New South Wales Fishing Monthly - March 2016 by Fishing Monthly

MARCH MARLIN MAYHEM • SNEAK PEAK AT PIRTEK CHALLENGE

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Features

Marlin for beginners • Be boulder: rock fishing • FIFO Tassie boat hire • Catching cod from a kayak •

Tried and Tested

How to

Fish handling II • Casting tips and tricks • Sneak peak at Pirtek Challenge •

SeaCraft Fisher 490 with Mercury 90hp • Savage 385 Big Boy • Gerber MP600 • Wilson backpack • Tonic Slice Lens •

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This yellowbelly was caught at Copeton Dam. The fish was estimated to be around 13lb and measured 63cm. Adam Marchant from Wee Waa, NSW was using Black Magic 20lb Tough Trace.

A Black Magic Whiting Snatcher the ‘Green Grub’ colour was used to catch this nice feed of whiting and flathead. Jake Crafter was fishing 2km off Kingston SE in South Australia.

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Annette Turner utilised the Black Magic 6/0 Bleeding Pilchard flasher rig to catch a bag weight of 15kg in a recent fishing competition. Her snapper weighed 5.5kg and won her “best fish” in the tournament. Annette was fishing in Durras on the South Coast of NSW.

Off the far west coast of SA, Nick was jigging with a Black Magic 300g Knife Jig in ‘red and silver’. He says when this sampson fish hit, he could barely lift the rod tip without being smashed.

This 12.6kg mulloway was caught in the Georges River by Michael Zammit. He was using Black Magic 40lb Supple Trace.

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IS YOUR EPIRB DUE TO BE REPL ACED?

GPS EQUIPPED

beacons can locate you within 20 mins

NON-GPS

beacons can take up to 5 hrs†

More Australian Rescues start with GME than with any other brand* Next time you’re out on your boat, double check the expiration date of your EPIRB. If it has expired, or is approaching expiration, contact your local Authorised GME Dealer and discuss options for replacement, including updating to the latest GPS equipped model from GME. With a GPS equipped EPIRB, you will be located faster, and rescue authorities will be able to reach you sooner. It could save your life.

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† Source: Australian Maritime Safety Authority * 66% of all beacons detected and determined as ‘Real Distress’ by AMSA during the 12 months from the 1st of July 2012 to the 30th of June 2013 were GME brand beacons. N.B. A Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) is not a substitute for a 406 MHz EPIRB.

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March 2016, Vol. 21 No. 8

Contents 08

BYRON COAST The Tweed 25 Iluka 27 COFFS COAST Ballina 24 Coffs Game 30 South West Rocks 31 MACQUARIE COAST The Hastings 32 Forster 33 Manning River 33 HUNTER COAST Port Stephens 36 Hunter Coast 38 Swansea 39 Central Coast 40 SYDNEY The Hawkesbury 14 Pittwater 15 Sydney North 16 Sydney Harbour 18 Sydney rock and beach 19 Botany Bay 20 Sydney South 22 ILLAWARRA COAST Illawarra 44 Nowra 45 BATEMANS COAST Batemans Bay 46 Narooma 47

From the Editor’s Desk... I’m pretty sure that not many of our readers would have known Mike Airey. The expatriate New Zealander passed away in Brisbane recently at the age of 81. He wasn’t an angler, but he’s had a massive impact on the Australian fishing scene. Mike published the first edition of South Queensland Fishing Monthly in November 1987. Before that, he founded the uber-popular NZ Fishing News in New Zealand and before that he was a commercial airline pilot for Air New Zealand. I’ve contributed to the magazine since the second issue in December 1987, and Mike was the first person ever to call me and offer me a column writing for a fishing magazine. I was 15 at the time. In the mid nineties, Mike offered me a job at the growing company and basically gave me only one brief. “Don’t let the writers

contribute articles that are written to impress other writers,” he said. He was pretty steadfast about that point, and the mantra continues in the magazines today. Make the articles relevant to the readers. In the late nineties, Mike saw my interest in restructuring

the Australian tournament scene and helped me to set up the company that we now know as ABT. He didn’t want to own it. He wanted me to own it and use company time and resources to help it grow. The idea that he nurtured grew and, of course, has had a massive impact on the type of

fishing that we do today. Mike sold me the company in 2000. Naturally, it would have been easier to bundle it up and hock it to a big publisher, but Mike seemed determined to give the staff the opportunity to make something more of what he started. And, we took the opportunity with both hands. I think that’s pretty rare in life. To have someone give you opportunities like that when you’re not related to them. In Mike’s later years, you could see him ride the rollercoaster of success and failure with me. With us. And in recent years, we’ve had pretty big helpings of both ends of that spectrum. So we’ll miss you, Mike. Your sage advice. Your pragmatism and your loyalty. You’ve left a fine legacy and we’ll endeavour to keep making you proud in the years to come.

EDEN COAST Bermagui 49 Merimbula 48 Tathra 50 Eden 51 Mallacoota 51

Sub-Editors: Bob Thornton Nicole Penfold Georgia Williams Publishers: Steve Morgan Matthew Drinkall

Office Manager: Marie Dykstra

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A Glen Booth image.

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Black marlin are abundant down the East Coast during summer.

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NEW SOUTH WALES FISHING MONTHLY

AUST

SPECIAL FEATURES Marlin for beginners Be boulder: rock fishing Fish handling II FIFO Tassie boat hire Casting tips and tricks Sneak peak at Pirtek Challenge Catching cod from a kayak

REGULAR FEATURES Back to Basics 26 Boating 82 Dam Levels 61 Fun Page 80 Kayak Fishing 78 Tides 90 Trade Directory 88 Tournaments 72 What’s New in Fishing 64 What’s New in Boating 84

PRO

FRESHWATER Canberra 54 Jindabyne 55 Yarrawonga 57 Robinvale 56 Mildura 56 Batlow 58 Lithgow-Oberon 59 Hunter Valley 60 Tamworth 61 Copeton Dam 62

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Marlin

Marlin for beginners COFFS GAME

Glen Booth

for the first time. THE MAIN PLAYERS We’re looking at black, striped and blue marlin along the east coast of Australia, and maybe a stray spearfish or sailfish if you’re lucky. Outside of the Cairns scene, most fish can be caught on 24kg tackle. This may prove to be overkill in some fisheries and dramatically insufficient in others, but for newcomers it’s a good starting point.

Black marlin in varying sizes can turn up anywhere from just off the beach to well over the continental shelf, but the smaller ones that are the subject of so much fishing interest during spring in the north and summer further south prefer shallower water out to about 60 fathoms. Stripes are much the same, but depths of around 30-150 fathoms would see more spangled line tanglers caught. Blues traditionally lurk in deeper water along the continental shelf line and beyond, showing an affinity for deep structure like canyons, but on some occasions they will push well inshore, which can come as a shock for light line aficionados. Blind strikes from any of the species are commonplace, but working rippling or sub-surface bait schools, features like canyons and reefs, and colour and temperature changes puts you in with the best chance. Blue water is best, but in saying that, plenty of marlin are caught in water that is less than cobalt, a bit cooler (or hotter) than

Super Smooth to touch...

That first marlin: it’s a significant angling milestone, certainly on every fisho’s bucket list, and there’s no better time to do it than right now. Billions of words have been written on how fantastic they are to catch, but let’s look at some basics to get you successfully hooked up

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Striped marlin are spectacular, often hunt in packs, and create all sorts of mayhem as a result. what is considered ideal for the species, often with the current running the wrong way. Fish don’t have calendars, they don’t look at temp charts, nor do they visit websites. They do, however, have big tails, can traverse many miles in a day, and will want to be where the food is and where they feel the most comfortable. Yesterday’s hotspot may be a desert today, so it pays to be mobile, shifting camp up and down the coast if necessary to follow the bite. And always remember, the more often you go, the better the chances of hooking one are! REQUIRED TACKLE Reels Most bluewater anglers opt for lever drag reels these days, and in the overall game fishing scheme of things they aren’t too expensive. Even the second tier lever drags are pretty good in comparison to the star drags of yesteryear. If wound on tightly, a 50 ‘wide’ reel from a variety of manufacturers will hold approximately 1000m of 24kg line, which is more than enough for most fisheries. A ‘50’ size, however, will hold sufficient line for most billfish encounters, is easier to use, and can become a high capacity 15kg class reel if you get into game fishing further. The drag should be set at 1/3 of the line’s breaking strain at strike through a

quality pair of scales, so with 24kg line it should start to slip at 8kg. If we’re dealing with small fish like inshore blacks, 5kg of drag would be heaps. You can always bump the drag up if need be to break the will of a dogged or slightly larger fish. High viz fluoro line in orange, yellow or green is easiest to see when chasing after a fish under a range of light conditions. Don’t discount spin reels for marlin fishing,

as they’ve been popular in light tackle fishing for decades. The gearing and drag systems of modern day threadlines are capable of tackling most marlin and you just might find that the jigging/popper reel you already have will do the job quite well. The only drawback is the lack of an adequate harness attachment for a long fight. Rods As this article is directed at the first time angler, it’s most likely

A marlin lure running in clear water rips up the surface.

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a right way and a wrong way: The bottom tag will have trouble detaching due to the excessive number of wraps of rubber band. A single wrap will suffice.

Marlin going to happen out of a small boat, so standup rods with a short butt and a long fighting foregrip are the way to go. Game rods come with a choice of fixed guides, fixed guides with a roller tip, or a suite of roller guides. If maintenance isn’t your strong suit, stick with fixed guides and maybe a roller tip, but rollers rolling smoothly will protect the line from friction damage generated by a hot runner. For spin rods, try something about 7’ long matched to the chosen line class. As with spin reels, your jig/popper rod might be a good option. Rod Bucket and Harness A comfortable rod bucket and harness are necessary with overhead tackle, because the fight could be a sprint or a marathon. Furthermore, those metal gimbal butts designed to hold the outfit right way round in the rod holder bruise stomachs like nothing else. Black Magic, Braid and Aftco make some extremely comfortable rod bucket/harness combos that are worth every cent you’ll pay for them. If you don’t want to remain harnessed up all day (some people consider this the ultimate in bad luck, on par with bananas on boats),

get the angler measured up before you start fishing so no time is wasted attaching the gear and adjusting settings during the fight. Wind-ons For many years lures and baits were rigged on long leaders that required the services of a skilled deckhand to get an active and still jumping marlin into range of the tag pole or gaff. The development of wind-on leaders has changed all that though. The angler can basically wind the leader onto the reel and the fish to the rod tip. Just remember to spread the wind-on evenly across the spool, as its greater diameter in comparison to the main line can see it jam very quickly at the closing stages. Fishing wind-ons mean you will need to learn how to tie a double knot though, as the Dacron on the end of the wind-on requires a loop-to-loop connection. There are plenty of step-bystep guides available online and the plait is probably the best double knot, followed by the bimini twist, with the spider hitch a distant third. Just ensure that the leader the lure is rigged on is shorter than the tag pole is long, otherwise it will be difficult to reach the fish. A note of caution regarding wind-ons here;

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the quality of overseas-made product is questionable at best, so stick to an Australian-made brand like Black Pete or Goodger. Remember too, that wind-ons don’t last forever and must be binned on a regular basis. This is especially important if they’ve caught a few fish, the mono is scuffed and/ or stretched (as evidenced

by the whipping at the Dacron end separating), or the Dacron itself is frayed. When you consider the cost of the lure, hooks, snap swivel and the many hours spent to put a fish on the end of that line, frequent changes are a small price to pay. Gloves When wrapping the leader or unhooking the marlin boatside, you’ll want to

be wearing gloves. For leadering duties, gloves need reinforcing across the back of the hand and the palm so the wearer’s hands don’t get crushed by the leader pulling tight on a frisky, possibly jumping fish. Whereas once upon a time wiring gloves had to be custom made, Aftco now have a range of beauties capable of handling

everything from micro blacks to giant blues. For holding the bill and boatside photos, yellow lattice gloves are fine. Just don’t grab the bill barehanded though; it’s like a rasp and will tear watersoftened palms to pieces. LURE FISHING Skirted lure fishing for marlin is instant fishing. In fact, as long as you can

Outriggers help spread lures to prevent tangles and put them in clear water where they are more visible to the fish. A central shotgun ’rigger or a rod run long from the rocket launcher is a useful addition to the spread that pulls a lot of strikes.

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tie a snap swivel on, you could probably walk into a well-stocked tackle shop and pick up everything you need to catch a marlin without knowing any of the finer details. But of course nobody wants that. Depending on how many outfits you have, the lures are run in a staggered formation behind the boat, with the wake waves determining their position. The idea is that the lures run down the face of these pressure waves like a surfer, and depending on the boat, are generally positioned on the third, fourth, fifth and sixth waves respectively. A ‘shotgun’ lure can be run well behind the spread, which often picks up marlin, as well as yellowfin tuna, mahimahi and wahoo.

A nice patch of bait showing high in the water column. When the sounder can’t reach the bottom in deeper water, change the depth scale to 0-30 fathoms to pinpoint bait schools like this. Lure size is a subject worth examining. The old game fishing axiom states that elephants dance for peanuts, so a big fish

Depending on current strength and recruitment, black marlin swarm down the east coast in the summer months, sometimes pushing as far south as Victoria.

will eat a small lure, but a small fish will struggle to eat a big one, so temper the choice of lures. If targeting blue marlin for instance, you could run all 12-14” lures, but you may miss out on some other fun fish including blacks and stripes. Running the same lures inshore might mean that juvenile blacks will find them difficult to swallow (but that doesn’t mean they won’t try). One hook or two? One hook was considered dreadfully old school for many years, and everyone went crazy for two, but now there’s a body of thought that a single hook set well back in the skirt is actually better, especially for blues. For inshore blacks, look at lures around 5-7” long, and while stripes will eat the same size offerings, 6-10” long is a better fit. Blues like big meals, so think 10-14”, but they will ‘dance for peanuts’ too. For inshore fishing blacks and stripes, 80-300lb leader will usually be adequate, while offshore where the size of the quarry and fight times tend to increase, 300-500lb is safer. Lighter leaders allow lures to swim better, but the trade-off is the fish may wear through it over a prolonged battle.

It pays to run a variety of lure colours on the day, at least until the marlin demonstrate a particular preference. MARCH 2016

Marlin OUTRIGGERS Outrigger poles are the best way of creating a tidy lure spread, getting two lures running in clear water away from the turbulence of the wake, and avoiding tangles. If you’re unsure if marlin fishing is your thing (and believe me it’s a slippery slope if you decide to get involved after that first encounter), hold off on installing outriggers and run lures flat from the rod tips. If tangles are a problem, drop an outfit or two out of the spread. Windy days will also present headaches, with light-headed lures skipping across the wake and snaring other lines. An alert crew should be all over this to prevent it happening though… The outrigger outfits are best attached to the release clips or tag lines via a tightly wrapped #32 rubber band, which will fall off on the strike, but if not should fit through the guides and/or rollers on most game rods. With lure fishing, the best feature is the bite. Hours (or days) of staring at an empty ocean and all of sudden a dorsal fin or bill comes bustling in seemingly from nowhere. There it is!

LIVE BAIT Live baiting is another marlin option. This involves catching livies in

the form of slimy mackerel, yellowtail (yakkas), and small tuna like stripies, mac tuna or frigate

mackerel, bridle rigging and slow trolling (or even drifting) around bait schools or known billfish haunts like reefs, drop-offs and canyons. The first two species are caught using a multihook bait jig dropped

capacity, it’s better to have fewer healthy baits, than a heap of sluggish or dying ones that won’t swim well enough to catch the eye of a patrolling marlin. Tuna baits are usually caught, rigged and deployed straight away, as they won’t

line until the rod bends and line starts screaming off the reel. Got ’im on! If all goes according to plan, the circle hook will lodge around the jaw hinge and it’s unlikely to ever fall out. If you get a premature jumper it means it’s felt

Don’t overload the tank, and remove any sick looking residents. If the baits have been caught out of a berley trail, throw in a few buckets of fresh water to freshen the tank up.

This nice blue has been tagged with both a NSW DPI tag and a Billfish Foundation tag.

to the bottom over a known baitfish location, or into a school marking on the depth sounder screen. The more traditional approach is to establish a berley trail of fine berley particles inshore and fish lightly

survive long in a bait tank. They can, however, be kept alive in tuna tubes — cylindrical tubes fitted to boat transoms that are fed via a high volume pump to keep a constant stream of water passing through

the hook, so get winding straight away. Some remain connected, some don’t. SKIP BAITS Skip baits are another effective approach — especially as a Plan B if the live baits have died — and

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Small tuna like this frigate mackerel make excellent bait, whether fished live or rigged to skip. weighted handlines rigged with size 10-12 hooks. This can be more fun than the marlin fishing and sadly often proves to be the highlight of the day. Tuna species are best caught trolling Christmas trees or pink squid, or firing a chrome metal batfish profile into surface feeding fish. For yakkas and slimies you’ll need a bait tank with a 12v pump and a pick-up hanging off the transom to force water into the tank as you travel, as the pump alone may not do the job at speed. Don’t overload the tank. Depending on its

their gills. A scaled down version is also popular for slimy mackerel. Circle hooks are mandatory in structured game fishing events these days, are easier to use, and produce better hookups than ‘J’ hooks. Most importantly, they are better for fish being released. With circles, the saying goes you can never strike too late, but you can strike too early. Let the fish eat the bait, and then when you feel it’s got it down, with the boat motoring slowly forward gradually ease the drag lever up to strike, all the while winding up the

on some days it’s all that the marlin are interested in. Rigging a slimy mackerel, yellowtail, mullet, or tuna is pretty simple, and two baits are best towed high on outriggers, in staggered formation with the clicker on and just enough drag to prevent an overrun at the bite. Like lure fishing, if you’re paying attention you’ll most likely see the fish before it strikes — especially those flamboyant stripes. The hookup procedure is much the same as for live baiting. There are myriad release clips out there, but

Stick with the reputable rod bucket and harness brands like Braid, Black Magic and Aftco and you’ll have them for life. for all round reliability and a range of adjustment settings, it’s hard to go past Blacks Clips. If fishing inshore, 80-150lb fluorocarbon leader material is popular, while in deeper water hardwearing 300-500lb nylon is preferable for bigger baits and the potential for larger

with post capture, so most people choose to let them go. If you do decide to tag (or just release) your first, don’t drag it into the boat — leave it in the water for those brag pics. Lifting it aboard does the fish no favours, knocking off the protective slime, splitting fins, and even a small marlin is a big armful to handle. Keep

like you’re playing a pool shot. You’re not trying to harpoon it, as some people want to do. To get a nice boatside pic, with gloved hands get the angler to walk the marlin up towards the bow by its bill and photograph along the fish’s body, showing it in all its black, silver, lavender and blue glory. The

Circle hooks are mandatory for live baiting and trolled dead baits in organised gamefishing in Australia. They produce better hookups and are easier to use. fish. This applies to live baiting as well. TO TAG OR TAKE? Some holier-than-thou types and plenty of greenies decry the killing of any marlin, but if it’s your first or a record of some kind, keeping one is fine. As I’ve written before, just don’t make a habit of it. They’re not great eating and messy to deal

them in the water where they belong. If tagging the fish, the correct tag placement is high on the flank and just back from the dorsal fin. The tag should be held on the pole with a single wrap of a #32 rubber band at the end of the tag so it detaches when you strike the fish. The tagging motion is a short, sharp jab,

ugly mug that caught it is of secondary importance! Keep the boat moving forward at all times and the marlin should fin quietly as the hook or hooks are removed, although small blacks in particular hate being grabbed by the bill so be ready for some fireworks. If it gets too crazy, just let the fish go.

By-catch like mahimahi, yellowfin tuna and wahoo are commonplace when chasing marlin with lures and baits. MARCH 2016

Hawkesbury keeping it fresh THE HAWKESBURY

Dan Selby dan@sydneysportfishing.com.au

After a very wet start to the year the river should begin to turn back to a shade of green instead of the brown murky water we have been dealt of late. Despite the water colour, the fish have been biting well wherever cleaner tannin coloured water is found. Berowra and Cowan were the most reliable places to find a few fish by casting and retrieving soft plastic grubs and minnows along the many rock walls. Mixed bags of bream, flathead, tailor, soapy mulloway and the odd whiting have been common in the weeks after the fresh. The main river should fish well, with such an influx of nutrients in the system. Prawns thrive after big rains and the fish will be looking to fill their bellies full of these tasty crustaceans as well as smaller baitfish like whitebait, poddy mullet, herring, tailor and silver biddies that the fresh displaced.

Some great kingfish will be on offer with live baits of squid and yakka bringing the bigger fish like this 95cm hoodlum undone. Look for cleaner sections of river when you use lures, as the fish will be able to find your offering more easily. Try from Spencer back to Broken Bay on a run-out tide; you may be able to push upstream of Spencer on a run-up tide. Baitfishing will still be good in the deeper sections of discoloured

100

water, but freshwater eels may be an issue above Wisemans ferry. School mulloway will start to filter back upstream with the bream and flathead, and should be red hot as you locate the schools. These fish love nothing more than a bit of fresh, as it brings great food supply and a bit of cover to hunt in. Live baiting and lurefishing around the tide changes is the key to success, as well as finding clarity and salinity. Now is the prime time of year for fishing, as

However, a great number of kingfish and other pelagics like frigate mackerel and mac tuna are on their way and will be scooting around busting bait up on the surface. Throw in the odd bonito, tailor and salmon and you can have a ball for hours on light spin tackle. Soft plastic minnows in 2-3” versions and small metal slugs from 3-7g will assist you to hook-up and not get refused after multiple accurate casts with bigger offerings. The kingfish will be tempted with live squid and

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School mulloway will head back upstream this month. Look for cleaner, more saline water and use live baits or lures for success around the tide changes. when catching them as the predators you’re about to go looking for can turn up at the bait grounds and make for a very cheap trip out! Bass and estuary perch are common in the upper tidal water from Sackville to Dads Corner feeding on the great run of prawns and small galaxia. Surface lures have worked well early, but switching to shallow divers or lightly weighted soft plastics as the sun gets up or the boat traffic increases is a smart move. Accurate casts are a must in the tidal water as the fish hold in bankside eddies created by snags, weed beds and rocks. Some fantastic bass fishing has been had in the small creeks after the welltimed fresh, which allowed the fish to finish their migration right to the head

waters of the small feeder creeks that litter the length of the Hawkesbury. Terrestrial insects like cicadas and beetles make up a large part of the bass diet, along with macro invertebrates not dissimilar to what a trout would feed on. Retrieve your shallow crankbait or jig spinner through the pool to trigger a feeding response or a territorial response. The latter occurs when your small lure is recognised as competition for the same tiny food source and needs to be displaced from the pool. Catch and release is imperative in these small ecosystems. The old saying ‘ leave nothing but footprints and take nothing but pictures’ rings true for anyone who ventures into these pristine feeder creeks.

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Bream will be pushing back upstream this month hunting on the flats, reefs and rock walls. the daylight hours draw shorter each day and the fish become aware that leaner times are on the way and that they should make the most of their current situation. Pittwater cleared well after the fresh but the fishing was pretty average most days.

fresh cut strips either drifted through a school with minimal to no weight or slow trolled using a downrigger. Live yakkas will take the odd fish at this time of year and they can be caught from West Head at first light. Keep a close eye on the behaviour of the baitfish

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Surface activity saves the day PITTWATER

Peter Le Blang plfishfingers@bigpond.com

This coming month should see some great fishing along our coast, especially in Pittwater. Normally in Pittwater we see the larger predators move in over the last part of February and first part of March. This year may be a little different though, as everything

but the fishing activity has been spread out along Pittwater and Broken Bay. There seems to be a bit of a mix of fish at the moment, with salmon and tailor pouncing on small metal lures in the 5-10g range and the kings preferring smaller soft plastics of 100-150mm long. There can be a fair few casts between fish, but by changing lure sizes, colours and retrieve rates you should have a lot of

There are some decent flathead showing up along Pittwater. seems to be running late due to the water clarity. The dumping of over 225mm of rain in two days back in January right along the east coast has seen the warm discoloured water being locked in close to the coast in some sections. Pittwater has been one of those areas that seems to finally clear and then it rains again and the Hawkesbury rivers dirty water flows back into Pittwater once again. The water has been a little discoloured of late

fun. These same areas can see a variety of fish below the surface activity as well. For those of you who haven’t tried a micro jig yet, now may be your time. Whether you place the rod in your rod holder and drift or aggressively work the lure, you will see these lures work very well. We use the 120g size lures and whilst drifting have caught bream, flathead, salmon, tailor, kingfish and mulloway. Most fish have been caught aggressively working the lure, sometimes up to 20m

away from the surface action. Trust your sounder and look for baitfish balled up near the bottom for the best results. Downrigging in Pittwater this year is seeing mixed results. Live squid are being shunned by kings on the odd day but small yellowtail or slimy mackerel are working on those hard days. So if you can grab some livies from the West Head area it may pay dividends by the end of the day. Squid are plentiful along Pittwater at the moment and the better colours for jigs seem to be orange or pink. Both are fluoro colours, and I am sure that any fluoro or flashy hardbodied lure will work. The areas that seem to have the most squid on offer are Mackerel Beach, Palm Beach Ferry Wharf, Coasters Retreat and around both West Head and Barrenjoey Head. These last two areas can be very dangerous in certain seas and swells, so care should be taken when fishing them. Please watch your chosen area for a few minutes before heading in as on an outgoing tide and with a bit of a sea surge, your day can be ruined pretty quickly. Once you have collected your bait, the areas to try are Soldiers Point to Longnose Point, Stokes Point, around Scotland Island, Lovett Bay and McCarrs Creek. With the warmer water on the surface, it has been better to drop your baits to the bottom third of the water column, but you will need to check your squid often. There are quite a few pickers that are stripping squid baits if they get too close to the weedy areas. To combat this, you could use live yellowtail or slimies as these baits will survive longer. There are a heap of bottom fish starting to show themselves. If you are fishing after some rain, head to the deeper holes and fish the drop offs for flathead while drifting. Bait, soft plastics and micro jigs will see you coming home with a feed if you cover enough ground. Drifting the Palm Beach drop off on an

outgoing tide and around the weed edges on a rising tide should also see you tangle with a few big fish. Mulloway are still being caught along the channels of Pittwater and also in the deeper holes. The reef area near Tailors Point and Currawong Beach has seen a few smaller fish caught while drifting for flathead. Pittwater is not known for big mulloway, but there is the odd big fish hooked from time to time. For your best chance, try fishing the top of the tide change and make sure one of your baits is live squid. Along our coast, reef fishing has been great on most days. There are a lot of slimy mackerel schools over some reefs in water depths of about 80m, which in turn has attracted quite a few predatory fish. Snapper, samsonfish, flathead and morwong are being caught on most outings. If you are unlucky enough to head out

You guessed it, another squid-hungry kingfish that just couldn’t resist an easy feed.

Salmon are always great fun to catch with lures and Broken Bay is a the place to find them. when the current is raging, come back into 30-40m of water. There seems to be enough fish there to keep most anglers happy. Kings are once again along the coast and are being caught using live yellowtail or slimies, soft plastics, metals and poppers. In fact, they seem to be smashing just about everything thrown at

them. Most fish are in the smaller size brackets at the moment, but by covering ground and trying a few different tactics you should be able to locate a feed. The better areas to target along the coast are Barrenjoey Headland, Whale Beach Headland, Newport Reef, bommies at Mona Vale, West Reef, East Reef and the odd fish has

come from the Skillion at Terrigal areas. I hope that this information helps you track down a feed and sees you enjoying our wonderful part of the coast in the near future. • Peter Le Blang operates Harbour and Estuary Fishing Charters, phone 02 9999 2574 or 0410 633 351, visit www. estuaryfishingcharters.com.au

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Mahimahi make waves SYDNEY NORTH

Darren Thomas

We’re into a terrific offshore season at the moment with some very good fish being caught out the front of Sydney. Small and big boats alike have been hooking into marlin out wide with some very good mahimahi captures as well. Small skirted lures on the troll have been accounting for some cracker fish with the reports coming in thick and fast. Tom Hawley and his buddies fished with Oceanhunter Sportsfishing Charters during the break

chasing mahimahi and came up trumps. The boys were out at the 60-fathom mark off North Head and had a great session on these pelagics landing some bigger fish. The guys were live baiting and casting surface poppers and stickbaits with great success. Some of the anglers chasing the mahimahi offshore have been confronted by a few of the bigger size fish while using lighter lines, with most being successfully landed after some real battles. Brad Kearns and Rod Phillips headed out to the FADs offshore looking for mahimahi and caught a

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cracker before the rains. Kearns managed to land a 135cm fish while casting topwater stickbaits using 20lb gear. Plenty of flying fish were sighted in the area and these are terrific bait for our surface predators and a good sign that you are in the right zone. Trolling past on your first approach of any buoys will forfeit your element of surprise. Instead, you should try and drift down onto the spot with the motor off. This method has been very successful this season and often the first fish hooked up is the biggest of the day. These fish will be around while the warm water currents are off our coastline and this should stay the same for a few months yet. The Northern Beaches rock platforms have seen action aplenty, with some great sized kingfish being taken. Big kings have been very prolific this season and it will be interesting to see how long they hang around for. From casting topwater lures to spinning gars and live baiting, it seems there aren’t too many methods failing the Northern Beaches rock fisho when it comes to chasing the kings. Fish Outta Water customer David Tysoe fished a local rock ledge recently, spinning big poppers for kingfish, and it didn’t take too long before he hooked up to a decent fish on his 80lb outfit. The fight was over quite quickly and before long the gaff shot was home. Tysoe hooked the big fish at his feet while fishing the edge, which can be common when spinning from the rocks. It wasn’t long before the fish was weighed and measured in store, with a total weight

Tom Hawley and his friends with a nice mahimahi caught on a charter with Oceanhunter Sportfishing Charters.

Brad Kearns with a mahimahi that came from one of the FADs off Sydney.

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David Tysoe weighed in this chunky kingfish that he caught from the stones.

of 17.5kg and measuring a full length of 137cm. The beaches are firing at the moment with plenty of whiting and bream on the chew. Manly, Curl Curl and Dee Why have been popular spots to target these bread and butter species, with big king beach worms a preferred bait and the early morning sessions before the wind gets up proving to be the best time. Sydney Harbour is in the midst of another cracker season with plenty of surface action with kings, salmon and tailor all schooling from Sydney Heads to the Harbour Bridge and beyond. These fish are taking poppers, plastics and metals cast in their direction. Generally the fish in the middle of the school are the tailor and salmon while the kings sit on the outside and below the school. Middle Head, Quarantine Point and The Spit have been regular hangouts for these schools and are well inside casting distance from land as they trap baitfish up against the edge and in the wash. The kayaking brigade have been hitting these schools with great success and I think the stealth approach of these silent craft enable the anglers to get right in amongst the action without startling the fish. If you have summer species you are wishing to tick off the bucket list, this month is a great time to try and get it done, while the warmer waters are still with us. Kings, marlin and those big mahimahi will be around for a little while yet, but there’s no time like the present. That’s it for this month, so until next month, stay safe, be careful if heading offshore, and keep yourself protected from the sun. March is a fantastic month, let’s make it a safe one.

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Sydney kings turn up the heat SYDNEY HARBOUR

Craig McGill craig@fishabouttours.com.au

This month is, in my opinion, the peak of the summer season. Water temperatures are at their peak, and this season has proven to be exceptionally warm with those temperatures up around 24°C in the harbour and even warmer offshore.

cobia, and rainbow runner. They have all been caught in the harbour in the past so it’s not out of the question. Samson fish have been caught already. Although punctuated with regular flushes of rain, the harbour is fishing exceptionally well at the moment. Kingfish have been around in good numbers and size and the best catch so far was a 125cm taken by 10 year-old Nick Pelham.

Catching squid can be laborious at times. If you don’t enjoy squidding it can be downright painful. On a really good day you can have all you need in an hour. On a bad day you could dedicate four hours to catching some with no guarantee of success. There is a misconception that kings bite early in the day, hence panic sets in after an hour of fruitless squidding. It’s common for impatient anglers to default to catching

Heaps of family fun to be had chasing our gorgeous kings. With reports of wahoo and even sailfish offshore, I’m expecting big things on the tropical fish scene in the harbour. The EAC is pushing hard south this year, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see visits from mackerel,

His dad Gary caught a 90cm fish in the same session and I’m sure Nick reminds him regularly that 125 is much bigger than 90. The kings are munching on fresh squid, which have been abundant over the kelp beds.

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yakkas or using packet squid after minimum perseverance. This is the most detrimental mistake made by anglers who target kingfish. Kings don’t necessarily bite early in the day, my success on kings is spread evenly over the day and tide plays a much bigger role. I’ve run the fresh squid against yakka and packet squid experiment many times. Fresh squid consistently comes out on top by a ratio of 20:1. On a recent experiment, fresh squid fished alongside packet squid saw seven kings on fresh to zero on packet squid. It’s worth mentioning that the packet squid was of the highest quality, procured directly off the trawler and

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immediately vac packed and frozen. There are days when kings will eat almost anything and packet squid works a tread but it’s a rare occasion. I’ve also found that packet squid works well sometimes if the kings have been fired up with a bit of fresh squid first. While on the subject of squidding, one of the bonuses is the occasional flathead that will pounce on a squid jig over the sand patches between the kelp weed. We nailed an 80cm beauty near Manly recently. If you do hook a fish while squidding, it is essential to keep the pressure on the line as the jags are barbless and will fall straight out if the pressure comes off. Bream and school mulloway fishing has been boosted by regular rain flushes this season. All the channel markers are loaded with bream, which is great if you are targeting them but a nuisance if you are looking for kings. They are ravenous and take most baits. If you are really serious, fresh is best. The mulloway are holding on the deeper reefs and around the deeper channel markers on the lower harbour. Fresh squid is the key. Middle harbour fishes well in the section between Bantry Bay and Seaforth. FISHING STATION RELOCATION Alex and Dina are moving their well-known

Flathead are a welcome by-catch while squidding in Sydney. tackle shop, The Fishing Station, after a forced acquisition by the DMR to make road expansions for the new Northern Beaches hospital. Their business became very successful in the few short years at their current location in Frenchs Forest due to their high level of service and friendly staff. The good news is that the new shop at 50 Darley St, Mona Vale will be three times the size of the existing one,

which means there will be a greater range of tackle and increased buying power leading to cheaper prices for the customer. Alex and staff built up a solid, loyal client base who I know will need no encouragement to follow them to the new location. • If you are interested in doing a guided fishing trip on Sydney harbour with Craig McGill please call 0412 918 127 or email craig@fishabout.com.au.

