagic’s season pretty much behind us now, we are all thinking about the snapper season. With very little fishing pressure over the past few months there should be some great opportunities to pin some of those bigger fish. At this stage we are looking at another closure on both snapper and pearl perch from the 15 July to 15 August so we will have to target other species over this time. Sweetlip, cobia, mulloway and cod are all still on the menu along with some

Coby Thomas with a pigeon pair of amberjack from the Barwon banks. very sweet red fish from the northern reef systems. If you do manage to catch a snapper or pearl perch over the

closure having some release weights is essential. These will give the fish the best chance of survival along

Mark Stallan with a nice Maroochy River mouth tailor.

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with getting them down to their fishy homes before the sharks get to them. For those still looking for their pelagic fix, there are still some good tuna around, most fish have been taken around the northern areas like North Reef up to Double Island area. There are some good schools of mac tuna with some quality long tails amongst them. They are tending to feed to the north and are very flighty so if they are feeding on bait schools you will have to try to get to the north of them and let them come to you. The bait they are feeding on is quite small so smaller slug, small stick baits and lighter jigs are your best bet. Make sure you cast to the edges of the schools as casting to the centre can quite often spook them. Let your lure sink a little more as the bigger fish tend to hold that bit deeper. In the river, the past rains have certainly changed our approach as the water’s dirty. Whiting have been in good numbers as they love a bit of dirty water as it creates more cover, and they are happier to come up into the shallow waters to feed. This gives anglers that love to walk and cast smaller poppers and surface walkers some great opportunities. Areas like the Dog Beach and the Frying Pan in Noosa and Chambers Island, Picnic Point and Black Banks in the Maroochy are all perfect for this style of fishing. For bait anglers, a freshly pumped yabbies are hard for a tasty whiting to pass up. Flathead numbers should also be good in these areas, this fish will be feeding on small baitfish still running to more saline waters. These fish will be lying in the shallow waters sunning themselves and increasing their core temperatures in those warmer shallower waters. Fish the start of

the outgoing tide casting upstream and working a plastic or small fish bait back downstream. These fish are masters of camouflage and are quite happy to sit in 6” of water or less. As we see that blue water come into our river systems with the incoming tides, we will also see some quality trevally and tailor also chasing those smaller schools of bait. Fast moving jigs like the Gomoku Trick Metals in the 18g size are perfect for the job, they have an assist hook on the front and a treble on the rear making it easy to pin the fish. For bait anglers you will have to upsize those leaders to cope with the sharp teeth of the tailor. In the Noosa River, fish the current line at the mouth of Woods Bays, in the Maroochy River mouth, or Twin Waters weir is a great place to start. Bream will also hopefully return after all the rains earlier in the year to spawn as the salinity levels improve. This is the time of the year when we see those big breeding stocks in our rivers. The bigger models can be a little more challenging to catch as they are crafty and seem to be able to tell the difference between a bait

year and this has left plenty of exposed coffee rock, which is a great environment feeding fish. Hopefully this year’s tailor season will improve from the last couple of years, we have seen plenty of fish in our rivers but off the beaches has been quite poor. The prime area to hunt seem to be North of Teewah up towards Double Island and then of course over to Fraser Island. Reports from down south have been promising so hopefully the fish will hold along the coast and not swim offshore like previous years. Prime times to fish are those bigger tides around the moon phases early morning or dusk. Casting lures like the Halco Twisty can be a good way to target them, but for the best results the good old pilchard is ideal. Those bigger bream and tarwhine have been plentiful around the coffee rock all the way up and down the coast. Lighter setups using rods like the Gary Howard Breambo, or the Dart are perfect for the job. These rods can come suited to both spin and Alvey. Lighter lines up to about 8lb and light fluorocarbon leader. Baits of worms, pipis prawn, small crabs or strip baits of mullet

Chris with a stunning snapper off the Gneerings. with a hook in it and one that has not. The best bit of info we can give you is to keep everything lightly weighted, light lines, light fluorocarbon leaders and of course very little sinker weight. If you do all this, you may be in with a chance of tricking one of the bigger ones. On the beaches there has been plenty of erosion after the big swells earlier in the

have all worked well. • Don’t forget to check in to www.fishingnoosa.com. au for all the latest up to date info on fishing and bar crossings. The knowledgeable teams at Tackle World Noosa and Northshore Bait & Tackle at Marcoola can provide you with the right equipment, bait and advice to ensure success!

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Winning in the westerlies BUNDABERG

Luke Truant

Good weather windows have been limited in recent months, but when we’ve hit the water the fishing has usually been red-hot for red emperor and other popular target species.

visibility, baits have been working better than lures. At this time of year the Spanish tend to be bigger fish, and that’s true at the moment; nearly all of ours have been 10kg+. Interestingly in the bait grounds (i.e. at the end of the lateral marks where we catch the yellowtail scad), nearly

a 45° wind as fast as I can. I use around 15cm of 40lb thin wire trace down to the lure. A tip for young players – a 3m long mono trace (I use 40lb) will stop you from winding your lure into your face. When you hear the mono touch the rod you know to stop winding. On a recent trip we found

tuna baits differently from the rest of my baits. If I was to run a long mullet strip, I would weave the hook in 3-4 times. With mac tuna though, I’ll cut vertical strips off a big fillet, creating 10-15cm long baits, and I’ll just do a double weave at one end and let the majority hang off. This is because the skin is so tough that it takes a fair bit of punishment for it to come off. You’ll sometimes get mac tuna as bycatch when targeting mackerel, but you can also catch them throwing small slugs at the busting schools, such as a 40g Sniper or 38g Sea Rock. I like the Sea Rock because it creates a bubble trail which gets the tuna excited, but the lure doesn’t jump out during a fast retrieve, like some other lures can. When I use chrome lures I always put a small roller

Lure colour doesn’t seem to matter with pelagics. This lure has caught 25-30 Spanish, a few schoolies and half dozen mac tuna. Maori cod, there’s layer of fatty meat you can tear off near the dorsal fin before you cook it. Once the fat is removed, the rest of the fish will be delicious. We have also been picking up big tuskfish up to 5kg, and bucketloads of 60cm+ red

Ryan caught this Spanish mackerel on a Laser Pro. The fishing for the grass emperor, however, has tapered off significantly, as is usual for this time of year. In recent weeks we have been catching only around a couple a day. Their numbers probably won’t pick up again until late summer. The Spanish mackerel have been hanging around, and bizarrely they have been getting caught in dirty water. At the time of writing we still have flood run-off, and the mackerel are in feeding amongst the brown water. Because of the reduced

every drop we are losing a jig, or a fish hooked on a jig, to school mackerel. The schoolies are really thick. If you want to actively target schoolies you can drift out an unweighted livie rigged on a stinger rig. You want that second hook because the schoolies usually eat the rear half of the fish first. Alternatively, you can just float out a ganged pilchard. If the water is clear, a 40g Twisty or similar can also catch plenty of schoolies. I like to cast out, let the lure drop to the bottom, then make

some clean water, looked for bait on the bottom, and trolled at 6 knots with Halco Laser Pros in 2m and 6m. The result was two schoolies, two large mac tuna, and a 14kg Spanish in only 10 minutes. From what I have noticed, losing the paint on your lures doesn’t make a lot of difference for these speedsters – which would indicate that colour doesn’t matter too much. After a 10kg mackerel, even the best hooks will start to straighten a little bit, so you should replace them often to avoid disappointment. As soon as they start aging, you’ll get fewer solid hook-ups; the strike will be on for only 3-5 seconds before the fish is gone. I run VMC trebles for mackerel. I find that if one barb comes out due to the leverage put on the lure, another barb will often rotate around and pin the mackerel. The trout bite has been off the charts, as it usually is at this time of year. The standout bait, aside from live baits, is mac tuna. I rig mac

Chris with a red emperor that snaffled a livie. swivel on the leading split ring on all of them. The smaller the roller bearing the better, generally, to make the lure swim better and minimise line twisting. The shallow water and the deep water has all been firing, yielding a range of fish. We’ve been seeing blue Maori (cattle dogs) up to 10kg+, and heaps of brown Maori cod around the 2kg mark. These fish cannot resist a live bait, and when you drop down that’s often the first fish you’ll pull up. If you’re anchored, never expect to catch one brown Maori – you’re nearly always going to catch at least a couple. When you eat brown

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Anglers have been catching good-sized blue Maori cod (cattle dog cod).

emperor are still on the chew, especially in that shelfy area between the top of Fraser and Lady Elliot. The trout are biting well too, and nearly all of the trout we catch are solid specimens. We caught a trout the other day that measured 80cm (about 6kg), caught by an angler on his first time reef fishing. The reason we consistently catch big trout is because we use big baits. Whole hussar fillets, hussar wings (the wings take more scalps than anything), hussar heads, live baits and massive tuna chunks are all working well. If you look at your bait and think, “that’s too big for a trout bait”, send it out anyway. When you fish big baits though, don’t leave them there for a long time. If it’s down there for more than two minutes with no result, you won’t get a fish on it. Pull it up and change the bait. Some days the fish will take one bait and not the other. Another important factor is to get someone fishing a smaller bait while someone else fishes a big bait. The small bait will get the pickers going, creating excitement to get the attention of larger fish. And who knows – you might be lucky enough to snag a good fish on a small bait. Recently I was fishing

with tiny squares of mullet to create underwater excitement so my clients could get fish on their bigger baits, and I got a 3kg trout on a 2cm square of mullet fillet. Snapper catches out of Bundy lately have been fantastic. My business partner recently went to the Cochran artificial reef and bagged out in record time. The average size on his trip was around 65cm, and they were caught on mullet fillets. Just remember that the closed season starts soon – it runs from 15 July through until 15 August. JULY FISHING In July the westerlies typically kick in, and those westerly days are usually the best days for fishing. The westerlies tend to blow 15-20 knots offshore until about 11am, and then conditions generally become calmer, giving you a nice trip home in the afternoon. On the days when the westerly is forecast to stay up all day, don’t go out. If you do, you can expect a very long, hard trip home. When it comes to the best time of day to fish, your best chances are before 11am and after 2pm. Fishing in the dark with no moon is rarely fruitful. You should fish until just after the sun goes down, and once it’s black it’s time to pack up. July is normally when the trout seem to taper off somewhat and the reds pick up. However, this year may be different because the reds got really thick earlier than usual. Time will tell. • Truansea Charters specialise in 10-hour day trips chasing prized reef targets such as coral trout and red emperor, as well as arm-stretching pelagics like Spanish mackerel. The maximum number of anglers is 6, so you’ll never feel crowded. The price is $350pp (or $330pp if you book the whole boat), which includes all gear, fuel, bait, ice, chilled water/soft drinks and laughs! You’re welcome to bring your own reef fishing gear if you prefer. Other charter options include half-day reef trips, half day river trips and private guiding. To find out more visit www.truansea.com.au, or you can Like them on Facebook or call Luke on 0423 015 490.

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AUSTRALIAN LURE EXPO JULY 2022

Central

OLD

Winter species regulars crave the clean water find the warmest waters and good side imaging sounders will pinpoint the areas where the fish are holding. While dam barra can be particularly tricky to catch during winter, live imaging shows that barra are always mooching around will almost always take a good look at a nearby

MACKAY

Cameron Christian

Last month saw plenty of rain and the conditions are really starting to cool down. Fishing during July should depend on more rain and clean water for the inshore winter regulars, like mackerel, queenfish and snapper. On nice calm days Spanish mackerel, along with greys, should be accessible from decent tinnies around spots like Reichlemans Reef, Round Top Island and the outer edge of Slade Island or Danger Reef. Other popular spots are the harbour walls but activity will heavily depend on N/NE wind, clean water and if schools of bait have been pushed into the area. Spanish mackerel are commonly caught trolling gar/squid head combos or wolf herring down deep, advice from local tackle stores should be sought for how to rig these baits properly. If Spanish mackerel are found on the

Big fat barra will brave the cold for a tasty morsel. help to find the fish but locating where the schools of bait are holding is most important. Baits for snapper include squid, pilchards, cut baits and large prawn while

after release. Whiting and flathead should continue their prominence while the cool weather hangs around, common tactics include focusing on sand flats, mud flats, rubble patches and yabby beds. These areas can be found teeming with flathead and whiting right through the Pioneer River and can be best targeted by working up with the tide from the mouth all the way up to the hospital bridge. The Bassett Basin can also be worked in this fashion again focusing on the sand and mud flats. Best baits include worms and yabbies but in a hot bite, strips of squid provide a more durable option. Lures include small soft plastics hopped along the bottom, shallow divers worked along a flat or very small poppers finessed erratically.

Squid are another great feed available during the cooler weather. Popular spots include around the lights at the harbour jetties at night or around Round Top and Flat Top Island. Squid are commonly caught as by-catch on a variety of lures like divers and metal slugs however hooking them properly can be a challenge, hence squid jigs should be kept nearby and deployed when good numbers are found. The dose of rain during May has injected plenty of water in Teemburra and Eungulla and, with cold weather around, barra will be docile but still available for the persistent angler. Focusing on known bite times particularly around late afternoon to early evening (the warmest part of day) should increase odds. Following the wind should

Tim Swann with a nice Spanish mackerel caught on live bait floated out on a stinger rig. lure, getting them to bite can seem impossible. Sooty action remains all year round and the Mackay Tournament Anglers sooty comps are in full swing. Recent comps have seen plenty of quality sooty caught from both the weeds and timber. While fishing the timber, anglers typically focus on treetops, big stumps and around

There are plenty of smaller sooty mixed in with the monsters at Eungulla. surface, live baits may be floated using balloons or similar, again proper rigging for correct presentation is essential. If schools of grey mackerel are found, old busted up barra lures like Halcos, Reidy’s and Tilsans can be an affordable trolling option. Snapper are around on their annual spawning run and some can be caught from close inshore spots like Flat Top and Round Top islands and the harbour rock walls. On calm days however the boat ramps will be full of anglers looking to head out to spots like Danger Reef, Reichlemans Reef and the islands out from Sarina. Looking for structure will 36

JULY 2022

shag roosts. Accurate casts tight into the structure often result in immediate hook-ups but working the lure all the way to the boat is important, as many will follow a lure right out of the structure and into the open water. Live imaging also often shows sooties moving between trees so even a bad

large soft plastics and soft vibes are proving reliable lure options. Regardless of lure or bait choice it is important to adjust lead weights depending on the run, with large tidal movements easily pushing offerings away from the bait schools as they fall through the water column. Finding the bait, drifting over and jigging through the schools typically find plenty of queenfish and golden trevally which like to mix in with the snapper. Both are great fighting by-catch and are good eating when prepared properly, which is important to consider when fishing deeper water due to the poor survival rates

Keegan Hayden with a great sooty caught from the treetops at Eungulla during MTA’s May sooty comp.

cast should be worked with a good retrieve. The rain during May has currently placed the weed edge below the water and has left most of the weed banks with a shallow flat followed by a steep or tapered edge to the open water. When the weeds are like this, finding the edge using side imaging and sitting right on top allows casts to be fanned in all directions. Over the flats, shallow divers or surface lures can be easily used, but vibes are still a great option and can be worked by holding the rod tip high, using monofilament leader and slightly increasing retrieve rate. Fishing over the shallow flats will often require ripping through a lot of weed but persistence will result in many hook-ups as soon as the lure hits the water. Vibes, divers and soft plastics can also be worked deeper down and parallel to the edge. These lures may also be cast perpendicular to the edge and slowly rolled up the weed face. Whether fishing the weeds or timber, looking for bait should help to find where the fish are holding, with the amount of feeding activity often increasing in the weeks around the full moon.

OLD

A special tribute to Roy TOWNSVILLE

Dave Hodge

First of all I’d like to pay my respects to someone who was recently killed in a horrific accident not far from Townsville: my mate Andrew ‘Roy’ Symonds. It was a strange set of circumstances that led to him becoming a mate. We were both attending the Boyne Tannum Hookup 16 years ago, and there was a buzz out the back of the stage area, and people were being so super respectful of this guy sitting all alone on a seat overlooking the River at Bray park. Everyone was whispering, “That’s

the side of his neck and said “Here mate, get one of these up ya,” and he swung around with that big smile of his and said, “You’ll do me mate, pull up a seat”. That was the beginning of a mateship that saw us fish, camp and live together at various times over the coming years. Once when I left my partner at the time and didn’t know where to go or what to do, he threw me the house keys and said, “Here mate, live here as long as you want”. That’s the type of bloke he was. Many’s the time we’d pull up at a servo for fuel on the way fishing and end up spending 40 minutes while he signed things for people, and

got in the way of our trips, but every time we’d see each other it was just like normal, the way mates should be. He was one of the most loyal and generous individuals I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. Never once did I see him flustered or frustrated by an inconvenience, such as a breakdown, one of our failed cooking attempts, or bad weather. When we both found ourselves living in Townsville about 10 years ago, the first thing we organised was a fishing trip over at Cape Cleveland, and it absolutely poured on us for hours. We stood looking at each other laughing and shaking our heads at our ridiculous commitment to fishing, and never-say-die Cold weather doesn’t mean fish stop feeding, it just means you have to try other things to get a bite. Tannhym cut the nose of this Paddle Prawn down to imitate a popper on an unweighted hook to nail this jack. event often got raised down the track. Memories like these never seem to fade. Anyway, after the years of media looking for dirt on Roy, now they can reveal what an incredible bloke he really was, instead of looking for negatives. I will never forget our fishing and camping trips, or the incredible things he did for me and so many others he met throughout his life. RIP Roy.

I’ve found that 3” soft plastic prawn imitations (e.g. Atomic Prong) are a pretty consistent size for the barras as they feast on jelly prawns. Lighter line is needed to fish them effectively. Surface lures, too, need to be downsized a little for the colder months. FLATS It’s common to find schools of barra in open waters as the flats flood and the warmer mud banks

emperor are one of my favourite table fish. Smaller than you may think, the 4” Atomic Prongs and the 5” Halco Paddle Prawns are our go-to lures, but fishing them on relatively light line ends in a limp leader sometimes. 30lb spin or baitcasters are a great fun way to fish the shallow 4-10m bommies and reef, and leaders about 40lb will see more bites than the traditional heavy leaders of

An all-rounder on the field and on the water, Roy didn’t care what he was catching as long as it pulled line. Andrew Symonds,” and there was almost a reverence in their body language, and no one wanted to interrupt or ‘annoy’ this guy out of sheer respect. I remember thinking that this poor guy looked like he needed a rum, so I went to the freezer and grabbed out two icy cold rums, walked over and put one of the cans up to

had selfies taken with them. Much as he enjoyed living out of the public eye, he never shunned anyone who wanted to meet him, and he never complained. Roy was truly the all-Aussie bloke, and the more remote and rough our camps were, the more he loved it. During the last couple of years, life

attitudes, agreeing that we must be mad to be out there in that sort of weather. It seemed something exceptional happened whenever we hit the water, and I remember once out the Cape chasing barra and jacks I hooked a baby black marlin on a hardbody. For hours we laughed at my fluke, and that

Andrew ‘Roy’ Symonds was an amazing angler and great bloke. He will be sadly missed.

Red-throat are one of the toughest fish you can meet while flicking lures at the reef. They are also excellent on the plate.

CREEKS The creeks are fishing well at the moment but they should have a bit of a quiet spell as the weather becomes a bit cooler. The salmon are thick in some systems and are a great sportfish on light line. Smaller soft lures and surface lures will bring them undone. I don’t really rate them as an eating fish, but they’re hard to beat on the end of a line. They are pretty cool sportfish. The usual suspects like tarpon, GTs and so on will help you fill in time between species like barra, which should start to take tiny lures by the time you read this.

get inundated with bait and prawns seeking refuge in the mangroves. However, the timing can be a bit difficult if your boat draws a fair sort of water. When the tide is about a foot deep and rising is the time to be there. Be ready to cast at moving fish and bow waves. REEFS AND OFFSHORE The weather has been glorious and many boats have been able to get out wide and to the inshore reefs with good captures of trout, nannygai and red-throat emperor, just to name a few. I love throwing softies at these things when I get the chance, and red-throat

60lb+. The same rules apply though, and when you get a hit you should go hard at it straight away. Contrary to what you may have heard, Spanish mackerel are going extremely well for those trolling the faithful old Laser Pros and also wolfies. Some smaller billfish have been reported, and this season should be a cracker if all the indicators are anything to go by. Small gar and mullet are ideal for them, and there will be many plenty of incidental captures along the way. Until next time, good luck and stay safe. JULY 2022

OLD

Warm species acclimatise quickly to the cold HINCHINBROOK

Ian Moody info@ianmoodyfishing.com

Not that it gets really that cold up here in North Queensland but for some inshore species it certainly

to hold a lot of fish on the outgoing tides. The biggest threadfin we managed to boat was only 102cm but there were quite a few that just didn’t connect and got their freedom quickly. Most fish fell to slow rolled hardbody lures, one

Chris was just shy of the magic-metre mark, with this 95cm barra.

Brian Ellis with a decent fingermark. doesn’t make them want to get out of bed. However, generally for species like barramundi, they tend to become accustomed to the new lower water temps after a few weeks and will then go about their normal feeding habits. Some days where the mercury can drop to around 18ºC can make things almost impossible, but the average lately has been 22ºC, which still becomes very do-able. Finally, I got long time regular clients from Melbourne up here after a failed attempt due to Covid and bad weather. They got to experience some really nice weather and good fishing too. They got threadfin and barra on their first few days while plugging a rather generous rocky headland that seemed

JULY 2022

being the Scaleblazer 125 from Ryan Moody Fishing. Live baits of herring and mullet were fairly well

ignored or only seemed to attract sharks. The same has been for the barra as well in recent weeks as the water temp has cooled down, and most fish were ignoring baits and preferring hardbody lures. The retrieve on such lures is super important to get a fairly lethargic winter barra to have a go. Showing

my clients how it is done certainly opened their eyes as to how they will cast lures for them in the future. From now and over the next few colder months it will be a good time for inshore pelagics and reds. Areas near Gould Island and the back of Hinchinbrook will see schools of queenfish,

golden trevally and Spanish mackerel showing a greater presence, we just have to hope the sharks keep away when we find them. The Lucinda Jetty is a

seen from 20-40 large queenies caught in a very short time. However, the shark population seems to get worse year by year. Grunter have been around in very good numbers and some real stonkers are among them as well. Smaller mullet baits set near the bottom will often produce good sessions. The weather during July here at Hinchinbrook can be quite pleasant and is a great time of year to fish if you hate being out in the hot sunny days in summer. Can be some real flat calm conditions and magic days in between spells of trade wind rough weather. My new vessel for offshore charters is now quite advanced in its construction and looking forward to getting it up and going for late this year or

Neil Simpson with 95cm of beautiful threadfin.

Bernie with a stonker sized grunter.

popular place for a wide range of species during winter. At times large fingermark and even big barra frequent the pylons along with the queenies, tuna and mackerel. High speed retrieving metal slices around here will get you some fun, as well as using vibes and jigs. Recent charters here have

early next year. Here’s hoping to some more days of lighter winds. • There are still a few spots available left for this year’s barra season for bookings so if your looking to come to Hinchinbrook to discover its variety of fish and wish to book a charter, you can email us at info@ianmoodysportfishing. com with your enquiry.

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OLD

Tropical July tactics CAIRNS

Dan Kaggelis dkaggelis@gmail.com

One of the benefits of living in Far North Queensland is whilst the rest of the country is shivering through winter, we are living it up with mild temperatures, blue skies and plenty of sun. This stable pattern of weather

also a good idea. These fish will also be a little harder to convince so if you are lure fishing put a few extra casts in the same snag to try and seal the deal. My favourite plastic for this time of year is the 3.5” Molix submission as it is a thin baitfish profile, which still snares good-sized fish. The other trick is to change your target species through these months. Fish,

during these cooler months are Spanish mackerel. That’s right, during the cooler months, these fish will move into the mouth of the Cairns Inlet. There have already been a few caught this year and whilst a strange catch they are not so uncommon. Floating baits such as a ganged pilchard or even live baits sitting high in the water column, are always good options when targeting these

Small lures catch big fish in the cooler months.

Simply sensational PORT DOUGLAS

Lynton Heffer www.fishingportdouglas.com.au

Jacks love smaller lures as well. can make the fishing really good in the Trinity Net Free Zone even though water temperatures are down. The secret to fishing the NFZ in these conditions is to change things up a bit. First of all, if you are chasing barramundi or mangrove jack, dropping your lure size down is a great place to start. Instead of using 4-4.5” plastics drop down to 3” plastics and even smaller if you can. Smaller vibes are

like grunter, come on the chew through winter and the hospital flats in Cairns on a rising tide is a great place to start with these fish. They do respond best to bait fishing so squid or freshly caught prawns or herring fished on a very lightly weighted running ball set up is ideal. Getting a good berley trail going is also a very good idea. One of the stranger captures the Trinity NFZ sees

fish. Just make sure you are using some wire as they will make short work of your mono or fluorocarbon trace. Finally, the last species that will be on the move through July will be the mud crab. They have been a slow to start this year but they will be coming on in good numbers through July in all systems in the Trinity Net Free Zone. It certainly will pay to drop a pot in if you are wetting a line.

Nothing like a big feed of mud crab and July is a very good month to chase them. 42

JULY 2022

Our tropical waters have ‘gone off the Richter scale’ in recent times and we’ve experienced some of the best angling possibly available. A mild start to the winter cycle, associated with some wonderful conditions has accelerated our results to the highest of levels.

I guess we have to start with the outer reef, which has seen a plethora of species come on the bite in a serious manner with the change of the seasons. It’s hard where to start but we’ll rattle off the many types of species that have have come to the forefront. Red emperor, large and small mouth nannygai, coral trout, cobia, Spanish mackerel, spangled emperor, long tail tuna, giant trevally, bludger and

gold spot trevally plus a few other bread and butter species, such as stripeys and sweetlip. Some others that have turned up, and not too many would be familiar with, have included Bowen snapper, baldy bream and tomato cod. In short it has been impressive on most days and the sizes of fish have been of considerable proportions. We expect

There’s lots on offer this winter for anglers.

To page 43

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Windy winter windings COOKTOWN

Justin Coventry

The cooler months are upon us and the fishing can get tough, but dedicated and persistent fishos are still out there getting results. There wasn’t much of a wet season this year up north but we still had some good

fish ignore the offering and slowly swimming away. There have been, however, a few caught at the right times with the tides running out and activity increasing to where some fall for a small lure placed in the right area. Night seems the best and some persistent young lads have had some success with watching for any activity

such energy and put on quite a show. They are also not too bad eaten fresh, but are easily released if done quickly. Mackerel may start running soon and the activity at the wharf will increase as they show up in numbers, which is more likely as we head into August and September. Live herring are the best and they are usually in large schools when they come. Mackerel are regularly feeding on them at the river entrance, so bait is readily available and can be easily caught on a bait jig. Kids love doing this and it keeps them occupied and having a good time. With the bait schools hanging around the wharf you should cast the bait out in the current with no sinker and a little bit of trace and let the tide take it in the current. The lone bait drifting through

Martin with a decent queenfish.

Kaiden Teece with a queenfish caught at sunset. rains. The rivers are clear again and the water looks amazing but the temperature drop has shut things down a bit. The local wharf has seen some nice sized barramundi hanging around and with the clear water are sometimes easy to see, but getting them to bite is the hard part. The boofs of feeding barramundi gets the blood pumping but what they are feeding on is so small and throwing anything of increased size sees the From page 42

this trend to continue for the coming months with the added bonus that we’ll start to offer serious light tackle trips for the small black marlin, which are due for their annual parade. The only factor stopping us moving forward in a favourable manner is if the traditional trade winds from the southeast get aggressive. Currently though, the weather pattern has been very stable. Inshore our fisheries have also been productive with a few subtle changes as the days get cooler. Proper estuary systems have been quite good for mangrove jack and river

that may indicate a good bite window. Observing the activity around you can be a good way to notice the right times and better opportunities to entice a bite. The bait has also started to show up and some nice queenfish and trevally are starting to liven things up a bit. The rock walls have been a good spot to throw some lures out and see if they are patrolling the area. They are a great sport fish and jump madly around with trevally. Mud crabbing has also flourished in the same systems. Our major rivers have been equally impressive with javelin fish exceeding 55cm across the flats with big queenfish and golden trevally dominating the deeper channels. Heavy snagged banks are still continuing to produce good results on the fingermark with the barra slowly tapering off with the colder weather. Looking forward, the outer reef should see the action continue nicely with our major rivers, such as the Daintree, having some real highlights as well. Booking ahead is imperative as the region is already set for one of its biggest years in recent memory.

Roly with a nice barramundi caught from the rock wall. the open water unprotected by the school and structure is hard to resist by these hungry predators. There can be some big specimens and I have seen some big Spanish over the years, but some can just be too good for land-based fishing and can take considerable line on their first runs and there is lots of obstacles around to contend with at the wharf. Also, the ever-present danger of the resident gropers waiting to help themselves to a tired-out fish close to the wharf. Many good fish have been lost to these unfillable underwater giants. The reef fishing is almost a dream now with the constant SE winds blowing and seas so choppy that it would be a brave, or should I say insane, fisher that heads out to the reef in such conditions. But everyone

here will be still hopeful that a break in winds might appear to make the dash out to replenish their coral trout supplies possible. However, not much chance but you must be ready just in case a miracle occurs. Heading out to some Cape rivers will hopefully be almost the first opportunity to fish some campsites in Lakefield National Park as the northern section should be open this month. Fishing will be a little quiet with winter temperatures in full swing but still should be some action and some great places to explore. Sometimes just getting away is worth it and what better place to be then enjoying our national parks and boating and fishing for the best sportfish there is in our river systems, the barramundi. Rescinding waterways and tidal runs can produce at times even in winter so get there and give it a go.

Sam Ryder with a nighttime barramundi fishing effort. JULY 2022

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Changes as water temp drops CAPE YORK

Tim O’Reilly wildrivercompany@gmail.com

July in Cape York is a southerners version of tropical perfection, but it is usually the first month of the year when temperatures actually decrease with any real significance. The real change up for the fishing comes in dropping water temperatures. Barramundi fishing is one of the most famous fishing pastimes up the Cape and, although they still get caught, numbers definitely start declining in captures and most serious fishers try and switch their

You can find black jewfish on the shallow onshore reefs and riverine rock bars. months, all of it is very accessible from relatively small craft. Schools of northern bluefin tuna will usually be found down this stretch of coastline, intermixed with ravaging packs of mac tuna. Casting metal slugs and slices is a fantastic way to get your arms stretched, usually within a few kilometres of the coastline. Heading out to the contour lines on most modern plotters and making use of depth sounder technology to

Metre long queenfish will show up in packs during winter. these speedsters will be sitting below the surface terrorising them. Coming into the shallow onshore reefs and riverine rock bars, black

Barrier Reef side of the Cape during the winter months. If the weather gods allow it, fishing up shallow on the reef flats and edges for coral trout and a host of other hard-

Chris was very happy with his GT capture. attention to other species. Both sides of Cape York have similar conditions, however the moisture laden sou’east trade winds can make fishing the East Coast a tricky experience. With this consistent wind brought about by high pressure

systems in the bottom half of the continent, things can get tough for the offshore brigade. This gives the East Coast a self-imposed catch restriction for a good part of the year. It’s a different story all together on the West

Coast, as the trade winds generally blow offshore. Light tackle sports fishing becomes a serious game plan for many Cape York travellers venturing in to this area. The full range of fishing opportunities exists right throughout the winter

Andy had a great time fishing the Cape, especially when he caught fish like this permit.

Barramundi can still get caught through winter at the Cape, as Rob Archer found out. 44

JULY 2022

find bait patches is hugely productive. Besides the dead giveaway, tuna schools erupting on the surface with birds flitting around, other blue (or in this case green) water species will be close at hand. Spanish mackerel, grey and spotted mackerel, cobia, giant trevally, golden trevally, bludger trevally and large queenfish live on the bait schools around the contour lines. Even if bait schools can’t be located on the surface, many of

jewfish and golden snapper will be making up captures of those fishing vibes, jigs and bait close to the bottom. Sometimes sneaking up into water between 10-4m, these fish go hard and often win the battle in shallow country. Working the deeper offshore reefs on the West Coast will find these fish in 12-25m. Other fish, such as nannygai and red emperor, will join the party out wide on the West Coast. The reef fishing can be superb over on the Great

fishing reef dwellers can be excellent. It helps that water temperatures are cooler this time of year, attracting these fish up into shallow water on the reef tops. July can be a fantastic month to be travelling Cape York with a huge array of travelling and fishing options available. The roads up the Cape will normally be graded and near their best, making travel a breeze amidst plenty of other travellers busily exploring the Cape.

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Pick your days and you will catch plenty of fish TOOWOOMBA

Jason Ehrlich fishability1@bigpond.com

The coldest months are here and they can make the freshwater fishing a lot tougher. The windy days

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are my least favourite and I try to avoid fishing on these. The fish seem to feel it too and seem to bite better when the weather is stable and more pleasant. Factor this in if you are planning a trip and head out when the days are warmer and more enjoyable. The continuing rain events at the beginning of the year have left some of

our lakes very dirty. This muddied water makes luring tougher and strongly influences lure choices. Winter is often a time for more subtle presentations but you may need to use the rattle and flash of some lures to ensure the fish know they are there. Hunting is based less on sight and more on feel and noise when visibility is

reduced. While some dams are dirty, others clear up quickly and we’ll focus on these this month. New options will be available after all this rain and flooding. Escaped fish will make their way passed dam wall and head downstream into the rivers and creeks. Remember the rules can be different here. Take heed of closed seasons

if they apply. If you are chasing bass, you can target them through closed season provided you are above a weir separating the fresh from tidal waters. The cod closed season isn’t far away so make sure you are up to speed on the rules as they are different in the rivers and creeks to the stocked dams. The Australian Lure

Show is back with a long list of exhibitors from around the country. It is being held at Fernvale Showgrounds on Saturday the 30 July. It’s a one day event so don’t miss out and be sure to save up your hard earned dollars. You’ll never see so many unique lures and hard work gone into preparing them. Until next month, buckled rods from the Colonel.

SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND CRESSBROOK CLOSEST TOWN: CROWS NEST The dam was still running over in June and any further rain is likely to send it over again. The council has been closing the dam while it is spilling but if I had to guess, it should be open this month and the water quite fishable. The second big inflow this year sent the dam water level well over a metre over the spillway. I really hope the fish didn’t hitch a ride with the moving water as it already seems hard to find numbers in this dam. It had just started to fish quite well prior to this rain and I feel it should be okay this month as far as winter fishing goes. The grass and weeds were flooded when the dam filled at the start of the year and the die off had already taken place. The follow up flooding rain would have just flushed the system a little more without changing water level. The bass and golden perch are likely to be up the top end of Cressbrook Creek. The water flowing in introduces oxygen and the fish seem to love this and bunch up more in the area. Throughout the dam there will be a few smaller schools around the major points. A few bigger flats will now be back in play with the dam level being higher. Sounding for a long time can be necessary to locate these fish and stand any chance of boating good numbers. Suspending jerkbaits

and Spectre Vibration Jigs fished to the edges should draw some interest. If fish are found deeper in schools, try working spoons through them. • Fish’n’Bits in Toowoomba has all the gear and tips on how to chase the Cressy fish. They are an excellent store specialising in all freshwater lures and tackle. The dam is on winter hours so the gates will be open from 7am to 6pm. SOMERSET CLOSEST TOWNS: ESK, KILCOY It is going to be tough this month at Somerset. The water is still dirty and the fish will be hard work. Hopefully when they school more at the end of winter it will align with the water clearing up more to suit all forms of luring. Bait fishermen will do well when using live shrimp. Fishing with flashy, vibrating lures isn’t usually the best winter approach but while the water is dirty, it will be the best option. By the time this report comes out, there will have been a bass tournament held on the lake. It will be interesting to see what the field of talented anglers can work out to lure these fish. Will it be schools that produce or spinnerbaiting to the edges at the top end of the dam? • Somerset Fishing has their store based at the area above the day use boat ramp. The store is open over holidays and otherwise from Thursday to Sunday. Orders can also be made online via the website www.

If you are chasing bass in the rivers and creeks be aware of the closed season in tidal waters. Tim Carter caught this one well above weirs and tidal influence. somersetfishing.com.au . They have an excellent range of gear suited to fishing for bass and golden perch. MAROON CLOSEST TOWNS: BOONAH, RATHDOWNEY Lake Maroon is one of the few lakes that recovers quickly after significant rainfall. The water clears up fast and the bass population should be willing to play. The basin and start of the timbered area should hold good numbers of fish around

the edges. These bass will be more inclined to take subtle presentations if the water is clear. Suspending hardbodies are a great way to catch them and you can start with jerkbaits high in the water column early in the day and then gradually switch to deeper lures as the fish move deeper with the rising sun. Soft plastics are also effective over winter months. They can be fished up around the edges and any weed growth for the better

quality fish. The deeper schooling bass are often smaller and can be fooled with soft plastics, blade baits and spoons. • The lads at Charltons Fishing at Redbank are all over the fish activity at Maroon and Moogerah. Call in and grab your supplies and hit them up for tips on where the fish are biting. You’ll also catch them on the 30 July at this year’s year’s Lure Show at Fernvale.

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3201 6232

217 Pine Mountain Road, BRASSALL 46

JULY 2022

Beetle spins are a great lure that are often forgotten. They are a good choice when you are looking for something less subtle than a spinnerbait but with more noise and flash than a soft plastic.

