Sydney
NSW
More relentless rainfall PITTWATER
Peter Le Blang plfishfingers@bigpond.com
Another month has passed and the rain is relentless. I hope this coming month gives a us a bit of break from these wet, bleak conditions. As at the time of writing this article, Warragamba Dam is still seeing a lot of water flow from it. Of course, this equates to lots of fresh water running down the Hawkesbury River, affecting other rivers such as Pittwater. Not only do we have lots of debris to dodge, there’s 2ft of fresh water running over the top of salt which makes it very difficult to fish, to say the least. On the upside we are still seeing some bonito busting up in small pods around Pittwater and Broken Bay, and they can be targeted with 10g metal lures. If you’re using light fishing gear, you’ll have a ball on these smaller fish. The only downside is the amount of active fish in these pods. There are
generally no more than 20 in each of these schools, but as mentioned they are quite willing to smash a well-placed lure. Bottom fishing for bream and flathead is very sporadic at the moment, and we seem to be catching more undersized jewfish than either of the other species. Flathead and bream seem to be more active on the run-out tide, and aren’t overly fussy on what they eat. On most occasions we have seen both of these species eating squid strips, pilchards, yellowtail fillets and prawns. My suggestion is to take a variety of baits and see what works best on the day. It has been better to cover ground by drifting rather than anchoring and trying to get these fish to come up the berley trial. Tailor are also making an appearance in the dirty water, and once again using any of the above listed baits can see a few being caught. However, when they are busting up, lures seem to be getting the bettersized fish. There have been a lot of juvenile jewfish being
caught along Broken Bay and in Pittwater, with the larger models difficult to find and target. Although we have had some good markings from decent jewfish recently, they haven’t liked our offerings of fresh fish or squid. These larger fish are better targeted near structure towards the change of tide before they move off to their feeding grounds. They are a lazy fish, so accurate anchoring can be required to be able to place the baits in the right areas to tempt one of these better fish.
Anglers have been encountering heaps of smaller mulloway.
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There are some decent bream to tangle with in the deeper holes. For those anglers wishing to catch kingfish along Pittwater it has been a very hard task, with little
results. The water is still warm enough to see some being caught, but the numbers of these hardfighting fish just don’t
seem to be showing up in Pittwater. Squid are also very difficult to catch at the moment with all the fresh water. The usual areas in the shallows around the weed beds just aren’t working. To catch calamari squid at the moment you really need to target the drop-offs and the slightly deeper water areas that have weed. Your other option is to try on the ocean side of Barrenjoey Head around any schools of baitfish that you can find on your sounder. Using a paternoster rig and drifting with your squid jigs close to the bottom will hopefully see you find a couple to take home for dinner. Along our coast seems to be the best place to target kingfish but once again it changes from day to day, as the dirty water seems to be affecting the amount of fish that can be caught. Areas such as Newport Reef and Long Reef should see you tangle with a few, and on the right day and there will be a few larger fish to tangle with as well. Along the coast the kingies can be targeted with yellowtail or slimy
mackerel. They are also responding to store-bought frozen squid, but larger fish seem to like the live bait option. Whilst you are fishing along our coast, there are some decent fish that can still be caught in the deeper water from 50-80m near reefs and over the sand. There are some snapper and pigfish around the reefs, and decent flathead and the odd snapper to be caught over the sand. Be aware there are some toadfish schools around the sandy areas so be prepared to move on to other areas and depths when you start losing your tackle. So, as you can see, even though the rain has had an effect on our fishing along the rivers, there are still a few fish to be caught if you are willing to put in the effort. Hopefully this coming month will see an easing of these conditions so our waters can clear and we can enjoy catching some decent fish again. • Peter Le Blang operates Harbour and Estuary Fishing Charters, phone 02 9999 2574 or 0410 633 351, visit www. estuaryfishingcharters.com.au
REMORA 490 • RATED TO 115HP
490
FIBREGLASS FISHING BOATS BUILT TOUGH ON THE NSW CENTRAL COAST
A nice tailor that pounced on a 10g metal Halco lure. 50
JUNE 2022