AUTHOR’S OPINION

SYDNEY HARBOUR MARINE PARK A map produced by the Recreational Fishing Alliance shows that 60% of Sydney Harbour poses recreational fishing restrictions of varying degrees. These range from fully restricted through to partial restrictions and include naval waters, marine reserves, spearfishing bans, squidding bans, unfishable high traffic areas and de facto fish refuge zones – due to restrictions based on dietary advice that no fish should be eaten west of the Harbour Bridge. In addition to this, the entire harbour shoreline is intertidal protected zone, which means no collecting of any sort. Sydney harbour is still very much a ‘working‘ harbour. It’s also the busiest waterway in Australia. At times the traffic is almost ridiculous. Accidents and near misses are commonplace most weekends. A study produced by RMS forecasts that by 2021 there will be an additional 5000 vessels vying for a spot in Sydney Harbour. Half of these will be over 6m. Most

recent marina expansions are to cater for boats over 15m. With much of the shoreline already inaccessible due to city, urban and commercial encroachment, the remaining foreshore is crammed with various users. The safe northeast and southerly protected anchorages are also at capacity on most weekends. In summary, the harbour is full. In light of this, it’s hard to imagine how someone could see Sydney Harbour as a suitable venue for a marine park, complete with lock out zones. However, this is possible to occur when the marine estate management authority hands down its recommendations in the near future. Surely any criteria for assessing a location for suitability of a marine park would include a measure of existing overcrowding and safety issues – of which the harbour has no shortage. Despite the recommendations, any actual lockouts are in fact a long way off. There is a lot

of science to be done. Lack of adequate baseline studies is one of the shortcomings and a source of criticism of marine parks. An amendment bill was passed recently in parliament that said that all future marine parks had to be supported by science. This includes adequate baseline studies, which can take from 8-10 years to complete. In addition to this, they would need to conduct environmental impact studies on ‘transfer of effort’ and address safety issues caused by condensing the user groups into a smaller area. It’s been rumoured that, should Sydney lockouts go ahead, the minister has vowed that he will insist on adequate base line studies and that, at least some lockout zones will apply to all user groups - including divers. I’m sure this is something that genuine conservation groups would welcome. – Craig McGill • The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the opinion of this publication. – Fishing Monthly

Bread and butter bonanza SYD ROCK & BEACH

Alex Bellissimo alex@bellissimocharters.com

I get to speak to a lot of fishers every week, who frequently ask questions like where are the fish biting? What rig do you use? Which lures? Bait? What tides? The list goes on. But one of the most frequently asked questions is ‘what month or months are the best?’

species that we pursue. The water temperature will maintain that balmy 21-23°C. As I have mentioned in the past, every month excites me for one or more species. The snapper are still in the washes, and there is an added bonus of some nice bream mixed in as well. The 3-5oz snapper sinkers are the most frequently used sinker type for distance casting if the fish are out a bit further. The same weights in a star-type pattern

Spinning big sea gars is great for kings, but the bycatch can be worthwhile too. A 1.5m bronze whaler shark, which was released, and a 47cm snapper took the spun gars instead of the intended kingy. The snapper hit the gar when it was being spun very quickly! Here is the problem: even though you may be fishing the peak months for whatever species you’re pursuing there are quiet or quieter periods for that species within that month. I remind my clients that we all have bad outings, even during the peak months. I won’t go into explaining how to vastly reduce the risk of not catching your target species, which would take up more than several magazines, but I will say by going out on one of my guiding trips you will get the satisfaction of being much more confident in the future! Summer is now a memory, but not according to the fish

or to a lesser extent nowadays, the spoon, will do just fine. I prefer the snapper sinker for casting aerodynamics, because of its missile-like shape. The locations that have been producing snapper distance casting are North Whale Headlands, as there’s only a 50-70m cast required there. There’s also the odd flathead and bream to be caught as well. North Newport Rocks is okay, but it can be fished only in flat conditions. Warriewood High Ledge is a good option if there are rough conditions, like a 2m+ swell. Another good rough

water distance casting ledge is South Curl Curl, which is approximately 150m south of Flat Rock. Some sizeable snapper to 45cm have been coming in from South Curl Curl. For the wash fishers, try Bluefish Front, South Curl Curl near the point, Dee Why‚ Sloping Rock and off Mona Vale Pool. These areas have been producing a mix of snapper, bream, salmon, small kings and bonito in the washes on half to 3/4 pillies, large prawns and squid strips. Breaming in the shallows at Long Reef has been good lately. I have seen anglers landing good quality bream only metres from the old cleaning table, all around to the last ledge before the Long Reef and Dee Why side of the beach. Another good shallow water spot is off North Curl Curl pool. There are less bream there, but it’s a real good spot for luderick and small rock blackfish. Fish to 38cm have been landed, which is a great quality fish on 2.5kg line in the shallows. Mixed in are some big yellow-eyed mullet, luderick and some rambunctious rock blackfish. Wading around in shin to near waist deep water using half pillies, Hawkesbury prawns and blood worms has been working great. Bags of 4-8 fish are fairly regularly being caught. The high tide in the low light periods works the best. Sometimes there’s no need to wade out, instead you can walk along the shoreline on the high tide period and cast in the 0.8-1.5m deep water with good results. The kings and other pelagics will be good this month, and I would be having a go at the run of mac tuna and frigate mackerel. The large kings will be close to them, using their stealth methods to hunt and catch an unaware tuna! Gar spun on gangs or two hook snelled hooks in the 5/0-8/0 size with a minimum of 60-80lb leader and 24-37kg braid or mono is necessary for these big fish. Big poppers and stickbaits in that 130-150mm size are a good alternative if you want to use lures. Definitely one of the best baits for kings is squid. Kings find it hard to swim past one that is well presented and

suspended under a float or a balloon in that early morning period. The only problem with a whole squid is that it might get hammered by a salmon or a tailor, but it’s definitely worth the risk for a big kingy. On the beaches, the whiting, good dart, bream and tailor are on the chew in most places. All these species except the dart are also biting at night, especially the tailor. Bronze whaler sharks and some nice mulloway to 18kg are being caught from Newport, and Dee Why Beach. Live yellowtail, mullet and whole fresh squid are the most sought after baits. The sharks are in good numbers, and some are up to 1.5m and great sport on 12-15kg gear. I recommend that you have at least 6-10 ready made two hook leaders, because you will need the spares! An alternative is 100-150lb crimp on wire , which will slow down the loss

Gary Hunt didn’t mind the rain conditions because he had a good day. Never forget your rain coat, even if the skies are blue.

Father and son Daniel and Michael O’Brien were fishing in a beach corner during a 2m+ swell. These are the sorts of spots that you go to when the swells are up off the beach. of leaders and hooks on these toothy critters. The high tides that fall between 8.30pm-1am are my pick of the tides. The later tides are good because often you may be fishing near or within a few hundred metres of the well lit public swimming pools. I like to fish it when the pool lights get switched off. Try Manly, Curl Curl, Narrabeen, Bungan, and Palm beaches for the sharks and mulloway. For the smaller species, the Manly to Queenscliff section of the beach, Dee Why from southern corner to the pole,

Collaroy to south Narrabeen surf club and Bilgolah and Palm beaches on the northern end are all worth a look. Manly, Curl Curl, and Narrabeen are producing good flathead for the tailor anglers. Live beach worms, blood worms, tube worms, pink nippers and as an alternative, peeled small prawns are good options for bait when chasing tailor. The entrance to Narrabeen lagoon is producing good bags of whiting in the evenings, especially late at night. You can fish the waters of the

lagoon entrance to the surf zone, and it may pay to have two outfits. I tend to use both a 2m rod for the calmer area, and for the surf zone, a 2.8-3.2m whip rod. Both are suited for 2.5-3.5kg mono or braid and comfortably handle the same species. Until next month, enjoy your autumn and happy fishing. • For rock and beach guided fishing or tuition in the northern Sydney region, visit www. bellissimocharters.com, email alex@bellissimocharters.com or call Alex Bellissimo on 0408 283 616.

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A great story of rags to riches BOTANY BAY

Gabe Quercigrosse gabeandgabe@bigpond.com

As forecast in last month’s issue, the entrance to the Georges River delivered the goods in the shape of outstanding catches. I also pointed out that this was the time to find new spots. Well, I found one in the shape of a reefy, shaly type of bottom right in the middle of the Georges River between Towra Point and Dolls Point. I tried this possie at least five times during February with

surprising results. After losing fish after fish on light gear I decided to step up the tackle with heavier artillery, and this paid off. I got big flathead, bream, tailor, tarwhine, snapper, cobia and really good size kingfish. Yes, that’s right: kingfish in the Georges River. Unheard of! The kings peaked at around 5kg. Few anglers in this neck of the woods would dispute that, pound for pound, these are the best fighting fish one could hope to get on the end of a line. When you get to my age, make sure you’re reasonably fit because

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as the tenacity of these brutes, combined with their power, will test you fully. Quality bait is of paramount importance for these fish. I have found locally sourced squid to be the best enticer, making all the difference. Freshly cut strips around 10cm long by 2cm wide are ideal, with the slices cut diagonally. This exposes a larger portion of the squid with real flavour, and all of the above mentioned species absolutely love it. And if you can get your hands on some thin slices of frigate mackerel, they will produce the larger fish. The bloody texture is irresistible to most species. Berley is useless here. It brings the toadfish and stingrays around in droves, and that results in loss of money, gear and fish as you need to check your traces for any abrasions or cuts. In other news, the often ignored blue swimmer crabs are prolific in the bay and Georges River at this time of year, and make fantastic eating. The best areas to find crabs are between the Captain Cook and Tom Uglys bridges, along the northern and southern foreshores, up into Kogarah Bay on the weed beds, and Woolooware Bay down to Towra Point along its foreshore. In the bay itself, just about the entire area will produce crabs, with the stretch off Ramsgate Baths and the end of the airstrip an excellent option to set your traps. Know the Fisheries rules because you never know when an inspector will pop up. When selecting a bait, some of the most successful are fish frames of blackfish, mullet, trevally and tailor, with my preference being blackfish. Always set your traps out of boating channels

or you’ll suffer heavy losses, and allow enough cord from your trap to the marker for tide variations. Check your traps about every half hour. If you haven’t gotten any crabs after an hour, move to another area and reset your traps. Crabs are found in both slack and fast running water but they don’t like a fresh after rain. They disappear and only reappear when the water is clear again. If you would like my recipe on how to cook the crabs please contact the magazine and I will forward the information. The weather played a major role during the past few weeks, confining the fishing to the lower reaches of the system and Botany Bay itself with copious amounts of chocolate-coloured fresh water. At times the fishing can excel in these conditions. In Botany Bay, good catches of dusky flathead were taken on the drift in Yarra Bay between the sailing club and La Perouse, both on plastics and Hawkesbury prawns. The Squidgy Grasshopper has proven to be a real fish taker as well. The drift between Molineaux Point and Bare Island produced larger fish during the outgoing tide, with strips of fresh mullet working well. Surprisingly, not a lot of lizards were taken on the southern shoreline but a few fish were taken on the northern side of the shoreline between San Souci and Dolls Point. Bream have been taken from most of the recognised possies, no doubt flushed out by the fresh in the river. Peter Barrett and myself caught 33 (we kept 20), 19 and 14 over three outings between Towra and Dolls Point, and these fish would rank among the best conditioned specimens

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The author got these fish, plus a heap of bream, in the middle of the Georges River on a weedy/sandy bottom in 20ft of water between Towra and Dolls Point. I’ve seen in my long career. Most of the fish ranged between 34-41cm and were caught on locally-sourced squid strips. At one point I saw a big bream skipping along the surface chased by a hammerhead shark, with the bream eventually winning. Good fish have also been boated in front of Cook Park at Ramsgate. This less popular location can sometimes produce the goods when other options fail, particularly on weekends when there is too much traffic on more popular haunts. Nice fish were taken between the weed corridors in front of Bonna Point. This spot is also known as ‘The Patches’, and fishes best in the shallows after dark during the making tide. The best baits are live nippers and bloodworms. The Cooks River break wall, as always, is a good standby, with a few good fish taken at night from the northern wall by anglers using nippers. I’m told a few

of the fish have nudged the kilo mark. In all fairness, all this stretch between the Grand Parade on the entrance to the system has always been a great fish producer but you need live bait if you want good returns. A frozen packet of prawns will not yield you fish. Nice flatties have been taken land-based between Brighton-Le-Sands and Dolls Point, particularly at first light, and the groynes on the southern side have been productive for tailor at night and the odd school mulloway. The whiting have been slow. Although a few class fish were taken along the Caravan Head channel at night, no decent specimens have caught during the day – only the small trumpeters. Offshore the usual haunts have produced reasonable catches. The 12 Mile Reef, although very heavily fished, has rewarded the live bait users with kings to 95cm. Big leatherjackets have also

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MARCH 2016

A monster mahimahi caught by the one and only Chicken Pete off Sydney.

been on the prowl, destroying paternoster rigs. One wellknown charter boat lost 65 sinkers in a morning session! Mahimahi have been around the traps near the Nine Mile Reef, and that is about the only place that can be fished for them with a bit of optimism. The Peak has been hot and cold, with one

necessity. It may take up to half an hour to work but it will be worth it. You’ll also find bream in the cockle bed in front of the old runway. One good way is to hook a few up when you’re fishing so you know you’re in the right spot. Bream will be available in front of the sailing club at

The result of a top day in the Bay: a bag limit of bream to 38cm, two flathead to 50cm, four whiting to 48cm and a legal red of 34cm. day firing and quiet the next. I’ve heard of a few kings boated at the Wedding Cake off Coogee but nothing to write home about. Flathead have been the mainstay but they seem to be feeding in deeper water than in previous weeks. The most consistent area has been around Botany Heads. The 40-50m drift has provided many lizards between 45-55cm, and there is always the added bonus of picking up a mowie or snapper when covering a patchy bottom. A few pan-size reds have been taken at anchor close to the Kurnell Peninsula on floating baits, while bonito have made a welcome appearance along the cliff faces, with the best lure by far being the 3.5” Yamashita white skirt trolled at about 6 knots. Beach fishers have been doing well on the tailor on the southern side of Maroubra Beach in front of the Seals Club, and both Congwong and Little Congwong have provided excellent land-based catches of blurters. MARCH PREDICTIONS Over the last few years I’ve found March to be an excellent month to chase bream. The run can be quite prolific, and produce fish to 1.5kg. I usually park myself in front of the boat ramp at Kurnell, in line with the oil wharf in water approximately 4-4.5m deep, looking for scattered weed, sand and shoal patches. I nearly always return home with a good feed. I believe all this area between Towra and Kurnell produces at this time of year, and the action will continue until May. Simply look for a bit of structure which may interest the bream. Allow yourself a little extra time for your berley to work as this is a

San Souci and should start to make an appearance on the rough terrain in front of Connells Point. Trevally should be on the chew near the oil wharf at Kurnell. Make sure you fish the tide to suit the wind, otherwise you’ll miss out. The channel markers in front of the Port Botany reclamation wall will reward you with bigger blurters but once again, berley is a necessity. The same thing applies to the floating buoys in front of the runways – just pepper them until you find the schools. The second

pylon on the southern side of Captain Cook Bridge is also worth a try for blurters as they school near the pylons looking for a feed. School mulloway will be in force on the dropover in front of the new runway, and not too far away from the drum on the Kurnell oil wharf. You will also find them in front of the second pylon on the northern side of Como Bridge. Whiting remain a mystery to me; these last few weeks have been very disappointing. My theory is that the bream have chased them away from the sand flats, and they may be lurking on the edge of the channels in the estuaries. I would suggest the stretch between Oatley Bay and Coronation Bay, the northern channel between Como Bridge and Gungah Head, the opposite side of Cranbrook and the wire fence and along the edges of Douglas Park flats. I’m really excited about these challenges, which require a lot of passion and patience. I’ll keep you posted next issue. By the way, the bass are still on at Douglas Park, Menangle Weir, the Grove Bridge, Cobbity Weir and Wallacia Bridge on the Nepean. You’ll catch them with Soft Shell Cicada lures. • For all your fishing needs, as well as the latest info on what’s biting, drop into Gabe’s Boating and Fishing at Narellan (4/1A Somerset Ave), or Silvania (268/264276 Princes Hwy). You can also call them on (02) 4647 8755 or (02) 9522 5100 respectively, or visit the website at www.gbaf.com.au.

Peter caught this nice size mulloway on a squid. MARCH 2016

Worm up for best bait results SYDNEY SOUTH

Gary Brown gbrown1@iprimus.com.au

Even though January and February may have been a bit slow at times in the southern areas of Sydney, there were some great bags to be had and throughout March you will surely see an improvement in the number of anglers getting out and finding good bags of fish. Scotty Lyons from Southern Sydney Fishing Tours has caught a number of silver trevally to 40cm while anchored up and berleying at the Sticks, the end of the third runway, trevally alley and on the southern side of the Bare Island bombora. The most effective bait has been peeled prawns, pink nippers and half pillie tails. Berley with chicken pellets and smashed up old pilchards to increase your catch rate. I’ve been out chasing dusky flathead, bream, trevally and whiting in Botany Bay and the Port Hacking River and my best captures have been on live pink nippers, blood worms and fillets of pilchards. Places that would be worth a look at in Botany Bay for those fishing out from a boat

Even though the Port Hacking River has been a bit on the dirty side due to the rain we have experienced, the fish have been on the chew. Daniel from Bundeena fished off the spit at the end of Maianbar and caught three whiting, two dusky flathead and one trevally. All were caught on pink nippers that were pumped at Maianbar.

trevally and drummer. Berley with bread and smashed up old pilchards to get them on the chew. Further south, Garie, Stanwell and Era beaches have produced salmon and tailor early in the morning or just as the sun goes down. Whole pilchards or garfish on a set of ganged hooks have been effective.

a few. He recommends fishing on a rising tide with mullet fillets during March. You could also try Bald Face Point, Kangaroo Point and off the shoreline on the southern side of Lugarno. If you get a chance, head down to the beach at Wanda and chase a feed of fish. I was down there recently and managed to get a few whiting,

Keep catching those carp Jeremy! Let’s get rid of them at Fitzroy Falls Dam.

The author with a 55cm kingfish caught while blading for flathead just off Towra Point. bream and a couple of large dart. All the fish were caught on beach worms using a paternoster rig. Stanwell Park and Garie beaches would also be worth a shot. For those that prefer to fish on the northern side of Botany Bay you could try Maroubra and Bondi beaches in the early part of the morning before too many people get

up. Try the afternoon for salmon and tailor while using whole pilchards. Jeremy Reid, who was fishing in the southern highlands at Fitzroy Falls Dam near Robertson, managed to get a nice carp using corn for bait. If you don’t mind fishing for trout and carp, Fitzroy Falls Dam is worth a trip. Take along a couple of rods, a can of corn, a comfortable chair and a few lures and you too could help clean out the carp from the dam. You’d also be in with a chance of landing a trout. Offshore fishing has been a bit of a hit and miss affair – you will need to do the hard yards to find the fish

one day and the next they’ll be just about jumping in the boat. Snapper, morwong and pigfish have been caught off the close inshore reefs north and south of the entrance to Botany Bay. Try drifting Osborn Shoals, Hacking Wreck, Boat Harbour and the Kurnell Cark Park. I will be busy holding talks at a couple of BCF stores this month. Catch me at Taren Point on 9 March, and at Warrawong on 30 March. I will also be running a lure only class at Windybanks Bait and Tackle during March. If you are interested in coming along send me an email and I will send you the details.

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Lilly attended a NSW Fisheries fishing clinic and wanted to put her skills to the test on All at Sea Charters with a few friends. include the end of the old runway, the third runway, the fisheries markers in Yarra Bay, Henry Head, Sutherland Point, Watts Reef, Sliver Beach and the deep drop-off at Towra. Anglers who fish from the shore should try the northern side of Tom Uglys Bridge, the north and south side of Captain Cooks Bridge, the hand rails off Dolls Pont, the breakwall at the entrance to the Cooks River, the breakwall at Fishermans Beach in Yarra Bay and Bare Island. The Point at Kurnell would also be worth a shot on a rising tide. 22

MARCH 2016

Other places that you could try from the shore in the Port Hacking River would be Jibbon Beach during a southerly wind, Wanda through to Greenhill beach during a northeast wind, Gymea Bay baths and the wharf at either Lilli Pilli or in Bundeena Bay. Boating anglers should try the southern side of the southwest arm, the drop-off at Lilli Pilli, the entrance to Yarra and Gymea bays and just inside the heads at Jibbon. The rocks off Cronulla, Boat Harbour and Marley are worth a shot for bream,

My preferred baits are blood worms and pink nippers, but if you are not into pumping for your nippers, you could always take a run over to Mac’s Bait Bar at Blakehurst and pick up a few. While you’re there, pick up a few blood and beach worms. They also sell IQF pilchards. They are situated on the northern side of Tom Uglys Bridge and are open every day. Their phone number is 9546 1341. Peter Wright from Como chased mulloway from the northern side of the bridge during February and managed

Gary Brown will be holding a Lure Only Class at Windybanks Bait and Tackle at Mount Colah on three Wednesday nights in March 2016. There will be plenty of handouts, free stuff and information on how to do it and a lucky door prize. You can be a novice who has been struggling with the use of lures or someone who has been using them for some time. Over three nights Gary will be covering what types of hardbodies, blades, soft plastics and jigheads to use when targeting kingfish, mulloway, flathead, bream, whiting, snapper, bass and trevally. You will learn what rod and reel outfits are suited for each of the above fish species and suggested braids, fluorocarbon and knots to use for each outfit.

You will learn a variety of techniques to improve how you fish with soft plastics from both off the shore and out of the boat. Gary will cover how to use the soft plastics, hardbodies and blades on the surface, shallow to deep in the estuary and offshore. BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! After the three nights of the classes has finished, Gary will email you information on using soft plastics, hardbodied lures and blades in the form of the following: Handouts for you to print off if needed and suggested YouTube clips, DVD titles and books to look out for. There will also be suggested lure packs for hardbodied, soft plastic and blades for you to purchase from the Windybanks shop. Thee will be book titles and DVD’s on lure fishing

for you to purchase and a lucky door prize that will be drawn on the last night. And on each night before you start you can enjoy a fish barbeque and salad meal. So if you are interested in coming along to the class you will need to book and pay as the spots will be limited as this is a very hands-on type class. You will need to contact Gary via email for the details on how to pay. The cost is $95 per person. The running of this specialized class will depend on numbers. – Gary Brown SESSION TIMES Wednesday 2 March 6:30-9:30pm Wednesday 16 March 6:30-9:30pm Wednesday 23 March 6:30-9:30pm

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The Richmond River has fished well over the last month. The fresh water stirred up most of the species in the lower

Rock Crab colour have been dynamite. If you’re after a feed of whiting, try the flats across from the town centre around the RSL club or the weed beds around North Creek. Make sure you have something rigged for a good-size flathead as you may come across some good fish and be able to sight cast at them in the shallows. The mud crabs have been a bit quiet of late

produced good numbers of quality bream on light crankbaits with the Atomic Crank 38 the stand out performer. You will come across a few of our red friends, the mighty mangrove jack, so be prepared to either beef up your gear or go back to the tackle shop with your wallet. They say if you’re not losing lures, you’re not having fun.

Adrian Melchior with a bream caught on the new Rock Crab Atomic Crank 38.

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Josh Carter with a cracking snapper on a Jerk Minnow soft plastic. as there is a little too much fresh in the system. The rock walls along the town stretch and up Emigrant Creek have

There are some good numbers of bream caught off the beaches; the dart and tailor however, have been a little quiet. Try the gutters

around Boundary Creek along South Ballina for some good size flathead. Blades, slugs and heavy soft plastics will do the trick if you can’t come across fresh bait. Offshore there have been some quality snapper on the 32 fathoms as well as some good size trag. The mahimahi have been very consistent off the FADs, however since mid-December the mackerel have defied expectations and are all over the place.

One day they are swimming around Black Head and the next at Riodens Reef. The upper reaches of the river have been hit and miss for bass. A big influx of fresh from the Tatham arm has dirtied up the junction at Coraki. Chatter baits, spinner baits and dark coloured loud crankbaits around the drains and creek mouths are your best bet to find some good fish. The fish will start to get active again once the water starts to clear up.

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MARCH 2016

Make sure you’re prepared for the big bites! THE TWEED

David Solano

The north and south walls have seen some epic action. I’ve started fishing the end of the Fingal wall casting into either the surf side or the river. Last time I was out there I used plastics, chicken and a big popper, but I was late to the party and missed out on the best spot, which in my opinion is right out the end on the river side.

KINGFISH The two guys who fished there used pillies and got stuck into the chopper tailor, when all of a sudden there was a huge commotion as one of the boys hooked what looked like a metre plus mulloway. A beautiful specimen, it’s pink stripe glistened in the morning sunlight, however, panic set in as the fisher only had 15lb mono on – he was in a little dilemma. It was way too dangerous to climb down there so he ever so gently tried to lift the fish up; a big wave came

through and snapped the line. I learnt a lesson there – buy a rope gaff. In addition to mulloway, the rock walls seem to have attracted some bigger predators and big yellowtail kings have been caught. Although there is no consistency with kingfish fishing, they are there alongside some decent spotted trevally. Bream have slowed right down on the walls – I’d never eat a bream but I’ve noticed the fishers that do, have disappeared from

A great feed of delicious flathead!

What a wonderful place toPM be –Page fish1or no fish, it’s magic! STA15827HP-FM_Layout 1 10/09/14 4:16

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the walls and have moved up river to fish for them from Drydock Road in front of the cadet school, at the Maritime Museum Bridge. FLATHEAD Last month I was the lizard king, this month I’m a burger king – I haven’t caught a decent lizard for a while. The good news is they are around, just avoiding me. They have been caught up the Cobaki and Terranora arms of the river, but for a tastier, fresher table fish, the water

out near the seaway is much clearer and at this time of year that’s where the big girls go. A super spot to target these fish is close to where the waves stop breaking on the Fingal side of the river. There’s a deep hole with the remains of a barge wreck on the bottom, I fished it one day on the high tide and I could actually see several big flathead lying on the ribs of the wreck. To fish this spot you’ll need a boat and a good sounder. I suggest on the high tide with a pair of

polarised sunnies to make your fishing experience that much more memorable – without them I’d never have spotted those fish. I recently got a pair of the new Tonic Splice sunnies, which have made fishing very enjoyable. Whiting are in great condition and live nippers still do the job. Catch whiting in shallow water around or on top of weed banks. Opposite Drydock Road there is an array of sandbanks to pump for nippers on the low tide.

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MARCH 2016

Sunnies: Put ’em on your face! NSW STH COAST

Steve Starling www.starlofishing.com

Buying yourself a decent pair of polarising sunglasses is one of the best things you can do to not only improve your fishing, but also protect your eyes. Today, most anglers

acknowledge the importance and value of wearing polarising sunglasses whenever they wet a line, at least during daylight hours. These glasses not only allow us to see through the surface glare, and provide a much better picture of what’s going on underwater, they also give essential protection for our eyes from damaging

ultraviolet radiation, flying fish hooks, stray rod tips and poking tree branches. Remember, we only get issued with one set of eyes for an entire lifetime, so it really pays to look after them! While you may be able to get by with a pair of cheap sunnies from the local service station or supermarket, this type of budget eyewear won’t

Sight fishing for species such as trout is heavily dependent on the use of quality sunglasses, but they are also invaluable to most other fishing styles, and provide essential protection for your eyes.

perform anywhere near as well, nor last as long, as a pair of quality polarised sunglasses from a reputable maker. You wouldn’t (or shouldn’t!) rely on a $25 fishing reel to provide reliable, long-term service, so it’s a big mistake to expect the same from cheap sunnies. Spend a couple of hundred bucks (just as you would on a premium reel) and you’ll end up with a product that works extremely well and will serve you for many, many years — so long as you don’t drop them overboard or leave them on the seat of the car where they can be sat on! There are many great brands of fishing eyewear on the market these days. I make no secret about being a diehard Mako fan, but there are half a dozen other high profile makers who offer products of a similarly high standard. Shop around, ask questions, talk to your mates and seek out as many opinions as possible before choosing your glasses, and try to opt for a company that advertises fishing-specific models, rather than an ultra fashion-conscious (and ultraexpensive!) supplier catering primarily to the surfing, snow skiing or night clubbing fraternity.

The author would rather leave his favourite rod or reel at home than forget his sunnies! There are several excellent brands on the market. LENS LESSONS You can go with either glass or polycarbonate lenses. Glass is heavier, but also stronger, more resistant to scratching, and arguably a little better optically, although modern polycarbonate lenses from the top makers are very good. You’ll need to take better care of them than glass, which means not cleaning your sunnies with the sleeve or tail of a grubby, gritty fishing shirt! Carry a proper lens cleaning cloth, keep it clean and use it regularly.

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MARCH 2016

These two images of a small whiting feeding in the shallows clearly demonstrate the immense difference a pair of quality polarising sunglasses can make to your fishing!

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Fantastic family fishing on the Clarence River ILUKA

Ross Deakin

Holy barnacles it’s been hot in Iluka the last few weeks! Local temperatures have soared into the mid-30s on many days with some hectic afternoon storms.

Local fishing in the river has been slow to steady with some nice whiting taken, especially around Freeburn Island on sand banks with worms and poppers. Lots of smaller bream are around, but some nice size has been taken off the main wall and beaches especially in Shark Bay with fish up to 45cm

The spotty mackerel have made a few appearances, with bag limits made at Woody Head. Young Cooper Mulcahy brought his 2.7kg fish in for a weigh-in on the 28 January, way to go Cooper! Tailor have been caught in the river and off the beaches with some good patches but can be sporadic. A nice 2.2kg fish rawn ladlong ago aP b m weighed notBtoo a es” “Y was from Jerusalem Creek. The Tuna should start to

make more of an appearance soon. A very nice size Spanish mackerel was seen caught off the wall a couple of weeks ago. There are still a few mulloway around 75-100cm size caught on squid, octopus and hardbodies. Doug Marshal weighed in a 19.5kg mulloway on 14 January caught at the Bluff on a hardbody lure. Make sure you check your Almanac for the best moon and tide times.

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Fishing can be a fantastic family day out. Check out this solid mulloway causing great smiles all round!

taken on squid. The flathead have been elusive up this end of the river, but a few nice fish have been caught around Collis Wall and around the back of Palmers Island. There

have been some nice luderick found at the Bluff such as Graham Moore’s 1kg fish on the 29 January. The Old Ferry crossing has seen a few nice catches as well.

Predators are hot on the March ILUKA

Ben Pilch bjpcdh@gmail.com

Outside, the fishing has been firing with mackerel still getting around in numbers when the swell plays the game, and trolling has been the best way to get into a few. The translucent pink squid with glitter in them have been the best producing lures on the mackerel. There has been the odd cobia getting around on the inshore reefs but not as many as in previous months. If you want to target them, livies would be the best bet, but make sure you come prepared with some heavier gear. The black tip sharks in Shark Bay have still been plentiful if you like a bit of flake. These black tip sharks are great for getting kids into fishing, so if you want to get out and have some fun with the kids, drag the boat down to Shark Bay. In the river, whiting have been a bit slow, but flathead and muddies have been around in good numbers. If you do want to try for some whiting, night time fishing around the new moon using nippers and live worms on a run-out tide on any of the sand flats in the lower river is your best bet. On the flathead side of things, the majority of

the action will still be in the bottom end of the river. Bright coloured plastics and blades are your best bet with chartreuse being my all time favourite colour to chase a feed of flatties. The muddies are very active, and any of the offshoots of the lakes like Woolaweyah in Yamba or the Broad Water up past Maclean will be good places to rustle

with plenty of light-fingered people that are not happy with just taking your crabs, but also love to take your pots as well, which can make for an expensive outing. Upriver, the bass fishing has been very good to say the least. Night time surface sessions have been crazy with larger lures in the 70-90mm range attracting many quality fish.

Leavey Lures Jew Lure

has been working a treat as the sun gets high in the sky. If the water has had colour in it due to the rain, a bit of flash and shine with a spinnerbait has made a great difference in enticing a bite. With the onset of March, it’s time to dust the landbased game gear off and make sure everything is in working order, as we are hitting the prime time of the

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Curtis Parkes with a chunky 51cm midday Clarence River bass. up a feed of crabs. Remember to keep a close eye on your pots as we share the water

During the day, slow rolling 4” plastics rigged weedless around the snags

year to get out and chase those pelagic speedsters off the stones.

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Settled conditions for the unsettled anglers The action has been fairly consistent throughout most creek and river systems with good whiting in the lower estuaries responding very well to surface lures. The middle and upper reaches have provided plenty of bream action, and once again surface lures have been the weapons of choice. The juvenile jacks have remained in almost plague proportions with larger models quite hard to find. This makes for great fun on the bream gear though. Throwing small lures like the

COFFS HARBOUR

Stephen Worley worleybirdfilms@hotmail.com

The beginning of autumn is here but we’re not going down hill yet. This summer has been an incredible season on many fronts. In March, it’s set to continue with water temperatures warm and hopefully more settled weather. The estuaries have seen decent amounts of rain, but just little bits at a time.

Bassday Sugapen and OSP Bent Minnow can produce a great mixed bag session of bream, flathead, trevally and jacks. Further up the rivers the bass fishing has been just as hot. Most of the time the bass have been willing to take surface lures, even into the middle of the day. At night, big surface crawlers have been very successful. Don’t be afraid to go big! Lures like the Koolabung Basswalker and Jackall Pompadour Junior may seem too big, but at night

With so many small fish in the local creeks this year, mangrove jack populations are looking great for the future.

Solitary Islands Marine Park Planning a trip to the Coffs Coast? There’s plenty to see and do! The Solitary Islands Marine Park is renowned for its excellent fishing, diving, snorkelling, surfing and many other family activities. Spanning 75km of coastline from Muttonbird Island at Coffs Harbour to Plover Island at Sandon, the Marine Park is over 71,000 hectares in size. The five Solitary Islands and surrounding reefs are a key feature of the Park.

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MARCH 2016

has settled and the fish are certainly on if you can get out. Pretty much anywhere from the headlands and inshore reefs out to the islands and deep banks have produced mackerel almost at will. Whether on stickbaits, hardbodies, poppers, jigs or traditional live baits there have been both spotty and Spanish mackerel on the cards. After being embarrassed by the spotted mackerel sizes last year, the Spanish mackerel seem to have reaffirmed their position as big brother this season. Fish in the 10-20kg

caught this last month. This may be due to most anglers chasing mackerel now, rather than kingfish. Longtail tuna should continue to increase in numbers this month as the East Australian Current reaches its peak flow for the year and water temperatures hit their climax. Really, March is the climax of the summer season in the offshore waters. Now is the time when pretty much everything is on the cards. You could catch mackerel or kingfish, snapper or trevally, mulloway or marlin. Each

PHOTO: NICOLA JOHNSTONE

Prior to visiting the Park pick up a Zoning Summary and User Guide from the local marine park office at 32 Marina Drive, Coffs Harbour Jetty

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Sam Gilchrist has been raking in double mackerel hook ups while fishing solo in the By The Gills Apparel team boat.

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In the Solitary Islands Marine Park there is over 550 species of reef fish, 100 species of coral and 600 species of mollusc. Marine parks are multiple use and a zoning plan is in place to manage this natural asset.

they have been my go-to lures, even in skinny water. The Pompadour Junior makes the sound you would expect from throwing a small family wagon into the river with a trailing Christmas sleigh, but it certainly attracts attention and will draw in both small and large fish from far away. You won’t win any finesse awards with shutdown fish, but any fish within earshot that’s on the hunt for a feed will certainly come in for a taste. Right up the top of the hill the first half of the trout season has been rather quiet. With a little more water in the creeks this past month there have been a few more options for chasing these spotted foreigners. If you have some flexibility in picking your days, try and get up the hill on the overcast days when the fish are more active during daytime hours. You still may need to go subsurface to get the bite, but it’s better than those hot days where they just go into hiding. Back down on the coast the whiting and bream are in good numbers in the beach gutters with the odd school mulloway throwing in a decent fight on light gear. On the headlands and breakwalls large hardbody lures and soft plastics are producing very consistent results on the school mulloway, but not a lot of larger models. Land-based options with access to deep water are always an option for chasing mackerel off the stones this month. Stickbaits and hardbodies will cover ground well, but if you can snag a day with offshore winds a drifting live bait under a balloon is very hard for many predators to resist.

Billy Patterson admiring the weight of this 54cm bass he caught on a canoe trip in the Coffs Coast hinterland. In the offshore realm, it has been the continual heavy weather at the start of this year that prevented a lot of fishing. Over the recent weeks though, the weather and swell

class have been regular with a few large 30kg+ fish being reported. There have still been some kingfish around but fewer decent fish have been

have their favoured locations and techniques but no matter what you’re doing this month and where, when that line comes up tight, it could be anything on the end.

Game fishing rocks the Harbour COFFS GAME

Glen Booth

nailed within minutes — or seconds. Drifting through the school for a bit, just letting the

Those summer stalwarts, the black marlin continue to attract most of the game fishing effort along the Coffs Coast, with Spanish and spotted mackerel a close second. Initially the blacks were quite small, around 20-25kg, but as the weeks of summer slipped by, a slightly older class of fish from 50-70kg became more dominant. These are honest performers on medium tackle and can be a real challenge on lighter gear. Lures have been hit and miss, as they tend to be, so live baiting is definitely the safest bet. Of course, bait, especially slimy mackerel, can become difficult to source when the marlin and macks are on the rampage. Consequently, it pays to have an outfit rigged with a bait jig ready to deploy at a moment’s notice should you stumble across a school out in the middle of nowhere. A good trick from the south coast is to immediately swap out one of the bridled baits with a just-caught freshie. It’s amazing how often it gets

Bill Livingston with a jellybean yellowfin tuna from up at the light, caught while trolling for mackerel.

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hammerheads, and with circle hooks being used more these days there are few bite-offs. Most are little tack hammers, but there’s been the odd sledgehammer over 100kg as well. Black marlin hotspots have been the Wide Bait Ground when the water is good and bait is holding there, then anywhere from the FAD out to The Lump and down to the wave recorder buoy. A couple of fish have also come from The Patch. But where are the blue marlin? They’ve proven to be elusive after an early flurry back in spring that augured well for the season ahead, but with reliable marlin activity in close, not too many boats

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have ventured wide. With the water over 28.5°C at times there could be any amount of

A rare visitor to Coffs waters — the barracuda. George Blackwell with an armload and a half of teeth.

Specialising in Bluewater Game & Sport Fishing

come fishing at

bait swim around down there, isn’t a bad plan either. Live baiting also produces

blues swimming past, but it’s a big ocean when you’re out there on your lonesome. A few striped marlin continue to bob up from 40 fathoms to well wide of the shelf, which is not unheard of for this time of year as their temperature tolerance is massive. When you’re conditioned to seeing a small dorsal fin appear behind a lure, having what looks like a giant sail suddenly put in an appearance sure makes the heart skip a beat! The razor gang have made quite a bit of news lately. Wahoo, which have been absent for quite a few seasons, are more present this year. They’re not monsters, probably a 10kg average, but they’re a welcome by-catch provided they don’t wreck any lure skirts. Another member

of the razor gang tribe, the barracuda, was a surprise catch back in February for Solitary Islands Game Fishing Club member George Blackwell, who caught a solid 15kg model out wide. The Solitary Islands group have long thrown up an eclectic mix of tropical and temperate species, but in recent years divers are seeing even more dogtooth tuna around North Solitary and even up at the light. They’re not big and often hang out with their cousins the bonito; the white tips of the second dorsal and anal fin make them stand out from the

school. Green jobfish are also becoming more numerous and a ferocious 14kg jobby was speared a while back. The Spanish have increased in both numbers and size, and it’s shaping up to be another good season — and a month early too! Of course they’re liable to switch off at the drop of a hat if the water changes or the bait disappears — often together — so never take a hot bite for granted, as it could well be a marine desert the next day. Excessive rain doesn’t help the mackerel chasers’ cause and we’re long overdue for a big drop on the mid north coast, worse luck.

