• AUTUMN TRANSITION • EASTER HOLIDAY FISHING • Technique Spotlight
Sean Thompson shows us how to get the best out of Easter holiday fishing QLD
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Easter holiday fishing • Lake Macquarie tips and tricks • Starlo: Fishing to stay sane • Sustainability of morwong stocks •
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CONTENTS
OUR COVER April 2022, Vol. 2 No.12 VIC
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QUEENSLAND The Tweed Gold Coast Jumpinpin Southern Bay Brisbane Northern Bay Noosa Bundaberg Mackay Townsville Hinchinbrook Cairns Port Douglas Cooktown Cape York Freshwater
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NEW SOUTH WALES Pittwater Sydney North Sydney Rock Sydney South Coffs Coast Hastings Forster Port Stephens Swansea Central Coast Illawarra Batemans Bay Bermagui Tathra New England Rivers Hunter Valley Batlow Albury/Wodonga Lithgow/Oberon Canberra
58 61 60 62 64 65 66 68 68 69 70 71 72 72 74 74 76 77 75 78
VICTORIA Warrnambool Portland Cobden Apollo Bay Geelong Port Phillip West Phillip Island Marlo Gippsland Lakes Lakes Entrance Bemm River Mallacoota Robinvale Bendigo Ballarat Wangaratta Shepparton Gippsland Freshwater Crater Lakes Eildon Yarrawonga
84 84 85 85 86 88 90 92 94 94 95 95 96 96 97 98 99 98 101 100 101
TASMANIA Offshore Hobart 6
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From the Editor’s Desk...
WA
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Cara Cummings, WIRF Leader, had a great family day out and caught this beautiful, and very fat, rainbow trout.
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Lake Macquarie tips and tricks NSW CENTRAL COAST
Jamie Robley
With a giant volume of water and an angling reputation to match, Lake Macquarie is certainly one of the major coastal
old days and can still be tough these days. So just because there are no nets here, it certainly doesn’t mean you can just go out at any time and hook into some great fishing. As well as the big lake providing excellent angling
from fishing there in August. In other words, this place is very seasonal and in order to enjoy what’s on offer, you should match the time of year to the species, technique or location. As a general guideline to begin with, the warmer
The water is at its warmest through this period, and this means that small baitfish, crustaceans and other life is virtually hyperactive. There’s a lot going on and bream, flathead and other fish are often feeding quite aggressively. On the other hand, the months of July, August and September can be extremely tough, with August having a reputation as the worst month along this part of our coastline. During this time the water is very cold and often lifeless in some parts. Fish can still be caught, but you have to be on the ball and be prepared to finish up empty-handed. Having said that, there are options well worth considering during winter and early spring, and the main species worth chasing are tailor, salmon and luderick. However, this time of year can also be good
The lake is home to plenty of flathead like this. They are more likely to be encountered around the shallow margins in summer, and deeper water in winter.
Most fish tend to be found in quite shallow water in the warmer months, and deeper places in the depths of winter. Local angler Glenn Helmers is lure casting for bream here in a shallow bay during late summer, and this spot is about 1m deep. waterways of NSW. Situated between two of the largest cities in the state, it also sees a lot of people on or around the water, fishing, boating or just taking in the views.
options for a variety of species, Lake Macquarie can also be a very tough place to pull fish when things aren’t on your side. Like anywhere around the country or the world, fishing isn’t always
months (from about early October through to the end of May) provide better fishing for common targets like bream, flathead and whiting. We can also throw in flounder, tarwhine, mullet, garfish, crabs and prawns as species worth chasing during these months. The peak angling months for most of the aforementioned fish, and bream in particular, are from early December through to around the middle of April.
Lucy’s Wall, just inside the mouth of Swansea Channel, is one of the more popular shore-based spots. Regardless of the specific spot or which species you’re aiming to catch, Lake Macquarie isn’t always an easy place to extract fish from.
Vibes 30-50mm are the go-to lure for bream from about April until September. This solid bream came from 3m of water near Mannering Park. Since the removal of commercial fishing from the lake 20 years ago, there has been a lot of talk about how dramatically the recreational angling has improved. However, we need to be realistic. I’m old enough to remember what fishing was like when the commercial fishers were here, and whilst I’d say things are better now, fishing was still good in the 12
APRIL 2022
easy, and despite one’s angling prowess or how good a spot is, there’s still an element of luck! With that in mind, this article is all about reducing the tough times and increasing the odds in your favour when fishing around this big body of water. MONTHS AND SEASONS Fishing Lake Macquarie in February is very different
Silver trevally are a common lake species that are much more prevalent during the cooler months. They’re generally a decent size and make for great sport on average bream gear.
for mulloway, silver trevally, bream and bigger flathead. Rather than looking for fish over the shallow flats or in more secluded parts of the lake, it’s often more productive to head over to Swansea Channel or stick to the deeper sections of the lake, adjacent to major points such as Bolton Point, Coal Point and Wangi Wangi. WEATHER PATTERNS The weather also plays a major role when it comes to fishing here. Any large, open body of water like this is obviously at the mercy of wind, regardless of the direction. I’ve been caught out by strong wind while kayak fishing here a few times in the past. Luckily, I was in very shallow water and not too far from shelter, but it’s definitely a situation to avoid. So before planning any sort of kayak or boating venture, the very first step
is to check weather forecasts. By that, I don’t mean just looking at the weather on your phone, which may give a very simplified forecast like ‘fine and sunny with a maximum of 25°C’. You need to find a proper app or website with a detailed forecast, including wind strengths, directions and other finer details. Learning to understand and read
a synoptic chart will also be very beneficial when it comes to wind. Aside from the safety issue, some wind directions are better than others for fishing. In general, the first 48 hours after a southerly hits is normally a productive period to fish, if it’s not too windy. The opposite of this is when the wind is coming from the north
or north-west. These wind directions also correspond with barometric pressure and the synoptic chart. When a southerly hits it normally means a high pressure system is starting to move over us, meaning the barometric pressure is rising. This often makes for good fishing, especially for bream. However, as a high pressure system starts
Mulloway can turn up almost anywhere around the lake at any time of year, but they are more likely to be encountered during the cooler months in deeper water, adjacent to some of the major points.
Some locals despise them, but the author is one who enjoys hooking into the sambos when they enter the lake during winter. It’s very common for salmon and tailor to be found ripping into baitfish together.
moving further out over the Tasman Sea, the rotation of the high pressure over the eastern part of the country makes for northerly or north-westerly wind or airflow. The barometric pressure is now falling, and fish begin to sulk. This is more noticeable with bream, but it also contributes to the mood of most fish to some extent. So if you can possibly try to time an outing with a
light southerly or rising barometric situation, you’ll probably enjoy better fishing than with northwesterly winds and a falling barometer. Another very simple contributing factor which is weather related is temperature. Quite simply, warmer weather during the warmer months will make for better fishing than unseasonal cold snaps. Throughout spring
and summer and into autumn, our weather and temperature varies and it’s to be expected. However, if we experience any sort of temperature which is much cooler than the norm for that time of year, the fish are likely to go quiet. This is particularly noticeable with bream, flathead and whiting. A mild cool change generally doesn’t make much To page 14
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Southern
OLD
Floods deliver more baitfish BRISBANE
Gordon Macdonald masterbaitertackle@hotmail.com
As the weather cools down over the coming month, anglers will notice a slight change in the more prominent species. However, there will still be a broad array of fish and crustaceans on offer throughout Moreton Bay and filtering waterways. The mornings and evenings will be somewhat cooler, and the daylight hours will begin to shorten. The floods have altered the fishing opportunities somewhat, however there will still be good fishing this month for prominent species including longtail tuna, snapper, threadfin, prawns, sweetlip, mulloway and school mackerel.
