Enjoying the autumn mornings on the water

SWANSEA

Jason Nunn

At the time of writing this report, we still have the east coast current roaring down the shelf, and the water temp is still 26°C out there. This is unusual for April, causing heavy rainfall and storms.

My mate went offshore for a fish the other day and got absolutely hammered. There were squalls all day, and he had to put the boat in neutral and face into the squall. He said he felt tingling off the stainlesssteel steering wheel due to the static from the sheet lighting all around. Those of you have experienced conditions like this will know that it’s pretty unnerving. I had to work that day, fortunately!

Anyway, hopefully by May the water temperatures will drop and the current will start to break up.

Coastal mullet are on the run, with vast numbers of schools making their way along the coast on their annual northern migration. We are also seeing the autumn migration of bream and luderick. These species, along with mulloway, will be popular targets for anglers this month.

At times like this, when you have so many fish migrating coastally, it’s a great opportunity to target mulloway on our beaches, particularly of an evening. And these mulloway won’t only be on our beaches, they’ll definitely be in our rivers and estuary systems too. We had a fairly good run of autumn mulloway in March in the lake, with plenty of fish ranging from 65cm up to a metre in length.

The mulloway run will likely continue into winter, because already through April we’ve seen really good tailor schools throughout the lake (with the occasional Australian salmon) working the big schools of whitebait. These bait schools are basically throughout the lake at the moment, and this will continue into May. The beauty of it is with so much pelagic activity on those bait schools, the mulloway will be gathering under those bait schools mixed in with a few squiresize snapper. So vibing and deep water jigging then comes into its own, (e.g. Zerek and Samaki Vibelicious). Generally, the rule of thumb is anywhere from 3-4” is the better of the sizes.

With may rolling through and these bait schools being in such prolific numbers we’re now starting ot see flathead move back into the estuary from that short stint along the backs of the beaches and the backs of the reefs, and they’re moving back into the estuary. Flat numbers should increase towards the end of May and into June.

Estuary bream have been pretty darn good lately. I was talking to some guys recently who got some coastal travelling fish well over the kilo mark. These fish will remain in the channel and the lake right through May and into June. Late afternoon into the evening has been the better time to fish, and if you can match that time with a high tide, so much the better. You can get good results using oily baits such as mullet, pilchards, bonito and so forth.

The tailor have been in big numbers and varying sizes. Some schools will be made up of 35-40cm fish, while other schools will have an average size of 55-55cm, which are good size fish. The bigger fish have been blowing up on the surface briefly and then dying off, so it’s good to have chrome slices rigged and ready to go when you see a bust-up.

That said, the further we head towards winter, those better fish will be more common on the bottom. In this scenario, a more productive tactic is to troll deep divers such as a Halco Crazy Deep or Rapala Deep Tail Dancer.

My personal preference is for the Tail Dancer, which is a very productive lure locally. It can get down to 9m, which is the perfect running depth seeing as the lake floor in the middle is 30-33ft.

The Tail Dancers, and other deep divers, really come into their own in the middle of the day. That’s when the bait comes off the surface and get pushed down towards the bottom a bit more, and the predators also come off the surface and settle. You will find it’s very pleasant to be trolling around on a sunny autumn morning with a pot of coffee, and it’s the kind of fishing that anyone can do. While the main species you’ll catch will be tailor, you may also encounter other species such as flathead, mulloway or even pan-size snapper. Now is a good time to catch blue swimmer crabs, because most of the male crabs have moved into deeper water. Drop your pots in 6-9m of water and you could go home with a nice feed.

There have been a few squid caught in Swansea channel by guys chasing kingfish, but we still haven’t seen big numbers of estuary squid this year. Hopefully, we’ll see better squid fishing late this year, after they have had an opportunity to spawn.

At the time of writing, there are still some really nice kings in the channel and the lake. Anglers have been catching them casting from the shore, or downrigging in the lake with live yellowtail or live squid. However, their numbers will taper off as winter approaches.

Luderick will be a popular target off the rocks this month, and berleying is the way to go. You can also catch big tailor in the early mornings on most of our headlands. If you want to go rock fishing, please make sure conditions are favourable, wear a lifejacket, and preferably fish with at least one other person.

There should be a few snapper caught off the rocks in the coming weeks. The water has been so warm all summer that the snapper numbers offshore have been down, but with the water slowly getting cooler, this should change.

Plenty of flathead, particularly blue-spot flathead, have been caught on our inshore coastal reefs in recent weeks.

A lot of trag have also been caught along our coastal reefs, along with big numbers of tailor. Most guys have been catching their bag limit of tailor and trag, and I reckon that should continue this month.

Snapper should start to increase on those inshore reefs this month, as a direct result of the water temps.

We have been seeing a few mulloway on the offshore reefs, and live bait or squid is the pick. Remember there’s a bag limit of just one fish.

Right now isn’t a great time for kingfish, but as we move into June there will be more news on the kingfish front.

For anglers heading out wider for pelagics, there are still a few striped marlin around, and there have been reports out wide of a few yellowfin. The fishing has been pretty hot and cold, though. We are still looking forward to that current abating in the coming weeks, and hopefully things will improve.

There have been a lot of dolphinfish (mahimahi) around lately, and the FADs and deeper water trap line may still be worth a troll for dollies and striped marlin in the coming weeks. The fish had a late start, and the water temperature has been very consistent, so they should be around in reasonable numbers until the water cools off a bit more.

Anglers fishing offshore are still catching a few bonito, which have been either really little (10” long) or really big (4kg). We may also see a few mackerel around in the coming weeks, and a few longtails off the rocks too, so there’s a bit of diversity this month for anglers chasing pelagics.

• Fisherman’s Warehouse Tackle World has a large range fresh and frozen bait as well as a huge range of rods, reels, lures and accessories. They also sell and service outboard motors, and have a competitivelypriced selection of new and second-hand boats. The friendly staff are all experienced local anglers, and they’re always happy to share their knowledge, whether you’re a novice or experienced angler. Drop in for a chat at 804 Pacific Highway, Marks Point, or give them a call on (02) 4945 2152. You can also find them on Facebook, or check out their website at www. fishermanswarehouse .com.au.