It’s been a good summer for wahoo. Karen Garcia with tonight’s dinner.

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Pelagic pandemonium reaches South West Rocks SOUTH WEST ROCKS

Brent Kirk kempsey@compleatangler.com.au

The Macleay Valley’s beaches have been loaded with huge numbers of big whiting lately, and with them have been a whole host of other species including bream, dart, flathead and school mulloway. Locally caught live and fresh baits like beach worms and pink nippers are accounting for a fair share of the catches of these fish. Soft plastics and small to medium hardbodied lures of all shapes and sizes are also doing the trick for those anglers willing to try something a little outside of the box. The headlands have been home to plenty of big mulloway and a few school-sized fish. Cobia and tuna are also starting to show up more frequently now. Stickbaits and large metal lures are the preferred techniques when using artificials, however these fish, as with most predators, are suckers for live baits when you can get them or even a well-presented fresh dead bait. Tailor and bonito are probably the most consistent bait species to target from the headlands. Spanish and spotted mackerel numbers are fantastic now after slacking off following an awesome start to the season. These fish inhabit the inshore reefs throughout our region as the water temperature begins to soar. Plenty of Spanish mackerel over 15kg are being caught regularly, with slow trolled bonito proving the gun bait to nail a larger specimen. Spotted mackerel sizes and numbers are varying from day to day, however the average size seems to be a little smaller than that of the last couple of years.

Wahoo and sailfish are two other hard-running species that have graced our shores in good numbers this season. These fish have generally been trolled up out a bit wider than the mackerel grounds off Grassy Head past the gaol and right through to Hat Head. Black marlin and bull mahimahi are also

Fish Rock at times. The current has been absolutely racing through this area, making it harder to fish, but definitely way more productive. Sharks are a bit of a problem again this year, however they are no worse than they usually are when the pelagics are about. Large hammerheads

Plenty of mulloway have been taken around the headlands. Check out the colours on this specimen!

This greedy spotty fell for a stickbait worked over a feeding school. taken when trolling these lines. Skirted lures as well as bibbed and bibless minnows are all doing the job on these fish. Some big kingfish have been caught from around

and bronze whalers have been the main culprits for turning your prized catch into berley boat-side as you prepare for the gaff shot. The river is fishing fairly well at present, mainly due

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to the abundance of live bait being found throughout the lower reaches of the river. All the usual suspects, namely mulloway, flathead and whiting are present in good numbers from the entrance of the river through to Smithtown and the Belmore River. We are very fortunate at this time of year that a fair amount of species usually found north of us call the Macleay home. Large schools of GT have been busting up all over the place, not to mention the healthy population of mangrove jacks and Moses perch that inhabit the rock walls which line the system. Kingfish have still been schooling up inside the entrance of the river quite regularly and can be targeted with live baits, plastics and stickbaits. It pays not to fish too light for these fish, as there are definitely big ones among them.

Bass fishing in the upper reaches of the river is about to reach its peak,

with the surface action red hot almost all day long and well into the night.

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Shark hysteria hits the Hastings THE HASTINGS

Mark Saxon castawayestuarycharters@bigpond.com

First Denis Rivers hooked and landed a monster bull shark just before Christmas, and then Chris Micallef and his dad Anthony followed his performance with another whopping 11ft brute estimated at 250kg. I talked to Chris recently who gave me a rundown on how these enormous sharks fell. “We set on the Hastings with eels in our esky and sharks on our brains. We had two TLD 50s loaded up with 24kg line. We were waiting for about two hours when the first rod went off but the shark bit us off about 3m past a 3m wire trace. Moments later the other rod went off

but this time the shark wasn’t so lucky as I had 1000lb wire trace onto a 20/0 Mustad and 400lb wind on. Dad grabbed the rod and set the hook. This fish towed us around like child’s play. Eventually we managed to take it into the shallows and land it on a boat ramp. Most incredible thing I’ve seen. The shark fought hard and dirty for the whole two hours!” There are quite a few in the system and as it’s currently breeding time, an encounter can be on the cards. Several anglers, myself included, have had fish chased and taken by smaller model ‘bullies’over the last few months. ROCK HOPPING FOR MULLOWAY David Henry and his family recently had a trip to Plomer Bay, where Dave decided he would try for a

mulloway on his first day. He scored a 115cm fish on a plastic on the first day, followed by a second day effort that managed a 105cm fish on a Koolabung soft vibe – a cracking fish by any

dodgy don’t try anything, the fish can wait for the next trip and let’s face it – we want to be able to do that next trip, and a broken leg or worse will keep you away a lot longer than the weather.

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standard. It’s just a matter of putting in the effort and the rewards will follow. For anglers that may try this style of fishing, make sure your gear is tough! In a lot of spots we use custom made 9ft rods to handle 50lb braid and 80lb leader as there are way too many ways to lose these special fish in the harsh terrain we fish. I’m sure lighter can handle the soapies and schoolies but when the fish of a lifetime comes along it pays to be prepared. A long gaff and a fishing mate come in handy for landing fish but also for safety reasons. Always stay safe on the rocks, if it looks

Lure Game Fishing event, which resulted in many amazing stories. One of these involved a fight that

fourth in the tag and release section though. In the tag and release section 16 blues, 78 blacks and

RESULTS FROM THE 32ND GOLDEN LURE GAME FISHING EVENT Champion boat first place Rarely In, N&PSGFC Champion boat-capture (marlin over 150kg) Weapon, NGFC with a 161kg blue marlin Champion boat tag and release (blue marlin only) Lone Ranger, PMGFC Champion male angler tag and release Dave Wells, PMGFC Champion female angler tag and release Lisa Houlford, JBGFC Champion small fry angler tag and release Blair Carroll, PMGFC Champion junior angler tag and release Connor Brown, N&PSGFC GOLDEN LURE COMPLETED FOR 32ND YEAR The Port Macquarie Game Fishing Club hosted the 32nd annual Golden

went way into the night on a massive marlin onboard the vessel Rush Hour only to be lost in the wee hours of battle, bummer! The boys still finished a respectable

six stripes were bought to the tag pole. Here are a few results from the list of winners. For more details from this event look up Port Macquarie Game Fishing Club.

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MARCH 2016

David Henry with a mulloway he landed on a recent rock fishing expedition.

A fresh attitude for Forster estuary anglers FORSTER

David Seaman dseamo@bigpond.com

The consistent rain over the last couple of months has provided some relief from the usual overgrowth of weed in the freshwater.

‘Pocket fishing’ bass in the heavier weeded areas just means you need to drop plastics in and around the holes on rocks where the weed is vacant. Night fishing, too, can turn better results as the fish will hunt over the weed rather than be hidden among it.

choose to fish in the upper freshwater during winter and catch bass. It appears that some anglers take the ‘closed season’ literally and engage spiteful attacks on anyone posting pictures on social media of bass caught during the winter months. The fact is that any bass caught in the

A Gulp 3” Nemesis will more often than not pull the bass from deep water or weed edges during daylight hours. A bit of flow means the weed doesn’t float on the surface and this makes fishing easier.

One point of controversy regarding bass fishing is the seemingly endless vilification of anglers who

freshwater during this period are unlikely to spawn in the short term and certainly not in the reaches they are

A sign of movement... MANNING RIVER

Ian Pereira ianpereira@aapt.net.au

There has been quite a lot of rain on the coastal strip, but virtually nothing in the upper catchment. There’s just enough to put a dirty fresh in the river, but not enough to really clean out the freshwater part of the Manning. The Manning at Harrington has cleared quickly while the upper river has remained fairly dirty. The dirty water has not stopped the fish from biting and reports of good catches have come in from the river further up. ESTUARY The small fresh brought the bream down the river early this year, and instead of moving back up the river most of the fish have stayed in the entrance of the river and are feeding along the walls. Most of the bream caught are in the 500-800g range. There have been a few fish up to 1.3kg caught mainly on live bait being fished for flathead. The flathead have been taking live baits of herring, soft plastics and dead baits such as prawns, yabbies and mullet strips. The occasional

big fish has been landed, but unfortunately not many have been returned to the river. The flathead are being caught from all parts of the river up to just above Cundletown. They are mostly fish in the 38-55cm size. Whiting have also made their presence felt, with good bags being caught from the sand spit on the northern side of the river. Beach worms, yabbies and prawn baits have been catching fish, while the keen anglers who can find some quiet water on the sand spits are scoring big fish to 45cm on poppers. Mulloway have been quiet, with only a few small schoolies being caught on live bait just before the full moon. BEACH AND ROCK Catches have not been great on the beaches over the past month, but things are starting to improve. Chopper tailor are back on the bite on bait and lures, while bream are taking worms, pipis and prawns on the southern end of Crowdy beach. Harrington Beach has not performed at all and I would rate it the worst I have seen in the last 25 years. OFFSHORE The outside anglers are having a ball. The water is warm and all sorts of pelagic fish are being caught. A 20kg mahimahi along with plenty

of 10kg fish was landed recently, and reports of sailfish to 48kg and black marlin to 30kg have also been coming in. Bonito are back in our waters and with them are plenty of schools of baitfish. The northern grounds have fished best for snapper to 2kg, while those fishing the drift on the close in sand patches have been scoring bags of good sized flathead. MARCH March is a great time to fish at Harrington as the bream are starting to school up, the luderick are also moving down the river and the flathead are still on the bite. Baitfish are moving into the river and this brings in the tailor, salmon and mulloway. It’s easy to catch a fish even if you don’t have a boat. On the beaches tailor, salmon and school mulloway can be targeted in the early morning and late evening. Outside anglers can fish the close in reefs for snapper and mulloway with live bait. Because the holiday season is over, there are not so many boats and anglers around and fishing can be a pleasant and rewarding experience.

caught. So we need to keep perspective real and just understand that not all bass travel to spawn each year. Enough said. Talking of spawning fish and migration, it won’t be too long before the bream will be filtering out of the upper estuary to gather around the leases on the lower lake. From here they will make the run along the breakwalls and along the coast. Until then, they can be found in all the tributaries that feed the Wallis Lake system and the go-to lures are surface presentations. With regard to cicadas, where you find the noise you’ll find the fish and the Tiemco Soft Shell is the gun lure. The same is true for bass. Around the timber snags, white and pale grub-tailed plastics are good as they imitate the shipworm or cobra grubs that live in the timber. The oyster racks are full of big bream at the moment as are the weed flats. The growth of small prawns across the weed flats draw the bream to the area and with the sun warming, the water the fish are very active. Early morning surface sessions are very productive and the deeper channels and edges are good during the day. Along with the bream there have been heaps of big whiting and the odd pan-sized flathead caught on the flats, and don’t forget to set a crab pot or a couple of hoop nets for the blue swimmers that you’ll see wandering the bottom. March would probably be the pick of the months for trophy flathead for me. You’ll find a few big girls from November, but this time of year is where they are all hanging around the bridge end of the lake. Tuncurry channel seems to be a popular spot for the big fish, as is Breckenridge Channel, especially around the bend near Red Spot boat house. I reckon the best chance of a big girl is to use poddy mullet and a circle hook, and if you want to see how big some of the bream are around the leases, drop a poddy in tight to the leases. It’s a good month to stock up on bait too, as garfish and mullet are at their most active and can be a great deal of fun. Using two no. 10 hooks baited with bread and suspended under a will round up the mullet and gar. Throwing them straight into an ice slurry will help preserve colour and firm flesh and when you get home you need only to cryovac them in to bait portions and freeze. Having a freezer full of fresh bait makes the trips offshore much easier, especially if you are chasing trag around the full moon period. A hook baited with a gar fillet and a strip of squid is ideal for bouncing the bottom for flathead, snapper, trag, and pearl perch.

The Forster Tuncurry bridge is always worth a throw for bream, whiting and flathead, especially at slack water. Also, by now, the spotted mackerel and a few Spanish should have pushed down the coast but this will depend on the warmer currents being pushed onshore. There has already been a heap of marlin caught leading up to March and this isn’t likely to end anytime soon, so when the nor’easters allow you to get out, take advantage.

and smallish snapper. Bream and blackfish are a bit thin around the washes but over the next few months their numbers will increase and I’m predicting that this year the bream and blackfish run will be epic, given the poor showing over the last couple of years. March, April and May are my favourite months of

Not everything you catch is welcome aboard! This porcupine puffer took a fancy to a Cranka Crab. There have been a few pigs poking their heads up around the rock along with rat kings, chopper tailor

the year with the seasonal transition of species and comfortable weather, so make the most of it! MARCH 2016

Fishing Fill-its

Good news for natives A fish ladder has been built below the Condamine Bridge at Condamine to help native fish ‘step’ their way over the Town Weir wall. The ladder is a series of rising rock pools and will effectively open the river stretch from Cotswold to the Condabri Weir giving

to forage and breed,” Mr Penton said. “The fish way is already working with sightings of dozens of native fish resting in the pools during a flow in the river from recent rain.” Origin Energy, on behalf of Australia Pacific LNG, engaged QMDC to

areas of the Queensland Murray-Darling Basin where Australia Pacific LNG operates,” Ms Patterson said. The ladder begins downstream from the weir wall with resting ponds allowing fish to recover between ‘steps’ of no more than 100mm as many native

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QMDC’s Paul Webb with Origin Senior Environmental Specialist Lauran Hahn and Australasian Fish Passage Services Principal Consultant Tim Marsden at the Condamine Weir native species such as the Vulnerable Murray River Cod a better chance of survival. Queensland MurrayDarling Committee (QMDC) CEO Geoff Penton said weirs that are a barrier to fish migration had been identified as a contributor to the decline of native fish species in the Murray-Darling Basin. “This fish way is low maintenance and is expected to open up almost 100km of the Condamine River to fish passage which is a significant gain for fish needing to migrate

manage the fish way project while design, construction and monitoring drew on the expertise of Alluvium Consulting, Catchment Solutions, Australasian Fish Passage Services, and Bland Sand and Gravel. Natasha Patterson, Origin General Manager Approvals, Land and C o m m u n i t y, said approximately $180,000 in funding had been provided through an environmental offset arrangement. “We are proud to be assisting in efforts to ensure that native fish habitat is enhanced in

fish are unable to negotiate large vertical jumps in water levels. Native species expected to benefit from the improved connectivity include the Murray River cod, golden perch, eel-tailed catfish, cudgeon and bony bream. The Condamine Town Weir is owned by the Western Downs Regional Council and provides a water supply to Condamine. The fish ladder will be officially opened at 11am on Tuesday, December 1, at the Pioneer Park Rest Area in Condamine. – QCL

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Turn up for torpedoes PORT STEPHENS

Paul Lennon

This month, along with April, is without a doubt the best time of the year to be fishing out of Port Stephens as there are just so many species to target. It’s the peak time to be chasing marlin both inshore and offshore, the estuary is on fire with everything from mud

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crabs to mulloway, the surf beaches are going off and longtail tuna are whizzing up and down the rock ledges – it just doesn’t get any better. Inside the bay, flathead should be plentiful from the shoreline around Soldiers Point and back to the heads for those using soft plastics and hardbodied lures. The water through this section of the bay will be quite clear and when it’s like this,

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I have the most success with natural coloured lures around 100-120mm. Whiting are continuing to be caught in healthy numbers throughout the estuary with live worms or nippers producing the best results along those beaches closest to the mouth of the system. Surface lures on the other hand are also doing plenty of damage on the whiting, but more so in the back half of the bay where the whiting are feeding on prawns. Bream are also eager to whack a surface lure at this time of year, especially on early morning or late afternoon high tides over structure. Mulloway will be worth a shot in the estuary this month with good reports recently of school mulloway coming from the Wreck off Corlette and the odd bigger fish from the deeper water around Soldiers Point.

March is a great month for billfish both inshore and offshore. up with a 30-60g metal lure just in case some longtail tuna start busting up around your boat, as they will quite often do at this time of year, usually when you least expect it! Just about all the surf beaches this month will produce good numbers of whiting with the odd stud bream mixed among them,

It’s also a good month of the year for quality green back tailor from the surf beaches with Samurai, Fingal Bay and Box Beach all good places to fish with whole pilchards or garfish on first or last light. Off the stones, the land-based game season is among us as longtail tuna

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Longtail tuna to 20kg and bigger will be zooming around the shallows this month. It may also pay this month when you’re fishing in the bay to have a rod rigged

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points and headlands. A live bait suspended under a cigar float is the best way to get connected to one these torpedos, however spinning with 65-80g metals or 140-180mm stickbaits is also worth a crack. On the marlin scene, the shelf is fishing well with good numbers of striped marlin, a few blacks and the odd big blue getting around. The inshore marlin fishery has also been consistent, with fish being caught anywhere from out the front of Fingal Lighthouse all the way through to Seal Rocks. The FAD has been holding plenty of mahimahi, and while trolling and casting lures is a fun way to catch them, the larger models will almost always come from a live bait. Snapper fishing outside has been a touch hit and miss, as it often is at this time of year, but it’s still worth the effort with some solid fish to 8kg coming in from the islands out the front and up around Edith Breakers. Trag will continue to be a reliable option for a feed from reefs such as the Vee, 21 and Gibber with after sundown and into the night the best time to fish for them.

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Enjoy offshore angling delights HUNTER COAST

Gary Earl earlybird13@optusnet.com.au

Even though the weather has been hot and humid over the last month, don’t forget to take long sleeves and mosquito repellent with you out fishing. Once again we have copped a bad flood with a lot of rain, which has created ideal breeding conditions for mozzies. A mass fish kill have also been reported in the upper Hunter River. Mozzies and dead fish seem a little bleak, but don’t despair as offshore, rock and beach fishing has been fantastic in recent weeks. Whiting have turned up in droves on the beaches and in good size. Bream have also washed out a little early so expect both of these to give you some tussle in the waves. The water temperature has fluctuated around 20°C, give or take a few degrees, which has been great for turning on these bread and butter species. Huge seas, and powerful swells are plentiful and cause the holes and gutters to move around. You’ll have to do some hard work to find them, but once you do, hold on! There haven’t been any reports of the beloved

mulloway just yet, but when they do surface, head to the beaches and off the rocks to find them. The only negative aspect of beach fishing is that most of the beaches have

and could see you stuck and in a whole world of trouble. The rocks have fished well for bream, but you really need to pick your days, as huge seas have dominated the coastline in

Another fish kill for the Hunter River has left the community feeling bleak about the state of our estuaries. stretches of very deep sand to chew through via vehicle. If you are pushing it hard and start to smell oil, stop and let the truck cool down. It can be a costly mistake to push the vehicle too hard through sand,

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recent weeks. These powerful swells have opened a dialogue on a contentious safety issue – that all rock fishers should wear life-vests. This idea has been in discussion for years but never implemented. Recently, the wearing of lifevests has gained some traction in popular opinion as the amount of rock fisher deaths last year skyrocketed. To avoid this sort of devastation and loss of life it would be well worth wearing a life-vest. The best rock fishing tip at this time of year is to leave your set rod out for bream and try spinning for bonito and tailor around the ledges. Bluefin are also around, but not in abundance as the bait numbers are down on most well known ledges. I use a new pink coloured braid from Schneider lines. You can hardly see it in the water, it’s extremely versatile, and can cope with a bit of rubbing on the rocks. Go for the 20lb size for a massive cast that allows the lure to stay in the water for longer. I have noticed that some anglers cast out and, as soon as the lure hits the water, start to crank it back quickly. My advice is to let the lure sink to different levels, and you may find yourself pulling through schools of fish sitting

mid-water. Make sure you use a good leader so you can get the fish close to you and not the other way around – this is definitely one way to go swimming if you aren’t watching the water! We have seen some fabulous results offshore, with schools of teraglin over the reefs along with nannygai, morwong and school kingfish. Don’t be surprised to run into some mahimahi in closer than usual, as the water is at a good temperature. Mac tuna passed through some time ago, but word has it that some are still around. These little fighters are great fun to catch but not fantastic on the plate. Use small, cylinder shaped lures to target them, or see if you can recognise what they’re feeding on and match it with a lure. Marlin have been an on and off affair; one day you may get two or three, the next nothing. Over the shelf some huge kingfish have stalked the Southern Canyons, along with blue eye cod and hapuka. Until the estuaries get back to normal, I will leave that area alone as it’s been

Northern grassy sweetlip are a stranger to our waters, and Jamie Ryan was lucky enough to catch one.

A few mud crabs that didn’t mind the dirty water. Mullet was the successful bait in this instance. raining very often and the water is filthy. You may get a few mud crabs if you want to chase them from Fullerton Cove down to the river mouth. You could also try the walls (Nobbys and Stockton), as you never know what can happen on an incoming tide.

On 20 March there will be a benefit day for two-year-old Archie Percival. Archie and his family are going through an extremely tough time with Archie spending the majority of his time confined to hospital. To help out the Percival family and raise a

bit of money there will be a bowls day open for everyone to come down and have some fun. With a huge raffle, and some great prizes to win, there will be something for everyone. Come down for a bit to help support our local family, I hope you can make it.

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Lake all fired up after heavy summer rains jayro@hotmail.com.au

The weather has been a little up and down. We have had periods of heavy rain and floods and we have had periods of bright blue skies, calm seas and hot days. The one thing that has been consistent has been the fishing… consistently great that is. Estuary fishing, inshore fishing or wide offshore, all options have been firing over summer and it looks set to continue through March. The lake itself has really fired up after some heavy rains during summer, and this is often the case with the lake after heavy rains. A good flush out really stirs up the waterway and the fish love it, so lure anglers have been scoring very healthy bags of solid bream to 40cm over many of the flats throughout the system. Small shallow running hardbody lures are proving successful. Different colours are working on different days. Most anglers opt for blacks, olives and browns, but I can’t tell you how

have been on the boil for months now, and this also looks set to continue. There are huge schools smashing bait around Moon Island and you should find plenty of action off these schools from bonito, kingfish and salmon. At times they can be frustrating to catch., as many anglers see large schools like this and think

local fly anglers have also been taking advantage of these schools of fish and having a blast. Whiting are also about, but it doesn’t appear to be one of the better years from what I’m hearing. They are getting caught, but I’m told the numbers are down on what some years in the lake can throw up. Live

albeit a late one. As is often the case, you will get the better fish off random floating items out at sea and off of isolated fish traps or personal FADs you come across as these often see less fishing pressure than the Fisheries FAD. Trolling small 4-5” lures is a great option, and once you find fish, slipping in a live yakka or slimy will generally see some quality fish coming aboard. Rock fishers are also enjoying a good run of fish. Many anglers are enjoying spinning lures for pelagics with kingfish and bonito on offer. Many of the kingfish are rats and undersize, but any kingfish caught is a great buzz for anglers and they are certainly not all rats, so anglers need to be

been hitting the scales so far and although maybe not everyone’s cup of tea, there is no denying they are impressive captures. The shark crews have their favourite haunts like any anglers and on a recent trip of mine offshore we had no troubles finding a few toothy critters swimming around with some nice

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ready for the hoodlums as they’re in there among the rats. Often anglers will float out a live bait while they are spinning their metal lures or hard stickbaits, and it’s often these wide floating live baits that score the solid kings in the schools. As I have said before, take care when fishing our rock ledges. We have unfortunately lost another life recently off the rocks near Catherine Hill Bay. Make sure you stay safe, take a friend or friends, look out for each other and ensure you’re around for many more trips down the track. If the swell and seas are too much, it’s simple, you pull the plug on the trip and plan it for another day. No fish is worth your life.

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As a rule, 24 Paley Crescent 30 Gommera Watkins Road you willStreet not get every 15 hit Wallarah Street on a lure from a striped Swansea Belmont South Blacksmiths Wangi Wangi Crescent Street 30 Gommera Street Street 15 Wallarah StreetRoad F3 marlin to stay connected, 24 Paley Crescent 24 Paley 30 Gommera 15 Wallarah Watkins Blacksmiths Belmont South Swansea Located on a peninsular Just a short stroll from A spacious tree filled park Nestled between the shores Belmont South Blacksmiths Swansea Wangi Wangi Located on a peninsular Juststroll a shortfrom stroll from quiet and A spacious tree filled park but with packs like this Located onLocated a peninsular surrounded a short on a peninsular Just a shortJust stroll from A spaciousthe tree filled park Nestled between the sh surrounded the Lake, with the quiet andand patrolled on the shores of the Lake. surrounded by the Lake, with the quiet and patrolled on the shores of the Lake. ofthebyLake Macquarie surrounded the Lake, with quiet and patrolled on the shores beach. of the Lake. of Lake Macquarie a by the Lake, by with waterfront Blacksmiths waterfront accommodationpatrolled Blacksmiths beach. 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Good vibes on bream CENTRAL COAST

Jamie Robley jrobley@iprimus.com.au

We’ve now reached the peak fishing season of the year and one of the very best months for nearly every species we encounter in this part of the country. I certainly wouldn’t complain if every month was like this, for the fishing and weather.

Without question, bream are the most prolific species in our estuaries right now and they’re also usually in good numbers along beaches and around our rocky headlands. During the coming weeks bream begin to feed up, as they put on weight for the coming winter and their spawning duties. In other words, they’re hungry for baits and lures. As mentioned last month, casting vibes

through relatively shallow areas has been my main form of attack through the warmer months and I’m expecting even better results with the same type of lures in the coming weeks. Good rainfall earlier in the year has now set us up for a productive run of bream fishing and if sinking vibes aren’t your favourite thing to throw at bream, they’ll still be smashing surface lures and taking all the usual

March is a fantastic month for chasing bream with lures and natural baits. The author continues to enjoy success by working sinking vibes through water around a metre deep.

This nice flathead fell to a soft plastic cast from the beach at Norah Head, but fish like this will be in good supply throughout the lakes and Brisbane Waters this month.

baits with enthusiasm. Of course, whiting and flathead remain in full swing this month. Unlike bream, which are more widespread though, you’ll need to be a bit more specific when it comes to these customers. Whiting really love a sandy or silty bottom and while the water is still warm, the majority of whiting will be right up in the shallows. So those sun-warmed flats

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around The Entrance and various sections of Brisbane Waters are the better areas to cast a small surface lure, worm-like plastic, 30mm vibes or the best thing of all – natural worm baits. Flathead also love the shallows and they’ll be found alongside the whiting, but they gravitate more towards any sort of edge. This means the edge of a deeper hole or drop

off, the edge of a weedbed and rocky edges. Up on the north coast, some of the best flathead habitat is along those lengthy rock walls in the lower sections of rivers. We don’t have walls like that around here, but similar spots exist wherever a rocky shoreline meets a reasonably sandy bottom. The southern side of The Entrance run out, near the mouth is a good example, although it

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can be a bit difficult to fish properly due to the strong flow, as well as it being a bit snaggy. Although they’re present in our waterways throughout the year, luderick aren’t normally targeted much until we reach the cooler months. This is partly due to all the bream, flathead and whiting

Brisbane Waters right now. Another very worthwhile pursuit to consider is chasing mulloway in Brisbane Waters and the lower Hawkesbury. There are always a few mulloway poking around from The Rip Bridge, through to Woy Woy and up the Gosford end of the system at this time of year. Most are only

alternative over the coming months, as we’re getting towards the peak season for them. So apart from actually chasing them, it’s also a good idea to spend as much time as possible stocking up on top quality bait like beachworms and calamari. Unlike other renowned baits like mullet or tailor, both worms and

are normally in full swing around our shallow reefs, headlands and rocky outcrops now and right through the autumn months. Last month they were in reasonable numbers, but not that big. Calamari squid have a rapid growth rate, so as the water begins to cool a touch, closer to April and May, the average size tends to be a lot bigger. The northern stretch of the coast, from Toowoon Bay up to Catherine Hill Bay is very good for calamari, but they can still be caught around Terrigal and Avoca in enough numbers to make

up a good feed or bait to put in the freezer. Rock fishing is also very productive at this time of year. Spinning with metal lures for bonito, frigate mackerel, kings and tailor is favourite activity for many local anglers, including myself. The good thing about March is the ocean water is normally very warm and stable, while the first of those morning westerlies start to kick in, meaning the seas can be quite calm and angler friendly for rock hoppers. Offshore anglers will also be happier now that

the relentless northeasterly winds begin to back off more. This is especially so for those who launch at Norah Head, as the bay becomes a calmer, easier place to launch and retrieve over the coming months. Although larger predators ranging from sharks to marlin are quite likely right now, the inshore fishing, within 2km from shore can be excellent during March. As is the case with rock fishing, bonito and kingfish are some of the primary species, but anything from tailor to cobia is possible.

Bonito are the main inshore pelagic along the Central Coast at this time of year. The earlier part of the season was pretty good for the bonnies, so hopefully the trend continues this month. around, but if you’re keen, there’s no reason why a few luderick can’t be caught at The Entrance, Woy Woy or other places around

schoolies up to a few kilos, but bigger models certainly aren’t out of the question. Beach fishing for mulloway is another good

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Be boulder – try rock fishing over autumn! CENTRAL COAST

Jamie Robley jrobley@iprimus.com.au

Many keen anglers agree that autumn really hits the spot. Sure, there’s something good on offer during every month of the year, but for sheer variety of species, consistency of catch, and stability of weather, the next few months are hard to beat. East coast rock hopping is particularly rewarding during autumn. Cool water species start to kick into gear, while warm water targets remain active. In other words, pretty much every type of fish can be caught from the rocks, so anglers can pick and choose their target, rather than just take what comes. Weather patterns start to settle into a routine with large, slow moving high pressure systems dominating the atmosphere, plenty of blue sky days, light winds and calm seas. A decent patch of weather on the weekend or days off work are more likely. However, the weather can blow up at any time of year. Sometimes a large high pressure system may centre itself over Tasmania and when it does, the NSW coastline can expect persistent onshore wind or rain from the southeasterly direction. It’s not entirely out of the ordinary for a very late cyclone to develop in the Coral Sea or one of those dreaded east coast lows to form. In April 2015 a very severe low pressure system that had the same force as a category two cyclone battered the Central Coast and Hunter regions. Despite this generally calm time of year, it’s always a good idea to observe weather and sea forecasts before going rock fishing. Safety is a high priority and simple precautions like wearing suitable footwear, fishing with or near other anglers, and constantly keeping an eye on the water go a long way towards staying dry and safe. LOCATION Some of us are lucky enough to live within

a short drive of various headlands, platforms and rocky outcrops. Here on the Central Coast I’m spoilt for choice, with all manner of rock fishing spots to choose from, and all offering something different. In general, the more prominent headlands are better for pelagic species, from bonito to cobia and even billfish. Shallower rocky outcrops may be more suited to the likes of bream, luderick or tailor. That’s certainly not to say that big fish aren’t also possible in shallow, protected spots or that smaller bread and butter species can’t be caught from the end of a big headland. Each spot is different; some are better with wind coming from one direction, while another

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Autumn is tailor time along most of the NSW coastline. These fish were caught at Norah Head casting a small chrome metal lure early in the morning.

How’s this for a solid bream? The author used small bread baits under a bobby float and caught a few luderick when this beast got in on the action. Fish like this aren’t uncommon as the water begins to cool. spot only 500m away fishes best when the wind blows the other way. This is a similar occurrence when it comes to tides, time of day, swell height and the predominant species available. A good ledge for pelagics may also be great for drummer and groper, but not so good for bream and luderick. It’s largely a matter of knowing your home turf – talk

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to other anglers and see what else is caught while you’re fishing. As much as I enjoy rock fishing, I also prefer to stay dry and feel safe, so it’s easier and more comfortable to concentrate on actually catching fish. So I won’t risk climbing down vertical cliffs or fish low ledges where waves constantly spill over. There’s simply no need to do so in order to get stuck into some excellent fishing. THE FISH Some of the standout rock fishing species that will feature over the coming weeks are bream, tailor, luderick, drummer, trevally, salmon, bonito, kingfish, mulloway and calamari squid. Others that may show up in some places include

cobia, mackerel, mac tuna, yellowfin, longtail tuna and frigate mackerel. We can roughly divide these into three groups; smaller foragers like bream, luderick and drummer, small predators from tailor through to rat sized kings and larger predators such as mackerel, mulloway and larger kingfish. The first category, the foraging fish, respond best to simple baitfishing techniques and are caught in relatively shallow, washy spots close to your feet. Use baits like prawns, cunjevoi or white bread to catch a mixed bag of bream, drummer, luderick and trevally. A more specific approach may be to use cut fish or pilchard baits for bream, cunjevoi for drummer and green cabbage for luderick. Even so, it’s

still not uncommon for a bream to snatch green cabbage bait, trevally to eat pillies or luderick to take cunjevoi. All of these species are opportunistic, so they’ll take what comes if they’re hungry. The small predators respond very well to lures, but most of them are also quite partial to pilchards, especially when used whole, on a set of ganged hooks. Most of the time it’s easy enough to catch tailor, bonito or salmon by lure casting, but like any species of fish, they can be touchy at times and this is when pilchard baits may still entice them. As for lures, it’s hard to beat simple chrome metals in the 30-45g range. These lures interest pretty much any small pelagic in the vicinity, but are particularly effective on tailor and

High speed spinning with metal lures or casting whole pilchards on ganged hooks from the deeper ledges and headlands are good ways to find bonito and other small pelagic predators at this time of year. bonito. Alternatively, white or other light coloured metal lures can be very good as well and I’ve found they work slightly better than chrome when light levels are low, around sunrise or sunset. Surface poppers from 70-150mm are another good lure to have in your tackle box. Cast around washy points very early in the morning or when it’s overcast and dull, and tailor will smash them. Bonito and salmon may also get in on the act and poppers can certainly stir up kingfish if they’re in the right mood. Diving hardbody lures and soft plastics are also worth considering, as

long as they can be cast far enough and retrieved in a manner that appeals to fish. Slinky white or natural coloured softies are very effective on kingfish, more so when they’re worked with a fast, zippy retrieve. Lure casting can also work when it comes to chasing the larger predators, but in most cases it’s hard to go past live baiting as the best technique. Small yellowtail are common around most rocky ledges and aren’t too difficult to catch on bait jigs or tiny hooks baited up with a piece of prawn, squid or pillie. Garfish, pike and slimy mackerel are also possible in some spots, but

any of these small baitfish can become quite flighty and hard to catch if larger predators are in the vicinity. Freshly caught calamari squid are excellent bait, and kingfish and mulloway find them hard to resist. A live calamari squid cast or drifted under a float will not last long at all if a kingfish spots it. In fact, this is as close to a sure bet as anything in fishing! TACKLING THE TASK One rod and reel can cover most of what’s on

offer at this time of year and that outfit comprises a lightweight 3m rod and medium size threadline reel spooled up with 6-8kg line. Despite the popularity of braid, good old nylon mono still works pretty well for most forms of rock fishing. Braid does have some advantages though and casting distance is one of them. A fine diameter braid of the same breaking strain as mono can achieve 20-30% greater distance. This is an obvious benefit

when spinning for pelagic predators. Bear in mind that a mono leader roughly the same length as the rod is still required. The main purpose of this is to provide a form of cushion between rod tip and the fish. This safeguards against sudden lunges, erratic head shaking and generally helps to keep the hooks in place. Repetitive lure casting for hard fighting fish is very demanding on reels, so if you’re planning on doing a lot of spinning then it really

pays to buy a decent quality reel, rather than skimp out on a budget priced model. The gear ratio is another thing to consider, as a faster retrieve works much better on speedy fish like small tuna and bonito. Of course, if those big predators are on the hit list then a sturdy overhead or big Alvey sidecast outfit could be a better option. There are some excellent threadline reels on the

Although generally regarded as a winter species, luderick can be caught from the ocean rocks at any time of year. Luderick are one of the more reliable targets during autumn.

market these days that hold plenty of line and have powerful drag systems which can deal with most fish you’re likely to encounter from the rocks. Regardless of the exact style of fishing or target species, it’s a good idea to keep everything to a minimum, rather than hauling along gear that’s probably not going to be used. This approach means it will be easier and more

comfortable to walk in and out of the location. Remember that you may want to bring back a feed of fish and this only adds more weight or bulk. Stay safe on the rocks this autumn and enjoy what’s on offer. It really is a fantastic time to spend a morning or whole day taking in the scenery, filling the lungs with fresh air and scoring some tasty seafood in the process.