to get ahead of them, then cut the motor to wait for them to bust up nearby, as their direction of movement is more predictable. Mostly they have fallen for smaller chrome slugs to around 30g but at times they will engulf quite large offerings. You just have to keep trying different profiles until you get a result. These can include chromed slugs and slices, jigheadrigged soft plastic jerk shads, stickbaits, pencil poppers, GT Ice Creams, baitfishprofiled flies and weighted casting minnows. Birds are a good indication that some form of surface activity is about to take place. Birds will often follow individual tuna just waiting for them to push baitfish to the surface. The height that the birds are above the water is basically a mirror image of the depth below
Andrew recently caught this quality snapper out from the Brisbane River. Their numbers should be healthy over the coming months due to increased nutrient levels inshore. LONGTAIL TUNA There have been decent numbers of quality longtails throughout the bay in recent months. Anglers commonly find schools along the edges of the shipping channels, the northern side of The Paddock green zone, Middle Bank, along the front of Bribie Island and out from Deception Bay. Sometimes the schools are fairly substantial, with 20-30 fish in each. More commonly in recent years they have been in smaller numbers, smashing baitfish randomly. In mid-February I often found them along the edges of coral spawn in the main current line on a falling tide. This often makes it easier 30
APRIL 2022
the water that the baitfish are. Therefore, birds will give you a good indication of when the longtails will surface and smash baitfish, thereby allowing you to jockey into casting position. Additionally, birds can be seen from a long distance away which makes searching for tuna and other pelagics a lot easier. Whilst travelling throughout Moreton Bay it definitely pays to have a 20-30lb spin rod rigged and ready for when you come upon some pelagic action. Live baiting is another great way to score a few longtail tuna. You can drift along the current lines, deploy baits adjacent the shipping channel beacons or
in areas that hold bait, such as the Benowa Track area and along the Comboyuro and Cowan ledges. Slimy mackerel, yakkas, cowanyoung, white trevally, pike and even grinners can be used. I like to have one bait within a couple of metres of the surface and another mid-water. I commonly employ a twin snelled circle hook rig with the leading hook pinned through the nose of the fish and the trailing hook pinned lightly through the skin near the tail. You should fish with your overhead or Baitrunnerstyle reels in freespool with the ratchet on and just enough tension to prevent an overrun when the strike comes. Once the tuna has taken the bait and line is playing out, engage the reel and allow the tension to take up. You can also wind the reel handle but do not strike as you would do when using conventional J-pattern hooks. When fished correctly like this, the circle hook will set in the corner of the mouth where it is highly unlikely that you will get rubbed off during a long fight. At the time of writing, it is hard to predict whether there will be good numbers of longtails around during April because waters will still be discoloured from the flooding in late February. There should be healthy baitfish numbers in the bay but the water clarity will still be low. The eastern and northern areas of the bay will likely be your best bet. PRAWNS Prawning had been excellent throughout most of January and February, and only time will tell whether the late February flood has put a halt to the productivity for the rest of the year. Before the flood, the regular rainfall forced them out of the creeks and rivers and out into Moreton Bay. However, flooding will usually push them well out to sea. The lower reaches of the Brisbane and Pine River holds some decent schools early in the year, however more open areas of the bay, such as out from Pelican Park at Clontarf, Nudgee and the southern bay island spots such as Jacksons Hole, Salt Works, Giants Grave, The Powerlines and the eastern end of the channel between Lamb and Karragarra Islands generally fire around April. Prawns will commonly lift out of the mud and silt around the changes of the tide, but the action can even start a few hours before the change at times. Different locations will often prawn better at different times, but generally if you are there between an hour before to two hours after the change
then you are in with a good chance. When the prawns are on in an area there will be large numbers of boats jostling around and casting nets. I generally find most people getting amongst them and unlike fishing, a large number of boats congregated in an area doesn’t shut the action down. A good quality 12ft top-pocket only cast net is ideal for this pursuit. You may need to add an extension rope for some areas of the southern bay islands which can be in excess of 17m deep, such as The Saltworks. I have been using a Pro Throw 12ft top pocket-only net for more than four years now, and it has performed well and has lasted due to having much heavier duty mesh than most other production nets. Despite the last month or so being almost hopeless for prawning, we may see some of these tasty crustaceans return to the deeper holes around the bay islands throughout the month. You are not going to find them sitting at home so get out and have a look around. CRABS After the flooding in late February, it took a while for it to settle down again for sandies in the bay. Results have been mixed, but those willing to move their pots around a bit have generally scored some decent catches. The deeper areas have crabbed the best, especially those on the eastern side of the bay where the water quality has been better on the higher tidal stages. The deeper edges of the banks in the Rainbow Channel and Rous Channel plus around
Chris with a solid flathead taken around Mud Island whilst chasing snapper. the Sand Hills area have been a good option in the southern bay. Further north, I would assume that the Comboyuro and Cowan Ledge would be worth a try. The mud crabs have been a good option in recent weeks after they were well and truly flushed out of all creeks and rivers and out in the main bay. They will gradually make their way back up into these systems but they have been a regular score for those setting pots in the lower reaches of the river systems and even as far out into the bay as Mud Island. Some people have been walking
February saw some quality prawning action with plenty of big bananas like these, which were part of a catch from the Nudgee area. It will still be worth looking for prawns around the southern bay islands during April.
the flats and scooping up the larger bucks with a landing net. Night sessions are often ideal for this, and a highpowered headlight will assist in locating the dark shadows as they slowly move across the shallows. This can be extremely hard work at times though, with hours of trudging through mud to score a few legal bucks. An easier approach is to set a few safety pots baited with fish frames, whole mullet, chicken carcasses and other baits in likely areas where crabs will travel and feed. These include steeper drop-offs, gutters, holes and drains leading from the mangrove expanse. Remember to check that your crabbing apparatus meets current regulations, ensure you have a measuring device with you and that you know the relevant size and bag limits for the various crab species. SNAPPER AND SWEETLIP With such an enormous flush of nutrients into the bay from the February floods, I am predicting that the snapper fishing should be good throughout the coming months. Higher nutrient levels promote increased baitfish presence, and also results in larger fish hunting in shallower water due to the lower clarity in which they feel less conspicuous. After the 2011 and 2013 floods the fishing in the lower reaches of the Brisbane River and around the bay islands was top notch for snapper and many other species, especially mid-year. Dirtier water also results in a more aggressive bite
Southern
OLD
because it makes hunting more difficult for all predators. Usually if they can see potential prey they will smash it. The usual offerings will all work, with many anglers using jighead-rigged soft plastics and soft vibes when fishing around the bay islands and artificial reefs. Micro jigs are handy for probing deeper areas when the fish are holding directly below the boat. Trolling deep diving bibbed minnows is a good way to cover ground, and works well around the fringes of the bay islands and shallower artificial reefs such as near Peel, Scarborough and Coochiemudlo. Baits are also a great way to score a few quality fish, especially live offerings such as yakkas, slimy mackerel, pike, squid, small grinners and banana prawns. The struggling vibrations emitted by live offerings will entice predators in from some distance away. Simple rigging with a single suicide pattern or circle hook will work well for the smaller baits. A twin hook snelled rig is much better than ganged hooks when presenting the larger live offerings. Use just enough lead to get the baits into the strike zone, which is generally the lower third of the water column for snapper. With the dirtier water around during April, the snapper
will be less particular with leader thickness, but 20-40lb is all you should need. There will also be great numbers of grass sweetlip around over the coming month or so. They are always more common after serious rainfall, and April is one of the better months for them anyway. These will react to the same approach as snapper and can be randomly caught in the same areas. However, I
generally find it’s better to fish a little wider of hard underwater structure, where the softer bottom and aquatic vegetation is dispersed amongst the reef and rubbly areas. The eastern side of Green, western and northern sides of Mud and all around the reef edge at Peel are worth trying. Coffee rock areas are also prime locations, and several spots in the Rous and Rainbow channels will produce
sweetlip as well as tuskfish with regularity. I like pieces of fish fillet from pike, gar, grinners, mullet, bonito and tuna (especially salted) as well as fresh squid strips and heads for targeting grassies. I think the next few months will offer some excellent fishing for both snapper and sweetlip throughout Moreton Bay, with anglers getting good catches in many shallow water areas.
Cooling water temperatures and healthy baitfish numbers should result in some quality mulloway being caught in the coming months.
MULLOWAY With larger numbers of baitfish in the rivers and estuaries, as well as cooling water temperatures, mulloway will be a good option over the coming month or two. The lower reaches of the Brisbane River and the artificial reefs are good places to concentrate your efforts. Casting lures or soaking live baits will be your best bet, but dead offerings such as fillet baits, pilchards, whole squid and others will produce. Mulloway will likely be found around the fronts of the major jetty and wharf terminals, prominent bottom structure such as wrecks, ledges and deep holes as well the leads beacons at the mouth of the Brisbane River. The dredge holes at the mouth of the Brisbane River and the declines into the main riverbed are ideal places to anchor and deploy live baits such as herring, prawns, mullet and pike. Casting lures to the fronts of the jetties and wharfs, allowing them to sink to the bottom and then hopping them down the decline is another proven method. Jighead-rigged paddletail and crustacean plastics are ideal for this. Soft vibes also work well, and I have had great success on the Samaki Thumpertail and Vibelicious
in the whitebait, pink head chartreuse, slimy mackerel, motoroil orange and UV mullet colours. The lit areas around jetties, restaurants and other bankside buildings will begin to fish well as the water cools down. These upriver spots should start to produce both mulloway and threadfin salmon for anglers venturing out during darkened hours. CONCLUSION The late February floods definitely decreased the fishing opportunities over the last month or so, but we should see an improvement during April. At the time of writing, I predict that anglers should still be able to score well on mud crabs, mulloway, snapper, sweetlip and numerous other species – but that’s only an educated guess. Pelagics such as longtail tuna and school mackerel are still possibilities in the eastern bay if water clarity has begun to improve, because the baitfish prominence will be a good enticement for them. The estuaries will still be a little tough except out towards the entrances, but you will still be able to score a few flathead, bream and other species. April fishing will be on the improve and we should see some quality angling in the future months, so get out onto the water and have a go.
