Trevally time in the Tweed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Gavin Dobson

Trevally time in the Tweed

The crazy weather continues this year, though the fishing is still good for the most part, so let’s take a look at what’s been happening.

Mangrove jack are on the prowl big time and, with the upper reaches out of commission, their numbers seem to be quite concentrated in the lower half of the river.

Along with jacks, plenty of jewfish are in the holes too.

I think this is partly due to all the fresh, as these fish are usually all the way up to the weir at this time of year in the Tweed River.

Hayley joined in the fishing fun down at the harbour.

If you were ever going to catch a jew in the lower estuary, now is the time to do it.

I’m not saying they’re going to be big – the vast majority aren’t even legal – but the numbers are certainly there.

It’s extraordinary – the stories I’ve heard recently of jew being captured around the 67-68cm range.

Still a great fish, and oh so close.

Get your lures and live bait in the holes and around the snags this month and you might be rewarded with some good fish.

Trevally will also be on the cards in November, with bigger model giant trevally currently cruising around.

I had an interesting capture recently in the Tweed River, I caught a 4.3kg golden trevally – something I’ve wanted to achieve for a long time.

A NSW golden trevally at last for the author.

I’d seen them caught in the Tweed occasionally over the years, but this was my first one.

Now, I want to make something clear, which is that I’m not trying to trick anyone – for the locals and those familiar with the area, the background in the photo is opposite the boat ramp at the Brunswick River.

I caught the fish late evening by myself on the Tweed River and went down to the Brunswick River the following morning to get a more pleasant background to the photo than what my front yard could offer.

This works well when I keep the fish, which was great eating by the way, but is not so good for catch and release.

So, with that in mind, I had a go at my first selfie a few days later.

Yes, it’s true, I had never taken a selfie with a phone before, nor had I ever posted a picture on social media of anything I was about to eat.

I have self-timed some photos of myself with fish over the years, but I don’t think that qualifies as a proper ‘selfie’ if you’re using a big camera.

Anyway, I got a decent lump of a flathead a couple of weeks ago and, because I was releasing it, there would be no going to the boat ramp for a picture the next morning, so I had a crack at a selfie.

A selfie with a big flathead.

Not too bad for a first go I guess, unless you wanted to see the bottom half of the fish.

I didn’t even have a ruler, so I laid the fish on the seat and made a scratch at either end of the flatty with a knife into the fibreglass.

When I got home, I went to measure the marks, but for the life of me I couldn’t find one of the scratch marks or decipher the correct one from all the other scratches.

Never mind, my guess would be low to mid-90cm.

Now is big flatty time in the Northern Rivers, so as you can see, there’s plenty to do in the estuaries this month.

With the way the rain keeps coming though, it will be limited to the lower reaches.

Toby and Ava with harbour bream.

The rain is also keeping the bream concentrated in the lower rivers and, while there aren’t as many thumpers among them as there can be in winter, the quality is still good and numbers high.

Offshore, November is often a hard month.

That’s not to say you won’t find a snapper in close or a few fish on the deep reefs, if the current is manageable.

Mahi mahi are often cruising the currents out wide this month too, and all in all it’s a good time to seek out a few mackerel bait and stick to the estuaries.