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Abundant bottom bouncing bounty abounds ILLAWARRA

Greg Clarke clarkey1@westnet.com.au

I live for March – this is the time of year when just about everything in the world of fishing is fantastic along the NSW coast. The weather is almost perfect, while the fishing is 100% perfect in every department. ESTUARIES The estuaries are firing, and the fish have grown bigger after spending the last few months fattening up on an abundance of food. Flathead are always at the top of the list and this season has been exceptional in the lake with fish up to 80cm caught. Yes that’s right, 80cm. Not massive by other waters’ standards but a fish of 60cm is normally a fist pumper from the lake mainly due to the pressure from commercial fishers. When there are up to 20+ pros out there on any given day you don’t often get a real chance at catching the larger sizes so these reports have been quite extraordinary. At present the fish seem to be all over the place, with the usual hot spots the drop-off and the deeper spots in the main channel, but any patch of sand or mud is worth a throw. Bream are mostly around the bridges or rocky areas and in the bigger snags in the tributaries. Live prawns are the stand out bait and deliver the best results during the evenings. A few mulloway have shown up in the main channel

but are generally hit and miss, with more misses than hits. Whiting are all over the sand flats, and if you can find some squirt worms you will catch them. Blackfish are all along the weed edges with plenty gobbling worms, however the good old green weed under the float is my optimal choice. Minnamurra is much the same with some trevally hanging around the bridges; you might even get a jack if you drift live prawns or poddy mullet under

There are stacks of bonito about like this, and they are great fun for the kids.

We always seem to get a few spotties in March each year with the warm water.

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a small float into the pylon zone on the run-out tide. BEACHES AND HEADLANDS On the beaches the fishing is sensational. Salmon are always on the local beaches but they are thick at the moment with some pushing 5kg. Early mornings and late evenings are always the best times to chase them, however, beaches with deeper gutters will produce them all day. Chase tailor in the evening and you will find sambos

again, with some solid fish to 3kg among them. Pilchards on ganged hooks will score plenty of fish, as will fresh strips of mackerel and yellowtail. Grab some beach worms and you are in for some real fun as the whiting are red-hot all along the coast. Throw in a few dart, flathead, bream, the usual salmon and a few small mulloway and you just can’t go wrong. You may not get all of these on the same day, but you never know – you just might. A few larger mulloway are about in the deeper gutters on the bigger tides during the evenings, you just have to be persistent for results. Otherwise, you could throw a big plastic about in the deeper gutters and channels if you like to keep active. There is always that thumping by-catch of flathead and salmon and you will tend to avoid the bait grabbing sharks. On the rocks you’ll find most species, and with the water still warm the deeper ledges will produce just about anything. There is still the possibility of a marlin down around Kiama, and with big mackerel tuna, kings and a few longtails coming through this

month, you just have to keep those livies in the water and the results will come. While you are waiting for the livies to go off, continue to throw those metals and poppers towards the horizon for more mac tuna, bonito, salmon, smaller kings and even the longtails. Smaller lures produce frigates and they go straight back out on the heavy gear. If there is a decent king about it will be taken in no time, or if it lasts a bit longer you will probably get sharked. Schools of baitfish have popped up all along the headlands and slimy mackerel and yellowtail are the main predators that profit from these schools. Underneath the schools are bream, trevally, more salmon, bonito and even a few snapper. The bonito and slimies make great strip baits for all of these so it’s hard to miss out. The oceans are generally calm at this time of the year, which makes it much more pleasant on the rocks. Having said that, never underestimate the ocean, never turn your back and always be cautious. All the headlands seem to produce, with harbour break walls including Wollongong, Bass Point and Honeycomb performing as standouts while the lesser-known headlands all along the coast are yielding similarly good results. Frigates are zipping in and out of the harbours creating great fun on light tackle and small lures. OFFSHORE Snapper are over most of the reefs from the closer bommies and islands to the 50m mark, and all methods work with some solid fish coming in. The good old flathead are all along the sand patches with excellent size and numbers and they have to be the most popular fish targeted along the coast. There is no finesse in catching them but they certainly taste good. Over the reefs it is game on with anything liable to grab bait or lure. Teraglin have made a bit of a show for some lucky anglers along with the odd pearl perch, emperor, samsonfish,

amberjack, trevally, morwong, snapper, tailor, kings, pigfish and leatherjackets of all types and that is just for the bottom bouncers. The sport and game fishos have it even better with blue and striped marlin out beyond the 70-fathom line and still a few blacks with them as well in closer. Small to medium yellowfin tuna are about but not in abundance, while striped tuna seem to be all along the coast from in close to the shelf. Wahoo and spearfish are in the mix and there is even the chance of a sailfish if you troll smaller lures or live baits. There is still plenty of mahimahi around the FADs, and so far there have been lots of bigger fish this season with plenty of smaller legal fish of late. Bonito are all along the coast over the shallow reefs and headlands and they just keep getting bigger as the year rolls on. Bonito really make a nuisance of themselves if you chase kings, as they will smash your larger baits and devour smaller baits like garfish and small yellowtail.

Kings are in the usual spots along with the bonito. Minnamurra, Bass Point, close in around Kiama’s headlands, the islands off Port Kembla and Bellambi are all worth a look for bigger fish. Live frigate mackerel are the gun bait as big kings love them and they are too big for the bonito to steal. Having said that, I once got a 7.5kg bonito on a large live frigate. That’s a big bonito! Plenty of smaller kings are mixed in with the schools of salmon and bonito smashing on the surface, but they are mostly undersized. The bonito and salmon are decent though, and there is plenty of fun to be had casting lures among the schools. The hot water has been with us now since mid-January so there is every chance of a stray cobia, Spanish mackerel, rainbow runner and amberjack. A few are caught during March in this neck of the woods and for some lucky souls a northern bluefin could be out there later in the month. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and get them!

There are still a few nice mahimahi hanging around the FADs and traps.

Rolling through March NOWRA

Johnny Nolan straydog1974@gmail.com

That was one hell of a summer wasn’t it! We got back to the good old days of afternoon thunderstorms, heavy rain, showers then hot, steamy and humid sunny days before the cycle repeated. I’m not saying that it was a bad thing – it made for some great fishing opportunities, especially for those species affected by atmospheric pressure like bream and bass. However, now that summer is all done and dusted we can hopefully look forward to some more stable autumn weather as we roll through the month of March. At this time of year on the south coast of NSW we can expect nice, still mornings followed by somewhat mild east or northeasterly winds throughout the day. Then we typically get cool, comfortable nights perfect for spending an evening fishing either on the beach, perched on the river bank somewhere or perhaps anchored in your boat in that favorite fishing hole! So where should you go and what should you target this month? ST GEORGES BASIN After the onslaught of the Christmas holidays and the pressure the Basin copped over that two months, it’s surprising that there are any fish left in there let alone still biting. They are though. It’s bounced back quite well;

there’s still good whiting and bream fishing over the flats. Although not quite as good as previous years, it’s still a great option as the fish are having to work a little harder for a feed, with not as many prawns and baitfish over the

sized mulloway. It all makes for some exciting fishing and is giving the Basin a name as one of the best recreational fishing havens on the coast! It’s also one of if not the premier spot on the coast for trophy flathead,

The author with a typical sized Australian salmon for this time of year. Image: LenOz Photography

Andy Clark with a nice striped marlin from this season’s run. flats as in summer. I’ve had good success on the new Jackson Ebi Panic Prawn. We’re also getting some XOS tailor and more frequent catches of good

which can be caught right throughout the year. BEACH AND ROCK Since early January the beach and rocks have been fishing very well. Although the whiting are lacking in numbers from previous years, the size has definitely been making up for this with some stonkers around

the 45cm mark being taken. Plenty of good sized salmon and even a few tailor are also being taken, along with plenty of small bronzies. The southern facing beaches of Steamers and Target are producing their fair share of the big whiting, while the big open beaches like 7 Mile and 5 Mile are producing salmon, tailor and sharks. There have even been a couple of rumours floating around of a few early season mulloway. The rocks have seen schools of salmon and loads of rat kingfish patrolling in close, and a few nice kings up around the 25kg mark are being taken. As I write this there haven’t been any marlin taken from the tubes inside Jervis Bay, but I’m sure it will only be a matter of time, with a few fish being sighted just outside the mouth of the bay. OFFSHORE It’s been a pretty good marlin season both on the shelf and at the banks. The

stripes showed up first, which is pretty typical, then the blacks appeared around the Australia Day weekend and have continued to bite on and off throughout February. It’s quite scary the amount of big bronzies at the banks this year; it’s even scarier when you see divers and spearfishers jumping overboard in these sharkinfested waters, floating through berley trails looking for something to shoot. Call me boring but that’s not my idea of fun! Finally, for this month

why not get out and catch and release one of those big late season bass? They’ve been gorging themselves all summer on all sorts of tasty morsels. The Shoalhaven river has had plenty of flow over summer so the bass have reached well upstream into most tributaries. Soon they will begin their annual run downstream to spawn. We’ve caught plenty on the Jackson Namazami Cicada this season. That’s it for another month. Fish hard and stay safe. Johnny out!

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Shovel-nose sharks will be common catches on our beaches over the next few months, stealing baits meant for better fish like mulloway. Image: LenOz Photography

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The fishing is still sizzling hot! BATEMANS BAY

Anthony Stokman

The summer fishing, even with its wet patches, has been on fire. I was fortunate enough to get dragged away from my hectic schedule by some mates from Sydney and out into a crazy marlin bite. We got out there, and to our surprise we discovered acres of bait with marlin swimming all over the place. We found the best approach to hook up regularly was to drop a live bait or two down on top of their heads as soon as we sounded them, or soon as we sounded a bait ball with hard-walled edges or a packed peak of bait being pushed up, then we’d stop and drop live baits on top of those areas. At first our game was a little thrown as we had our first marlin of the day up on a teaser and we switched him in textbook fashion. Our mate James Thackeray who put us onto the area had teased and switched marlin all day the day before, so we thought this was going to be a successful approach. It wasn’t. It was frustrating sounding a lot of bait and seeing fish under the boat

not coming up like our first catch. Then local legend George Lirantzis, fishing gurus Richard Abela and Tony Evans, and a much-needed nurse (more on that later) came flying into the area knowing it was the place to be. I’m a firm believer of not wasting time and driving straight to the hotspot; it’s a big ocean and there’s a lot of water to cover. If the day before was amazing, chances are it’s going to fire again. As soon as our other party joined us they were straight into catching livies, and then spent their time with livies hooked and rigged below the boat as they continued filling the live bait tank. They put the boat into gear and tried skip baiting the area to scope the place out, then they’d stop again to put livies down. It wasn’t long before they had a double hook-up; they got on the radio and told us to come over as they had a stack of marlin under the boat. We skip baited our way over to the area and kept a good look-out. The whole time we had masses of bait on the sounder with the odd marlin. We were waiting and waiting for one to come up into our spread again. George and the boys

soon tagged and released two marlin. They then proceeded to skip bait until they found another good area and dropped livies down again. It wasn’t long before they had another double hook-up! We thought, ‘stuff these skip baits, let’s get livies on top of these stick faces!’ We attached snapper leads with rubber bands to our swivels and dropped them down at three separate depths whenever we found fish on the sounder, or bait being pushed together or up closer to the surface. This change paid off – we were soon into a two-hour fight on a striped marlin. An hour and a half later he was still putting on surface shows as if he was just hooked. This fella had us driving nearly out to NZ until we got him boat-side. While we were so far out we had a mass of tuna busting the surface with some yellowfin cutting through it, so I wasn’t surprised to come home and see that Leigh Bradbury and the boys had caught two nice yellowfin while marlin fishing off the bay. It’s good to see a few good summer yellowfin. Anyway, after releasing our marlin we motored back to the area to find George and the boys onto marlin number

seven. They told us that marlin number five had nearly cut their trip short after it injured George. George had been out on the transom with tag pole ready and the marlin coming boat-side to receive his tag. All of a sudden the fish had a burst of energy and jumped up to pierce George in the thigh and throw him and the tag pole into the water. To add insult to injury, the marlin then came down on top of him, trying to ride him. George got back on board to find a hole in his leg. Fortunately, there was a nurse on board who quickly disinfected and bandaged up the wound. The bite was so good that George wanted to stay out, so the nurse reluctantly gave him the green light to fish on. Once on dry land, he went straight to the hospital to get stitched up. The experience is a reminder that these fish are big and powerful, and that we should never underestimate them and what they can do. We need to stay on the lookout and learn to do things with 100% focus and precision. We dropped a few more livies down while the sun was setting and then called it a day – and what an amazing day it was! I’m now buzzing in anticipation of my next day out, which will be at The Banks. This location has been fishing very well, with a lot of good blacks being caught up to and over 200kg. We

Marlin rounding bait up to the surface. Mahimahi have been great by-catch while fishing for marlin. I don’t think there is a buoy or fish trap out there that isn’t holding these fish. The only problem is they might be a bit undersize, but they need to be small before they can be big and there was no shortage of big ones if you fished hard enough for them. It’s the same with the kingies – there are plenty of small ones to get through before you got a bigger one. In early autumn hopefully we will be seeing a good run of

Matt Toghill about to release his marlin aboard Topcat Charters. should still see a very good marlin bite in early autumn, with tighter packed bait balls and marlin from the south travelling back up. REEF AND OFFSHORE The kingfish and mahimahi have been good this season, with the kingies being a bit fatter than last year. 46

MARCH 2016

larger models. We have been having a great run of snapper this summer into autumn also. There have been good schools of 4-6kg models swimming in depths of 20-40m, and off the rocks some crackers have been caught that resemble our winter month sizes. Jem

Abbot, Layton Brant and The Wards have been cracking some good ones, with Jem’s biggest going 5kg. BEACHES The beaches and particularly Moruya wall have started firing up, with schools of salmon and some tailor thrown in. The beaches have also had their expected summer run of whiting (albeit a bit patchy at times), and going into autumn we are seeing some horse whiting being caught. Worms and nippers are still the only bait for whiting. Poppers in the lakes and estuaries are still the most fun way to catch them, and are the go in these areas. PRAWNS Prawns in the lakes are still on fire and have not really grown above school size as they have been on the target list by everyone for the last two months. It’s hard not to get out there for a go when it’s been the best run in decades. It looks as though they’ll be on the menu throughout autumn. ESTUARIES The estuaries, although still quite muddy and brown from the rain we have been getting, are still fishing well. A bit of berley is the helping hand sometimes if you want that bite to happen. One fish that doesn’t mind the dirty water is the elusive mulloway, which hasn’t been so elusive of a night with many anglers being very successful on them. Live bait, fresh squid or Lund squid from Compleat Angler Batemans Bay have all yielded results. Well there you have it – autumn is looking like it’s not going to disappoint. Fish on! • For up-to-the-minute info on what’s biting where, drop into Compleat Angler Batemans Bay and have a chat to Anthony or one of the other friendly staff. They’re located at 65A Orient St, Batemans Bay (02 4472 2559).

Topwater fishing works a treat in the lakes NAROOMA

Stuart Hindson stuart@ausfishing.com.au

March is a great month to wet a line around the Narooma region and most forms of fishing have recently achieved results. Wagonga Inlet has been a little slow, mainly due to the amount of rain we’ve experienced over recent weeks but that will soon change. With a decrease in boat traffic and angling pressure plus better water conditions, Narooma is about to fire right up. All species will be on the chew however bream, whiting, flathead and mulloway will be the main targets. Flathead will respond well to soft plastics up to 80mm fished around the weed edges. Fish the main basin but expect a few fish on the flats and in the main channel. Smaller live poddy mullet and fresh prawns will also work; you can get all the poddies you need from the sand flats near the Fisheries office. Whiting numbers have been good with some models topping 42cm. Most of these fish have come from the channel on the run-out tide, and live nippers and squirt worms are the gun baits. Fish the channel on the eastern side of the bridge for a consistent catch; bag limits have been reached inside a few hours on some occasions. Expect

These mulloway fell to smaller soft plastics fished hard on the bottom with only the smallest of movements. This can be a painstaking way to fish softies but it does get results at times. Up at Tuross the fishing conditions have been great. I am consistently amazed by this area’s ability to cope under angling pressure. Flathead and bream numbers have been excellent, and most methods are effective. Bream have smashed surface presentations, with both poppers and walk-the-dog imitations working a treat. We had a session there recently that yielded 25 bream up to the kilo mark for the morning, great fun and the visual aspect certainly got the adrenalin running. Expect this surface action to continue for a while yet; one thing we have found lately is that the windier it is, the better the fishing. You can expect some thumper whiting to 44cm on the cards, there’s a stack of smaller fish around 25-30cm, which will be great to for future seasons as well. Outside, the bottom bashers have had a field day with, snapper, morwong, long-finned perch and flatties caught in numbers. The bottom end of Montague has been the pick of the reefs, with Potato Point and Brou Reefs close behind. A lot of gummy sharks have been caught by the flathead fishos too, with most fish averaging 6-8kg. Great on the plate

is the place to fish, but the location of the fish depends on tidal movements. Out wider, game anglers have had good results when the weather has allowed. The water temperature has hovered between 22-26°C, warm and perfect for marlin. All three marlin species have been caught, although stripes from 70-100kg are the most common. Troll skirted lures and switch-bait with live slimy mackerel to absolutely charm those beakies. The fish have been widespread along the shelf, although the Tuross canyons and Kink grounds have had some memorable days of late. There have been reports of yellowfin tuna, but the fish are on the smaller side. Big tuna don’t really like hot water so wait another month or so if that’s what you want to target. The beaches will continue to fish well for salmon and tailor, with enough bream, whiting and mullet to keep things interesting. Live beach worms and pipi have been the standout baits, with a lot of salmon caught on both lures and blue surf poppers fished on a paternoster rig. A few mulloway are still being caught up at Tuross Beach, but a lot of time has to be put in to consistently get results. The guys who put in the hard yards chasing these majestic fish deserve every one they catch; they put in the time and get the rewards. There have also been quite a

the minute with kingfish, northern bluefin tuna, mac tuna, bonito, striped

those ideal conditions prevail and the rock hoppers get their just rewards.

throw chromed sliced lures up to 50g may also work. If the tuna don’t arrive, there

This is what can be expected in Tuross at present when casting surface presentations, quality bream and whiting. These fish were released after the photo. tuna and even the outside chance of a yellowfin tuna all possible opponents. A lot will depend on prevailing currents, water temperature, and bait activity as to how close the tuna will travel inshore, but fingers-crossed

Ideal places to fish are the golf course rocks in town and the front ledge at Mystery Bay to the south of Narooma. Use live yellowtail or slimy mackerel underneath a bobby cork or balloon to tangle with a tuna or kingfish;

should be enough salmon and tailor around to keep you amused and the rod bent. If you’re after a feed, bream and blackfish should be available in the washes with cunjevoi, prawns and cabbage are the better baits to use.

Your first mulloway is always special. The author and Alfie looking pretty chuffed with Alfie’s 89cm fish which was tagged and released. a few yellowfin bream and trevally while fishing for whiting. Anglers who target mulloway have experienced mixed results. Most fish caught lately have come on live tailor and fresh squid. We managed a couple of nice mulloway on the last new moon that went 9kg and 7kg – not huge fish, but still great fun on lighter tackle.

and a pleasant surprise for most anglers. The Montague Island kingfish population have also played the game of late with fish to 7kg succumbing to live baits and jigs. The kings have been slow this season, but with the water now warming up expect the action to be more consistent. The north and west side of the island

few gummy sharks around. Jack Dart from Sunset Fishing Adventures recently got a 20kg fish for a client. The fish was caught on a pilchard and took around 15 minutes to land. Brou Beach is an absolute hotspot. Off the stones the pelagic action will be in full swing. It can be like a lottery off the rocks at MARCH 2016

Bread and butter species still on the cards MERIMBULA

Stuart Hindson stuart@ausfishing.com.au

The beaches around the Merimbula region have been red-hot of late and anglers who have targeted the bread and butter species have done particularly well. Bream and whiting have made up the majority of bags, with whiting in exceptional numbers. These speedsters average 35-36cm, but bigger fish are available. At that size they are great opponents of light beach outfits, and a great feed to be had. Fishing the correct tides is paramount for consistent results, with late afternoon rising tides proving to be the best. Combine tide timing with the use of the freshest of baits such as beach worms, pipi and fresh tuna cubes (especially for bream) and watch your catch rates soar. Concentrate your efforts around the rocky corners; the better beaches are North Tura, Merimbula main and the entrance to the Pambula River. Salmon and tailor will also be available, although their numbers have been down a little of late. Anglers

who target the big fry should also do well with gummy sharks and mulloway on the cards. Use large fresh baits like tailor fillets, squid and bunches of live beach worms after dark along the deeper gutters for your best chance to tangle with one. Out wider the water temperature is a warm 24°C and that means marlin. It’s been a cracking season so far with most crews getting

on striped marlin, that’s incredible fishing in anyone’s books, and the lucky clients had a day to remember. I’d expect this red-hot action to continue as long as the water stays here with the bait. The odd better black marlin to 150kg has also been hooked. These bigger fish can be a little harder to stay connected to, but let’s hope the lucky crews that do hook-up get the desired

Daniel with some cracking black bream. These were part of 32 he captured during an epic surface session, all fish were released. among them. I know local charter skipper Nathan Brown from Headhunter Charters had a cracking day recently going 11-10-10

results. On a smaller scale, yellowfin tuna have been caught though the sizes of the fish have been quite small. Most tuna average

15-25kg and are fun on the right tackle. Expect the bigger models to turn up in April, though every summer sees a horse caught so be ready for the unexpected. Trolling skirted lures is the go at this time of year, as you cover a lot of ground. Be aware of temperature breaks, tide lines, bait holding down deep and bird activity. If you come across a bait ball it’s possible to pitch live baits at marlin –once the bait is located though, you do require an organized crew to reap the benefits of this technique. Most action will happen from the 70-fathom line to the shelf but don’t underestimate the shallower water, especially for black marlin. Anglers who fish the estuaries are having a field day. Merimbula Lake continues to amaze me; the place is the size of a big puddle but always produces. Dusky flathead to 95cm, bream, whiting, legal snapper, tailor and blackfish have all been caught, and most methods are successful. Fresh bait like nippers, worms and tuna have worked a treat on the bream – anglers anchor up in the bottom lake channel and

An unusual visitor to our region, this little amberjack was caught in Pambula Lake while targeting flathead. enjoy good success. The soft plastic brigade has also had great results with plastics up to 80mm doing most of the damage. The top lake is the place to fish with plastics, concentrate on shallower edges on the run-out tide for best results. Those anglers who fish the stones for pelagic species have also had some fun. Use whole ganged pilchards cast out and slowly wound in to guarantee a kingfish, bonito or maybe some bigger than average salmon to 2.5kg. Throwing chromed sliced metals up to 40g has also payed dividends, with

most headlands seeing good results. The better ones to fish are Tura Head, Merimbula wharf, Short and Long Points. Tura Head is the pick of them all, but it’s a decent walk in from Headland Drive to the rock platform below. Expect this action to continue for a few months yet with the tuna species possible if the currents do the right thing. For anglers who target bread and butter species like blackfish and drummer, Short Point is certainly the place to fish. Expect a few bream too especially if berley is used.

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Bermagui estuaries hit their peak this month BERMAGUI

Darren Redman djsxstreamfishing@bigpond.com

Most anglers want the most from their fishing options, so a little homework on the best locations and especially the best time to visit them is important. You

No matter what style of fishing you are into, we have it all at this time of year from the sweetwater of Brogo Dam to the estuaries and beyond to the deep blue briny of the Pacific Ocean. Marlin is the big attraction for game anglers with warm water, plenty

concentrated, however at this time of year live bait is a great option, providing a much better hook up rate. Switch baiting is another option. By running a spread of hookless lures or teasers, you can bring the fish closer to the boat in order to pitch baits to the excited marlin.

With bream like this around, it’s hard not to get excited!

Tailor are just one species on offer for anglers fishing lakes, beaches or rocks. can have the greatest area in the world, but if you are there at the wrong time it can be a very disappointing experience! For Bermagui, March is arguably the best month of the lot.

of bait and all only a few miles offshore. The Twelve Mile Reef is at its prime with all three species inhabiting this area. Lures are a popular way to find where the marlin are

Ryan Wright, son of tournament personality Chris ‘Slick’ Wright, must have saltwater running through his veins. Dad took him fishing in Merimbula Lake and he caught this nice trevally. Ryan is not quite four years old and already enjoys fishing.

Big blues have been predominant lately with the Canyons being the areas that anglers should concentrate their efforts on. With such warm water again this season, it wouldn’t surprise me to see some fish brought in close to that magical 1000lb mark. Not only are marlin high on the must do list, so are sportfish like kingfish, which have been in very good numbers around Montague Island and other areas like Four and Six Mile Reefs, down to Goalen Head at Bunga. The conventional ways of catching them are working well up at the Island, while casting with soft plastics is a lot of fun near the coast. Bottom fishing offshore is excellent with most species being abundant in varying depths. With the calmer conditions, anglers are venturing further afield to fish the deeper water of the Twelve Mile Reef where things can get pretty exciting. Large Tassie trumpeter are on the short list out there as are big morwong, snapper and kingfish. While you’re out on these wider reefs, having a live bait out under a balloon may also prove effective on game fish like marlin, just to put some more excitement into things. Back closer to shore, The Step out from Tilba has produced the best catches of both tiger and sand flathead for years with some excellent red gurnard,

and in recent times, some lovely gummy sharks. Undoubtedly this is the best time to fish the estuaries, as all species are available with this season being one of the best for large whiting and bream. There is a lot of hype around using poppers on whiting over the flats, which has been very

just as effective and are easily obtained. Things will start to cool from here on in so for those of you who want some sweet water bass fishing in Brogo Dam, go now before the winter doldrums set in. These fish are conditioning for the cooler months ahead and are heavily feeding in the process. This is great

news for anglers as these fish are very active and will generally strike at just about anything that moves, especially surface lures. The dam is still at maximum capacity, so consider concentrating your efforts around the weed beds that harbour most of the food sources bass like feeding on.

Whiting are on offer in Wallaga, but the author is having trouble deciding what species this one is… effective, however if you really want to get into some great whiting action and put some lovely fillets on the table, try some nippers or worms to boost up the catch rate. In my experiences I see a lot of anglers targeting flathead in the deeper waters of an estuary, and this produces some good fish, however on the big tides I like to get up on the flats only a few inches deep. Big flatties not only like to feed there, but the warmth from the sun is also an attraction. Not only are the flathead in these shallows, so are plenty of other species like mullet, bream, luderick and garfish, as they patrol these shallow areas in search of food, which consists mostly of squirt worms. You don’t have to use worms to target these species in the shallow water as nippers will prove

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Stop, camp and explore TATHRA

Darren Redman djsxstreamfishing@bigpond.com

Ever thought of secluded beaches, remote rocky headland, beautiful blue oceans or estuary systems you can have to yourself with no other anglers around? Well, it is possible in this area, so why not come stop, camp and explore what is possibly one of last true wildernesses NSW has to offer. Just to the north of Tathra is Mimosa Rocks National Park with some good camping spots close to some of the most pristine little lakes and estuaries. One such area is Picnic Point camping ground situated on a hidden beach close to Wapengo Lake. Taking the Wapengo Lake road will bring you out here and as you will see, you are only a few minutes away from the lake. This lake has been fishing well this season with plenty of flatties in the main lake’s channels, while over the flats or around the weed beds you will find most other species like bream, luderick, whiting, mullet

Tarwhine are an interesting capture, and this photo really highlights the difference between them and yellowfin bream.

Shovel nose pull hard and are great fun for all ages.

and more. Over the sea grass beds, by using some berley there are plenty of garfish to be caught. Down at the entrance off the rocks, passing schools of salmon offer some spectacular light tackle sportfishing either on lure or bait. Only slightly to the north of Tathra is Gillards Beach, which has also got a very nice camping area adjacent to the beach. This is the middle section of three beaches along this part of

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the coast where species like salmon, bream, tailor and whiting are all common while at night mulloway and gummy sharks become an option. Taking the road off to the right as you approach the camping grounds will bring you out to the entrance of Nelsons Lake, Cowdroys Beach and the adjacent headland. The south end of this beach around the rocks offers some excellent fishing, with the

addition of berley attracting bream, mullet and salmon. The main rock platforms adjacent to the beach offer all you want from the stones with most common species like drummer, groper and luderick, while the deep water out the front will give you a chance at those passing schools of pelagics that are present in the form of kingfish, bonito, tuna, salmon or maybe a small black marlin passing. It is To page 51

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Lures are changing the game in Mallacoota MALLACOOTA

Kevin Gleed captainkev@wildernessfishingtours.com

It’s been a busy few months in Mallacoota and tourists to the area will be here right through until after Easter, as many people choose to holiday after the busier period. The fishing over the past month has been excellent with plenty of fish caught both in the lake and offshore. Offshore both sand and tiger flathead are on the bite along with some goodsized gurnard. Kingfish have been about, but have been spread out with a few crackers mixed in with plenty of undersize fish. At one stage the fish turned up in abundance and everyone anticipated good fishing for a few days. Unfortunately however, the weather

turned and that was the end of our king fishing. The water temperature has been bouncing around 20°C, however the coming months should see the warmest water and the best offshore fishing that Mallacoota has to offer. Some good fishing from the local beaches has been reported. Anglers have been catching salmon and tailor in good numbers along with a few nice yellowfin bream. Every year you get a month or two when the sand flathead move in close, and presently anglers fishing from the beach have caught some quality sandies. I have had a busy summer, with plenty of days spent guiding and I’ve found the bottom lake around Stingray Point to be a fantastic spot with numbers of fish over the last month. Flathead, bream, trevally and whiting were

all on the go, and clients who had never fished with lures caught well over 40 fish in a half-day session between three people which I love to see. Good fish were caught all through the Bottom Lake, Top Lake and right through to above Gypsy Point. The weed is starting to grow back in places, and these areas have fished well in recent weeks. Anglers have used a variety of lures to catch fish, and surface lures, blades, hardbodies and soft plastics have all caught their fair share on different days. A few mulloway were caught around the full moon. There has also been some good bass fishing up in the fresh, and surface lures thrown around dusk and dawn have caught some good fish. Plenty of rain in the past month will keep things green and the rivers moving.

One of many lure-caught flathead taken in the Bottom Lake over the past month.

Recent rain events keep the rivers flowing EDEN

Kevin Gleed captainkev@wildernessfishingtours.com

tasty pigfish. While on the way to any of these grounds, it may pay to troll a few lures as the kingfish action has been good close to shore and throw in a few bonito,

REV G.T

A L LY . S N A P P E R . EST U

. WH AD

BASS . JEWFISH . AM . FLA T

one of the pelagics already mentioned, so keep your options open. For those who can explore out to sea there is plenty of great fishing to be had. The reef or bottom fishing is excellent with both species of flathead on the chew. Sandies will be encountered closer to shore out from most beaches while you might need to go wider into deeper water to find those lovely big tiger flathead. Also, expect some nice gummy sharks when fishing closer to shore. Most of the reefs have their share of action in the form of morwong, snapper, perch and the occasional

A PE R RY

towards the entrance, while up in the brackish water those bass and estuary perch are there to be caught. As already mentioned the beaches or rocks surrounding Tathra are fishing well with Tathra Beach producing some excellent whiting on beach worms. On the Wharf there is action aplenty with those ever present schools of baitfish like mackerel and yellowtail to keep you entertained while garfish, silver trevally or luderick will give you something for the table. Using one of those mackerel or yellowtail for live bait may see you connected to

E . BR

From page 50

very deep water here and over the years I have seen all of the above fish here. You can also gain access to Nelsons Lagoon via this track. Small boats or kayaks are a good option or wading this system can be a lot of fun. It is very shallow yet holds most of the estuary species already mentioned where you can get lost in the labyrinth of channels weaving through the mangroves. There is plenty to explore around Tathra itself with the Bega River fishing well throughout its length with all species feeding well and some very good mulloway

There has been no shortage of bream caught!

The town has been busy as usual, with many of the visitors here to fish. Big rains dirtied up the water through February and since then the salmon have disappeared. Some good yellowfin bream and sand whiting have been caught on a rising tide, but the best fishing has been around dusk and dawn with fresh bait Try beach worms. Plenty of anglers head to Eden to fish from the rocky headlands, with great snapper and drummer fishing. Game fishing down towards Green Cape has been exceptional, and you can expect to encounter kingfish, tuna and marlin. Boats that head offshore

have had to pick their days to avoid those strong easterly winds that create sloppy, unpleasant ocean conditions. On the inshore reefs we have seen some good fish hit the decks, with snapper, morwong, sand and tiger flathead caught alongside good-sized gummy shark. Yellowtail kingfish have been caught in recent weeks, with the best fishing occuring around the new and full moon. The next few months should see the fishing improve for this species. Out wider, albacore tuna and some small yellowfin tuna have been caught, with the legendary striped marlin due to show up here soon. This is thanks to a big area of hot water to the north that is making its way south and firing up these fun loving species. Some good fish have

been caught in the estuaries over the past few weeks and dusky flathead are a staple on a variety of lures. Some of the bigger fish have been taken on live baits at night by anglers chasing mulloway. We can expect some good fishing for mulloway all the way through until Easter. Sand whiting and yellowfin bream have been caught around the entrance area of the local rivers with the black bream at their best further upstream. The next dark should see the prawns start moving in the estuaries and, once the tide starts running out, it should be worth getting out there for a look. The recent rains have kept the rivers flowing, which has been great for summer bass fishing. Good bass have fallen for surface lures in the past month.

striped tuna or frigates for a bit of fun. For those wishing to chase a marlin, there is no time better than now. Striped, blacks or blues are all out

towards the continental shelf where a good spread of lures is a great way to find them, while closer to shore there is a good chance of a small black.

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Cushioning your catch: fish handling basics PART II FORSTER

Blake Hudson

With an emphasis on some of the basic ‘do not’s’ of fish handling, part one of this series also highlighted the importance of correct fish handling as a way to guarantee the most superior quality of catch consumed at our dinner tables. Overall though, correct fish handling

technique was recognised by experts as a major contributor to responsibly sustaining the longevity of fishing as a whole – especially by returning under or oversize catch carefully to the water. In part two, we will focus primarily on the fundamentals and many benefits of proper landing technique. We will explore a technique of landing fish that has been used for centuries – a technique that

A small bed of sponge foam will stow very easily in most boats.

has been improved and modified in a way that makes it perfectly suited to today’s fishing environment. These techniques are extremely simple – and once adopted and implemented, will enable you to turbo charge your fishing – with the ultimate outcome of giving you more precious time with your bait in the water, and a superior product on your plate. So, back aboard the wetliner in WA, where it was once again reinforced that a fish has never experienced the full force of gravity or anything hard, hot or dry, I was beginning to wonder how to combat these problems when bringing fish aboard a deck. Lucky for us, Japanese anglers discovered that by simulating ‘suspension’ after catching a fish, the fish would remain calm and hardly flip around at all. How did they do that? They landed them on wet rice matting. So how did we reproduce that environment on the deck of a working snapper boat in the 21st century? Quite easily. We used foam rubber or a sponge (like a roll of cheap mattress foam) about 50mm

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thick, on the top of every kill table (ice box), and soak it thoroughly with seawater. Simple, cheap, effective! When we were fishing

carefully upon the sponge foam covered kill tables. The catch was mainly snapper and an assortment of mixed reef fish, but land

This left your non-glove hand free to grip the killing tool and manage the massive amounts of hooks and line. The cotton glove

A thin bed of sponge foam is all you need to make fish handling safer for both you and the fish. in WA, the action on deck was similar to milking a cow. We worked as two teams in diagonal formation. Port stern and starboard forward would be lines on the bottom, while starboard stern and port forward anglers would be surfaced – unloading catch onto the tables, re-baiting and then plummeting back to the bottom. The opposing crew would be given the signal to crank up, unload, re-bait and when signaled they were ‘right to go’, the other team would then put their biceps to work hauling. Fish that were unloaded were immediately dealt with by the opposite crewmember. This not only avoided snagging each other and proved a super-

a hot blooded pelagic into the mix and without keeping the fish calm and eliminating flipping around, this scenario would have been absolute chaos – not to mention so inefficient it probably would have been a complete waste of time. In this manner, the saturated sponge bed was an outstanding success in its suspension imitation, but there was still the issue of the bare flesh of a human hand to contend with as a potential aggravation to our live catch. So how do you avoid contact with fish scales with a bare hand? You cover your hand with a cotton glove! With the skipper insisting that under no circumstances would any exposed human flesh come in contact with

would be soaking wet, so abrasive contact with the live animal was absolutely minimal, and once again proved a critical component in maintaining a stress-free environment on deck. And that unsophisticated piece of kit was part of our hand for the entire day, handling hundreds upon hundreds of fish and hooks all day. If a fish was accidently landed on top of another one, it would begin a chain reaction of flipping across a loaded table of fish like jumping jacks, with the short-fused skipper quickly turning a menacing shade of psychotic – therefore incidents of the kind were avoided at all costs. So when landing fish, the idea was to unclip a trace from

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efficient stealth stream that returned illegal fish to the water swiftly, it also kept the school alert with bait always on the bottom. In any 5-minute period there could be anywhere up to 80 fish being landed

the fish (dead or alive), we also wore a cotton glove on our left hand (for right handers) – the only hand that ever came in contact with scales while sorting, sizing, returning or killing a live fish.

the mainline, turn to face the foam table, quickly choose a vacant space, and gently flick the fish by the trace onto the table while slightly pulling toward you as it lands so as not to scale it. In addition, fish larger than pan

size would have their bellies supported. This enabled a safe, ‘flip free’ landing 99% of the time. The good news is that all it takes for any angler – be it amateur or pro – to avoid all of this time wasting, is a piece of saturated sponge the same size as your ice box lid! Once you retrieve your fish, simply hold the line about 5-10cm above the fish, support the belly with a saturated glove hand, and gently lay the animal on the sponge while pulling it slightly toward you with the grain of the scales. All your dramas will suddenly disappear and you’ll have a subdued fish ready for sizing and processing, and be left wondering why you hadn’t employed such a simple thing as sponge landing years ago. It is that simple! If the fish is illegal size, quickly remove your hook, grab the tiddler with your wet glove hand (usually without protest) and carefully return it to the water. Much simpler, much more efficient, much less stress! Not to mention safer for all involved parties! How many times have you been spiked by fins or sliced by the gill plate or injured in some shape or form while you wrestled with your catch? How many

times has your slippery catch escaped your grip and ended up in a compromised situation in the bottom of the boat, on the ground or back in the water? How many times has the process of hook removal alone turned into a drama of monumental proportions? How many times have you taken your kids fishing, for them to reel in a monster far bigger than yours, only to leave it dangling in the sky by bent rod, completely intimidated,

afraid and wondering what to do with it? If your answers to any of these questions is “many times”, then you should wet a sponge foam for your landings! And with a variety of expensive and ineffective tools available for fish handling, what can possibly be simpler than a piece of wet sponge foam the same size as your ice box lid? Everyone, absolutely every single angler – be it fresh or salt, deep sea, beach

or estuarine – will benefit hand over fist by including a piece of sponge as part of their fishing kit. I find that a sponge foam is as important as the ice box itself, and I never leave home to go fishing without it. Quite simply... it works! So what are you waiting for? Get out there, get yourself some sponge the same size as your ice box lid, follow the guidelines set out above, start landing your fish like a champion and

Unhooking fish doesn’t have to be messy or uncomfortable.

enjoy fishing even more. It really couldn’t be easier. Next part of this series, I will get down to the pointy end of how to treat your keepers, with a thorough

description of another centuries old handling technique that will quite literally blow minds. Until then, see you in the soup!

