Illawarra

May is full of maybes

ILLAWARRA Greg Clarke

This is probably the last chance you will have of scoring a few leftover northern visitors before the warm water totally disappears and winter sets in, so always be prepared for the odd stray that has over stayed.

Dolphinfish (mahimahi) may still be around as they seem to hang about a bit longer into the year these days. Over the reefs the samsonfish should be a bit coast. You won’t get bored waiting, as some big bonito and salmon are around too, although they can be a nuisance when chasing bigger fish. There is nothing more frustrating than seeing a couple of bluefin heading towards your bait and a bonito zips in and grabs it.

May is traditionally a calm month as far as winds go. The ocean smooths off with the early morning crisp westerlies, and can stay that way well into the day, and there is often very small swell. On these days you can fish in comfort and well. There are some big bream as well, and the odd dart is still hanging about along with a few flathead and more salmon.

Walking the beach casting pilchard lures or slices at New Zealand then cranking them back at speed will get plenty of salmon and a few nice tailor, particularly just on dark. Then the tailor can be turned into number one jewfish baits or smoked, it depends on your taste.

The estuaries are slowing down but haven’t stopped just yet. A few

Night is a good time to target bream in the shallows.

bigger and hitting jigs and small live baits fished deep. You may even score a late pearl perch.

The land-based guys are still in with a chance of a longtail or two off the stones as there are usually a few down this way at this time of the year. More often than not they are good fish over 20kg, so they’ll give you one heck of a first run.

May might be a time for leftovers, but the cooler water fish are the ones to target this month on percentages. The rocks are always good value, with plenty of salmon on offer from the deeper southern ledges to the shallower platforms and break walls in the north. Good old pilchards on a ganged hook rig are hard to go past for bait, while spinning with flashy chrome lures works well too.

Don’t be too surprised if you get smashed up by big and fast fish in the process as there are still plenty of solid kings around. Fish live yellowtail or slimy mackerel from the deeper ledges around Kiama, Bombo and Cathedral rocks and you are in with a good chance. Your baits don’t have to be too far out either, as the kings usually hug the rocks as they move up and down the target bream in the shallow bays and coves all along the coast, and they are only too willing to play in a well-laid berley trail. Fish with cubes of bonito, mackerel or tuna with little or no lead and you can catch your bag limit in a very quick time, and in the clear water watch every fish take the bait.

You can expect a heap of trevally as well. They usually show up first and compete against the bream for your offerings, and a few salmon can show up just for fun. All in all, it can be well worth getting out of a warm bed on these cooler mornings to get some action.

Berley can drag in a few stray snapper that may be about as well, but they usually only show early and are gone before the sun gets too high if the water is clear.

On the beaches it can get a bit cold in the early mornings and late evenings, but there are some nice jewies (mulloway) about which makes a few cold fingers worth it. Grab some big fresh or live baits and pick a good gutter and see what happens.

If you aim a little lower, there are still some very nice whiting on the beaches and they are big and fat from a summer of feeding flathead can be found but you will have to work a bit harder for them before they go into hibernation. Bream are a more attractive option on both lures and bait. Fresh peeled prawns dropped into the snags of the feeder streams of the lake can work well his month, and most of the fish will be better than average too.

Working the rocky foreshores with very small hardbodies or blades always works well as small baitfish become scarcer with each cooler day. The other option is working the edges of the weed beds around Primbee and the yacht club with bait or the same small lures, particularly towards the end of the month.

To find exactly where they are, I recommend checking out where the pros are picking up their nets in the early hours and work these areas. They don’t get them all, and more fish arrive daily to replace the ones taken by the nets.

Down around the entrance to the lake there are some nice whiting over the flats but you will work for the few you get. The break walls have bream, tailor and salmon with a few small jewies thrown in. The big tides will help here.

Offshore things are starting to slow, but not on all fronts as the yellowfin tuna should start to get going out around the shelf. If we get lucky a few strays may find their way in closer, if there is food available. There have been a few small fish about but nothing to get excited about just yet.

If the water temp is still up a bit, there is the chance of a few striped marlin or big blues out on the shelf if you put in the time. However, with the price of fuel it can be an expensive exercise trolling all day.

In closer a few kings can be picked up on live baits at the usual places like the islands and Bass Point, but you need to hope there is a bit of current to get them going.

Snapper are in a transition period after hunting the shallows in April and getting ready for the cuttlefish in July. Most of the snapper are currently out in the deeper water and spread out but there are always a few residents about for the diehards.

As mentioned earlier, there are bream and trevally in the shallows if you use berley.

If the currents are right we may get a few late dollies. They were about in May last year so there is a chance, but the only way to know is have a look.

The schools of bait are thinning out so the surface action is slowing right down but it hasn’t stopped entirely. There are, you guessed it – plenty of salmon around mixed with some rat kings and bonito to 4kg.

Over the reefs the mowies are improving, with those tasty pigfish increasing in catches too. Throw in a few small snapper and some samsonfish, the odd trag and heaps of sweep, and there is enough to keep you interested. The flathead are slowing but some good catches are still to be had on the right day and they are nice fish.

There are still a few nice reds to be taken in close around Bellambi.

Good catches on the right day

BATEMANS BAY Anthony Stokman

Maybe you’ll catch a marlin, maybe a tuna, maybe a kingie, maybe a dolphinfish, maybe a bonito, maybe COVID… the list goes on. May is a month of transition, from warm to cool temperatures, change of currents and movement of pelagic species.

As we expect to see the tail end of the marlin season, we see the last of the dolphinfish (mahimahi) also. Bonito can be known to hang out a little longer, and the kings can fish well during the month of May and into winter.

The number one pelagic species we have on our minds during this month is the majestic yellowfin tuna – one of the greatest fish in the sea. For some fishers it’s the one reason why they fish, and nearly every other saltwater angler has yellowfin on their radar right now. May can be one of the best months of the year for yellowfin; sometimes it’s June, July or September. Or, like the last two years, all four months had yellowfin being caught, the highlight being the last two springs when big fish pushed into snapper grounds. We are keen and eagerly waiting to see what they are going to do this year.

We have already seen a quite a few good yellowfin getting caught commercially, which is a very promising sign. We know there have been fish moving around the inside of the shelf to the second drop-off, and we are hoping that we see the same numbers this year as the previous two.

The last couple of years has seen an explosion of catching tuna off the surface with stickbaits. Catching any fish off the surface is the most exciting form of fishing, whether it is bream, whiting, flathead, kings, bonito, GTs or massive tuna. This has also caused an explosion of stickbait sales. Every company is jumping in on the action, and more expensive handmade ones are being crafted and you’ll see a number of them getting around on social media.

Distance is key when chasing these fish; you don’t want to be pushing them down by driving up too close, so you want to be able to cast to them. Some days they are in a feeding frenzy, and they aren’t as flighty. But usually you want to be as stealthy as possible.

Most stickbaits will catch fish, the most important thing is size and weight. You are going to need a 60-100g lure to get