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once you get transducer alignment dialled in. There’s a lot of water to explore now the level is higher than previous years. This will mean a lot of time and work will be necessary to find better numbers of fish. Morning sessions starting before first light are my favourite. The cod are most active until midmorning and are also worth a shot late in the afternoon and even through the night. Surface presentations with big paddlers, and wakebaits can draw some explosive

strikes from the rocky shorelines. If the water has good visibility, swimbaits will be the way to entice them when the sun is higher. Don’t be afraid to use big lures as the cod will pick up on their presence easier. I believe smaller lures give off less vibration and are more suited to crystal clear water. If rain dirties the water, opt for big spinnerbaits and chatterbaits. COOBY CLOSEST TOWNS: HIGHFIELDS, TOOWOOMBA Cooby was closed last month due to it still spilling.

It fished surprisingly well prior to the closure and will be worth a look for some winter goldens. Murray cod have been hard work and are very few and far between. Despite the water being cold, golden perch are still quite active. Lure trolling will no longer be effective but jigging blades will get them to bite. The ZX40 is perfect and can be hopped close to vertically all around the boat. Live shrimp and saltwater yabbies will also get the fish biting. Try the warmer days when the fish are likely to be more willing to play.

LESLIE CLOSEST TOWN: WARWICK The fishing was still pretty good last month and Leslie produces big numbers of golden perch some winters. Trolling and casting lures gets tougher and the fish prefer vertical presentations with small blades and soft vibes. These lures can be fished around structure in 5m of water. I feel structure plays a more important role in winter. Murray cod are a good possibility for those specifically targeting them. Casting spinnerbaits and

chatterbaits to the rocks and drop-offs is always worth a shot. The water hasn’t really had the chance to clear right up but if it does get better, swimbaits will come into their own. Exploring the shallower flats early in the mornings with big casts has been the undoing of many cod in this lake. • The local blokes at Warwick Outdoor and Sport in Palmerin Street can point in you in the right direction and hook you up with the good gear and bait to catch the fish at Leslie.

it rather than filling from a catchment. With all the rain, there has been little need for irrigation and the lake is staying full just from all the rainfall. No need for pumping from the river means the water is nice and

clear and very well suited to lure fishing. Being a bit further north and not far from the coast also means the fish don’t experience as much cold weather. This makes it one of the best bass winter fisheries. The clearer water has allowed the weed beds to

stay healthy. These weed are the ideal place to chase the lakes bigger bass and even saratoga. Casting topwater and suspending jerkbaits around the weed edge is a fun way to start your day. As the fish push a little deeper, follow them with spinnerbaits and chatterbaits. These flashy, vibrating lures seem to work well all year round in this lake. The weed shape can take a little trial and error to learn. You’ll want your lure working close to it without fouling up. A hard rip will usually tear light gauge hooks through it and allow you to continue fishing. There will be plenty of stray casts where the lure lands on choked weed and needs to be pulled back in and cleaned. A combination of sounding and polarised sunglasses will help you pinpoint the weed edges. Schools of bass could become more prolific by the end of the month. The fish will gather in the open water areas of the lake as it approaches their spawning time. While they can’t go

through the whole breeding process in fresh water, they still carry on with some of the behaviours. The females bulk up with roe they will never lay. These fish love spoons. It’s been hard to go past the G2 Gang Banger in previous years when the fish venture out into the deeper areas.

A visit to Bundaberg Tackle World is a good move if you are heading to this lake. The store has an excellent range of bass lures and some of the staff specialise in catching them. Due to its location, they carry a huge range suited to impoundment fishing, rivers, creeks and offshore.

DARLING DOWNS AND GRANITE BELT GLENLYON CLOSETS TOWNS: TEXAS, STANTHORPE It is well worth visiting Glenlyon for a big Murray cod this month. The bigger fish will be starting to move about and get ready for their breeding season. As they look for nesting areas in the shallows the fish are easier to locate. The use of live sonar is perfect for finding and presenting lures to them. You can even gauge their reaction to the lure to see how well they are responding to it BURNETT REGION GREGORY CLOSEST TOWNS: CHILDERS, BUNDABERG The Isis Balancing Storage is a very different lake. Used for irrigation, the water is pumped into

The author had the pleasure of testing the soon to be released Halco TB55 suspending hardbody. The Lake Gregory bass love it! CAPRICORN REGION AWOONGA CLOSEST TOWNS: BENARABY, GLADSTONE While a lot of anglers pack their barra rods away for winter, the diehards are still willing to give it a crack. The fishery changes and if you time things right, you can still expect some reasonable fishing. Trying to hit the lake around periods of good weather is the key. A run of warmer than average days gets the barra more excited and wakes them up from their lethargic winter mood. Afternoons are the prime time when the sun has done its job and warmed up the fish and their environment. Some barra will still be holding in the windy bays of the main basin. These fish will be a bit deeper in 2-3m and can be chased with suspending hardbodies and slowly wound soft plastics. If

twitching suspending lures, don’t be afraid to pause them for 10-20 seconds if you know you are working the lure around fish. This is where sounding is critical to success. Don’t expect the fish to come to you in winter. You need to find them with your sounder and pepper them hard while using as much stealth as possible. We should see some barra making their way up into warmer pockets of weedy water. These areas can be well in behind the main weed edge and this helps to hold the sun’s warmth. The fish are here to laze and soak up some extra heat. To catch them you need to use extra stealth. A quiet boat approach, little use of the electric to reposition and quiet lure splashdowns are all beneficial. Weedless rigged plastics are the perfect presentation. The tricky part is finding these areas. Break

it down by eliminating those subject to less sunlight and colder winds. • Justin Nye from Gladstone Fly and Sportfishing runs fishing charters on the lake. He caters to the needs of the angler and can do fly or conventional tackle trips to target the lake’s barramundi. He successfully guides clients onto fish right through the year and has a good understanding of fish movements. It is hard to beat time on the water and this is a great way to learn more about this lake and its fish. You can contact him on 0429 223 550 or visit the website gladstoneflyandsportfishing .com.au. • Mark from Awoonga Gateway Lodge always has a few productive secret spots to share. The Gateway lodge is on the way in to the dam after turning off at Benaraby. The accommodation is great with plenty of boat parking space right beside the comfortable air-conditioned, self-

contained cabins each with its own veranda. To book in a stay give Mark or Lyn a call on (07) 4975 0033.

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Kayaking

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The hard lessons of kayak fishing Baffle Creek meant I had some interesting outfits for my stay. Skin-tight tee shirts and a variety of fashion-fails made me look like a wannabe hipster! Oh boy, was that underwear tight! 4. Don’t rely on Google Maps. “Go through Gin Gin and cut across, it’s not far from there”. In this instance, you also shouldn’t rely on

BRISBANE

Charlie Klein

I recently visited Baffle Creek, along with over 30 other keen kayak fishers from the Qld Hobie Crew. Our Baffle Creek trip is an annual event that incorporates a great group of people, who are mad about fishing, and a social fishing comp amongst friends. It’s hard to summarise these trips, as the combined stories of the group could fill the entire magazine. My time at Baffle was a blast, but also a great lesson in how not to prepare for a trip away! Hopefully, you’ll learn from my mistakes. In the following are six essential preparations I should have made for such an epic trip: 1. If you’ve got two long weekends to prepare,

Zack with the competition target species. There were just under 30 jacks caught in the few days preceding the comp day, but they were strangely absent when the scorecards came out! Every connection on my battery and sounder had corroded. I only discovered this, after spending a session on the water without a sounder and having to rely on my faded memory of last year’s sounding. Luckily, I bought a box of tricks and

Zack with a more modest fingermark. Sorry Zack, your dad beat you again!

This wasn’t a monster, but as the author’s first ever saltwater barramundi, it was a special moment. do more than just sort lures out and put new hooks on. I replaced hooks on about 15 lures. I took 6 boxes of said

lures and only used 8 in total. The new ones I bought for the trip mainly remained in their packaging, as I went with

the old faithfuls. Meanwhile I neglected to check the rest of my gear, as I hadn’t used the kayak for a few months.

Shane was rubbing the salt into the wounds early, with quality fish on day one. 48

JULY 2022

the words of the lead driver! 20km of dirt road, some great scenery aside, made me pass my intended coffee and breakfast stop on the way home. 5. When you choose your tent, make sure it’s big enough to fit that fancy new camping bed. It may be a funny sight when your feet

Not a bad by-catch for Dan. Who could be disappointed with a queenie? managed to ‘bodgy it’ for the weekend. It will most likely stay like that until next year! 2. When you’re planning meals and you’re not close to shops, you need to not only pack enough, but think about when you’ll eat each item. Eating all of the ‘good stuff’ on day 1 and 2, can really leave you wanting for the rest of the trip. You can end up with some really odd meals, but as a result I’ve discovered that fried potato, onion, sausage, salami, cheese and eggs mixed into a single wrap taste quite nice. 3. Take care when grabbing your pile of clothes, which you stacked carefully on your bed. In my case, accidentally grabbing the pile intended for a charity bin

are sticking out the tent flap, but the local insect life has an easy meal. 6. Don’t fish with Dan, if you don’t like pain. OK, you don’t know Dan, but I’m sure you have a mate just like him… He may be called, Bill, Fred or Jim, but whatever the name, you know the guy! In over 50 years of fishing, I’ve only ever had two hooks embedded all the way to bone. Each time, Dan has been my co-fisher and on both occasions, has needed to do the removal work. I blame Dan for the initial hook-up, so I don’t feel bad asking him to remove the hooks! Despite my poor preparations, and questionable choice of fishing mates, my time at

Zac’s first saltwater barra. The first is always the best!

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Baffle Creek was worth the effort. With only four days of fishing, at a time when locals stated it wasn’t fishing to its potential, I managed a mixed bag. Day one was only a short afternoon trip from our camp at Baffle Hideaway, which was uncharacteristically quiet until my last cast resulted in a 67cm flatty off the rocks. After a tough little session, it

embedded in the fish and after a solid fight, I pulled in my first saltwater barra. At 70cm, it wasn’t breaking any records, but it was a heap of fun. I can only imagine catching it, after it’s grown for a few more years. To cap off a great day, Zac hooked into another. I need to give these guys some credit, as barra was our target and they certainly delivered.

Jacks may have been the target, but Dan had a ball with the queenies.

This jack saved the author $20, as his ZX40 was skipping into the snag before it scoffed it off the surface!

went downstream and we had a few nice fish. I got my first fingermark and Dan had an epic battle with a 40cm+ trevally on 6lb line. Luckily they seem to run back out of snags when hooked. Dan

competition day, although some take the event more seriously than others. Event organiser Ron Hess decided that a café breakfast and coffee was more enticing than fishing, but secretly, we all knew he didn’t want to embarrass us by winning his own competition. While Ron was enjoying a respite from kayaking, we pedalled downstream with a relaxed attitude and no serious intent to win. When a trevally hit my popper before it even had a chance to move, the enticement of surface fishing became my priority. Switching between the popper and a Splash Prawn, I was casting without success over the shallows, until a swirl on the opposite bank caught my eye. Casting

Kayaking

snag and saving me $20 in the process. It was great to join the list of crew anglers who caught a jack, even if it wasn’t huge, but it was even sweeter knowing it saved me from being snagged in the mangrove roots. There were no prizes for me, but it was still a great day and opportunity for some banter around the campfire. Our final day in camp saw us get damp from some rain, but it was easily ignored when several bust-ups around the rocks had us again reaching for the surface lures. Between us, we added a couple of queenies and a few trevally, with the aerial acrobatics of Dan’s queenfish a highlight. Sadly, all great things come to an end, so our camp was packed and we headed home. The long drive was

On a day of firsts for a few, Zack added to the tally with his first saltwater barra.

Baffle turned it on for the Brissie-based yakkers, including this cracking fingermark caught by Shane. was a nice finish to the day. Day two was magic. Fishing with father and son duo Shane and Zack, there was early excitement when Zack’s rod loaded up and he instantly called it as a ‘barra’. Having fished with the two regularly, I instantly thought queenie, but Zack made a good call. One in a row, Zack! It was the first saltwater barramundi I’ve seen and I was stoked for him, until Shane also hooked into one. I was beginning to feel a bit left-out and was sulking a little, but while the dynamic duo were fist pumping and taking selfies, I also hooked up. I had concerns about how well my light gear would hold up against a mighty barra, but the Samurai rod did an awesome job, the 30lb leader survived and my FG knots held strong. The hooks of my Fish Trap were well

Our third day was done at a more relaxed pace, which was reflected in some slower fishing. Dan and I

also added to the impressive Jack total with a pup, but a jack is still a jack, though! Day four was

Watching these great fish swim away strongly is even more satisfying than catching them. Zack was surely thinking about the prospect of catching this barra again in a few years.

When Shane caught his first barra it had the author sulking, as it meant both of his fishing companions were on the board.

across the bank, I only had time for two ‘bloops’ across the surface, before a 57cm queenie became my first mark on the scorecard. At this point, my relaxed attitude disappeared and my competitive streak surfaced! Casting the edges for

flatties with a ZX40, I was having no luck until a splash deep in a snag got my attention. With a big ‘Hail Mary’ cast into the mangrove, I was expecting to lose my lure in the sticks until a modest jack struck, swimming away from the

made easier by the memory of a great trip and inspiring fishing, while sharing time with an amazing group of people. If you’re a Hobie owner and couldn’t make it this year, get planning for next year. Until then, tight lines! JULY 2022

Sydney

NSW

Thanks for reading PITTWATER

Peter Le Blang plfishfingers@bigpond.com

Over the last 12 months our part of the world has seen an amazing amount of rain fall from the skies. Records show that we have seen over 2.5m of rain since the same time last year. This is a huge amount of fresh water that I have not seen in my 55 years. With that said, it’s just not my area that has seen these huge volumes of rain – it’s been falling all up and down our eastern coast of New South Wales. Unfortunately, we are still seeing along our coast lots of debris and sporadic fishing because of it. Some mornings we can head offshore in glass

Mona Vale. Some friends of mine have been catching large snapper off the rocks, and these areas are all accessible and easily fished in a boat. Squid seems to be their preferred bait, and anchoring near the weed beds will see quite a few being caught. Floating your baits down a berley trail early in the morning should see smiles on faces by lunchtime. On Pittwater we are still seeing surface activity first thing in the morning. Most of this activity has been seen between Rowlands Reserve and Scotland Island. Most of the surface activity is from bonito and tailor, but there are still patches of kingfish roaming the river system. Casting 20g metal lures

usual, live squid or squid strips should tempt any hungry kingfish that are found, but the dynamite bait at this time of year is small, live cuttlefish. These little ink machines can be difficult to catch but they are definitely worth the effort. To catch cuttlefish, find some of the rocky, weedy areas along Pittwater and start casting small squid jigs. Jigs in the 1.8-2g sizes are perfect. Cuttlefish rarely seem to rise more than a metre off the bottom so unfortunately you have to let your lures sink deep to have a chance of catching them. This can equate to many hook-ups on the bottom so make sure you have a heavier leader to give yourself a chance at getting your jig back. If you want to try

A great fella, and a great fish, thanks Andrew. conditions with little debris evident, whilst other mornings you can’t drive in a straight line for more than 100m without hitting a log, branches or even trees. On those mornings that you can get to the reefs there have been a few fish to catch. There have been a lot of snapper being caught at Long Reef in recent times, as well as Newport Reef and the rocks at

is a great way to tempt most of the species but you may be better off casting some soft plastics if you find the kingfish. As the morning progresses the kingfish seem to visit most of the bays on the western foreshore. There doesn’t seem to be much surface activity after the sun rises from kingfish, so downrigging and covering ground is the way to go. As

to catch squid, head to the weedy areas such as Palm Beach weed beds, The Basin, Mackerel Beach and Careel

One of the luckiest anglers, this mulloway was his first ever fish! Bay. Find the areas that have the drop-offs and you’re off to a good start. An aggressive retrieve with natural coloured jigs will hopefully see a few being caught. Bottom fishing along Pittwater and Broken Bay is still producing, but on those days where the cold water is evident, fishing becomes slower. I find that drifting to find fish is better than anchoring and berleying. The drift from Patonga through to Lion Island is always a great place to try for flathead and flounder. On this drift on many occasions we have also seen squid being caught or following our baits back to the boat. For this reason it’s always good idea to have a squid jig on the spare rod, ready to go. This same drifting area in recent times has seen quite a few hammerhead sharks being caught. Please be aware that these sharks are protected and must be released unharmed. If are really lucky

there are still some jewfish (mulloway) around, and most of these have been encountered on the drift from Juno Point through to Walkers Point. Fresh squid strips, heads and pilchards have been the downfall of quite a few of these fish. Most of these jewfish have been undersized but at 65cm they put up a good fight. Whilst you are out in Broken Bay keep an eye out for tailor working on the surface. The schools of tailor have also seen some jewfish lurking on the bottom underneath them, as well as the odd flathead and flounder. If all else fails, areas such as Flint and Steel Reef, the pressure wave between Juno Point and Eleanoras Bluff are great places to try whilst anchored and using berley to attract fish. Both of these areas are not difficult to find, just look for the floating carparks. When fishing Flint and Steel it’s important to anchor upcurrent of the reef and

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JULY 2022

A great shark caught on the drift in Broken Bay.

berley back towards the reef. By doing this you will give yourself the best chance at attracting decent fish toward your boat, and importantly you will not lose your anchor and chain to the reef. I hope you have enjoyed reading my articles over the last 19 years, and sadly this will be my last article. I may in the future write a couple of feature articles, so keep your eyes peeled. Over the many years that I have done chartering I have enjoyed the company of many wonderful people, and am grateful to have had the chance to show them a river system that I love. I still have a deep passion for the sport of fishing and expect to be fishing for many years to come. Instead of watching and helping others catch fish I can now have some fun and get a few myself. I can leave the industry feeling proud of my achievements, having introduced catching kingfish on downriggers, my 2-hook adjustable squid rig (can be bought at Narrabeen Bait & Tackle) and variations on micro jig retrieves. I have named many now-famous fishing areas of Pittwater such as The Supermarket, The Carpark, Aisle 10, The Kingfish Highway, The Wrecks and many more. I am now selling my boat and fishing licences and have closed my business. I have been very lucky to find a new job that pays well no matter what the weather or government throws at me. I hope that I have been able to help many of you readers with ideas, tricks and techniques over the years, and if you see me on the water don’t hesitate to give me a smile and a wave. May every fishing trip bring you happiness and a good feed. • Peter Le Blang operates Harbour and Estuary Fishing Charters, phone 02 9999 2574 or 0410 633 351, visit www. estuaryfishingcharters.com.au

Recreational Fishing Update Flathead Tagging Records Set!

The trophy flathead tagging program has been powering along in a selected number of estuaries along the coast since early 2016. With a small team of dedicated and passionate anglers, there have been over 1,230 dusky flathead tagged and 170 reported as recaptured. While many flathead recaptures are often short term (less than 60 days), the program has now started to receive more longer-term recaptures which adds to our knowledge base and understanding of this popular recreational species. One particular dusky recapture has set the bar for the longest time at liberty (days) and overall growth in cm. This fish was one of the first tagged under the “trophy flattie fishery” concept. The fish was originally tagged on 9 December 2016 by passionate angler and local fishing guru Peter Dugan, who owns and operates

South Coast Estuary Charters. The fish was tagged in the Tuross River and measured in at 63.8cm. On 7 February 2022 the tagged fish was then recaptured in the Tuross River by angler Brian Rowley. After the initial excitement of catching such a quality fish, Brian quickly got the details of the tag, measured the fish on a wet brag mat and then took a few quick snaps before re-releasing the fish in excellent condition. While the fish had moved less than one nautical mile from its original release location, it is the other data obtained that made this recapture exciting. The dusky had been at liberty for over 5 years and 2 months (1886 days) and had grown an impressive 23.2cm to 87cm during that period! Each reported recapture contributes to our understanding of particular fish species. If you are lucky enough to recapture a tagged fish, please ensure you report it using our online recapture form, which can be found here on the DPI website by searching “Game Fish Tagging Program”. The Game Fish Tagging Program is a great example of your license fees at work!

Murray Crayfish Season Reminder To Officially Opens Today! Return Tag Cards!

Murray Crayfish may only be taken during the months of June, July and August in the Murray River between Hume Weir and the Tocumwal road bridge including Lake Mulwala and in the Murrumbidgee River between the Gundagai Road bridge and Berembed Weir, excluding Old Man Creek. The daily bag limit for Murray Crayfish is 2 and the possession limit is 4. The minimum size limit for Murray Crayfish, measured from the rear of the eye socket to the centre rear of the carapace is 10cm and the maximum size limit is 12cm. Recreational fishers must also not take berried females and removing heads, tails or claws in, on, or adjacent to waters is prohibited. It’s a highly anticipated time when the Murray Crayfish season opens for the winter months, and we want to ensure fishers can enjoy the season while abiding by the rules to make sure we can sustain this species for future generations. Any suspected illegal fishing activity can be reported through the FishSmart app or to the Fishers Watch phone line on 1800 043 536.

www.dpi.nsw.gov.au

As the warm water game fishing season has wound down, now is a great time for all anglers and boats to return their completed tag cards to their local game fishing club or directly back to the tagging program. All tag cards have a replied paid on the back so they can simply be placed into your closest mailbox. Alternatively, completed tag cards can be emailed to gamefish. tagging@dpi.nsw.gov.au. Many reported tagged fish captures are still awaiting the original release information from fishers and boats tagged fish from past seasons. Please send back your completed tag cards, even if they are several years old as they may still match up with a recaptured fish that

is in the database. The data and information on every individual tag card plays an important role in understanding the movement and distribution of game fish and pelagic species. As a bonus, all tag cards received from now until the end of June 2022 will go into the draw to win a Game Fish Tagging Program T-shirt! Also if you are lucky enough to catch a tagged fish, be sure to report it online by using the online recapture form, just go to the DPI website and search “Game Fish Tagging Program”. The Game Fish Tagging Program is a great example of your fishing fees at work!

‘Advanced’ Trout Stocked In Snowy Lakes!

For the second year running, the iconic Jindabyne and Eucumbene trout fisheries have been boosted with mass stockings of “advanced” rainbow fingerlings. Bred at DPI’s Gaden Trout Hatchery, the fish measured about 15cm and were produced using the hatchery’s heater/chiller technology to maximise growth rates. A “standard” trout fingerling is usually stocked at about 4-5cm. These larger sized fingerlings are expected to have excellent survival rates and should reach legal size of 25cm within 12 months. Crews of enthusiastic anglers organised by the Monaro Acclimatisation Society (MAS) and the Jindabyne Fishing Club assisted DPI in stocking 10,000 advanced sized rainbows into both Eucumbene and Jindabyne.

These stockings of larger fish are part of an initiative developed by DPI in close consultation with key stakeholders such as MAS to enhance fishing opportunities and boost the socio-economic benefits of trout fishing to regional communities. As noted, a key aspect of the stocking events involved the support and assistance of anglers in distributing the fish to key habitat locations around the lakes to maximise survivability. These stocking events are a great example of your fishing fees at work!

JULY 2022

Sydney

NSW

The whole winter package worms. When you fillet silver trevally over 1.8kg they often have what looks like a honeycomb – hollow flesh associated with this microscopic worm. Normally this honeycombed flesh is close to the backbone of the fish, between the backbone and the flesh. If you happen to see this in the larger trevally, you can simply cut out that section of flesh. It is not detrimental to your health. Trevally are normally in schools so catching more than one is very common. They love pilchards, peeled prawns and pink nippers, and they respond well to a berley trail of soggy bread, pilchard and whatever bait you’re using as part of the berley trail. Light ball sinkers from 00 to 2, with a 1/0 or 2/0 suicide pattern hook, 4-6kg leader or mono is best to increase

SYD ROCK & BEACH

Alex Bellissimo alex@bellissimocharters.com.au

Fish prices have risen sharply in the last few months to levels that are unaffordable to lower income earners. Yes, there are species you can buy that are a lot cheaper, but if you want to have at least two meals of fish a week without spending a fortune, the best option is to catch your own. I speak to a lot of my clients and fellow anglers and most say, “I only eat fresh fish. Freezing is not an option”. By contrast, I eat a lot of frozen fish. That’s because I spend most of my time guiding clients, so I don’t have fresh caught fish on tap. However, frozen fish can taste nearly as good as fresh if you use a vac sealer machine (the cheaper models are well under $100). You can store multiple bags of vacuumsealed fish in your freezer, allowing you to have several great feeds of fish at a much more affordable price than store-bought fish, which are nowhere as fresh as what you catch. Plus, you know where the fish has been caught. I read an article on farmed salmon in one of the Nordic countries, and it mentioned it can be one of the most toxic foods you can eat because of the method of farming they adopt. So get out there and learn the skills of catching your own fish for a feed. You will become fitter, especially being a land-

Rob Marich fishing the purest form with the Luderick Special Centrepin Alvey. Luderick can be caught all year but they are most often targeted in winter.

All sorts of weird species can be caught from Sydney. This diamond trevally was caught and released whilst distance casting for snapper off the rocks. based angler, and live a healthier life. ROCK FISHING We ’ v e been experiencing pretty much the peak of the trevally run. The average size is

from 33-40cm, which is the tastiest size in my opinion. The larger ones (over 1.5kg) are great sport but I find that the flesh has a stronger flavour, and can also contain microscopic

Leonard Nizeti didn’t expect to beat his PB whiting several times over on this outing. This slab went 44cm. The westerlies and flat seas push the temp right down, which forces them to move.

Heaps of trevally and a couple of juvenile samsonfish for Lilly Khiury and partner George. There were a lot more fish released as well. 52

JULY 2022

your bites, and to enjoy the sport of landing these hardfighting fish. You can also encounter other species like bream, snapper, salmon and more. Trevally have been in good numbers at Little Bluey, the suburb of Manly, North Curl Curl ledges from the swimming pool to about 90m north of, Dee Why ledges approx. 200m east of the swimming pool, and the font ledge of Mona Vale pool. Rock blackfish (AKA black drummer or pigs) are in good numbers with this cooler water temp. This species is the whole package for rock anglers. When rock fishing you

learn how to keep an eye on the waves, as the variation of depths in the vicinity fished is variable, therefore waves are often more tumulus and dangerous and peak up/stand up. You learn about how to fish hard-tofish terrains. You learn how use a variation of sinker weights depending on the variable currents. You learn how to find fish in hardto-fish spots. You learn how to hook rock blackfish and other species that you often encounter. You learn how to extract a species that dives for cover under sharp boulders and caves, therefore improving your fighting strategies. These are just some

of the techniques you learn from fishing for this great species, and they will become one of your favourite fish on the plate as well. Common baits for rock blackfish are peeled prawns, cunjevoi, bread and cabbage weed. When cleaning this species you will note the abundance of weed in their intestines. Rock blackfish are commonly found around boulders and ledges where there is cover, and robust tackle is recommended to catch them. To cover most bases for this fish I recommend a 7-15kg outfit and line to suit. I use the Daiwa Over There 109MH To page 53

NSW

Sydney

Time to fish heavy SYDNEY NTH

Steve Winser

With the water temperatures dropping and hopefully a final end in sight of this relentless La Niña weather pattern, we could be seeing return to some sort of normalcy (touch wood). Some solid kingfish are present in the harbour just now. Most of them have been caught in the lower reaches, but a few are starting to push up into the upper reaches as I write this. The drop in water temperatures has seen the squidding improve, with some XOS size ones over the kelp and ribbon weed beds as they get ready to spawn. Green or orange jigs in the 2.5-3.5 size range have been working well for us. Usually we fish cut baits in the harbour but From page 52

7-15kg, Daiwa 5000 BG MQ, 20-30lb J-Braid Grand, and 20-30lb FC fluorocarbon leader. An outfit like this is a dream to use and lethal on the pigs! Spots to try are Little Bluey Ledges at Manly, North Curl Curl boulders and ledges, Warriewood’s boulders on the north face and the Warriewood high ledge, approximately 150m east of the beach. July is also a good month for snapper. Distance casting for this species is a relatively common way for rock anglers to fish for them. When distance casting, try to find spots that are not too snaggy because you can lose a lot of tackle. South Curl Curl’s high ledge (especially when there is a 2m+ swell from the south), Flat Rock ledges in flatter seas, and Mona Vale Pool front ledge are good spots to try. Squid strips, salted slimy mackerel and striped tuna fillets are all great baits. BEACH FISHING Some good size tailor and salmon have been the main predators on the surf beaches of late, often picking up large baits meant for jewfish. Tailor have sharp, severing teeth used to either chop their prey’s tail off, chop the fish in half, or even swallow it whole. Salmon have a padded mouth used to grab small fish and swallow them whole. A 1.5kg tailor or salmon would attack a mullet, yellowtail, or whiting up to 27cm+! However, on

live squid also have been producing some good fish. A mix of the two baits is worthwhile. The fish have been ranging anywhere from 50cm through to 1m+, all swimming together. For this reason, it’s prudent to fish heavy because you don’t want to be caught with your pants down when the meteries show up. We are currently running 10,000 Saragosas loaded with 24kg braid and 24kg leaders. The washes are starting to work well as the water temperatures drop, with some solid blue groper and black drummer. We like to fish bread and prawn baits under bobby corks for the drummer, and crabs for the groper. We are currently using 8ft rods and 15kg braid – although even this has proven a little lightweight recently. There are still a few

solid bonito mixed in with some big tailor and trevally on the lower harbour structure and wrecks. We have been fishing these with cut pillies in a pilly cube trail. Next month will see the kingfish push further into the upper reaches of the harbour. The squidding should stay consistent, and the washes will only get better from here on out. We are also hoping to see the large bream and blackfish push up into that shallow water again. Tight lines! • Fishing Sydney Tours takes pride in tailoring every trip to the customer ’s preferred species, style of angling, and level of expertise, all within a friendly and relaxed atmosphere at competitive rates. There are some excellent fishing spots that can be accessed straight off Sydney, and

we will show you where. We offer harbour, wash and offshore fishing for species ranging from

kingfish and mulloway through to snapper and mahimahi. For more information go to www.

the days when the baitfish are only 2-5mm long, the salmon and tailor will gorge themselves on tiny fish. Salmon can be especially fussy at times, refusing any presentation that’s bigger than the tiny fish they’re focussed on. Spinning lures off the beaches is a great way to fish, and it’s an active way to search from gutter to gutter. You can have one outfit that may suit all sizes of metal lures in your tackle box, or you can have two outfits – one 6-8kg outfit suitable for metals up to about 60g, and a

2-3kg outfit which can cast tiny metals when the fish are eating small baitfish. A 6-8kg outfit will cast a 40g metal a good distance, but it won’t cast a 15-20g metal at the distance you may need. The lighter outfit will cast a small metal much further. A set of 3/0-5/0 ganged hooks with a whole pilchard works well for tailor and salmon. Here’s a tip – when baiting up a whole pilchard on gang hooks, avoid putting the second hook through the belly part of the pilchard, as that is the gut cavity. It

will tear, and your damaged pilchard will not handle the cast and the current/waves/ turbulence as well, and will fall apart quicker. The vast majority of whiting anglers gave up fishing for whiting a month or more ago. However, these fish are still available on some beaches. When the whiting are in season you can pretty much catch them on any of the surf beaches in Sydney, but now it is mostly a few select beaches holding whiting. A lot of these fish are semi residential. In August they will be fewer in number, especially if the

westerly winds start making the water temperature really plummet. For now, Manly, Dee Why, Collaroy, Bungan, and Palm beaches have enough whiting to keep you enthusiastic. Bream are also being caught, as well as some trevally. For the tailor and salmon, all of the beaches mentioned

Rob with a solid fish from the lower reaches.

Son-in-law Alex admiring Alan Aylward’s quality tailor. In Sydney, fish of this quality are normally found in better numbers after dark.

fishingsydneytours.com. au, call 0481 120 600 or look up ‘Fishing Sydney Tours’ on Facebook. are worth a try, along with Curl Curl. • For rock and beach guided fishing or tuition in the northern Sydney region, visit www. bellissimocharters. com.au, email alex@ bellissimocharters.com.au or call Alex Bellissimo on 0408 283 616.

Indi Lee Fraser (6yo) with a 40cm redfin she caught using a black and gold T-tail soft plastic lure at Sugarloaf Reservoir. JULY 2022

Sydney

NSW

Geared up and ready SYDNEY SOUTH

Gary Brown gbrown1@iprimus.com.au

Everyone is over the stupid weather we have been experiencing over the last year. One day it’s fine and sunny, then the rain and the wind hit us, then it’s sunny again... only to turn lousy again the next day or two. This really makes it hard for those anglers who can only fish on the weekends. Even though I’m lucky enough to be able to fish mid-week, I make sure I am prepared well in advance, so that when the opportunity arises, I can get out and have a fish. My freezer in the garage is stocked up with prawns, pilchard, salted tuna, garfish, mullet and chicken done in parmesan cheese. I have a number of 2L buckets of chicken pellets ready to go, and my tackle boxes have been restocked. I have a tackle box (small 24 compartment tray) for beach, rock, shore-based estuary, luderick and one for offshore fishing. As for my boat, I have everything covered, from bait to lure fishing for bream, trevally, flathead, luderick, bass,

estuary perch, tailor, salmon, kingfish and mulloway. It’s just a matter of hooking up the boat, filling it up with fuel and taking off.

Just recently I was invited out on a mate’s boat for a fish on Botany Bay to chase bream, trevally and flathead for a feed. Even

There have been a few estuary perch around of late.

Tony with his mixed bag caught on a trip with the author. Tony was very pleased with his catch, as he had not been fishing for about 10 years.

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though the weather forecast was lousy, we ventured out. The forecast was for 60% rain and wind from the south. The forecast was right for most of the morning as it did fine up at about 11am, and we managed three dusky flathead and one trevally. However, Glenn did get very wet as he forgot to take out his wet weather gear. Plus, I have never come across a boat with so much stuff in it that I was tripping over it! Scotty Lyons was out on the same day and he also managed to get a few flathead, trevally and blue swimmer crabs. His clients for that day had also forgotten to take wet weather gear with them. The fishing in the bay will start to slow down a bit over the next couple of months so you’ll need to plan your trips in advance. The trevally, which have been around that 26-31cm size, should start to get a bit bigger in the coming weeks. Just remember when you are at anchor, make sure you have a small but steady

berley trail going. Places to try would be the Fisheries marks in Yarra Bay, Trevally Alley, Bare Island on a run-out tide, The Drums in the middle of the bay, the oil wharf, the sticks and wide off Towra. Further upstream you could try any of the bridges in the Georges River, Lugarno, Soily Point, Picnic Point and Cattle Duffers. Bream, whiting, trevally, flathead and the odd salmon or two can be caught at these places. Offshore there should be snapper, morwong, pigfish, trevally and sweep on the close reefs. Pilchards, mullet, tuna and squid would be the best baits. If you have a boat that can get you out to the Browns Mountain you could try for blue-eyed cod and gemfish. Try trolling on the way out for tuna and bonito. Small plastic skirts should do the job. The cooler months of the year are when the rocks will start to fire for trevally, bream, drummer and luderick. I love this type

of fishing because all I need is to take is one outfit, a shoulder bag, a kilo of peeled prawns and a small tackle tray. This way I can easily move about from spot to spot on the rocks. If you prefer to fish off the beach you can do the same, only you will need some half pilchards or beach worms and you will be well on your way to getting a feed of whiting, dart, bream and maybe a tailor or salmon. The beaches in Bate Bay would be worth a shot when the breeze is from the north, and the beach/rocks at Kurnell would be worth a shot during a southerly. There are a number of beaches that are worth a look at in the Royal National Park. At the time of putting this report together, Garie Beach and Wattamolla are closed due to a couple of big land slips and holes in the road. So, check with the park to see if they are open before you go to them. Don’t forget to keep those small reports and photos coming in to gbrown1@ iprimus.com.au.

Monetary prizes will depend on number of entries for each round plus sponsor prizes. Entry form & terms and conditions can be found at

www.wsbb.com.au Entry & payment should be submitted 7 days prior to each event

au . m o c b.gmail.com b s w . wwwail: wsbream@ Em

t Bream ast Coas

JULY 2022

Series

Payment via direct deposit (Details on entry form)

When you go bait fishing offshore, bring a variety of baits as you don’t know what they are going to eat on the day. Any leftover bait can be used as berley on your next trip.

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COFFS COAST

Rob Taylor

It’s safe to say the Coffs coast snapper season has started with a bang. This time of year heralds the arrival of snapper onto our inshore reefs, and this year has been no exception, with plenty of big 80+ snapper being taken by anglers drifting with soft plastics. Float lining has also been popular, and the next few months will see some fantastic fishing for these iconic and sought-after fish. I’m often asked what tackle is ideal for snapper, and while you don’t need to go overboard in terms of price, your outfit needs to be able to handle a metre odd of angry red when it’s hellbent on getting to the bottom. These fish are regularly underestimated in terms of pulling power, so wnbraid I likebto Pra30lb Bladas m a use with 30-40lbes” “Yaaminimum leader. Medium weight rods with 4000-4500 reels do

stopping power. Although the water is cooling off, there’s still some pelagic action on

The inshore reefs will now be holding big reds.