A cotton glove is a good way to avoid contact with the fish’s scales.

MARCH 2016

Year of the Murray cod CANBERRA

Bryan Pratt

This certainly looks to be the year of the Murray cod in the Canberra-Monaro District. Reports have come in of great fish from all over the local region, in lakes and streams and even larger farm dams. Numerous fish have come from Canberra’s urban lakes, especially Burley

Fisheries and ACT Fish Management staff in recent years. Fingerlings obtained from government and private hatcheries have been produced in large numbers at minimal cost, and then stocked in waterways at the right time of the year when water temperatures are satisfactory and when there is plenty of food available. Survival rates have been good and the fish have grown rapidly. A key factor in the

caught were killed, even though there was some acceptance of bag and size limits. Public attitudes have now changed dramatically and the majority of cod now caught, irrespective of size or bag limits, are released to grow and provide sport another day. Additionally, a far greater proportion of cod are now caught on lures instead of bait and thus can be released with less harm

Nathan Walker with a Murray cod typical of those caught in Canberra’s urban and regional waterways. Being caught on a lure means it can be released with minimal damage and provide sport in the future for other anglers.

Trout fly fishers are starting to try their luck with cod, using large, bulky purpose-built flies. They are a tough and tricky opponent for a fly angler, but an immensely satisfying catch. Griffin, Ginninderra and Yerrabi. Others have come from the Molonglo and the Murrumbidgee rivers and there have been some outstanding specimens from Googong, Wyangala, Blowering, Burrendong and especially Burrinjuck. The largest fish from Burley Griffin recently was 1.45m in length and from Burrinjuck a specimen of 1.5m was taken; excellent fish indeed. STOCKING SUCCESS There are several possible reasons for the current run of good cod. Firstly, we are seeing the results of concentrated stocking programs by NSW

growth rate has been the abundance of redfin and carp in the stocked waterways. We may be concerned at the pest status of these fish, but they are a valuable food source for developing cod. It will be interesting to see what happens if the koi herpes virus, lethal to carp and currently being considered for release in Australian waterways, wipes out this valuable component of the cod’s diet. CATCH AND RELEASE Another factor has been the phenomenal public acceptance of catchand-release. Years ago the majority of Murray cod

and a greater survival rate. Overall, this has meant more cod in the system and larger fish available for capture. Just a few years ago a cod over the magic 1m mark was a rare event. Today, it is surprisingly commonplace and in Burrinjuck in particular, metre plus fish are caught almost every week. NEW TACKLE AND TECHNIQUES Tackle has also improved. Lures come in a wider range of colours, shapes and sound patterns There are more deep divers, hardbodied patters and soft plastics than ever before to titillate a cod’s appetite.

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Lake rainbows are feeding close to shore in the late afternoon and evening, dining on a mix of beetles, moths, ants and grasshoppers, all of which a good fly fisher can match from a well-stocked fly box. Night fishing, slow trolling large hardbodied lures, and spinnerbaits are proving to be popular new techniques. There has been great increase in the use of surface lures, for both day and night fishing, which has proven to be eminently successful on cod of all sizes. GOLDEN SUCCESS It’s been a good start with golden perch. Often they are a by-catch when fishing for Murray cod, but for those who concentrate on them, Burrinjuck has been the standout location. Trollers have used a variety of lures, including lipless crankbaits and hardbodies. Black plastic grubs jigged around

flooded trees, especially in the lower reaches of the Murrumbidgee Arm, have been hugely successful. REDFIN SCHOOLING Redfin have followed their traditional summer pattern of schooling in large numbers and have provided great sport in the urban lakes as well as the major dams like Googong and Burrinjuck. Using flashy, shiny, noisy jigs and other lures it has been easy to catch cricket scores of the fish in many locations, much to the delight of anglers who appreciate these fine food fish. TROUT DELIGHT The trout season is in full swing with plenty of action for fly fishers using small parachute dries and grasshopper patterns in the streams and big wets at night in the lakes. Rainbows in both Eucumbene and Jindabyne average about 1.5kg and the browns around 2kg, and respond well to flatline and lead core line trolling, bait fishing with PowerBait, scrub worms and wood grubs. Night fishing is also successful with Craigs Nightime, Woolly Bugger and red and black matuka flies doing the damage.

Small rainbows provide great sport in regional streams in the Canberra-Monaro district, taking nymphs and small dries tied in parachute patterns and large grasshopper patterns banged down hard to simulate the landing of a real creature.

Predicting the unpredictable out on Jindabyne JINDABYNE

Steve Williamson swtrout@airlan.com.au

The last couple of months of weather have been pretty crazy in the Snowy Mountains. One day we have it hot and steamy and the next day freezing – which has been reflected in the fishing of late. Fly anglers will also agree that this season has been crazy, as the insect hatches have excited the trout into an early morning and evening rise. They’ve been all over the place with some species that are normally seen everywhere in very low numbers, while other insects that we have not been seen for many years are out in abundance. That’s simply mother nature, and when we deal with wild creatures there’s just not a lot you can do but roll with whatever happens. The strange fishing patterns have meant that what may have worked for you before may not necessarily be what works this year, so put on your thinking cap every day on the water. Having a tackle shop as well as the guiding business allows me to really talk to a wide variety of anglers from those very experienced to those that are basically new to the sport. It is often the more experienced that have the most problems catching a trout as they are set in their ways and don’t read the conditions correctly, simply reverting to whatever they had success with last year. Surface trolling lures on bright sunny summer days when the water is glassy

would rise, a cold front would arrive and the surface temperature would drop again. I would expect this month early morning fishing sessions to yield the best results. The great news is that due to the cooler and wetter summer this year the rainbows were more active and plenty were caught – all is looking good for an autumn of trout fishing in the Snowy Mountains. The rivers will on average be a little more fishable over the coming month and lure anglers will get a chance to fish the alpine streams where the fishing has been good with plenty of small fish caught. Some of the lures to try on the rivers for stream trout will be small 3cm bullet minnows in natural trout colours and small spinners like Gillies Feathertails. On the lake, work the same sort of lures around the edges of the shallow bays in about 4m of water to pick up a bigger fish. Make sure you pursue this tactic in the early morning or else you might have to wait until dark. If it is windy, and windy days are quite often good days in summer, try some of the heavier Tasmanian Devils in green and gold or even yellow. Try to throw them into the wind into deeper water and retrieve slowly. Some of the better fishing spots on the lake will be Creel Bay, Hatchery Bay and East Jindabyne Islands – all fish well at this time of the year. SUSSING OUT THE RIGHT FLY For boat owners, the best way to start off the day’s trolling will be

well on the surface and off lead core lines early. Some of the better trolling areas this month will be deep water off Lion and Cub Islands or the deeper water off Hatchery Bay and Hayshed Bay. Sids Bay through to Rushes Bay

at East Jindabyne will fish well early in the day for big brown trout but the first hour of light will be the time to be there. For lake fly anglers the best fishing has been early morning and the decent fish have been found cruising around the rocky points. The lake flyfishing will only get better over the coming months as the water cools and the trout feed up ready for their

Best method................... Lake trolling leadlines early then downriggers at 35f Best depth...................... 2m early to 35f. Best lake lure................. Tasmanian Devil Willy’s Special number 111 or Steve Williamson’s Lime Green Yellowwing. Best lake area................ Deepwater off Lion and Cub Islands. Best fly method.............. Dry fly – hopper patterns and Yellow Humpies. Best river........................ Thredbo River to try surface lines with lures to about 2m at first light, maybe with a lead core line at three colours to take the lures to 4-5m as a backup. On brighter days and later in the morning, downriggers will be very helpful to extend your trolling time. Start at 35ft with a lure drop back of 4m, and you should start to see some fish. By late morning go to 45-50ft for the best fishing. The Tasmanian Devil number 111 Willy’s Special or Steve Williamson’s Lime Green Yellowwing are the best deep lures at the moment with Tasmanian Devil number 36 Yellowwing doing

Over this month the best lake baitfishing will be early and late in the day with mudeyes under a bubble float the best bait, before changing to scrub worms off the bottom teamed up with some

John Burns with a 5lb brown trout caught by trolling a Willy’s special number 111 Tasmanian Devil lure.

LAKE JINDABYNE TROUT FISHING ADVENTURES MARCH ROUNDUP

is not the way to catch trout in the warmer water. I guess my fishing reports are supposed to set you on the right track, however I am not Nostradamus and I am sure even he would not have been able to predict day to day what the fishing will be like. SO WHAT DO WE HAVE IN STORE FOR MARCH? I think that we will see some reasonable fishing by the end of March. The lake water temperature remained lower than normal over the past summer, making it perfect for trout fishing. Every time we had a few hot days and the surface water temperature

placement is essential or else you just scare all the fish. Try a small Hopper pattern, Royal Wulff or Royal Humpy or a caddis moth fly. Try the lower Mowamba near the weir on the Dalgety Road.

spawning run as we move into winter. On the lake try some streamer patterns such as black Woolly Buggers and Williamson’s Gold Fish. Olive green nymphs and shrimp patterns are also worth a try. The South Arm, Creel Bay and especially Sids Bay are all great. On the rivers the best flyfishing is had in the evenings and there should still be plenty of evening rises and fantastic dry flyfishing for a few weeks yet. The Alpine streams still look good and plenty of small fish have been caught on dry fly also. Fly selection is not too critical in these streams but

artificial bait maybe as the sun gets higher. Worms under a float is another alternative if you can’t get any mudeyes, which are slowly becoming harder to collect – once again due to the dry weather. The best baitfishing areas are Creel Bay, Hatchery Bay and Curiosity Rocks in the deeper water. If you want to know more about the latest in fishing conditions, check out our latest reports on Facebook at https://www. facebook.com/LJTFA or check out my website www. swtroutfishing.com.au. Until next month, hope you catch the big one. • If you would like some personal guiding, I will be available over the coming months for fly fishing tuition and lake trolling trips. Lessons can be booked from two hours’ duration, and trolling trips from three hours to a full day. If you want to know more about the latest in fishing conditions, just give me a call on 02 6456 1551 or check out my website at www.swtroutfishing.com.au. You can also see our daily Facebook updates at www. facebook.com/LJTFA.

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Mildura monster month MILDURA

John Menhennett goobyfish@hotmail.com

With cod season well and truly in full swing, anglers have been taking full advantage of a steady river and heading out on the water in the hope of catching a big green fish. Reports of catches on lures have been pleasing so far. Autumn is a great time to fish for native species in the Murray River around Mildura. Leaves falling from the trees are just one of Mother Nature’s ways of letting you know air temperatures are dropping, making it an optimum time to be targeting big Murray cod around Sunraysia. This is also the time to be upsizing lures and tackle and casting into snags.

The cooler weather will be welcomed by all anglers as it has been an extremely hot and dry summer with one really hot day rolling into the next. Yellowbelly have been caught just about everywhere lately, and bait anglers using shrimp and yabbies have done most of the damage. Most of these fish have been in excess of 50cm and very fat. A simple river rig with a 2/0 hook with a bait of worm, shrimp or yabby is all you need. Trolled and cast small lures have also been working well on yellowbelly around snag piles and weed banks, especially around Merbein and Wentworth. There have been some good reports of large Murray cod being caught on lures in the Murray River. The Darling River also produced good numbers up until the end of February. Many of

the fish caught on lures have been in excess of the 100cm range, and caught in multiple locations around Mildura. Bait anglers in the shallows upstream of Mildura have been doing quite well with numerous reports of 20 plus fish up to 20lb on grubs in a single session. These fish have been very healthy and most were released, which is great to see. Of course, there has been the usual ton of carp caught everywhere over the past month. Yes, they are a noxious species and it is always good to rid them of the system where possible, but they are also fun to fish for, particularly larger fish on small spin outfits with light braid. They are also a great species to teach the kids how to fish, because they are consistent most of the time. The next month or so should bring some good

Matt from Mildura with a very nice Murray cod caught trolling the depths of the Mildura pool water. Fish of this size are quite common in the autumn months. fishing for all native species, in particular Murray cod. This is the time when fish will be foraging for food stocks to get them through the cooler months and they will become more active and willing to take big lures.

The key to fishing success in the autumn, or any time of the year for that matter, is time on the water. Fish are relatively easy to catch if you can find where their hidey-holes are and know what their

movements are. You won’t know if you don’t go! Even though anglers will fish in the hottest of conditions, the cooler months are always a relief and produce some great fishing around the Sunraysia area.

Left in the wake bait ROBINVALE

Rod Mackenzie codmac@bigpond.net.au

Fishing this past month has been steady along the Murray River and some very good Murray cod and golden perch found their way onto the hook. The pool water at Robinvale produced a good run of small to medium cod and some solid golden perch. Most fish have been caught on bait but some of the better cod have taken lures. The back of the Nine-Mile has been the pick of spots where cod are concerned. The reports upstream to Boundary Bend have been good with

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plenty of cod to 75cm on bait and lures among good numbers of perch. Below the weir at Euston downstream to Wemen and beyond continues to produce some very large cod. The biggest this past month was 120cm on a trolled StumpJumper. Perch have also taken lures in this area and anglers who fish baits of shrimp and small yabbies have really cracked the cod code. It would be fair to say that so far this season the shallow current rich water of this area has been the most consistent habitat of larger sized cod. With that in mind, be careful of the many shallow rock bars that, while great for holding fish, will also do you plenty of damage if

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you strike them in the boat at speed. Most good cod anglers will tell you that going flat out has little to do with catching fish. For those prepared to try, some very good surface action occurs at either end of the day and into the night. Summer cod fishing in our local waters can be a difficult affair as anglers suffer the torment of relentless heat and a stream of seemingly endless river traffic. When we talk wake along the Murray at this time and into early autumn the first thing that springs to mind is the speaker clad wake boats that push enough water to cause an endless rise of bank side tsunamis. Forget fishing the pool water during the heat of the day as the water is churned to the turbid tune of jet skis and motors. The calm returns at the end of the day, when the roar finally subsides and the natural sounds of the river return to a tranquil calm. Now it’s time to create a new kind of wake, one that’s often interrupted with a shotgun like explosion. Surface lures and wake baits have come of age over the past few seasons. The continual stream of new and exciting models becoming available seems endless and this explosive form of angling has turned up plenty of good fish. While standard paddling surface lures have been the choice of most low light fishers in the past few years, it’s only been of recent times that large wake baits have come into their own. When I say ‘large’, the average length of these wake baits would be at least 170mm long. From

Tim Polis with a stonking Murray cod trolled on a StumpJumper Lure. here they grow in size to the point where you require specially designed rods like the 8kg, 7ft Venom Baitcast to hurl them at distance. Some wake baits are designed to mimic fish, while others look like water rats and snakes as they wiggle their way across the surface making a distinct clicking sound. These baits are popular in some of the larger impoundments for the unique noise that sets them aside from other more commonly heard surface lures. These lures are quickly finding a home along the Murray and its adjoining rivers and they will no doubt continue to fool surface seasoned cod into taking a swipe. With that said as we roll into autumn the fishing should only get better as the water temperature begins to slowly drop. We are now about to enter the real start of the big cod season so good luck to all those wetting a line up this way over the coming month.

Jamie Stewart with a ripper Murray cod taken off the surface on a Koolabung Cod Cracker.

Topwater terror makes Mulwala trip worth it YARRAWONGA

Tony Bennett codclassic@bigpond.com

The holidays are over but who forgot to tell the cod? Never before has the fishing in Lake Mulwala been so good! Don’t get me wrong, Lake Mulwala is known as ‘the lake of a thousand casts’ and can leave the best fishos broke at day’s end after pulling ‘donuts’, but that’s highly unlikely at the moment. The news of a ‘metery’ always brings excitement and anticipation for those in search of a piece of the action. Since the season opened at least 20 or more have been reported. All fishing methods have accounted for many memorable moments but the surface action stands alone. Following closely behind is the sub-surface action, a style of fishing that is quickly becoming trendy. Lures that can be worked in the top 300mm of water are getting great results. There is no reason why this great start to the season can’t continue. The following is a bit of proof that January

was a month to remember. Thanks to those who supplied us with reports. Ash Thompson and kids

with several nice cod and a Yella, “Bomber” Thompson with 30+ cod mostly undersize from a night of

Jesse Clarke was happy with this 80cm cod.

casting small hard bodies, Glen Becker with a 74 and 80cm from cast TN60 Jackalls, young Ned Welsh with a 75cm on bait, local boy Jesse Clarke 80cm on the troll, Aaron Farrugia 84cm sub-surface, Cain Peatling 108cm trolling (his second for the season) Harry Crawford 105cm, Tim Smith 110cm and Rick Doyle 112cm all casting spinnerbaits. The following impressive list have all been taken from the top - John Jardine 80cm, Ron Cudley 87cm, Sam Consolo 95cm, Paul Moskaljuk 98cm, Robert “Cookie” Cook 98cm, Wally Cjepa 99cm plus another metery, Garry Dowell 100cm and Corey Banfield with a 110cm beast. I had the pleasure of accompanying Glen Dominick for a night of surface fishing. Being an avid bait fisho, Glen had never caught a cod on a lure before let alone off the top. After a crash course in casting and lure retrieval techniques, Glen proved to be a pro. To see his excitement after receiving a few hits was gold, especially after landing one that measured close

to 60cm. The evening saw us get nine hits with each landing two cod. Apart from these fish there has been a multitude of others reported. Some great reports have come from downstream below the weir in the river with an 80cm trout cod being one of those. The yellas have also been biting for those working small yabbies and shrimp around the timber. With the competition season upon us, there are a couple more coming up in the near future. The next is the His & Hers Partners Classic, March 5, a great day for understanding couples to share time together in the boat. To round out the comp season is the Cod Nationals, April

17 - 22, five days of serious tournament fishing for the dedicated green fish angler. It’s guaranteed that once you have fished a Cod Nationals you will never miss it again. • If you’re visiting town call into Lake Mulwala Fish Camp & Ski, the shop with the big green cod out the front (opposite the Post Office) in Mulwala or check out our new store located between Rivers and One Zac in the main street, Yarrawonga and say G’day. We’re Yarrawonga/ M u l w a l a ’s fishing specialists and specialise in all things ‘green’! For any information on the upcoming events or fishing reports give us a hoy on 03 5744 3133.

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Codaholics can still get their fix the odd trophy sized one to keep spirits and expectation levels high. Anglers trolling small hardbodies are catching a good number of redfin, but those who try something slightly different are getting the best results. Trolling suspending hardbodies with a constant stop-start technique is arguably the best way to target the bigger, wiser redfin at Blowering Dam. Constantly stopping the lure for up to ten seconds at a time can be a lot of big redfins’ undoing. To put it simply, they just can’t let an easy meal sit there for too long or those pesky schools of little redfin will get in and eat it first. If they don’t hit it while

BATLOW

Wayne Dubois waynedubois@westnet.com.au

Normally at Blowering Dam at this time of the year, the redfin in the lake are plentiful and easy to catch. This year they are still easy to catch, but finding a patch of them has been quite difficult for most anglers. REDFIN Those who have come across them either by clever use of their sounders, stumbling across them on the troll or while drifting, have really cleaned up. The majority of these fish have been fairly small, but there are still plenty of big ones out there and

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it is stationary, then they will often smash it as soon as you start moving the lure again, as this can look like their prey is trying to get away from them. The other added bonus of using this technique is that when you do hook a fish you can simply leave the other rods out, sitting in the strike zone, which gives you a good chance of multiple hook ups. More often than not one hooked fish can turn the rest of the school into a feeding frenzy and the lures that are still sitting there in the strike zone get hit even though the boat and lures haven’t moved. Another great little trick for increasing your redfin catch rate is to add a small 1-2” soft plastic or a flashy saltwater fly to your main line about a metre or so above your chosen trolling lure. This technique also gives you a great chance of getting a few multiple hook ups and when you do get two on the one rod it can make for some interesting battles, especially when they’re both up around the 2kg mark! Pulling up after locating a good school and casting to them with lipless crankbaits, soft plastics, blades, vibes, ice jigs or metal spinners is another great way of getting some good numbers of fish under your belt. GOLDEN PERCH Golden perch will be finally worth targeting up in the shallows this month, particularly early and late in the day. It is still a bit too warm for them to spend too much time in the shallows in the middle of these hot days, but they do love to lie in thick pockets of grass or weed waiting to ambush any easy meal that swims or crawls by. As soon as that sun starts to dip over the Snubba Range, they will move up into the shallows for a feed. I like to target these fish with lures such as lipless crankbaits, Angel Baits, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits,

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soft plastics, beetle spins and hardbodies, both floating and suspending depending on how weedy the area is that I am fishing. The Angel Baits, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, beetle spins and the soft plastics all only have the one hook point, which generally means you will foul your lure less in the weed, but some days the fish just won’t hook up on these lures and a very slow, and I mean slow, retrieve with a hardbodied lure can often bring results. The only drama with these lures in extremely weedy areas is that they get fouled up far more often due to their six hook points hanging from below the lure. A great way to reduce the foul ups is to take the trebles off your hardbodies and run assist hooks just off the rear tow point. This will mean your lure isn’t constantly getting fouled up, resulting in more hook ups. MURRAY COD There have been some insane numbers of big Murray cod caught in recent months but the cod fishing has just started to slow down due to the constantly dropping lake levels. In saying this, there are still plenty being caught, just not in the amazing numbers that were being caught in late spring and early summer. The best techniques have been casting and trolling with Angel Baits and spinnerbaits, and the larger the lure, the better the results. There have also been plenty caught by those bait fishing, with the pick of the baits being grubs and large yabbies, but there have also been quite a few caught on cheese and raw chicken breast, yes that’s right, cheese and chicken breast works as well in the lakes as it does in the rivers. TROUT STREAMS The trout streams in the area have fished really well over the summer months and if you are into fly fishing, in particular dry fly fishing, it has been insane. There have been good numbers of hoppers about and the trout have been

This cod is a good fish in most places, but just another average Murray cod for Blowering Dam. Fish of this size and much bigger have been caught in good numbers and on a regular basis of late. willing to rise to most floating hopper imitations. Lure anglers have also fared quite well, especially after rain events when the water is too high and dirty for fly fishing. It won’t be long until the hoppers disappear, so get one on and get among them. Even if you can’t fly

fish, get up early and catch a few real grasshoppers, lightly pin them through the wings and drift them down a likely looking run. This works just as well as fly fishing and is often referred to as ‘poor mans’ fly fishing’. Either way, it works really well at this time of the year and is hard to beat.

Another good-sized golden perch taken from around weed. This fish was caught on an Insanity Tackle Slap Walker rigged with assist hooks to reduce the amount of foul-ups on the weed.

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MARCH 2016

A beautifully marked brook trout caught in the greater Batlow area on a hopper imitation. Stream trout have been gorging themselves on grasshoppers over the last couple of months.

Get reddy for autumn action LITHGOW/OBERON

Glen Stewart stewie72@bigpond.com

March would have to be one of the best times of year to go camping on the Central Table Lands of NSW. The heat of summer has passed, and cool nights are made warm and toasty with the glowing embers and heat from the fire. The smell of hearty camp oven cooking will hopefully fill the nostrils; it could be a damper, or a bubbling stew, a mixture, or a broth to be shared among family and friends. This is what makes my March. Changes underwater are a little slow off the mark, compared to happenings above water. The thermal mass of water is not as quick to change compared to air temperature, so for the most part you will see summer fishing patterns continue until later in the month, especially in the dams. Weather systems are usually pretty stable as well at this time of year so patterning fish from day to day on a trip away can be quite easy. Basically, if you caught them there on a particular day at such a time, then chances are that’s where they will be the next day. LATE SUMMER REDFIN Chasing bigger than average redfin is a real challenge in some of the local dams like Ben Chifley Dam near Bathurst and Carcoar Dam near Blayney. The small fish are great fun, especially for the kids, but after a while you just yearn for something bigger. The colder months of winter is one sure way to cut out the numbers and increase the size, but it’s freezing, and not for the faint-hearted.

After quite a few years chasing them, you do come up with a few little tricks that work on bigger fish. Sounder technology has definitely helped in this regard, and if you cannot see a bigger fish on

Finesse fishing is still very important, as leader and line selection plays a vital role in getting your jig to the bottom quickly into sighted fish on the sounder. Once on the bottom, line

COD ARE JUST WARMING UP It’s been a cracker season to date, and it will be interesting to watch the social media pages, magazines and the like for what might

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A finesse approach is the key with bigger redfin, so we use light line and leader to get our lures to the bottom fast. Once on the bottom, the line control gained in often windy conditions is also a plus. the sounder screen, don’t drop the jig, just keep moving if you want bigger fish. Like most species of schooling fish, bigger redfin adopt different habits to the run of the mill, school-sized critters. First of all there are less of them, a lot less. They hang out in loose groups; small wolf packs is a good way of describing them. There’s usually about 5-6 large individuals that work together for maximum effect. I think they do become a little less pelagic in nature and more prone to patrolling major break lines in depths, old creek beds and gullies and ambush feeding on the hordes of smaller redfin in late summer.

control can play a big part, as you want some contact with the lure, but not too much – it’s a fine line (no pun intended). They love to hit the lure on the drop, so watch and feel the line. Lure selection, especially in deeper water, often calls for something heavy and compact such as blades, ice jigs, spoons, lead head jigs and cut down plastics. You will mostly fish straight under the boat. If blind searching in deep water, cast along drop-offs and creek beds with heavy lipless crankbaits or compact heavy single willow blade spinnerbaits.

The increase in catch rates of bigger cod is great to see, but are our handling techniques up to scratch? Should we be taking big fish to the bank for release in shallow water at certain times of the year?

turn up in the next month or so in local dams such as Wyangala, Windamere and Burrendong. More people are targeting bigger cod, and it’s really showing in catch rates. Upsize your lures, lines, leaders and rods, and think about what areas to target. Being more specific about what you do. It’s great to see and very good for the tackle industry as a whole. Good handling techniques of bigger fish is still a little lacking in the community (I too am guilty). I had a very interesting talk with a good mate of mine Rodger Miles from Cod Hunter Fishing Tours recently, and Rodger has seen and caught a lot of big cod, his passion for the fish is unquestionable. With some of the lures we see today catching fish from depths in our impoundments and deeper rivers that even five years ago where unheard of, are we doing the right thing taking these fish to the bank and releasing them in shallow water? At some times of the year it may make little difference, but Rodger alerted me to the fact that in very early summer and again in early autumn, we should probably release the fish back into the depth that they were caught from as quickly as possible via the means a of release weight, to avoid the effects of thermal shock. It’s an interesting subject and one I think we should all be aware of. Hope to see you on the water soon. Until then, tight lines.

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Main basin for bassin’ HUNTER VALLEY

Peter Fogarty bakerods@hotkey.net.au

We’ve had some very diverse weather conditions in February, which has made the fishing difficult to predict. One day we suffered through 41°C only to wake up to a 15°C temperature the very next day.

This time of year the fish usually sit deep, around 40ft but on an overcast day after a cooler night you can still catch fish with lipless crankbaits around heavily timbered areas. Surface fishing is best late at night. A popular fishing area is the Glenbawn boat harbour, which provides a sheltered fishing haven with easy access from the main basin.

There is plenty of timber to provide cover for all species and is usually productive for bank fishing in the early morning and late evening. The harbour entrance is a natural ambush point for natives. Start your troll way out along the submerged Golden Point, past the steep drop-off and continue through the narrow entrance, you’ll find

Luke Draper with a healthy Glenbawn bass.

Ryan Jones and Mark Lennox with gorgeous matching pairs of bass.

MARCH 2016

both sides of Golden Point provide good opportunity to troll, cast and bait fish. Drowned Cabins is another good place to start a long trolling run, under Brushy Hill and along the wall around Spillway Bay. This is quite a scenic run where you can test all of your techniques. The wall is the most trolled (often the most productive) run on the lake for yellowbelly. Troll right in close to the wall but remember to observe the exclusion area near

the intake tower. If this doesn’t work for you, try the second deeper drop-off a little further out from the wall and run a little deeper. The Gig is the most popular area on the lake due to accessibility and consistency of bass and yellowbelly catches. You can cast, troll or baitfish from the east end of the Spillway, or target the submerged timber and some deepwater channels from the Spillway past The Gig and onto Kurrajong

Point. You’ll find good shore access from Wilga Park, Cemetery Point and Curra Keith Bay. Troll and cast around Cemetery Point back into Curra Keith Bay, as bass like to lie in ambush waiting for baitfish on these submerged points. The north run is excellent trolling and casting territory, right along the broken weedy shorelines from Cemetery Point to Yellow Boy Bay. The Rock Slide or Clay Slip To page 61

Murray cod fight hard as the weather cools TAMWORTH

Adam Mears adam.mears@hotmail.com

With the best part of summer behind us, those wicked hot days mellow out to pleasant afternoons and it’s at these times that us anglers rejoice. An afternoon fishing the slow moving pools of water in our country music capital can be as pleasant and relaxing or as full on and adventurous as you like – it’s all up to the individual. This time of year always offers a lot of choice, from

Good rain flow has been a godsend to the region, and with a good flow back in the system the golden perch will be shaping up for a breeding season of their own. Good reports of golden perch have been very common in anglers’ reports this month and baits of worm and shrimp have been the ‘go to’ baits while lure fishers have been getting fish on diving lures between 50-70mm in length. I like lipless crankbaits for golden perch, they are great searching tools and cover heaps of water in a short amount of time. They

and bays in the main basin. Fishing well into the night has also been successful around the full moon and casting to the weed beds is a great option at night as the large predators lurk in close looking for an easy feed. Those willing to brave the dark may find themselves hooked up to that fish of a lifetime, so prepare for anything and good luck. The European carp in the lake are ever present and will bite on anything from worms, shrimp, corn, bread and even the Aussie favourite, the hot chip. If you’re looking to kill a few hours, a trip to the lake

Split rock is also known to produce some very large cod and putting in those extra hours with bigger lures might have

you finding a few hanging around on the edges of the golden perch schools, but persistence is the key. So until next month,

fish hard and if you are lucky enough to get into a few send through your pictures to adam.mears@ hotmail.com.

The author displaying a beautiful Murray cod destined for release.

Even small cod are aggressive, just remember to handle them with care before returning them to the water. spinning lipless rattlers for golden perch in our dams to trolling for those trophy specimen Murray cod along the deep rock walls and even searching our riverbeds with surface lures and spinnerbaits for either species. NAMOI AND PEEL RIVER The Namoi River has been fishing well over the past month and good captures of small cod have shown that our breeders have done their thing and that the river giants will continue to flourish, even in these hard times. From page 60

is also a good spot for casting or baitfishing. Troll deep lures along the old riverbed across the mouth of the Twin Bay and close into the centre tongue of land, then through the Narrows on the Port Side. Lost Island is a favourite casting area for bass, although hard to find when the lake is full, so look for a few telltale treetops in the middle of Bid House Bay. These trees indicate a large submerged island with lots of underwater timber – a great environment to bait fish or cast lures. At One Tree Hill the river bed snakes through the middle of Bid Shallow

can also be worked at any depth, so you don’t have to change lures as often to suit the depth of your locations. LAKE KEEPIT The lake fishing has been and all year proposition and keen anglers fishing the right times have been reaping the rewards. Dawn and dusk are your best options, not only to catch a few fish but to beat the crowds as well. Trolling big lures is very popular at the moment and 1-2oz spinnerbaits have been catching some very large cod around the inlets

fishing for these hard-fighting pests can really hone your angling skills. SPLIT ROCK DAM Out at Manilla, Split Rock Dam anglers are still catching good numbers of golden perch. They’re not quite as plentiful as pervious months, but for those who are willing to use their knowledge of the dam or sounders on their boats, finding schools located around the rock walls and bay will still see many bent rods and hard-fighting natives coming to the sides of the boats.

Bay fronting the soil con sheds. Locate the river by the tree lines and follow it in close to the northern side of One Tree Hill, which will bring you to great trolling grounds. At the end of the lake, the left side banks of the shallows opposite the Pan Handle are not so shallow. There are steep cliffs, drop-offs, underwater structure, and trees. Here is a great area to troll, cast, or bait fish for yellowbelly and bass. St Clair will fish much like it has in past months, as there is an abundance of weed growth. I use little beetle spins in behind the weed edge or, as the day goes on, I move

out further and fish the outside edge of the weed. Try a jigging technique to spice things up a little. Look around the deep timber before the dog-leg in the Falbrook Arm, and the timber at Andrews Point and Richards Point as these areas are great to bait and deep jig. • Peter Fogarty runs the popular Lake Glenbawn Kiosk - offering fuel, tackle, ice and the best food on the lake. Make sure you drop in when you visit the lake for the latest reports. You can also visit them on www.lakeglenbawnkiosk. com.au or call on (02) 6543 8355.

Hayley MacDonald loves surface fishing, and this feisty goodoo nailed her topwater lure in the early morning light.

DAM LEVELS

Dam............................... % Full

Blowering............................. 28

Glennies Creek....................... 89

Brogo................................ 102

Hume.................................. 38

Burrendong........................... 16

Jindabyne............................. 55

Burrinjuck............................. 53

Keepit.................................. 11

Carcoar................................ 13

Lostock.............................. 100

Chaffey................................ 52

Oberon................................. 60

Clarrie Hall......................... 100

Pindari................................. 41

Copeton............................... 17

Split Rock.............................. 6

Dartmouth............................. 46

Tantangara............................ 19

Eucumbene........................... 47

Toonumbar.......................... 100

Glenbawn............................. 87

Windamere........................... 41

Glenlyon............................... 30

Wyangala............................. 47

(All levels correct at time of going to press. Dam levels can change at any time, so please check with local authorities to ensure safe boating and fishing.) MARCH 2016

Rains bring on surface action! COPETON DAM

A U S T R A L I A

Margay 2016

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Pantera II 2016

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Yar-Craft 1785BT 2016

David Allan manager@copeton.com.au

February will see water temperatures in Copeton peak at around 30°C and fish activity will be at its best during early mornings and afternoons. Afternoon storms are very likely at this time of the year, and the build up to these storms results in a rush of fish activity. Be careful on the water as these storms can see the dam become very rough. If caught out on the water during one of these storms, the best course of action is to wait it out; it will usually be over in less than an hour. The best thing about March is that you don’t have to battle the crowds that are part and parcel of fishing Copeton in the holiday period. We will get some of our hottest days of the year this month and if we are to receive really heavy or flooding rains then this is the time it will happen. Copeton is far enough North to catch the bottom of the monsoon systems of Northern Australia and if a big low-pressure system comes across the centre or down the Qld coast then flooding is also possible. At this time of year the release of water for irrigation will stop so we often see a rise in water levels at this time. As per most inland waters, a rise in level and the inundation of fresh ground can trigger a spike in fish activity. Last time we saw this situation, the yellowbelly in Copeton were fixated on black crickets, and if you matched the hatch and cast around the edges, success was nearly guaranteed. The

cod also took advantage and were caught close to the edges, hunting the smaller predators that preyed on insects, bugs and worms. This edge bite can be fished a number of ways, including a personal favourite of mine, casting spinnerbaits at timber and rock structure close to the bank. Shallow running lures, vibes and soft plastics will also do the job.

they will head back into the bay or to the front points. Use your sounder to find the fish then work out the best way to target them. Lures and bait will both work. In these conditions it is possible to catch large numbers of fish, so be mindful of bag limits and how you handle fish that are to be released. Fish can be harder to release with water surface temperatures as high

Cast into running water for a chance at a football sized yellowbelly. Remember if the dam experiences good inflows, the yellowbelly in particular will find their way to running water so target areas like Woonulla Bay where the Gwydir River runs into the dam, Copes Creek on the eastern side, and any of the smaller creeks that run into the back of the bays along the northern side of the dam as well. Sometimes the fish will sit right up under the running water, at other times

as 30°C. Deep water release devices make successful release much easier. Now is a great time to work some of the local rivers and creeks, which are stocked regularly with cod and golden perch. All lure methods will work, but I can’t think of anything better than throwing surface lures at all the fishy looking snags and cover on a balmy summer evening. In the rivers and creeks, surface

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MARCH 2016

Phone: 0410 173 060 basscataustralia@gmail.com

lures around 80-120mm will see cod from little tackers of 50cm through to solid fish of 80cm+ smashing lures off the surface. The locally made Water Stalkers and Mantis lures are popular, as are Jackal Pompadours and Mikey’s. Because the possibility of hooking some very solid fish is high, we generally fish 20-30lb braid over a fast action casting rod

Mark Pirie from Yamba releasing a healthy cod gently back into its natural habitat.

around 1.8-2m long, on your choice of spin or baitcaster. Use 15-20kg leader, mono or fluorocarbon, attached with an FG knot to your main line then a lefty’s loop knot to your chosen lure to complete the setup. Two local fishing competitions to note are the Kingfisher Invitational and The Great Inland Fishing Festival. Held the 27-28 February, all proceeds from the Kingfisher Invitational go into fingerlings to restock local waterways. The Great Inland Fishing Festival, which has been held at Copeton on the first weekend in December for many years is being moved to the October long weekend in 2016. This is to take advantage of the school holidays, and the fact that there is no closed season for Murray cod at Copeton. This is a family orientated competition and is completely catch and release. The Festival is open to both lure and baitfishing. Contact Copeton Waters Holiday Park for more details or to make bookings for either of these comps. • Copeton Dam is one of the best lakes in NSW to catch a trophy Murray cod. Dave runs the Copeton Waters Holiday Park and is a great source of up to date, local information on what’s biting. Contact the park on (02) 6723 6269 for information and accommodation bookings.

