Great time for targeting snapper

FORSTER Luke

Austin

Despite the bitterly cold weather, June sees a lot of fishing activity and for good reason, as there and are taking a variety of weed baits, as well as the ever-reliable weed flies.

Bream have been interesting in recent weeks. While the majority of fish are still very much hugging the structure situated down them fairly easily on most drop-offs and deep bends of the river, and they can be fooled easily with a 3”-4” paddle-tailed soft plastic or vibe style lure. There have also been great numbers of fish in around The Cut and amount of solid flathead that have been caught. Flathead are definitely not what we would expect to see coming from the surf beaches in winter, and to hear of 50-70cm fish is just weird!

There haven’t been a lot of reports from the stones, however those anglers that have hit the ledges on the backside of the recent swell have managed to find some nice drummer. Bream and luderick are also still hiding in the washes in good numbers, and for those anglers casting lures or floating pilchards, there are some cracking tailor and the odd kingfish cruising about.

Rob with a beautiful daytime are loads of fish and fishing options out there waiting for you!

The estuary continues to fish really well. There has been a noticeable increase in the number of luderick settling back in the system, the rock walls, oyster leases you can see from the bridge, Breckenridge Channel, and the shoreline up around Wallis Island. All these locations have been absolutely stacked with fish, and there are some brutes sitting within the schools. The fish are not too fussy around the mouth of the estuary, there has been the odd really nice fish sitting way upriver.

If you are chasing a feed of tasty flatties, this time of the year is perfect for it, providing you have a boat. While the bream all move down towards the mouth of the estuary, the mighty flathead do the opposite and move up into the ‘middle’ and upper areas of the system. The Wallamba River is holding loads of nice table fish, with the odd one up to about 70cm. You will find

Offshore fishing in June can be insanely good when things line up. Now is an amazing time to be hitting the shallows in search of some big hump-headed red fish! There is nothing better than heading out in the freezing cold to cast plastics and float baits in the shallows. The bite window might be narrow but the action is insane.

Snapper are also about in decent numbers up north on reefs sitting in 25-60m. Most fish are only platesized, with not many fish over 1.5kg hitting the decks, but you can also expect to see the odd trag, pearl perch and pigfish mixed in. The same reefs are holding loads of trag of an evening and the average size of fish is pretty good for those wishing to get an easy, tasty feed. Hitting reefs in 60m or more with live baits is definitely worth a shot right now as there have been plenty of kingfish getting about, these fish should only get better and better as we move through winter and into spring. up around Regatta Island. I would also say that the Coolongolook River is fishing well for them too.

• Luke is the owner of Great Lakes Tackle - your ‘local’ bait and tackle store. They only sell 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 call them on 02 6554 9541 or find them on Facebook to see what they have been up to!

The local beaches saw a bit of swell recently, which made it a little difficult to fish, however now that the sea has settled the fishing has really kicked back into gear quite nicely. Tailor remain the stand-out species, and can be found on just about every beach in the area. The fish are incredibly healthy this year, and most fish seem to be between 35-55cm, which is a perfect size for the table.

7 Mile and Diamond beaches have produced a lot of small school mulloway, which is great to see. Hopefully we can look after these majestic fish a bit better over the coming years than we have in the past!

The surprise from the beaches has been the