Looking back on great pelagic run

Rob Taylor

The first cool winds of autumn have well and truly arrived on our part of the coast, but although are still actively hitting baits and lures, and I’d be targeting these now before the water starts to cool too much and they’re gone for another season.

We’ve had an incredible wahoo run this year, which bream and blackfish catches improve in the coming weeks, particularly toward the end of the month as the weather continues to cool. Jack numbers will start to thin out by the end of the month but they are still very much a fish worth chasing at the start of May.

The warm water temperatures we’ve experienced this year should see a protracted flathead run, and there will also be plenty of whiting and flathead up on the flats. Some really big flathead are caught each year in May, so don’t discount the big girls up on the flats and around the edges of weed beds.

The other exciting fish to chase around the rock wall entrances will be luderick, as they start to increase in numbers ahead of winter. Grab a float, small hooks and green weed and you can really have a ball catching these fish.

The land-based game season is in full swing, with longtail tuna being the primary target. Plenty of tuna have been taken off Muttonbird Island and the Quarry, and we should start to see some larger models hit the rocks throughout May. Trying spinning with garfish imitations or drift out a live bait to hook one of these missiles. There have been good it may mean an extra layer of clothing for those early starts, it’s a great time to be on the water. Water temperatures have remained high so we should see a good tail end of our pelagic run, and indeed there have been some fantastic catches of mackerel and tuna of late.

The creeks and rivers have also been fishing well, as is common for this part of the year. Bass are on the move and starting to head downriver to spawn. Kayaks have been a great way to cover water in search of where the fish are.

There are also flathead, jacks and GTs in the salt for both lure and bait fishos. Some big jacks, 60cm+, was right up there with the marlin run back in January. Some boats reported hot bites of up to 13 fish in a session! They main run of wahoo may be drawing to a close, but the odd straggler will still be about at the start of this month so get some hardbodied lures in the water and troll them at no less than 8 knots.

The land-based game scene has been firing on the right days, with plenty of bonito, mac tuna and longtail tuna hitting the rocks. Some proper greenback tailor have been stealing live baits intended for tuna, so make sure you have a few baits if you are swimming them anywhere near the washes!

CREEKS AND RIVERS

We should start to see numbers of garfish off the harbour walls, and they will remain in these areas while the water remains warm. Fishing with pencil floats and small hooks is a fantastic way to secure a delicious feed of these little fish, and other good thing about them is that kids love chasing them.

Some big tailor and mulloway will be on offer from the rocks and we’ll start to see the first drummer show up in the washes.

The beaches will be offering similar options, with bream, tailor, whiting, mulloway and the odd dart filling the gutters. The larger mulloway will be patrolling the usual beaches to the north of Coffs, so don’t discount a night session for these larger fish.

Mackerel, both Spanish and spotted, will be