Forster

Summer fishing in spring

FORSTER Luke Austin

Anglers are really beginning to get excited for the summer season now, and this month should see things really start to kick into gear here in the amazing Great Lakes area. We often experience a bit of unsettled weather at this time of the year, which can make getting out for a fish somewhat always worth it!

Wallis Lake continues to tick along nicely. Flathead are very good in both size and numbers, with lure fishers finding the most success. Prawn imitation lures have proven to be particularly effective and have been responsible for fooling more than a few big fish up over 80cm of late. Fishing live baits has also been working well. One angler managed a beautiful 95cm model recently on a live bait fished deep along on now, and have been providing loads of fun for the flotilla that putts up the river daily to get a feed. Their bigger, sportier relatives, the sand whiting, have also made the most of the glut of prawns that is available in the estuary at the moment. The sand flats have been covered with big schools of hungry fish, eager to chase down a surface lure or freshlypumped nipper. A couple of anglers fishing from Paddleboards recently

Bream reports have been a bit of a mixed bag lately. The weed beds and rivers have been fishing fairly consistently but there seems to be very few of the larger models. In contrast, some absolute horses have been hanging about down on the bridge pylons and rock walls. These big fish that hang in the clear water down towards the mouth are very smart and can be incredibly hard to fool. Lightly-weighted lures and baits are a must, and your leader must not be too heavy to entice the bite!

With the amount of baitfish and prawns moving in and out of the estuary on each tide it’s no surprise that the mouth of the river is really firing. There have been some cracking kingfish and mulloway sneaking about down there. Tangling with these heavy hitters is insanely tough, amazing fun and can become quite addictive! If you do hit the break wall, please respect the fish, only keep what you need, and handle and release the fish with care.

Local beaches have really started to settle into their summer pattern now with great mixed bags consisting of tailor, salmon, bream, dart and flathead becoming very common. Whiting reports are still a little thin on the ground but better numbers of these tasty summer treats shouldn’t be far off. Mulloway enthusiasts have been putting in some hard yards of late, and while there haven’t been a lot of fish caught, those fish that have been landed have been nice, healthy fish up

There are plenty of kingfish in and around the estuary entrance at this time of year. Shaun Vella caught this nice fish from the rock walls.

challenging, particularly offshore. However, the fishing is generally very good and the options are endless so making the effort to go is nearly a likely-looking edge. It was an awesome fish and it was great to see it swim free after a few quick pics. The good old trumpeter whiting have really turned commented that they had some of the best estuary surface action they’d ever seen while casting Sugapens over the shallows on the top of the tide. around the 12-15kg mark.

The offshore scene is still sitting in a bit of a state of limbo at the moment. Snapper are hit-and-miss but most boats that managed to sneak out have been able to find enough fish to make the trip worthwhile. The wider reefs are holding some nice pearl perch and the odd trag, and if the weather settles enough to allow it, there will be some nice bar cod sitting out in the deep stuff.

I am yet to hear of any pelagic activity locally, but the FAD will have to kick into action very soon, and

Need tackle? Need a new boat?

Give Kris a call for a quote!

3

FINANCE AVAILABLE

Australia’s Number 1

Now is the perfect time to get out and chase a few flathead!

normally the first run of mahimahi are of a very good size, so it’s definitely worth checking out if you are out that way. • 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! Open 7 Days in the main street of Tuncurry, you can contact them on 02 6554 9541 or look them up on Facebook to see what they have been up to!