Hello everyone
Its sometimes hard to believe how fast time goes by , school is back this week for most and Easter is only 9 weeks away seems the older you get the faster time goes . This weekend the Lake Macquarie Game fishing club will host the Big Fish Bonanza out of Swansea with the weigh in starting from around 5 pm each day , conditions this year could be a little tough with most of the game fishing been done close into the coast where there have many reports of small Black and Striped Marlin mixed in with big numbers of Dolphin fish , at this stage the current out wide has picked up and is heading down the coast taking everything with it just like last season .
Over the next 5 weekends its game tournament after tournament with Newcastle hosting there first ever event next weekend followed by the Port Stephens Shoot Out on the 14th and 15th and then 2 weekends of Inter Club that’s 5 weekends in a row looks like there might be a few divorces coming after this much fishing unless you have a very understanding wife .
Back in the lake Squid are still in big numbers with bag limit catches ( 20 ) been taken in no time as has been the case since before Xmas , this would by far be the best squid season ever seen and it should only get better as we head into March providing everyone sticks to their daily which can be difficult at times . With the increase in squid numbers school Mulloway have also increased with some boats managing up to 9 fish per trip , most fish are around the 60 – 70 cm range however during the past week a number of fish up to 90 cm have been caught , once again many of these fish have been released proving you do not need to keep everything you catch and with a lot of fish just under legal it will only take a few more months before they are over the 70 cm size , looking ahead this winter should be very interesting particularly if you’re a lure fisherman .
Back in the channel there have been plenty of Bream both bait and lures are working well over the past few weeks Patrick and I have had a couple of good afternoon sessions on them managing a dozen fish each trip up to 40 cm , 2-3 inch prawn and grub patterns have been working the best , Flathead on the other hand have been a little quiet mainly due the spawning period which will finish over the next few weeks .
Reports of Kingfish around the bridge and drop over areas have continued , live squid and poppers the pick however those using downriggers have been picking up the bigger Kings . On the Sunday I spent an hour or so casting surface lures for Whiting using a Strada Viral 70 mm I managed 3 Whiting up to 37 cm lost one and had several follows by both Whiting and Bream , there were several groups of Whiting around however it seemed to lone fish were the most responsive smashing the lure sideways , all were released .
On the beaches there have been some real monster Whiting around some fish up to 47 cm , the Belmont and Blacksmith stretch has fished well for months and finally we are now starting to see a few Tailor around early morning the best time . Offshore fishing remains a little patchy with a few Trag coming in from Redhead and Catherine Hill Bay , there’s plenty of Bonito around Moon Island and Mawson wall mixed in with rat Kingfish once again either trolling deep divers or casting chrome lures are proving to be the best .
Regards
Jason