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Tokuryo Line Lab fishing lines: Remember the name What we discovered here at Fishing Monthly Magazine (mid 2021) while researching a comparison of braided lines, was that anglers have a diverse range of reasons for their choice of fishing line. They included everything from brand loyalty to abrasion resistance, to line diameter, to breaking strain against actual breaking strain and even the colour of the line.
what anglers wanted to know about lines. What I am testing The Tokuryo Line Lab range includes products that will suit most anglers’ needs. There is everything from finesse PE lines to jigging braids, fluorocarbon leader/ line options, monofilaments and shock leaders. To see the full range, go to www. jurofishing.com and click on the Tokuryo Line Lab link. For this testing booth I am using the Casting Pro 8 carrier braid, the Finesse Game 4 carrier braid, the Fluorocarbon 100% leader and the Pro FC casting fluorocarbon line. You will find a fact box with more detail on these products. These are all based around light line applications. Tokuryo Pro FC fluorocarbon I am the first to admit that fishing using straight-through fluorocarbon line is something I have steered away from. Not
Tokuryo Line Lab lines are new to the Australian market. The author was very excited to have the opportunity to put them through their paces. completely losing the sensitivity/feel that this combination provides. The reason super lines took the market by storm in the first place (how much more the angler can feel). My first impression of the Pro FC was that it felt more supple than other spinning fluorocarbons I had used and, with that, the line lay better on the spool when I put it on my spin reel. This also resulted in very neat and tidy knots. The first outing using the Pro FC was trout fishing at Lake Eucumbene. The majority of my straight-through fishing had been for trout. The aforementioned
All of the lines impressed the author with how well they sat when spooled on a reel. In this case the Tokuryo Casting PRO 8. Other things that couldn’t really be tested, but were important to anglers, were things like good knot tying, knot strength and fit for purpose (finesse or heavy applications). This feedback provided me with a great base to do this testing booth on these Tokuryo Line Lab products. I knew exactly
8.8lb Finesse Game braid and 11.6lb Fluorocarbon 100% leader had no problems dealing with this bit of bycatch when flathead fishing. because I haven’t had success using it or because the benefits of using it aren’t compelling, more because the ones that I have tried have given me nothing but grief while I was using them. Line memory and line fatigue being the two main issues. There is nothing worse than being unable to control how line comes off your reel or to see sections of line that have been compromised during a fishing session (especially in the middle of it). However, I am putting the cart before the horse. Why use straight-through fluorocarbon line? Fluorocarbon line is virtually invisible in the water and doesn’t leave a line shadow for fish to be spooked by. If you are fishing clear water, pressured fishing locations or require stealth in your presentations then straight-through fluorocarbon can be a clear advantage. Tournament bream anglers use straight-through fluorocarbon a lot when using hardbody and surface lures for this reason. Fluorocarbon line also has a little bit of stretch, much less than monofilament line, but much more (that’s what it feels like) than a braid/leader set up. For those of us that are used to the braid/leader set up, this means a fraction more time for a treble hook to find its mark and then a bit of cushioning to keep it there when fish jump or shake their heads, without
A beautiful brown trout caught casting from the shore at Yens Bay – Lake Eucumbene. One of many caught using the 4.5lb Pro FC spinning fluorocarbon. 54
APRIL 2022
The author is super impressed with the Pro FC spinning fluorocarbon from Tokuryo. He has had none of the issues that had haunted him using this type of line in the past. cushioning with sensitivity and invisibility have been the driving factor for this. Two outing over the Christmas break to Yens Bay and Anglers Reach casting lures from the bank was a great initial test of the Pro FC. Lots of casts using different weighted lures, against the wind, with the wind, dealing with rocks, timber and weed. Most importantly also tangling with
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PRODUCT GUIDE more than my fair share of trout as well. The outcomes I took away from these two outings were: straight-through fluorocarbon will out fish a braid/leader set up on trout (15:1 on this trip). After two solid outings there was no sign of the line memory or fatigue issues I had previously experienced using other straight-through fluorocarbon lines, and that the Pro FC has very good abrasion resistance. One of
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that it had rubbed against rocks and had been wrapped around a tree, but it didn’t give, leaving me a very happy camper. Finally, I am very happy to continue using it, which definitely wasn’t the case with the previous lines I had tried. I didn’t leave the testing process there though. The bream in my local can be fickle at times and although I have had some success on hardbodies in the past,
Finesse line options are just as effective for anglers using bait as they are for lure anglers. The author with a nice catch of King George whiting.
The author has been using the 12lb Tokuryo Casting Pro braid on a medium outfit to cast lipless crankbaits. The extra casting distance and depth on retrieve the ultra thin Casting Pro offers is gold or bronze in this case. the better brown trout had me wrapped around all sorts of debris before coming to shore (it really should have won its freedom). The 4.5lb Pro FC had the signs
Line like the Tokuryo Finesse Game X 4 combined with a Fluorocarbon 100% leader offer many different fishing options. Catching squid is just one of them.
plastics have always been my best option. Two outings have proved to me that I need to have a hardbody outfit on hand and that bream residing on shallow open water flats are more likely to eat a lure attached to straight-through fluorocarbon line than one using a braid/leader combination. The same can be said around structure as well. Tokuryo Finesse Game X4 braid and Fluorocarbon 100% leader Finesse Game X4, as the name suggests, is a 4 carrier PE braid. 4 carrier braids are renown for being affordable, very fine in diameter, better suited to finesse forms of fishing, and in situations where abrasion resistance isn’t the most important factor. Add to that great castability and excellent bite detection and you have the perfect PE line to get to know and understand the positives that these lines (braids) offer anglers. Tokuryo Finesse Game X4 is a great example of exactly that. A well made, affordable PE braided line which, when matched with the appropriate Tokuryo Fluorocarbon 100% leader material, has you set to get out dabbling in the world of lure and soft plastic fishing. Like the Pro FC, the Fluorocarbon 100% leader is a supple 100% fluorocarbon material available in seven breaking strains and comes in 50m spools. Again, like the Pro FC (due to the suppleness of the line) it
allows you to tie great knots, either leader to braid or to your favourite lure or jighead. I was given a spool of the 8.8lb P.E. 0.6 (hi-vis yellow) to try out. Perfect to either leader down (breaking strain) to target bream, whiting and the like, or to leader up and focus on flathead, bass, squid etc. This is one of the advantages of a fine diameter braid. As much as I did manage to target and catch many of these species and found
the combination of the two products to be excellent. The Fluorocarbon 100% leader offers not only great knot strength, but good abrasion resistance too. On numerous occasions I had bream venture to the wrong side of bridge pylons and back, and yet still finding their way into my net. The leaders may have been shredded, but they didn’t break (not all of them anyway). Continued over
FACT BOX Product
Line Classes
P.E. Rating
Diameter(mm)
Spool size(m)
PRO FC Fluorocarbon
3.7lb, 4.5lb, 6.8lb, 9.2lb
0.8-2.0
0.161 - 0.257
150
Fluorocarbon 100%
3.7lb, 5.7lb, 6.8lb, 9.2lb, 11.6lb, 15.5lb, 19.8lb
0.8-6.0
0.16 - 0.418
50
Finesse Game X4
5.9lb, 8.8lb, 10.1lb, 15.4lb 25.3lb, 29.9lb
0.3- 2.5
0.09 - 0.26
150
Finesse Game X4
29.9lb, 49.9lb, 79.9lb
2.5-8.0
0.26 - 0.48
300
Casting PRO 8
10lb, 12lb, 15lb, 18lb, 25lb
0.4-1.5
0.05 - 0.16
150/300
NB: Finesse Game X 4 is available in three colours – dark green, pink and hi-vis yellow Nick Willett (author’s mate) was keen to try the Finesse Game X 4 for himself and picked up this nice flathead.
Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au APRIL 2022
55
TESTING BOOTH
PRODUCT GUIDE
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
From prervious page
What I do want to mention is the advantages lines like the Tokuryo Finesse Game lines offer in a bait fishing situation. Bite detection is the most obvious, however fine diameter lines also mean you can fish deeper water using less weight, meaning you have a better chance of catching fish. A perfect example of this happened in
all I did was remove the Senshi whiting rig tied onto my leader, replaced it with the said rig and was happily catching gar and tommies (plus a few KGW as a bonus) in minutes. So, this so-called finesse set up is just as effective for bait anglers as it is for those who use lures. Tokuryo Casting Pro 8 carrier braid Last, but certainly not least, is the Tokuryo Casting Pro premium 8 carrier braid. Tokuryo Line Labs have a dual braiding technic during the construction process that produces ultra thin, very strong, super castable PE lines. When I say ultra thin, check out the diameters, 0.16mm for 25lb braid – wow! In this case, finer diameters (heavier breaking strains) means better castability and add a special coating (SI treatment) and with the right outfit even smaller lures
Fine line diameters aren’t only beneficial when bait fishing in deeper water. This fish was caught on a plastic in 35 feet of water using a 1/6oz jighead. The author would normally use 3/8oz – 1/2oz in this depth of water. Back in Brisbane this same outfit has become my favourite to use when throwing lipless crankbaits. They cast a mile, travel a little deeper on the retrieve (thanks to the finer diameter line) and can be deadly when fished across large flats or
behind them, they were destined to succeed. I could see this while putting them to the test. All the key features you are looking for are covered. Each line lays on your spool beautifully. They all provide excellent castability and each produces
Bream and finesse fishing go hand in hand. Here a Strike Pro Enticer 2inch finesse grub in motor oil colour was the undoing of this fish. The line and leader were 8.8lb Tokuryo Finesse 4 X and 3.7lb Tokuryo Fluorocarbon 100%. Port Vincent in South Australia. The target species was King George whiting and even though we were only fishing in 25-30ft of water, the current meant bigger sinkers were required (2-3oz). Not so much the case for me (1oz) and luckily or inevitably many of the fish fell to the lighter outfit (3:1 ratio). To double down on the effectiveness of using this Tokuryo lines combination. Once the whiting had stopped biting, we moved to shallower water to focus on garfish and tommy ruff (Australian herring). While most anglers will fish with a float rig drifting it down a berley trail, I prefer to use a single long shank hook with the smallest possible spilt shot above it and drift it down the berley trail. In this case,
Another beautiful Lake Eucumbene brown trout caught using the Tokuryo 4.5lb Pro FC spinning fluorocarbon. can be cast using heavier lines. This certainly proved to be the case. Although the fish didn’t join the party, I took a medium outfit to Canberra with me specifically to fish small/medium hardbody lures for golden perch and possibly Murray cod. High water levels meant the fish were hard to find, but it didn’t stop me trying.
