Shore-based anglers reap the winter rewards

SYD ROCK & BEACH

Alex Bellissimo

alex@bellissimocharters.com.au

June is a cracker month for lots of species. It seems that I say this every month, but it’s true – I mean it! The rock fishing is great, beach fishing is good for certain species, and the estuaries are cranking too.

Let’s look at what’s been biting, and what my predictions are for this month.

ROCK FISHING

One of the highlights in June is the quality of the snapper on offer, both distance casting and wash fishing. You can pick up sensational fish to 72cm, with reasonable quantities of 40-45cm fish as well, plus the usual pan-size snapper from 32-38cm. The bycatch includes good quantities of trevally, some bream, salmon, tailor and late-season kings. If you’re wash fishing (i.e. fishing in the sudsy white water in closer) using prawn baits you can add rock blackfish and even groper as extra species. If you’re using mainly fish baits or squid, you will generally not catch rock blackfish or groper.

Ball sinkers from size 00 to 3, and a strong suicide or bait holder hook in the 2/0 to 3/0 size is preferred. You can go larger, say to a 4/0, but you may miss out on the smaller plate-size snapper and the trevally, especially if they’re timid.

A cracker of an outfit for wash fishing is the Daiwa Over There 109MH coupled with a Daiwa 5000 BG MQ. I load it up with 20lb J-Braid Grand Ocean

You will need to find sand/gravel patches to cast out to, between 60-110m out. You will lose a few rigs distance casting, but the rewards can be worth it, with a wide range of fish on offer.

If you find you’re getting smaller bites, they can often be trevally. The 2/0 to 3/0 hook size can be reduced to as small as a 1/0 (e.g. Mustad 92554) for the trevally.

Another tip is to match the bait size to the hook size. In other words, in your bag of pilchards or prawns you will notice a variation in sizes. If a pilchard or prawn is large, you may need to cut it in half to suit the size of your hook, to maximise your hook-up ratio. The same principle applies when you’re using fish fillets, squid or cuttlefish strips.

Rock blackfish are on the chew, which is typical for this month. Fish to 55cm have been reported, and a porker of that size is a formidable opponent proportions at times.

A way of avoiding them to a large extent is to bait up with weed sourced from our ocean rock ledges (the pickers are generally not vegetarian). A cabbage weed bait well presented on a no. 2/0 or 1/0 2x strong hook works well on rock blackfish and luderick.

Most of the anglers who chase kingfish have put their gear away by this time of year, but kings are still available this month. There are some big specimens on offer, with a mix of smaller fish as well.

One of my go-to baits for kingfish is the eastern sea gar on a set of four 6/0 7766-D gangs. A plastic occy skirt above the gar adds to the attraction.

A great stickbait which is working well is the Saltiga Rough Ride 160mm in the yellowfin colour. Some cracker kings to 117cm are being landed by locals.

Locations to fish include Bluefish’s eastern front, Old Mans Hat, North Curl Curl

Blue, and about 6-7m of 20lb J-Thread X Link FC or J-Thread FC. This is also a great rock blackfish outfit, and a great spin outfit for throwing 30-40g lures for pelagics.

For the Alvey enthusiasts, I recommend a MT-4144 to 6144 coupled with Alvey Stealth 650S 8-10kg mono.

A wide range of baits will work, ranging from the popular 1/2 to 3/4 pilchard, squid strips, king prawns, and firmer fish baits like a salted striped tuna or salted pilchard.

Distance casting that can easy smash you up if your gear is too light. The wash fishing gear I mentioned above is great for rock blackfish, and like the snapper you can catch a number of bycatch such as bream, leatherjackets, groper, and more.

Distance casting is a popular and successful way to fish for snapper, and all you need is a 7-15kg or 10-20kg 13ft+ rod with reel to suit. I use 30lb J-Braid Grand braid, 30-40lb leader and snapper sinkers ranging from 3-5oz.

If your fishing platform is high (say, above 4m) and you need to vertically wind up your fish, you’ll likely need more robust gear. Upgrade your rod a notch and use line classes from 12-15kg, otherwise lifting up a big pig (black drummer) may not be possible.

The evergreen prawn bait has its advantages and disadvantages. The plus of using prawns is the variety of fish you can catch. However, you can attract pickers such as sweep or yellowtail, which will demolish your bait within seconds. These pests can be in plague and South Avalon rocks. BEACH FISHING

You may think the jewfish action is over in June, but that’s not the case. There have been fish to 15kg being caught lately. Typically, jewfish (mulloway) are rarely caught in good numbers off the ocean beaches of Sydney, but there are some anglers sneaking in a couple of jewies here and there, regularly fishing the cool evenings. You will need to rug up and have some footwear as the sand above the water line gets pretty cold.

There are fewer whaler sharks around at the moment, which is not a bad thing.

There’s a larger run of tailor around this month, and there’s a good chance that tailor and salmon will be part of your by-catch.

When fishing for jewfish, the freshest baits are the best choice. The reason for this is that jewfish like to target live prey, as opposed to scavenging. Having a smelly piece of mullet or squid out there might catch you a jewfish, but it won’t work consistently. Live yellowtail, live mullet, a fresh fillet of tailor, fresh squid strips, and whole fresh squid are some of the go-to baits.

A bunch of beach worms works well, too. Generally, well north of Sydney and well south, a lot of anglers regularly fish for beach jewfish using large beach worm baits. If you’re using beach worms and packing on a generous amount, I like to use a 2/0 to 3/0 hook. It’s a little too big for whiting but you’re still in with a chance if they’re large enough, or possibly a bream.

Tailor and salmon

• For rock and beach guided fishing or tuition in the northern Sydney region, visit www.bellissimocharters. $799 DELIVERED IN AUSTRALIA numbers are good at this time of the year. Dawn, dusk and just after sundown are the most popular times to target them, but I like to fish for the larger tailor at night. This month I am expecting fish of 2kg or more, with an average run of 1-1.5kg fish. If you’re using 6-7kg gear, these fish are a blast. A set of three 4/0 gang hooks and whole pilchard baits are the go. in that 60cm+ size, but it seems to be less common nowadays. I just hope we don’t go back to the bad old days of the early 80s when stocks were getting towards their lowest volume.

Manly Beach is a good place to fish. It’s preferable to fish it after dark, especially if there is a surfable wave there. It is one of the most populated surfer beaches, other than Bondi Beach. Other spots to try are Dee Why Beach, North Narrabeen Beach, Newport and Avalon Beach.

If you have two or three anglers bait fishing close together, all the bits of bait dispersing will potentially keep a travelling school of tailor and salmon in the area.

Commercial harvesting of salmon up and down the coast is impacting the biomass of salmon along the east coast, and as a result the average size has decreased over the last few years. There are still sizeable salmon available, and some

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