Hello everyone
With summer drawing to an end offshore water temperatures have been sitting around the 25 degree range , throughout February big numbers of small Black Marlin and Dolphin fish have been caught right along the coast , the Catherine Hill Bay to Norah Head area has been a particular Hot spot with some boats releasing 2-3 marlin a day . The 60 – 100 m line has been the most productive when either trolling small skirted lures or live baiting , big schools of Dolphin fish can also be found in this area with some around the 20 kg mark , this should continue right through until April .
The Caves Beach to Frazer park reefs are also on the improve with good numbers of Snapper ,Flathead , Teraglin and Bonito , the Jetty mark off Catherine Hill Bay is a very large reef section which starts in as close as 15 m and continues out to 35m there are many rises and drop off section along the bottom during March and April schools of Bream and Mulloway will move in , baits such Hawkesbury prawns Pilchards and Squid been the best when chasing these fish .
Along the beaches this summer will go down as one of the best Whiting seasons for years with fish up to 46 cm been taken on most beaches , the Belmont / Blacksmiths has been the pick , Blacksmiths break wall is another hot spot however once March rolls through the target species will be Tailor as they start to head down along the coast . Catherine Hill bay in particular is another very popular spot for both the beach and rock fisherman , many big Mulloway have been taken from this area and with Easter just around the corner its one beach well worth spending a few hours on the sand .
Back in the lake the Murrays beach area has been alive with Squid these can be caught either from a boat or land based most anglers like to drift with a squid jig on the bottom and another just below the surface , most are around 4-8 inches in length and are perfect for both bait and eating . Both Pulbar Island and Coal Point have been producing good numbers of school Mulloway most are around the 60-75 cm mark one again either live or fresh lake squid is the preferred bait .Around the lake we have already started to see Bream numbers start to build up through February , Swansea channel has now started to produce a few Flathead on the drift while down at the bridge Kingfish up to 6 kg have been taken on both live squid and surface poppers , during March we should start to see a few larger fish move into the channel as the Mullet schools start to build up just in time for Easter .