A light spin outfit spooled with Tokuryo Pro FC is now a permanent fixture in the author’s boat. along weed edges. The Tokuryo Casting Pro braid is still a work in progress for me, the prime time for this type of fishing kicks in about the same time that this issue comes out and again around September/October. Having said that, there are plenty of fishing options out there, that having a finesse line that packs a punch, would be suitable for. Final thoughts There is justifiably a lot of hype around the Tokuryo Line Lab fishing lines. Using quality Japanese components and having so much research and development No question this bream wanted to eat this lure. Another Pro FC spinning fluorocarbon victim. 56
APRIL 2022
strong neat knots and when used in combination, complement each other. For fine diameter lines I found their abrasion resistance to be very good, however keep in mind I was not using them in situations where keeping fish out of heavy cover was my first priority. In short, they tick a lot of boxes. To check out the full range of Tokuryo Line Lab products go to www.jurofishing.com or check them out at your local tackle store. - Peter Jung
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PRODUCT GUIDE
SAMAKI TELESCOPIC ROD CASE
1
The Samaki Deluxe Telescopic Rod Case is leading the pack in design concepts for rod efficient travel. With a three-part design and two-colour concept, the Deluxe Telescopic Rod Case extends from each end in a telescopic manner, with the blue sections being able to be placed in more than one travelling position. From 1.5-2.2m, the Deluxe Telescopic Rod Case can carry up to 10 rods. It has internal wavy foam that is adjustable to suit the guides, tips and butts, and aid in the protection and secure travelling of your precious cargo. There are six locking mechanisms, as well as two points for padlocks to prevent unwanted opening of your case. A flat design ensures that your rod case won’t roll around in the car, ute or aeroplane, and allows you to pack on top of it in all circumstances. For information and stockists visit the Samaki website, or follow them on @ samakifishing at Facebook and Instagram. Price: from SRP$239.95 www.samaki.com.au
DAIWA 21 LEXA TW
2
A reel that’s synonymous with strength, power and value, the Lexa line-up welcomes a new arrival with the 21 Lexa TW. A step forward in design and performance, the new Daiwa Lexa features many of the technologies that have made Daiwa baitcaster reels industry leading, with CRBB Bearings, EVA Knob, UTD Drag, and now TWS (T-Wing System) leading the roll call of design features. TWS delivers a new level of performance and control to the Lexa, while a stainlesssteel pinion gear, high grade brass gears, aluminium frame and side plate, and Swept Power Handle provide ultimate strength and power. The Lexa WN features 13kg of drag, 8 CRBB and is available in two sizes (300 and 400) and four models. Whether it’s targeting the giants of the estuaries or muscling offshore species the 21 Lexa TW is the ultimate heavy-duty baitcaster. www.daiwafishing.com.au
SIMRAD NSX
3
Simrad’s newest MFD, Simrad NSX, offers the latest evolution in chartplotters and fishfinders for powerboaters as a new midrange product. The NSX is available in 7”, 9” and 12” display sizes and is based on a new operating system that redefines boating experiences. The innovative interface provides a new, intuitive touch screen experience with crystal clear views. Charts include powerful C-MAP navigation capabilities and compatibility with sonar, radar and autopilot systems. They’re simple to set up and easy to manage, with a Setup Wizard that walks users through the process. Other features include: support for the next-generation C-MAP Discover X and Reveal X marine-optimized charts; the full suite of Simrad technology available at the touch of a finger, with multiple networking and connectivity solutions; drag-and-drop screen customization and fully editable instruments bar; hi-res bathymetry that shows accurate contour lines down to a 1ft level of detail with compatible charts; and Simrad’s fastest-ever Autorouting with improved planning and route plotting. Price: SRP $ 2,199-$4,999 www.simrad-yachting.com
WHAT’S NEW FISHING
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
EUREKA METAL LURES
4
Eureka Lures Australia has released some impressive new metal lures to complement their range of Metal deep sea jigs and game lures. They have released two new sizes in 20g and 60g in their popular range of 3D Baitfish lures, which feature single in-line hooks. The Eureka K.O. BaitZ is an exceptional metal lure that has an enticing swaying action. These lures also feature a reflective prism for added attraction, and glow-in-thedark bodies. They are highly effective when cast or trolled at high speed. They can also be vertically jigged with a rip and drop action, and are available in 40g and 60g. The Eureka Boil BaitZ is a traditional baitfish lure in improved colours that is highly effective when worked at high speed. It can also be carefully bent to increase the lure’s action, it’s available in 20g, 30g and 40g sizes. The Flashmaster is a classic chrome slice in an exciting range of new colours that emits a fantastic flash effect in the water. The Flashmasters are available in 20g, 30g, 40g and 50g sizes. All the Eureka metal lures feature quality black nickel trebles and are effective on salmon, tailor, mackerel, barracoota, bonito, tuna and pelagic species. www.jurofishing.com
OKUMA ROCKAWAY SURF REEL
2 3
5
A long cast spool and plenty of line pick up makes the Okuma Rockaway a perfect addition for anglers fishing the beach, surf, rocks and other applications where long casts and quick line management swing the advantage in favour of the angler. The Rockaway RA-6000 features a compact body, loaded with 4BB + 1RB stainless steel bearings, 5.3:1 high-density gearing providing 104cm of line pick-up per revolution, a rigid metal handle design to reduce flex, and Cyclonic Flow Rotor technology to help remove moisture from around the reel body. Other features include multi-disc oiled felt drag system, corrosionresistant graphite body, slow oscillation system, precision worm shaft transmission system, heavy-duty solid aluminium anodised bail wire, TPE ergo handle grip, Hydro Block watertight drag seal, and more. Built for big casts and big fish, the Rockaway maintains Okuma’s focus on quality, performance, and value for money, and it’s backed by a 10-year warranty. Price: SRP: $139.90 www.okuma.com.au
MUSTAD MEZASHI CASTING JIG
1
4
5
6
The Mezashi Casting Jigs from Mustad have been designed to give anglers lightweight casting options for inshore work. Species such as snapper, tailor, salmon, flathead and mulloway will fall to the attractive action of these lures in the salt, while freshwater species such as Australian bass, redfin and trout will eagerly chase down these brilliant jigs. Mezashi Casting Jigs are cleverly designed to give two differing actions on the fall. When the jigs fall with the triangle side down, they give a beautiful sliding action. When the jig falls on the rounded side, an enticing flutter is seen. To make things even better, when the jig is retrieved, it gives an intense wobbling action that pelagic predators adore! The Mezashi Jig comes pre-rigged with a Jawlock treble on the rear and a 1183SP assist hook on the front. The range includes in eight colours and five sizes – 15g, 20g, 30g, 40g and 60g. www.wilsonfishing.com
6
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APRIL 2022
57
Sydney
NSW
Dirty water fishing PITTWATER
Peter Le Blang plfishfingers@bigpond.com
What a month it has been! We have just about had more water fall from the sky than what is in Pittwater. I am joking of course, but when you have unbelievable amounts of rain for an extended period it does seem that way. With all the extra fresh water that has been running into Pittwater, our normally clean, clear, blue water is a chocolate brown instead.