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offer with the odd thumping Spanish mackerel. The Spannos are always on the big side at this time of

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year, as are the longtail tuna as they hug headlands on their northern migration back to warmer waters. Other species fishing well at the moment are jewfish (mulloway), bream, blackfish, tailor and drummer, so it’s a great (albeit chilly) time to be out on the water. Let’s take a closer look at what’s on offer in our part of the world in the depths of winter. CREEKS AND RIVERS Bass tend to be at their quietest at this time but they are still available for those willing to put the time in and fish the lower reaches. The fish will be heading downstream and the cooler

July will be your last chance for a Spanish mackerel. Gavin Smithers getting it done land-based with a KP centrepin! water temperatures make surface action hard to come by, but a switch to divers and spinnerbaits will still get results. As you move out of the fresh proper and into the salt, the creeks and rivers will be producing bream and flathead and we should be now well and truly into our annual blackfish run. Fishing the rock walls at places like Urunga and Nambucca are always productive

for luderick, and not much beats watching that float get ripped under the surface and coming tight on a couple of pounds of blackfish. For flathead I’d be looking to fish the sand flats on run-in tides as the fish move up onto these areas to sunbake. You’ll quite often find them laid up next to week beds or rock clusters, so work these areas persistently with either live bassco baits orboats

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lures and you’ll find fish. Glidebaits come into their own at this time as they make a perfect injured mullet representation in a couple of feet of water, and the big flat girls can’t resist them. ROCKS AND BEACHES Also arriving to our part of the coast should be good numbers of tailor and the occasional salmon. Beach gutters and headland washes will be the places to prospect for tailor, and at the time of writing some horse fish were already being taken. You can’t beat metal lures, stickbaits and shallow-running weighted crankbaits for having a ball on tailor. If bait is more your style, slowly retrieved pilchards or gar on gang hooks is a deadly technique. There’ll be plenty of school sized mulloway up to 10kg in the beach gutters, and the occasional monster

The kayakers will still be in with a shot at longtail tuna.

Now is the time for mega snapper. The author closes in on one metre with this epic mid-90s model that was released.

Brad Bye at it again with a serious snapper.

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will also be feeding around the tailor schools. For those anglers who enjoy chasing sharks, live bating off the beaches at night is a surefire way to hook into the local noah population. As mentioned, now is the time to be out there chasing blackfish and rock blackfish. I do love this time of year purely for the pig fishing alone. They hit hard and go like the clappers, so look for foam-covered rock gutters (without sand stir up) and drop in some berley and cunje and you’ll have a ball on these bruisers. OFFSHORE If you love your snapper fishing – and let’s face it, who doesn’t – now is the time of year to get the blood pumping at the prospect at locking horns with a rampaging red. There’s always the chance of that metre trophy fish slamming a plastic throughout July. Those big fish will be in close on the shallower reefs, and anywhere from 10m out will produce mindboggling snapper sessions this month.

July will realistically be the last month to get a shot at Spanish mackerel before they end their run. I’d be fishing the solitary islands as they tend to hold the last of these fish before the cooler water shoos them away. In their place will come kings, amberjacks, mulloway and sambos, so it’s not all bad. As that water cools we can also expect to see the striped marlin and yellowfin out wider ,and pulling skirts will be the best way to cover ground and find these fantastic sportfish. Enjoy the cold starts because they are well worth it!

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Beaches and tailor time THE HASTINGS

Mark Saxon castawayestuarycharters@bigpond.com

Beach fishing for tailor this month should continue to be good, with our local beaches and headlands providing exceptional fishing. Tailor can be easy to catch when they are biting, and several methods work well. The time-tested, 3-three hook gang rig with a pilchard has accounted for more than its fair share over the years, but if you like cleaner hands then lure fishing can do just as good. High speed spinning with metals works a treat, as does casting soft plastics, although be prepared for some lure damage! Another way is the use of hardbodied lures and soft vibes. These can be very effective and also can be worked slower and give you the opportunity for mixed catches such as flatties, bream, salmon and mulloway. Check out Port Macquarie’s beaches and find a gutter or hole to try. Beaches that usually produce are North Beach and Lighthouse, but don’t discount the smaller beaches as they do produce. I suggest driving and looking

to see which looks the best. A good pair of waders is a good investment for this time of year, because being warm usually means you can fish a

lot longer in comfort. River fishing has been good although water quality due to rainfall has dictated how we fish. However, if we

Paul with a great winter flatty.

Gavin Saxon and his son Oakah with a mixed bag on his first fishing trip.

have reasonable conditions this month then bream, luderick, mulloway and flathead will all be prominent in catches. Some quality bream have been caught from the break walls as well as coal wall and Settlement Point Road, and soft plastics and vibes have been doing well. Luderick fishing this month also can be on, and a quick walk along the wall will often see the float crew in action. There are many other locations for you to watch a float; Settlement Point Road is one, and the back channel can be good as well. South of Port, the Camden Haven walls fish well for them also. Flathead fishing remains consistent, and they are being caught from the front at Pelican Island and up past Rawdon Island. As the rivers’ water temps drop, the flatties can become a little lethargic at times. When using plastics, slow down the

There are bags of bream around the walls this month.

Mandy with one of several bream she caught on soft vibes.

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Ash has been doing well casting plastics off the beach.

retrieve and fish will come. Alternatively, you can switch to a suspending hardbody as this seems to excite them and can turn a quiet session into a good one. Offshore has been patchy due to the conditions, but when the boys have been getting out they have been catching snapper, dolphinfish (mahimahi), kingfish and pearl perch. It goes to show that if you can get the weather on side, some good opportunities exist. Snapper should be worth trying on the grounds between Lighthouse and Camden Haven – just be ready for the leatherjacket season. Trying to get a bait or soft plastic past them can be painful at times! I don’t mind a feed of jackets but they can be frustrating, so moving around may be the solution. There are plenty of patches worth fishing, and some are in close proximity of each other.

NSW

Good catches all round FORSTER

Luke Austin

Fishing in the beautiful Great Lakes area during July can be tough going as we often experience some very average, cold weather! However, those anglers who manage to take advantage of the better days can expect to be

late in the afternoon, you will be in for a particularly good session! The local flathead have been on fire up the Lake. Anyone who tells you flathead are a summer species needs to get out more! The flats up around Regatta Island, The Cut and Wallis Island have been particularly good but there is still the odd one being caught

for the majority of flathead. For bait fishers, your best bet is to drift using whitebait, pilchards or strips of mullet. Reports from the sand lately have been great when the weather allows it! Tailor are cruising the gutters along most beaches in good numbers, and are hitting both lure and bait. Those anglers who have opted to turn to a good old pilly on a set of gang hooks seem to have fared better over the last couple of weeks, with most outings resulting in half a dozen or so nice tailor and the odd bream. There are also plenty of good old Aussie salmon still cruising about as well, which can make for great fun on the right gear. Rock fishers have had

Sam with a beautiful winter mulloway.

July is a great month to book a fishing charter. rewarded with some great fishing no matter where they choose to wet a line. Winter on Wallis Lake is dominated by two species: luderick and bream! The estuary is producing some great catches of luderick at the moment with fish schooling up all over the place. Just about any structure between the mouth of the river and Wallis Island will hold fish, but the southern rock wall is probably still the standout location. The fish are far from picky and will take just about any weed offering, as well as the ever-popular synthetic weed flies. The run-in tide has been great for chasing bream along the rock walls of late. There are loads of fish sitting in the eddies and there are some absolute horses in the mix. They are taking all sorts of baits but mullet strips, bonito strips and whitebait have been particularly good. For those wishing to toss a few lures about, Ecogear Bream Prawns, Gulp Crabbys and 2”-3” Keitech Easy Shiners are hard to beat. You can chase these winter fish at any time of the day, however if you can pick a day where you can fish the last hour of the run-in tide early in the morning or

down around the bridge. While you will have to fish through a lot of smaller fish, there are more than enough legal flatties in the mix to make up a tasty feed. Soft plastics and diving hard bodies are accounting

It’s bream time in Wallis Lake! an amazing first month of winter, and it looks like things should continue to tick along nicely into July.

The local washes have been holding great numbers of black drummer, bream and luderick as well as the odd silver drummer and groper. Those anglers casting lures have found plenty of big

tailor and the odd kingfish off the ledges down south, but you will have to put the time in to see any of the bigger models. If you can take advantage of a decent window of

weather this month, you will almost certainly be rewarded offshore. Most reports coming in have been very good, with plenty of snapper holding on most reefs. The shallows up north are fishing very well early in the day, with even the shortest of sessions still producing half a dozen good fish and plenty of smaller models. The deeper reefs are holding some great trag, snapper and the odd nice pearl perch, but you may have to deal with the annoying schools of leatherjackets and barracouta! • Luke is the owner of Great Lakes Tackle – your ‘local’ bait and tackle store. They sell only the best brands and offer sound, friendly advice on where you can go to land your next trophy fish while visiting the wonderful Great Lakes region! They are open 7 days in the main street of Tuncurry, and you can phone them on 02 6554 9541 or find them on Facebook to see what they have been up to!

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Top targets in July PORT STEPHENS

Paul Lennon

July may be the coldest month of the year but the fishing is still hot regardless of whether you’re in the bay, rocks, the ocean beaches, or offshore. Luderick are red hot along the Nelson bay rock wall, which has got to be the best spots to chase them on the east coast of Australia. The tide changes are the key here, along with getting yourself the freshest weed or cabbage you can. When those winter westerlies blow remember there are good luderick still to be caught from the protected waters on the inside of the wall, too. Other spots that you are more likely to have to yourself are the Anchorage rock wall as well as Little Beach and Shoal Bay jetties. If you have a boat you will also have good success on the other side of the bay from the shortcut through to Windy Whoppa rock wall. Bream also love the

winter months inside the bay, and if you really want to get stuck into them, fishing night time high tides around places like the Torpedo Tubes, Marinas and Wanda Head using live nippers or prawns is lethal. A bit of berley goes along way when bream fishing, and will greatly improve your catches. I like to use a mixture of tuna oil, bread and chicken pellets. Shoal Bay has been fishing well for tailor on first light from the jetty, with fishers having plenty of fun casting small metals on light gear. Squid are being caught over the weed beds in Shoal Bay, with 2.5 sized jigs working best. Off the rocks, the drummer fishing has been excellent, with solid pigs being pulled out of the wash zones from the back of Tomaree right down to Rocky Point. Big winter bream are also falling for the same techniques of lightly-weighted cunjevoi or large peeled prawn baits tossed into the white water to waft around. Calamari squid with

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hood lengths approaching 40cm have moved into the protected bays and coves to spawn. They can be easily caught on 3-3.5 sized jigs, with my favourite colours being pinks and greens. There have also been some solid winter greenback tailor caught from the headlands around Fingal, Box Beach and Tomaree, with whole garfish on gangs or 30g spinners and stickbaits doing the damage when fished during those dawn and dusk periods. BEACHES The odd jewfish has been coming from the southern end of Stockton for those super-keen anglers prepared to stick out the cold nights. Most of the guys having success

are using live baits such as tailor or yellowtail, however a whole fresh squid is a solid back-up bait. Good catches of bream, especially after dark, have been coming from the corners of any beaches where they meet the rocky shoreline. OUTSIDE A shelf run to chase a yellowfin would be well worth a crack this month, so pay attention to the sea surface charts and don’t hesitate if it looks good, as it can change very quickly at this time of year. There are snapper

Some great tailor can be spun up from the beaches through winter. of fish. If you’re plastic fishing, you’ll catch good fish around Fingal through to Broughton Island, but

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Keeping comfortable CENTRAL COAST

Jamie Robley

As has been the case so far this year, the weather is very much a dominant force, which is

fishing, which resulted in a handful of average bream, a few tailor and a lone whiting. WINTER SURF I’m not going to lie; we are coming into the deadest period of the year

have no nervous system, wet feet means freezing and very uncomfortable. So the most logical thing to do when beach fishing in winter is to wear waders. I used to hear and read things in the past about

The area adjacent to the boatshed at The Entrance is generally a reliable luderick spot in winter. However, if success doesn’t come your way here, try over on the north side of the bridge, down near the channel mouth or further west in the deeper channels. into the surf, you can just walk down towards the surf and cast out. Think of your waders as keeping your feet warm, rather than something that allows you

to wade further out. With that sort of thinking you should remain perfectly safe and comfortable. Tailor and bream have been the mainstay of our

beach fishing pretty much since the start of the year, and I would expect this to remain the case this month. I would also expect To page 63

The author with a solid lake bream that fell for a small metal vibe. July isn’t one of our best months for bream, but it is known to yield a bigger class of fish. directly influencing what happens on the fishing front. After enduring a particularly wet first half of the year, I wouldn’t be alone in wishing for some drier times over the coming months. Historically, July can either be dry and windy or those dreaded east coast lows cause heavy rains and giant swell. As I type up what you’re reading right now, we’ve just enjoyed a few days of absolutely perfect, sunny weather, which is a rare treat! I took advantage of the conditions to do a spot of beach

for fishing, and it can be tough on all fronts as we move through the coming weeks. However, July can still produce the goods at the beach. It is possible to fish local beaches through the middle of the day and still catch a few bream or maybe a couple of salmon at this time of year. Realistically though, the chance of success is much higher when beach fishing early in the morning or later in the afternoon and into the night. Obviously in July that means you’re going to be cold, and unless you

waders being potentially hazardous at the beach. The theory is that if you wade too far into the water or an unexpected wave surges up the beach, water could start pouring into the waders and perhaps drag you into the surf. While that could possibly happen if you’re not careful, the truth is it’s highly unlikely if you remain cautious and simply don’t try to wade into the surf. Our beaches along the Central Coast are much steeper than those along the North Coast and Queensland. This means you don’t have to wade

Silver trevally are reasonably common at this time of year. This one was caught at Mannering Park, but they can turn up anywhere from Lion Island, throughout Brisbane Waters and along the coastal rocks, beaches and reefs.

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Dynamite deepwater tailor SWANSEA

Jason Nunn

It’s been a cracking tailor season off the rocks and in the lake, and that will continue in the coming weeks. We are also seeing a lot of guys chasing those deep water bait schools. I have seen a number of really good mulloway caught amongst the bait schools, and this month the key will be fishing

Once you find a bait school, have a look at the sounder and see if it’s getting worked over, and start jigging the bottom. You can get good results drifting over the school and dropping down 5-7” soft plastics on approx. 1/2oz jigheads, and jigging them off the bottom. Vibes like Zerek Fish Traps and Samaki Vibelicious are proving to be very productive as well. You’re basically bombing down through the bait school to where the

can fish right up until dark. However, if you can’t get out at those prime times, you can still catch them in the middle of the day at this time of year. You can also pick up a bycatch of trevally. We’ve had a real resurgence in numbers of trevally off this part of the coast, and it’s good to see a species like this come back on after being in poor numbers in the past. July is when thousands of whales migrate along our coastline. If you are anchoring or travelling along the coast, it’s best to do it after light and then be back in before dark. There have been a few whale-related accidents along our coastline in the past, so be mindful of the dangers. Some boaters have had whales’ flukes catch on the anchor rope, so keep a knife handy so you can cut the rope. The deeper water reefs such as the Farm area and down towards Texas in particular will be worth trying this month, particularly for snapper and longfin perch, and of course kingfish. There have been a few of all species around of late, but we’ve had a bit of trouble with those cold-water barracuda, making life difficult when jigging. Riddled with worms and bones, these pests are

flathead are waiting on the bottom, with the mulloway a bit above them, enjoying the scraps raining down from above as the tailor/salmon attack the baitfish. You may also encounter a bycatch of bream and squire. Lately we’ve seen some nice jewfish caught around a metre. These fish will be caught right through July. Yes, it may be cold and you may need a beanie, but you can fish all day for them, and maybe stick around for those glorious, lingering sunsets we get in winter. A lot of the flathead have

come back in from offshore, and there have been some really nice models getting caught from the bait schools. There’s an abundance of 45-55cm fish, and also good numbers of 65-75cm fish, which is a good sign for the health of the fishery. The fishing should last right through winter. With those prevalent westerly winds through July, sometimes it’s better to favour the western side of Pulbah Island, and also back up into Myuna Bay, so you’re more protected. Additionally, the water is a little bit warmer with the power station hot water outlet, and there are good numbers of baitfish, shadowed by tailor, flathead and bream. A lot of the fish are in the southern section of the lake at the moment, so it’s a good place to fish. That’s not to say you won’t catch them in the northern end, of course, but it perhaps won’t fish quite as well there. At this time of year the tailor will spread throughout the lake. It’s good to try the area between Coal Point and Valentine because there’s a trench through there, giving you a great opportunity to have a troll through that deeper water. Again, look for the bait schools. In autumn we were gifted a really good run of inshore snapper off Swansea. A lot of the reefs in just 20-30m of water fished very well through autumn, and they should continue to fish well in the coming weeks. The best method on the inshore reefs during westerlies at this time of year is to anchor up and berley. Use ingredients like old bread, chicken pellets and old pillies, and set out an unbroken, continual, light trail. Fish floating baits such as half pillies or prawns straight down the berley slick. The best times to fish for inshore snapper are early in the early morning and late in the afternoon, particularly if you can time that with a high tide. I prefer a high tide at around 4pm so you

water is generally good for fishing, and any prolonged period of westerly winds that flatten out the sea tend to make for poor fishing. When the seas flatten out and the water looks clearer and greener, it means most fish either eat less or move out wider or deeper. This is when you see more toadfish around, and you’ll generally struggle to catch much. All going well though, silver trevally, bream, drummer, luderick, tailor, salmon and snapper are all on the cards. A lot of local boats will also be looking to head wider this month,

with kings being the main target for many anglers. As mentioned last month, the price of fuel has become more of an issue this year, and when you’re doing 50km or more in the boat for a day’s fishing, it certainly becomes noticeable. Keeping a very close eye on the weather and marine forecasts, as well as the angling grapevine, will help maximise every drop of that expensive fuel! Back inside calmer water, luderick are the perhaps the main species worth thinking about this month. The Entrance is

probably our local luderick capital, with plenty of options on either side of the bridge, but anglers down the southern end of the area are better off sticking to Brisbane Waters to score a feed. Don’t expect miracles this month. As I say, we’re coming into the toughest time of year and you’re going to have to keep an eye on weather forecasts and put in some effort to score fish this month. However, a fresh feed of snapper or luderick or just having some fun hooking into a few salmon is very much on the cards.

It’s good to see so many quality tailor in the lake at the moment. the deep water, particularly down around Pulbah Island. It’s certainly been a bit of a hot spot for us. The best time is early in the morning, and with luck there will be some bird activity to guide you to the action. I recommend putting a couple of trolling lures out and have a troll for tailor as soon as you get down in that deeper water area. Keep the sounder on and start marking some of the bait schools. You’re looking for ‘ragged’ looking bait schools, because those are the ones that are getting attacked by predators. From page 62

to encounter a few more salmon and possibly a few less tailor and bream as we move towards the end of the month. Silver trevally and the odd flathead are also likely, and there’s a chance of mulloway at night. The inshore strip, along our headlands, bommies and closer reef can fish pretty well in the middle of winter, providing the conditions are suitable. This is particularly important for rock hoppers, for safety reasons, however a nice bit of washy

This big girl was released to fight another day. Image courtesy of @hook__in. problematic on the deepwater reefs at present, and we will also see them on some of our inshore reefs in the coming weeks. It’s part and parcel of fishing in winter. If you rock up to a spot and the cuda are there, it’s time to up and move. The saving grace of barracuda is that they make good bait, being nice and oily and silver. I like to use 5-6” cuda strips as floating baits for snapper (floating pillies are hard to beat for snapper, too). July is a great month off the rocks because of westerly winds and hopefully flat

time of writing there haven’t been many salmon catches reported, but we should start to see more catches in the coming weeks. The beauty of salmon fishing is they don’t have sharp teeth, so you can get them with single hooked pillies. It’s becoming more common for anglers to fish a paternoster rig with a surf popper on the top loop and a half pilly on the bottom. If the salmon are smashing the bait up, a chrome lure about 40-60g will work well. • Fisherman’s Warehouse Tackle World has a large range fresh and frozen bait

A ripper Lake Mac greenback taken on a Sugapen. Image courtesy of @hook__in. seas. I’ve had reports lately of big schools of luderick off the rocks, and this should continue in the coming weeks, with drummer also in the mix. The most popular bait is cabbage, which you can gather off the ocean rocks. Some beautiful tailor are getting caught off the stones as well, plus some trevally. Please remember to wear a lifejacket, and ideally fish with someone else. If you are going by yourself, tell someone else where you’re going. On the beaches we will start to see a few salmon turn up this month. At the

as well as a huge range of rods, reels, lures and accessories. They also sell and service outboard motors, and have a competitivelypriced selection of new and second-hand boats. The friendly staff are all experienced local anglers, and they’re always happy to share their knowledge, whether you’re a novice or experienced angler. Drop in for a chat at 804 Pacific Highway, Marks Point, or give them a call on (02) 4945 2152. You can also find them on Facebook, or check out their website at www.fishermanswarehouse. com.au. JULY 2022

NSW

Winter cuttlefish chaos ILLAWARRA

Greg Clarke

It’s pretty tough going at this time of the year and not because it is cold and windy, it’s because there aren’t all that many options open to get a feed of fish. However, there is one shining exception and that is the annual winter run of snapper. It really hits its straps this month. The cuttlefish will be in spawning mode on all the close-in reefs all along the Illawarra coast, with the area from Wollongong north to national park being ‘cuttlefish central’. Hundreds of thousands of them will be on and around the shallow reefs to produce a new generation, and they’ll be paying less attention to their surroundings while chasing their perfect match. In their distracted state, they are easy pickings for a multitude of creatures that like eating cuttlefish. Then there are those cuttlefish that just succumb to the rigors of spawning and simply die and float to the surface. These are then set upon by the numerous albatross that are riding the

uplift from the swells in search of floaters to fatten up for winter. Snapper also follow these dying cuttlies to the surface and tear into them, often making wild attempts to break off pieces of flesh, throwing spray and water into the air that can be seen from hundreds of metres away. This is great for anglers as you can quietly motor into position and cast a bait right next to the feeding fish, and 90% of the time you’ll get a bite immediately. As always, keep quiet and when you land that fish put in another cast as there’s usually more than one fish in close proximity when this is happening. There may even be a whole school in attendance. It’s mostly the larger more brazen fish that come to the surface which suits me just fine. It’s good to know most of the fish you see will be big ones. Alternatively, you can go from floater to floater casting baits to each one, as many fish just sit under them and gently bite off pieces or just wait for bits from the feeding albatross to drift down to them. Either way, the fish are still there and ready to bite. Another option is to pick

There are some big snapper out there. released to fight another day. A few stray winter kings are always on the cards and you will catch more good old Sergeant Baker than anything else, as they seem to swim over the reefs at this time of the year. Salmon, trevally and some very big tailor will also be in the mix. The bottom bouncers will struggle with the flathead, but there may be a few over the sand as the

water has been quite warm right through June, so you never know. Regardless, the small to medium snapper will make up for them, and when you throw in a few mowies and some nice pigfish, it’s worth a look. Further offshore the bluefin may be on their way or the yellowfin may be around. I haven’t had any reports at the time of writing, but the currents can bring

anything any time. Bottom dropping the reefs around Kiama canyons could produce a trevalla or early gemfish as the current has slowed to a more fishable pace. Off the stones there are plenty of drummer in the washes grabbing prawns and cunje, along with a few nice bream. Pilchard pieces fished in a bread berley trail off

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your reef, get out there early, put down the anchor, deploy a good berley trail and bring the fish to you. You will get more fish using this method, but it’s not as much fun. In all these methods there is only one bait to use, and that is cuttlefish. The best bit is the candle. Fish to 9kg are on the cards, with the average good fish being 6kg with plenty from 1-3kg the norm. Not bad fishing in anyone’s book. Put the braid away when casting at the floaters as it seems to put them off the bite. Maybe they can see it? I have found that the bite rate is much better using mono, and 6kg is more than enough to subdue the largest snapper. It’s not all snapper either, as there’s usually plenty of bycatch. Just about everything with fins is out and about, looking for an easy feed. If your bait gets a little deeper you won’t be the first to hook a solid groper, as they love cuttlefish too. My best groper was 13kg, and it took a bait right near the top, too. Maybe that’s why I landed it, as it couldn’t bury me straight away and got confused. Anyway, after a quick weigh in the net it was

JULY 2022

Regal Marine

To page 65

NSW

Where are the bluefin? BATEMANS BAY

Anthony Stokman

It’s July and that means bluefin tuna. We can see bluefin show up in June or towards the end of June in patchy schools, but it’s July when we can see some bigger numbers. We usually get some idea when

the commercial vessels head out, or go south, and start bringing home some fish. We have had some good Julys and some very average ones, but with a good season on the bluefin further south let’s hope we see them coming up the coast in good numbers. The migration usually begins in July and can last

until September, and anyone of these months can be better than the other. Each year is a little different, depending on currents and food source. The majority of these fish are found over the shelf and beyond. In past years I have travelled 90km, 120km and more to find these fish. The 151 line has been a sweet spot in the past, so big fuel tanks,

Georgia Poyner with a nice estuary mulloway.

Naite Turner with a good salmon. There are plenty of these fish around off the break walls and beaches. From page 64

the deeper ledges around Kiama way are producing a few trevally and salmon, while whole pilchards are scoring salmon, tailor and the odd snapper as they venture in close. A stray bonito or mac tuna is still on the cards, but only if you are lucky.

worms in the waves, with a wind chill factor below zero. Salmon are on most beaches in deep gutters early in the mornings, with tailor in the same gutters during the evenings. A few jewies are about, and what they lack in numbers they make up for in size, with some quality fish

up shop for the year until a bit of warmer water arrives. There are just a few bream in the feeder streams to the lake and around the weed beds and rocky shorelines. All in all, it’s tough going at this time of the year, but you have to be out there having a go as you won’t catch them sitting on

An average cuttlie-crunching snapper. The beaches aren’t too bad with some nice bream and even a few stray very large whiting if you are an iron man and can catch

about. However, you have to put in some long, cold hours to get them, unless you are very lucky or very good. The estuaries have shut

the couch. Be careful and stay safe on the rocks. If you’re a rock hopper and it’s rough, home might be a good spot.

and in some cases spare fuel containers, are needed. The last few years we have seen yellowfin and albacore in good to great numbers mixed in with the bluefin run. Over the last couple of years the yellowfin have taken the crown, and the bluefin have been quite patchy, but prior to that we have had some solid bluefin runs and had them in massive schools with little sign of yellowfin. This year we’ll see how the battle of blue and yellow plays out. Either way, the albacore remain a welcomed bycatch and can remain that way until October. Last year we had albacore right into November, where they were in massive numbers and became the target species. I’m hoping by August I’ll be reporting tuna with some more accurate info and some good tuna pics. Other pelagics like marlin, dolphinfish (mahimahi), bonito and so forth traditionally taper off at this time of year due to the cooler southern waters. The warmer water has been persistent this year, and June still saw 20°C water holding bonito and plenty of slimy mackerel. However, July should see an end to that and winter is when the tuna show, with a chance of kingfish. Inshore there are plenty of salmon, and we have seen a large number of tailor over the last couple of months, and they have been of decent size too. There will also be trevally and bream in reasonable numbers along the beaches, rock walls and headlands over July. Anglers frequenting rock ledges this winter will be looking for the ever-reliable drummer, and picking up the odd grouper, trevally and bream as by catch. Berley will greatly increase your chances of success. Never throw out old bread – just mix it with moist sand and use it for drummer berley. And remember, one of the best free baits is cunjevoi, so get down at low tide and get some.

Spinning metals and lures will jag salmon and tailor also, and don’t forget to pack your squid jigs because squid will be on the cards at these locations. The snapper run has continued, and I’m quite amazed at the number of good fish being caught from boats, kayaks and land-based recently, and also just in general over the last couple of years. The snapper fishery must be in great condition, and it makes me wonder how good it really is. I am regularly in touch with the DPI and other bodies, so I should ask why there have been so many big fish and how healthy is our system really is. I’ll get back to you on that, and in the meantime let’s hope this run of snapper continues. Beaches will be holding schools of salmon and tailor in the coming weeks, with some patches of bream and flathead here and there. Mulloway will be a target at

night on the beaches as well as in the estuaries if you rug up enough. We can feel the snow in the mountains in the crisp, westerly winds that arrive to the coast. Still, we have the sun, and with thermals on we are warm and good to go. Estuary fishing will be tough from here on as it cools down, but if you work hard enough, you’ll find some bream, flatties and trevally, and lose your lure to the odd tailor. The action never completely dies, and as long as you’ve got warm gear and a hot drink, and the sun is out, you can have an enjoyable time fishing on our beautiful south coast estuaries. Very serene and peaceful. • 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).

Charlie Jackson with a big end-of-season bonito. JULY 2022

NSW

Winter reef fishing BERMAGUI

Darren Redman djsxstreamfishing@bigpond.com

Bermagui is a beautiful place at any time of year, with winter being no different – except you will find reduced crowds, making the stay more enjoyable. With fewer people on the water there is less angling pressure, and this is the time to go exploring the winter reef fishing on offer. Yes, we are truly blessed in this part of the world with numerous reef complexes at our disposal, and with so many in close proximity of port it’s an angler’s paradise at present – and for seafood lovers it’s a banquet for the taking. Not only do we have so many reef complexes we also have many different fish species occupying them, and this leads to interesting fishing. For those anglers who have small craft, the inshore reefs are providing fish like morwong, wrasse, jackets, snapper with the occasional pelagic in the form of a salmon, kingfish or bonito. All of these are very tasty, providing they are kept in an ice slurry. There are also a lot of calamari on these inshore reefs, and a

prawn-style jig is all that is required to catch them. Just outside or adjacent to these structures are the flathead grounds, where sandies are prolific at present. It is not hard to achieve your bag in a short

time, and there is always a surprise waiting in the form of some very nice gummy sharks. The wider reefs like the Six Mile, Twelve Mile or out from Goalen Head are the highlight, with

Although it is winter, Wallaga is still producing some reasonable bream.

Float fishing for luderick is a good winter option.

some of the best snapper seen in the area for many a year. Mixing with them are nannygai, pigfish, ocean perch, morwong and kingfish. This in my opinion is due to the restrictions in the trawl industry, which is good news for recreational anglers. Beautiful calm weather with flat seas is allowing anglers a chance of venturing out wide to give the deepwater canyon fishing a go. Here, with the use of electric reels, fish like hapuka, blue-eye trevalla, ling, gemfish and many more assorted species are all on offer. While you’re

out there chasing those fish, leave your options open by looking for gamefish, especially bluefin tuna or mako sharks. A good berley trail may attract both of these species, while there is always a chance of a late season yellowfin or albacore tuna. These calm conditions are perfect to chase some of those big winter kings that hang around Montague Island, where they can often be sighted busting up on schools of sauries. A well-placed popper is an exciting way to target them, as is a nice deep running minnow-style lure

like a Rapala. These fish may not just be residing around Montague either; for the past two winters there have been plenty caught just off Bermagui, so keep an eye out. Back on shore, there is action for those who don’t have boats or who fish the rivers and lakes. Around the rocks and beaches, salmon are plentiful, providing some interesting angling. Luring, either from the beach or stones, is a good way of finding them. There’s also a chance of catching other species like tailor, bonito or the To page 67 (Bermagui)

Large river, lots of fish TATHRA

Darren Redman djsxstreamfishing@bigpond.com

The Bega River is one of the largest along the south coast of NSW, with many areas to fish along with a multitude of species to target in many ways. Following another season of flooding, the river looks magnificent and the fishing is

equally as good. Although we are now entering the middle of winter and the fish have slowed down, there is enough to keep anglers occupied, and some interesting catches in the mix. Anglers fishing the Bega River may have to do many a cast before producing a result, whether it be on bait or lure. One species that can be targeted at this time of year is the estuary perch.

These fish congregate in the deeper water around the rock walls. Anglers here can use their sounders to their advantage, finding the fish hanging close to the bottom. Once located, you can work the area over with deep lures such as blades or soft plastics used in a jigging form. These fish might not respond straight away, but if you work in conjunction with the incoming tide, warmer water moving with this tide may

Trevally are a good winter option around Tathra.

Winter is a hard time to catch flathead in the Bega River, but if you work hard there are a few on offer. 66

JULY 2022

stimulate the fish to feed. There is also some very interesting shallow water bream fishing over the gravel beds or around sea grass patches. On a clear, warm winter’s day, these bream can be easily seen moving over the flats, where anglers can target them with either lure or bait. To give yourself a better chance, try anchoring followed by some long casts from the boat on light tackle using baits like nippers or squirt worms. While leaving these rods in holders to do their thing, you can also work some

shallow-running hardbodied lures to fish which are often sighted cruising the flats. However, you need to be patient as it may take time before you register a strike. Towards the entrance, the rock platforms adjacent to the boat ramp and the bridge pylons are producing some excellent luderick for the traditionalists who like to drift either cabbage or green weed under a float. Some of the fish have been of excellent size, due again to the flooding that has this system so pristine. There are also excellent

luderick to be caught from the ocean rocks, especially down behind the pub and towards Tathra Wharf. Cabbage weed accounts for most fish, however luderick also have a particular liking for cunjevoi. Whilst using the cunjevoi, other species are also likely to be attracted in the form of some very nice drummer, trevally, bream and the occasional blue groper. Also patrolling these rocky shorelines are a few predators like Australian salmon, tailor and the To page 67

NSW

LIGHT, POWERFUL, DURABLE…

From page 66 (Bermagui)

occasional kingfish. Bream, trevally and mullet can be taken from both the beach or the rocks, and the latter is also producing some very nice black drummer, luderick and groper. The estuaries are now fairly quiet, with the best options being towards the entrances of those that are open to the ocean. Wallaga Lake is producing a reasonable amount of fish over the flats below the bridge on an incoming tide, with the use of fresh baits like nippers or worms for fish like bream, trevally or luderick. In the early stages of the rising tide, try berley in the form of some tuna to entice these species. You may also encounter the occasional salmon, tailor, flathead or garfish, which all find the tuna irresistible. These methods are also working well in the Bermagui River for pretty much all the same species. One fish in particular that is about in good numbers and providing good angling is luderick. They are being found off the rocks on cabbage weed or in the Bermagui River around the rocky walls, bridge pylons or the reef adjacent to the river ramp, or out at Wallaga Lake around the bridge on green weed. Be warned – there are some thumpers out there. From page 66

odd kingfish. Lures are probably the best way of fishing to encounter these species, followed by a pilchard floated out or maybe a fillet of yellowtail. Yellowtail can be acquired on nearby Tathra Wharf, where there are plenty at present to keep the kids occupied. Mixing in with these yellowtail are a few slimy mackerel, quite a lot of silver trevally, and it is also prime time to

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With the Bega River open to the ocean, finding salmon around the entrance is a possibility. catch some of those lovely big winter garfish. Those drummer and luderick may also be hanging around, as well as passing schools of salmon, tailor and kingfish. It’s also a good time to

a few mullet and the odd trevally. Those wishing to brave the chill of a night are likely to encounter tailor, the odd jewfish (mulloway) or some small whaler or gummy sharks.

For those anglers who are able to make their way out to sea, there are many options in the way they can fish for the many reef and bottom species that are around at present. The simplest and most popular way is to drift over the reefy areas with a paternoster rig for species like snapper, morwong, ocean perch, pigfish and so on. This method also works very well over the sandy areas for flathead species like tigers or sandies, and will also produce some nice gummy sharks. There seems to be plenty of sand flathead around at present, congregating in and around 30m out from most beaches. Another option is to anchor on some of the reefs using berley to attract snapper to your bait or lure, or you can try soft plastic fishing, which will often produce some very nice fish within the berley trail. Out over the Shelf with the use of electronic reels, anglers are regularly catching deep water species from out of the canyons in the form of blue-eye cod, hapuka, gemfish, ling, perch and other interesting species that are excellent on the plate. There are plenty of these fish to be found at present, so all you need is one of those crisp, calm winter days and go and enjoy.

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JULY 2022

NSW

Strap in for winter cod ALBURY/WODONGA

Connor Heir

The cold is well and truly set in, and those freezing mornings on the water are the new normal for keen anglers who are crazy about chasing large Murray cod. It’s the time of year when the bites are tough, and few and far between, but

we are spoiled for choice of where to catching Murray cod. From small water creeks to impoundments, we have a lot at our doorstep within a few hours from home. Over these past few months, Lake Mulwala has been an increasingly popular destination for anglers. This is because the lake is being drawn down in an effort to kill the weed that thrives on the

fishing opportunities with the water not flowing as hard, snags becoming more exposed and the water clarity improving, provided there isn’t heavy rainfall. Navigating the shallow areas and rapids while the river is low can be challenging, but via a kayak or smaller boat it’s very achievable. During this time of year, it can be very tough going, so taking the time to do the small things definitely do add up to increasing your chances of making one of these very special fish eat. While most of your chances of catching these fish do come from just being

A happy snap from the Central Vic Pro Series.