What’s New FISHING

LIQUID MAYHEM SCENTS

Liquid Mayhem scents are made from real baitfish in a super concentrated form, along with natural baitfish enzymes infused with powerful amino acids and other bite stimulants. The Liquid Mayhem creators said they were fed up with fish attractants that were either to difficult to apply, that put more product in the boat than on the lure, or washed off and disappeared after one or two casts. That’s why Liquid Mayhem was formulated into a sticky matrix that grabs the bait and holds on. This sticky formula stays on the lure for as long as 30 minutes. Because these scents are very concentrated, you don’t need to use much – a small dab is enough. A single 2oz tube is compact enough to fit nicely into your tackle box, and will outlast most larger watereddown containers. Liquid Mayhem is available in four flavours, all with extra UV enhancements to not only attract by smell but by sight as well. Price: RRP $26.95 www.jml.net.au

FLYING X AND PSYCHIC

Two of the latest lure releases from acclaimed Japanese manufacturer Megabass are the Flying X and the Psychic. Imitating a flighty prawn, the Megabass Flying X will have any surface enthusiast keen to try out the erratic action produced by this lure’s unique shape. Designed to be swum quickly across the surface or twitched underneath, the Flying X is ideal for flats species such as bream, whiting and flathead. This sinking lure measures 52mm and weighs 5.3g. The new Psychic has a unique design, which allows it to perform a darting sideto-side action with rod twitches while it is being retrieved. Its magnetic hook keeping system reduces your chance of getting snagged, helping you stay in the strike zone for longer. This sinking lure measures 95mm, weighs 22g and is available in six different colours to suit many different fish species across Australia. www.megabass.com.au

ZMAN 4.5” RAZOR SHADZ

ZMan’s newly released RaZor ShadZ feature a segmented, fish-shaped body and forked tail to create an extremely lifelike profile in the water. The segmented tail allows maximum action with the slightest twitch of the rod tip and the buoyancy of the 10X Tough, ElaZtech construction brings the RaZor ShadZ to life in the water. TTs recommends rigging RaZor ShadZ on either a TT Lures HeadlockZ jighead to fish the required depth, or alternatively weedless rigged on a TT Lures ChinlockZ hook for the erratic, darting, diving action of a dying baitfish, with a deadly slow rise on the pause. The surface hits were spectacular during the testing phase – slow rolling and twitching this plastic as a wake bait… BOOF! For those throwing spinnerbaits and chatterbaits, they have also already proven popular as a trailer. RaZor ShadZ are available in six proven colours, with four per pack. Price: SRP $11.50 www.z-man.com.au

FISHING PRODUCT GUIDE

BERKLEY FISHIN’ GEAR

The Berkley Fishin’ Gear Tackle Management System covers a range of storage solutions to suit every angler. Whether you want to take just a few packets of plastics, or you want everything to hand for a day on the water, there’s a Fishin’ Gear bag for you. The range features heavy-duty fabrics for durability, comfortable handles, and corrosion-resistant zips and fittings. Two of the latest releases are the Fishin’ Gear TMS Bait Wallet and FG Deluxe Bait Satchel, to keep your soft plastics in perfect order. The FG Deluxe Bait Wallet is an excellent organiser for Powerbait and Gulp packs. It has removable transparent sleeves for easy viewing, comes with a caribiner to clip onto belt loops or tackle bags, and has a vertical design to fit in most back pockets. The FG Deluxe Bait Satchel also has removable transparent sleeves, plus internal mesh pockets for terminal tackle. It’s designed to be a convenient hand carry bait organiser. Price: SRP $24.95 (Wallet), $39.95 (Satchel) berkley-fishing.com.au

SLOW BLATT LONG

Slow jigging and fast jigging normally require different jigs to achieve the action required to make each technique successful, but not anymore! The new Slow Blatt Long jigs from Angler’s Republic feature a low resistance centre balanced body which is flat on one side and raised on the other. This profile allows the jig to flutter on the sink, slide on the fast action and slide and fall on the slow action. This means the angler can now impart various retrieves to get the bite no matter what the conditions. The Palms Slow Blatt Long jigs are currently available in 60, 80, 100, 130, 150, 180, 200, 230 and 300. Price: SRP $18 www.ejtodd.com.au

OKUMA INSPIRA

The new Okuma Inspira spinning reel delivers lightweight performance well above its price range. Featuring Okuma’s Torsion Control Armor Design, made with Okuma’s C-40X long-strand carbon fibre technology, this design not only significantly reduces the weight of the reel, it is also extremely rigid, which reduces torque and keeps all internal parts in perfect alignment. The Inspira features Okuma’s advanced Cyclonic Flow Rotor design, which creates a ‘cyclonic’ airflow that significantly increases airflow through the ported rotor. This thoroughly-tested technology allows for a much faster drying time if the reel becomes wet, minimizing the chance of corrosion. The Centrifugal Disc Bail is another unique design. It incorporates a heavier brass disc, which is perfectly weighted and balanced to create a smoother and easier bail operation, while also increasing the strength and stability of the overall bail functioning. Lightweight, smooth and powerful, the Okuma Inspira Spinning Reel delivers serious performance and is backed by Okuma’s 10year limited warranty. Price: SRP $189 www.okuma.com.au

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What’s New FISHING

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FISHING PRODUCT GUIDE

SALTY STAGE SKID JIG

TUNA TERROR 2

It’s time to try a completely new style of jigging! While the typical metal jig can catch fish only after it touches the bottom or during the retrieve, the Salty Stage Skid Jig from Abu Garcia is designed to catch fish even when it is falling. It can do this thanks to its ‘switch back’ action, which imitates a squid attacking baitfish. The Skid Jig also mimics a squid skidding from side to side when its in distress, and the skidding motion creates lots of flashes in the water. The action is unique, as it has a consistent straight falling action, avoiding the rotating action that frequently occurs in other metal jigs. The Salty Stage Skid Jig is currently available in 80, 100 and 150g weights and is finished in an array of proven colours. Price: from SRP $12.95 abugarcia-fishing.com.au

Black Magic’s popular Maggot and SBT lure ranges have been revitalised and are now available in a selection of our best performing skirt combinations. The new lure is called a Tuna Terror 2. With an overall length of 200mm, it will initially be available in six colour combinations. The Tuna Terror’s weighted head is the same size and shape as Black Magic’s Maggot head, making it an excellent choice in Australian sea conditions. The Black Magic Tuna Terror 2 is available unrigged or you can have it prerigged on 200lb Black Magic Tough Trace and an 8/0 game hook. Keep an eye out for them at your favourite tackle store, or to view the full range of Black Magic game lures visit the Black Magic website at www.blackmagictackle com. Price: SRP approx. $40 www.blackmagictackle.com

STRADIC ZODIAS COMBO

Shimano’s 2016 collection has delivered the ultimate fishing combo: The Stradic spin reel and the Zodias casting rod. The Stradic has been redesigned with a new Hagane body and gear system. The light metal provides increased resistance and longer durability, as well as avoiding flexing under pressure or a loss of cranking power. This is complemented by the Hagane Gear system, with 3D design cold forging for increased resilience and longer durability. The new Stradics have an additional SA-RB bearing and they’re all high 6:1 to 6.2:1 plus gear ratios. Aero Wrap II, the AR-C spool, one-piece bail and G-Free Body make these reels a repetitive caster’s delight, with better balance in the hand. The presence of Coreprotect on the roller clutch, the drag, the body and the line roller, make these reels perfectly at home in the salt. Using Shimano’s Hi-Power X Construction graphite blanks, Zodias casting rods deliver incredible distance and accuracy. The lightweight blanks are complemented by custom shaped EVA grips, Fuji ‘K’ series Alconite guides — with a Fuji SiC tip — and a CI 4+ reel seat for an additional weight saving. The blanks’ acute sensitivity crisply transmits every tap from a snag, weed, or a cautious short-striking fish, especially when you’re using braid. There are four light to medium spin rods of 6’8” (1-piece) and 7’ (2-piece). www.shimanofish.com.au

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DAIWA SALTIGA 12 BRAID

Daiwa has introduced an industry first, Saltiga 12 Braid, the world’s first 12 ply braid and the most advanced braided line ever. Saltiga 12 combines a 12 ply braid with Daiwa’s UVF (Ultra Volume Fibre) and +Si Evo Silicone, delivering the ultimate highdensity braid that exhibits supreme abrasion resistance and ultimate strength. By reducing the diameter and creating an ultra smooth surface, Saltiga12 produces less friction/resistance on the guides and spool rim, allowing for longer and smoother casting, less noise, minimal water penetration and incredible sensitivity. You will feel more connected to your rod and reel when using this line. Saltiga 12 is the ultimate heavy duty jigging and casting line for big gamefish. It’s colour-coded every 10m and marked every 1m and 5m to give you full line control. This line will change your fishing style. www.daiwafishing.com.au

DIGGER 25+ AND DONGA 15+

The Bushranger Donga 15+ and Digger 25+ are sure to be a hit with native anglers across the country. Both feature a super strong body with in-built rattles and have a wide swaying action that fish find irresistible. They’re designed to avoid snagging, with a buoyant design, extra large bib and flat body to keep the hooks away from snags. The Bushranger Digger 25+ has been designed to dive to 25ft and is great for trolling in impoundments or rivers. The Bushranger Donga 15+ is fantastic whether cast retrieving or trolling. It comes in eight fish-catching colours and has proven deadly on Murray cod, yellowbelly, mangrove jacks and bass. Both lures feature a wire through body for added strength, heavy-duty split rings, black nickel VMC Permasteel trebles, UV Eyes and an excellent paint finish. The Bushranger Digger comes in eight colours and has been deadly on Murray cod, yellowbelly, barramundi and mangrove jacks. Price: from SRP $15.99 www.jurofishing.com

EPIC FAMILY TACKLE KIT

If you want to just grab your tackle box and get on the water then the Wilson Fishing Epic Family Tackle Kit is a 300 piece, two-tray tackle box that has all your needs covered. Inside the kit you’ll find a fish scaler, kidfriendly plastic fishing knife and a standard fishing knife, a pilchard casting jig, squid jig, sabiki rig and an assortment of floats, sinkers, beads, hooks and swivels to catch just about any fish that swims! All of this is packaged in a tough, two-tray tackle box that provides an easy grab-andgo pack for all your fishing needs. Price: approx. $60 www.wilsonfishing.com

Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au

What’s New FISHING

RHINO-RACK DOME AWNING

FISHING PRODUCT GUIDE

SAMAKI MANGROVE JACK SHIRT

Rhino-Rack’s Dome 1300 awning easily mounts to the front, side or rear of your vehicle to provide protection from the rain or sun. The amount of shade it provides isn’t affected by a vehicle’s (lack of) height, because it can stand well over 2m depending on the vehicle you mount it to. The roof domes up to offer extra headroom underneath. Made from a heavy-duty rip-stop polycotton, it is tough, weather/water proof, mould resistant and UV50+ protected. The Dome 1300 also serves for superior runoff in wet and windy conditions. The coverage area is a generous 2.5m x 2.4m. It’s quick to set up and easy to use – all you’ll need is a tape measure and 13mm spanner. The Rhino-Rack Dome 1300 awning is compatible with most vehicle roof rack channels, links up with a number of RhinoRack extension products and comes with a 1 year warranty. Price: RRP $379 www.rhinorack.com.au

Rod and lure maker Samaki has now entered the apparel market. Following off the back of the recently launched GT shirt, customers asked for ‘more of where that came from’, and Samaki has responded by releasing the cool Samaki Mangrove Jack shirt. The design depicts a mangrove jack in the mangroves. After scattering a school of mullet, the jack attacks the famous Samaki Vibelicious Thumper Tail. Samaki long-sleeve fishing shirts offer superior UV 50+ protection, keeping you protected from harmful UV rays. They’ll also keep you cool whilst out on the water. As well as the Mangrove Jack design, there is also a Chromed Barra shirt and GT shirt. All Samaki shirts are available from a size 2 toddlers to a 3XL adults. For more information and stockists visit the Samaki website or like them on Instagram and Facebook. Price: SRP $59.95 (adults), $49.95 (kids) www.samaki.com.au

SLIM SWIMZ COLOURS

The deadly little 2.5” Slim SwimZ, with their bite-sized baitfish profile and under-hooked tail for loads of action even at slow speeds, are now available in six new colours. Angler requests have led to the addition of favourites pumpkin, baby bass, electric chicken, bad shad, mood ring and newly released calico candy, which has proven deadly on a wide range of species. As well as producing results in both the bream and bass tournament scene, anglers chasing everything from trout, redfin and grunter to flathead, yellowbelly and estuary pelagics will find a favourite amongst these new colours. The 10X Tough ElaZtech construction means this little plastic will stand up to toothy critters and aggressive strikes, while the buoyant material also creates a natural ‘tail up’ feeding pose when paused on the bottom, attracting fish and triggering strikes. There are now 20 colours in the ZMan 2.5” Slim SwimZ range and they come in a pack of eight. Price: SRP $9.95 www.z-man.com.au

DAIWA SALTIST X

Stunning in looks and flawless in design and performance, Saltist X sets a new standard in light tackle spin reel excellence to deliver anglers one of the most durable and reliable light tackle offshore and shoregame reels from Daiwa. Light, powerful, and eye catching in its gunsmoke and silver garb, Saltist X owes its strength and reliability to the many design features of its bigger brothers, Saltiga and Catalina, including Magsealed, Air Rotor and Super Metal. Other features include: Real Four; Super Metal Body; Digigear II; ABS II; Twistbuster II; Airbail; UTD – Ultimate Tournament Drag; and EVA ball knob. Heavily refined and meticulously designed, Saltist X will allow you to feel more connected to your lures, detect more bites, and fight fish with ultimate ease. www.daiwafishing.com.au

SCHNEIDER 8 CARRIER BRAID

Schneider New 8 Carrier Pink Braid is 100% Spectra formulated using the latest technology. This enables the line to be finer while maintaining superior knot strength, creating a super smooth finish for ease in handling, delivering longer casting distance, no stretch and increased abrasion resistance and colour retention. Schneider 8 Carrier super smooth braid is extremely sensitive and durable, while maintaining rounder diameters, and not losing shape with age. These unique braided qualities enables this line to match the demands of today’s anglers, making it an ideal choice for lure fishing, trolling and deep bottom fishing. It has high visibility above the water and low visibility below the water. This braid is available in 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 and 50lb breaking strains in 150, 300 and 1500 yard spools. Schneider recommends using 8 Carrier Pink Braid with Schneider’s 100% Fluorocarbon Leader. Price: from SRP $49.95 www.schneiderfishinglines.com.au

NEW FROM MEGABASS

Megabass have introduced five new unique lures into their highly popular range. These lures have had extensive knowledge put into their features by pro anglers and designers over many years. One of these new lures is the Popping Duck. Designed to stop the curse of low hookup rates, the Popping Duck is equipped with rotating swivels for both front and rear hooks. Another unique factor is its action, creating a solid popping sound with minimal moving distance, allowing the angler to stay in the strike zone and target specific fish! This floating lure measures 60mm, weighs 6.5g and comes in six colours. The new Picus is a small crankbait designed for rugged territory where other crankbaits would get snagged. With its bumper-like bib, it will virtually eliminate snagging so you can stay in the strike zone for longer. Its slow sinking setting lets you target specific depths. It measures 32mm, weighs 5g and comes in six colours. www.megabass.com.au

Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au

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What’s New FISHING TESTED:

Gerber MP600

The quick one-handed opening function means once the fish is unhooked, the tool can be easily folded away. The Gerber MP600 does what most other multi-tools are supposed to do: diminish the need for a bunch of tools by condensing them into one. The difference is that unlike a lot of other multi-tools, this one is bladeless. Having no blade might seem like a con, but really, who uses the knife on the multi-tool anyway? The lack of a blade does a world of good for the safety of the user, not to mention the small, inquisitive hands that might stumble upon it. This tool also complies with the ‘no knife’ policy in the workplace! There are at least four of my most commonly used tools on the MP600, and I found it great to have with me while out hiking, camping and fishing either landbased, on a kayak or in boat. While out on the water, I can sharpen my hooks on the file, cut tag ends while tying knots with the scissors, break out the odd beer with the

TESTED:

opener, take apart my reel for field repairs with the Phillips head screwdriver, and most commonly, take hooks out of fish and other things (including people). The latter was what I used them for mainly, and the quick one-handed opening function meant that once the fish was unhooked, the tool could be folded away and stowed in the pouch. These things are tough as nails, and after a few months of use in both salt and freshwater, sand and dirt, the tool has not a speck of rust. A quick spray with freshwater is all the MP600 needs after contact with salt. The MP600 retails for $159 and is definitely worth having if you want something that functions as multiple tools, and won’t kill you if you fall on it! It’s also great to have if you’re a ‘gear’ fanatic like me. I’m definitely the most popular person out on the boat! – Bob Thornton

TESTED:

Wilson Backpack

At the 2015 AFTA trade show there was a plethora of new tackle storage systems on display, and one of the most popular categories was backpacks. I wish this sort of emphasis had been placed on creating fishing-friendly backpacks when I was walking the banks of the Murrumbidgee around Canberra as a young man. The canvas knapsack I used back then pales in comparison to what is now available. A rare opportunity to fish some gorge country west of Brisbane presented a great chance to test a backpack from Wilson Fishing. The Wilson Backpack is a small, lightweight backpack. It comes with two large tackle trays (they strap snuggly into the main storage of the bag), two small zippered side pockets (one is water resistant to put phones and electronics out of harm’s way), a larger front pocket that has elasticized storage for pliers, knives, scissors and the like, a mesh water bottle pocket and a main storage pocket with double zips and a Velcro closure. Importantly, it also has padded shoulder straps, a padded back panel and a

The Wilson Backpack has plenty of storage and is light and comfortable to wear. The author would have appreciated one of these backpacks 25 years ago. chest strap for the comfort of the user. My three days of fishing the gorge country proved a few things to me about the Wilson backpack. There was more than enough storage for anything you might need on a trip like this. You really appreciate the padding and the fact there are no sharp edges digging into you while you’re walking. Additionally, the chest strap stops the pack slipping from one side to the other, making manoeuvring under, over and around obstacles much easier, and it reduces the pressure on your lower back as well. Last but not least, the zippers and closures held up well – although the same couldn’t be said for me! For more info on this and other Wilson storage options, go to www.wilsonfishing. com or ask about them at your local tackle store. – Peter Jung All the essential ingredients for a bit of gorge country bass fishing.

Tonic Eyewear Rises to a new level

The Tonic Slice lens is 50% lighter than regular glass lenses, which maximises comfort. In mid-2015 Doug Phillips from Tonic Eyewear let the world know that he was working on the thinnest and lightest polarised glass lenses in the market. He launched the Gen2 Tonic Eyewear Slice lens at the AFTA tackle Trade Show on the Gold Coast in July 2015. Retailers showed a strong interest and late in 2015 he re-launched the range with the superlight, 1.3mm Slice lenses. Accompanying the release of the Slice lens, Doug also released a number of new frame styles including the MO, JO and RISE frames. It was a pair of Rise frames that found their way onto my desk just before Christmas, so I put them to the test.

be critiqued by my daughters. The “they look good, Dad” response is high praise from my girls, so the first test had been passed with flying colours. I have been told plenty of times that I have an ‘interesting face’ (reading between the lines I think that means it has a number of flaws and people are being kind) and the difficulty I have always had with sunglasses has been getting them wide enough to fit and yet have the nose piece narrow enough to not allow the glasses to push down my nose. My first impression when putting the Rise frame on was that it definitely sat higher on my face than some other sunnies do, and the adjustable nosepiece provided a comfortable feel when on. The lightness of the lens wasn’t blatantly obvious – that was until I compared it with another pair of glasses. There was an obvious difference against the pair I had been wearing.

First impressions

I’m the father of two girls who are growing up way too quickly, and they have stressed to me that the most important thing about sunglasses is how they look. So when my Rise sunglasses arrived home with me they had to SCAN THE QR CODE!

FISHING PRODUCT GUIDE

Squid are masters of camouflage, but while wearing the Tonic Rise I had no problem spotting them.

Optical clarity is very important and the new Slice lens delivers. The photochromic lens in the pair I had been given really reduces glare, and the optical clarity is beyond what I was expecting. The only question mark I had was that they are a bit dark to wear during low light periods.

THREE MONTHS LATER

After three months my Tonics have done a bit of travelling. They have seen the most western point of the country, seen the waters off South Australia, gone testing boats for the magazines and have seen many of my local fishing spots. My family will tell you that I am pedantic about my sunglasses – they must be put away correctly, you never pick them up by the lens and last but not least you don’t put them on the top of your head. I love the fact that the Tonics come with a hard case for protection. Also, the soft cover provided helps avoid the fingerprint issue and also acts as a cleaning cloth. And unfortunately I have succumbed to occasionally putting the glasses on my head (thankfully they haven’t been lost overboard or blown off – phew). I have really enjoyed the clarity of vision they have provided. As well as reducing the glare, but these sunglasses give you the ability to look well into the water and distinguish different shapes and movement in both fresh and salt water. Squid are the masters

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of camouflage and I had no problem spotting them while fishing from the shore in Western Australia. These sunnies are very comfortable to wear and they have definitely reduced the number of times I have to push my glasses back up my nose. The 1.3mm lenses have had no trouble coping with the usual bumps and knocks that everyday use delivers, and are still in one piece even after I decided to sit on them. So I can safely say they have dealt well with the first three months of use.

The technology

Tonic sunglasses are made in Japan and incorporate a de-centred lens technology, which provides distortion-free vision at any angle. The 1.3mm Slice lens is scratch resistant, has anti-reflective coatings, Tonic’s own unique polarizing filter systems and are 50% lighter than regular glass lenses. As well as the Rise frame I tested, there are another 11 frame options and four lens colour options available. To find out more about Tonic sunglasses go to www.toniceyewear.com.au. The site has information on the their range of products and where your nearest stockist is. – Peter Jung

Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au

Business Profile

FIFO boat hire is now affordable for all anglers NSW STH COAST

Steve Starling www.starlofishing.com

The acronym ‘FIFO’ stands for fly-in, fly-out and is most often used in relation to remote mining operations employees who fly to the site to commence their week or fortnight of shifts, then fly home afterwards for a break with their families.

From the outset, Jo and I were totally blown away by Clinton’s professionalism and the incredibly high standard of every component of the hire gear, from vehicle, boat and trailer to the smaller but equally important stuff like safety gear, battery charger, drift drogue (sea anchor), marine radio and on-board electronics. Everything worked exactly as it was meant to! Tassie Boat Hire’s 420

Starlo shows off a lovely fly-caught Woods Lake brown trout taken from the hire rig. However, with the advent of fully equipped ‘turn-key’ hire packages of vehicles and boats, the FIFO concept now has genuine relevance in fishing circles as well! Late this past spring, my wife Jo and I took advantage of exactly such a business that operates on the island state of Tasmania. The brainchild of Ulverstone tackle shop proprietor Clinton Howe, Tassie Boat Hire kicked off in mid-2015 offering a single boat rig and 4WD vehicle, but has already expanded with the addition of new hire packages. Jo and I were picked up from Launceston airport upon arrival by Clinton in his first full rig: a 420 Quintrex Renegade towed by a 2011 model Mitsubishi Triton dual cab ute. Clinton drove to a nearby service centre to run us through the rig and complete the necessary paperwork, and then we were off on our own for a wonderful week in the Central Highlands chasing Tasmania’s famous wild trout on fly.

MARCH 2016

Quintrex Renegade is powered by a 40HP Evinrude 2-stroke motor on the stern, has a Minn Kota Terrova auto-pilot electric up front, as well as all the ‘fruit’ you could possibly need for full-blown freshwater, estuary and inshore work in between. It really is ready to rumble! We confined our activities to the Central Highland Lakes, concentrating on Penstock, Woods, Arthurs, Little Pine

and Crescent, but this rig is also spot-on for chasing Tassie’s big, blue-nosed bream in the state’s many estuaries, or even venturing up to a couple of kilometres offshore (on the right day) to tangle with all manner of goodies, right up to kingfish and even tuna! We experienced very strong winds during our time in the high country, with the Bureau of Meteorology issuing small boat warnings for the lakes on several of the days we fished. The hired rig easily took these demanding conditions in its stride and we stayed surprisingly dry. Personally, I’d like to have seen a 50 or even 60 HP donk on the hull, but the 40 performed well enough two-up, and was quite economical to run. From memory, we spent less than $30 on juice for the outboard across our week! The boat’s generous, fully-plumbed live well was wonderful for keeping a few trout alive and healthy between photo shoots, or to bring one home at day’s end for the table, and would suit tournament anglers perfectly. In fact, with the blossoming bream tournament circuit in Tasmania these days, it’s hardly surprising that a large proportion of Clinton’s customers are mainlanders flying south to compete in various ABT events. The diesel Triton tow vehicle was clean, comfortable and reasonably economical to

Tassie Boat Hire’s 420 Quintrex Renegade rig is a complete turn-key package, ready for high end sport fishing in fresh or salt water and ABT-style tournament work. run. It never missed a beat and handled the sometimescorrugated dirt roads with ease. All up costs for hiring the 4WD, boat and ancillary gear, plus airport transfers, come in at less than $350 per day, which is excellent value in my opinion, especially when split between two or three anglers. Discounts are also available for extended hire periods, and both the vehicle and boat are available for separate hire, if need be. Weighed up against the time, hassle and expense of driving your own rig to Melbourne and catching the ferry across Bass Strait, Clinton’s service makes a great deal of sense. For Melbourne residents, in particular, it means that a fast getaway for a weekend or long weekend of fishing on the Apple Isle is now do-able and affordable! If you’d like to learn more about this unique FIFO service

for serious anglers visiting the Devil’s Playground, scan the QR code accompanying this review to watch the short YouTube video clip that Jo and I put together during our stay. If you haven’t mastered QR codes, or don’t have the correct app to read them, go to https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=CgtlrWUniP8 or simply Google ‘FIFO

Tasmanian Trout’ and you’ll soon find the clip. You can also find out more, get detailed prices or make a booking by visiting Tassie Boat Hire’s website at www.tassieboathire.com. au, going to their page on Facebook, or giving Clinton a call on 0429 475 550. Be sure to tell him Starlo sent you and he’ll look after you extra well!

VIDEO

Jo fights a rampaging Penstock rainbow on fly.

Scan the QR code to watch the short YouTube video clip that Jo and I put together during our stay.

This hire boat boasts a large, fully plumbed live well. Just the ticket for fly-in, fly-out tournament anglers!

Fishing Fill-its

Re-snagging in NSW

Hi-tech shark barriers

Recently, 25 massive felled trees were delivered to a fish rehabilitation site on the Abercrombie River in an inspiring example of targeted recycling and community collaboration. The box gum trees were tagged for removal by the Upper Lachlan Shire Council during road works on Junction Point Road, but rather than burning these valuable pieces of timber or turning them into wood chip waste, they will instead become strategically placed habitat for native fish. The recycled snags will be installed at the junction of the Tuena Creek and the Abercrombie River, west of Crookwell, during low flows at the end of summer. Large woody debris or ‘snags’ are part of the natural in-channel habitat of several large-bodied native fish species including Murray cod, trout cod and golden perch. However, a survey of in-stream habitat by NSW Fisheries in 2009 identified a low density of snags in the project site. The site is a critical drought refuge and biodiversity hotspot in the headwaters of the Lachlan River system. A world first release of

The first barrier nets off the NSW coast will be installed off Ballina and Lennox Head as the NSW Government continues rolling out the $16 million shark strategy. NSW Premier Mike Baird and Minister for Primary Industries Niall Blair made the announcement after inspecting two shark technology trials underway off Ballina. “The state’s first ever barrier nets will be positioned off Ballina’s Lighthouse

captive bred Macquarie Perch took place above this site in 2011. A range of landscape features make this an ideal site for native fish rehabilitation. Endangered fish species including trout cod, silver perch, pigmy perch, catfish and Murray cod are also native to the area. Habitat and fish populations have been surveyed 18 times by DPI Fisheries since 2001, providing excellent base line data for the site. “This project sets an example for the sustainable use of trees removed during road works,” said Project Manager, Casey Proctor from Central Tablelands Local Land Services. “It also demonstrates the benefits of cross sector collaboration, with the Roads & Maritime Services, NSW Fisheries, the Central Acclimatisation Society, fishing clubs, and local councils.” Additionally, stage 2 of the project will trial new underwater acoustic telemetry technology imported from Canada to monitor how fish actually use the snags under a range of flow conditions. “Re-snagging is a primary method for in-stream rehabilitation, but

is relatively expensive and logistically challenging,” explained Casey. “This project will provide a thorough study of the habitat relationships of key species, especially where threatened species coexist with other native species.” The removal of willow and blackberry, and other significant weeds will also be implemented, along with the replanting of native riparian vegetation (predominantly casuarinas and red gums) to improve bank stability, and sediment and erosion control. “We have created a partnership between a State agency, Local Government and fishing groups to deliver long term outcomes and ownership of the project site and on-ground works.” “This is a great news story for fish, for people who enjoy fishing, and for anyone with an interest in cooperative, collaborative efforts to improve the natural environment,” said Casey. For more information about the Abercrombie River re-snagging project contact Casey Proctor on phone (02) 6341 9318 or email casey. proctor@lls.nsw.gov.au – DPI

Beach and Lennox Head, and we’ll fast-track construction to ensure they’re in place as soon as possible,” Mr Baird said. The shark barriers at Ballina will run the entire length of the beach – about 650m – while the barrier net at Lennox Head Beach will be about 150m. The NSW Government has committed to installing a further four shark barriers. The Premier and Minister visited Ballina to inspect a smart drum line, as well as one of two new listening stations.

Two of 20 state-of-the-art VR4G listening stations are in position off Sharpes Beach at Ballina and Clarkes Beach at Byron Bay, monitoring sharks tagged as part of the current DPI tagging program – as well as other tagged sharks. The information received via the listening stations will be tweeted in real-time to ensure the public has information to make informed decisions before entering the water. To receive updates on tagged shark detections follow @nswsharksmart. – DPI

Dale and Jenny Chadwick on board Ocean Hunter Sportsfishing with a 106cm king that was released to fight another day.

NEW FOR 2016

IS THE STACER PROLINE • INCREASED STABILITY • SOFTER RIDE • DRYER RIDE • MORE SPACE The Stacer Proline Angler 449 is the ultimate inshore fishing package with front and rear casting platforms, 2 x Stacer Sea Pro seats with 6 seat positions, rod holders, side decks, transducer bracket and anchor well as standard with many more other options.

Contact your local dealer for more information.

ILUKA

CENTRAL COAST

DUBBO

GRAFTON

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425 The Entrance Rd, Long Jetty Ph (02) 4333 3444 stacerboats1@aol.com

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160 North St, Grafton Ph (02) 6643 1199 sales@discomarine.com.au

ILUKA BOATSHED AND MARINA

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IN TUNE MARINE

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DUBBO MARINE

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DISCO MARINE

www.discomarine.com.au

MACQUARIE COAST

SYDNEY

THE ILLAWARRA

537 Ocean Dr, North Haven Ph (02) 6559 9344 enquiries@camdenhavenmarine.com.au

1 Railway Rd North, Mulgrave Ph (02) 4577 6699 sales@blakesmarine.com.au

1131 Pacific Hwy, Cowan Ph (02) 9456 1444 info@huettmarine.com.au

240 Shellharbour Rd, Warilla Ph (02) 4297 2888 sunsetmotors@bigpond.com

CAMDEN HAVEN MARINE

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BLAKES MARINE

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HUETT MARINE CENTRE

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SUNSET MOTORS & MARINE

www.sunsetmotorsandmarine.com.au MARCH 2016

Casting and rod choice basics for beginners SHEPPARTON

Kaleb Oxley

Practice is imperative to master any activity, and when it comes to casting accuracy, there are no shortcuts. I’ve spent many hours in the backyard practising my casting techniques, which demonstrably aids my fishing game when I’m out on the water trying to reach the tight spots where fish hold. This article will give a little insight into casting.

to cast the lure. Choosing a length of a rod can be daunting as some rods are much harder to control and the longer the rod, the harder it is. To make things much easier I like to use a scale for this. Start by choosing a rod around the same length as you, which feels comfortable in hand. I like to use rods between 5’2-5’9; it all depends on what you feel comfortable with. CHOOSING THE RIGHT REEL There are a few types of reels on the market, some for chasing big fish with heavier drags, some to cast

LINE CHOICE There is no doubt that braided line is the best choice to use to cast with accuracy. The smoothness of braided line allows for much easier casting and results in fewer tangles than a regular monofilament. I love using a silky smooth line that goes through the reel and rod guides easily, and with less of the friction that can slow a cast down. A braid between 15-45lb with a low diameter is best suited. REEL SETTINGS Setting a reel is very important for casting – if the settings aren’t right you may

One example of how to slow down the cast.

An 18g casting plug used to practise baitcasting. BAITCASTING ROD SELECTION If you want to be able to control your casting, start with the right rod. There are many types of rods on the market, and all have their own place for what they can be used for. For the most accurate cast, you will need a light rod between 2-10lb with a light tip. The light tip allows your lure to launch easily when casted, however, you need a rod that is stiff through the butt section. Having a sturdy backbone is important because you want to use only the tip

found on the side plate of the reel, and the second is most commonly found near the drag star. Start with the dial on the side plate of the reel, as this braking system works during the cast and slows down the spool when needed. If you’re new to casting, this dial should have anywhere from 0-20 settings. As a guide, I recommend you set this dial to 1/3 of the amount of settings available. If you are new to casting a bait caster try turning it up a few more clicks. The next setting controls the speed and

be anything from a bucket to a can or bottle, you can also make your own targets if you are really serious. SPINNING ROD SELECTION Casting with a spin rod is a completely different story, and casting accurately with them is a lot harder but it can be done with patience and practice.

RECOMMENDED REELS Spin Baitcaster Daiwa Luvias Spin Daiwa Steez Baitcaster Daiwa Sol Spin Daiwa Sol Baitcaster Daiwa Steez Spin Daiwa Alphas 103R Baitcaster

long distances, and some for finesse fishing. Low profile finesse reels work the best, as these reels are capable of casting lighter weights with ease and with less backlash. They are also renowned for accuracy. When choosing which reel is right for you it is best to match your rod and reel together and feel for balance and comfort. Put your finger on the foregrip of the rod and try to balance the two evenly. If you find it balancing close to or almost perfectly then it’s balanced.

The author’s favourite outfit for casting accurately, the Wilson Magnum 5’4, 4-14lb.