It just means you will have to approach fishing a little bit differently to get the rewards. For most of my life I have been told to get the freshest bait possible to maximise catch rates. Now, however, there is a different avenue to take, and that is to introduce smells when fishing dirty water as well as bright colours or noises when using lures. When we fish Pittwater in the deeper water, that murky brown will disappear usually a few metres from the surface, and clean water will be
Flatties like this one are ready to pounce on lures around the weed beds. Unfortunately, for some species it’s not ideal but there are a lot of other species that can be targeted.
below that. The area of the cleaner salty water will be where a lot of larger fish will congregate, but being
at a depth where the water is colder, they won’t bite as often. In these cleaner water areas, by using live baits and fresh baits you should be able tempt some larger fish such as jewfish, flathead, and a variety of midwater species such as kingfish and tailor. Throwing out the anchor and using a weighted berley bucket of oily, finely-ground fish to disburse sparingly should see some success. By using lightly-weighted fishing rigs and floating baits down into the berley trial you should see a great deal of success providing you have the patience. Live baits such as yellowtail or squid should attract any midwater pelagic species that are in the area to have a look. By placing these baits midwater, cruising pelagic species should find them irresistible. Quite often when using yellowtail in deeper water I will splash on a bit of glow bait on the yellowtail. This fluorescence will make the offerings stand out and hopefully be seen from a greater distance, or become a target when fishing around a larger school of yellowtail. If you are going to fish the shallower areas, I would suggest using smellier types of bait such as strips of pike, slimy mackerel and even granddad’s old recipe of cheese and garlic mixed with bread and cat food tuna. If you use this recipe, you’ll go home smelly after a day’s fishing but you should have a few bream to feed the family. When using granddad’s recipe, you will also attract a lot of other species whilst fishing the dirty water. Using a float and a small amount of the bread mix recipe should see many different species being attracted and getting
It’s fun for young and old once the kingies are found. caught such as bream, leatherjackets and even flathead or flounder. For the lure fishers it’s time to break out those freakishly, brightly coloured, noisy lures to use. In the brown water, brightly coloured lures with a rattle will attract the attention of species such as bream and flathead as well as jewfish. Direct your efforts to the edges of weed beds or drop-offs like the ones you will find up and down Pittwater. Holes up the back of many of our bays will see larger fish waiting to ambush smaller prey coming from the shallower waters or soon-to-becomebare mudflats. Some of these larger holes will house monster flathead, and there should be some nice bream and even a jewfish or two to tangle with. Both hardbodied lures and soft plastics will work in these scenarios. Soft plastics will put vibration through the water, which is exactly what noise will do as well. If you have S factor or Halco paste in your tackle box, don’t forget to coat your lure
with a smear. Another small lure to try in the shallower, dirty water is a popper. By causing splashes of activity on the surface of the water there are quite a few species that will be excited by this, and the commotion may trigger a whole school of fish to become active. There are many different types of lures on the market, and fishing dirty water can be a wonderful place to try them all out. For those anglers wanting to catch larger fish, fishing offshore may be the better option once some cleaner water has been located. When I mention the cleaner water, I’m not referring to the colour of it but more the amount of debris that is travelling along the coast. With many rivers that have been flooded along our New South Wales coast, there have been lots of logs, garden furniture, plants and a host of other objects to annoy you. I am hoping the next month should see good snapper and reef species being caught in water
COHOE MARINE PRODUCTS Sales • Service • Repairs Dinghies • Tenders Boating Accessories 209 Australia Street Newtown PHONE: (02)
9519 3575
cohoemarine@bigpond.com
58
APRIL 2022
Decent squid are easier to find in the cleaner water near Palm Beach.
depths around 60m, and as per usual try to find baitfish before lowering your baits or throwing out the anchor. We will quite often use pilchards or frozen squid when fishing 60m of water, but we will also use yellowtail or other baitfish that are caught whilst fishing these areas. Our headlands along the coast will also see kingfish being caught and targeted by many anglers. Downrigging yellowtail or slimy mackerel will normally see you catching a few but do not forget to cast lures out as you are travelling along. By casting lures out the sides of vessel you will give fish a chance to chase lures to the boat, and if they do not smash your lure there will be live baits to tempt them anyway. Long Reef attracts a lot of attention nowadays, but with a little study of maps you will also see there are many other reefs that will attract these fish and you will not have to deal with a lot of the crowds. So, as you can see, even though we have had a lot of rain, catching fish is still possible – and by using new methods, heaps of fun can be had by all. I hope this report sees you dry and excited to get out fishing with your mates and loved ones in the near future. If you have difficulties catching fish, remember to call your local charter operator and book a day in with them. Most of us are quite happy to share the information that we have gathered over many years, and this alone will increase your knowledge in a short period of time. • Peter Le Blang operates Harbour and Estuary Fishing Charters, phone 02 9999 2574 or 0410 633 351, visit www. estuaryfishingcharters .com.au
Recreational Fishing Update Chase Your Dream Sportfish Onboard A Licenced NSW Charter Fishing Boat! With the calmer autumn weather along the NSW coastline, now is the time to get offshore and chase your favourite sportfish onboard a licenced NSW charter fishing boat. Whether it be mackerel on the north coast, or marlin down south, one of the best ways to catch those elusive gamefish species is onboard a NSW charter fishing boat. Licenced charter fishing boat operators bring a wealth of experience, expertise and are well equipped and capable of putting you on the spot to potentially have a once in a lifetime sport fishing experience. Book your next charter trip by finding an operator on the DPI website and searching ‘Go Charter Fishing NSW’ use the interactive map and following the links to book your trip.
Making Your Crab Gear Safer For Other Wildlife!
twine or an electrical cable tie to close the entrance in one or two places. It is considered that a maximum entrance size of 30 - 32cm is appropriate to prevent turtle entry. • Convert your witches hats to hoop nets. To reduce the probability of entangling non-target animals, witches hats can easily be converted to a lift net by removing the float from above the mesh and re-attaching the float line with several lengths of lines directly to the ring. • Check your crab gear regularly. Reducing set time for any fishing gear reduces the chances of harm to accidentally caught aquatic animals such as unwanted fish or protected species such as turtles. It also reduces the loss of gear which can sometimes move in tides and current and become marine debris if left in the water. For more info visit the DPI website and search “responsible fishing, crab traps”.
Get Your Go Fishing Guide Today!
Did you know that sea turtles can drown in crab traps? Unfortunately, they can force their way into the trap or become entangled and are unable to return to the surface to breathe. Here are some handy tips to make your crab gear safer: • Reduce the entrance size of your crab trap to lessen the chance of a turtle entering (this is particularly important for large mouthed rectangular crab traps). This can be done by simply using either
Autumn is a great time of year for a family getaway or a fishing trip with mates. We’ve made it a little easier to explore that new fishy destination. The “Go Fishing” series of handbooks are packed full of useful information with easy-to-read maps detailing popular local fishing spots, tips and techniques for common species plus rules, regs, and other relevant info. The great news is the series covers a range of many popular locations in both fresh and saltwater. More great news is that we’ve added two new guides, The Great Lakes region on the mid north coast and Burrinjuck Dam in the state’s south west. These new guides are packed full of all the mentioned information with a bonus feature focus on how to catch whiting on bait and topwater lures and Murray cod on lures in the Burrinjuck Dam guide. Both are ready for download on iPhone and Android or in hard copy from fishing retailers and tourists centres. There are now 17 guides available: Thompson Creek Dam, Burrinjuck Dam, Blowering Dam, Snowies Trout Waters, Lake Windamere, Botany Bay, Jervis Bay, St Georges Basin, Bermagui, Coffs Coast, Hawkesbury River, Tuross Head, Lake Macquarie, The Great Lakes, Parramatta and Lane
Cove Rivers Wharves and Parks, Middle and North Harbour Parks and Reserves, and Sydney Harbours’ Wharves, Piers and Parks, head to the DPI website and search, “fishing information local fishing guides”, to view them all and download your favourite ones. The DPI “Go Fishing” guides are a great example of your fishing fees at work.
www.dpi.nsw.gov.au
APRIL 2022
59
East Coast
VIC
Lakes coming back to life GIPPSLAND LAKES
Brett Geddes b.geddes@bigpond.com
The lakes are continuing to fire up and shake off the effects of the big floods. Bream, flathead and perch are all starting to show up in their normal autumn haunts. The whiting still dominate most of the catch, and kingfish continue to taunt anglers.