Kuttafurra ‘Joe the Rat’ surface lure was the snack of choice for Phil’s metre-plus cod. those bites we do entice are generally from bigger-sized fish. So if you’re prepared to be committed, strap in for winter because it takes only one bite to make the effort very worth it. The past few months in our general area have seen some great fishing opportunities for anglers. Living in this region

flats. Due to this draw down, water releases from Lake Hume have been significantly decreased, making the Murray River between Lake Hume to Lake Mulwala much lower than summertime flow. That’s already common for this time of year, even without Lake Mulwala being drained. It opens some great

A selection of Kuttafurra lures, which are made in Bundalong. These three lures range from 100220mm, which is a good size for winter.

on the water, there are extras we can go to that will better our chances. First up, it’s vital to be comfortable while fishing. Rug up with thermals, trackies, gloves, a beanie – you name it, do it. Being comfortable will very much change your approach and attitude to making it happen! When it comes to gear, you want to go bigger at this time of year. With the water being colder, fishes’ metabolisms slow right down, so presenting a bigger lure may be the key to getting a sluggish fish to bite. In my opinion, a good-sized cod lure for winter is anything over 100mm. I primarily fish surface and hardbody lures over winter, but that’s just my personal preference. After lure choice, it’s important to remember that with everything being slower, you should also slow your casting down and how quickly you work. While much of the time Murray cod will react quickly to a lure, during winter it can really take a fair few casts for a fish

to come out. To properly fish a likely snag, aim for roughly 15-20 casts with different angle approaches to really put the lure on the nose of the fish, and fish right in against the timber. While you may not cover as much ground in a trip as you would during the warmer months, often it can be the best strategy to make a fish eat. Mixing these elements into your approach, and being persistent, will help you better your chances! Before the draw down begun in Lake Mulwala, myself and my dad Phil entered the Central Vic Lure Casters Pro Series as Team Kuttafurra Lures, and we were lucky to take out 1st place on days 2 and 3. What made this experience even more exciting was watching dad land his first ever metreplus Murray cod, measuring in at 115cm. An amazing father-son moment to share! A huge good luck to all hitting the water this month. Remember to rug up, and keep casting. Tight lines!

Tempting big bass HUNTER VALLEY

Nick Price

This month I will continue looking at winter fishing with the second instalment of fishing plastics, particularly fishing them shallow using weedless and dropshot techniques. The winter bite is currently insane with big, angry bass. Anglers aren’t catching big numbers but they are quality fish, with 3lb fish a regular occurrence. My favourite time to fish is winter, fishing jerkbaits and plastics. The Hunter Valley traditionally has crisp, foggy mornings followed by sunny days – perfect fishing weather. Many people avoid the winter fishing, which means often you will have Glenbawn or St Clair 68

JULY 2022

Fishing comps allow you to learn new techniques and make new mates.

A nice little winter bass.

to yourself. It truly is a special time. As both impoundments have risen significantly over the last 12 months, the banks have lots of underwater structure in the form of grasses, small shrubs and saplings. The fish are in this

cover. I find the best way to fish these edges is fishing weedless. When fishing weedless there are a few different ways to rig your plastic. Using a worm hook, a bead and a tungsten weight is my favourite. Sometimes

I peg the weight and at other times I don’t, it depends on how I want the plastic to fall during the retrieve when working the plastic back. There are also jigheads that come with a worm To page 69

NSW

The winter freshwater scene BATLOW

Wayne Dubois waynedubois@westnet.com.au

On the freshwater scene, especially down south the middle of winter is normally associated with trout and redfin fishing and to a small extent Murray cod fishing. With that in mind, it might be surprising to hear that golden perch can also be on the cards at this time of the year. If Blowering Dam is at a constant level or is slowly rising then the golden

perch will often push right up into the shallows. This fish are often very hard to tempt as they are mostly sunning themselves, but they sometimes come on the bite for a very short period during the middle to late part of the day. Timing it is very hard but if you want to catch the odd big golden perch you will have to persist. My best advice would be to hit the redfin early until about lunch time, then target the golden perch for a few hours. Then, once the golden perch shut back down, go back and harass the redfin again. If you’re really keen, as soon as

that sun dips over the Snubba Range I’d start to target the resident Murray cod. Redfin fishing doesn’t get much easier than it does at this time of the year, when the redfin form massive schools, sometimes with hundreds of fish in a single school. They are best targeted vertically with jigs or bait. Using a paternoster rig with two hooks, one with fresh bait (either worms or small yabbies) and the other with a small 1-2” soft plastic will see you catching fish all day long, and will see you often bringing two fish in at

a time. The added bonus of this rig is that if the bait gets pinched by a small fish or gets fouled up, you still have a chance of hooking a fish on the plastic. You can add a plastic above your jig of choice as well to increase your chances of double hook-ups whilst jigging with lures. The best vertical jigging lures are ice jigs by far, but blades and heavily-weighted soft plastics will also get the job done. I personally use the blades and plastics as a searching tool. I cast them well away from the boat and hop them back to below the boat, searching for schools in the process, making sure I stay in contact with the bottom of the lake threw out the retrieve. Once I have hooked up this way, I then go over to the spot I hooked up and drop ice jigs straight down into the school. This is a very effective way of seeking out active schools. Rubber vibes are also great searching lures.

Golden perch are still a possibility this month. Target them during the warmest part of the day to maximise your chances.

There are some giant trout in Jounama Dam that are well worth having a crack at. From page 68

hook. These come in various weights and sizes, and definitely have their place. If you are unsure of how to rig plastics weedless, drop into the shop and I can show you. Fishing weedless allows you to throw your plastic right up into the snags where the fish are located. The plastic will bounce through the submerged vegetation, often bouncing off it, and the little puff of dirt that follows incites a strike. When fishing submerged vegetation, try different banks. Sometimes the fish are holding in gently sloping grassy banks, and at other times they can be found on steeper banks that contain submerged shrubs and saplings. It’s a matter of trying different banks until you find the fish, and then repeating the pattern. Dropshot fishing is another great winter technique that many people don’t do. Fishing dropshots can be done deep or shallow. The main advantage of dropshots is that you can fish very small plastics, and unusual plastics that will not fit in a normal jighead. I nosehook most plastics when drop-shotting. When working a plastic drop-shotting, work it as if you are using a jighead,

either fast or slow. From my experience, a dropshot isn’t about shaking a plastic stationary, it’s about working the plastics through a certain depth or near the bottom, as you would a jighead. Its advantage is the types of plastics you can use. Smaller plastics or those with a

the local bass competitions that continue throughout the winter months. If you want to learn new techniques and make new mates, have a go and join in. They are very friendly with a great group of people who love their fishing and are good at it! Next month I will

A big Glenbawn bass. slimmer profile. Even small insect-style plastics! When fishing plastics to the edge I will always have someone in the boat fishing a jerkbait such as a Squirrel or Double Clutch. I also keep a rod on the deck with a topwater lure such as a cicada. If I see a swirl, I will throw this out. This is an all year lure on Glenbawn and St Clair. Don’t forget about all

continue looking at winter fishing, particularly ice jig tricks. The winter bite is currently insane with big angry bass. Remember, if you’re heading to Glenbawn or St Clair, drop into the shop at the turn-off to Glenbawn in Aberdeen and ask about the different techniques and what the fish are biting on. We stock all the quality tackle that you need.

Redfin are one of the few fish that taste as good as they look, and they can be caught in their hundreds. It’s easy to see why they are a main target for many anglers during winter. JOUNAMA DAM Although there are much more notable trout dams just up the road like Tantangara, Talbingo, Eucumbene and Jindabyne, you will be hard pressed driving past this sensational land-based ‘trout only’ fishery. Officially Jounama Dam is now a mixed fishery, with some thumping golden perch and the odd Murray cod now in amongst the enormous trout population. Trout in this lake often exceed the magical 10lb mark, and surprisingly it’s often the average Joe soaking a worm who ends up catching these monsters. In saying that, there is a massive population of fish in the 2-4kg bracket as well, which keep anglers coming back again and again. One of the best techniques at this time of the year is to bait fish with big, juicy wood grubs, as the resident trout find them very hard to resist. PowerBait also

works well at this time of the year, and is a great alternative if you can’t get your hands on some fresh bait.

Trout can be pretty aggressive at this time of the year, and taking advantage of that by casting fish imitation lures works a treat. Proven lures are sinking hardbodies in the 5-7cm range, as well as blades, vibes, lipless crankbaits and soft plastics. All of these lures have their days and have certain spots where they work best. For example, the blades and vibes are too heavy for working the shallows, but they work well when hopped back to the bank in the deeper water. The sinking hardbodies generally sink very slowly so they aren’t much good out in the really deep water, but they work extremely well when slowly retrieved around the shallow margins of the lake. Use the right lures in the right locations and you will increase your catch rate dramatically.

Winter is regarded by many cod gurus as the best time of year for catching big Murray cod. Days are often super slow, but when you finally come up tight on one of those giant green fish, those long, fruitless hours are soon forgotten. JULY 2022

NSW

Quality fish on swimbaits NEW ENGLAND RIVERS

Adam Townsend

There is a lot happening in the New England on the fishing scene at the moment, despite the trout closure. The closure will continue until the October long weekend

these waterways is now prohibited. The Beardy River as well as upper Macintyre, Deepwater and Wellingrove rivers just to name a few will be completely closed for this 3-month period, however there are still some major waterways that are fishable. The Severn

above Copeton. It is the bigger native species such as Murray cod and golden perch that seem to be on everyone’s agenda during the winter months, as the natives start bulking up for their own spawn period in the weeks to come. Since the early morning frosts really

Rugging up and staying warm is the biggest key to having good success. Here’s one tip I have learnt over the years fishing the impoundments: if you can get yourself out of bed at least two hours before the sun breaks and stay up and active, you will end up being a lot warmer than waking up on daybreak. That’s because the coldest part of the morning is actually just before the sun pops its head over the hill, sucking the cold air off the ground. I have also found that the hours between 4am and 9am have been my most productive times for catching 1m+ cod in July. At the time of writing, Copeton Dam is at 98% and Pindari Dam is at 100%. Both dams have

Golden perch are usually not the intended target species during the winter, but they are fun to catch on any style of lure.

A beautifully-conditioned Murray cod caught on a slowly worked swimbait in the river just before dark. kicked in, the temperatures have stayed consistently cold, with some nights getting well below zero, and this is what seems to trigger the XL natives to be out actively hunting. July is one of those months where braving the conditions can be really worth it, especially when you catch that fish of a lifetime. However, it is also the coldest time of the year in Australia, so having the right gear is essential, not just the tackle you are using but your clothing as well.

Looking for baitfish and other action on the surface can sometimes lead you to a hot bite. After seeing baitfish milling around, one cast in the middle of the action was enough to find this greedy golden that ate a slowly worked swimbait.

The Megabass Garuda swimbait doesn’t look like the conventional golden perch lure, however with half a dozen captures, it has proven effective on both Murray cod and goldens in winter. (3-month spawn period), and during this time a lot of the smaller systems are shut down so to speak, and targeting of any species in 70

JULY 2022

River, both above and below Pindari Dam, can still produce some nice fish at this time of year, as well as the Gwydir River

The author’s greatest Murray cod capture and the biggest ‘swimbait’ fish he ever landed. It was 121cm of Copeton Dam Murray cod on a foggy morning this time of year, on the 16th of July to be exact!

been sitting around full capacity for several weeks now and as mentioned in previous reports, it can only be a good thing when the impoundments have had time to settle without water levels fluctuating too dramatically. The fish are always more comfortable, feeding in familiar patterns, and it’s easier for anglers to load and unload boats, due to the hardened surfaces along the dams’ edge. This time of year is my favourite time to be walking along the banks of the impoundments casting surface and sub-surface lures, looking for Murray cod as well as the odd by-catch golden perch. As always, I would recommend having a variety of lures in your tacklebox so you can cover most situations pretty easily. However, if I had to choose only one lure, it would be a small swimbait that slowly floats in the water column. I have always felt the longer you can keep the bait in the fishes’ face, than the bigger the chance of it getting eaten. Chin-weights definitely have their time and place, however with the fish sitting higher in the water column during the colder periods, it is easier keeping the bait high and, in their face, as well. Paying attention to any type of bait-life milling around on surface can sometimes put you in the right location, then it just comes down to patience, fishing slow and hoping the fish will do the rest. The larger moon phases are also something to consider this month, with the full moon on 14 July, and the new moon falling at the end of the month, on 29 July. Good luck to all braving the cold this month, and tight lines.

NSW

Give Googong a go CANBERRA

Toby Grundy

Googong Dam is a very interesting proposition in July. Usually by this time of year, most anglers have given up on the place and are looking for cod in other

from me – when the weather is at its worst this month, give Googong a crack and it will most likely surprise you. LOCAL LAKES Lake Burley Griffin continues to produce some decent fish despite all the rain. The redfin are schooling up in the deeper areas of the lake

to land carp, redfin and golden perch in the same session using wriggler style plastics and employing a ‘hop and pause’ retrieve. Lake Ginninderra hasn’t been particularly productive of late. A few lucky anglers have caught cod using spinnerbaits and yellas using plastics, but on the whole the fish have shut down. There is often a lull in the fishing on Lake Ginninderra at this time of year as the natives tend to move deep into the weed beds and can only be coaxed out by a particularly enticing offering. That said, there are plenty of small redfin about, and these fish can be easily targeted using plastics and small divers. Lake Tuggeranong is

Some nice cod are being caught in the river.

Plastics have been productive lately. locations like Burrinjuck, or even further afield like Copeton. This means that Googong doesn’t get a massive amount of angling pressure (like it does in spring/summer) and quite often, it’s possible to catch

and are being tailed by native fish in search of an easy meal. It is a case of finding the redfin on the sounder, and then vertically jigging a vibe or blade adjacent to the reddies. More often than not, a hungry cod or golden perch will scoff

Reddies are hitting lures at the moment. lately but there are a few clever anglers who have worked out the surface bite on the lake, catching some great cod using paddler-style surface lures in a few ‘secret spots’. The Murrumbidgee is very hit-and-miss. The river has been in constant flux for so long now due to rain that many

fishos simply skip ‘the riv’ and focus on the local lakes. However, there are fish on the bite, and by targeting the slower pools, it is possible to land a nice greenfish. Fishing low light periods will also maximise the possibility of catching a cod, as will using lures with plenty of vibration,

like a spinnerbait. Cod hold in the strangest places when the river is in flood, so cast at everything including halfsubmerged tussocks and near overhangs. Work the lure as close to the bank as possible because many cod will sit tight to ledges during periods of flooding. Yerrabi Pond is also worth a look. Though the pond does not fish as well as it once did due to significant angling pressure, there are still plenty of big golden perch in the pond, and they do bite well during the cooler months. A few years ago, most anglers waited until the heavy winter rains to hit the pond, but I don’t. Now, I prefer to fish it a few weeks after the rain, and on days where the wind pushes the floating weed to one end of the pond so I can fish without snagging weed on every cast. My favourite lure to use here is a wriggler-style plastic attached to a 1/8oz jighead. I cast out, wait until the lure hits the bottom, and then I twitch the lure on the spot. This method is a slow way to fish and requires patience, but the fish can’t resist it.

Googong is the go this month. some big cod and the odd yellowbelly on even the coldest July days. I often leave my kayak at home and just wander the banks of Googong. I’ve caught plenty of nice fish by simply casting out past the sunken shrubs and timber and slow rolling the lure back. I don’t often use my introduction to my regular fishing report to discuss a specific location, but take it

the lure, but the larger redfin will also strike with abandon. For the shore-based anglers, try Nerang Pool. This often-overlooked pond, which feeds into Lake Burley Griffin, is packed full of giant carp that will hit wriggler and paddler style plastics. There are also plenty of redfin in the pond, along with a few yellowbelly. I really like fishing Sullivans Creek through July because it’s sheltered and it’s possible

proving to be Canberra’s best big carp fishery. I have seen plenty of monster mud marlin pulled out of the lake over recent weeks by anglers using everything from corn through to wriggler-style plastics fished slow along the bottom near the bridge. The bigger fish tend to fire on clear days, with the spillway another great spot to fish for both carp and redfin. Again, there haven’t been too many natives caught

Nerang Pool is worth a look. JULY 2022

PRODUCT GUIDE

FISHCRAFT DR GLIDE

Thinking about jumping in on the glidebait action but not sure where to start? Dr Glide has got you covered, with two models available: 76mm and 7.5g, and 127mm and 23g. These two glidebait sizes are slow sinking and smoothly glide into the sight of your target species. These lures come in a tasty range of fish-satisfying colours, including the likes of white widow, matte black, pearl shrimp plus some fresh new concepts of green yabbie, spotted prawn, silver shad and more. FishCraft lures are built tough, with super-sharp trebles and ultra-hard external coatings for longevity against those nasty teeth. Jump onto the new FishCraft website at for all the details on what’s to come, and follow @fishcraftfishing on Instagram and Facebook. www.fishcraft.com.au

DAIWA TATULA SV 70TW

The Tatula baitcaster family welcomes its newest and smallest member with the release of the new Tatula SV 70 TW. A new frame size for the famous reel line-up, the new finesse-inspired 70size reel is the smallest, lightest, and most palmable Tatula reel Daiwa has ever produced. The excellent design and performance of the new 70 size Tatula begins with Daiwa’s Hyperdrive Design Concept, a 4-pillar concept featuring Hyper Armed Housing, Hyper Tough Clutch, Hyper Double Support and most importantly Hyperdrive Digigear. The result is a finesse-sized baitcaster with unmatched smoothness, strength and durability. Reel performance is further enhanced with Daiwa’s SV spool and T-Wing System (TWS) delivered supreme casting performance and consistency. From feather light soft plastics to heavy topwaters and spinnerbaits, the new Tatula SV 70 TW delivers ultimate casting versatility. The Tatula’s list of features and technologies is long and detailed with Magforce Z, UTD Drag, aluminium body, infinite anti-reverse, CRBB, alloy handle, and Zero Adjuster combining to make the new 70-sized Tatula one of the standout baitcaster releases of 2022. www.daiwafishing.com.au

NEW JACK DEEP 07

The Shadow Rap Jack Deep now comes in a new 7cm size, complementing the popular 5cm model. The long-casting Shadow Rap Jack Deep dives down fast when cranked. With a very slow rise on the pause, you can twitch it to imitate the flicker and fade of a dying baitfish almost on the spot, or crank it in with a steady retrieve. Features include: through-wire construction, fast diving, slow rising on the pause, runs true at high speeds, sharp left to right turns, suitable for casting or trolling, and black nickel VMC hooks. The Shadow Rap Jack Deep 07 has a running depth of 4m, weighs 10g, and comes in 21 fish-catching colours. You can see a video of it in action by searching for ‘Shadow Rap Jack Deep’ on YouTube. For more information and photos of the latest releases from Rapala, check out the Rapala Australia Facebook page. facebook.com/rapala.australia

JULY 2022

RHINO-RACK STOW IT

WHAT’S NEW FISHING

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

The Rhino-Rack Stow iT Starter Kit allows you to quickly mount your favourite 4WD accessories. The kit includes the Stow iT Base Bracket and Universal Adaptor, ideal for mounting a Sunseeker awning or Stow iT Utility Holder to secure your shovels, spades, paddles, axes, and fishing rods with ease . Additionally, for the first time, the new Zwifloc nut is included, offering a truly flexible experience. The new Zwifloc fastening system drops into the channel, so there is no need to slide an accessory into position via a traditional channel aperture. Additional adaptors, including a Light Bar or a Pioneer Roller are also available. An adaptor for the Batwing Awning is coming soon. To extend the versatility of the Stow iT starter kit base bracket, Rhino-Rack has also launched specific adaptors to mount light bars and rollers. Both adaptors slide in and out of the Stow iT Base Bracket and boast a durable and aesthetic finish. www.rhinorack.com/stow-it

TOKURYO LINE LAB PRO-NY

Tokuryo Line Lab has been established in Taiwan since 1983 and weaving their history for over 30 years, and they’re committed to producing high end fishing lines. Tokuryo Line Lab PRO-NY is an excellent fluorocarbon-coated monofilament hybrid Fluoronylon line suited for estuary and freshwater fishing. PRO-NY is made from Japanese raw materials and has outstanding softness and suppleness. Tokuryo PRO-NY also offers excellent abrasion resistance and features a low stretch core for better bite detection. PRO-NY is available in 300m spools in a brown colour in 4.2lb to 27.3lb. To find out more visit the Juro Fishing website or look them up on Facebook. www.jurofishing.com

ZMAN 4” GOAT TOADZ

The ultimate topwater presentation has arrived, designed in conjunction with ZMan customers and fans over a period of about a year. These anglers offered feedback on shape, size, design features, colour and more, throughout the digital design, 3D printing, single shot moulding, and testing process. The 10X Tough ElaZtech construction provides extreme durability and buoyancy, while a bulky, yet streamlined body allows for long casts on a 5/0 or 6/0 TT ChinlockZ hook. This plastic skips extremely well. Once it’s on the water the thin legs and cupped kicker feet create that fishattracting, bubbling and gurgling that drives fish crazy on a slow, medium, or fast retrieve. The GOAT ToadZ is 4” in length, initially available in eight colours and other key features include a V-shaped keeled belly that assists with stability and rapid lift out of the water, a belly hook slot to assist with weedless rigging, and ridges on the back to help protect both single and double weedless hooks from snagging or fouling. With the feedback of customers and fans, ZMan has effectively designed the ultimate topwater toad that will appeal to medium to large predators such as barramundi, mangrove jack, Murray cod and more. Price: SRP $14.95 (pack of 3) www.z-man.com.au

visit www.tacklejunkie.fish for the latest tackle news - AS IT HAPPENS!

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2022 SANCTUARY COVE INTERNATIONAL BOAT SHOW DELIVERS A BOATING BLOCKBUSTER EVENT The 33rd annual Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show (SCIBS) has upped the ante again, cruising into another successful year with outstanding attendance contributing to climatic sales and an exuberant atmosphere. Across four action-packed days, SCIBS welcomed 43,852 boating enthusiasts to the sold-out show to view more than 1,000 products and 600 vessels from over 337 exhibitors with an impressive 251 boats on water, a 20 per cent year-on-year increase. SCIBS rolled out the red carpet with a showstopping lineup of global and Australian premieres, including launches from local manufacturers Maritimo and Riviera, alongside other luxury superyachts, trailer boats, personal watercraft and the latest marine technology. “SCIBS 2022 was the hottest ticket on the Gold Coast this weekend, attracting a high-calibre audience that translated into resounding commercial success in terms of sales,” Mr Hasser said. Victoria-based Whittley Boats Sales and Marketing Director Alan Whittley said this year’s SCIBS generated the brand’s strongest sales ever. “We were surprised with the number of people we had through, weather permitting, with particularly high sales across the larger CR sports cruiser series and SL performance fishing series models,” Mr Whittley said. With the Australian-first showing of the Sea Fox 328 Commander, the 2022 Sea-Doo Fish Pro range and 12 new colourways of the SEABOB lineup, JSW Powersports General Manager Tom Niederer reported an elevated level of enquiry across the four-day event. “We were thrilled to show off our massive range with a record show of Sea Fox, Malibu, Axis and SEABOB products,” Mr Niederer said. SCIBS sponsor Volvo Penta attracted interest in its innovative marine leisure engine and propulsion systems on The Promenade. Head of Volvo Penta Martin Skoglund said: “We were so excited to be back for another year at SCIBS as our stand presence continues to increase year on year.” “Overall, we’ve had a great turnout and have loved the opportunity to meet with customers, show support to our OEMs and further grow the Volvo Penta brand,” Mr Skoglund said. Within The Pavilions, BLA, the boating, lifestyle and adventure experts, brought industry-leading brands Minn Kota, Humminbird, Dometic Outdoor, CZone, Cannon, Mastervolt, Lewmar, BEP, Blue Sea Systems, JBL, OceanLED, Scanstrut and RAM Mounts as well as its BLA Marine Performance Series of products. BLA also showcased two new training boats, the Hummingbird Formosa and Dometic Outdoor Powercat, on The Marina at this year’s show. BLA Marketing Manager James King said: “We haven’t been to SCIBS since 2019 and it’s so exciting

to find our way back on the boat show circuit.” “We have not only had interest and enquiries across our range of stocked brands, but the event has also been an opportunity to reenergise our staff as their hard work from the past two years starts to pay off.” In an Australian event first, marine technology leaders Garmin displayed the new Garmin Livescope Plus System, Garmin Boat Switch and Garmin Surround View Camera System, which OEM Government and Commercial Manager for Australia and New Zealand Gordon Triplett said were received with enthusiasm. “There is such an industry buzz with consumer demand for products and it’s great to see marine lifestyle lovers all gathered in one place at SCIBS – the atmosphere at this year’s event has been amazing,” Mr Triplett said. Queensland Marine Centre (QMC) had a strong presence in the Sports, Fishing & Leisure Precinct, hosting global brands Boston Whaler, Sea Ray, Mastercraft, Protector and Crest. QMC’s Managing Director Andrew Bennett said: “SCIBS always gives us a great opportunity to not only

“ SCIBS returns for its 34th annual Boat Show from Thursday 25 to Sunday 28 May 2023. ” engage with consumers, but also forge partnerships with other exhibitors.” Premium motor yacht manufacturer Riviera showcased its largest fleet ever with 12 vessels on display, including three Australian premieres: the 4600 Sport Yacht Platinum Edition, 78 Motor Yacht and the exclusive reveal of the new 465 SUV model. “Riviera welcomed many returning and new owners to our family with yachts purchased across the exceptional 24-model collection of sport yachts, SUV, sport motor yachts and motor yachts as part of the exclusive Riviera Festival of Boating held at our SCIBS display, ” Riviera Owner Rodney Longhurst said. Leading Australian luxury cruiser manufacturer Maritimo had an exceptional reception for its three global exclusives, the M60 Flybridge Motor Yacht, M600 Offshore Flybridge and S600 Offshore Sedan, with a number of sales on the board. SCIBS returns for its 34th annual Boat Show from Thursday 25 to Sunday 28 May 2023. Running from 19 to 22 May 2022, the 33rd Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show (SCIBS) attracted more than 43,000 visitors and 337 exhibitors to showcase over 600 boats and 1,000 marine products across four days.

JULY 2022

Go Behind the Scenery

Tasmania

Bass Strait barrels OFFSHORE

Kelly Hunt

July is traditionally a time in Tasmania where days are short, dreary and cold. Very cold. It is easy to go into a dark place like a bear in hibernation, but now is not the time for such actions. This month it’s hot – well, the fishing is hot, at least! The big news here in Tasmania is the southern bluefin tuna fishing. The number of fish, and where

Bassian Plain. Around 14,000 years later it was an expanse of sea water, and named after George Bass in 1800 by the then NSW Governor John Hunter. Bass Strait is approximately 250km wide and 500km long, with an average depth of 60m. The widest opening is about 350km between Cape Portland on the northeastern tip of Tasmania and Point Hicks on the Australian mainland. It is this opening, found at both the west and eastern

feeding or been spooled by something over the years, should the bluefin have been about. I’m 50 this year and have been fishing these waters sporadically since the age of 10. This, however, is next level. The bluefin have been in the strait in massive numbers, and have really started to thicken up. First it was the large jumbo fish of 100kg and bigger that were stumbled across, and this led to some people calling it a fluke when Glen Saltmarsh caught one. Some in the fishing community suggested he caught the fish somewhere else and then made out he caught it off Devonport on Tasmania’s northwest coast. These people must be very down on themselves to think someone would stoop to such a pointless deception. Then Glen caught another… and another. Then some of his mates caught some, and they were all big fish to 100kg+. Now this quickly went from fluke to phenomenon. Now we fast forward two years and we also find there are school-size southern bluefin in the strait and in good numbers. It is not just the change

Lachy Barnes found a big pomfret while deep dropping. in the fish but also the birds and the bait itself. The number of gannets has increased and the bait is on the rise, and of varied species. There has been a definite shift in the matrix. It may be climate change or whatever, but I really

Ashley found this fish in 17m of water in Oyster Bay. they are being found, continues to amaze. The usual Tasmanian SBT haunts of Eaglehawk Neck, Southport and Pedra always fire at this time of year, but it’s the unusual spots that have been creating quite the sensation. Bass Strait is a formidable section of water known for 200 years for its ability to cut up very rough and nasty given how shallow it is in general terms. Around 8000 years ago it was a land bridge between mainland Australia and Tasmania, before rising sea levels at the end of the last glacial period created the island haven that is Tasmania. The prehistoric land bridge, which allowed transit of Aboriginal people, was known as the 74

JULY 2022

end, that is of interest. Traditionally bluefin tuna are a pelagic species found off deep water and are quite common on or around the continental shelf off both the west and east coasts of Tasmania. Yes, they are found in shallower water at times, but more often out of very deep water to a coastal feature that holds bait. Bass Strait, however, is shallow and not much over 80m at its deepest point. There are no fences in the ocean and these fish may have been passing through over the years in some way, shape of form. There have been incidental reports and sightings of school blues on the western and eastern tips for years. I have spent enough time on the waters of Bass Strait to have seen

Harry Murfet and the team at Seamaster have been right in the thick of the Bass Strait action.

believe the improvement in water quality and reduction in industry outfalls has also played a huge part. Towns such as Devonport and Ulverstone now have boats heading out with big spinning reels and overhead game reels ready to troll big skirted lures for tuna. It’s amazing, and the sales of gamefishing gear and deep diving lures of size and design to catch tuna are walking off the shelves. Burnie and Penguin are also seeing tuna being caught off their boat ramps, at a time of year when the carparks are usually almost empty. They are full, brimming to capacity with crews and boats of all types and sizes heading out to try their luck. The boat ramp at Low Head at the mouth of the Tamar River has been a focus for the Launceston area to the east, and Penguin and Burnie have seen some action as well. Wade Hill has managed to snare a couple off Sisters Beach to the east as well. This proves that the tuna are spread all across the coast and in great numbers as well. The other interesting point is the varied depths the fish are being found in. Originally it was depths of 45-60m off Port Sorell point and Badgers Head where most of the effort was concentrated. In more recent times, crews and anglers have been picking them up in as shallow as 15m, and there have been tuna bust-ups off the shore under the Bluff Lighthouse at Devonport. There seems to be no real rhyme or reason as to where they

will show up, which could be a sign there are a great deal out there currently. They are being found in the deeper water as well and along the entire coastline of the North West. It’s truly amazing. Given the nature of the sea floor, depths and lack of seals I wonder when someone is going to try some different techniques like drifting with live baits or slow trolling with live or skip baits. I really think that some of the Wicked Tuna techniques might work as well. Boats could set up and work in a team and anchor across a depth line and cube and burley. This may draw the fish to the boats over the period of the day. It has never been as exciting a time to be an angler in Tasmania. Even as I write this, reports of very big tuna being caught off the Middle Ground of St Helens to 140kg. Early last month there were schools of large southern bluefin terrorising bait schools in Oyster Bay in 17m of water in behind Schouten Island. These fish were moving on the bait and sipping them off the surface like a trout would take a dun. The other giveaway has been the common terns picking the leftovers off the ocean as the big tuna gently swoosh the surface. So now we have got over the shock of the first month of winter here in Tasmania, rug up in July and make the most of all that’s on offer offshore: massive tuna, a world class broadbill fishery and amazing deep drop species. Stay safe, watch the weather, and tight lines.

Go Behind the Scenery

Tasmania

Picking the best days HOBART

Andrew Large

Anglers have been making the most of good weather windows, and a variety of popular species are still biting. In the saltwater, southern bluefin tuna continue to be caught in the southeast of the state around Cape Pillar. Jumbos (fish over 100kg) seem to have lessened off in Peninsula waters and are now being encountered east of Maria Island and further north to Bicheno. Meanwhile, numbers good fish from 35-70kg have picked up a little recently around Fortescue Bay. School fish continue to be

caught in good numbers. Bluefin are now being caught from Mewstone in the south to St Helens. Late run arrow squid are still being caught in deeper water by those trying for swordfish. The broadbill swordfish run has slowed a little but this was to be expected because the late run through May and June was incredible. The southern calamari run back into shallow water has begun, and they are available in the lower Derwent River and Channel areas. Further afield, good numbers are available. Winter is a great time for this species, and 500mm hood fish are available, particularly in the Maria region.

As seems to be more the norm these days, sand flathead are continuing to bite well into winter, with bait, lure and fly taking fish recently. The best spots for a feed include Storm Bay, Marion Bay, Fredrick Henry Bay and White Beach. Good-sized Australian salmon have returned, and spin fishos are getting good catches. Alum Cliffs, near Kingston and South Arm, close to the CBD seem to be local hotspots, while anglers fishing Cremorne in the canal to Pipeclay Lagoon are reporting fish to 2kg. Greenback flounder, the mainstay of the winter night fisher, are now moving well and we have had a string

Winter can be a great time to troll our highland lakes that remain open, such as Great Lake.

Good-sized southern calamari are now available. of settled nights recently, giving anglers a chance to chase these fish in mirror conditions at night. South Arm, Lewisham, Dunalley and Orford area are reported to be producing fish. Deep water striped trumpeter are now biting well on the west, south and east coasts. Settled weather has finally allowed anglers to venture out. Good results have also been had fishing sub 50m depths as well around the Tasman Peninsula. In the estuaries we have the odd Atlantic salmon beginning to reappear in anglers’ bags, with fish up to 4kg. These fish have been caught from the Tasman Bridge to New Norfolk in the Derwent, and at the Huonville township south of Hobart. Good-sized sea-run trout continue to be caught in the mid reaches of the

Derwent and Huon estuaries. Both these waters are open to angling to the Huonville and New Norfolk bridges by anglers holding a current freshwater angling licence. Spin, troll, soft plastic and fly are all producing fish. Giant black bream are still being caught in good numbers around Cornellian Bay, Store Point, Bowen Bridge and Cadbury Point. The use of bait has been effective. Anglers are awaiting the reopening of the 2022 freshwater angling season, which is coming up soon. 12 Month Open waters remain open for anglers who have a current IFS Inland Fishing Licence. For the moment, Great Lake is still producing fish and will continue to do so into July. At this time of year, you need to pick the right day conducive to good fishing at altitude.

Other waters such as Lake Pedder and Lake King William are fishing well. Easterly weather lately has seen these waters relatively calm and sheltered. Closer to home and 35km from Hobart, Craigbourne Dam has received multiple stocking of both brown and rainbow trout. The fish seem to be around the 1kg mark, with scrub worms working well. Picking a good day to fish is a challenge at the moment, whether flyfishing in the highlands or bobbing about out on the salt. However, it is still rewarding, with many of our species seemingly available late again this year. July marks the end of relatively settled weather in the state before the onset of traditional snowy and wet days throughout August, September and October, so enjoy it while you can.

NEW PRODUCTS

TD Zero and Sensor Surf In store now for winter 2022, the new Daiwa TD Zero range continues the evolution of the popular line-up with new looks, new technologies and new models featuring in the new range. A new line-up begins with new blank design and technology with HVF Nanoplus blank provides optimum sensitivity and weightlessness, while Daiwa’s X45X Full Shield

construction has been added to the lower section of the blank to increase torsional stiffness, providing improved resistance to twisting, eliminating blank distortion, and enhancing blank strength and durability. V-Joint Alpha technology steps up joint technology and performance with the mid-joint 2-piece models in the range receiving the benefits of V-Joint Alpha with its bias wrap construction within the ferrule eliminating weak and

flat spots and minimising the weight to create a truly one-piece feel. A combination guide train of Fuji Stainless Steel and Titanium SiC anti tangle guides is the key to the new TD Zero rod range with each guide type carefully selected and positioned on the blank to maximise blank performance and feel. Daiwa’s Air Sensor reel seats are a new addition to the TD Zero range delivering a reduction in weight, increase

in strength and a step up in looks and style. The 22 TD Zero brings a new level of control and refinement to anglers with its stylish cosmetics, enhanced technology and multi-use tapers combining to deliver anglers a series that’s designed to impress and built to perform. The series features 16 models, including nine spin and seven baitcasters. Another brand now release from Daiwa is the Sensor Surf 45 SCW. An evolution in surf reel design and performance, Sensor Surf is tailor made for the avid surf angler wanting precise line control and the ability to punch long casts well beyond the shoreline. The Sensor Surf 45 SCW’s long-stroke design spool combines with Daiwa’s new Slow Cross Wrap oscillation system to improve casting distance and line management, while Air Rotor and Air Bail combine to lower cranking inertia to enhance line management and provide smooth effortless winding. Magseal delivers the Holy Grail for surf anglers,

Sensor Surf 45 SCW providing protection and performance like only Magseal can by limiting water ingress in the reel. Sensor Surf 45 SCW continues to deliver with the addition of Digigear II for perfect gear meshing and ultrasmooth performance, ATD drag for precise drag control when fighting fish amongst the wash and waves, and Infinite Anti Reverse for ultimate

reliability and cranking precision. Life amongst the waves have never been better than with the new Sensor Surf 45 SCW. For more information on these and other new releases from Daiwa, visit www.daiwafishing.com.au. You can also find new news, promotions and images on their Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. - Daiwa JULY 2022

VIC

Tuning into trout WARRNAMBOOL

Mark Gercovich mgercovich@hotmail.com

It may be winter but there is no reason to put the rods away yet, as the excellent run of southern bluefin

tuna has continued. Recently most big fish have been taken from across the border in the Pt Mac region, but there has still been a smattering of bigger barrels turning up amongst the school fish off Portland and Point Fairy to

Henry Lloyd with a big hook-jawed Merri River brown taken on a Daiwa Bait Junkie 2.5 Minnow.

keep anglers departing from all ports, hopeful of coming across some big fish. After an excellent autumn weather-wise, things turned very quickly in early winter. Let’s hope July throws up some nice days to get out on the tuna. Some e xc e lle nt captures of deep-water bottom species such as school shark, trumpeter and blue-eye have been taken by anglers keen to do shelf runs in the good weather conditions. This is always a good winter option if conditions allow. Bream fishing in the Hopkins has been a little inconsistent of late, particularly for those bigger fish. Some of the smaller waters such as the Moyne, Fitzroy and Yambuk have been producing some good, more consistent captures. The Curdies River is still recovering from terrible water quality/fish kill issues, so it’s best to give it a miss. Larger estuary perch, which have been biting well in the freshwater of late, should have moved down to the estuary areas on their spawning run come July if we get significant

Bream can be targeted in deeper areas on blade-style lures in July. rains. Schooled-up bream and perch can usually been easily located and targeted in the deeper areas of the lower sections of the local estuaries at this time of year. On the beaches, East Beach at Port Fairy has been prolific for small to medium sized salmon. The bigger Killarney specimens have been absent compared to this time last year. Trout fishing is also popular locally at this time of year, with the Hopkins, Merri and Moyne rivers and Mt Emu Creek remaining open during the traditional closed season. This means most of the prime local

trout waters are fishable all winter. There were a number of reasons for this. Firstly it allows anglers to target the trout in what is the most productive time to fish these waters. The higher water levels and cooler water temperatures of winter usually produce the most conducive trout fishing conditions. Also, all these southwest coastal rivers are reliant on annual fish stocking, with research showing very little if any natural recruitment, thus reducing the need to ‘lock up’ the rivers to protect spawning fish at the best

time to be fishing them. Also, with all the snakes in hibernation it makes long treks along the rivers far safer and pleasurable without the constant dread of stepping on a ‘wiggle stick’. Many of these waterways have received increased stockings over the past couple of seasons. Already this year there seem to be a lot of smaller fish around, which is a good sign for the future. Of course, there have been some big 55-65cm fish beginning to show up as well. These are the solid fish that people keenly fish these waters for.