Targets are simple and cost effective to make. 70

MARCH 2016

end up with backlash, or you may end up with no distance from the cast. Learning to control the spool with your thumb is very important and is the best way to have complete control. This can take time to learn but with plenty of practise you will eventually get the knack of it. There are usually two different kinds of settings on a reel that will be useful for casting, the first is usually

fall of the spool. This is the most important setting on the reel for casting as it controls how long or short you can cast. Set this by tying the lure of your choice on and pressing the button, you want the lure to slowly fall down. PRACTICE Practising is very important, and if you want to improve your casting skills get out in the backyard and cast at a target. Targets can

to soft plastics, something between 1-4kg. CHOOSING THE RIGHT REEL Unlike baitcasters, there are many sizes of spin reel that range from the smallest 1000 all the way up to 8000+. The bigger they are, the heavier. Anything from 10003000 is capable of casting

Choose a fairly long rod, something between 6’5-7’2 as you may notice this is a lot different to baitcasting where smaller rods are necessary. I find many short spin rods are usually stiff and harder to cast from the tip. A rod with smooth, quality guides helps reduce friction between the guide itself and the line, this will help you gain maximum distance. Choose the starting weight of your rod to be suited

comfortably without being too heavy and taking a toll on you arm. Similar to baitcasters, the lighter the reel the better. Take note that spin reels are generally 30g heavier than the typical baitcaster. LINE When putting line on a spin reel you can use much lighter lines with fewer tangles. Really, it’s your choice between braid and monofilament, but I would suggest using braid. Over the years I have had many spin reels tangle while using monofilament. You can choose a line from 2lb all the way to 30lb, but just remember you need to be able to control the line coming out at high speed. LINE CONTROL Controlling how far and how fast the cast you make is very difficult without the correct technique, and with no reel settings this all needs to be done manually. When you need to slow down or stop the cast simply put your finger gently on the side of the spool. Bringing the cast to a complete stop is something you don’t want to do, as it will jerk back at you and land your lure short of your casting goal. This all takes time to learn but casting a spin rod one handed is a very handy technique and allows you the best control.

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Pirtek Fishing Challenge

Get your rods ready for the Pirtek Challenge!

The Pirtek Challenge is once again coming to a waterway near you! Australia’s biggest fishing competition, The Pirtek Challenge is open to anglers far and wide across the states. It’s an opportunity to get out on the water with some mates, have an awesome day of fishing, and be in with a chance to win a share of $175,000 worth of cash and prizes! We at Fishing Monthly want to give our readers a head start this year with all the information you need to get started and have the best day possible.

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT? Each year the Pirtek Challenge is held to raise

money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Prostate cancer is currently the

most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia, and the third most common cause of cancer death. These are sobering statistics, but we can work to lessen the damage by opening up the conversation about prostate cancer with loved ones and mates, which can lead to earlier detection of cancer and fewer fatalities. The importance of supporting the research and work of the Prostate Cancer Foundation cannot be overstated. What better way to support such an important cause then a fantastic day out on the water? Registration is affordable at $25 per angler so you can get the whole family involved for

an outdoors fishing bonanza. PRIZES GALORE Fishing will commence at 6am and finish at 6pm on Sunday 20 March, 2016. Prizes are up to $4000 in cash, as well as the chance to win a Stacer 449 Tiller Steer powered by Evinrude E-tec 60hp plus trailer valued at $25,000, a $2000 Humminbird Helix 7 SI GPS package, a $2000 Berkley and Abu Garcia Pack, and

a $1500 BCF spending spree. That’s enough to get us motivated! All you need to do is catch a target species, photograph and release that fish, and upload the picture of your biggest fish of the day. It’s that simple! Check out www. pirtekfishingchallenge. com.au for all further terms and conditions and more information about the challenge. – FMG

AUSTRALIA’S BIGGEST FISHING COMPETITION! Proudly Supporting Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and Peter Duncan Neuroscience Research Unit of St Vincent’s Hospital.

HISTORICAL WINNING LENGTHS

SUNDAY 20 MARCH 2016

RIGHT ACROSS AUSTRALIA

170,000

in cash & prizes! JUST 25 to enter $

plus postage

Year........................Species......................Length.(cm) 2015.......................Bass.......................................51.1 2014.......................Barramundi..........................123.8 2015.......................Bream.................................... 47.3 2015.......................Flathead.................................93.0 2015.......................Whiting.................................. 47.5 2014.......................Golden.perch.........................63.6 2015.......................Rainbow.trout........................43.8 2015.......................Brown.trout............................69.3 2014.......................European.carp.......................82.3 *Murray.cod.and.snapper.can.be.targeted.in.certain.. states,.however.past.results.are.N/A. PHOTOGRAPHING YOUR FISH •. Y . our.angler.number.will.be.emailed.to.you.after. 6pm.the.night.before.the.competition.starts. •. W . hen. you. catch. your. target. species. simply. lay. the. live. fish. with. the. nose. in. line. with. the. “0”. (zero).measurement.on.the.Pirtek.bragmat. •. P . hotograph.the.fish.so.the.entire.length.can.be. seen. in. the. photograph. along. with. your. angler. number.. •. R . emember.to.write.your.angler.number.clearly.in. the.white.box.provided.on.the.brag.mat.

Stacer 449 Outlaw Tiller Steer

•. C . heck.your.photograph.to.ensure.the.whole.fish. is.in.the.photograph.and.the.nose.end.of.the.fish. is.in.line.with.the.“0”.(zero).measurement.and.the. overall. length. along. with. the. angler. number. is. clearly.visible.

•. Q . uickly.release.the.fish.and.try.to.catch.a.bigger. one.

salt & fresh water target species

$2000 Humminbird HELIX7 SI_GPS

$1500 BCF Spending Spree!

To Register, log onto

$2000 Berkley Fishing Pack

pirtekFIshingchallenge.com.au For full terms, conditions and licensing log on to pirtekfishingchallenge.com.au. Permit Nos: ACT Permit Nos TP 15/08241; NSW Permit No LTPS/15/09562; SA Permit No T15/2139.

MARCH 2016

•. O . nly. a. fish. caught. by. the. registered. angler. can. be.entered. •. A . ny. photograph. that. shows. a. fish. not. alive. or. damaged.will.not.be.accepted. •. Y . ou.can.only.upload.one.photograph.per.angler. to. the. website..This. needs. to. be. your. biggest. fish. •. T . he. upload. needs. to. be. complete. by. 7.00. am. AEDT,.Monday,.21.March.2016. •. A . ny.photographs.uploaded.after.this.time.will.not. be.accepted.

Pirtek Fishing Challenge

BASS

SNAPPER

Tactics: Bass.in.rivers.have.a.preference.for.structure,.however.close.to.their. spawning.season.in.winter,.they.will.school.up.in.open.water.around.the.tidal. reaches..Bass.aggregations.will.vary.in.dams.depending.on.what.food.sources. are.available..If.there.is.a.lot.of.structure.around.the.edges.and.the.food.source. in.predominately.insects,.small.fish.and.shrimps,.the.bass.will.feed.in.shallow. water..If.there.are.bony.bream.or.other.schooling.baitfish.present,.the.bass.will. usually.school.up.in.deep.water..Fishing.where.the.bass.are.with.lures.or.bait.that. mimics.what.food.source.is.available.will.catch.you.more.bass..

Tactics: Snapper.are.normally. a. schooling.fish,.with.the.most.successful. captures. often. coming. from. shows. on. a. sounder. in. deep. water. from. 5-10m..Around.low.light.hours,.snapper.can.push.up.into.water.sometimes. shallower.than.2m.in.pursuit.of.crabs,.baitfish.and.squid,.where.they.can.be. caught.either.casting.lures.or.unweighted.baits.

Size Range:.Up.to.65cm,.common.from.30-40cm.

Rigs: Paternoster. rigs. are. a. rig. synonymous. with. snapper. in.Victoria. and. NSW,.with.a.line.rating.of.between.15-30lb.being.optimal,.and.sinker.size. depending.on.the.current..Lure.fishing.would.demand.the.use.of.10-30lb. braided.line.connected.to.a.20-40lb.fluorocarbon.or.monofilament.leader. Bait: Live.slimy.mackerel,.yellowtail,.cowenyoung.and.squid.can.produce. some.very.big.snapper,.however.dead. baits. of.pilchard,.squid.and.mullet. are.also.successful..

Bait: Baits.of.grasshopper,.cricket,.worms,.yabby,.and.particularly.live.shrimp. are.successful.

Lures: Soft.plastics.or.varying.sizes.and.weight.are.very.popular.these.days,. however.metal.and.soft.vibes,.micro-jigs.and.even.crank.baits.have.proven. themselves.in.recent.years.

Lures: Bass. take. a. variety. of. lures. from. surface. lures,. diving. lures,. lipless. crankbaits,.spinnerbaits,.soft.plastics,.jigs.and.even.flies..Match.your.lures.to. suit.where.and.how.the.bass.are.feeding.

Size Range:.Up.to.50cm,.common.from.25-35cm.

Size Range:.Up.to.1.1m,.commonly.caught.30-65cm.

Tactics:.Bream.can.be.found.in.every.saltwater.river,.creek.and.coastal.lake. in.the.state..Bream.love.structure.–.especially.rock.–.and.if.you.find.crudencrusted. rocks. in. the. intertidal. zone,. you. can. be. sure. that. bream. hang. around.it.at.some.time.of.the.day..Keep.the.gear.light.when.bream.fishing,. as.they.can.be.spooked.by.heavy.weights.and.lines..If.you.want.to.catch.a. bream.on.a.lure,.make.sure.that.it’s.small.–.smaller.than.your.middle.finger.. They’ll.eat.nearly.every.bait.you.can.find.or.buy.

Rigs:.A.running.sinker.rig.with.6lb.braid.with.a.15lb.leader.is.sufficient.for. bait.fishing..The.same.goes.for.lure.fishing,.but.try.to.attach.your.lures.with. a.loop.knot.where.possible.

CARP

WHITING

Size Range:.Up.to.1m,.but.more.commonly.encountered.at.30-60cm.. Tactics:.Carp.feed.by.smell.and.taste.and.are.therefore.attracted.to.things. that.give.off.scent,.making.smelly.baits.effective..Carp.will.also.get.up.into. shallow.water.and.grub.along.the.bottom.looking.for.aquatic.insects,.and. this.is.where.fly.anglers.can.have.some.fun..

Rigs: A.running.sinker.rig.with.a.long.leader,.tiny.long.shank.hook.is.enough. to.fool.a.whiting,.even.in.shallow.water..Light.braided.line.around.4lb.with. a.2-4lb.leader.is.an.excellent.balance.for.the.anglers.throwing.lures.at.wily. whiting.

COASTAL

Size Range: Up.to.50cm,.more.common.from.20-40cm.

Tactics: Whiting.love.clear.and.shallow.water.where.they.grub.around.for. yabbies,.worms.and.other.tasty.tidbits..By.targeting.these.areas.with.your. baits.or.lures,.you’ll.encounter.plenty.of.whiting,.as.well.as.other.interesting. by-catch..

Lures: Small.hardbodies,.plastics,.and.more.recently,.surface.lures.have.all. taken.plenty.of.whiting.in.the.last.decade..Often,.the.bigger.whiting.will.be. the.ones.that.take.lures.

Tactics:.Golden.perch.are.predators.that.like.a.moving.target..This.makes. lures. and. live. baits. popular,. however. they. also. love. to. hunt. down. worms. and.grubs.set.on.the.bottom..Lures.cast.around.fallen.timber.in.rivers.and. standing.timber.in.lakes.are.all.successful,.especially.around.first.and.last. light.. Rigs:.Running.sinker.rig.and.a.paternoster.rig.are.both.good.options.with. 20lb.braided.main.line.to.20lb.leader..The.same.line.weights.can.be.used. for.lure.fishing. Bait: Baits. of. yabby,. live. shrimp,. worms. and. even. smelly. dead. baits. are. successful. Lures:.Lures.like.Australian-made.hardbodied.lures,.spinnerbaits.and.lipless. crankbaits.all.do.damage.on.yellowbelly.

Bait: Baits.as.varied.as.scrubworms,.corn,.bread,.dough,.shrimp.and.grubs. are.all.attractive.to.carp.and.the.use.of.berley.will.increase.your.success. rate.dramatically..

MURRAY COD MURRAY DARLING BASIN

Size Range:.Up.to.75cm,.commonly.caught.at.25-50cm..

Rigs:.A.medium.running.sinker.rig,.paternoster.rig.or.float.rig.with.6-20lb. braided.line.onto.a.10-20lb.leader,.lighter.in.clear.water.free.of.snags.

Lures: Carp.rarely.take.lures,.but.will.sometimes.be.taken.on.lures.as.bycatch,. occasionally. confusing. surface. lures. for. berries.. Fly. anglers. can. target.carp.in.shallow.water.by.sight.fishing.with.small.nymphs.

Bait: Worms. and. yabbies. (nippers). are. two. baits. that. are. rarely. met. with. failure.

YELLOWBELLY

Lures:.Lures,.flies.and.baits.all.work.equally.well.on.flathead..Lures.such.as. soft.plastics,.vibes,.lipless.crankbaits.and.hardbodied.lured.all.take.flathead. and.the.variety.of.baits.

Size Range: Up.to.1.8m,.common.from.40-80cm. Tactics: Murray.cod.are.a.structure-loving,.long-lived,.hyper.aggressive.and. territorial.species..Therefore,.lures.or.baits.fished.or.cast.around.pig.snag. complexes.repetitively.usually.get.a.response.eventually.. Rigs: A. running. sinker. rig. is. all. you. need. to. connect. with. a. cod. if. you’re. bait.fishing,.and.20-30lb.should.be.your.minimum.line.weights.for.both.your. mainline.and.leader..The.same.goes.for.lure.trolling.and.casting.. Baits: Live.baits.are.great,.and.there.is.nothing.too.big.for.a.cod.to.eat..Live. shrimp,. yabby. or. even. bony. bream. will. all. get. eaten.. Dead. baits. are. also. successful,.as.well.as.other.smelly.baits,.including.cheese! Lures: Murray. Cod. will. eat. a. variety. of. surface. lures,. hardbodies,. lipless. crankbaits.and.spinnerbaits..As.with.bait,.lures.should.be.big.and.annoying. to.achieve.the.best.results..

MURRAY DARLING BASIN

Lures:.Small.hardbodied divers,.smaller.than.your.little.finger,.cast.around. rocky. shores. with. a. slow,. steady. retrieve. are. hard. to. beat..When. fish. go. deeper,. tiny. soft. plastics. with. according. jighead. size. is. a. sure-fire. way. to. pin.a.bream.

Bait: Flathead.will.eat.anything.they.can.fit.in.their.mouth, whether.it’s.live,. dead,.big.or.small.

MURRAY DARLING BASIN

COASTAL

Bait:.As.mentioned,.almost.anything.found.or.bought.should.catch.bream,. including.white.bread,.which.is.an.under-used.favourite.

Tactics:. Flathead. are. classic. ambush. predators. that. use. camouflage. to. their. advantage.. Drop. offs,. weed. edges,. hard. rock. and. mud. edges. are. all. favourite. haunts. of. flathead.. Flathead. feed. hard. when. there. is. tidal. movement..

COASTAL

FLATHEAD

BREAM

Rigs:.Bait:.Running.sinker.onto.a.#1.or.1/0.hook.will.work.for.the.bait.anglers.. For.the.lure.brigade,.2-6lb.braided.line.connected.to.6-10lb.fluorocarbon.or. monofilament.leader.is.perfect.

COASTAL

Rigs: Light.braided.line.around.4-6lb.with.a.fluorocarbon or.monofilament.leader. around.10-14lb.is.preferred.for.lure.fishing..The.same.line.classes.are.perfect.for. bait.fishing,.with.unweighted,.weighted.and.floated.rigs.working,.depending.on. how.deep.and.where.the.fish.are.holding..

Size Range: Up.to.1.2m,.common.from.40-60cm.

MARCH 2016

Lakes Entrance Fishing Club opens its doors Lakes Entrance is proud to launch a brand new fishing club. Lakes Entrance Game and Sport Fishing Club Inc was officially launched on 4 October 2015 at the Lakes Entrance community market. Club President, John Semple, explained that the club was formed to meet the needs of local and visiting fishers and to ensure the future of recreational fishing in the area.

Association and members can choose to join the association at the same time as they join our club. We will be working with the local council to install internationally recognised weighing facilities at Lakes Entrance. This will enable us to hold accredited game fishing competitions in the future,” Mr Semple said. Members regularly participate in local club events and have already set up links with a number

Recent local club events have included a day on the Nicholson River in October with a lunch at the local hotel after weigh in. Melbourne Cup Day was the opportunity for a chicken and salad lunch after a bream and flathead fishing competition on Lake Tyers. Check out future events on the club website and Facebook. For all enquiries, call the club on 0497 432 982. – Maxine Semple

Lakes Entrance Game and Sports Fishing Club Inc was officially launched on 4 October. New members are very welcome! “Lakes Entrance, and the Gippsland Lakes in general, are such wonderful areas to fish recreationally. We want to promote the area through fishing as a family activity.” The club advocates catch and release practice and will also promote educational and environmental activities. The club has already made contact with local Landcare and Coastcare groups. “We are affiliated with the Victorian Game Fishing

Top: Part of the display at the club launch in October. Bottom: Club member John Coulson casts a line on the Nicholson River.

of other like-minded clubs along the coast. Club members frequently participate in activities and competitions organised by these other clubs. The club will host the Lakes Entrance Flathead Classic Fishing Competition over the Victorian Labour Day long weekend in March 2016. Further details and important registration forms will be available on the club website www.legsfc.com.au.

Steven Pryke shows off his Nicholson River catch. 74

MARCH 2016

Club President John Semple and club member Steven Pryke weigh in at Nicholson River.

TOURNAMENT CALENDAR MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

Mar 5-6

BASS Pro Qualifier # 1 Glenbawn

www.abt.org.au

Mar 5-6

Rnd 3 Hobie Kayak BREAM series Mallacoota

www.hobiefishing.com.au

Mar 7

SWAA Albury â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Wodonga River Classic Albury-Wodonga

www.southwestanglers.org.au

Mar 8-9

BASS Pro Qualifier #2 St Clair

www.abt.org.au

Mar 12-13

Central West TackleWorld Fishing Masters Rnd 1 Lake Burrendong

Ian McLean 0478083066

Mar 13

BASS Electric #1 Clarrie Hall Dam

Joseph Urquart 0439 764 369

Mar 19-20

Shimano BCF Bream Classic Warrnambool

www.vicbreamclassics.com.au

Mar 18-20

Club Marine Trailer Boat Tournament Nelson Bay

www.tbft.com.au

Mar 19-12

SCFCA Deep Sea Oak Flats

southcoastfca@yahoo.com.au

Mar 20

Rnd 4 Hobie Kayak BREAM series South Sydney

www.hobiefishing.com.au

Apr 9-10

ABT BREAM Qualifier #3 Mandurah

www.abt.org.au

Apr 9-10

BASS Pro Qualifier #3 Richmond River

www.abt.org.au

Apr 17

BASS Electric #2 Isis Balancing Storage

Les Barber 0428 726 857

Apr 9-10

Central West TackleWorld Fishing Masters Rnd 2 Lake Windamere

Ian McLean 0478083066

Apr 22-23

Rnd 5 Hobie Kayak BREAM series Scamander River

www.hobiefishing.com.au

Apr 25-26

ABT BREAM Qualifier #4 St Helens

www.abt.org.au

Apr 27-28

Rnd 6 Hobie Kayak BREAM series Swan River

www.hobiefishing.com.au

Apr 30-May 1

ABT BREAM Qualifier #5 Derwent River

www.abt.org.au

Apr 30-May 1

Bayford Volkswagon Bream Classic Mallacoota

www.vicbreamclassics.com.au

May 7-8

BASS Electric #3 Toonumbar Dam

Adrian Melchior 0415 587 900

May 14-15

Central West TackleWorld Fishing Masters Rnd 3 Wyangala State Park

Ian McLean 0478083066

May 15

Rnd 7 Hobie Kayak BREAM series St Georges Basin

www.hobiefishing.com.au

May 21-11

SCFCA Rock Berry

southcoastfca@yahoo.com.au

Jun 5

Rnd 8 Hobie Kayak BREAM series Gold Coast

www.hobiefishing.com.au

Jun 11-12

ABT BREAM Qualifier #6 Forster

www.abt.org.au

Jun 16-17

BASS Pro Qualifier #4 Boondooma

www.abt.org.au

Jun 18-19

Club Marine Bream Classic Metung

www.vicbreamclassics.com.au

Jun 26

Rnd 9 Hobie Kayak BREAM series Port Macquarie

www.hobiefishing.com.au

Add your tournament or competition to this list by emailing nsweditor@fishingmonthly.com.au or calling 07 3387 0800 in office hours. Just supply a date, venue, tournament name and a telephone number and contact name. MARCH 2016

Join the kayaking cod crew VFM

Ian Rogers

Over the last seven years I have competed in the Cod Classic at Lake Mulwala out of my Triton Bass Boat. This season, I made the decision to compete out of my Hobie kayak. Now I’m hooked on targeting these Aussie icons from the yak!

your kayak. If you’re going to be loading and unloading your kayak by yourself consider how and what you will be loading it on, as they vary in weight. The easier to load and unload your kayak, the more enjoyable your fishing will be. There are easy loading systems for a lot of the roof rack setups, but they all come at an extra expense. If you are planning on long hours and covering large areas of

rods that give you a good chance of setting the hooks in large cod. Being in a kayak, you don’t have the same power behind you as you would standing on the casting deck of the boat. When I first started fishing from the kayak, I used a smaller lighter rod, but just didn’t get the hook ups. Too many fish would bite, grab and run, only to spit out the lure.

first day’s fishing! A fish finder is very handy when fishing from a kayak. When fishing in lakes, fish will often be biting in certain depths. So if you can find a pattern, then it makes it a lot easier to catch multiple fish. Identifying things such as weed beds, contours and structure of the lake and riverbeds are all things that increase your chances of landing a fish. Another great advantage is the new chartered waters app and SD card, which you can put into your Lowrance sounder to give you accurate references to location depth and structures within the lake. Sunglasses play an important role as well. Sitting so low to the water, you can’t see the structure like you can from the casting deck of a boat. Therefore, a quality pair of polarized glasses is invaluable to give you a chance to see the structure before you’re on top of it. Sunglasses can also save you from a nasty accident when

A chunky river cod taken from the Hobie kayak.

The author brought this lovely little river cod into shore for safer handling. When it was discovered that I had a perfectly good boat, I was questioned about why I would make such a choice. My answer was simple. Fishing from a kayak offers a whole new challenge, and a whole new perspective when targeting cod. With all the brands and set ups available in this fastgrowing sport, a great deal of thought needs to go into what you want before you make that first purchase. Things to consider would be loading

water, then you need to be comfortable. Most kayaks come with the standard seat and paddle. My advice would be to upgrade these straight away. RIGS My go-to rods are the Wilson Venom crankbait 6’3” 1-2 and Venom crankbait 6’3” 2-4, sometimes I’ll use a Live Fibre Cod Rod rated at 6kg. These are all paired with good quality reels with around 6kg drag capability. These are powerful but light top quality

ACCESSORIES A good landing net and lip grips are a must. If you are not able to purchase floating ones, then attach a lanyard to prevent losing them. It’s also a good idea to have an anchor, as it can allow you to lock down on a specific log or hole and have multiple casts. This enables you to concentrate on your retrieve without worrying about where you’re floating to. A lure retrieving pole is also a great investment. It will pay for itself on your

Murray cod will really ‘eat’ a lure!

Early starts in this sort of country is what kayaking for cod is all about. 76

MARCH 2016

a fish spits a lure close to the kayak when the rod is under heavy load, sending the now free lure flying toward your face! Safety is always a concern when you’re kayak fishing. If you are going to be a 100m or more from shore, you need to have a life jacket. It is also recommended a marine radio or mobile phone be carried in a water tight container. You are also low to the water, so it’s a good idea to mount a flag to the rear of your kayak or wear bright coloured clothing. It’s important that you are visible to other water users. PLANNING Good planning around launching and retrieving is

the difference between an enjoyable day and just plain hard work. Google Earth is one that I rate highly for your preparation. If you spend the time at home scanning the river or lake you are going to fish, you will see roads and tracks to your launch and retrieval points. You will also be able to identify creeks, lagoons and backwaters that hold cod and may not be accessible from a boat or car. They sometimes may only fill on a high river, but so many hold quality fish. Always explore these waterholes. Wheels for the kayak are a great idea and make launching and retrieving so much easier,

especially when putting in on a steep bank or when you need to cart your kayak long distances. Although the yaks are made very strong, it also protects the bottom of the kayak. A quick tip is to make sure the axle is as long as your kayak is wide, so it is nice and stable. Some quick points to think about before you launch: Firstly, is there is a current and what is the flow rate? If it is flowing reasonably strong then you will need to launch upstream from where you are wanting to fish and organise a pick up point where you want to finish? The second thing to consider is the wind. Always check how strong the wind is expected to be and what direction it’s coming from. Thirdly, you should think about the sun. Always try to have the sun behind you wherever you can. This obviously makes it a lot easier to see. Recently, my friend Malcolm Smith and I went on a fishing trip up to the Darling River. We had heard the river was low so we took the kayaks. When we arrived the information we had received was correct. The river was very low and the banks were very steep. This made it very hard work putting the kayaks in and pulling them out. Some spots would have been impossible to launch a boat. We even had to lower the kayaks down and pull them back up by rope. Over two days we managed to catch five cod and six yellowbelly. We had several big hits, two being from metre-plus fish, but we were unable to land them. That’s just the way it goes!

LOCATIONS If you are looking at doing a kayaking trip to target Murray cod, then you just can’t go past Lake Mulwala. Of late, the lake has fished the best it has for years with 1m cod being caught every week and lots of cod in the high 80 and 90cm. Of course, there has been many in the 45-70cm range, which the lake is renowned for. With more people practicing catch and release,

it will ensure a healthy fish populations for the future. The lake is heavily treed with old dead red gums, which provide unlimited targets to cast at. There are weed beds, laydowns and many creeks and lagoons within the lake. One of the great things going for this lake is that even when it is windy, you can still fish close to the bank that is sheltered. Or you can head up to the Everglades near Drain Lane

or around to Bundalong. The lake has many shallow flats, which range from 1-2.5m that can fish really well. Being shallow water, when the cod strikes it’s a savage strike and the initial fight is intense as it battles to get back to its log. Then you have the river and lagoons, which commonly range from around 3-7m deep, and you never know where that 1m cod will be!

All the gear you need for targeting Murray cod can be carried on a kayak.

A dinosaur class Murray cod that came from the timbered section of Mulwala.

LURES A mix of spinnerbaits, hardbodied divers and soft plastics, rigged both normally and weedless are fantastic in this country. Weedless plastics particularly are great for casting hard up into the bank where laydowns are piled up on each other providing plenty of ambush spots for the cod. For hardbodies I like the hardbodies that cast well,

dive well and hold in the strike zone. If fishing the deeper channels, spinnerbaits and other sinking lures are your best bet. A highlight of Lake Mulwala is the surface fishing. To have a fish take your surface lure right at the edge of your kayak, splash water in your face and then pull hard straight to the bottom in the darkness is an amazing rush and a must do.

LAUNCH YOUR YAK Kayak fishing for Murray cod offers a new set of challenges, but has its advantages too. Yak fishing allows you to approach with stealth and access areas you can’t in a boat or by foot. Tangling with one of Australia’s fishy icons with your backside inches from the water is an experience in itself, and now is great time to go and do it!

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Kayak photos and filming BRISBANE

Justin Wilmer Find me on Facebook at Yaks On

After over a year of inflicting my bad selfies, ‘fish on the floor of the

including casting to structure, retrieve techniques, strikes and the fight. I also hoped to capture footage looking back at me as I rigged up and then hopefully fought, landed, displayed and released my catch.

Another box that needed to be ticked was a mount that allowed me to attach my digital still camera to avoid the weird horizon lines, anglers hidden behind fish and chopped off fish tails (or even worse,

When selfies go wild! Having an organised camera set-up, as described in the article can help you capture some much more memorable photos!

A Contour sports camera mounted on a Camera Boom 600 to capture all the hot fishing action. kayak’ and fish in my hand photos on Fishing Monthly readers, some recent windy and wet weather inspired me to spend some time in the man cave and sort out my kayak camera mounts and cameras. This will not only help me capture better quality images for future articles, along with images for my own albums, fingers crossed it will enable me to create videos to accompany future articles. Watching videos made by other kayak anglers, readily available on YouTube, is a great way to plan what you want to capture in your photos and videos. I hoped to capture footage from behind me, to offer the angler’s perspective of method and technique

The author’s earlier setup with a Camera Boom 150 and Camera Boom 600.

The classic handful of fish shot. Surely there is a better way! 78

MARCH 2016

heads), associated with kayak fishing selfies. This mount would also double as a mounting point for my video camera when I wanted to capture better quality audio during my adventures. I have accumulated a selection of different cameras over the years and

they all play a different role when it comes to filming from the kayak. CAMERAS Waterproof Compact Cameras Compact cameras have improved greatly in build and photo quality over the years, meaning only a few hundred dollars worth of camera can capture magazine quality images. Most of the photos in my stories have been captured on a Panasonic Lumix waterproof and shockproof camera. It fits in the top pocket of my fishing shirt, is easily and quickly accessed when a photo opportunity arises, has good battery life, and is small enough to handle when taking the dreaded kayak fishing selfie. This camera is also capable

of capturing quality audio and video. The downside of compact cameras is their lens restrictions in terms of both zoom, when wanting to capture close ups of wildlife, and when you want to get a wider angle view of the kayak, scenery and other kayak anglers holding fish. Digital SLR Cameras There’s no doubt that digital SLR cameras, with their vast array of settings and optional filters and lenses, have the ability to capture some incredible images. I carry an entry level SLR, Canon 600D, with three lenses; a standard lens for most shooting, zoom lens for capturing wildlife and when shooting other kayak anglers from a distance, and finally a wide angle lens for capturing the kayak that I am sitting on in its surroundings. This camera allows me to focus on that cool fish as the main subject, with everything else dropped back into the background. The downside of digital SLR cameras include their weight and bulk, along with the need to protect your investment by storing it in a quality waterproof and shockproof case, like those from Pelican or Storm. I don’t take this camera on

all adventures, however it is cool to have it there at the ready, fitted with a circular polarising filter to cut the glare off the water, when you come across some awesome structure, a bait ball or cruising fish. Sports Cameras Sports cameras, such as the GoPro or Contour, have been a blessing for kayak anglers with their waterproof cases, wide-angle lenses to capture all of the action in a confined environment and the quality of the footage that they capture. They can be mounted almost anywhere, including our heads, chests and on the kayak. They handle the environments we venture into and can even film underwater. The downside of sports cameras is that the wideangle lenses can push the action into the distance a little, such as surface strikes or wildlife, and there is also a serious lack of audio in their waterproof cases. Some anglers overcome this audio deficiency by running a separate microphone or separate audio recording device. Handheld Video Cameras Handheld video cameras are now extremely affordable, much more lightweight due to digital technology and

This little collection is worth its weight in gold in terms of the fantastic recording to be captured. Each has its own purpose and when combined will give you a stack of awesome footage!

offer excellent audio for kayak anglers, when not in windy conditions. Most have the downside of not being waterproof, but kayak anglers fishing on flat water are now taking their chances and mounting video cameras in raised positions on the kayak. They also lack the wide-angle lens of sports cameras, but by mounting them on camera booms they can be swung away from the angler to capture more of the action. I recently tracked down a waterproof handheld video camera and look forward to putting it through its paces and sharing the action in future articles. MOUNTS There are a variety of mounting options available,

landing and releasing fish. This is a quick overview of my setup, but your options are almost endless when it comes to camera and mounting options. Stay tuned over the coming issues

of Fishing Monthly and hopefully I can share more of my adventures, minus the dreaded selfies and maybe even with a link to some live action! See you on the water!

The Contour captures the action from the TelePole 1000. Camera Boom 600, an arm that can be swivelled 360째 to allow me to swing cameras without wide-angle lenses, such as the compact camera, SLR or video camera, toward me to set up the camera or timer and then away from me to capture the photo or video. This allows me to avoid the selfie and frame up photos holding fish, or swing the camera out to film rigging or speak to the camera. I look forward to mounting another camera boom to the side of the kayak so that I can swing it below the water to capture

TelePole 1000 with light and Camera Boom 600 with compact camera.

The Railblaza Camera Mounting Kit, including sports camera mount. however I prefer to stick with the range of Railblaza mounts as I already had a selection of StarPorts and accessories in my kit and they have proven to be reliable, of good quality and affordable. TelePole 1000 Behind the seat of my kayak I have a Railblaza TracPort Dash 500, mounted to the kayak with two StarPort mounts for easy removal, while providing four StarPort mounts to which I attach three Railblaza Rod Holder II adjustable

rod holders for carrying my rods and a TelePole 1000 telescopic pole to which I can attach a sports camera via a Railblaza Camera Mount Kit for filming from behind and above me during the day, and a Navisafe LED light for after dark. Use a wide-angle lens of a sports camera, such as a GoPro or Contour camera, to capture the seated angler, kayak and area surrounding and in front of the kayak. Camera Mount Kit The Railblaza Camera Mount Kit is a compact

option designed to lock into any of the range of Railblaza mounts, and allows you to rotate the camera to every angle, with factory set friction joints to keep your camera steady. I use this mount to attach a second sports camera, and use its wide-angle lens to capture vision looking back at the seated kayak angler. It is also ideal for quickly attaching the compact or SLR camera for shots holding fish. Camera Boom 600 The final mount that I have used is a Railblaza

Vinnie Versfeld takes an adventure selfie.

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New SeaCraft Fisher 490 with Mercury 90hp This would be a different thing at the front one-third of the boat, as the floor has been raised about 40cm to form a casting platform and to also give you more storage space. To compensate the rising of the floor there are guardrails that have been installed on either side of the boat. As the passenger of the craft, I noticed the lack of a grab rail on the passenger’s

SYDNEY SOUTH

Gary Brown gbrown1@iprimus.com.au

Ausmarine are the sole importers of the SeaCraft Boats and Seatrail Trailers and they have a new model out called the Fisher 490 side console that would interest any angler out there who is looking for a sleek, well finished, comfortable aluminium boat that has plenty of room to stand up in when either drifting or at anchor. It would be ideal for the angler who like targeting snapper, kingfish and other reef species offshore or trolling, drifting or at anchor in the estuaries. It’s reasonably shallow draft, vee shaped bottom would allow you drift over some of those shallow sand flats that you like to chase flathead, whiting and bream. DESIGN Ausmarine has made sure that the SeaCraft boats are designed to suit Australian conditions with their full cross-framed ribbing where each compartment has been filled with foam. That is except where the under floor 70L fuel tank is situated. With its 3mm bottom and 2mm sides, there was a small amount of flex in the sides as we were travelling along. But this is something that you would find with most, if not all 2mm side boats. The gunnels were quite wide, which added to the stiffness of the boat and it would also allow you to put extra wiring and lighting underneath out of the elements. PERFORMANCE After launching the boat and travelling through the 8-knot zone, it was pushed up out of the water and taken up onto the plane by the 90hp Mercury with ease. Even though the test was only done on a calm river, I found that the handling of the boat was very smooth. What I did find was that when we turned fairly sharply to run over our wake there was a slight bit of cavitation from the propeller.

The boat shape pushes the water away from you when travelling, keeping you dry. This may have been due to the size and pitch of the propeller and, if so, could be rectified by change to style, size and pitch of the propeller.

MARCH 2016

the day was very calm, I couldn’t tell you whether the same would happen on a rough day or when travelling offshore.

SPECIFICATIONS Overall boat length...........................................4.9m Overall boat on trailer length... Approximately 6.2m (motor in locked position) Beam................................................................ 2.15m Bottom thickness.............................................3mm Side thickness...................................................2mm Weight............................................510kg (Boat only) Max persons...........................................................5 Max outboard....................................................90hp Fuel Tank............................................Underfloor 70L Trailer Model..................... AL 4.8M13 braked trailer

The SeaCraft Fisher 490 side console is very impressive in and out of the water.

The Mercury 90hp outboard pushed the outfit along with ease. What I did find was that when you didn’t turn as sharply, there was no cavitation at all and it was a very smooth ride. Also, as we travelled over the wake

There is plenty of room at the rear of the boat and you also have easy access to the water by the rear door. 82

there was very little the vee-shaped hull cut through it with ease. Overall, it was very smooth, unlike some aluminium boats.

ERGONOMICS How much storage you use will depend on whether you are going to use this style of boat as a full on fishing boat or a pleasure craft. The SeaCraft Fisher 490 side console has three storage areas in front of the console. There is a small anchor well up front that would be big enough to take one sand anchor, about 4m of chain and about 50m of rope.

When driving through the wake, the chines and the shape of the hull were able to push the water and spray well out from the boat giving you a dry ride. As

SAFETY While at rest with two adults weighting in at approximately 200kg on board at one side of the boat, that there was only a slight lean. The height of the gunnels from the floor in the back two-thirds of the boat allowed me to easily lean up against the side to brace myself. This would be very helpful when trying to lift in a large fish or brace yourself in a swell while drifting.

There are three storage compartments up front which is more than enough storage room for most boaters.

side, which in-turn found me looking for somewhere to hold onto while travelling at speed. This would be easily overcome by installing a small grab rail just on the inside of the gunnel. At the rear on the starboard side of the boat, there is a fold down stainless steel ladder that would give you access from the water if you had either gone for a ski or had a swim to cool off.