bream comps is that with so many gun anglers searching far and wide, eventually the fish are found. During the ABT BREAM qualifier in February, Daryl Baird was quick to work them out at Paynesville on crab lures, and followed that up on the second day to take out a well-deserved win. Jesse Rotin wasn’t far away in 2nd spot, but there was a big gap of nearly 3kg to the rest of the field. It was very tough going for most, and as I
Not all bream captures have been big fish lately, but there are good reports starting to come in and the next few months will get even better. The good news is that the whole lakes system is now clearing up from all that muddy flood water, and in a lot of places now it’s so clean you can see fish swimming around in water a metre or more. BREAM AND PERCH The best thing about
expected, very few fish were landed at Hollands Landing, which is usually a sure bet for big fish. With the field really struggling to find bream in so many of the usual hotspots, Harry Young stunned all anglers with a real trophy
bream. He caught one of the biggest comp bream ever seen, with a 1.93kg brute and probably the biggest recorded for a non-boater. The fact that he caught this fish during a very challenging event makes his catch even more impressive. After the BREAM comp, bream anglers flocked to Paynesville and slowly scored good numbers of nice bream, and Newlands Arm is now producing big fish. I decided to look much further west and had another look around the Lake Wellington and Latrobe area. The rivers are running fairly low and clean now, and my first visit saw me land 16 bream and 13 estuary perch, all on blade lures. Now that sounds good, and yes, I had a lot of fun, but nearly all of my catch was under 25cm. More importantly, I was sounding huge numbers of fish that looked like large schools of small bream and EP. I scored a few bream around 28cm, and it was very nice to see so many young, healthy fish that will grow, and the future looks good. I returned a few days later, and after about six hours I had a real flop. My first capture was an eel about a metre long, and soon after a massive carp that looked well over 6kg! It was so big I had no hope of fitting it in my net, but at least I got my lure back after nearly being spooled. I did end up tricking another three small perch
around 24cm. I’m almost certain they are some of the 200,000 stocked perch released by Fisheries in this area back in 2020. I really believe this is a great example of how hatchery-bred fish are having a big impact on the stocks of Gippy Lakes perch. We are lucky to be living in an era when our Victorian waterways are being boosted with so many fish. WHITING AND KINGIES I’m not going to go too much into the whiting because once again, the numbers are still amazing. There are plenty of happy anglers from Metung and now even right up to Loch Sport. Of interest, however, is the type of baits that anglers are now trying to catch the whiting on, mainly because of the absence of pipi baits or the price per packet. Frozen shrimp is definitely a winner, along with mussel and cured sandworm. Fresh bits of prawn meat are also working, and now I hear good success with even cooked prawn too. Small pieces of bluebait or whitebait are being used, and of course one of the best and indeed toughest baits is squid strips or tentacles. I still believe lure anglers can cash in on these whiting by using soft plastic worm lookalikes, and small blades with stinger hooks. My good buddy Greg Jerkins, who owns the Mini Golf near the footbridge in town at Lakes Entrance, rang to tell me all about the kingfish that were swimming
Expect bigger perch to show up during April and May. This 50cm EP attacked the author’s Hurricane Sprat 85 soft plastic, and was a nice surprise in skinny water recently. around basically out the front of his shop! He often sees birds diving on baitfish there, and people walking over the footbridge tell him they saw schools of kingfish tearing around at high speed, with most of them looking 60-80cm. Boat anglers are having trouble keeping up with the kingfish to get lures to these power packs but I’m thinking it’s only a matter of time before they are caught because anglers are a very persistent lot, and always determined to find a way to trick these prized fish.
DUSKY FLATHEAD Once again the flathead numbers continue to improve, especially in the lower reaches of the Gippy Lakes around Metung and Nungurner, but you’ll have to work hard to find them. They are good fish around 45-60cm, but they’re mainly being found by lure anglers putting in big hours with fairly big soft plastic lures. I recommend using blade lures too, because they cover a lot of water and you can fish them fairly fast to work out where the flatties are hanging out.
Autumn quality harvest LAKES ENTRANCE
Steven Pryke
Cool crisp mornings are a popular scene throughout East Gippsland. Autumn has well and truly taken hold and our local waterways have begun to cool making for changes to the fishery, with the water quality improving and many species are up for offer. LAKES ENTRANCE It’s hard to talk about our lake system without mentioning the King George whiting these days. They have continued strength-tostrength over recent times and many anglers are solely coming to lake to target the whiting. With the water quality improving, they have begun to work their way back up the lake system so it won’t be too long before we start hearing about anglers catch 40cm+ whiting at Paynesville. Popular areas, such as 94
APRIL 2022
Fraser and Rigby Island, are ideal areas for anglers to start their whiting efforts as the many isolated weed
beds and scattered shell beds are ideal areas for these fish. It has become a common sight to see 20
Lucas Smith with a decent pinkie snapper taken off one of the local beaches.
Lindsay Pryke with a solid luderick accidentally caught while targeting bream.
or more boats anchored up on these ideal spots. I like to search a bit harder for out of reach areas where there’s a bit less angling pressure. Barrier Landing is somewhere a lot of anglers overlook these days but it can hold some of the biggest whiting in our lake system. With the lake cooling, another species has started
to take over the many rock walls, jetties and bridge pylons – luderick. The same old school methods of well weighed float and green weed have worked best, then it’s just a matter of persistence. The many rocks walls leading to the entrance have been an ideal area for anglers to start their search. Mixing up the depth of your fishing has
been a key to consistent success lately so fishing with a friend has been truly helpful as you can both fish different water depths to find out where the luderick are sitting on that particular day. The size has varied on the day but 45cm+ luderick have been seen fairly commonly lately. To page 95
VIC
East Coast
Great catches at Mallacoota MALLACOOTA/EDEN
Kevin Gleed captainkev@wildernessfishingtours.com
At the time of writing the Mallacoota lake system is now in flood, and the entrance area is moving
down the beach towards Bastion Point. As the water comes down Harrisons channel it can’t turn quickly enough at Captain Stevens Point, and just keeps moving towards Bastion Point. Let’s hope it can drag out some of that sand from inside the
Jimmy Blaz with a nice flathead caught on a ZMan GrubZ in the shallows in the Bottom Lake.
entrance and leave behind some deeper areas. Over the past month good fishing has been had both offshore and in the lake. Those anglers heading offshore chasing flathead have enjoyed good weather, with plenty of calm days making for a great day on the water. Both tiger and sand flathead have been getting caught, with bag limits being filled on most outings. Fish have been getting caught down around the aerials, and out towards Gabo Island is also fishing well, with gummy sharks also being caught in the same area. The gummies have been around for quite some time now, and there have been some good size fish caught. This is great to see because they are a desired fish for the table. The beaches have seen a few salmon caught, along
with some nice-size tailor, and the recent rain should fire up the bream and whiting fishing as they move from the lake to the ocean. At this time they are in top condition, feeding up on all the food available when floods occur. The past month has seen great fishing in the lake for flathead. As usual for this time of year, the fish are spread out, with good fish being caught well above Gypsy Point and right out to the Bottom Lake. The key is to find an area with flatties, and fish it thoroughly with a variety of lures. You will be surprised how many fish can be caught in the same area. Yellowfin bream have been caught in good numbers in the Bottom Lake, and a reliable spot has been the Goodwin Sands shallows. The recent fresh will see these fish drop out into
At 80cm that’s a great catch from the shallows. deeper water, with blades being a good choice of lure. Black bream are also being caught in good numbers out in the deeper water, with the areas around baitfish schools
being the most productive. The coming months should see some great fishing in the system, with a good entrance after the rains bringing about good tidal flow.
Finding the quality bream BEMM RIVER
Robyn Sturgess
Autumn is always a great time to visit Bemm River, with crisp, calm mornings, followed by warm days and cool nights. Anglers have reported that the channel, opposite the blowhole, is a hot spot for quality bream and flathead. The preferred bait has been frozen prawn. Josh Nixon and crew recently had a successful fishing trip using soft plastics for good size bream and flathead. Josh’s hot spot was from between the entrance of Mud Lake and the entrance to the river. From page 94
LAKE TYERS The lake has been full of surprises this year with monster trevally down the
Bream have been snapping up soft plastics. front, to masses of prawns that have been caught each night. Silver trevally have been the talk of the town.
The many large sand holes in the lower lake have held some absolute monsters with 60cm trevally being landed. Small soft plastic
The cool crisp waterways will produce good quality catches this autumn.
grubs have been a great option and have produced the majority of the bites. Bream fishing in the lake has been extremely productive with masses of prawns throughout the system. Bream have been seen smashing helpless prawns of the top, which has made for some great fishing with surface lures like Bassday Sugapens in naturel colours. Early morning and dusk have been the best for success. Areas, such as the Glasshouse Flat and the channel marks have been an ideal area to start. HAVE YOU BEEN FISHING? If you have been out for fish lately and have a great pic please send to stevenprykefishing@ gmail.com with short description and you could be featured in an edition of Fishing Monthly.
Josh Nixon with a cracker flathead. The river has been rather quiet, producing fish but not of quality size. The surf has been producing any amount of salmon and tailor. At the time of writing the entrance is closed and the water level is rising. Winter is fast approaching, the hot spots for the winter bream season will be Bobs Bay, Mahoganies and Mud Lake. The Bemm River Angling Club and Alvey Reels Australia are conducting a surf fishing competition on 13-14 May. This is shaping up to be an amazing big weekend for keen surf anglers. Get in early to book your accommodation and go online to the Bemm River Angling Club’s site to register. There are lots of fantastic prizes to be won.
