Sydney North

SYDNEY NTH Steve Winser

At the time of writing this report, the water temperatures in the harbour are extremely low, hovering around 14-17°C. The kingfish in the upper and lower reaches of the harbour have been lethargic and finicky, but this isn’t unusual for this time of year – and fish are still to be had for the dedicated. often a metre or less. We target these with bread baits under a little bobby cork in a bread berley trail, although the lure and fly guys have been doing alright with them also.

The wash fishing has been the standout of the season so far, yielding black drummer to 4kg and groper between 2-10kg. Fish in the upper end of this range are steam trains and an awesome alternative to lethargic kingfish for those looking for a real gather crabs around the local rock edges.

Next month, we should see a further improvement in the already outstanding wash fishing season along the foreshores, with the main targets being drummer, groper, bream, and blackfish. • Fishing Sydney Tours takes pride in tailoring every trip to the customer’s preferred species, style of angling, and level of expertise, all within a friendly and relaxed

A horse groper caught on a guided trip with Craig McGill.

Squidding has been good in recent weeks, with large squid taken over both the ribbon weed beds and the kelp beds. Jigs in the 2.0-3.0 size range have been doing the job. Use any colour you like as long as it’s orange or green!

The bream and blackfish in the harbour foreshores in the lower harbour have been fishing very well as you’d expect at this time of year, with fish to 1.5kg in some very shallow water, test of skill. My old mate Craig McGill of Fishabout Sydney Harbour sent me a pic of an absolute donkey they pinned in the harbour this week, a fish that was pushing 20kg – a dead set freight train!

We have been fishing for drummer with bread and prawn baits under a bobby cork in a bread berley trail as usual, with good results. If you want to catch a large groper, fresh crab is essential. You can

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for them around south Palm Beach, Dee Why out front of surf club to the rock corner and this year there have been quite a few hanging around Curl Curl Beach as well.

As you may already know, having live baits like beach worms and pink nippers will give you much better results than dead baits. Unfortunately, my local tackle shop doesn’t stock live worms or pink nippers at this time of the year. An alternative is very thin strips of squid (the white tube section). You can cut it with a knife or with scissors, and you want each strip to be around 1-2 matchstick thickness. This can work quite well for whiting. You can also use the tiniest prawns you can find, peeled and presented on a no. 2-4 short shank hook.

If the seas are flat and the current slight, you can berley up with some fairly finely chopped prawns or squid and throw it out where you are fishing. Small amounts and every one or two minutes will create that berley trail and may activate the whiting and even some bream or tarwhine. So not all is lost if you cannot get live bait – you could end up with a nice mix of species on dead baits.

Aussie salmon and a really late run of tailor are about as well, with the salmon being the more dominant species at this time of the year off the surf beaches. Casting metal lures from 25-40g with a light spin outfit and walking from gutter to gutter is a great way to spend an early morning or early evening. Fish baits like ganged whole pilchards are the go-to bait. A strip of fish like mullet, or yellowtail is a successful bait for salmon. You can use a single hook rig as an alternative to gang hooks. I like a Mustad 2/0 92247 hook baited up with a strip of yellowtail or mullet.

Salmon are being caught on literally every surf beach in my area. My recommended beaches are Curl Curl, North Narrabeen, Mona Vale and Avalon. Before committing to any of these beaches, take into account the kelp deposits, look for good hole/sandbank structure and make sure the swell isn’t too big

ESTUARY FISHING

Just a little on what’s happening in the harbour. Luderick fishing has been good, with fish to 1kg from Dobroyd head, Middle Head and a few from The Spit northeastern side, 80-100m from the bridge. Fishing Middle Head and Dobroyd Head, cabbage weed and hair weed is good. When fishing The Spit area, you should preferably use hair weed. This is because when you go further into the harbour there is generally less cabbage weed and more hair weed, so the luderick prefer that.

Trevally are in good numbers, along with some bream and tailor from Dobroyd and Georges Head. North Sydney ferry terminal is producing quality trevally as well. You will have the ferry to contend with at North Sydney wharf, but that’s no problem – just wind your lines in and be patient for a relatively short period. Try to keep out of the way of the ferry staff and commuters and it will be fine. There is the rock wall that you can fish north of the ferry wharf if you prefer.

I recommend berleying up with a well mushed

atmosphere at competitive rates. There are some excellent fishing spots that can be accessed straight off Sydney, and we will show you where. We offer harbour, wash and offshore fishing for species ranging from kingfish and mulloway through to snapper and mahimahi. For more info go to www. fishingsydneytours.com. au, call 0481 120 600 or look up ‘Fishing Sydney Tours’ on Facebook. Nick was happy with this nice blue.

DPI NEWS

Man threatens Fisheries officer

A man has received multiple convictions and a hefty fine at Batemans Bay local court in relation to an incident at Depot Beach in 2018, including threatening a NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Fisheries officer and obstructing their duties.

NSW DPI Director Fisheries Compliance, Dr Andrew Moriarty, said that serious offences such as this will not be tolerated, and will be dealt with accordingly by authorities.

“The man was convicted of four offences and fined a total $4500 plus a 12-month community corrections order,” Dr Moriarty said. “Threatening a Fisheries officer and preventing them from completing their duties is a serious offence and we will not tolerate this type of behaviour.”

The man was convicted and fined for the following offences: • Obstructing a Fisheries Officer in the exercising of function – failing to allow examination of fishing gear (Sequence 1) – fined $2,000. • Threatening a Fisheries Officer – with a weapon, being an axe handle with a metal spike on the end (Sequence 2) – convicted and imposed a community corrections order for 12 months. • Obstruction of a Fisheries Officer in the exercising of function – failing to allow seizure of a weapon used to threaten a Fisheries Officer (Sequence 3); and • Failing to comply with requirement to provide information – fail to state name and address (Sequence 4) - fined $500.

The public are encouraged to report suspected illegal fishing activity to the NSW Fishers Hotline on 1800 043 536 or via the online form at www. dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/ compliance. – NSW DPI

mixture of wet bread, pilchards, some prawn shells/heads and use unweighted or very light sinkers with 3-5kg set-up. Having a long-handled net, especially when fishing the wall, may be necessary as you’re a few metres above the water. If you’re using a 5kg set-up you should be able to lift up your fish without too many problems as they are up to about 1kg. • For rock and beach guided fishing or tuition in the northern Sydney region, visit www. bellissimocharters. com.au, email alex@ bellissimocharters. com.au or call Alex Bellissimo on 0408 283 616.