Winter fishing in Portland PORTLAND

Nigel Fisher

Winter has certainly hit down here in Portland, with some very cold temperatures and rain.

the school tuna have been quite close in, and in huge numbers at times. Most charter operators have had their bags well before lunchtime, and smiles all round for their customers. The main areas have

are keen to get on board a charter, we have some good local operators plus our annual tuna charter operators out of the Melbourne area. Look them up or give us a call and we can pass on some information to you. If you are in the hunt to catch a barrel tuna, they have been caught throughout the southwest area, and we generally still

see some great sizes in the next couple of months. Deep water fishing at this time of year can also be very productive when the weather permits. Working off the shelf can produce the ever-popular blue-eye and pink ling, and other good fish like gemfish, ghost cod, sharks and more. We also see some good results in 50-120m of water chasing sharks, snapper,

Matthew Hunts Fishing Services with a nice feed of tuna.

Sharkmen Fishing Charters with a group of happy customers. However, when the weather has allowed, the fishing has been quite reasonable. In the last month 76

JULY 2022

been from Lawrences Rock through to Cape Nelson lighthouse. Let’s hope this continues on for the next couple of months. If you

Jimmy with a nice snapper off the Breakwater.

red bight fish and some good winter flathead, just to name a few. Bridgewater Bay is always a great area for large flathead and gummies throughout the winter with the right wind and swells. The Beakwater can slow down a little over winter, but in saying that the winter

salmon are always a good option. We have some dedicated anglers who put in a fair few hours there, and the results can be very rewarding. Some nice gummies and school sharks and still the odd big snapper after a good swell have been caught To page 77

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Fresh fish feast COBDEN

Rod Shepherd

Although the weather has been a tad up and down lately, the offshore scene has not. Those anglers who got out on the briny have done really well bottom bouncing the inshore reefs. Local saltwater legend Wally ventured out recently with a mate, and together

they came home with 10 pinkie snapper to 65cm plus a shark and a nannygai to go on with. Others have done well with gummy and schoolies to 30kg fishing over rubbly ground in depths from 40-400m. The best bait by far has been whole or cut squid; the fresher the better. One group nailing school shark out deep also managed three Tasmanian trumpeter to

Good Hopkins bream are readily responding to shrimp imitations.

10.5kg on top of eight shark. Tassie trumpeter would have to be one of the best eating fish in our oceans, and unless you catch them yourself (and yes, they are a deep sea dwelling fish) you’ll only find them in seafood restaurants. Other anglers fishing deep have nailed blue-eye trevalla to 11kg, and I can vouch for this fish being exceptionally delicious. We had a good feed at a Hobart restaurant recently, but don’t expect much change out of $50. Cooked correctly, it is that good on the tooth – especially with a glass or two of Pipers Brook rosé. The sheer amount of schooling southern bluefin tuna currently about is outstanding to say the least. Fish to 13kg have been caught, although most fish are averaging around 4-7kg. However, the odd thumper to 80 has been seen and hooked swimming amongst them. And the tuna schools aren’t far off the coast either, with

Juvenile salmon are the number one bait for mulloway. the 50m mark an excellent place to begin looking for surface-feeding fish. Again, skirted lures around 200mm in length in blues and white are doing well trolled near feeding fish. The Hopkins River mouth is wide open and full of small juvenile Australian

salmon, meaning that the mulloway won’t be far behind. In fact, a few have already been caught on salmon fillets to 7kg, with the last two hours of the run-in as well as the first hour of run-out being the prime time; especially if this occurs in the evening. Swimming live

salmon is a good way to catch big mulloway, and it’s a popular method employed down on the Glenelg. The bream are also actively moving with the tide from the danger board right up to Kings Head. They are responding to shrimp baits and soft plastics.

Tuna Classic coming up APOLLO BAY

Craig Rippon

Winter arrived with very cold and wet weather. At the time of writing, the water is quite dirty as all the rivers and creeks have had their first really good flush out. The water temp has dropped in closer to shore, but it’s still up to about 16°C outside. From page 76

over the last month. The winter salmon have certainly been getting about, so if you enjoy catching these great fighting fish you have a good range of land-based options. These include the

It was good news when the Victorian Game Fishing Club announced the dates for the Tuna Classic, which will be held in Apollo Bay on the 6-7 August. The event has not been on for a couple of years, so we are all looking forward to it. They have awesome prizes and a good weekend away, so get in early for a chance to win the early entry prize. All the info is on the VGFC website

and Facebook page. At the moment there are plenty of fish about, including a lot of school fish. We went recently and had a great day out wide, releasing a lot of fish ranging from about 10-18kg. We did mark good fish but missed out on a big one. There have been some big specimens weighed in down here in recent weeks, and so far the fish have been

as close as Cape Otway and out to the big reefs. There have been boats out in the gas plant area, with a lot of fish holding in the area. Make sure you check your GPS as there is a no-go zone around the plant. I have heard there have been some fines given, so make sure you stay outside the zone. The fish haven’t been fussy lately. Skirts have been producing the goods, using a

Breakwater, Pivot Ricks, Bridgewater Bay and North Shore beaches, just to name a few. Flicking lures or bait fishing for these guys can be very rewarding and fun, particularly if you fish with lighter gear. Fishing the beaches

around Snapper Point up to Narrawong or heavy surf around Discovery Bay can also fish well for sharks as the barometer drops, but conditions can be challenging. Most areas are walk in or 4WD required, so if you are unsure of the

area, do some homework before you set out. Lake and estuary fishing is another great option through these cold months, with bream, mulloway and estuary perch throughout the Glenelg River and Fitzroy River, and bream, mullet and salmon in the Surrey River. Fishing for redfin in the Bridgewater lakes can be challenging but rewarding, because they can be quite large at times. You can also get good results in other dams and lakes within a couple of hours of Portland, and enjoy a great winter trip out. • If you are planning a trip to Portland this winter, call in to Portland Compleat Angler for all your bait and tackle needs, and to find where the fish are biting. The store is located at 61 Bentinck Street, Portland right next to the Gordon Hotel. You can also contact the team on 03 5521 1844 or check out their Facebook page for more information.

Johnnie puts a lot of time in on the Breakwater and gets rewarded often.

Matt Slater got this 102kg tuna off Apollo Bay. spreader bar, and stickbaits have been good fun as well. Jigging has also been getting fish on the reefs. There have been a few snapper about, along with gummies and plenty of flathead. However, with a lot of fresh water in you may have to go a bit deeper to get a feed. There are a few salmon about off the rock wall at the harbour. With the new groynes on our front beach the sand is definitely building up. It will be interesting to see where the gutters will form after a big sea there, more down the Wild Dog end. Also Back

Beach has had some nice water there. Whiting have been slow; a couple of mates have been out without getting big numbers. I’m not sure what’s happening there but I will have a crack when I can after getting a new leg on my motor after hitting something in the water. Thank god for Club Marine. A few locals have been cashing in on the running streams with some nice little browns taken. So rug up and get the warm clothes out. There are still fish to catch, it’s just a bit cold. JULY 2022

VIC

Lucking out land-based GEELONG

Neil Slater slaterfish@gmail.com

We’re well and truly into brass monkey season, with cold winds keeping the beanie and thermos factories in business. July is typically a time for reel, trailer and boat maintenance, but the fishing has been pretty good and it’s hard to take anything in for repairs when the fish are calling. Smaller brown trout to 45cm have been caught by anglers putting in the time at both Wurdee Boluc and Stony

Caiden caught this calamari from St Leonards Pier fishing with his dad Steve.

Jecob with one of the big salmon he and his mates caught fishing Bancoora Beach recently. Creek reservoirs. VFA have stocked St Augustines Waterhole with ‘ready to catch’ rainbow trout for the school holidays. The trout are around 30cm, which is a fun size to catch for kids, and will take a bunch of worms or small lure. Salmon have been the stars so far this winter, with the local beaches and Geelong waterfront producing good numbers of fish. The Bellarine Peninsula has continued the great run of whiting and now tuna have shown up offshore – things are good! The Portarlington Boat ramp work is in its second stage, with the construction of a rock groyne to help manage seagrass build-up on the ramp. It’s expected to be complete around August. At Queenscliff the old ramp is gone, and a base has been made for the new ramp. Pre-cast ramps are being delivered soon, with completion estimated to be around August. For more info head to www. betterboatingvic.gov.au. Whiting have been off their collective heads around 78

JULY 2022

the Bellarine, with anglers enjoying bag limit captures of fish up to 43cm, which is a good size for the area. All baits have been working but I do like to take an assortment to hedge my bets, in case the fish are craving something different. Pipis, squid and mussels have you covered for the local whiting. Squid has been great because it has been ‘free’, i.e. captured on a jig on the way to fish for whiting. Leopold Angling and Aquatic Club hosted their whiting competition in early May. Conditions were terrible with 20+ knot winds, but some anglers still got amongst them. There were 50 entrants and the men’s heaviest bag of fish went to Graeme Norton with 8.215kg (I know – solid!), ladies heaviest bag was Nikki Turner at 5.84kg, the heaviest bag juniors was won by Taylor Hall at 3.07kg, and the longest fish prize went to Clint Lasky for his 41cm fish.

Tony Barkachi drove 1.5 hours from Melbourne to fish the Bellarine for squid. He arrived on the Bellarine and realised he’d forgotten his squid jigs! He decided to bait fish and got chatting to a gent who had been fishing before he arrived and caught nothing. The generous chap offered Tony a used el-cheapo jig of his own to keep. Tony then proceeded to catch eight calamari on the borrowed jig up to midnight! Then he got the call from a mate to see if he wanted to fish Cunningham pier for snotty trevally, so he drove back to Geelong to meet his mate at around 1am. Tony said there were a few people there catching yakkas, but he decided to wait until sunrise. With the sun about to poke through, he tried for snotties. Tony noticed a few birds circling, so threw out a lure – and that’s when the mayhem started with a marauding school of salmon ripping into

Tony had one heck of a fishing session that spanned two days around the Bellarine. He finished with this bucketful of solid Geelong salmon.

Kane Reardon with 136kg of Bass Strait tuna.

Reef Thief pro staffer Kaiden Long with a tuna caught on one of their poppers.

the many long poles meant for snotty trevally. Tony said it was absolute chaos with people yelling, rods going into the water and fish flying in all directions! He managed a few solid salmon to 45cm in a hectic short and sharp session before heading home with a smile on his face. Ten-year-old Caiden Inglis fished with his dad Shane from St Leonards pier recently. Casting a few jigs about, they both managed to nab a few tasty calamari. Jecob Jetter fished Bancoora Beach with his mates where they caught some solid salmon around 3kg using pilchards. Jecob said the

first hit was a massive bite. “I pulled my line and bent my rod like a banana!” he said. “I shouted to my mate, ‘it’s a big one’!” The pair they weren’t disappointed, with three solid salmon up around 3kg on the sand using pilchards and paternoster rigs. The lads from ‘Reef Thief’ report the school tuna have been biting out off Barwon Heads, with the most of the fish sitting in that 40-65m range. The lads noted that they haven’t been overly hard to spot, with tuna, birds, dolphins and seals all working patches of bait. The tuna are somewhat finicky and moving

fairly quickly and not staying on top. The lads have had the most success throwing either their 30g stickbaits or poppers at schools from a distance, so as not to scare them off. There are also a lot of gummy and school shark around at the moment. By-catch off Barwon Heads has also included jackass morwong and swallow tail/ nannygai, which are most often caught further down the west coast. Kane Reardon from ‘Reef Thief’ fished with Aaron from Salt Guide and his brother Cameron out off Cape Schanck, where they boated a few massive tuna to 136kg using 10” Reef Thief skirted lures. The lads managed to ‘borrow’ Paddy Dangerfield’s 7.5m tinnie – and they needed it because the swell was big! The rock platforms along the Great Ocean Road to Lorne have been producing some solid salmon to 3kg for anglers casting lures and baits such as pilchards. Those fishing off Lorne have caught some solid pinkie snapper to 50cm at the time of writing, plus gummy sharks in the 40-50m range, while good numbers of whiting are being taken in close. If the rocks aren’t for you, the Lorne pier has continued to produce whiting, salmon, pinkie snapper and calamari. • Catch a few around Geelong, Bellarine Peninsula or Surf Coast to Lorne recently? Send in a report to slaterfish@ gmail.com with ‘FMG’ in the subject field or give me a call on 0408 997 348. Please include where (without giving away your secret spot!), when, what on and who caught the fish. Pictures are always great, but please make sure they are at least 1MB (file size).

Record 10 million fish stocked in Victoria To make your fishing even better, a record 10 million fish have been stocked, on top of 8 million the season before. The achievement delivers on a key commitment of the State Government’s $35 million Go Fishing Victoria plan to get more people fishing, more often and was also supported by your fishing licence fees. 10 million fish is a new stocking record for Victoria and is more than any other state in the country! Lake Eildon, Lake Eppalock and Rocklands Reservoir each received more than one million fish each, with other substantial stockings into: - Wimmera River – 267,000 golden perch - Barwon River – 113,000 estuary perch - Lake Purrumbete – 68,000 trout and salmon - Gippsland Lakes – 105,000 estuary perch - Lake Nillahcootie – 100,000 golden perch - Tullaroop Reservoir – 94,000 trout - Mitchell River – 100,000 bass - Lake Hume inc Mitta – 520,000 trout, cod and golden perch - Devilbend Reservoir – 40,000 trout

Many of these fish were grown at our Snobs Creek hatchery and more than 480,000 came from our new native fish farm at Arcadia. For the full breakdown visit www.vfa.vic.gov.au/10millionfish

Go Fishing Victoria More people fishing, more often

Authorised by the Victorian Government, 1 Treasury Place, Melbourne

VIC

Time to stay local PPB WEST

Alan Bonnici alan@fishingmad.com.au

Winter can be a challenging time of year for fishing, with cold conditions, and sometimes quiet bite windows. Surprisingly, I thoroughly enjoy fishing throughout winter. There is less fishing pressure on our local systems, generally low winds and no shortage of decent bread-and-butter species to be caught. So, get out the thermals, stay warm and make yourself comfortable so you can venture out and be

rewarded by targeting w h a t ’s c u r re n t l y in season. One of my local fishing buddies, Jordan Matthews, has been fishing the evenings and nights around Williamstown at Newport around the infamous ‘warmies’ or ‘hotties’, depending on who you ask. This is a very unique spot for fishing which attracts a crowd periodically throughout winter, as the Newport Power station awakes and pumps hot water into the streams of Port Phillip Bay. This artificial change to the ecosystem of hot water flowing in attracts fish into the immediate area

in big numbers, including pelagic species like salmon and tailor, and bread-andbutter species like pinkies, flathead, mullet and more. However, the true trophy fish of the area is a giant mulloway. These elusive fish are on many local anglers’ bucket list. Jordan has been fishing the area heavily around sundown and into the early hours of the night. Armed with a single spin outfit consisting of a Shimano Zodias 3-7kg spin rod and Shimano Twin Power XD 3000 reel, he casts Munroes 4” paddle tail soft plastics in UV motor oil rigged on a 1/6oz jighead, slow rolling them around the

Darren with a nice gummy. narrow channels. Targeting mulloway is a challenging form of fishing, often unrewarding with countless hours in cold conditions and through the night. It requires patience and dedication to land these truly awesome fish. Jordan landed a trophy mulloway that went almost 1.3m long whilst fishing on a tide change around 8pm one evening last month. The catch drew a crowd and is one of the best I’ve seen on a soft plastic in the area for some time. The elation of landing a fish of that

size amongst the rocks is unforgettable. Winter is a great time of year to stay local and really focus on those yearround bread and butter species – the ones that you can still catch good volumes of whilst the water and outside temperature has dropped. I immediately think of targeting bream along the Maribyrnong and Yarra rivers, targeting salmon around Geelong, trout in our rivers, lakes and streams, squid around Point Cook and flathead around Werribee.

Rob Wortho has had multiple productive sessions targeting flathead on his kayak and whilst out on his mate’s boat around the shallows of Werribee between Wyndham Harbour and the old jet ski ramp. He’s also done well fishing in close amongst the shallows around Campbells Cove. During this time of year flathead will happily take a bait like a pilchard or strip of squid, but they particularly love soft plastics. Rob caught a personal best 58cm flathead whilst flicking a 4”

The author loves catching squid in winter.

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Jordan Matthews with an elusive giant.

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paddle tail on his Hobie Pro Angler, and also managed a few good fish whilst out with his young son. Steve Vessey has also

been fishing locally with his kids, and catching plenty of flathead. It’s really great to see kids out fishing with their parents, creating

s t a c e r. c o m . a

Logan caught this local flatty from his kayak.

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memories and catching bread-and-butter species. I too have been fishing heavily in this area on my Hobie Pro Angler and also out on my 4.2m runabout, targeting depths between 3-5m on the yak and 5-7m deep on the boat. The standout performers have been small strips of pilchard on a paternoster rig and small sinker, and 4” paddle tail soft plastics rigged on a 1/8oz or 1/6oz 4/0 jighead. At this time of year we see lots of flathead being caught around the 50cm mark, which is really pleasing. That can be a whole lot of fun when flicking soft plastics with a standard 2-4kg spin outfit. I’ve also had many bag-out sessions on the squid whilst fishing around Point Cook and also venturing to both the Bellarine Peninsula and Mornington Peninsula. I try to fish the areas with the clearest water and ideally low swell to make it more comfortable whilst out on the kayak. White and gold squid jigs in size 3 worked slowly have been fishing really well. Winter is also a great time of year to be targeting gummy sharks. I’ve been getting frequent reports from gummies being caught far and wide around

Port Phillip Bay. Not just the usual spots like South Channel, Symonds Channel and Mud Island but also many catches around Werribee, Corio Bay and Portarlington. Darren Adams has had some success catching gummy sharks around the Sorrento area. Try using freshly caught squid rigged on a single 7/0 octopus circle, slightly elevated to try to avoid your usual pest species like banjos and port Jackson sharks. We’re

seeing plenty of gummies being caught around the metre mark, but we should see some bigger ones caught this month as well. Until next time, good fishing everyone. Feel free to contact me at alan@ fishingmad.com.au to share your fishing experiences, photos and catches around Melbourne, Port Phillip Bay and beyond, which we can feature in next month’s article. Please consider becoming a FishingMad member at

w w w. f i s h i n g m a d . c o m . au/member for fishing workshops, podcasts, detailed reports and exciting monthly giveaways. Also, don’t forget to follow my fishing adventures on the FishingMad YouTube channel (youtube.com/c/ fishingmad) and on Facebook (facebook. com/fishingmad.com.au), Instagram (instagram.com/ fishingmad.com.au) and on Channel 31 on Tuesdays at 9:30pm and Saturdays at 3:00pm.

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Over the past month the weather has had everything from calm winds and sunny conditions to the complete opposite, with rough seas and overcast skies. On those calmer days the shallow edges around Mt Eliza and Mornington have been yielding King George whiting in reasonable numbers. I managed to get out on a mate’s boat in late May and snag a few myself. I was once told by a predecessor in the industry and a Mornington local that good-sized flathead are more often caught during the cooler months around this area, and this has proven to be the case; during our whiting BUNBURY session we had some flathead BLUEWATER eat our baits. We usedMARINE squid and mussels as bait, which 18 Hawkins Street BUNBURY some reasonable sized bluespot flathead a liking to. P: (08)took 9791 1499 The bigger models we put on F: to(08) 9791 1497 the tape get an idea. While the better fish were only E: bluwater@bigpond.net.au 36cm, it was evident they had Ollie with Rosebud squid and whiting.

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ALBANY been indulging on food. RUSTY’S MARINE on my way out fishing there Snapper up to 73cm have was an angler filleting salmon Road been U2/205 caught off Chesterpass Mornington at the cleaning station, and I Pier, with the majority of fish was impressed at the sheer size ALBANY around the 1-2kg mark. The of these speedy torpedos that morning bite has seemed to swim around the local waters P: (08) 9842 1022 be the best. of Mornington and Mt Martha. E: rustysmarine@bigpond.com Calm conditions have Australian salmon may grow enabled fishos to target garfish larger in other states, but we with W: greatwww.rustysmarine.com.au success, although get some decent sized fish in

up and down the system. Like most fishing, targeting the right species at the right time of year will ensure your best chance at getting some results. Having said that, often it’s persistence and making the effort which makes up the majority of the battle. Accessing the main river to fish land-based is extremely easy, and all of the species listed above are available to catch. If you’re looking for bream and perch, scrub worms would be a fantastic bait. All the other species can be caught on a lot of bait that you can buy from your local tackle store. If this location is where you are thinking of fishing, imagine a muddy bottom and 2m of water for the best part, with some areas showing weed patches below. Tide will vary on your sinker weight, but generally using a running sinker rig with different hook sizes and bait is best suited to this fishery. What doesn’t matter is whether you’re into the lure or bait fishing side of things. Take the time to fish as much of the system you can, and hopefully you get a taste of what’s on offer, as there’s some great fishing to be had.

there have probably been a our local waters. The angler lot more tough days in the was using soft plastics to Mornington area than good catch them. days. WANGARA Those anglers who have Patterson River holds a been HI further on the mixture of species and can be TECHsouth MARINE Peninsula have achieved great a great fishery or simply hard results12 on Uppill some rather chunky work, which can deter people Place WANGARA models, or alternatively fishing from returning. It’s no secret (08) 9309 2888 closerP: to Frankston and then the that mulloway, mullet, bream, mouthF: of (08) the Patterson River. 9309 2397 estuary perch, salmon, flathead Fishing for calamari and pinkie-sized snapper move has E: beensales@hitechmarine.com.au fantastic around Frankston, Mornington, Mt W:andhitechmarine.com.au Martha all the way south to the tip of Port Phillip Heads. There haven’t been many slow days for anglers. Dropping the jig sizes to 2.5 and even 1.8 at this time of year around Mornington seems to get the best results. However, the further south you go, sticking to the 3.0 size is much more suitable, and the calamari caught are consistently bigger in those areas. The author caught this Patterson River At Mornington boat ramp mulloway on a soft plastic.

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JULY 2022

VIC

Catching a winter feed PORT PHILLIP BAY

Gerry Morsman

Let’s be honest, it’s not the most comfortable time of year to go fishing, but the results are quite good if you are willing to brave the cold. From gummy sharks to squid, there is sure to be something out there to keep you interested, or even better, put some well-earned tucker on the table.

Bay around Rye continues to produce the goods, with some cracking sharks being caught on fresh squid. Frozen baits from your local tackle shop will get the job done. However, if you can get yourself some fresh yakkas, silver trevally or Australian salmon, you are giving yourself a huge advantage. SOUTHERN CALAMARI We have one of the best squid fishing locations in the

standout colours. Moving a little further down Port Phillip Bay around Sorrento, you will also find great numbers of squid. Even the pier has been producing, which is great for those who don’t have a boat. Moving over to Western Port, there has been some very good fishing around Tyabb and Quail Bank. All squid are being caught in around 3-6m of water over the reef. I understand this is a lot of area, but you just have

Amy Day with her first good-sized offshore gummy shark caught on fresh Barbers perch.

Adam Thornhill with an exceptional female gummy shark caught offshore. Another great thing about this time of year is that you generally get some very good weather windows to get out on the water, unlike summer where it feels like the weather gods never want to play the game. Another great aspect about fishing in the colder months is there is no waiting time at the ramp and far fewer boats on the water. This makes it much more peaceful and even better, gives you a greater chance at catching your target species. Now let’s get into what’s been getting caught. GUMMY SHARKS We are so lucky to have such a great gummy shark fishery here in Victoria. They taste great and fight hard, and you can catch them all year round, which is something that’s pretty special for anglers. Pyramid Rock in around 35m of water has always fished very well at this time of year. The best baits have been freshly-caught reef fish such as parrotfish and Barbers perch, which are a natural food source for gummy sharks. The reef fish don’t usually eat their own kind, so your chunk bait is more likely to stay in the strike zone long enough for a gummy to find it. Cape Schanck in around 30m of water has also been a great location using the same baits as Pyramid Rock, as it is a very similar fishing ground. The fishing in the south channel of Port Phillip 84

JULY 2022

world. We are super lucky we are able to successfully target this species in good numbers and size all year long. There have been some quality squid being caught out off Rye, even as close as the reefs near the boat ramp, so there is no need to travel far if you are launching your boat at the Rye boat ramp. Using size 3.5 jigs have been the go, and purple, greens and reds have been the

to keep drifting and find the squid. They don’t generally hold in one spot unless they are spawning and sitting over their eggs, so persistence is the key to a successful calamari session. KING GEORGE WHITING Yes, the whiting can be tough this time of year, but with a bit of persistence you can still get yourself a feed

of some of the best table fish Melbourne has to offer. The southern end of the bay around Portsea has had some great reports, with quality fish up to 50cm being caught. Squid strips, pipis and mussels are the standout baits. If you can get yourself some fresh squid this will give you a huge upper hand. Sorrento has also popped up in the reports around the boat moorings, which is quite a good area to target King George whiting all year round. Mornington and Mount Martha is a bit of an un-talked about whiting fishery, with some very good reports coming through all year round. I might get into a bit of trouble from some of the locals if they were to read this, but there is definitely some amazing whiting fishing to be had. Fishing in close around

all the beaches in around 3-5m of water using squid and pipis early in the morning and late in the evening will give you the best shot at having a

Winter is a great time to target these fish, and places like Altona, Frankston, Mt Eliza, Mornington and Mount Martha will hold them in

Kade Thornill proving that big squid will stick around all year.

Amy Day with a handful of delicious garfish.

good session. GARFISH Garfish would have to be one of the most underrated fish that Melbourne has to offer. Most people think that they are just bait, but believe me, garfish are one of the best table fish you can eat around this area! They are also quite easy to catch, whether you have a boat or are land based.

great numbers. Silverfish and maggots are the go-to baits under a float, and your local tackle store is your best option if you want to learn the rig. Constant berley is the key to getting these fish in, and once you have them sucked into your berley they will generally stay until you catch your bag limit of 40 per person, or your desired amount.

VIC

Winter wanderings on jetties and beaches PHILLIP ISLAND

Craig Edmonds

Winter in Victoria, while on the cool side, can still be a great time to head out on the water or wander down to a beach or jetty. This year has started out a little cooler and wetter than the last few years of Covid, where we didn’t get the wind or wet until well into July/August. The weather has played a big part in the reports not allowing any type of consistency but still reasonably normal for

We were in Alaska a couple of years before Covid and went to Fairbanks, which is just around the corner from the North Pole. The temperature there will get to -40ºC during the winter and while speaking with locals asked them if they had a good book and a warm fire and their answers were surprising. All of them said ‘no, we just add a layer or two and go about things as normally as possible’. We just add a saw to our tackle kit to cut a hole in the ice and pretty much fish like we normally would. They said if you

and become too much. The couple of hours you spend in the fresh air instead of on the couch or the mate you grab to go with you could be just the difference that is needed. Although any problems will still be there when you get home the couple of hours spent fishing might just help you look at things with a different view and start conversations. Over these months of winter you are mostly fishing for salmon, whiting, calamari and gummies but for those fishing in the bay, don’t be surprised if you

The bigger salmon will come a bit closer to shore during these next few months.

A quick flick on the jetty can result in more than enough bait for your next fishing session. winter. It’s also come as a bit of a shock and took a little while for people to adjust and head out fishing again. What they did find was the fish hadn’t gone anywhere and a little bit of hunting around and it was fish for tea. During the cooler months you need to expect your bag numbers will be down a little but the quality is usually better and the fish itself can actually taste better. The other thing you need to expect is you are going to catch a bit more of the rubbish species that are only good for steeling bait. Often you will find you just can’t get away from them and just have to persevere and wait for something better to come along. You don’t need to change a lot of what you do in rigs and baits or even where you fish, although it does pay to be prepared to move around a bit as you will see a lot of weed after periods of strong winds and it may not be possible to fish where you want.

just bunker down and stay inside you will go crazy, you must try and keep it as normal as possible. While we don’t get to those extreme temperatures, we do tend to bunker down a bit and after the last couple of years of being unable to leave home or do much, following their advice this year could be a good idea. Doesn’t mean head out in a blizzard but try and get out for a bit of a fish. Heading out with a rod, reel and a couple of lures is all you need to go for a walk along the beach. If you’re going to a jetty, grab a squid jig or two and a couple of hours over tide change and wander down for some calamari. Boats also don’t need to be a long session just a handful of hours to clear your head. Keep an eye on your mates as well, the experts are saying with all that’s going on with the world, fuel prices, interest rates, cost of living and the last couple of years of Covid, this winter it will start to catch up with many

land yourself a snapper of two. We had some good reports about a month ago of snapper in the bay with some up to 5kg but

more around the 3kg mark, although most have been out chasing whiting with the snapper a by-catch. The reports of whiting have been very good and the numbers we had reported were well worth the effort. The size of the fish however were a little all over the place and getting a bag of good whiting meant that you would have caught around

30 or more, throwing a few back. Gummies up in the top end of the bay around Temby and Lang Lang have been quiet for some time and you will have far more success fishing closer to the western entrance or the deeper channel off and around Elizabeth Island to Tortoise Head, and that’s where we have seen them caught. Most of the reports were around the

Anglers see plenty of 60cm+ flathead during the winter months.

4-8kg and the best a shade over 12kg, which was a big girl returned back to swim again. Don’t forget about offshore at this time of the year, as there can be some very good opportunities for a fish and some very good table fish to be caught. The best, in my opinion, is flathead which you can find in good numbers but in quality size. The calmer it’s been the closer in they will be, and if it’s been a bit rough head out a little wider. Same as summer, hunt around, short drifts, work an area and be ready. I go out with people that will be baiting up a rod while they have released one to the bottom and 9 out of 10 times when they check it, the bait is gone. Flathead will often hit it as it gets to the bottom so if you aren’t holding it you will miss it, especially when using softer baits. The best part of winter fishing offshore is the by-catch. You have a very good chance of a gummy or snapper, so have at least one bigger hooked and baited rig out. There are usually plenty of salmon for the bait freezer but the biggest bonus is the increased chances you will see a whale or two. JULY 2022

East Coast

VIC

Gippsland Lakes mulloway! GIPPSLAND LAKES

Brett Geddes b.geddes@bigpond.com

Over the last month or so we have experienced some of the best bream sport I’ve seen in a very long time. Lure anglers have been rewarded when putting in time to find fish, and bait anglers are really cleaning up. And a real surprise by-catch has got me very fired up to further chase a fish that is rarely caught in these parts. BREAM BONANZA This might be hard to believe, but the bream captures are going up and up! I thought my last report was when we reached the peak of the bream season, but I was wrong. From Lake Victoria to Lake Wellington seems to be the real hotspots. I’m talking Paynesville, Newlands Arm, Wattle Point, Seacombe and Marlay Point. Local bait gurus in Rob and Arthur who live at Hollands Landing have shown me how deadly live shrimp is on the bream. They anchor the boat up on the edge of the lake and I saw them land at least 30 bream to 42cm. The shrimp are surprisingly big and look like small prawns, and the bream can’t resist them. The boys were kept very busy catching fish and re-baiting hooks. I threw my soft plastic and blade lures into the same area they were fishing, but I gave up when it took me an hour to get one small bream! I was shocked at how

deadly the shrimp bait was, and yet those same bream ignored my lures. Rob also told me of a bream caught recently that he saw a visiting angler measure, and it went a whopping 53cm. I can only remember hearing of two or three bream that big in all my years of fishing the Gippy Lakes, so it’s nice to see some real monsters still alive and well. BREAM ON LURES Other hotspots are in the rivers like the upper Nicholson, the entrances of the Mitchell and Tambo. The lure fishing army are now having some of the best sport in years. It’s been a lot of fun for all of us, with dozens of bream around 42-45cm and a score of 46cm trucks – and even a few 47.5cm

b-doubles! These are all mixed in with cricket score catches of much smaller bream from 26-32cm. There are a lot of nice perch being caught too, up to 43cm. Most of my fish have been caught on Hurricane lures like the soft plastic Sprat 65 and 85 or the Twitch hardbodies in 40 or 50mm. Most of it with my good buddy Havo but also catching up with Jason Deenan, Justin Dingwall, Mitch Chapman, Tony Pettie, Ben Hotchkins, Graeme Beams, Owen Pierce and Bryan Lazzaro. The reason I mention all those gun bream anglers is because they all try different methods and various wide-ranging lures. I learn so much from seeing these guys in action. For instance, Mitch and Owen use large hardbodies

It’s been a busy early winter with big bream on the chew.

to nail big bream in the shallows while Justin gets a lot of thumping bream on hardbody vibes in both open water and gnarly structure. Havo and Tony are soft plastic kings and work the snags and shallow edges with deadly results. Bryan and Ben will try all sorts of lures and methods and come up with some real surprises, like throwing heavy blades deep into timber and extracting truck bream and EP. Graeme is more a bait angler but teaches me heaps when he finds big scores of bream on shrimp baits in areas where anglers rarely venture into. Jason is a bream whisperer, fishing deep and finessing blades and soft plastics. So by teaming up with all these mad keen anglers it’s no wonder my very last trip saw me catch bream on 11 different lures! The real joy of course, is to see that my local waters are all full of big and little fish. The future looks bright indeed. And now for a real surprise for me with an unbelievable by-catch recently… GIPPY LAKES MULLOWAY There are some fish that tend to evade even the best anglers, who can spend a lifetime trying to work them out. One such species here in the Gippy Lakes is the mighty mulloway. They are like a unicorn in these parts, an elusive ghost. Not unheard of, but very rarely caught by anyone. Truth be known, there may only be just 50 mulloway in the entire Gippy Lakes.

That’s one happy angler! After so many years, an elusive Gippy Lakes mulloway finally greets the author’s net. To complicate things further, nobody really targets mulloway here so how can they be caught without the effort? Even when the lakes were commercially netted, mulloway rarely if ever showed up as a bycatch. So with all that in mind, you can see why I was in utter disbelief when I landed my first ever mulloway! I caught it on a Cracked Black Sting 47 Hurricane blade. It wasn’t a monster model at 54cm, but it pulled like a runaway truck. It’s ‘only’ taken me 22 years to finally land one of the greatest estuary challenges

in my local waters, and it’s hopefully not my last. From now on I’ll be aiming for some slightly bigger ones. Sadly, at my current rate of hooking mulloway, I’ll be 80 years old for my next hook up! LOOKING AHEAD As winter peaks the bream will continue to school up in the deeper and upper reaches of all the rivers. So quite simply you need to rug up with a warm coat and beanie and put most of your efforts into these areas. The jetties around Paynesville and Newlands Arm should also continue to fire.

Unpredictable fishing weather MARLO

Jim McClymont mcclymont@net-tech.com.au

The fishing has slowed down a tad, with anglers reporting getting smaller bags of bream, luderick, mullet, estuary perch, trevally, and flathead. However, there are still plenty of salmon and tailor coming into the

estuary on the incoming tide, with anglers catching good bags using metal lures. With the fishing being hit-and-miss, it’s difficult to know just when to go out to try your luck. As an example, one morning a local angler rang and reported to me he had been fishing for four hours in the morning on a run-out tide and didn’t lose a bait, while another mate of mine, Bradley McDougall,

came into the shop and told me big bream are on the bite in the afternoon on a run-in tide. He had been capturing big bream, with some over 2kg, using sandworm. Fishing is a unique sport, with every outing being a complete unknown. The surf beaches are still fishing well with plenty of big salmon, tailor, flathead, pinkie snapper and gummy shark.