For more information contact Peter McCoy or Tony through the Angling Club site. For your surf bait requests, contact us prior to arrival on 0488 037 806. Please also ensure your safety gear is in order for your boat, and your fishing licence and boat licence is current. Fisheries visit often and check these details in order to maintain safety on our waterways. • For on the spot and up to date fishing reports check out Robyn’s website: www. bemmaccommodation. com.au or ‘like’ us on Facebook – Bemm River Holiday Accommodation Phone: (03) 5158 4233/ Mob. 0427 584 233 Email: bemmaccomm@ bigpond.com. APRIL 2022
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BASS SERIES presented by
Interstate anglers clean up in Victoria At ABT we love when dams have decent service because it means we can run our LIVE app-based events and anglers can enjoy the benefits of being able to keep an eye on each other. Thankfully, the 2022 13 Fishing BASS Pro series at Lake Glenmaggie is one Scan the QR code to watch the Boater winner interview
of these dams! However, as Mitchell Cone found out, this comes as both a blessing and a curse when the competition is nipping at your heels on day two. Fortunately for Mitch his 3.353kg day one bag alone was enough to keep him in first place after what was a tough day two for many
turned it off for day two. Leading the charge in the non-boater division, Wil Stockton pulled off a pretty rare feat on the ABT circuit, taking a second consecutive win from the back of the boat and kick-starting his campaign with a tonne of AOY points too! Stockton weighed a total of 4/6 fish for 1.316kg to claim a massive come-from-behind victory over the rest of the field on the final day. A MITCHELL CONE MASTERCLASS IN GRUBBIN’ Hailing from mighty NSW, Mitch Cone made the long haul to fish the two Victorian rounds via flight, borrowing a boat off Bryce Abbott (whom he would like to thank for his generosity) so he could fish the events. Mitch is no slouch on any bass impoundment, even ones he’s never been to
It’s become commonplace for anglers rocking Mercury motors to rule the top of the leaderboard. From left to right: 5th place (3rd place Mercury owner) Corey Goldie; 1st place Champion Boater (1st place Mercury owner) Mitchel Cone; and, 2nd place Boater (2nd place Mercury owner) Keeghan Painter. As a NSW angler, Cone is well accustomed to vertical fishing deep and slow, it’s a bread and butter technique on his home lakes of Glenbawn and St Clair during the summer months. Coney was able to apply the same technique to the bass at Glenmaggie. The lure of choice was a 3” Black Berkley
Gulp minnow grub on a 1/4oz Bassman Spinnerbaits jighead – a combination that has cashed a lot of cheques for bass anglers, including Coney, in years gone by. After locating the isolated fish on the sunken timber, Cone dropped the grub down to them, where he could watch them on his Garmin
The stakes in the Non-Boating division have never been higher with the introduction of the Rapala Bonus bucks for 2022. Throw in the $500 Buck n’ Big Bass for 2nd place, Jake Hardie (left), and you’ve got yourself a profitable weekend from the back of the boat! In the middle is 1st place Wil Stockton and on the right is 3rd place Brandon Scott. anglers. This round was sponsored by Garmin, and Coney channelled a bit of sponsor Karma to get him over the line. Coming in second place and not far behind after day one was well-travelled Queensland angler Keeghan Painter. Painter managed a 5/5 fish limit on day one for 2.778kg, which alone was enough to hold onto second place when the weather
Scan the QR code to watch the Non-boater winner interview
before. This was evident as he was fresh off a second place at Lake Blue Rock and was out for blood in the second round, running away with the event after day one with the only
bag over 3kg for the whole tournament. During his pre-fish, Cone located a patch of sunken timber in the main basin approximately 80m squared in area and in 40ft of water depth. After a slow start to the first session, it wasn’t until he moved out onto the deep timber and hunted isolated fish with his Garmin LiveScope unit that he began to find the better quality of fish.
BOATER RESULTS Place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 108
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Angler Mitchell Cone Keeghan Painter Mick Johnson Dane Pryce Corey Goldie Tom Deer Tim Oakley Matthew Langford Rick Goward Rhys Harris
Fish 6/10 5/10 10/10 4/10 7/10 9/10 6/10 10/10 8/10 1/10
NSW angler and our champion boater for this event, Mitch Cone, is charging ahead on his quest for the AOY trophy. With the next two rounds on his home lake and coming off good form, he’ll be hard to stop in the Hunter Valley next month.
Full results at abt.org.au
Weight(kg) 4.518 2.778 2.578 2.013 1.918 1.873 1.697 1.234 1.151 1.02
Payout $2000 + $250 bonus $1000 + $125 bonus $750 $550 $75 bonus
BASS SERIES presented by LiveScope unit follow the lure up and down as he agitated them into biting. “Some fish you really had to work on them, you might sit there for five minutes watching them follow it up and down as you rolled the lure dead slow, however nearly all of the fish ate it when it was all but dead-sticked in front of their face,” Cone said A proud Millerod’s sponsored angler, Cone used a custom-made 7’6” Millerods’s FinnesseFreak LC paired with a Daiwa Fuego 3000 spinning reel, 4lb Berkley Fireline Crystal and about 10ft of 8lb Daiwa J-thread FC leader. The longer, slightly heavier and more powerful design of the 7’6” FinnesseFreak LC meant that the fish could be Scan the QR code to watch the Day 2 Highlights
stopped from heading back to the timber far easier than a lighter set up, one of the key factors in his rod selection. A second place followed by a first place finish to begin the year has Coney spearheading the 2022 AOY battle and, with the next two rounds on his home lakes, he will be among the favourites to get it done again. Watch this space! BUCK N’ BIG BASS Non-boater Jake Hardie took out the events Big Bass
prize of $500 cash for his 1.214kg caught on day two. That kicker fish alone was enough to bump Hardie into second place where he earned himself another $125 Rapala Scan the QR code to watch the Day 1 Highlights
bonus bucks! THE QUEENSLAND ROAD WARRIOR TAKES SECOND Driving from Brisbane to almost Melbourne to fish the first two rounds of the season puts second place boater Keeghan Painter squarely in the hardcore category of BASS anglers – and road warrior as well for that matter! Fishing out of his new (to him) Nitro Z20, one of the first upgrades he made to his new vessel was the addition of a Garmin LiveScope unit. “I couldn’t fish without it now and I think you’re definitely at a disadvantage if you’re fishing without it. Plain and simple, I wouldn’t have caught my limit on Saturday had I not been using it,” he said. Painter relied heavily on this technology to target fish hugging tight to structure, such as the bridge pylons up the river, where he was able to catch three out of his five fish limit on day one within half an hour of each other; all were better than average fish for this lake, around the
Wil Stockton has made an impressive start to his ABT career, winning the first two ABT events he’s ever competed in. This 824g bass was the kicker that launched him into first place. 32cm mark. These bridge-dwellers all fell victim to the same wellplaced black Berkley Gulp minnow grub as champion boater Mitch Cone, however Painter rigged his on a 1/4oz size #1 TT Demon jighead from his sponsors at TT Lures. Once more, fishing slowly was important but when the fish wanted it, they hit it hard. The last bass in his day one bag required the use of a more traditional piece of technology. A good old-fashioned pair of Costa polarised sunglasses. With his Costas on, he was able to spot
It pays to run Mercury, as Keeghan Painter knows all too well. His 225hp Mercury ProXS earned him an extra $125 cash in the form of a 2nd place Mercury owners bonus cheque.
NON- BOATER RESULTS Place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Angler Wil Stockton Jake Hardie Brandon Scott Bradley Turner Tony Neal Daniel Holder Luke Gilbert David Lawson Leigh Mirams Bryce Abbott
Fish 4/6 1/6 6/6 6/6 4/6 4/6 6/6 5/6 3/6 4/6
Weight(kg) 1.316 1.214 1.150 1.026 0.922 0.475 0.464 0.459 0.362 0.314
a submerged tree at the end of a rock wall in the main basin that he otherwise would have driven straight over. Instead, he stopped and began to scan the tree with his LiveScope unit where he found bass holding around the timber, which he was able to convince into eating a midnight oil coloured ZMan Slim Swim in the dying hours of the first session to complete his bag. The go-to outfit Painter used was a 7ft medium-light TT Black Mamba spin rod paired with a 1000 sized Okuma ITX spooled with 8lb Platypus Bionic braid and around 10ft of 8lb Platypus stealth FC leader. BACK-TO-BACK FROM THE BACK OF THE BOAT Winning his first ever ABT event obviously just didn’t cut it for Wil Stockton, he only had to go and win the second! Winning the first round at Lake Blue Rock, Wil Stockton’s win at Glenmaggie makes it two wins in as many attempts in the non-boater division, giving him a 100%-win rate in ABT tournaments. Not a bad start to a tournament career! Stockton drew boaters Steve Morgan and Graham ford for day one and day two respectively and used a crankbaiting technique around the edges of the dam to catch his fish. After bringing just 0.76kg in on day one, it was
always going to be a big ask to come from such a long way back to win. However, cometh the hour cometh the man, as they say. Stockton was able to weight a solid 1.24kg bag on day two, which went on to remain unbeaten as the biggest non-boater bag for the whole event and rocketed him up the leaderboard into 1st place. Admittedly a bit of a Daiwa fan, Stockton used a Daiwa TD Black paired with a 2500 Daiwa Kix, Sunline invincible braid and Daiwa J-thread FC leader to throw his deep diving brown suji shrimp Jackall Chubby at the standing timber and rock Scan the QR code to watch Mitch Cones insight into Livescope
edges encompassing the dam. Nothing fancy in his technique, just a slow, steady wind all the way back to the boat. The proof is in the pudding, this technique accounted for his 824g kicker on day two that bumped his bag well up over a kilo. Thanks to the outstanding efforts of Rapala, his exceptional angling efforts also got him paid, raking in another $250 Rapala bonus and bringing his total for the two events to $500 cash from the back of the boat.
