Sydney North

It’s okay to sleep in

SYD ROCK & BEACH Alex Bellissimo

alex@bellissimocharters.com.au

Winter is one of my favourite times of the year to fish. It’s easier to rug up to keep warm in winter than it is to keep light ball sinkers from 00 to 1 and a 1/0 to 2/0 size hook. Use light 4-6kg line for more bites, and a 10ft+ rod and reel to suit. Find a deep ledge with 5m+ water depth for better results, and some white water to spread your berley. Berley up with small handfuls consistently. Low light periods are best, particularly an hour before dusk and dawn and an hour after. Having said that, when they’re on you can catch them earlier in the arvo and later in the morning. Trevally make beautiful sashimi, and you can cook them in many other ways, too. They’re a great table fish.

Rock blackfish (black drummer) have been regular catches off the rocks lately. On the mid or north coast, rock blackfish are best targeted during the cooler months because the water temp is comparatively warm for extended periods, and is generally warmer than Sydney. In the Sydney area, by contrast, rock blackfish can be caught all year round. Lately we’ve been seeing specimens to 48cm mixed in with bream and trevally. As a table fish they are superb, with beautiful firm, white flesh. They are also a great fish to freeze down as they don’t get a strong fishy flavour like some species do after freezing.

The go-to baits for the rock blackfish are peeled prawns (king, Endeavour or banana). White bread works well too. Why use a bread bait? Well, you’re already using it for berley, so a bread bait will match the berley. Sliced bread is best because you can peel off the crust easily, and the slice is at the right thickness to be baited on

Jonathan Barthelmess with his PB whiting of 42cm, and a 41cm bream. They’re great fun on light gear, and at this time of year you don’t have to get up super early to catch them.

cool in summer, and there are good fish to be caught in the coming weeks.

OCEAN ROCKS

The trevally are right on the chew from around mid-April to October (although there are some residential trevally pretty much all year in Sydney). Mixed in with the trevally are bream, plate snapper and larger specimens, plus some late season kings and Aussie salmon. If you’re fishing the calmer evenings you will encounter some stud tailor as well. Just remember that night rock fishing is dangerous.

Trevally will eat most types of baits but prefer softer baits like pilchards, fish strips, peeled prawns and pink nippers. Squid strips are good but preferably cut them thin for better results for the trevors. Get a bucket and throw in some bread and chopped-up pilchards for berley, and maybe add some prawn heads as well for variety. Next, add water and soak the bread, pillies and prawns, then get your hands in the bucket and start mulching.

I recommend using a hook. Alternatively, if you’re in an area where you can scrape in some weed and use cabbage weed for bait, that is a great bait/ berley for rock blackfish.

Most anglers have given up on fishing for kings at this time of the year. The warm water pelagics like bonito have well and truly moved on, and the main pelagic targets are salmon and tailor with some kings thrown in. They’re definitely still worth pursuing this month. The usual live baits like live yellowtail are good, and squid strips and whole squid are great of course. Good lure choices include Bait Junkie 7” Jerkshads, poppers, and hardbody stickbaits.

Snapper distance casting this month is a good choice. You can use squid strips, or fish strips like slimy mackerel, yellowtail, tailor and salted striped tuna. When distance casting, be prepared to lose some rigs at some locations. If you’re not sure about the bottom, stand up high and look at the patch of water you want to fish. If the water is clear enough you might be able to see where the reef line and sand line meets. Cast beyond the reef line for at least several metres to reduce loss of terminal tackle.

Now let’s look at likely locations for all of these species.

For the trevally, kings and snapper, it’s best to fish the deeper headlands. Try Bluefish’s eastern front for wash fishing, North Curl Curl 80-90m north of the swimming pool, and south and north Whale Rocks.

For the rock blackfish, try Little Bluey ledges, and move around to find the fish. Long Reef is also a great spot for this species, and is a safer rock fishing option.

OCEAN BEACHES

The run of whiting has continued, with fish to 38cm being caught.

Most outings have been producing bream as well, and trevally have been part of the mix too. At this time of year there’s the chance of catching whiting on pretty much all of the beaches, but some beaches are definitely better than others for this species. Dee Why is a good beach and holds late season whiting, and Manly is quite good too. Bungan Beach produces some whiting as well, but there is a big, steep hill to climb back up on the way out.

There was a run of

tailor last month but they seem to have dwindled somewhat. I predicted last month that they would be in better numbers, but like any run of migratory fish, they can come in waves. They can be full on for a week and then taper off

Tommy Nguyen, Dario Zivic, Jayson Teng and Will Kwan with four kings from 73-85cm caught on live yellowtail and spinning sea gars.

Yarni Moolman with three beachworms he caught during a worming lesson with the author. After you’ve caught your first worms, it’s crucial to keep practicing so you don’t forget the technique.