Hello Everyone,
Although its been a while since the last report, fishing has been productive over the last few months with some quality fish both in the lake and offshore for those venturing out, although the game fishing hasn’t quiet been what most expected going off previous seasons. Firstly the lake has been providing some good catches of the usual suspects, Bream, Whiting, Tailor, Flathead, mullet and Mulloway with the Bream and Whiting mainly taking on live tubeworms, nippers and prawns at this time of year. The surface action for Bream and Whiting has been a little hit and miss at times but still giving plenty of action when they are fired up. Mulloway continue in good numbers with most fish being caught at night on bait but plenty taking plastics and vibes thru the day.
Squid have been scarce this summer with most anglers struggling to get their bag but the past couple of weeks have seen them start to fire up. We would normally see the squid numbers start building from around November thru to Feb-March but this seasons low numbers are a result of the overfishing they copped the last couple of years with many people taking excessive amounts and not complying with bag limits regulations. Yes, at times they are easy to catch but it doesn’t mean you just keep catching them, “limit your catch” not “catch your limit”, if everyone’s of the opinion that its ok to overfish we will see these re-occurring low number seasons and more than likely reduced bag limits in the not too distant future. Fisheries have in fact over the last few weeks been nailing fisho’s over fishing squid in the lake and dealing out infringements to enforce the laws. Everyone needs to remember that NSW DPI have the powers to seize boats, cars & trailers as well as any associated fishing gear the offenders may own as a result of breaking laws and in my eyes its certainly not worth losing your pride and joy for the sake of a few fish.
There is some cracking tailor up for grabs in the lake at the moment along with some decent size Kingfish working in packs so it pays to have a heavier rod setup with a popper or stick bait ready to lob at them when they start smashing the surface. Some good pan sized snapper have also been about with fish up to a couple of kilo being caught recently. The Mullet have started schooling up getting ready for the annual run up the coast in the coming weeks. Still plenty of Blue Swimmer Crabs around and crabbers are getting their share of muddies.
The beach is still firing with Bream and Whiting being the main species caught on Tube or Beach worms, as well as a few Sand Flathead, tailor, Mulloway and as per usual the shark numbers increase coming into the cooler months.
Rock and Inshore reef fishing has been a little patchy but with the recent big swell, strong wind and rain it should spark fish around these areas to fire up and feed in close with some nice snapper and kings at the back of Moon Island and other places like Birdie and the Bull. Plenty of Bonito ,Tailor and some good bream also around these locations.
Offshore fishing has been a bit all over the place with the recent Game Fishing Comp Season events not seeing a lot of the desired species caught, Black Marlin have been a little scarce at times and Striped Marlin had all but disappeared up until this last week or so with the changes in wind and sea has seen Striped Marlin making a late season appearance. We have seen quiet a few Blue Marlin caught this season out on the shelf but the current and poor water quality along with extremely warm water temps playing havoc with those chasing the mighty Blues. Dolphin Fish (Mahi Mahi) also haven’t really been there like we are use to seeing at this time of with numbers caught down for most of the season, there have been the odd decent fish caught with reports of some up to 25kg. Striped Tuna are in abundance as they are at this time of year, many of which being caught sometimes being the only fish landed for a lot of game fisho’s. There have also been low numbers of decent size sharks caught with only a few known captures of good size Mako’s, a few smaller tigers or the odd blue dog over the last couple of months.
Newcastle Harbour has continued to produced reasonable catches of Mulloway and with the recent rain we should see some bigger fish being caught from the run off large hard body lures, soft vibes, plastics and of course baits like Mullet, Squid, Yakka’s or Slimeys. Some good quality Bream and Whiting also on the hit list as well.
Freshwater fishing reports have been mostly positive with plenty of Australian Bass being landed in both Glenbawn Dam and Lake St Clair as well as some good sized Yellowbelly and Perch also . Surface fishing for Bass is a good approach particularly early morning or late arvo when the shadows are still laying across certain areas along the shore, then during the day deep water jigging small soft plastic type grubs is proving to be the best methods . Rivers and creeks in the area and lower parts of the valley are also producing bass.
Tight lines
Shannon