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Fishing offshore, although not as good as it gets, is fishing well with anglers reporting decent-size flathead, salmon, gurnard, barracoota, pinkie snapper, morwong, squid, and gummy shark. NZ KINGFISH This is the time of year that I really look forward to: it’s when I and my teammates – Terry Lynch, Colin Austin, and Jenkin Steed – prepare for our annual NZ trip to fish the International Yellowtail Tournament in Russell in the Bay of Islands. We fish from game boat Target, owned and skippered by Ross and his very capable deckhand. While our prime objective is to catch and weigh kings over 6kg to accumulate competition points, we also get plenty of by-catch including big snapper, john dory, salmon, mako shark, tuna, and barracoota. And best of all, we get to meet up with all the good people we’ve met over the years fishing the comp.

A kingfish caught during the International Yellowtail Tournament.

VIC

East Coast

Cold is creeping in MALLACOOTA/EDEN

Kevin Gleed captainkev@wildernessfishingtours.com

The past month has really let us know that winter is upon us with clear nights allowing the cold to creep in, and the rainfall of the past months has slowed up. The town is a lot quieter now as the visitors have moved on chasing the warmer weather, with things picking up once again as we head towards Christmas. Fishing wise there is still plenty on offer, winter months see the fishing on the beaches fire up with salmon in numbers on all the local beaches. All the beaches and rocky headlands from Bastion Point Beach down to Quarry Beach are worth a fish with the best gutters along the beaches holding fish. The colder water temperatures see less variety of fish that can be caught but numbers of salmon, along with some good tailor, are reliable over the coming months. Offshore the fishing has started to really slow down. Sand and tiger flathead really slowed up, but a few fish are still being caught. Fewer people are heading offshore with the cold winter water temperatures. Things will only pick up as the water

warms. Luckily the lake, rivers and creeks are where the real action is over the coming months. The Bottom Lake, particularly around Harrisons Channel and the whole front section, will see numbers of salmon and some bigger tailor consistently being caught. These fish

will turn up anywhere in the system even as far upstream as Gypsy Point. Numbers of silver trevally can also increase over the cooler winter months and, with the weed returning in the front section of the lake, this is a top area to fish small soft plastics with the channel edges near the

The winter months see the bigger tailor put in an appearance in the lake and along the beaches.

Silver trevally are being caught and in the coming months you will see more fish about as the water cools.

current a top place to catch good numbers of fish. Flathead are still about over the coming months. Once you have found a fish or two you need to work these areas thoroughly as there will be more fish there. The key is to work the lure very slow as the fish are reluctant to move too far with the cold water temperatures. The bream fishing really comes into its own over the cold winter months with the Top and Bottom lake providing plenty of action.

This is the time of year where fishing with the fish finder will really get you amongst the fish. Bait schools are in around 12ft of water and bream, both yellowfin and black, won’t be far behind. As winter moves on, black bream will start making their way upstream and, once again, the fish will not be far from the baitfish schools. Yellowfin bream don’t move too much at this time of year with fish consistently found in the deeper water at the

back of Goodwin Sands. Once again, not far from the baitfish schools, fish can be caught along the edges. In general, the water is clear and the fishing tough, so it’s not the area to catch fish in numbers. The winter months can see good perch been caught with fish making their way towards the salt looking for the right area to spawn. If you can be lucky enough to catch a fish, work the area as there will definitely be more fish about.

Blue-green algae plague LAKES ENTRANCE

Steven Pryke

The blue-green algae grasp over the Gippsland Lakes has continued to grow in strength, with algea warnings along the 90 Mile Beach.

Throughout the Gippsland Lakes, everyone has been encourage to reduce contact with the local waterways, unfortunately this has had a major impact to the town. Hopefully it won’t be long and the algae will clear up and everyone can return to fishing and enjoying the

Gippsland Lakes. LAKES ENTRANCE With the current algae situation, the local fishing scene has been pretty quiet but some anglers have ventured out. Metung Yacht Club has been a popular spot for bream lately with anglers having

Bobby Sproule with a solid Lake Tyers bream taken on a hardbody.

great results fishing metal blades around the bases of the jetty. A good sounder has been handy as the bream have been moving up and down the wharves, so locating them can be one of the hardest tasks. Once these schools are located, dropping a metal blade close to the structure or school and slowly working it back to the boat has been a deadly approach. Silver trevally have been a common by-catch lately and find it very hard to say no to a well worked blade. LAKE TYERS The lake seems to be getting better lately. At the time of writing, the lake has dropped down to 13ºC water temp yet masses of bream remain on the flats and have been destroying minnow style hardbodies and soft plastics. It’s the most consistent I reckon I’ve seen the bottom lake fish, with most days seeing me land 20+ bream and the majority ranging from 35-40cm. After a few red hot sessions lately I’ve found myself going back to the same couple of lures each time. The Atomic Shiner 45 and Atomic Jerk minnows have been highly productive, along with the old Squidgy

The little Atomic Shiner is consistently getting crunched lately. Flick baits or Ecogear Aqua fished extremely lightly weighted and cast up into the super shallows or cast towards any active fish you can see. With the water temps getting colder, it’s hard to say how long this brilliant edge and flats bite will remain. I haven’t been fishing anything deeper than 1.5m lately, and some fish have come out of

20cm of water on clear sand flats or sight fished and fed off the bottom. HAVE YOU BEEN FISHING? If you have been out for fish lately and have a great pic please send to stevenprykefishing@ gmail.com with short description and you could be featured in the edition of Fishing Monthly. JULY 2022

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Seeking good winter action ROBINVALE

Rod Mackenzie codmac@bigpond.net.au

In our local water as seasons go it’s been a pretty good one so far. Numerous big cod captures from the open in December right through

on the water in search of a fish or two. The fair weather fishos will drop away and only those who chase the thrill will continue to do the hard yards. Rugged up to the hilt, the expected bite is generally a little slower, but the fish size is generally up as some of the biggest cod are landed during

plenty of opportunities to use lures. The surface bite that’s been back on the past few seasons continues to produce consistent opportunities, with several solid Murray cod to 1m+ landed as the water temperature dropped away. Pental Island continues to be a popular haunt, with several good-sized cod landed in the lead up to the cooler weather. A couple of trips to Wood Wood on the Murray River, which I would class as local for me, yielded some surface opportunities in the weeks leading up to winter. On the first trip I got a sizable

explosion on a surface lure at around 4:30 in the afternoon, which failed to find the hooks. The fish, looking for all its size a metre or more, managed to miss the lure by a good foot or more in the current-rich flows, obviously forgetting to lead the target. Should have gone to Spec Savers. Like most top water opportunities in the flow, the cod refused to show a second time. Two days later, a little further downstream, the water erupted under a new surface lure I was testing, and this time the rod loaded to a ripper cod of 105cm. I was pretty

Clinton Hann with a solid cod caught on chicken. With the Darling spilling high and dirty into the Murray River at Wentworth, it’s best to fish downstream with bait. to the autumn break and beyond have kept most anglers casting a line. Now its winter, and the chill that accompanies this season is real as we head out

the winter months. The river heights in the Murray at Swan Hill have been up and down, but the water clarity has remained quite good, providing anglers with

A 1m+ Murray cod caught on a surface lure at Wood Wood on the Murray River.

When the cod are sitting higher, the 100mm Bassman Tubby will grab their attention. chuffed with this catch and the renewed faith it gave me to do a bit more fishing locally. Other catches of cod to 1m+ have been reported at Tooleybuc on the Murray River all the way downstream through Boundary Bend to Belsar Island. Robinvale continues to be on the quiet side, with reports of several good-sized Murray cod landed downstream of the Euston weir on lures. The Murray River at both Mildura and Wentworth has fished consistently, with most anglers finding a cod or two on trolled lures. Most of the fish caught have ranged from 60-75cm, with the odd

1m+ model in the mix. A few solid golden perch have also been landed on lures that were being used for cod. Big goldens as bycatch are common when cod fishing the pool water in the Murray, and are always a welcome catch. With the Darling River pumping dirty water in at Wentworth, any fishing in the lower locks will primarily be with bait, as the clarity is very poor. While winter fishing is not easy, it does provide the opportunity to tangle with some of the biggest cod we see landed in our local waters every season.

Chills and thrills for anglers BENDIGO

Roger Miles codhuntertours@bigpond.com

The coldest time of the year is upon us, and those chilly nights followed by sub-zero temperatures in the mornings can test out the hardiest anglers. It pays to be well prepared with a good camp fire at night and lots of warm clothing to make sure your fishing experience is a good one. The rewards can be very high for those anglers who are prepared to put the time in, and at this time of the year you can be lucky enough to experience the ability to have a waterway to yourself. This is nearly impossible in the Bendigo region during the warmest months of the year. LAKE EPPALOCK At the time of writing this report, Lake Eppalock is at 48% of capacity and slowly rising. With more rain we should see slow rises in water levels continue at this destination. The productivity in the fishing has slowed down in recent weeks, and the trend of reduced productivity should continue over the next few months. At the present time redfin continue to make up the majority of anglers’ 88

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captures. Most of the redfin continue to be caught in deep water, and the usual techniques are working well. Trolling deep diving hardbody lures, casting and retrieving soft plastics and blades, and vertically jigging soft plastics and ice jigs have been working. The hardest thing at the moment is being able to find a good concentration of redfin. Anglers should be prepared to do a lot of moving around in order to locate some good redfin. The golden perch fishing has slowed up a lot over the last month. The productivity of those anglers fishing the shorelines chasing golden perch has decreased. The best results have been produced by those anglers fishing around the standing timber. If you want to fish the standing timber with lures, vibes and soft plastics fished at depth have been working the best. Small numbers of golden perch are also being caught by anglers bait fishing around the standing timber with worms, small yabbies and shrimp. I haven’t received any direct reports of Murray cod being caught here over the last month, but I’m sure a few were caught by a limited number of anglers targeting them, I just haven’t received any reports. Good options for the Murray cod will be

trolling larger hardbody lures and swimbaits. Casting swimbaits in low light periods is also an excellent option. CAMPASPE RIVER The overall numbers of fish being caught in the Campaspe River has been low. The water flows down the Campaspe river system have reduced over the last month. Water clarity is currently pretty good through the majority of the system, and this should remain in the short term, barring any significant rainfall events. Water temperatures have cooled down a lot, and surface temperatures around 12°Cs are common. The current captures in the Campaspe River are a good mixture of Murray cod, golden perch and redfin. Good options for the Murray cod have been swimbaits and spinnerbaits with dark coloured blades. Spinnerbaits fished at depth with black and purple blades have not been producing large numbers of fish, but some quality Murray cod have been caught on them. If you are targeting the resident golden perch then lipless crankbaits that have only a subtle rattle or no rattle have been working best. When fishing the lipless crankbaits at this time of the year it’s very important to have a very slow retrieval speed. You can also make pauses during your retrieve

to gain more depth. The majority of redfin have been caught along the edges of ribbon weed or along the edges of cumbungilined banks. Soft vibes, soft plastics and bladed spinners have been good lure choices for the redfin. CAIRN CURRAN Water levels are currently steady at Cairn Curran, and the reservoir is currently at 53% of capacity. With some good rain forecast we should start to see a steady rise in water levels over the next month. The fishing has continued to be reasonable at this location. A small number of anglers have been skilful enough to locate some good schools of redfin, managing to land some great redfin above the 40cm range. Soft plastics and ice jigs have been good options for these fish. Small numbers of redfin have also been caught by anglers trolling hardbody lures. Bait fishing and casting lures around the standing timber has been producing a few golden perch. Small numbers of trout have been caught by anglers trolling minnow-style lures and winged lures around the shorelines and submerged weed beds. Like Lake Eppalock, I haven’t received any reports of Murray cod being caught

This Murray cod inhaled this swimbait when the lure was paused on the retrieve. The steady sink rate was irresistible. at this location over the last month. Given the good productivity of the Murray cod fishing at this location during the warmest months of the year, it will be definitely worth some effort. Casting and trolling swimbaits and trolling large hardbody lures will be good options. LODDON RIVER The water clarity is currently good at most locations along the Loddon River. Anglers’ catch rates have been low, but there have been some quality fish being caught. Water temperatures have dropped significantly and catch rates are now very low in the shallower sections of the Loddon River. The highest catch rates are currently being experienced by those anglers fishing in the deepest sections of the

river system. The number of anglers currently fishing the Loddon River has been low, which makes for a nice change to the amount of fishing pressure this system receives during the warmest months of the year. Small numbers of Murray cod have been caught by anglers casting swimbaits and large lipless crankbaits. A few Murray cod have also been caught by anglers trolling hardbody lures and heavy spinnerbaits. Good lure options for the golden perch have been lipless crankbaits and medium sized hardbody lures. Loddon River doesn’t yield big bags of redfin. However, if you put the time in chasing them during the coldest months of the year, you will often catch some good-size fish.

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Ballarat trout biting BALLARAT

Shane Stevens

Ballarat and district anglers have been treated to some very good fishing over the past month, with many of our fisheries producing excellent catches of brown and rainbow trout and the odd redfin. The angler numbers this year appear

been disappointed on my recent trips with Wayne Rigg. We have been drifting along the shorelines, casting lures into the shallows, and have been rewarded with excellent catches of brown and rainbow trout. We have been using a variety of lures, my favourite being the Bent Minnow surface lures and shallo- diving hardbodied lures in a variety of sizes

40-50cm. We also had quite a few other hook-ups and follows. I think the different weather conditions certainly had the trout in feeding mode. We have caught them off the surface and subsurface, with the surface lure performing better with the cloudy conditions. On a disappointing note, we have noticed there has been little or no sign of trout feeding on smelt. Hopefully this will change. I know myself and other anglers definitely look forward to chasing the smelters, as this fishing is exciting and frustrating at the same time. I’m hoping the excellent fishing continues, moving forward for those of us who like to chase the winter trout. Lake Wendouree continues to produce some excellent catches, mainly of brown trout, from reports that I have received. Myself and

Lake Wendouree has produced the goods again for Ben Young, who landed this 56cm brown trout casting Bent Minnows. Image courtesy of Ben Young. biggest trout: a 45cm brown. A few casts later he was into another, but unfortunately the hooks didn’t hold on to land it. We had a couple of other trout snooping around our Bents, including a ripping 55cm brown that I landed. Wayne Rigg and I have

Tullaroop Reservoir has produced some excellent fishing for Wayne Rigg over the past month on hardbodied lures. The author has landed some nice-sized rainbow trout from Tullaroop Reservoir on Bent Minnows. to be a lot higher than in previous years, but I’m sure numbers will drop off with the onset of cold, wintery weather. Those of us who are prepared to battle elements and put

and colours. The weather has dictated our catches, I believe. One session we had bright skies and little wind, which was not ideal. We still managed to land six trout, a mixture

Peter Cartledge with his new PB 45cm brown trout, caught on a T23 Bent Minnow. hit up Wendouree on a few occasions also, once again casting Bents. We have landed brown trout on every occasion in varying sizes,

including a ripper brown of 55cm caught by Rigzy. Ben Young, who is one of the best anglers going around, has been out on Wendouree, once again casting lures. Ben generally likes to change his tactics up, casting micro chatters, varying the plastics he uses, also small hardbodied lures and Bents until he finds the right method. Ben has landed some excellent midsized redfin ranging from 30-40cm, and lovely browns up to 56cm.

Wayne Rigg was once again on the money, landing a magnificent spawning coloured 55cm brown trout. on our winter woollies and wet weather gear, will hopefully will be rewarded for our efforts. I mentioned last month that I was going to put in some time and effort into one of my favourite winter fisheries, Tullaroop Reservoir. I certainly haven’t

of browns and rainbows in varying sizes 35-45cm. On another trip, we had overcast skies and a good, gentle breeze – the ideal conditions that I’m looking for. We landed seven trout, once again a mixture of browns and rainbows, this time ranging in size from

Pete Cartledge have ventured out on Wendouree casting lures, which I believe is the most productive method of catching fish during the winter months. Pete, a relative novice to casting lures, was straight into the action on our last trip, casting out his Bent Minnow and latching onto his

Moorabool Reservoir continues to produce some big rainbow trout, like this one caught by the author on a Black Flashback Nymph.

We are hoping the fishing on Wendouree continues throughout the winter months. Going on the last few years, it’s generally pretty tough, but if you put in the hard yards you will be definitely rewarded for your efforts. Moorabool Reservoir has seen plenty of angler activity, with fishers walking around the shorelines, casting lures, flies and the odd angler fishing baits. The fishing reports have definitely slowed down, with the odd report of anglers catching one or two. Moorabool is a drawcard to all, given the amount of trophy brown trout of 8-10lb that have been caught in the past 12 months. I have been out a few times myself over the past month; given it is only 20 minutes from home, I go there a lot. I have been catching the odd one or two on fly and lure, in the 35-40cm size. When walking around the shore there are plenty of foot prints in the receding water level. There has been a noticeable lack of feeding fish activity, which seems to be the same situation on most of our waters. At Moorabool during the winter months, you will generally see trout smashing through schools of smelt, which once again can be exciting and frustrating at the same time. Hopefully over the coming months the trout will switch their attention to feeding on these small bait fish. JULY 2022

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What’s on the cards WANGARATTA

Robbie Alexander

Despite July being possibly the slowest month of the year on the fishing calendar in North East Victoria, I really look forward to

and head out fully prepared to sit for lengthy periods of time without as much as a nibble. Usually, if I wait long enough I will catch something, even in the depths of winter. I like to bait fish with two rods. One is baited with cheese, specifically for

In the crystal-clear water, during the day when the sun is high in the sky, the trout will often move down much deeper. Winged lures such as Tasmanian Devils and Wigstons are always a big hit for people targeting trout in Victorian lakes during winter,

A cold morning at Lake William Hovell. That lake is beautiful, but very cold in winter and has some nice trout and redfin in it. such as trout or carp. I catch the odd redfin at Lake William Hovell each winter while angling for trout off the bank, and I also catch the

doing. The everyday angler will often go home fishless. Lake Buffalo has produced some phenomenal redfin fishing this autumn,

usually carp. They are definitely more active in the warmer months; in winter they seem to lay dormant. Although I embrace them

A winter cod caught in Wangaratta on cheese during the height of the pandemic; you can see the author’s coronavirus head sock around his neck. Hopefully we can go fishing without masks on this winter. it each year. I have my favourite places and favourite types of fishing that I enjoy each July. MURRAY COD The cod fishing is usually very slow in the Wangaratta region during July. Just downstream at Lake Mulwala is probably the best bet for anglers wanting to target Murray cod, especially with lures. In saying that, Lake

Murray cod, and the other is baited with worms, which may catch just about anything in the river, from carp to cod and everything in between. A successful fishing trip in the Ovens River in Wangaratta during winter might consist of me catching one Murray cod and a carp as a by-catch. That’s a slow day in summer, but a successful day in winter.

Winter is Murray crayfishing season. It’s a lot of fun, but is also heavily regulated and patrolled by compliance officers. It pays to be up to speed with the regulations. Mulwala has been drawn down this year so I’m not sure how accessible it will be. I have usually put my lures away for the season by July, preferring to sit on the bank in the winter sunshine and fish with bait. Often I am rewarded with a cod or two. The key to catching winter cod around Wangaratta with bait, is perseverance. I won’t go down to the river an hour before sunset and expect to catch two or three cod before it gets dark like I do in summer. Instead, I will put an entire afternoon aside 90

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TROUT The streams are all closed to trout fishing during July, leaving us with only the lakes to fish. My favourite is Lake William Hovell. I like to sit on the bank up there on cold winter days and angle with bait. Sometimes I catch a trout or two, and occasionally I will catch a small redfin as a by-catch. Lure fishing can be quite successful at Lake William Hovell during the winter months, with sunrise and sunset being the best times of the day to catch trout.

and Lake William Hovell is no exception. The region’s familyfriendly lakes are all stocked with yearling rainbow trout by July too, which is something that many kids around the area look forward to each year. Stanley Dam, Glenrowan Recreational Reserve, Lake Sambell, Anderson Lake, Tronoh Dredge… these and many more small ponds around the state are stocked with trout that are big enough to catch straight away. By far the most popular of these small dams in this area is Stanley Dam. In the next area across, the most popular spot is Allans Flat waterhole, which is very popular with Wodonga and Yackandandah kids. REDFIN Usually by July my catches of redfin are restricted to occasional by-catches while targeting other species,

A sunrise carp caught at Lake Moodemere, one of the author’s favourite winter fishing destinations. odd winter redfin in one of the local creeks that I enjoy fishing for carp in the cooler months. We do not experience great winter redfin in this area, possibly due to being so close to the mountains in the cold climate. Some dedicated and experienced anglers will catch big redfin at Lake Buffalo each winter, but these people really know what they are

and I’m really looking forward to taking my regular Lake William Hovell bait fishing techniques to Lake Buffalo this winter to see how I go just angling off the bank up there. YELLOWBELLY I never target yellowbelly in the winter months. Just like the redfin, they are an occasional by-catch when targeting other species,

A chunky redfin caught in Lake Buffalo just before winter. Whether these are still biting in July is anybody’s guess, but it’s definitely worth a try.

when I catch them, I would not recommend targeting them in the Wangaratta area during winter or you will most likely end up disappointed. OTHER SPECIES Crayfish are by far the most popular species to target in this area during winter. They are subject to very strict size and bag limits so you need to make sure you read the Victorian Fisheries Authority rule book, or download their app before you head out. When Murray crayfishing, it’s not about the harvest, but is more about the enjoyment of standing around a campfire on a winter’s day as well as the excitement and anticipation you feel when lifting the nets to reveal the giant white claws. I absolutely love crayfishing and look forward to it every winter. One of my other favourite forms of winter fishing is carp fishing at Lake Moodemere, particularly at sunrise. It’s a magical place to be at sunrise, and often produces a few carp throughout winter when many other fishing options are off the cards.

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Plenty of good surface fishing SHEPPARTON

Nick Brown teamriverrats@hotmail.com

The Broken River has had a nice bit of fresh water this past month, with some the rain coming down in the Broken catchment. Like always, when the Broken gets a fresh flow of water, the fish just respond well. Surface fishing has been the stand-out way to target cod this past month, with Balista Hunchbacks being very popular. There have been yellowbelly caught below both weirs on lipless crankbaits and also small divers. Bait fishing down towards Shepparton has been great, with reports of legal-sized cod and yellowbelly being caught on worms, chicken and chunks of salami. GOULBURN RIVER The fishing around

Toolamba has been good, with some cod around the 50-60cm mark being caught. Baits such as cheese and

chicken have been working the best. Anglers fishing with lures have been targeting the

late May. The fish seem to have pushed up in the 3-6ft range, where there is plenty of bait feeding off the edge wash. Small plastics fished either off the bank or from a boat have worked well, and so too have small vibes. Yellowbelly are being trolled up along the rock wall and also opposite to Harriman’s Point ramp. Just like the Goulburn River, the Basin has had a stocking of relocated fish from Greens Lake, with plenty of good-sized yellowbelly finding a new home at the Basin.

A Broken River cod caught off the surface.

One of the big cod relocated from Greens Lake to the Goulburn River.

Michael Skinner with a Kialla Lakes catfish.

downstream waters below structures that concentrate the river flow, such as below the main bridge in Shepparton and Mooroopna also below the rock wall near the Shepparton cemetery. Spinnerbaits and lipless crankbaits have worked well in these areas, with yellowbelly still biting. There have been some early season cray reports, with plenty of smaller crayfish being caught amongst the keepers. About a month ago the Goulburn also received a small stocking boost, with some big cod released into the river after being relocated from Greens Lake. WARANGA BASIN The redfin bite in shallow water has improved, especially after the rain in

Blake Dohnt with a nice Waranga redfin. SHEPPARTON LAKE The lake was abuzz with the All-Abilities Fishing Clinic in May, and it was a big hit. There were a few

trout caught as well as redfin, with worms and Powerbait working best. Away from the clinic during the past month I

have been getting reports of the early morning trout bite being really consistent, with three quarters of the fish caught in a half hour window just around sunrise. Nymph type plastics and 2” Keitechs have been working the best, with small minnows also catching fish. The fishing will also get better with the Victorian Fishing Authority planning to stock another 750 trout prior to the next school holidays. KIALLA LAKES Here’s something a bit different for Kialla Lakes: a 53cm catfish caught on worms. There is always the odd catfish reported but they’re normally not as big as this one. It just goes to show you never know what you can catch at Kialla, with the lake holding catfish, cod, yellowbelly, carp and redfin. It wasn’t just catfish reported, with some small redfin caught on blades off the sandbar near the playground. A slow draw of the rod and a long pause has been the best way to catch these redfin, with many of the bites coming on the pause.

Time to get lucky in the lakes WEST/SOUTH GIPPSLAND

Billy Auldist

Anglers across South West Gippsland have experienced some good fishing across the last month, but that is sure to slow down over the cooler months from here on in. The rainfall will increase, making local rivers rise and become very challenging to fish. This makes the lakes look very appealing to anglers. The build-up to the trout season closure saw many anglers find good success in local rivers. The trout were fired up and hitting wellpresented lures and baits willingly in most rivers across the region. The Tarago and Bunyip rivers produced some great

quality fish for our region, which drew even more attention from anglers. Keen local fisher Matt Bow saw his efforts pay off when he landed half a dozen exceptional brown trout on a larger Rapala hardbody towards the end of the season. Trout were caught on a wide variety of techniques from hardbodies, soft plastics, spinners and even drifting baits. Not surprisingly, all the local trout streams copped an absolute beating from fishos coming into the back end of the season, so now it’s important we let the trout rest over the closed period and come back strong when it reopens in early September. In terms of fishing options for local anglers now heading into July, unfortunately they are fairly limited. As mentioned above, the rainfall is going to

play a major part in whether the local rivers are fishable or not. For most of the cooler months the rivers are usually high and dirty. Assuming the rivers are in this state and you are keen to head out for a fish, Blue Rock reservoir is your friend. The lake has both rainbow and brown trout, which are still active throughout winter. Walking the banks casting a Tassie Devil or hardbody can reward big time. However, if we get a break in the weather and string together a few good days, and the local streams start to find better shape, they are worthy of some attention. River blackfish are found in most streams across the region and can be a good target post-trout season. They will take most baits but you can’t beat a worm lightly anchored near a snag on dusk.

Other species still active in our streams are carp and redfin, which can both be readily caught on bait. Local estate dams may be worth a crack over the next month if you are keen to try a few. Most of these dams hold redfin, which are good entertainment when using lures. Surprisingly there are some larger models to be found in most places, which can add a bit more of a challenge. Reddies will also take bait, so they are accessible to all anglers. With the upcoming conditions many anglers choose to hang up the rods for a few months, but there are still options out there which will reward the persistent. If you do manage some success over the next month, feel free to send a picture or report to billy. auldist@gmail.com.

Matt Bow showing the success that late season can bring if done right. JULY 2022

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Coming in to bat EILDON

Peter Burtchell

The first day of winter brought below zero temperatures, heavy rain and a dusting of snow to the southern parts of

Lake Eildon, creating a stunning backdrop of snow-laden mountains for those brave enough to fish through the very harsh conditions. Staying dry and comfortable whilst angling through these

unpredictable and arduous weather conditions used to be quite cumbersome with the amount of wet weather gear required. However, today our clothing options are better. I recommend Buck N’ Bass’s Iron Shell Dry clothing, which

Mick Caufield on target as always.

Adele Costa-Rouw loves her Asakura Bull Head’s hit rate. will keep you bone dry, comfortable and warm, whether you’re crashing through waves or casting when you get there. With such a big lake, remaining highly mobile and dry

(LEFC) competitors to boat the distance in fine weather from the competition headquarters at Jerusalem Creek to put some early scores on the board in the trout category. The LEFC, which started in 2017, is an annual fishing event that raises funds for Variety Australia, and this year’s event again grew with more fish caught, more event sponsors, more funds raised and more competitors enjoying the family-

oriented competition. This year’s major sponsor was Megabass, and their representatives got amongst the action with

flicking an MR-X Griffon the unluckiest bat ever managed to create a loop knot to entangle itself in his line.

Caine Goward, Pro Fisher for Asakura Lures shows how it is done, flicking in the pondage. Micky Caufield helping Mal with the Lake Eildon Fishing Challenge presentations. Kate took out 2nd place in the Lake Eildon Fishing Challenge.

Relax and enjoy delicious food and warm hospitality.

Open for breakfast from 6am 7 days a week (Closed Mother’s Day)

Coffee Light meals Pastries Cakes Bread 10 Main St, Eildon Victoria 3713 03 5774 2362 0438 881 629 92

JULY 2022

during these unpredictable weather events can make the difference between a mediocre fishing session and a great one. You want to be able to take advantage of the vast areas around the lake that will produce great angling action throughout the changing conditions. One such area that fished very well with the mid-autumn rains was the Howqua inlet, as the running Goulburn, Big and Howqua rivers pushed an abundance of smelt into the inlet. Trout and redfin were caught in large numbers as they were taking advantage of the newly-created food source. The feeding frenzy continued into mid-May, enabling some of the Lake Eildon Fishing Challenge

Ran landing the first bat caught during the competition. Ran and the Asakura Pro Fisher Caine took some time out from the competition for a quiet fish, and when Ran was

Winter began well with a dusting of snow at Jerusalem Creek.

It may have been the bat, the event atmosphere, fishing destination or all of these special events that provided Megabass with the inspiration to transform the Jerusalem Creek Bait and Tackle Foreshore Showroom into the third ever Megabass Elite Pro Store in the world. Alongside the showroom development, Megabass quickly provided local gun fisher Kate Norman with a Pro Fisher Contract after her early lead into the event, with two very nice Murray cod. The brand has also committed to further develop Pro Fishing Tours at Jerusalem Creek to cater for the current national and soon to be international anglers looking to hook up with one of Australia’s sought-after native fish. It must be noted that no bats were harmed during this Megabat episode. The final results for To page 94

Know how to tow: Enjoying watersports safely

Hand Signals SPEED UP

CUT MOTOR

SLOW DOWN

OK AFTER ALL

Thumbs up

Thumbs down

TURN

Circling motion above head followed by pointing in the direction of the turn

BACK TO SHORE Pat top of head

Slashing hand across throat

Hands clasped over the head

STOP

Hand raised with fingers outstretched

ALL OK

An ‘O’ made with the thumb and index finger

For more information, visit our website: transportsafety.vic.gov.au/maritime-safety

The thrill of being towed behind a boat is, undeniably, enormous fun; it is an adrenaline rush for many who experience it. Towed watersports are exciting, but you do need to take additional precautions. Almost perfect weather conditions are required: no wind and waves. To make it an enjoyable and safe experience and you need to be conscious of the need for several checks for towing. Below are some safety tips to assist with a safe, fun day out on the water. Weather and conditions: Ensure there are no strong winds or too many waves. Inland waters are popular for towing as there are fewer waves and it is generally more sheltered. The bays can deliver some unexpected changes in weather. Towed sports in windy weather spells disaster. On the inland waters, check the water level. Many of our inland lakes have low water levels exposing tree stumps and branches. Increased crowding increases the chances of collision and injuries. The past few years have seen a significant growth in the popularity of towed inflatables and wakeboarding; more boats are towing on the lakes and rivers. Always keep a good lookout. Laws: In order to tow, the driver must hold an unrestricted licence as restricted licence holders cannot tow. You must also have an observer who is at least 12 years of age or older. The observer must always watch the skier, give the driver directions where needed to keep the water skier safe, and immediately inform the driver if the person being towed falls off into the water. The driver cannot focus on the skier as they need to look out for snags, floating branches, shoals, and be aware of cold water, fast currents, and riverbanks. Lifejackets: All people who participate in towed sports must wear lifejackets. Level 50 or 50S jackets are recommended for water sports. Ensure they fit properly and are not damaged. Wearing a brightly coloured rashie under the jacket will assist with the person being seen if they raise their arm while in the water. Tow rope: The rope should be a minimum of seven metres in length to keep the person being towed away from the stern of the boat and avoiding the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning or contact with the propeller. A shorter rope can be used with some boats, provided the propeller is forward of the stern, but you should be conscious of the risk of carbon monoxide if you reduce the length of the rope. Prior to towing do a few simple checks: • Ensure the rope is not frayed and is free of knots • Check that you are using a rope rated for the purpose – inflatables carrying multiple people can generate very high loads when swinging and require higher strength ropes • Check that the rope is attached to the approved attachment point on the boat; inflatables are usually attached to a point

on the lower stern; ski, kneeboard and wakeboard ropes may be attached to a tower or pole • Ensure the tow rope does not go slack while towing, if the rope is slack, when the boat speeds up you will put an extreme load on the rope, the inflatable and the attachment point, risking a gear failure and possible injury to people in the water or on the boat. • Never wrap a tow rope around your hand or arm, as this can lead to serious injury. Check your equipment: If using an inflatable, ensure the biscuit is inflated to the correct pressure and check after each use. If there is a change in inflatable pressure, check for leaks while it floats in the water and do not use until replaced or repaired. Hand signals: The observer and people being towed need to know the correct hand signals. See chart to the left. Looking after your passengers: Before taking off, clear all the slack out of the rope at the lowest speed and ensure the rope is clear of all obstructions. Do not hit the throttle until you hear or see the OK signal from the person out the back. If the person falls off, the observer must raise their arm at full length, and the driver will turn to collect the person from the driver’s side of the boat. The person in the water should also raise their hand to be seen by other boats. If the person in the water wishes to get back on board, kill the engine - do not leave it in neutral - the propeller can still be spinning. Daytime only: Never tow at night. The person being towed cannot see the conditions or obstacles in the water and may be lost if they fall. The maximum number of people that can be towed is three, although we only recommend two, as with three the person in the middle is at risk of being squashed from either side and they have nowhere to move. Keep a clear mind: Avoid alcohol and drugs; it impedes decision making. Waterway rules: Get to know the waterway rules for each waterway you visit. These can be found on the signage on the shore, marked buoys, beacons in the water, or another great place to start is the interactive waterway map on the Maritime Safety Victoria website. It shows the vessels prohibited areas, speed limits, exclusive use and special-purpose areas, access lanes, number of boats permitted, no-wash, and travel direction. Generally, boats should travel in an anticlockwise direction on inland water ways, though there are some exceptions. Note that on the Murray River, all turns must be in an anticlockwise direction. Follow these tips to have a safe and fun time out on the water – so you can go and enjoy it all again! If you have any great pictures of being safe and having fun on the water, please send us a message on our Maritime Safety Victoria Facebook page so we can share them!

We are committed to safe vessel operations and safe waterways for the benefit of all Victorians. JULY 2022

VIC

Drawdown done YARRAWONGA

Tony Bennett codclassic@bigpond.com

It’s always an exciting time in and around Lake Mulwala during a ‘drawdown’, and we are currently seeing a lake that’s empty! Be it fishing, fossicking or sightseeing, it’s something not to be missed. The primary reason for the drawdown is to kill off the lake’s invasive weed, Egeria densa, with prolonged exposure to frosts. The drawdown also allows maintenance work on numerous other structures around the lake. The drawdown has provided anglers with a great opportunity to get out and look at things from a fish’s perspective, with water levels being dropped around 5m (15ft). To see the amazing timber structure that lays on the lake’s bed gives you a new perspective on how to fish this iconic lake for best results. To say one technique will always outperform another will bring you unstuck. One

day it’s trolled hardbodies, the next day spinnerbaits, the next swimbaits. The most common denominator in fishing during a drawdown is that you need to be fishing the Murray River course itself, tight to the edges and drop-offs. To follow the Murray River that runs through Lake Mulwala, the best thing you can do is to purchase a Charted Waters mapping card that downloads into a Lowrance sounder. Otherwise, you can pay a monthly or yearly fee and have it on either your mobile phone or laptop. This piece of technological brilliance is the best individual fishing tool anyone can have who fishes Mulwala on a regular basis. At the time of writing, launching a boat remains limited, with the Yacht Club ramp at the end of River Road being the only option. Launching a boat over the 4.35m mark may become fairly difficult. It’s up to the individual to decide, but be very careful. Numerous do-gooders suggest the lake should be shut to fishing during this time because it’s too easy,

and like ‘shooting fish in a barrel’. Sure, there have been plenty caught, with ‘scoping’ sounder technology making it pretty easy even for the average Joe to catch them. Still, the majority continue to practise catch and release, so our fish stocks will remain strong for a long time. Personally, I have not seen one cod taken during this drawdown. It’s a far cry from back in 2009 when every second boat seemed to have a bag of cod hanging from it. We have come a very long way in a very short time. Looking back, during the earlier stages of the drawdown the fishing was super. Many cod measuring well over the magical metre mark were reported, with a 128cm beast being the best of the lot. To mention everybody who’s achieved this feat would take forever. As the flats became exposed, the water dirtied and temperatures dropped, the action slowed somewhat. Cray season opened on 1 June, and it’s important to keep up-to-date with the current bag and size limits. These critters need a bit of

Tully Forbes with a 71cm cod caught trolling during a foggy morning during the drawdown. looking after, so do your best to ensure their survival for years to come. As the fishing slows down, organisation for the 2022-23 fishing competition season ramps up. If you are keen to get your name added to the Golden Dollars, Cod Classic, Dash 4 Cash, His and Hers Partners Classic

or Cod Nationals mailing lists, shoot me an e-mail at codclassic@bigpond.com. If you’re visiting Yarrawonga/Mulwala I urge you to call into Lake Mulwala Fish Camp & Ski at one of our two locations, the shop with the big green cod out the front (opposite the Post Office) in Mulwala

or between Rivers and One Zac in Yarrawonga. We are your largest Murray cod specific shop in the region, and specialize in all things ‘green’! For any info on upcoming events or fishing reports, give us a call on 03 5744 3133. Until next edition, happy fishing.

