Lake Mac trolling in a winter wonderland

SWANSEA

Jason Nunn

It looks like our gamefishing season has started to peter out; I’ve had two shelf trips recently and caught hardly anything. On a trip in April the water was 24.5°C and very blue, but on my most recent trip the best I could find was 22.2°C, so winter big numbers and the FADs were on fire. However, it has to stop some time.

Kingfish numbers have started to build in the deepwater reefs areas such as The Farm and down towards Texas. However, we’re starting to now see the barracouta reappear, which is something to consider when you’re fishing the deeper water and inshore. They can be a pain in the neck on

That will continue through June and July. There are a lot of bait schools in the lake, and in the middle of winter they’ll become more prolific.

We’ve had an incredible run of tailor, both coastally and in the lake, and they are currently working all areas of the lake. We’re also seeing salmon on the beaches and in the lake, working the bait schools. Flathead have also made a resurgence as they move back in after spending time off the coast.

There are some really nice snapper in the lake too, with quite a few fish above the 50cm mark. A lot of them are being caught on vibes or soft plastics in amongst the tailor schools.

Trolling is an effective approach in the lake at the moment. The best lure for trolling for tailor in Lake Macquarie is the Rapala Deep Tail Dancer TDD 11, as it can get down to 9m, near the lake bottom. I recommend that you put out two Deep Tail Dancers, and shorten one up so it’s around 6m and the other longer so it gets down to 8-9m. With this setup you can catch not only tailor, but mulloway, big flathead and squire. One angler fishing in the lake caught a good size cobia on a Tail Dancer, and there have been kingfish caught in the lake on them as well. These lures have also been reported to catch snapper down in Port Phillip Bay, so they’re definitely versatile. They also have sticky sharp, chemically- sharpened hooks.

When it comes to colours, I like highcontrast, matte patterns like red/white or green/ orange down deeper. At these depths it’s hard to see natural colours, but those bright, matte patterns will stand out in the gloom.

In mid-water, I prefer my lure to have a shiny chrome finish, usually with a base colour of green, silver and/or blue. The Tail Dancer’s big bib causes the rod to pulse, and the lure vibrates strongly and reflects the sunlight. That chrome finish helps to catch the light, causing it to flicker and flash.

We are seeing a big variety of tailor sizes. Some schools are made up of solid 50-60cm fish, while in other schools they’re only 30cm – and some schools have a big mixture of sizes. If you’re catching a lot of small tailor, stick it out because you should eventually catch a better one, and maybe some good bycatch as well. Flathead in particular are a common bycatch when the water gets a bit shallower (e.g. around 7m) and your lure bumps along the bottom.

This kind of fishing makes for a great day on the water with the kids. They can watch the rod tips while having a hot drink or a few biscuits. You can start the morning trolling around for tailor, then later in the morning use vibes or soft plastics jigging the bait schools for flathead, mulloway and so on. It’s very enjoyable through the winter months. conditions are certainly setting in. We had heard reports of a few yellowfin but we didn’t catch any. A marlin came past and winked at me but I couldn’t catch him.

The other highlight that we’ve seen lately has been the quality of the bream in the lake. A friend of mine has been getting some really good fish in recent weeks, including eight quality fish to 42cm, and he’s not alone.

Strangely enough there still have been quite a few dolphinfish (mahimahi) hanging around, but in the coming weeks they will dissipate as the water temperature continues to drop. The dollies had a great late run; they turned up in some days.

We have had a really good offshore season this autumn, with quite a good increase in snapper and trevally. Trag are also still being caught, and this should continue through until late June-July.

It has been a very good travelling season for tailor, bream and mulloway. The mulloway have moved into the estuaries, and we’ve had a cracking time in lake Macquarie for them lately.

My bream tip for June is to fish into the evening. I know it’s cold after dark, but no pain, no gain! Yes, you can still catch fish during the day on soft plastics, blades and vibes, but you’ll get a better class of fish if you baitfish into the evening on the high tide. A light berley trail will always enhance your catch, and it may also entice a squire, trevally or even a few tailor into your stream. The most consistent bream baits in winter are oily baits such as pilchards, mullet, mullet gut, chicken gut, bonito and so forth. You’ll still catch them on Hawkesbury prawns, but I personally prefer those more oily baits at this time of year.