The Tweed

Calm winter days are here

THE TWEED Leon McClymont

The current is slowing right down and those calm winter days are here, giving perfect opportunity for the anglers of Tweed to head found in the 150-200m range. Heading that little bit wider until you hit those peaks and drop offs in 220-300m+ is your best chance for your flame tails and bar cod. You will still get the odd kingfish or pearl perch out here as well, which is always difficulty picking up fish at these depths but if yours is one that still reads at this range you want to slowly cruise along these contour lines until you find some good shows on the screen. Whether it be fish shows, peaks or drop offs, these are all good spots to try your luck and the only way to find out what’s down there is to give it a drop or two.

When fishing these depths an electric reel is most desired, but not essential. There are some good electrical reels on the market, the ones I have used are the Shimano Beast Master and the Force Master and these reels are great for the job. You will want around 1000m of 80-100pd braid on the reels with a leader of 130-150pd, generally around 3-4m long with three hooks attached. Hook size 8/0-10/0s, along with a very heavy sinker or disposable weight. The sinker is attached to the bottom of the rig using a lighter leader line such as 80-100pd, this will ensure if you get your sinker snagged in the reefy bottom you should only lose your sinker and not your whole rig.

To trick up your deep drop rig a little, glow tubing can be added to the line that the hook is attached to for enhancing reasons and also abrasive resistance from the teeth of these deep dwelling sea creatures. A led glow light is often a great add-on as well, as down in these depths the light is minimal and anything giving off light is generally worth investigating from the fish’s perspective. You can buy these rigs already made up in most tackle stores.

The best bait options I have found are cut baits, such as Tweed Bait mullet, stripy tuna, and bonito. Whole baits and livies can also be an option, just ensure you have good hook exposure as you don’t want to bundle the bait up too much on the hook. Generally only one or two hook penetrations are desired. Jigs can also be used in these depths but are often only temporarily used as it is at once but I still recommend using them in sequence. What I mean by that is drop one rig down first, once you have hooked a fish on the first bottom. This will ensure you shouldn’t get any tangles as getting two lines tangled at a great depth in a bit of current can be a huge task to rectify! It can often lead to cutting off one off the lines, which is costly to the angler.

The rivers and estuaries in the region have cleared right up and recovered nicely. Tailor and trevallies have moved in and started to feed on small baitfish within the systems. Using small slugs/ spinners and surface lures are the desired approach for these little brutes on light gear, tossing a pilly or white bait into the mix will entice a bit as well.

Plenty of flathead and whiting are being caught in the shallows and off the beaches this time of year. There are some good beach gutters forming along the Cabarita to Cudgen Beach and Fingal Beach that would be worth soaking a bait in. Plenty of mulloway are also moving along the beaches and river mouths this month hunting the annual mullet run.

Soak ‘em long.

Nathan Dodd with a snapper he caught on a Tweed Bait mullet.

A lovely flame tail for the author. Nick Pearce with a late season Spanish taken on a slow trolled Tweed Bait bonito.

The author with a beauty of a juvenile marlin that was released after a couple pics.

wide and target those tasty ingredients of the deep, such as bar cod, flame tail snapper, pearl perch and many other species.

Targeting these species off the continental shelf in such deep water can be very frustrating and a demanding task especially for the non-seasoned fisher, so I’m going to throw a few tips out there to help you get these tasty ingredients to your plate.

First of all you want to ensure you have a good weather window, plenty of fuel, water and food on board for a big day on the ocean.

Now what depth range for what species you ask, and how to find the fish?

Kingies, rosy snapper, and pearlies are generally a lovely bonus to the esky. One of the things that bring anglers out to these depths is the mystery of what fish/ creature might come up next! Most sounders have

very exhausting work.

Fishing one set up first is recommended until you get the feel for the current and wind direction on the day. Once you get the line your boat wants to drift in, you can look at using two set ups bait on the bottom and you are bringing it back to the surface, you get your second set-up ready to send down. I recommend waiting until the first line is around a third the way up to throw your second line in and descend it to the