Reddies for the pan CRATER LAKES

Rod Shepherd

Plenty of redfin have been coming out of Purrumbete, with most fish caught at depth whilst schooled up. The better fish measured around 32cm, which is a great pan-sized reddy in my books. Minnow, worm, soft plastics on heavy jigheads and ice jigs have been working well. Additionally, chrome slices (normally used for chasing salmon in the surf) and metal vibes (which we usually use to chase bream in our local rivers over the cooler months), have worked to some From page 93 (Eildon)

the LEFC were presented by Mick Caufield, the Buck N’ Bass ambassador for Australia and AFN’s representative. The Megabass Longest Cod prize was taken out by Glen Mackay 106cm, Kate Norman the soon-to-be (albeit limited) Elite Pro Fishing Guide at Jerusalem Creek took out the Zerek Fishing Lures Second Place with her 93cm catch. In third place, the Codger Lures Category was taken out by Scott Humbles with his 87cm catch. With milder weather holding on for the event, 94

JULY 2022

extent. I’m sure those who used berley did better with numbers caught. Berley isn’t essential but it sure helps in most situations so long as you don’t overfeed the fish. A few sizeable trout were also caught, with many taken on the troll using Lofty’s Cobra style winged lures, either flat line trolled in 8-12m or on lead core line to get them down a bit deeper. Browns along with some of the newer hybrid species were taken. Plenty of fish were also taken by casting into and around the weed growth that surrounds the lake’s perimeter. Minnow lures that create their own action, retrieved at a constant, slow pace, also pulled in a few fish. The deeper pools in

Mount Emu Creek around my area have given up some fat brown trout to 800g on lures, and soft plastics fished at either the run-in or run-out ends of the pool. Those bait fishing have done well, with redfin, tench, and goldfish carp. Also, two anglers working the creek around McKinnon’s Bridge hooked, played and landed a golden perch that later weighed in at 3.2kg on worm fished unweighted on the bottom. I have no reports from Bullen Merri but Elingamite remains solid, with redfin to 1.2kg taking trolled medium diving lures, along with brown and rainbows to a similar weight taken on the troll or by casting around the weed beds.

the yellowbelly were still running with some great numbers caught. Snobs Creek Holiday Resort’s winning category was won by Wayne Poole, and second-placed Andrew Hall took out the Central Vic Lure Casters category. Shane Melrose, the president of Central Vic Lure Casters, was on hand to help out with both the Saturday night auction and the Sunday presentations. Trout were the stars of this year’s event, and seemed to be everywhere. Sam Nott took out the Spotters Longest Trout with a 57cm model, with

Dean Mitchell picking up the Minelab 2nd place at 48cm. The GOT8 Fishing Lures third place category was won by Jarryd Hardie at 47cm. The largest redfin caught measured in at 43cm to take out the Dino Lures section of the event. BMS Tours longest length of carp caught saw Beau Foster come in first with 108cm combined length, and Andre Nathan second for the Century Batteries section. It was great to see an influx of juniors competing in this year’s event, with the Northern Waters Boat Hire Largest Yellowbelly prize

Elingamite redfin to just over 1kg are being taken on a variety of medium diving minnows, trolled or cast. going to Bryce Granger at 43cm. Parker Darby took out the Obsession Spinnerbait Trout section at 40cm, and Casay Mackay won the High Country Houseboats Carp category. Another highlight of the event was the first ever Grand Slam Win. A fish from each category needed to be caught to be eligible, and it had never been achieved before. This year the Grand Slam was actually hit twice, with Lee Harbourd being the ultimate winner, receiving a prize from Infinity Boats with Haswing Trolling Motors. Greg Saville, representing

Infinity Boats, also attended the event, conducting trials of his bass boats. The committee and organisers extend a big thank you to all of the competitors, helpers, and sponsors (see the complete list of sponsors at www. lakeeildonfishingchallenge. com) including Fishing Monthly for making this competition such a unique Australian fshing event. We extend a welcome to all to come and join the fun for next year. For more information on fishing events at Lake Eildon you can contact the Jerusalem Creek Marina &

Holiday Park, a friendly, family-orientated annuals cabin park, that makes the perfect home away from home. If you’re visiting Lake Eildon you can opt to hire one of their floating apartments (Boatels), hire a fishing vessel, visit the Megabass Elite Pro Store, or book a pro guided fishing tour with one of Australia’s leading fishing guides. For more information on all of these services and other attractions in the area, visit jerusalemcreek.com.au, give them a call on (03) 5774 2585 or email info@ jerusalemcreek.com.au.

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BREAM SERIES presented by

Big bream beatdown on the Hawkesbury The mighty Hawkesbury River and its many tributaries make up one of, if not the, biggest arena the ABT Daiwa BREAM series travels to, and the scale of bream tends to match the grandeur of the venue. The weather made sure to throw a few curveballs for anglers at the 7th qualifying round sponsored by Maui Jim bringing a deluge of rain on the second day, just to make things more fun for the competitors! The Sydney-based anglers had a field day with Michael Colotouros taking first place with a 10/10 fish for 9.66kg, and not even a 200g late penalty on day one could hold him back. In second place was South Coast angler and

Colotouros is now reaping the rewards of his time on the water, building himself quite the resume on the ABT circuit. Admittedly, Michael isn’t a fan of pre-fishing and as such he hasn’t pre-fished any tournament for about six years or so. “I’m a big fan of not pre-fishing, I think it’s more skilful if you can go onto a venue on tournament day with no pre-fish and adapt to the conditions to catch fish. It also stops me stinging all my fish on pre-fish that I wouldn’t be able to catch in the tournament,” he explained as his reasoning for foregoing a pre-fish. Being a Sydney local, Michael spends most of his recreational time fishing the Hawkesbury, so he decided to rely on his usual milk run of

Liam Carruthers continues his quest to win an ABT qualifying event. His second place on the Hawkesbury produced a string of big bream like this. they have to be fished on a low,” Michael said about his decision to start at the oyster leases each morning. He did so with a 2.5” bloodworm coloured Daiwa Bait Junkie grub on a 1/16oz jighead and a stout 13 Fishing rod paired with a high gear ratio 3000 Daiwa Certate with heavy braid and 12lb leader. As the tide got higher towards lunchtime, the racks became unfishable, so he progressed downriver to fish edges, casting into the incoming tide. As the tide made its way up, Michael fished the same bloodworm Daiwa

Scan the QR code to watch the Non- Boater Winner Interview

Bait Junkie grub but on a 1/28oz TT hidden weight jighead, pitching it hard into the exposed rocks and often watching fish swim over and eat the lure. And that’s exactly what happened with his 1.4kg kicker fish on day one. This was done with Daiwa TD zero rod paired with a Daiwa Revlry spooled with 4lb straight through fluorocarbon line.

Once the tide really got up onto the rocks he put the grubs down and picked up his Crab rod, a Duffrods Shell n’ Bones 1-5kg. Pitching the Crab up on top of the rocks and crawling it around and down the face of the big boulders. If you fished the event, fair chance you were probably overtaken in a 70mph blur of black and blue 225 Mercury ProXS/Phoenix 819 and, on a system as big as the Hawkesbury, Michael Colotouros uses every bit of that 4.6L V8. It also helped him secure an extra $250 as our 1st place Mercury Owner’s bonus and I dare say

We are pretty sure that John Glover’s 1.785kg bream is the biggest bream weighed in a NSW BREAM qualifier, eclipsing Jack Olmos’ 1.74kg from the Clarence. all-round legend Liam ‘Emu’ Carruthers, who was hot on his heels with a 10/10 fish limit for 9.295kg. In the non-boater division, a 1.785kg brute on day two helped John Glover secure victory with a 6/6 limit for 5.3kg and put him nearly a kilo clear of the rest of the field. COLOTOUROS CLAIMS THE WIN He has been coming through the ABT ranks since his teenage years and Michael

Scan the QR code to watch the Boater Winner Interview

spots upriver to get his limit each day. “The dead low tide in the morning was perfect for fishing the oyster racks up-river near Berowra because the rails aren’t actually visible on a high tide,

BOATER RESULTS Place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 96

JULY 2022

Angler Michael Colotouros Liam Carruthers Mario Vukic Grant Oliver Jason Mayberry Tom Slater Mark Crompton Rodney O’Sullivan Brett Crowe Bernard Kong

Fish 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 8/10 8/10 9/10

This year, Michael Colotouros is putting in 150% instead of his standard 100% and it’s paying off. Full results at abt.org.au

Weight(kg) 9.660 9.295 7.935 7.770 7.680 7.465 7.345 6.810 6.790 6.460

Payout $3500 + $250 1st Merc bonus $1600 + $125 2nd Merc bonus $1000 + $75 3rd Merc bonus $800 $750 $700 $600 $500 no payout no payout

BREAM SERIES presented by if it wasn’t for that motor, he might have copped a bit more than a 200g late penalty! BANG’N EM ON THE BRIDGE 2015 BREAM Grand Final Champion, Liam ‘Emu’ Carruthers, reminded us all just how deadly he can be with a Cranka Crab in hand at the Hawkesbury, with almost a kilo average for his secondScan the QR code to watch the Day 1 Highlights

place finish. In pre-fish, Liam checked out a lot of usual haunts in the Pittwater, Cowan Creek, the road bridges and various banks upriver with almost too much success, catching a number of fish around the magic 40cm fork length. “I had a huge bag in pre-fish, so I was sweating that I’d stung all my fish for the weekend too early. Luckily, I didn’t, and I was able to catch good fish all weekend” he said. Liam did most of his damage for the weekend on

Michael knows which events to win around Sydney. Big fields and close to home are his speciality. headed for the bridge pylons. For the first day, he found the fish were quite active on the pylons and honing in on a crankbait in the form of a Daiwa Spike 44 MR in matte prawn colour. The spikes are a deeper running crankbait that would get down to about 10ft deep where he could see the fish sitting on his Lowrance units.

Scan the QR code to watch the Day 2 Highlights

lemonade out of lemons however, he had no choice but to adapt and fish the deeper pylons in the middle of the river. He explained his crab technique by saying, “The trick is to ‘lead’ the crab to get it to the right depth. What I mean by lead is you have to cast 3-4m past the bridge pylon up-current so that the lure is hitting the right depth the fish are in as the current brings it back under the pylon.” Carruthers puts his trust in 3 identical Millerods Brawlers with 2500 sized Daiwa TD

Sol reels spooled with 8lb J braid Grand and 6lb Sunline V-hard leader. “The Brawlers are my absolute favourite all-round rod. They have a light tip but plenty of backbone to put the hurt on those fish if I need to. That’s why I’ve got three of them all set up identically,” he said of his rod selection. GLOVER RUNS AWAY WITH IT John Glover of the non-boater division got to work from the back of the boat in a big way. On top of winning the non-boater division, he also weighed one of the heaviest yellowfin bream the ABT has seen for a long time to take out the $500 big bream prize from Buck N’ Bass. As a non-boater you have

to be versatile and John did that perfectly, changing how he fished each day to suit the locations and structure he was fishing. To cover all his bases from crankbaits to crabs and plastics, he has a couple of identical Daiwa Infeet 702LRS outfits paired with 2000 sized Daiwa TD Sol’s, 6lb braided line and 6lb leader. “I just find this combination works really well together so I just stick with them for my four rods, they’re all exactly the same” he said. On day one he got most of his bites on a Prolure Clone Prawn, however with a new day comes a new boater and on Sunday it was all about the good ol’ heavy olive Cranka Crabs. Fishing with Christian Wardini on Sunday, they were targeting the fish sitting deep out of the edges in about 30ft of water by casting in tight to the structure and working it out off the bank. The trick was to ‘jig’ the crab, giving it a few lifts or hops off the bottom before letting it sink again with most fish eating it on the drop. Any day you hook a bream that you initially call as a mulloway is a good day, but when that fish turns out to be a 1.785kg monster netting you $500 cash, it’s an even better day. The dinosaur came when he was jigging his crab on day two and it knocked off a few trophy class fish from big bream specialist Rodney O’Sullivan and Michael Colotouros by a substantial margin to take home the Buck N’ Big bream prize.

Grayson Fong knows how to win from the back of the boat but fell short by one place on the Hawkesbury. the pylons of the Hawkesbury River Bridge at Moonee Moonee, as well as a bank up past the bridge on the low tide each morning. At the start of each session, his upriver bank produced the makings of a decent bag with a Cranka Crab, however needing those kicker fish he

Proudly a member of the Cranka lures team, Liam opted for the natural presentation of a brown Cranka Crab on day two as the cold front pushed in and shut the fish down. Liam was pushed off his pylons from day one by other boats as he went upriver to fish his bank first off. Making

Like all ABT winners, John gets instant qualification to the Daiwa BREAM Series Grand Final in Mallacoota later this year.

NON- BOATER RESULTS Place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Angler John Glover Grayson Fong James Croese Alllan Lavell Glenn Allen John Parkinson Taka Kawasaki David Shanahan Jesse Rotin Joel McKenzie

Fish 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 4/6 4/6 6/6 5/6 4/6

Full results at abt.org.au

Weight(kg) 5.300 4.385 4.255 4.175 3.835 3.315 3.210 3.160 3.110 3.095

Payout Daiwa prize pack + $500 Buck n’ Big bream Daiwa prize pack Daiwa prize pack Maui Jim voucher ProLure prize pack Atomic prize pack Keitech prize pack Toadfish prize pack Toadfish prize pack JULY 2022

BREAM SERIES presented by

Vibin’ out on the Swan River in Perth The site of our second and final WA round, and the 6th qualifying round for 2022, took us to the Swan River in the states capital, Perth. The Sunline sponsored round got off to a good start and it was looking like Mitch Vane was going to take out back-to-back victories in WA if it wasn’t for a fastfinishing Pete Degroot on Sunday. In a similar turn of events in the non-boater division, we nearly saw Stuey Walker (6/6 for 2.69kg) make back-to-back wins as well after a good Sunday bag, however it wasn’t enough to knock off two solid bags brought each day by David Bennett for a total of 6/6 fish for 2.72kg.

weekend. Hitting his go-to snags, Degroot went to his confidence lure in the form of a River-2-Sea baby vibe in black and gold. To fish a vibe with treble hooks around heavy structure requires some skill, along with some modification to make it more snag resistant. For this, Pete removes the front hook and changes the back treble to a very small size 16 owner treble. Slow rolling his baby vibe through the snag, he was able to deflect it off the timber without having the front treble getting hung up, and if the rear treble did get snagged it was typically easy to get the lure back. To get his lure in amongst the snags, Peter

Peter Degroot is no stranger to the top spot in an ABT qualifier. His last win was on the Blackwood River in 2019. Scan the QR code to watch the Non- Boater Winner Interview

$250 1st place owners bonus as well. MITCH VANE MAKES IT ANOTHER PODIUM FINISH Backing up from his

win in Mandurah, Mitch Vane had a good crack at taking out back-toback wins when he was leading after day one and he came so close to being a two-time ABT champion in two events. A bit of that local knowledge came in handy again for Mitch as he knew that his best shot was to head upriver to get his fish. This saw him focus his time

Here is half of the Buck n’ Big Bream Prize. Christopher Allen tied with Joseph Gardner. THE BABY VIBE ASSASSIN STRIKES AGAIN Local angler, Peter Degroot, has seen some good results in years gone past when the ABT has come to town, and this year he got it done on the Swan River fishing his favourite baby vibe technique around the snags upriver. He knew the lower reaches of the river were quite clear and this solidified his decision to fish upriver in the dirtier water for the whole

Scan the QR code to watch the Boater Winner Interview

uses an Atomic Arrowz rod paired with a 2500 size Shimano Stradic Ci4 spooled up with 14lb Sunline braid and 6lb Sunline leader. “A couple of fish really had me stitched up in the timber but fortunately I was able to trust my gear and ease them out,” he said.

On day two, Pete ventured slightly further upriver in search of where he thought the fish were that he didn’t find on day one, and that’s where his solid 5/5 fish for 2.730kg day two bag came from! This launched him from second place into first over day one leader Mitch Vane. Pete’s reliable little 30hp Mercury outboard earned him enough money in Mercury owners’ bonus to probably fill it up for the next 12 months as he walked away with the

BOATER RESULTS Place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 98

JULY 2022

Angler Pete Degroot Mitch Vane Jarrad Stevens Alex Greisdorf Greg Coooper Joseph Gardiner Kim Mcintyre Paul Siemaszko Graeme Kovacevich Kris Hickson

Fish 8/10 8/10 7/10 8/10 8/10 4/10 4/10 4/10 2/10 2/10

David Bennett fell one fish short of a limit but still managed to relegate Stuart Walker to second place. Not bad for his first ABT event.

Full results at abt.org.au

Weight(kg) 4.87 4.16 3.66 3.46 2.97 2.07 1.94 1.63 1.21 0.64

Payout $1750 + $250 1st Merc bonus $700 + $125 2nd Merc bonus $75 3rd Merc bonus

Maui Jim Mystery weight prize

BREAM SERIES presented by fishing snags on edges past the bridge up around the Fish Market Reserve area of the Swan River. Unlike the deep drop offs he was fishing at Mandurah, this bite was quite a bit shallower with Mitch targeting snags in 1.2-2m of water. Boat positioning played a big role in how he fished these snags too. By Scan the QR code to watch the Day 1 Highlights

keeping the boat in shallow and casting parallel with the bank along the snags, he was able to get his soft plastic to track along bank and keep it in the strike zone without dragging it out to deep, noting that the lure had to be hard to the structure to get bites. The soft plastic in mention was a Fatboy Swim in green pumpkinseed

Mitch Vane nearly made it two from two with a solid second place. with Mitch taking home the $125 2nd place Mercury owners’ bonus for the event. Mitch would like to say a big thanks to ABT for putting the effort in to getting the WA anglers involved. His words

the pair travelled upriver where he fished the same green pumpkin coloured Fatboy Swim as his boater, rigged on a 1/16oz Razor Edge jighead. The technique was to keep the lure moving, not letting it hit the bottom and stir up a reaction bite on the isolated structure they were fishing in about 2m of water. “I actually had my bag by 9am and Mitch had none, so he was chasing me,” he said in his winner’s interview, ribbing his day one boater! Day two with Peter Degroot, and David was pleased to know they were fishing upriver again. He had to make some small adjustments to the way

Scan the QR code to watch the Day 2 Highlights

Joseph Gardner was the other half of the Buck n’ Big Bream duo. This fish earned him $250. with the chocolates at Perth after a 3rd place finish in the Mandurah round. Not a bad average to start the ABT career off! Dave was fishing with Mitch Vane on day one and

Win a division in the Daiwa BREAM Series and you’ll be taking home lots of quality Daiwa product. colour from local lure manufacturer Razor Edge lures, rigged on a 1/16oz TT Jighead rolled tight around the structure. This was also accompanied by a ZMan Slim SwimZ in motor oil to account for a few fish each day. Again, Mitch used his 6’6” Strudwick and 2500 Certate SW combo to get a nice accurate cast and still be sensitive enough to feel even the subtle bites. Running a Mercury outboard also got him paid,

of encouragement to any West Coast anglers thinking about taking the leap: “I know it may seem pretty daunting, especially because a lot of guys over here are used to the team format, but trust me it’s a lot of fun and there is every chance of taking home a good pay cheque. Just give it a go!” SECOND TIMES A CHARM FOR BENNETT Fishing in his second ever event as a non-boater, Dave Bennett came away

Christopher and Joseph didn’t want to ‘rock, paper, scissors’ for the $500 so they split it 50/50.

NON- BOATER RESULTS Place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Angler David Bennett Stuart Walker Christopher allen Brendan Knowles Andrew Lovell Ben Hough Jenny Gardner Shardi Biahgi Andy Mitchell Craig Doherty

Fish 5/6 6/6 3/6 4/6 3/6 2/6 2/6 2/6 1/6 0/6

he fished as he was fishing deeper structure than day one. After trying to go heavier with his jighead and getting snagged, he stuck with his original lure and jighead combo and slowed his fishing down to suit the depth. For the entirety of the event David relied on one outfit, which was a 7’1” Yamaga Blanks from Japan, paired with a 1000 size Daiwa Luvias Airity, Varivas Seabass maxpower braid and 4lb J thread FC leader. “It’s a very light combo but it matches my fishing style, I was deep in the sticks with Pete today and I kept pulling them out on 4lb no worries,” he said after day two.

Full results at abt.org.au

Weight(kg) 2.72 2.69 2.19 2.09 1.36 0.95 0.81 0.74 0.30 0.00

Payout Bait Junkie prize pack Bait Junkie prize pack Bait Junkie prize pack + $500 Big bream Samaki prize pack Prolure prize pack Atomic prize pack RAPALA prize pack Keitech prize pack Toadfish prize pack JULY 2022

BREAM SERIES presented by

Crabs, snags and black bream bags The fifth stop of the 2022 Daiwa BREAM series also saw the start of the Western Australia double header with the first event at Mandurah, sponsored by ZMan. A neat field of 14 anglers took the water in what was a tough event for some, however local chippie Mitch Vane had the fish dialled in on Cranka Crabs and claimed victory with a 10/10 limit for 6.16kg. He’s about as far from home and his usual East Coast stomping grounds as he can get, however legend of ABT Kris Hickson was back to his usual tricks, even if he is technically on holidays! He took second place on the podium with a 10/10 limit for 5.38kg.

Who is Mitch Vane? The national breamin’ community now knows. He dominated at Mandurah and backed it up on the Swan River a few days later during ABT’s WA Tour. on. It’s certainly a mental advantage when you know full well just how tough the fishing has been over the past few months. Heading about a kilometre from the ramp, Vane targeted a series of submerged snags on a deep drop off with some special characteristics. “There was a drop off down to about 4m and I was looking for laydowns that had fallen over far enough from the bank to extend into the drop off, and that’s where the fish were sitting,” said

Scan the QR code to watch the Non- Boater Winner Interview

Vane about the type of cover he was targeting. Once he identified the snags that were holding fish, he would throw a light Cranka Crab in olive colour down the face of it without working it with the rod tip, just letting it sink down to where the fish were for a

natural presentation. Due to the lack of current he was able to fish a light crab over the more popular heavy model and still effectively fish this water depth, but with a bit more Finesse. To present his lure, Mitch went old school and used a 6’6” 2-4 kg Strudwick rod he bought off a mate for $80 – an investment that just paid for itself a few times over! He paired it with a 2500 Daiwa Certate SW, 8lb Pandora braid and a generous length of 6lb Sunline FC rock leader. With only five bites on day one and six bites on day two, he had to make sure everything stuck, and this incredibly light combo kept the hooks in those fish, even if it did cost him a few Crabs to the snags. Remember, you’ve got to risk it to get the biscuit! Thanks to Mercury, Mitch also took home the first place Mercury owners’ bonus of $250 to bring his total winnings for the weekend to almost $2,000 in cash. DIFFERENT STATE, SAME RISKY The man needs no introduction and, even though he is three states away from home, Kris ‘Captain Risky’ Hickson is still as deadly as ever. In pre-fishing up the

Didier Blanquart caught the Buck n’ Big Bream for the event – the only fish that surpassed the 1kg mark. Meanwhile in the non-boater division, the unstoppable Stuey Walker racked up his 11th win from the back of the boat with 5/6 fish for 2.79kg, further cementing his status as ‘the GOAT from the back of the boat’. VICTORY FOR VANE Taree ex-pat turned WA local Mitch Vane made the most of the trailering option to head upriver and launch at Murray Bend where he

Scan the QR code to watch the Boater Winner Interview

had found fish during his pre-fish in the weeks prior. Being a local, Mitch has the luxury of being able to fish here often and has a good understanding of how frequently the fish in this system can turn off and

BOATER RESULTS Place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 100

JULY 2022

Angler Mitch Vane Kris Hickson Ben Pountney Peter Degroot Joseph Gardner Alex Greisdorf Patrick Gill Jarrad Stevens Didier Blanquart Rene Van Door

Fish 10/10 10/10 6/10 6/10 6/10 4/10 2/10 2/10 1/10 2/10

The G.O.A.T from the back of the boat added another trophy to his collection at Mandurah. Full results at abt.org.au

Weight(kg) 6.16 5.38 4.19 3.00 2.66 1.73 1.46 1.29 1.04 0.92

Payout $1700 + $250 1st Merc bonus $700 $125 2nd Merc bonus $75 3rd Merc bonus

$500 Buck n’ Big Bream

BREAM SERIES presented by Murray, he was unable to find anything worth noting so was resigned to fishing the canals on the south side of the river that he’d hit a few weeks earlier, at least for the first day. A slow start on day one saw him with one fish on an Ecogear Aqua Bream Prawn by about 9:30am before he and non-boater Stuey Walker Scan the QR code to watch the Day 1 Highlights

hit a patch of three docks that gave each of them a few fish and a few missed opportunities. After a lull in the bites, Hickson moved to another part of the canals where they saw two giant fish that they were unable to tempt, however they were able to produce four more fish from just one dock and fill their bags.

Mitch concentrated his efforts on the top part of the Murray River to assemble his bags. Apart from the first fish each session, all Kris’ fish for the weekend fell on a 2.5” Daiwa Bait Junkie Grub in motor oil as well as a new prototype Bait Junkie, all rigged on a 1/28 jighead

Buck n’ Bass proudly sponsor the Big Fish award at every ABT qualifier across the Country. With nothing else to fall back on for day two, Risky headed back to the canals and hit a dock he’d seen a pack of fish on the day before, and again he was able to get the ball rolling with an Aqua. With no company in the area, he decided to replicate the run from the day before but a lot slower and more methodical, hitting areas he’d left alone the day before. Only four more fish came from the docks that he’d fished on day one before the bite went dead, aside from sighting a few more schools of really big fish that again, he couldn’t tempt.

and fished super slow. The key to him catching fish was his pinpoint accuracy, and Daiwa have produced the perfect rods in their Infeet range. The first of which is a rod Kris had a big hand in designing, the 6’4” 1-4kg Infeet Z, which is perfect for short, accurate casting around tight structure. Meanwhile, its bigger brother the 6’8” 1-4kg Infeet Z is essentially the same rod just with more length for a bit more leverage on those big fish and better casting distance. Both set ups were paired with Daiwa Caldia LT reels,

Scan the QR code to watch the Day 2 Highlights

6lb J Braid Grand and 6lb J Thread leader. UNSTOPPABLE STUEY WALKER Stuey Walker has been anointed the title of ‘The GOAT From The Back Of The Boat’ by his peers and boy, hasn’t he earned it! In what is becoming an extensive resume, Stuey Walker makes this his second win in WA, his 11th win from the back of the boat and he is also well on his way to win his 7th consecutive BREAM Non-Boater AOY trophy as well. Likely a record that will stand unbeaten for many years to come! Fishing with Kris

Angler Stuey Walker Jenny Gardner David Bennett Michael Sammut Craig Doherty Jason McGuinness Andrew Lovell Brandon Knowles Andy Mitchell

Fish 5/6 4/6 3/6 2/6 2/6 1/6 1/6 1/6 0/6

Kris Hickson took a break from his West Aussie touring to participate in the WA Tour and was rewarded with a second place at Mandurah.

We are not sure how Stuart Walker got this ABT trophy home. They weigh several kilos and would definitely attract excess baggage charges!

NON- BOATER RESULTS Place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Hickson on day one might have sounded like a dream pairing, however as Walker pointed out it can be very hard to fish behind someone that isn’t leaving many fish behind however with a little thinking outside the box, he was able to get his three bites on day one. From the Gold Coast to Gippsland Lakes, the Derwent to Mandurah and every venue in between, he’s notorious for his ability with a ZMan Grub. However, after only receiving short strikes on the grubs and other minnow style soft plastics in pre-fish he decided to downsize to a 2” Keitech Easy shiner rigged on a 1/20 TT Headlocks jighead. “I got a lot of short strikes on pre-fish so I went

Full results at abt.org.au

Weight(kg) 2.79 2.55 1.78 1.07 0.89 0.62 0.53 0.41 0.00

for a smaller profile in the Keitech,” Walker said of his bait choice in his winner’s interview with Steve Morgan. Twitching and slow rolling his lure around the pontoons in the canal systems with Kris, he was able to fill a limit on day one before shifting upriver for day two with Paul Siemaszko where the fishing became a lot more structure-based around laydown timber. His now famous Daiwa Silver wolf rods were given a workout once more, paired with a Daiwa Luvias Airity and 6lb Daiwa EVO 8 braid – a combination of Daiwa Gear that Stuey trusts in every corner of the country for all his breaming.

Payout Daiwa prize pack Daiwa prize pack Daiwa prize pack Samaki prize pack Atomic prize pack

Keitech prize pack

JULY 2022

101

First Place: Stealth Blades Peter Cook and Marlee Percy

East Coast Bream Series Rd 3 The third round of the East Coast Bream Series, proudly sponsored by Tackle Addiction, was held at St Georges Basin on 15 May. The day started with overcast conditions without a breath of wind, with 45 teams lined up for the start. The day remained overcast with occasional rain but very little breeze, and most teams had to change the method of fishing to meet the conditions. In first place was Team Stealth Blades, Peter Cook and Marlee Percy, who took home a $2,500 cheque for their 5/5 fish weighing 4.42kg. Peter explains how their tournament unfolded: “Our plan for the day was to fish the western side of St George’s Basin, targeting the edges of cockle beds with blades in depths from 2-3m. With very little wind in the morning, we zig-zagged the area on the electric picking up a legal fish every 15 minutes or so, getting our bag a little bit after 8am, with our first upgrade for the day not too long after.

“Just after 9am, my partner Marlee hooked onto what ended up being the tournament’s Big Bream of the day and a personal best for her that went 42cm and 1.24kg. With a couple of screaming runs and a nice net shot by myself, the big bream was in the live well. “For the next hour or so we slowly upgraded the smaller fish in our bag and I landed the second biggest of the day that might have nudged 1kg. By this time, we had plenty of company with a few boats pulling in on us but we stuck around for another hour, landed a couple of upgrades, then we moved to the eastern side of the system. “For the rest of the day, we caught a heap of smaller fish, upgraded once more then made a slow short trip back to the weigh in thinking we might have managed a place but we still weren’t sure. “Back at the beach we weighed in early then nervously waited to see how we went and to our surprise

RESULTS Place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Team Stealth Blades Stealth’n’Sherman Brimn Basin Breamin Complete Anglern/Gregory Hills Shimano/Garmin Zman Okuma/ Tosland Building Edgey Bites Cranka/Miller Rods/Lowerance/Mako Shimano/Prolure Team Primed Day Breamins Onagain

we were lucky enough to take the win! “The lures that we caught all our fish on that day were Stealth Blades. Something that I designed, manufacture and hand paint myself. Marlee and I both fished on very light and long leaders. It was great to catch up with all the South Coast guys (it’s been a while) and to meet many more people. Thank you to the club and everyone involved on the day.” In second place was Team Stealth and Sherman, Craig Sudden and Mick Snell, who got 5/5 fish for 4.28kg, and a $1,000 cheque. Knowing there was no wind forecast, the pair we knew the importance of targeting big fish early. They usually fish shallow cranks, however they decided to fish deep cranks on weed edges as there was little wind. The decision paid off and they had five fish in the boat by 8.15am. Craig said, “We continued deep cranking different edges all day and made a number of upgrades before lunch and

lost a few lures to some rather large flathead. We found the last two hours tough and struggled to land any decent size bream as the Basin had completely glassed off.” In third place was Team Brimn, Grant Kime and Stuart Walker, who banked $700 for their 5/5 bag for 4.19kg. Grant said, “We fished ZMan Grubs with a ‘zombie twitch’. Stuart learnt this method by carefully observing Steve Nedeski’s technique. This worked well in the right hands and we were able to put together a nice bag of fat and healthy Basin bream”. In fourth place was Team Basin Breamin, Peter and Rudi Henkel, who got 5/5 fish for 4.13kg, and a $300 cheques. Peter said, “We started the day on the weed beds at the start line in 4m of water and caught 10 fish by 10am. Then we moved to the western side of the lake and upgraded several times. We used a range of lures, but most were caught on Peter Cook vibes and Super Oil Hurricane Sorat 75.

Anglers Peter Cook, Marlee Percy Craig Snudden, Mick Snell Grant Kime, Stuart Walker Peter Henkel, Rudi Henkel Dane Tomaszewski, Daniel Tribbia Jason Mayberry, Terry Permenter Gary Brown, David Tosland Adam Hughes, Matt Green Liam Curruthem Wal Balzon, Callon Young Simon Moore, Shane De La Marr Rashid Ammoun, Rabih Itani, Darren McBride, Neil Kelly

Fish 5/5 5/5 5/5 5/5 5/5 5/5 5/5 5/5 5/5 5/5 5/5 5/5 5/5

Weight(kg) 4.42 4.28 4.19 4.13 4.07 3.99 3.90 3.88 3.80 3.61 3.58 3.56 3.54

OOD SPO GSW RTS KIN

East Coast Bream Series JULY 2022

Third: Brimn Grant Kime and Stuart Walker

www.wsbb.com.au

For a complete listing of the round go to www.wsbb.com.au

102

Second Place: Stealth’n’Sherman Craig Snudden and Mick Snell

Fouth: Basin Breamin Peter Henkel and Rudi Henkel “I am happy to extend a big thanks all WSBB officials and sponsor Tackle Addiction for running a well organised and professional event. I have had great success in the past fishing this event with my son but this time I fished with my father. I am so excited because it was the first time my farther has caught fish on lures. Not bad for a 76-year-old! He said he knew where the fish were and that is why we fished this event, and he was right”.

SPONSOR A huge thanks to Steve Pourniotis from Tackle Addiction for picking up sponsorship for this event. Places five to 13 all picked up a great parcel of their products. It is his first venture into sponsoring an event and we hope this is the start of a long-term partnership. Full results can be found on website www.wsbb.com. au. Congratulations to all the prize winners and we look forward to the rest of the year. – Alan Newton, WSBB

South Coast

Winter species on tap ESPERANCE

Murray Johnson

Winter is now in full swing, bringing some cold weather to Esperance, so you definitely need to rug up. However, there are still plenty of fishing opportunities, with the normal winter species such

seen bigger schools of salmon, along with good numbers of big herring and still the occasional bronzie cruising around. Other opportunities for beach fishing include Thomas River, which yields skippy up to 5kg at this time of year, plus plenty of gummy sharks, smaller mulloway and the occasional salmon. Israelite Bay always has good fishing at

contrasts of black or white, depending on the time of day – black at night for a good silhouette, and white during the day. Yamashitas in the 3.5 size have been producing the goods. There are lots of herring and loads of garfish being caught off the jetty as well, and some smaller skippy are cruising around too. Bandy Creek boat harbour is still producing plenty of King George whiting. Most are small, but if you persist you will get one of a reasonable size. There are also plenty of black bream, the occasional flounder and

A nice breaksea cod caught by Lachy Warren. Image courtesy of @lachy_warren.

Oli Stevensonn has been getting into the squid. Image courtesy of @olistevensonn. as skippy, gummy sharks and salmon all coming back in good numbers. Local beaches such as 14 Mile have seen catches of skippies to 3kg, gummies around 12kg, salmon and the occasional tailor. Roses Beach has also

this time of year too, with good numbers of small mulloway, gummy sharks, skippy and big flathead. Fishing around town, the jetty is in full swing for squid fishing, with plenty of samples going over a kilo. The best colours at the moment are the

A brace of tasty nannygai caught on a trip with Blackjack Charters. Image courtesy of Blackjack Charters.

some smaller flathead. The bream lakes have plenty of water which means you have to move around a bit more to find the fish. If you persist though you can catch some quality fish up to 40cm. Moving to boat fishing in the bay, we are seeing good numbers of squid with plenty of guys getting their quotas in a short time. There are also loads of sand whiting, garfish at night and snook. We are also still seeing plenty of queen snapper, sweep and smaller nannygai around the islands. When anglers have been able to get out wide, they have been getting into nannygai to 55cm mixed in with breaksea, plenty of queenies and the occasional harlequin. Still plenty of sambos going up to 20kg, an

dthe occasional kingfish. In tehc oming weeks we’ll see more skippy turning upj on the beaches with other places to target them including Warranup, Munglanup, and Poison Creek. With occasional salmples going up to 8kg off the beach during winter. And we should still see plenty of gummy sharks coming closer. Salmon will continue to school up. • Established in 1986, Southern Sports and Tackle specializes in the supply and servicing of fishing equipment. They have an extensive knowledge of the local area and provide all brands, whether you’re fishing from beach, jetty or boat. Come and chat to the friendly staff at Shop 16, The Boulevard, Esperance or phone 08 9071 3022.