As you will see in the accompanying photos, you will see that there are two more storage compartments in the raised deck. The smaller of the two compartments could be used for another anchor, your extra life jackets and rain gear. The larger of the three storage compartments could be then used to store your small esky or fridge, tackle boxes, safety gear etc. You also would have enough

There’s plenty of room to install a GPS/sounder combo and a compass for when you go offshore fishing.

room to maybe put a kill tank for your fish. On either side of the console there is a small narrow compartment that could also be used for storage of rigged hand lines

side of the rear and front of the boat and three on the aluminium cutting board. If you are into live baiting for big fish, there is a live well on the port side of the boat that could be

floor would help dull any noise. This would be due to the in-built floor full crossfloor compartment, 3mm boat and wide gunnels. The Mercury 90hp outboard, which only had

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for squid, small tackle boxes and the like. Even though the side console was of an open arrangement, you could always close it in and have more storage for that extra tackle you may need. At the rear of the boat you will see a bolted in cleaning table with three rod holders. This can be changed, as they have several designs. There is also a small bench seat that can be folded down and out of the way when not in use. Behind it there is a bit more open storage space where you could possibly put that extra battery. In the boat tested, the instrument panel contained the following a speedo, trim and tilt gauge, a fuel gauge, rev counter, and a panel with a 12-volt socket and five toggle switches (lights, bilge pump and a couple spare). The AL 4.8M13 Seatrail braked trailer comes complete with an aluminium walkway for easy launching and retrieving of the boat, skids or rollers and led lights. FISHABILITY There are seven rod holders in total; one on either

plumbed to hold your live bait. On the boat tested, it was not plumbed. The whole of the floor has been carpeted for your comfort and could be easily washed down after each fishing outing. Even though this boat is designed to take five adults, I would find that two could quite comfortably fish with three in the boat while either trolling or drifting offshore and maybe an extra one in the estuary. There was plenty of room for you to mount a GPS sounder combo, compass etc. up behind the large windscreen and the two-padded swivel chairs were extremely comfortable to sit in. NOISE Over the years I have tested a number of aluminium boats and believe me, some of them have been extremely noisey when travelling at speed or ploughing through waves and over wakes. The SeaCraft Fisher 490 had none of that. It was very quiet, and if you are like me and occasionally drop something in the boat the fully carpeted

one hour on the clock was extremely quiet and made having a conversation while travelling very easy. Overall I was impressed with the outfit tested and for its price range would be quite affordable for someone wanting to get into boating with the family or friends. The tested craft with a 75hp outboard would come home for $23,999. The importer of SeaCraft Boats and Seatrail Trailers is Ausmarine at Revesby, Sydney. To locate your closets dealership in NSW you can go to www. ausmarine.biz/nsw-dealers/ and if you live interstate or even overseas you can go to www.ausmarine.biz/ and scroll down to the bottom of the page. • Quoted performance figures have been supplied by the writer in good faith. Performance of individual boat/motor/ trailer packages may differ due to variations in engine installations, propellers, hull configurations, options, hull loading and trailer specifications.

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What’s New BOATING

NEW GARMIN STRIKER RANGE

Garmin’s new Striker range of fishfinders offers anglers high-end technology at an entry-level price. Combining CHIRP traditional sonar, CHIRP DownVü and SideVü technology, along with a built-in high-sensitivity GPS receiver, these units are powerful tools for freshwater, estuary and inshore anglers fishing from kayaks and smaller boats up to around 5m in length. The Striker fishfinder series is available in bright, sunlight-readable 3.5” (Striker 4/4dv), 5” (Striker 5dv) and 7” (Striker 7dv/7sv) colour displays that feature a new rugged design and keyed interface that’s built to withstand the harsh marine environment. Bringing Garmin’s true CHIRP sonar to the entry-level market, this technology creates crisper fish arches with better target separation than traditional sonar by sending a continuous sweep of frequencies that are interpreted individually on their return. The Striker series is also compatible with a wide-range of optional Garmin scanning transducers to customise sonar performance and installation options. Price: RRP from $199 www.garmin.com

RAYMARINE QUANTUM RADAR

The Raymarine Quantum CHIRP radar is the industry’s first recreational marine radar dome featuring CHIRP pulse compression technology. A new approach to marine radar, Quantum CHIRP radar really sets a new standard for compact solid state radar, delivering superior radar imaging on both long and short ranges. “We are thrilled to bring our new solid state CHIRP radar technology to the recreational boating market” said Grégoire Outters, Vice President and General Manager of FLIR’s Maritime segment. “This breakthrough technology coupled with our ATXTM advanced target separation technology will change the game in terms of its performance, ease of use and connectivity.” Quantum CHIRP Radar will be available worldwide in the first quarter of 2016 through Raymarine’s authorized network of dealers and retailers at an affordable price. For more details about the Quantum CHIRP Radar, you can visit the Raymarine website. Price: RRP $2,395 www.raymarine.com

SLIMLINE NAVARA SUBMERSIBLE L.E.D

Narva’s popular model 36 submersible trailer lamp is now available in a slimline kit, ready for fitment to boat and jet ski trailers or motorbike and camping trailers likely to see plenty water or mud. Each kit contains 2x 12V L.E.D slimline rear stop/tail, directional indicator lamps with inbuilt retro reflectors, with one of the lamps also equipped with an in-built L.E.D licence plate lamp. The lamps are tested after the sealing process and cables are also sealed at the entry point of the lamp to ensure optimal underwater performance. Despite this superior engineering, during the installation process Narva recommend avoiding cable joins near the lamp or in any other position where they are likely to come in water. Narva’s new Model 36 submersible Slimline L.E.D trailer lamp kits are supported by a 5-year L.E.D warranty and can be purchased from leading automotive, camping and marine stores Australia-wide. Price: RRP ~$119 www.navara.com.au

FISHING PRODUCT GUIDE

PURPLE LINE ULTRA LOCK

Trailer accessory manufacturer Purple Line has launched a new high-security hitch lock that secures Australian 50mm ball hitches both when hitched and unhitched. The Saracen Ultra anti-theft hitch lock offers heavy-duty protection for boats that spend all day hitched to the tow vehicle at a ramp, and all winter unhitched at home. Made from high strength composite metals, it has an anti-pick 7-pin cylinder lock with tubular, anti-copy key. But it is really for any trailer with a 50mm ball hitch – caravans and camper trailers, horse floats, box trailers and even car and motorcycle trailers. Saracen Ultra joins the Purple Line range of anti-theft products including the regular Saracen for unhitched trailers and supertough Nemesis wheel clamp, all made of high-strength steel to resist cutting, picking, drilling and gas freezing. Purple Line anti-theft products are available online and at leading caravan accessory outlets and selected marine equipment retailers nationally. Price: RRP from $89 www.purpleline.com.au

MERCURY HAS YOU COVERED

If your family is into boats then Mercury has some terrific ideas for those last minute gifts. There’s a great range of Mercury-branded merchandise that any Mercury owner would love to have. There’s T-shirts, jacket, caps, stubby holders, key rings, stickers… there’s even a bar fridge! Another great summer holiday idea is a Mercury outboard engine cover. Mercury outboards have been carefully crafted to perform brilliantly and to have great visual appeal, so a specially fitted, Mercurybranded cover will help you maintain your boat’s overall appearance long-term. To help protect your investment from salt and sun, Mercury has three options: Splash Covers – these are vented so they can be left on while the motor’s operating or can be used for trailering. Full Covers – these cover the motor from top to bottom so can be used for trailering or for engine storage. Combo Covers – these provide the best of both worlds, a Full Cover, which can be unzipped into a Splash Cover. www.mercurymarine.com.au

5 4

SEA JAY’S NEW CRUSADER RUNABOUT

Col, Janelle and Troy Glass are proud to present the latest model Sea Jay Aluminium Boat, the Crusader Runabout. The Crusader features increased rising dead rise (sharper entry), an improved ride, increased waterline width (greater planning surface area), faster planning, increased reverse chine – an even drier ride with maximum stability and a swept bow with increased depth of sides. The new Crusader Runabout will replace the Capri as the premium runabout in the range, with the Seeker remaining as the entrylevel runabout from Sea Jay Boats. “The latest swept bow configuration in a runabout gives a better feeling of safety up the front of the boat and the soft ride of the Samurai Hull is a pleasure to feel,” said Col Glass from Sea Jay Boats. “The Crusader provides a prefect mix of a roomy family boat with a good fishing platform for dad, it puts Sea Jay Boats firmly back into the runabout market.” Available in a 4.9m and 5.2m version. www.seajayboats.com.au

Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au

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Logo and page number, fill in the entry form and go in the draw to win! The first 40 correct entries drawn at the end of the month will win a Shrimp Hook Pack. All entries will go into the major prize draw. (Drawn MAY 31, 2016)

VALUE OF WILSON PRODUCTS

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VALUE OF WILSON PRODUCTS

200

$ RD

• Zerek 2” Live Shrimp Hook Pack • 1gm and 3 gm weighted worm hook/jig head • Value RRP: $11.95 each

www.wilsonfishing.com PAGE NO: 1

600

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NAME ............................................................................................................

MAIL ENTRIES TO:

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Savage 385 Big Boy but the standard features are practical and cover everything you may need.

FMG

Peter Jung pjung@fishingmonthly.com.au

Entry-level packages or packages put together with a budget in mind are almost a dime a dozen these days. But how many brands can claim over 100 years of manufacturing experience and knowledge in producing boats that are suitable in meeting the customers needs? Savage Aluminium Boats have been around since 1898, providing fantastic quality boats and I had the pleasure of spending a few hours on Lake Narracan in Victoria getting to know one of their entry-level options the Savage 385 Big Boy. There are a few must haves when it comes to start off packages. These boats should be able to be towed by a small vehicle, you should be able to launch and retrieve them with one person, the floor plan needs to be simple and practical and they should allow room to take you and a mate or you and the family safely out on the water. TOWING Coming in under 500kg including boat, motor, and trailer, the Savage 385 Big Boy can be easily towed by most 4-cylinder vehicles available today. I was at Lake Narracan with David Garcia and he assured me that the launching and retrieving would be easy - in fact “one person, one hand” were his exact words! This proved to

things out of the way from any water that may find its way into the boat.

SPECIFICATIONS Length Maximum:...........................................3.90m Hull Length:.....................................................3.85m Beam:...............................................................1.85m Depth:..............................................................0.87m Bottom/Top sides:............................................3mm Minimum hp:.....................................................15hp Maximum hp:....................................................30hp Number of People:..................................................4

Lots of fun and practical too, the Savage 385 gave us a great time on the water.

Top Left: The Mercury 30hp 2-stroke is the maximum horsepower for the 385 Big Boy. Top Right: There is enough storage at the front of the boat for your anchor and to keep things out of the way. Above Left: Launching and retrieving was easy and could be done by one person. Above Right: The low floor that comes with the package is a great standard feature. be correct, as we had no trouble getting the 385 in and out of the water. THE LAYOUT As you would expect with a package like this, there are not a lot of bells and whistles in the 385 Big Boy, 86

MARCH 2016

I loved that it came with a carpeted low floor. Not having a floor was one of my pet hates in my first tinny and now I have a family it is also practical to have a level surface for when children are in the boat. It also keeps

The fuel tank and battery are both on raised and carpeted platforms at the rear of the boat. Another very practical set up as these items tend to be quite heavy and not having to reach into the hull to lift them is gold.

There is also an anchor shelf provided to store your anchor in the bow, as well as ample storage room. The bench seating is practical rather than comfortable but nothing a cushion couldn’t fix. There are also two

transom and bow grab rails – it’s always nice to have something to hang onto when you are zipping around. Tough is a good way to describe the Big Boy’s construction. The 3mm through construction means

the 385 will deal with the inevitable bumps you are likely to come across. The 385 Big Boy is rated for four people, but I would suggest it is ideal for two people or three if required. This would also depend on the motor on the back. The boat we tested had a Mercury 30hp 2-stroke on it and would cope easily with 3 people on board. PERFORMANCE There is a quality I hope I can convey when I write about the performance of the 385 Big Boy on the water. It’s not about the blistering speed that it got out of the hole or how it turned on a knife-edge or even how stable it was at rest. I will get to that shortly. What I want to express is the joy that a small boat can provide. Here were three middle-aged men - some of us older than others - having a run in the Savage 385 Big Boy at Lake Narracan. Every time one of us set off, it was like drinking at the fountain of youth. Zooming around inspired an instant smile that made me realise there a boy still existed in all of us. I always thought when I was young, that it was only me who enjoyed getting out in dads tinny, I now realise he enjoyed it as much as I did. Having said that, the 30hp 2-stroke Mercury motor, which is the maximum horsepower for the 385, provided plenty of low-end grunt to get it out of the hole and plenty of zip to get you from A to B. It did handle well and stability at rest wasn’t an issue. FISHABILITY There are some true advantages to having a tinny like the Savage 385 Big Boy. Firstly, access to small waters is important, the boat draws very little water and is ideal to get into those little tidal creeks or into those back waters situated along the Murray and similar waterways.

Left: The Savage 385 Big Boy is a great entry-level package that will tick all the boxes for anybody looking for this style of boat. Right: We all had a smile on our faces when we went for a run. As it is easily launched, there is nothing to deter you from heading out on your own and the simple floor plan gives you plenty of fishing space whether you are casting, trolling lures or soaking a bait. LAST WORD The Savage 385 Big Boy ticks all the boxes you would expect it to for this style of boat - including price point. The boat we tested was fitted with a Mercury 30hp ELH electric start motor and had a few optional extras including extruded side decks, a bow cleat, rod holders and a transducer bracket and still

The Savage 385 Big Boy was really a lot of fun to drive, handling well and getting on the plane easily.

SYDNEY’S NO.1

came in under the magical 10K mark at $9,500. To find out more about the Savage 385 Big Boy or the other boats available in the Savage Aluminium boat range you can visit www. aluminium.savageboats. com.au for the full list of dealers. • Quoted performance figures have been supplied by the writer in good faith. Performance of individual boat/motor/ trailer packages may differ due to variations in engine installations, propellers, hull configurations, options, hull loading and trailer specifications.

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Trades, Services, Charter BAIT & TACKLE

HOLIDAY RENTAL

BYRON COAST

3Gelcoat repairs 3 Insurance repairs

Yamba Bait & Tackle (02) 6646 1514

COFFS COAST Compleat Angler Kempsey (02) 6562 5307 Rocks Marine Bait & Tackle South West Rocks (02) 6566 6726

MACQUARIE COAST Graham Barclay Marine (02) 6554 5866 Manning River Marine Taree (02) 6552 2333

HUNTER COAST

3 Transom & floor repairs 312v Electrical installations 4 Aspinall Place, MULGRAVE 02 4577 3482 www.westernboatrepairs.com.au

Port Stephens Tackle World (02) 4984 2144

FISH TAXIDERMY

SYDNEY Gabes Boating & Fishing Centre Narellan (02) 4647 8755 Windybanks Bait and Tackle (02) 9477 1520

Import USA Boat 0435 476 177

KAYAK DEALERS Hunter Water Sports (02) 4947 7899

MODIFICATIONS & REPAIRS // BOAT & TRAILER Bold Trailers (02) 8544 8114 www.boldtrailers.com.au Salt Away 1800 091 172 www.salt-away.com.au

FLUSH YOUR ENGINE WITH

CORROSION CONTROL SALT REMOVING TREATMENT

WARNING!

9 out 10 engines fail from salt corrosion ACT NOW AND PROTECT YOUR VALUABLE BOAT, ENGINE, TRAILER, FISHING AND DIVE GEAR. SALT-AWAY IS A MUST FOR:

ENGINE FLUSHING JETSKIS TRAILERS

FREECALL For more info

WASHING BOATS FISHING & DIVE GEAR

1800 091 172

VISIT www.salt-away.com.au SYDNEY The Boat Pimpers (Sydney) (02) 9792 7799

Penrith Marine (02) 4731 6250 Moby Marine (02) 9153 6506 or www.mobymarine.com.au Aqua Marine 0415 600 301 or www.aquacash.com.au Cohoe Marine Products (Sydney) (02) 9519 3575 Blakes Marine (02) 4577 6699 Watersports Marine (02) 9676 1400 Neken Marine (02) 9979 9649 Boat Assist 24 - On Water Mechanic (02) 9746 6224

NEED REPLACEMENT MARINE ENGINE PARTS OR ACCESSORIES? has you MOBY MARINE covered

S E R V I C E S

P T Y

• We are one of Australia’s largest suppliers of after market spare parts & accessories • Trade Enquiries Welcome

L T D

• Huge range of spare parts • Sterndrive & Outboard Specialists • Servicing All Makes & Models

AUSTRALIA’S # For Spare Parts & Accessories

(02) 9153 6506 sales@mobymarine.com.au

www.crescentheadholidayrentals.com.au

COFFS COAST Jetty Boating (02) 6651 4002

MACQUARIE COAST Graham Barclay Marine (02) 6554 5866 Manning River Marine Taree (02) 6552 2333

FRESHWATER Dubbo Marine and Watersports (02) 6882 2853

BOAT HIRE

Crescent Head Holiday Rentals (02) 6566 0500 Hat Head Holiday Park (02) 6567 7501 Horse Shoe Bay Holiday Park (02) 6566 6370 Stuarts Point Holiday Park (02) 6563 0616 Grassy Head Holiday Park (02) 6569 0742 South West Rocks Tourist Park 1800 666 264

HUNTER COAST Wangi Point Lakeside holiday Park (02) 4975 1889 Blacksmiths Holiday Park (02) 4971 2858

CENTRAL COAST Central Coast Holiday Parks 1800 241 342

ILLAWARRA COAST Jan’s Retreat (02) 4441 7000 Currarong Beachside Tourist Park 1300 555 515 Sussex Inlet (LJ Hooker) (02) 4441 2135 Riviera Caravan Park, St George’s Basin (02) 4441 2112 Killalea State Park, Shell Cove (02) 4237 8589 Holiday With Us, Sussex Inlet (02) 4441 2135 Surf Beach Holiday Park (02) 4232 1791 Kendalls on the Beach (02) 4232 1790 Werri Beach Holiday Park (02) 4234 1285 Seven Mile Beach Holiday Park (02) 4234 1340 Kiama Harbour Cabins (02) 4232 2707

Ulladulla Headland Tourist Park

Discounts for Fishing and Boating Club Members

44 Barry Ave, Mortdale, NSW

www.mobymarine.com.au

Boab Boat Hire (NSW) 1300 002 6221

For all your accommodation needs, house, units & townhouses for every budget. Contact the friendly team at Crescent Head Real Estate for your free holiday brochure.

Phone: 02 6566 0500

SYDNEY

BOAT IMPORTS

CRESCENT HEAD HOLIDAY RENTALS

6 MAIN ST, CRESCENT HEAD NSW 2440

MARINE MECHANICS

Loomzys Fish and Fix (Forbes) (02) 6851 1425

Macleay Valley Coastal Holiday Parks 1300 262 782 Crescent Head Holiday Park (02) 6566 0261

Email: holiday@crescentheadrealestate.com.au

Anchor Right (03) 5968 5014 Korr Lighting www.korrlighting.com.au

FRESHWATER

MACLEAY VALLEY COAST

BREAKDOWN RESPONSE

CHANDLERY & ACCESSORIES

Bermagui Bait and Tackle (02) 6493 5444

Brooms Head Caravan Park (02) 6646 7144 Calypso Yamba Holiday Park (02) 6646 8847 Iluka Riverside Tourist Park (02) 6646 6060 Wooli Camping & Caravan Park (02) 6649 7671

Fish Taxidermist 0428 544 841

Boat Assist 24 (02) 9746 6224 or www.boatassist24.com.au

EDENS COAST

NORTH COAST

BOOKINGS: 1300 733 021 14 Did-Dell St, Ulladulla, NSW 2539

• close to boat ramp and Harbour • boat parking for park guests • accommodation for fishing groups • large outdoor areas and BBQs • 27 cabins and 140 powered/ • short walk from Ulladulla town unpowered sites centre

www.holidayhaven.com.au/ Ulladulla

SOUTH COAST NSW

www.holidayhaven.com.au

Ulladulla Headland Tourist Park 1300 733 021

FRESHWATER Burrinjuck Waters State Park (02) 6227 8114 Providence Lodge (Eucumbene) (02) 6454 2200 Winter Keep (Snowy Mountains) www.winterkeep.com.au Grabine Lakeside State Park (02) 4835 2345 Lake Glenbawn State Park (02) 6543 7193 Wyangala Waters State Park (02) 6345 0877 Bass Lodge Macleay River NSW 0433 482 325 Chifley Dam Cabins 1800 68 1000

This section in NSW Fishing Monthly consolidates the trades and services in your area that are relevant to your fishing and boating. Whether you’re a local looking for more options or a travelling angler fishing around the state, this guide will direct you to reputable businesses in the area you’re searching.

Boats & Guided Fishing Tours Directory CHIFLEY DAM

Cabins

COFFS COAST Oceanic Sea Urchin II Charters (02) 6566 6623 or 0428 650 321

SAMPLE AD - BUSINESS NAME

South West Rocks Fishing Charters (02) 6566 5298 or 0429 995 390

This is where your copy will appear. You will have approximately 30 words within a 5x2 ad size.

The Rocks Fishing Charters 0412 074 147 Wooli Deep Sea Tours (02) 6649 7100 Trial Bay Fishing Charters, 0427 256 556 South West Rocks Fishing Adventures 0411 096 717

Email : ads@fishingmonthly.com.au www.southwestrocksfishingadventures.com.au

Right on the peaceful shores of Chifley Dam Comfortable affordable accommodation Close to Bathurst and all its facilities Talk to Bathurst Visitor Information Centre for details

Freecall 1800 68 1000 Book online at visitbathurst.com.au

t ea Gr

PORT & REEF SFISHING GAME ERS

CHART

QUEENSLAND

MV CAPRICORN STAR u Mid week packages from $420 p/p* u Weekend packages from $320 p/p*

*Minimum 6 people

On board our fully equiped 38ft Randell TRIFECTA

o tf

INatGing H IS Bo

o sp

ONLINE TACKLE PRODUCTS

www.fishin.com.au

Contact: David Hayman (Stumpee) Mobile: 0411 096 717 info@swrcharters.com.au

MACQUARIE COAST Castaway Estuary Charters 0427 239 650

MV Capricorn Star 0408 755 201 or www.amytiadventure.com.au Mikat Cruises Fishing Charters Swains & Coral Sea 0427 125 727

Tailermade Fishing Adventures 0411 096 717

DEEP SEA & GAMEFISHING

TRIPS INCLUDE

SHOP 18, 29 KIORA RD MIRANDA NSW 2228

W capricornstar.com.au • E info@capricornstar.com.au

HUNTER COAST

BOOK NOW FOR MARLIN, MAHI-MAHI AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN

Specialising in “Tournament Quality Lures” 0425 230 964

Swains Reef • Bunker Group • Coral Sea • Shoal Waters and Beyond

Ocean Star Fishing Charters 0416 240 877

ONLINE BREAM TACKLE STORE

All Bait, Fishing Rods and Reels Sunscreen and Morning Tea

MONTIQUE

40ft RANDELL. Fishing capacity 12 persons.

PHONE: 0411 096 717 www.tailermadefishn.com.au DEPARTS STOCKTON BOAT DOCK...

www.fishin.com.au 0425 230 964

Blue Bottle Fishing www.bluebottlefishing.com info@bluebottlefishing.com Ph: 0409 333 380 Mo Tackle (02) 6652 4611 or www.motackle.com.au Specialty Fishing Products www.specialtyfishing.com.au

SYDNEY Harbour and Estuary Fishing Charters (02) 9999 2574 or 0410 633 351

Adrenalin Flies www.adrenalinflies.com.au

Silver Star Fishing Charters (02) 4421 7462 or 0412 977 000

Techni Ice www.techniice.com

Shell Harbour Fishing Charters 0425 216 370

J Roc Tackle www.jroctackle.com.au

TRADES AND SERVICES ADVERTISING

SAMPLE AD - BUSINESS NAME This is where your copy will appear. You will have approximately 30 words within a 5x2 ad size. Email : ads@fishingmonthly.com.au

BYRON COAST Evans Head Deep Sea Fishing Charters, 0428 828 835 Sea Master Fishing Charters, (07) 5524 8849 or 0415 593 901

• Reef, Deep Sea and Sport Fishing • Swains, Samurez, Cap Bunker Group • Dories available • LUXURY 20m Cat. New V8 Scanias. Large comfortable and stable. • Air conditioned and fast (cruise up to 16 knots) • Professional crew (over 22 years experience) • Cater for groups up to 12 people from 3 to 10 days • BYO or fully licenced bar • Desalinate unit • Trips designed to suit your requirements

SATELLITE TV INSTALLED

ILLAWARRA COAST Sea Lady Charters 0411 024 402

Jayro Tackle www.jayrotackle.com.au

FISHING EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME!

Sydney Sportfishing Adventures 0405 196 253

U-Make-Em Soft Plastics www.u-make-emsoftplastics.com.au

CHARTER BOATS

EXTENDED FISHING CHARTERS

Line listing from $90 + gst 6 months* 2cm x 2 from $195 + gst 6 months* 4cm x 2 from $320 + gst 6 months* 8cm x 2 from $590 + gst 6 months* Rates exclusive to Trades and Services Directory *Conditions apply Call (07) 3387 0833 or email rlimpus@fishingmonthly.com.au

If you have any other trades or services that you would like to see in this section please don’t hesitate to give us a call Email: rlimpus@fishingmonthly.com.au

EDEN COAST

Reel Time Fishing Charters 0428 231 962

Esprit Fishing Charters 1300 556 658

Coffs Coast Sport Fishing 0434 517 683

Freedom Charters Eden (02) 6496 1209 or www.freedomcharters.com.au

Phone: 0427 125 727 I Fax: (07) 4972 1759 michael@mikat.com.au

www.mikat.com.au SWAINS

EXTENDED QLD REEF TRIPS FOR UP TO 10 PEOPLE •Swains Reef •Port Clinton •Stanage Bay •Island Head Creek •Shoalwater Bay •Pearl Bay P: 0419 789 921 www.inyadreamscharters.com

FISHING GUIDES ILLAWARRA COAST Bay & Basin Sportsfishing 0413 610 832

BATEMANS COAST Aussie Fish Estuary Adventures (02) 6495 9902 or 0400 062 504

EDEN COAST Captain Kev’s Wilderness Fishing Tours (02) 4474 3345 or 0424 625 160

Advertisers wanting to be involved in this directory can call (07) 3387 0800 or email ads@fishingmonthly.com.au

2016

SYDNEY (FORT DENISON) – NEW SOUTH WALES LAT 33° 52’ LONG 151° 13’ Times and Heights of High and Low Waters MARCH FEBRUARY

JANUARY Time

Time

1 0200 0744

16 0152 0749

2 0250 0842

17 0252 0858

3 0345 0950

18 0355 1015

4 0442 1101

19 0500 1132

5 0536 1206

20 0601 1243

6 0624 1301

21 0025 0658

7 0032 0709

22 0118 0750

8 0116 0750

23 0208 0838

9 0159 0831

24 0254 0922

10 0241 0914

1.51 0.52 SA 1400 1.56 2027 0.38

Time

1 0246 0900

16 0331 1007

2 0345 1012

17 0440 1125

3 0446 1125

18 0546 1234

4 0544 1227

19 0015 0645

5 0000 0635

20 0110 0737

6 0050 0723

21 0158 0822

7 0137 0808

22 0241 0902

8 0224 0852

23 0320 0939

9 0311 0937

24 0358 1015

25 0337 1002

10 0400 1024

11 0325 0956

26 0417 1040

12 0412 1040

Time

1 0153 0819

16 0307 0957

2 0248 0927

17 0418 1109

3 0353 1040

18 0527 1214

4 0500 1146

19 0002 0626

5 0600 1242

20 0058 0715

6 0025 0652

21 0145 0759

7 0116 0741

22 0226 0837

8 0207 0829

23 0303 0913

9 0257 0916

24 0339 0947

25 0435 1048

10 0347 1005

11 0450 1111

26 0513 1123

27 0458 1116

12 0543 1200

13 0500 1126

28 0537 1152

14 0006 0552

15 0058 0648

1.32 0.71 FR 1347 1.43 2024 0.53 1.33 0.74 SA 1439 1.34 2111 0.56 1.36 0.75 SU 1541 1.27 2203 0.58 1.40 0.72 MO 1647 1.24 2256 0.58 1.47 0.66 TU 1751 1.24 2346 0.56 1.55 0.58 WE 1846 1.26 0.54 1.63 TH 1348 0.49 1934 1.30 0.50 1.71 FR 1430 0.40 2019 1.34 0.46 1.79 SA 1510 0.33 2102 1.38 0.43 1.86 SU 1550 0.26 2145 1.42

0.40 1.89 MO 1631 0.22 2230 1.45 0.39 1.90 TU 1715 0.21 2317 1.48

0.40 1.87 WE 1759 0.22 1.49 0.43 TH 1213 1.79 1845 0.26 1.50 0.47 FR 1303 1.68 1934 0.32

Time

16 0357 1038

2 0415 1105

17 0455 1127

3 0421 1101

18 0545 1207

4 0519 1152

19 0025 0627

5 0613 1239

20 0106 0706

6 0049 0704

21 0144 0743

7 0142 0755

22 0219 0819

8 0235 0846

23 0256 0855

9 0329 0939

24 0332 0932

25 0415 1021

10 0425 1033

25 0412 1011

11 0440 1055

26 0452 1057

11 0522 1129

26 0453 1052

27 0552 1158

12 0534 1146

27 0530 1133

12 0624 1229

27 0538 1137

13 0034 0639

28 0025 0634

13 0012 0631

28 0612 1213

13 0039 0730

28 0628 1229

29 0029 0619

14 0128 0740

29 0106 0723

14 0105 0733

29 0027 0658

14 0142 0837

29 0031 0725

30 0109 0704

15 0227 0849

15 0202 0842

30 0111 0750

15 0250 0941

30 0131 0826

1.52 0.56 SU 1502 1.44 2124 0.43

1.56 0.56 MO 1615 1.35 2225 0.47 1.61 0.52 TU 1730 1.31 2326 0.48

1.68 0.45 WE 1837 1.32 0.47 1.75 TH 1342 0.38 1936 1.35 0.45 1.81 FR 1432 0.32 2028 1.38

0.43 1.84 SA 1516 0.28 2114 1.41

0.42 1.84 SU 1557 0.28 2156 1.42

0.43 1.82 MO 1634 0.29 2235 1.42 0.45 1.77 TU 1709 0.33 2314 1.42

0.49 1.70 WE 1743 0.38 2350 1.41 0.53 1.61 TH 1815 0.42 1.40 0.59 FR 1228 1.52 1850 0.48

1.39 0.64 SA 1307 1.42 1928 0.53

31 0154 0757

1.38 0.69 SU 1353 1.33 2011 0.58

1.39 0.72 TU 1557 1.19 2202 0.64 1.43 0.68 WE 1711 1.18 2303 0.63 1.50 0.60 TH 1815 1.22 0.59 1.59 FR 1318 0.50 1909 1.28 0.53 1.69 SA 1403 0.39 1956 1.35 0.46 1.79 SU 1445 0.30 2041 1.43 0.38 1.87 MO 1527 0.22 2125 1.51 0.33 1.92 TU 1608 0.17 2210 1.57 0.30 1.93 WE 1651 0.15 2256 1.61 0.29 1.88 TH 1735 0.18 2345 1.63 0.32 1.78 FR 1820 0.24

1.64 0.38 SA 1251 1.65 1908 0.33

1.62 0.45 SU 1346 1.50 2000 0.42

1.60 0.51 MO 1450 1.36 2058 0.51

1.59 0.53 WE 1725 1.25 2312 0.57 1.63 0.48 TH 1833 1.28 0.55 1.68 FR 1330 0.42 1929 1.33

0.51 1.72 SA 1415 0.38 2015 1.39

0.47 1.74 SU 1455 0.35 2055 1.43

0.45 1.74 MO 1530 0.34 2132 1.47 0.43 1.73 TU 1603 0.35 2207 1.49

0.44 1.69 WE 1634 0.37 2241 1.50 0.46 1.63 TH 1704 0.40 2314 1.51 0.49 1.57 FR 1734 0.44 2348 1.50

0.53 1.49 SA 1805 0.49

1.49 0.58 SU 1236 1.41 1840 0.54

1.46 0.63 MO 1319 1.32 1920 0.60

1.44 0.67 TU 1412 1.24 2009 0.66 1.42 0.69 WE 1516 1.19 2110 0.70 1.43 0.66 TH 1632 1.18 2220 0.69 1.49 0.59 FR 1745 1.23 2327 0.64 1.57 0.49 SA 1842 1.31 0.56 1.68 SU 1330 0.38 1930 1.42 0.46 1.79 MO 1415 0.28 2016 1.53 0.36 1.87 TU 1458 0.20 2101 1.63 0.28 1.91 WE 1540 0.16 2147 1.72 0.23 1.89 TH 1624 0.16 2233 1.78 0.22 1.83 FR 1708 0.20 2322 1.80

0.25 1.72 SA 1754 0.29

1.78 0.32 SU 1240 1.58 1842 0.39

1.74 0.40 MO 1338 1.43 1934 0.51 1.67 0.48 TU 1444 1.31 2034 0.60

1.61 0.53 WE 1600 1.25 2145 0.66

Time

1 0306 1000

1.38 0.72 MO 1448 1.25 2102 0.62

1.58 0.54 TU 1605 1.27 2203 0.56

Time

Local Time APRIL

1.58 0.53 TH 1716 1.25 2258 0.67 1.58 0.51 FR 1821 1.30

0.63 1.60 SA 1305 0.48 1912 1.37

0.58 1.63 SU 1347 0.44 1954 1.44

0.53 1.64 MO 1424 0.42 2030 1.50 0.49 1.64 TU 1457 0.41 2104 1.55

0.47 1.63 WE 1527 0.41 2137 1.58 0.45 1.60 TH 1556 0.43 2208 1.61 0.45 1.57 FR 1625 0.45 2240 1.62

0.47 1.51 SA 1655 0.49 2313 1.62

0.50 1.45 SU 1727 0.54 2348 1.60

0.54 1.38 MO 1801 0.59 1.57 0.58 TU 1256 1.31 1840 0.65

1.53 0.63 WE 1346 1.25 1928 0.71

1.49 0.63 FR 1600 1.23 2142 0.74 1.52 0.57 SA 1712 1.29 2255 0.69 1.59 0.47 SU 1712 1.40 2300 0.59 1.68 0.37 MO 1802 1.53 2356 0.47 1.77 0.29 TU 1849 1.66 0.36 1.83 WE 1324 0.23 1936 1.78 0.27 1.84 TH 1409 0.21 2023 1.88 0.21 1.81 FR 1455 0.23 2111 1.93 0.20 1.74 SA 1541 0.29 2200 1.94 0.23 1.63 SU 1629 0.38 2250 1.91

0.30 1.51 MO 1718 0.49 2343 1.84 0.38 1.40 TU 1812 0.59

1.74 0.46 WE 1333 1.32 1913 0.69 1.65 0.52 TH 1445 1.29 2023 0.74 1.58 0.55 FR 1556 1.30 2135 0.75

1.54 0.55 SA 1655 1.36 2242 0.71

1.54 0.54 SU 1743 1.43 2338 0.66

1.54 0.52 MO 1824 1.50 0.60 1.55 TU 1244 0.50 1900 1.57

0.55 1.55 WE 1315 0.49 1933 1.63 0.51 1.54 TH 1346 0.49 2005 1.67

0.49 1.53 FR 1416 0.50 2037 1.71

0.47 1.50 SA 1447 0.52 2110 1.73

0.47 1.47 SU 1519 0.55 2144 1.73

0.49 1.42 MO 1553 0.59 2219 1.71 0.51 1.37 TU 1630 0.64 2258 1.68

0.55 1.33 WE 1712 0.69 2342 1.64 0.58 1.29 TH 1800 0.73 1.60 0.59 FR 1327 1.28 1900 0.76

1.57 0.57 SA 1433 1.31 2012 0.76

31 0203 0852

1.50 0.65 TH 1448 1.22 2029 0.75

 Copyright Commonwealth of Australia 2014, Bureau of Meteorology Datum of Predictions is Lowest Astronomical Tide Times are in local standard time (UTC +10:00) or daylight savings time (UTC +11:00) when in effect New Moon First Quarter Moon Phase Symbols Full Moon

Last Quarter

Tide predictions for Sydney (Fort Denison) have been formatted by the National Tidal Centre, Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Copyright reserved. All material is supplied in good faith and is believed to be correct. It is supplied on the condition that no warranty is given in relation thereto, that no responsibility or liability for errors or omissions is, or will be, accepted and that the recipient will hold MHL and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology Australia free from all such responsibility or liability and from all loss or damage incurred as a consequence of any error or omission. Predictions should not be used for navigational purposes. Use of these tide predictions will be deemed to include acceptance of the above conditions. 90

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