Tournament Calendar 2022 JULY 9-10 Jul

Humminbird BASS Electric Aus Open

Hinze Dam, Nerang

QLD

www.abt.org.au

16-17 Jul

Samaki BREAM Queensland Open

Brisbane

QLD

www.abt.org.au

Rapala BASS Australian Open

Somerset Dam

QLD

www.abt.org.au

9-11 Sep

Venom BARRA Aus Open Lake

Awoonga, Gladstone

QLD

www.abt.org.au

10 Sep

BASS Electric Wyaralong Dam

Beaudesert

QLD

www.abt.org.au

17-18 Sep

BREAM Gladstone

Gladstone

QLD

www.abt.org.au

18 Sep

East Coast Bream Series R1

Botany Bay

NSW

wsbreambass@gmail.com

3-4 Oct

BARRA Lake Tinaroo

Yungaburra

QLD

www.abt.org.au

5 Oct

BARRA Tinaroo (all night)

Yungaburra

QLD

www.abt.org.au

9 Oct

East Coast Bream Series R1

Sydney Harbour

NSW

wsbreambass@gmail.com

20-22 Oct

2022 Cardwell Barra Bonanza

Cardwell

QLD

cardwellsportfishingclub.com.au

4 Nov

BARRA Teemburra Dam

Pinnacle

QLD

www.abt.org.au

5 Nov

BARRA Kinchant Dam

Kinchant

QLD

www.abt.org.au

7 Nov

BARRA Faust (all night)

Proserpine

QLD

www.abt.org.au

8-9 Nov

BARRA Faust

Proserpine

QLD

www.abt.org.au

AUGUST 27-28 Aug SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

Add your tournament or competition to this list by emailing jthomas@fishingmonthly.com.au Just supply a date, venue, tournament name, telephone number and contact name. JULY 2022

103

West Coast

It will be easy to catch a tasty winter feast islands and rocks in Flinders and Hamelin Bay. As normal the demersal fishing has continued to be strong all along the coast and dhufish and pink snapper numbers especially have been encouraging. Berkley Gulp

AUGUSTA

Anthony Gillam

One minute we are having a mild autumn with glorious fishing days in the 20s and then the next thing you know it’s 7ºC in the morning with a howling southerly wind and belting down with rain. Of course, this usually happens on the weekends when you have time off to get amongst them. Winter, ya gotta love it! The weather may have changed but the fishing has remained exceptional lately with bread and butter species around in good numbers making it easy to catch a meal. Land-based fishing has probably given the most opportunities to have a quick session in between the squalls.

Winter skippy, like this chubby specimen, fight each other to snap up coral prawns using light gear off the rocks at Dead Finish.

Blake Muller with the much maligned Port Jackson shark. It’s one of the more prolific shark varieties in Augusta but also inedible. With the numbers being so good you only need an hour to get yourself a meal of mixed species. The Hardy Inlet is one place that it isn’t hard to find the fish; regardless of being shore based or using watercraft. There are large numbers of skippy, especially around the structure and channels, with the jetties proving to be one of the easiest places to locate them. Herring as usual are all around and will take any type of lure or bait and there are increasing numbers of yellowfin whiting to go with the plague of King George whiting that are having a run that seems to be never ending. Night fishing at the Ellis Street Jetty has been pretty cold with single digit night temperatures making you work for your reward. That 104

JULY 2022

when the weather gods have smiled upon us the fishing has been very good. Places like Skippy Rock, Elephant Rock and Ringbolt when dry are great spots to get into the hard fighting skippy and ever present herring. As always at

being said, with plenty of squid on offer it pays to rug up and toss out a jig for an hour or so. They are taking small jigs, especially those with a flashing light or fitted with a glow stick. With the bright lighting that is fitted on the jetty most prawn style jigs will work. If squid aren’t your thing then it isn’t hard to catch a bag of herring using small chrome lures or soft plastics. If you are chasing the yellowfin whiting then glass shrimps or river prawns are the go, especially with a moving line. Alexandra Bridge and Molloy Island are fishing very well for black bream that are showing a real liking for river prawns. There have been plenty caught in the 30-35cm range that have taken whole large prawns on unweighted lines. There are also still

plenty showing up in West Bay, the Ellis Street Jetty and the Dead Water however, sizes are somewhat smaller with many caught only just on the size limit. Soft plastics and hardbodied lures cast around snags and deep holes also show promise. Try 3.5” ZMan GrubZ in motor oil as they have shown good results. The beach fishing scene has been pretty much a suck it and see approach as the winds and rain have made for a pretty sketchy experience. If you are able to wait out the odd squall then there have been plenty of whiting and herring caught on the beaches between the marina and lighthouse. Just stay off the rocks in this area if it has been raining as they are ridiculously slippery and you are asking for trouble. Squid and bloodworms have been working well as have fresh fish strips. There are also tarwhine around the reef edges so they can be picked up as by-catch and make a nice meal if eaten fresh. They don’t freeze too well and can go soft so better off making the most of them straight away. The small beach at the top end of the marina rockwall near the Telstra tower has been fishing well for King George whiting, sand whiting and herring and is usually nicely sheltered from the southerly winds. Squid, blood worms and fish strips work well and berley only increases your chances. The rock wall at the marina is probably the safest rock fishing at the moment and the short wall at the entrance on the northern end has been the most sheltered. It is very suitable for berleying and there are a heap of different species that can be caught there. There are quite often demersals caught off the very corner of the rock wall with some nice pink snapper, harlequin and breaksea cod turning up. There are also plenty of undersized fish so be aware of the size

limits. Skippy and herring will turn up without too much prompting and although there are plenty of snags they all seem to fight pretty cleanly. On a good day the garfish schools will come around and make a nice addition to the bag. Boat fishing weather has been pretty good with quite a few nice days for getting offshore in between the early winter blasts. As usual it was a matter of planning ahead and keeping an eye on the weather, something that becomes very important as winter progresses. Not only is there plenty of cold water fish such as snook hitting lures, there are Spanish mackerel turning up following the warm Leeuwin Current down the coast. Trolling a shallow diving lure in a mackerel pattern or the always reliable redhead will give you a pretty good chance. Try around exposed reef, the

Blake Gillam scored some late season salmon to end the patchy season on a high note. 6” paddle tails in glow white still outpace the rest with Berkley SloMo also giving a good showing. Baits of whole squid, mulies and whiting are also working. Although the rain periods have meant that rock fishing has been fraught with danger,

Josh Ball was delighted to stone this 20kg Spanish mackerel while diving near the islands off Augusta.

this time of the year, the skippy are schooling and feeding voraciously and provide an exciting session. The maggots are steadily flowing into the water from the rotting seaweed which means the herring are going manic everywhere. Hardbodied lures, soft plastic and bait all work when they are feeding so choose what you want and see what happens. Just remember, when cleaning the fish, be careful with their stomach as they are often bursting with maggots, something you don’t want on the cut side of a fillet. • Rock fishing at this time of the year especially with some of the heavy rainfall we have had means it is dangerous at times. Careful consideration of where and when you fish must be done. Unpredictable weather can quickly affect the fishing conditions and slippery rocks are a recipe for disaster. Please remain vigilant when rock fishing; wear a life jacket and tie off to something solid. You can hire one for free from Augusta Xtreme Outdoor Sports at 66 Blackwood Avenue Augusta -the local tackle shop and font of all local fishing knowledge. Look for the big green sign on the roof, it’s right next to the BP Service Station in the centre of town.

West Coast

LIGHT, POWERFUL, DURABLE…

Expect the unexpected INTUITIVE CONTROL BUNBURY

Whiteys Tackle and Camping

When people think of big fish, Bunbury and Australind may not be the first place to come to mind, but we aren’t complaining! Locals to the area are spoilt with an abundance of areas to fish that are barely, if not ever, fished. Our surrounding waters aren’t as immediately deep as that of our neighbouring towns meaning it can at times take longer to get to the optimal depths during certain times of year, however those who do the yards receive the rewards. This time of year is notALBERTON one of those times that you need to go far. With all MARINErolling the ALBERTON winter storms 39 Johnson Street Alberton through snapper move inshore depths P: (03)to5183 2344that are accessible to small F: (03) 5183 2219 tinnies or even kayaks. Bunbury W: albertonmarine.com.au beaches, including

the breaks in the weather are being greeted with immaculate conditions and huge snapper and dhu within a quick steam. Land-based fishers

lower reaches have been fishing best for bream after the rains we have had over the last few weeks. The freshwaters have flushed the shrimp and baitfish

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JULY 2022

105

West Coast

Winter patterns have begun METRO

Jacob Crispe

As I write this the wet and cooler weather that I expected to come in June has arrived. What does

will be a popular location as it is one of the deepest sections of the river. Anglers prepared to fish at night will also be rewarded with some excellent yellowfin whiting fishing. They are on the hunt

for the prawns that come out at night at this time of the year. Calm nights are best, fish 2-5ft of water using fresh prawns or bloodworms for bait. Dabbing for prawns is another option on these calm

James Close taking it back to the old school flicking a Twisty in close and getting into some nice bread and butter species around his local rock walls. Gardies on lure are always a pleasant surprise. this do? The freshwater concentrates the bait and predators towards the mouth of the system and a few more layers of clothing are required for anglers who want to go out and find them. One thing for certain is that the fish are still there. SWAN RIVER If you are fishing the river it will pay to focus your efforts in the lower reaches of it. Although still a large area, try anywhere between East Fremantle and Applecross. Any section that has deeper water, which the fish can get down out of the freshwater layer on the surface, will most likely hold fish. Species like bream, flathead and the odd tailor will be the main target species. Blackwall Reach

Madeline with a solid mullet, she says they go hard on the light gear. fishing. Dusk and dawn are the prime time to pick up a snapper. A high tide that coincides with either will only improve your chances.

JULY 2022

Early mornings for many means targeting squid. It means fresh baits to go fishing with and some entrée when you get home. Broken

John Wratten is one happy man landing this solid dhufish in 45m of water using a Vexed Bottom Meat.

Dwayne Robinson with an absolute horse of a Cockburn Sound chrome slab! Aka, silver ghost, mulloway. 106

should always be taken when fishing in these types of conditions, but there are plenty of rewards for those that make the effort. North Mole, South Mole, Rous Head and Cottesloe Groin are all great locations to chase a mulloway or a snapper or two. However, the conditions don’t need to be rough for good fishing options on the rock walls, tailor are always an option. Fishing fresh baits in deeper water will improve your catches. I like using pre-rig set ups, it saves a lot of mucking around. Just tie them on, bait them up and you are ready to go fishing. Calm days are also great to try and catch a squid or two. They prefer clean water, so that is the key to targeting them. Squid numbers are slightly less during the cooler months, but they make up for in quality. It is definitely our big squid time of the year.

nights or even snorkelling slightly deeper water. Early reports are that the prawns being caught are a good size this year. Mulloway have become a true stalwart of the Swan. More and more anglers are targeting them and having plenty of success. Most are fishing baits in the area between the E-Sheds and the Narrows Bridge, however more and more are starting to use soft plastics to target them. Plenty are starting to unlock the secret of doing this successfully. ROCK WALLS AND BEACHES The winter storms are a blessing in disguise for keen rock wall anglers. The swell and waves that these weather events create their own burley trail of food broken from the walls and the areas around them, attracting mulloway and pink snapper closer to the shoreline. Care

Fishing our beaches can be a little tougher through the cooler months. As mentioned last month, a little preparation goes a long way to improving your success. Sourcing fresh baits before heading out and taking the time to find the best drain on the beach you are fishing, will ensure you are less likely to go home with nothing. Mulloway and sharks are your likely targets, with the occasional snapper as by-catch. Drone fishing anglers have been doing well on the snapper from our beaches recently. Areas to try will be Swanbourne, Floriet Drain, Mullaloo and Port Beach. Don’t forget a berley bag, this can really improve your fishing. INSHORE Our inshore fishing will really be focused around an early or late start to your

Some squid caught by the legend Hools Orifici on a cold early morning raid. Hools is convinced that in this cold weather the squid are getting bigger. A good burley trail is an absolute must and fresh baits wherever possible. A good starting point to target them will be 5 Fathom Bank. Mulloway are often a by-catch when targeting snapper. They are always a welcome addition to the esky.

ground in 4-8m of water will be best. They may be a little harder to find than they have been as it is definitely quality rather than quantity during the cooler months. Drifting the edges of the shipping channel will To page 107

West Coast

Fighting the dreaded seaweed MANDURAH

Jesse Choy

July is quite a productive time to fish, however it can be painful to fight the seaweed if fishing from the beaches, and it

can also be difficult to find good days to take the boat out when the swell or winds permit. Although weather can appear detrimental to anglers, the constant change in the environment provides a lot of opportunity for

fishing if you are looking in the right place and are willing to put an effort in to succeed despite conditions. The rock walls near openings to the ocean will produce well for herring, with plenty of tarwhine,

with regards to slipping or falling. Beaches around Mandurah prove difficult to fish, with seaweed littering a good portion of our shoreline whether you are northern or southern side of town. Although it can be a bit tedious, you will want to put an effort into finding a patch clear of seaweed, so that you can give yourself the best chance at catching fish. Fishing from the southern beaches, there is a great chance

Redfin perch are plentiful and extremely fun to target on artificial lures. Photo courtesy of Dready.

Although seaweed can be difficult to avoid, it is fishable if you are willing to go deeper to get your line that bit further out.

Murray River bream are some of the hardest fighting black bream in our state and are more than willing to smash lures. From page 106

continue to be good for sand whiting. Fresh squid or coral prawns will be your best bait options.

OFFSHORE Winter offshore fishing is heavily reliant on windows in the weather. When those weather

salmon trout and the odd whiting thrown in. Fishing towards the estuary side of the cut, you are likely to come across a few stray King George, with a good possibility of coming across good pink snapper if fishing from the ocean side rocks with bigger baits. Worth mentioning in these winter months, is that swells create a lot of potential risk that needs to be constantly addressed in order to remain safe. If you are fishing near rolling swells, especially at night, it is wise to always be aware of your surroundings and approach with understanding that rocks are quite hazardous windows occur, there will be plenty of anglers looking to take advantage. The reward is some excellent fishing for species like

Dwayne Robinson making short work of this trophy pink using fresh scalie mackerel with Skutes Flashers in 8m of water.

Herring aren’t the biggest fish, but chunks like this are extremely fun on light gear. you will get into some fun with reports of herring and smaller mulloway still lurking around chasing mullet schools. If droning baits out from the same beaches, the pink snapper are bound to show up if you can soak bait for long enough, but there are also plenty of rays and smaller sharks showing up too. If you are chasing some sheltered fun, the rivers are a great option and will produce good numbers of quality black bream. When chasing black bream in the dhufish, baldchin groper and breaksea cod. Your starting depth should be from 25m of water, with 30-40m being the prime depth. Most anglers will use fresh baits, however soft plastics (big paddle-tails) are very effective on these species, especially if you are chasing a big dhufish. They love them. Bluefin tuna are still available on the wider grounds. Trolling a spread of lures to search for them or looking for birds that give away their locations will be the key to hooking one of these balls of muscle. Try your luck heading south from Hilarys. Highly weather dependent is the deep drop fishing. The deep drop grounds will certainly see less traffic at this time of the year so the fishing can be red hot. Fishing 350-500m of water will be the key to a delectable feed. So, angler comfort

rivers during winter, most of the numbers reside in the mid to lower sections of the systems and will often be found quite close to the food sources that are pushed down by heavy flows. Fishing with lures, a bibbed minnow or vibe will give you the ability to actively search for signs for feeding fish, with rattling models good at attracting fish in from wide with subtle vibrations. Paddletail soft plastics will work well, with prawn and worm imitations also proving

effective at matching the hatch. If you are fishing with baits, a small cube of mullet, pilchard or river prawn is ideal and will produce the best results. Another great option for some protected fun is a spot of freshwater fishing at one of the local dams. Although it can be a bit of a drive to get to Waroona or Harvey Dam for example, schools of redfin will keep you entertained whilst you enjoy the beautiful scenery and protection from potential elements. A great option for the casual fisher is to target these fish on a lightly weighted rig, a small hook and worms as bait. If you are after a bit more of a challenge, lures like fluorescent orange spinners resembling smaller redfin work very well and will also turn up some good trout if you are lucky. As a rule of thumb when targeting fish in the freshwater systems, the fish you are likely to catch will all exhibit cannibalistic behaviour and so choosing lure colours or baits accordingly may help your results.

Nolan Unwin with a welcome late season metro salmon from the sand – an excellent fighting fish! may be reduced as the temperature drops and the rain sets in, but the fishing is and can be red hot. There are plenty of options for

those prepared to make the effort to go and wet a line. I’ll catch you again next month. JULY 2022

107

West Coast

Dress for winter success LANCELIN

Peter Fullarton

School holidays are upon us again, and a great way to keep the kids occupied is to take them fishing. Lancelin is a perfect day trip distance from Perth, or there are plenty of rental holiday

are easy to remove, as for bait go for something red again helps attract them so bloodworms or beef heart are a good choice. As the sun sets the blowfish become less active and more species move in feeding around the jetty. King George whiting, snook, pike, tailor and skippy are

is reefing them in, watch and learn from what they are doing. It’s a great time to be chasing a few squid and blue swimmer crabs off the jetty too. South end of bay for most the year is usually full of seaweed along the near shore. Winter storms clear the weed and make the beach

of year. The clear waters make it a great place to fish artificial lures. Different areas of the bay will hold different species, weed beds and reef have snook, pike, squid and tarwhine. Broken bottom is more likely to hold KG whiting and flathead, while the deeper holes are where the largest skippy can be found. Herring are widespread throughout the bay. When the swell is down and it is safe to leave the bay, most boats are looking for the demersal species Lancelin is famous for. Most of the larger

Sambos aplenty on the inshore reefs.

There’s been a great run of pink snapper this year. It doesn’t seem to matter where or how you fish, land-based, kayak or dinghy, they have been turning up everywhere. houses for extended stays with parking for boats. Weather will be our biggest issue with short, cold and sometimes wet days we must expect at this time of year. Dress up for the cold weather, having warm dry clothes makes fishing a lot more enjoyable and will keep the kids interested in fishing

frequently caught, although herring are the staple that most will go home with a bucketful. The herring can be on mass around the jetty, but often not everyone can easily catch them. There’s lots of bait and lures that are successful. The local fishers have it sussed, so fishing next to someone who

Stormy skies and yet more pinkies. longer. Waders are great to keep dry and warm fishing off the beach, just be sure no one is going into the swells where they can be pushed over by a wave, the waders can fill with water and cause a drowning! Lancelin Jetty is a safe place to take the kids for a fish. Daytime sand whiting are the most reliable species to target. The secret to getting a good haul will be to cast towards the shore away from the blowfish that are accustomed to the usual tourist offerings. Whiting have small mouths, so to get a good hook up rate we use small hooks and baits. Long shank red hooks in #8-10 help attract the bites and 108

JULY 2022

near Grace Darling Park a great little spot to take the family for a fish. There are quite a lot of species that turn up here including King George, yellowfin and sand whiting, herring, skippy, tarwhine and flathead to name a few. It’s a great little spot to hone some skills on a light spin outfit casting small lures like vibes, plastics and hardbodies. Cobbler can be speared here after sunset too. Back Beach can be surprisingly easy to fish for the older kids. Winter swells scour out the near shore gutters making the deep water quite close to the beach, while the shallow banks further out break the worst of the wave strength. Mulloway and big tailor will always be a chance, especially at the top of the tide, sunrise and set. Big swells can make it difficult to launch boats and dangerous to leave the bay. If the swell is down, the bay’s waters are crystal at this time

More snaps from the dinghy, stopping in some random spot and they’re swimming up to the boat! boats head out wide towards direction bank, catches are largely dominated of dhufish, pink snapper, baldchin and breaksea cod. Boats fishing in close have not been missing out, dhufish and breaksea cod have been caught from the lumps inside the white bank. While setting a berley trail on the inshore reefs has been a reliable way to get the attention of skippy, pink snapper and samson fish. Beach fishing for tailor has been very hit and miss, with more miss of late. If

a storm has recently passed they are more likely to be found in the shelter of the bay. North point of the bay is a good place to cast some baits. After the seas settle, it usually takes a week or two for the big tailor to come back into the near shore reef breaks

sand whiting is up along the beaches with fish possible to 30cm at some locations. While gathering a good feed of sand whiting, it is a good policy to send one back out as a fresh or live bait. Mulloway patrol the near shore at this time of year and you never can

Cuttlefish are always a welcome by-catch offshore. If you feel that long tug-tug take it easy winding slow and steady to prevent pulling the hooks.

Graeme ‘Mulloway’ Doodson, at it again pulling regular fish!

and gutters. Whereas snapper will be in looking for feeding opportunities immediately after if not during a big blow. After the winds ease from a passing storm, snapper will certainly be on the cards. The average size of

tell when one is likely to be passing. Although the new and full moon is when they most actively hunt the shore break. Don’t cast too far either as mulloway are often actively hunting at the edge of the sand disturbed by swells.

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109

North Coast

Mack attack at Kalbarri KALBARRI

Stephen Wiseman

What a season we’ve had this year, the mack run continues in the warm clear waters off Kalbarri North, West and South. Those getting out for a line-stretching session may encounter macks, wahoo, cobia and tuna, both yellow and longtails, at any time and location. Marco Kelsall had a great session with his mate Bryce while in town on a trip recently. The excitement started with the guy next door pulling into his driveway saying the fish are on, and he showed them his catch of a very healthy wahoo! Their tinny was hooked up and gear on

board in a flash. The weather was settling down and a short way up the coast from the Murchison mouth. The 5m+ lures went in for a wetting, the first strike was very quick and a mack estimated at around 20kg was peeling line on Bryce’s rig, sadly this fish was lost at the boat to the taxman. Not deterred after a quick re-rig, Bryce was soon to get the second fish and this one was safely landed and made it to the esky. The activity slowed for a while so they decided to head home, on the run back to the mouth Marco spotted a bait bust up a short distance away and then a mack came out of the water with a bait fish

hanging from its mouth. A silver shimmer not 10m away cut a line for the back of the tinny and within seconds his rod went off with a run that had his adrenaline running. A short while later a beautiful mack was in the boat and, what a fish! In the old money it was 50lb and was definitely the fish of the trip. The river flow has stopped and crabs have been taken in areas around the pens. The river whiting have been quiet but the winter gars have shown up in a few areas around Red Bluff. Some nice black bream and river cod have caught from the jetty and the Pens, with river prawns being the best bait for a catch.

Marco with an incredible 50lb mackerel.

Trevors turn it on EXMOUTH

Josh Cheong

Quite a few billfish have been reported in recent weeks, with a good mix of blacks and sails being caught around the west side. You can encounter them anywhere from 40m for sailfish and out to around 70-150m for your blacks. The average size of the sails has been around 20-25kg, while most of the blacks have been in the 30-40kg range – although it hasn’t been

uncommon to encounter a bigger black up to 80kg. The majority of fish have been caught trolling smaller skirted lures such as Richter Soft Grassies. There has been the odd dolphinfish (mahimahi) caught amongst those as well, and the occasional yellowfin tuna is starting to appear now too. We should start to see a few schools of yellowfin come through in the coming weeks. There has been word of a few longtails out in the gulf as well. I went out recently and saw heaps of micro bait, so on the

Anglers have been getting into a mixture of blacks and sails. Image courtesy of @indepthangler_josh. 110

JULY 2022

right day you should be able to find a few longtails chucking small metal slices. There has been some good fishing for trevally species up around the islands, with a mix of goldspot, bludger and golden trevally. These fish have been taken on a range of methods, including soft plastics, stickbaits, and flyfishing with small Clouser minnows. The standard approach is to keep an eye out for birds working the schools of busting fish, and cast into the feeding school. At the time of writing we have had quite a lot of rain, which has made the shore fishing a bit tougher because all the edges have been quite dirty. When conditions are like this, you’re probably better off concentrating your efforts on the west side, where the breeze is to your back and the water is more likely to be clearer. In the coming weeks you can target spangled emperor and maybe queenfish and trevally off the rocky headlands. Small stickbaits and soft plastics are the way to go. Popular stickbaits at the moment include Halco Slidogs and Nomad Madscads in the 95-100mm size range, and the top plastics are the Bait Junkie 5” Minnows and Berkley 4” Paddle Tails. I like white or natural colours, but it doesn’t seem to make a massive difference. Lastly, there have been reports of good catches of blue swimmer crabs lately by guys dropping pots in the gulf. • For all the latest news on what’s biting and where, drop into Tackle World Exmouth at 3 Maley St, Exmouth or give them a call

Some good trevally have been caught on fly recently. Image courtesy of @indepthangler_josh. on (08) 9949 1315. You can also view the range at www. tackleworldexmouth.com. au, and see the latest catch

photos on their Facebook page. This family business stocks a large range of tackle, from light spin to

big game. The staff have a wealth of local knowledge and expertise, and are always happy to help.

Stephanie King with a fantastic marlin she caught while fishing solo off Exmouth.

North Coast

Karratha’s mixed up dry season DAMPIER/KARRATHA

Troy Honey

What a month of weather it has been since the last Karratha report. If we go back to the wet season, which due to no cyclones or tropical lows, the Karratha region has only experienced a couple of mild showers. Move forward all the way to mid-May through to mid-June and there has been three out-of-season weather cells move through, with each getting stronger. At the start of May, Karratha was recording 180 on the soil moisture meter, with a range of 0 to 200, 200 being in drought. It was looking like a very dry year for the region but move forward four weeks and the highway in and out of Karratha was closed due to flooding, the creeks and river systems are all at full flow and there will be plenty of movement from species like mangrove jack, bream, spangled perch, barramundi, red claw, and mud crabs. It’s going to be an exciting dry season. July is here and we still have quite a few blue swimmer crabs being caught in bays and harbour and plenty of reports of bag limit catches of prawns coming from Nickol Bay. This will end quick with the trawlers working the grounds so make the most of the first couple of weeks of July. Fishing from late afternoon into the night,

caught out. Demersals are running hot this dry season but before you head out wide, I strongly recommend spending a day with little wind and preferably neap tides in any of the bays around the islands that are full of reef, bommies or seagrass. Squid catches have been plentiful throughout June and that will continue into July as the water remains cool. I find the high tide change is best where the water clears up and gives you more ground to fish with the lesser risk of a

coral trout, saddletail seaperch and chinaman fish. Venturing out further into the 60mtr to 80mtr mark, the goldband snapper are schooling in large numbers. They can be tricky to find but once you get on to a patch the hook-ups on bait or fresh squid are thick and fast. Bluebone are being caught in close over the rocky outcrops around the island and all along the Dampier, Cleaverville and Point Samson coastlines. Use your leftover cooked blue swimmer crab shells, broken up into small pieces as burley

feed before coming back to the surface to rest. The sports anglers are having to work a bit harder this year for the sailfish as weather conditions have been challenging at times and the large numbers of garfish are keeping them well fed. Although, the latter has also been attracting the sailfish in close to the islands making it easier to locate and raise them. The billfish comps from Exmouth in the Gascoyne to Broome in the Kimberley will all be holding their annual

Nickol Bay in Karratha has had a fantastic blue swimmer crab season, as have the other local bays, with the season winding up by the end of July.

The king of the table fish is arguably the coral trout, which are in abundance in Karratha. The author consistently works the 15-20m mark with Ocktajigs and soft plastics to lure out the iconic species from their coral bommies. to bring the bluebone into the back of the boat or the rocks you are fishing off. If you do head out wide in the deeper waters chasing the goldband, troll your lures between drifts or changing spots as there have been a few yellowfin tuna being landed. This is also where you will more commonly find the marlin off Dampier, especially above the deeper trenches or ledges where they dive on to

billfish comps over the next couple months, and it will be great to see how they all go. I will bring you the results and some photos from the Dampier comp in the August issue. The recent rains will have flushed a few mud crabs out of the mangroves and now we have had a couple of spring tide flushes through the creeks it will be time to start working the systems for mud crabs with drop nets on the

Blueline emperor are a superb fish in terms of both fight and table fare. They are plentiful in Karratha with the larger sizes over 500mm preferring depths around 20m. The author uses small jigs and soft plastics to target blueline with regular success.

Karratha is in the peak of demersal season and the reds are not only in good numbers but also great size, as Scott Medling proves up on a trip out past the islands last month. use a bright prawn light to attract them to you boat and simply use a prawn dab net to scoop them up as the tide brings them past your boat. I find anchoring up on the larger tides works better than motoring, but both produce good results. Individual bag limit is 9L per person and it is advisable to read the WA Fisheries rules for using nets as there are 4 types of nets with restrictions and it is easy to get

prop strike on the bommies. Flicking or trolling a couple of jigs in the water for a few minutes is all it takes to find the squid and before you know it you will have a bucket load of the finest Pilbara demersal bait or the best accompaniment to go with your freshly battered fish fillets. The 20-50m zones are producing exceptional catches right now of red, blueline and spangled emperor, rankin cod,

Morning coffees on the rocks in the centre of Dampier are well worth the time when throwing a handline out for a bluebone, as the author enjoyed a couple of weeks ago.

spring high tides or walking the mangroves and shallows on the spring lows. For me though I will be heading up the inland rivers now all the tracks have dried out and spending time catching red claw and enjoying the cooler weather with campfire cockups. The rains caused all the rivers to run hard and the water to stretch out right across the plains so we will start to see the red claw turning up in many areas we haven’t seen them before. As the red claw are an introduced pest that cannot be let go back into the water, are now in abundance in the Pilbara and are truly a delicacy on the plate, what better way to enjoy some stunning Pilbara camping than cook up a freshly caught batch of red claw in the camp oven or over the open coals. JULY 2022

111

Knowing where to look FRESHWATER

Peter Fragomeni

Most freshwater anglers tend to shy away from fishing our sweet water throughout July and August, preferring to wait until the warmer weather returns in spring. I can understand this because

trout tend to come in close, especially towards dark and can remain there for some hours. This is where you have a distinct advantage if you are a fly fisher and know how to handle a fly rod in the dark. I find this style of fishing very exciting and tend to walk along the shore looking for any rising fish

Corporation has taken at one of our biggest freshwater destination, Harvey Dam, with their hard-line stance against camping. The excuse they use is the anti social behaviour of some individuals since the Covid pandemic has restricted anyone leaving the state, and has put a strain on any potential spots with lakeside

Redfin are the only reliable freshwater species on offer at most of our impoundments, with the exception of spring hatchery stocking of trout from Pemberton. The potential of stocking East Coast natives has not yet been realised by our authorities. Wendy Banks is a keen freshwater angler.

The Lefroy Brook offers a diverse range of fishing spots from scenic timbered sections to gentle flowing waters amongst the beautiful farmland. the rivers can be swollen and running dirty and the chances are the weekends will be blustery and cold after a clear sky week when most people are stuck at work. I find some of the best fishing can be had if you know where to look. Trout can be found tucked up in

or just casting blind until you do. Any of the popular fly patterns work but as a general rule I start with a size 10 fly, and when it’s dark I’ll go up to a 8 or sometimes a 6 but never larger. Lure fishers tend to do okay during the daylight but when it’s pitch black the fly will out fish them every time.

above the Stirling Dam off us recreational users in a $250 million deal struck with the government back in 1999 to secure more drinking water prior to the desalination days. The deal was that they would expand Harvey Weir to compensate for the loss of irrigation water and turn the above

different. Water Corp promised access would be available for anglers and electric powered vessels would also be allowed at Harvey Dam, however camping was an issue and although it was basically not permitted they turned a blind eye to those that did the right

thing. They where aware that camping was allowed at both of the other dams that we fished so I guess this was a compromise. We were always wary as Water Corp actually owns the land on the south side of the dam and also at Drakesbrook Weir between the wall and the farm land on the west

camping. The same thing is happening at Waroona Dam that resulted in the lakeside camping been ban some time ago. I can say that I spend a lot of time at Harvey and, apart from a few individuals in offroad vehicles cutting up the banks, I found most people were generally well behaved.

The author’s first ever brown trout from Logue Brook Dam he caught drift flyfishing using a fast sinking line. Brown trout only went in last year for the first time. Could this be the end of a prime rainbow fishery after a number were caught in very poor condition, which is not normally the case for this water?

Ethan Look was happy to land this rainbow from the bank at Drakesbrook Weir using an artificial lure. the back water where lots of food is available and there for the taking. The dams are normally rising and the 112

JULY 2022

The big news that has been on social media recently is the heavyhanded approach our Water

What Water Corp must realise is that they took Samson Dam, Stirling Dam and a prime river section

dams into drinking water storage dams, where access is strictly prohibited, as is the case on all drinking water storages that Water Corp manages. We also nearly lost Logue Brook Dam and, if it wasn’t for a ferocious fight by all the stakeholders, the fact the Barnett government promised they would leave the dam for recreational activities if they got elected then things may have been

PREDICTED DAM LEVELS OF SW WA Overall storage in our dams that allow public access and recreational activities are currently 57.6 % as of end of May 2022 compared to 42.59% at the same time last year. Below average rainfall this autumn has resulted in not a lot of water flowing into our dams. WAROONA DAM DRAKESBROOK WEIR LOGUE BROOK DAM HARVEY DAM WELLINGTON DAM GLEN MERVYN DAM BIG BROOK DAM

52 % 84 % 69 % 62 % 72 % 54 % 92 %

side that is now leased to the Waroona Shire. The rest of the irrigation dams are on crown land and the banks are controlled by DEPAW and now DBCA – a much better angler-friendly department than Water Corp in my opinion. There is a lot of opposition out there and even the well run Harvey Water Bash is at risk, as it’s

early April and freshwater anglers have been active and awaiting this stocking. Redfin have been showing up and despite the increased angler pressure this little water has had it still fishes well for this species. Logue Brook Dam I fished this water recently and can report that the few trout I landed were

made this water hard to fish as it’s a 2-hour trip from Perth and most have been reluctant to do a day trip. A few anglers that live closer have managed a couple of trout but it’s the redfin that seem to be more available at this stage. Wellington Dam No reports but I know a couple of the Collie and Bunbury anglers have

The Donnelly River can be an exciting water to fish, however long hard days can go unrewarded on occasions. Better results come to those that explore the secluded areas well upstream. size. Redfin have been coming from the wall using a variety of methods from spin to fly.

RIVERS Northern Jarrah Streams and Rivers Not a lot to report but

in winter and early spring. Trout have been slow but I know a few who are getting into a couple of good ones

Antony Matzkov from Nuclear Fishing with a nice Big Brook Dam rainbow he caught on a recent trip. a two-day event and Water Corp refuses to issue a camping permit for just one night. This is a shame as this event brings much needed funds to the region. We must not confuse Harvey Water with Water Corp as the latter leases the water to Harvey Water who is a main sponsor of the two-day event. The other concern is that if people don’t visit this dam to fish then we may reduce the trout stocking and redirect the limited trout stocks to better suited locations. I just hope we can reach some sort of deal with Water Corp, but going on previous dealings then I’m not sure they are willing to compromise. DAMS Waroona Dam Things have been slow lately with the only trout being caught are very skinny x-brood rainbows from last year’s stocking. The water level is very low and the lack of available food has put a strain on the condition of the trout. Unfortunately the early Hatchery stocking didn’t occur due to some unforeseen issues. Redfin have been on the small side with a few big specimens coming to the net. Drakesbrook Weir Regular angler Jonah Chiera has spotted a few trout recently but, as of writing, it seems no recent hatchery stocking has occurred. This is disappointing as the water has been cool since

in poor condition compared to previous years. I landed a few on fly from the bank and managed some from the boat but worked hard for a small return. I did manage to land a brown trout from last year’s stocking, which is a first in the 44 years I’ve fished this dam. I must stress to please release any brown trout you happen to catch as this is in experiential stage to see how they do. Harvey Dam As stated earlier the restrictions on camping has

caught a few redfin but hard work and long days are required for success. Hopefully with better stocking the trout will become more available in this larger water. Glen Mervyn Dam Very low at the moment but redfin are always willing to play the game. Big Brook Dam Antony Matzkov fish this water and landed himself a nice 40cm rainbow. Other reports indicate there have been more caught around this

The recent decision to enforce the no camping rule by Water Corp has put the Harvey Water Bash held at the local dam over the last six years at risk. If some sort of compromise is not reached it could spell the end for the 100 anglers that enter the competition and thousands of others that would visit the dam over the weekends.

One of the many lean rainbows from Logue Brook Dam. This fish is a rising two-year-old and is a classic example of just how a fishery can crash.

this will change when we get decent rains and a bit of flow coming down. Collie River above Wellington Dam Some nice redfin are being caught in the vicinity of the township on a variety of lures and plastic. Blackwood River This location must be the least fished water in the South West of our state. I can’t understand this as it can provide some exciting fishing in the right water level. It also receives a huge stocking each year so I’d suggest you try the section from Bridgetown to Nannup. Warren River Again, this river has marked its reputation as being one of the best redfin fishery in this state and you would be doing something seriously wrong if you couldn’t get a fish out of this water. Although, water levels can be too high

in the faster sections. Lefroy Brook This river has been fishing constantly but not everyone is getting into them. The trout are very spooked in the slower sections because of heavy foot traffic but they seem to be easier to tempt them in the faster water. There was a large brown spotted in the lower section and, if you can believe the anglers, then it was over 10lbs. Donnelly River With the better flows coming down the river it has pushed the trout further upstream. My mate Steve Roberts fishes this river regularly and has successfully mastered this scenic river with the fly. A few good browns have shown up but are proving hard to entice with even a lure. For a full list of proposed trout stocking go to the April and May issues Tight Lines JULY 2022

113

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Fishing Monthly Magazine | July 2022

Articles inside

Boat Test: Remora 490

Freshwater

Karratha

Lancelin

Bunbury

Tournaments

Metro

Augusta

Mandurah

Wangaratta

Eildon

Ballarat

Phillip Island

Port Phillip Bay

Port Phillip East

Canberra

Hobart

Geelong

Offshore

New England Rivers

Batlow

Batemans Bay

Illawarra

Sydney North

Central Coast

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Sydney Rock

Pittwater

Kayak: Baffle Creek

Mackay

Sheik of the Creek

Cape York

Cooktown

Townsville

Hinchinbrook

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Starlo’s back to basics

Northern Bay

Jumpinpin

Noosa

QUEENSLAND The Tweed

Gold Coast

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Level up with livies