Full results at abt.org.au
Payout Rapala prize pack + $250 bonus Rapala prize pack + $500 + $125 bonus Bassman prize pack + $75 bonus Maui Jim prize pack Ecogear prize pack Prolure prize pack Keitech prize pack Toadfish prize pack Toadfish prize pack APRIL 2022
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BREAM SERIES presented by
2022 BREAM Australian Open Tournament The time of year has once again come for the ABT to travel down to glorious Sydney for the jewel in the crown of Australian bream tournaments, The Daiwa BREAM Australian Open. The open is our Premier APP-based Live event for the year, bringing you (the viewers) the best coverage possible on our social media and YouTube platforms, thanks to our legendary observers and anglers with cameras on board. Typically, our anglers would battle it out over three days, with day one and three held on Sydney Harbour and day two on the Hawkesbury
Adam Bertoldo. He recorded the biggest bag ever at an app-based event of 6.560kg and nearly one of the biggest bags of yellowfin bream in all of ABT history! Finishing off the podium in 3rd place was South Coast angler and long-time supporter of ABT Steve Nedeski with a 10/10 fish bag for 8.033kg. 1ST PLACE: JAMIE MCKEOWN Day 1: 4.731kg Day 2: 4.732kg Total: 9.463kg It’s hard to find any more consistent form than that of Jamie McKeown in the past three years of the Daiwa
thanks to the dirty water and big swell out at sea pushing fish around Barrenjoey Head and onto the flats. Admittedly not being very familiar with the ‘carpark’, he began the day with a 3” Powerbait Bass minnow before cycling through just about every soft plastic in his box on a 1/24oz jighead, eventually landing on a 2.5” Daiwa Baitjunkie grub in motor oil and switching to a 1/8oz head Scan the QR code to watch the Day 2 Highlights Pittwater
The Greg Lee Memorial trophy will be getting pretty comfortable at Jamie’s house by now. current from the reef and spotlocking his electric motor, McKeown exclusively fished a 65mm olive Cranka Crab, changing to a spotted crab midway through the session when the bite shutdown. When asked about technique he had this to say, “There isn’t any room to fish it like a normal crab where you let it hit the bottom because if it finds the reef you lose a crab. Instead I cast it just off the reef and let the current wash it in until I think it’s getting too Scan the QR code to watch the Day 1 Highlights Sydney
Incumbent champion, Sydney’s Michael Colotouros, dint manage to pull a rabbit out of the hat this year to mirror his 2021 heroics. River system. Unfortunately, due to weather warnings, day two was restricted to the Pittwater only and day three had to be abandoned, leaving it up to two days of superb angling to write Jamie McKeown into history as a two-times Australian Open champion. Despite the rough weather, some exceptional fishing was had with the big tides and turbid water the perfect recipe for a Pittwater flats Masterclass from 2nd place angler and Sydney local
BREAM Australian Open. He’s netted himself two wins and a second place from three starts and regains the Greg Lee Memorial trophy from the bloke who took it from him last year, Michael Colotouros. Heading east of the Harbour Bridge on day one, McKeown braved the big swells and went straight to the Sow and Pigs Reef (newly re-named to ‘Jamie’s reef’) that continues to produce year after year. Positioning himself up
RESULTS Place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 110
APRIL 2022
Angler Jamie McKeown Adam Bertoldo Steve Nedeski Tim Vickers Liam Carruthers Tom Slater Cohen Callaghan Morante Michael Colotouros Mahmoud Mafoud Mark Thompson
move away to rest the spot, the big fish came out to play. In the dying moments of the first session, McKeown’s heartbreak of losing a kicker fish boat-side due to being knocked over by ferocious swells was promptly replaced with euphoria as a last cast special yielded a 41cm-fork giant and put his bag up over 4.5kg. McKeown believes his day two efforts on the Pittwater flats were largely
and later a 1/4oz due to the overwhelming wind and tide. As the water got dirtier, the motor oil grub became an oil flash UV Baitjunkie grub to garner a bit more attention. The technique was to slowly draw the rod tip upwards slowly before dropping it to let the lure fall, with all the fish hitting it on the drop. For this flats technique, he had to reach deep in the rod locker to find a light combo – something he very rarely does these days – which consisted of a 762 Samaki Zing Extreme Daiwa Silver Creek 2000 spooled up with PE .08 Samaki X braid and 4lb leader.
close and I wind it back in and repeat. The bite isn’t the standard peck either, most of the time the line just starts to move away from you and you lift your rod tip and load up.” Heavy structure requires heavy tackle and Jamie had three identical Samaki C12 V3 7’ 1-4kg rods paired with PE .08 Samaki X braid and 8lb Samaki leader, all with crabs ready to go. As the tide dropped the reef became more visible to the point the swell was actually breaking on it and after a lull in catches and a
1.8kg worth of reasons to smile! Second place Adam Bertoldo brought to the scales one of the biggest bags of yellowfin bream ever seen in ABT, including this Pittwater flats dinosaur.
Full results at abt.org.au
Fish 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10
Weight(kg) 9.463 8.583 8.033 7.591 7.531 7.456 7.281 7.280 6.854 6.457
Payout $5000 $2500 $2000 $1500 $1000 Daiwa reel Daiwa reel
Spot lock on McKeown’s Minn Kota Ultrex was vital to holding him on the fish and not drifting off them once he caught one. This helped him secure an almost 3kg bag in under 15 minutes as the fish began to move through just Scan the QR code to watch the Presentation Highlights
BREAM SERIES presented by before the tide change. 2ND PLACE: ADAM BERTOLDO Day 1: 2.023kg Day 2: 6.560kg Total: 8.583kg Outside of Jamie winning yet another Open, the talk of the event would without a doubt have been 2nd place Adam Bertoldo’s gargantuan 6.5kg day two bag from the Hawkesbury River – the biggest bag from any of ABT’s app-based events to date! The smallest of his five fish limit wasa 37cm-fork, and his biggest was a whopping 43cm-fork length 1.801kg monster and the biggest bream for the event. With the East Coast receiving some good drops of rain lately, Adam chose on the first day to fish the numerous stormwater drains that run into the harbour. A decision that was reinforced by local Sydney gun Ross Cannizzaro, in a chance meeting at, where else, but Bunnings. “I actually bumped into Ross at Bunnings a few days before the event, and I had to ask him what he
Yep, still smiling! And why wouldn’t he be? Adam jumped 18 places overnight from 20th into 2nd place and just have a look at the quality of fish that got him there. When the smallest fish in your bag is 37cm, you know you’ve had a pretty remarkable day. Barrenjoey Point and sitting out wide in 3.5m of water, casting even wider towards the very edge of the weed and once he found the fish, spot-locking and targeting them precisely. “I started out throwing a Berkley Gulp 2” shrimp
bag was caught with a bunch of quality Daiwa gear, including his Daiwa Infeet 702 EX matched with a 2000 Airity spooled with 8lb Gosen braid and a generous length of 3lb FC Rock leader. Spot-locking in only a few key areas on the flats,
instead he headed straight for a flat near Birkenhead Point. There, he fished a deep running brown suji shrimp Jackall Chubby by winding it down and banging it into the sand and giving it a pause, at which point the bream would nail it. Scan the QR code to watch Steve Morgan’s Day 1 LIVE FEED
A last cast kicker for Jamie McKeown on day one. Jamie fished a submerged reef in the harbour with a technique he’s refined over the past few years. thought about fishing drains and he backed up the idea for me, which was good,” said Adam. The decision proved fruitful, fishing a Jackall Chubby in brown suji shrimp colour he was able to fill his bag with a decent sized average around that 27-30cm-fork mark. Going into the second day sitting outside the top 10, Adam went out completely undeterred and with just one unwavering goal: Catch Jamie McKeown. With a cocktail of big tides, big swell, wind, rain and a restricted venue, it didn’t take much convincing for Adam – a Sydney local who knows these waterways very well – to make the decision to fish the Pittwater flats; or as anglers have affectionately named it ‘The Carpark’. Adam picked a section of the flats to the north of the boatshed, drifting towards
on a 1/24oz jighead but once the current and wind became stronger, I couldn’t keep it down in the strike zone. So, I changed over to a Berkley Bigeye blade in bandicoot colour to maintain Scan the QR code to watch Steve Morgan’s Day 2 LIVE FEED
contact and keep it tight to the bottom where the fish were,” Adam said about his lure choice. Making a big cast, Adam let his blade sink right to the bottom and gave it five little twitches and a pause, working the lure like this about halfway back to the boat before reeling it in and making another cast as the fish were only eating it a fair way out from the boat. On the tackle side of things, the whole day two
he was able to consistently chip away at his bag all throughout the session until he had upgraded all of his fish, weighing a bag of yellowfin not seen on ABT scales in a very long time and climbing a ridiculous 18 places from 20th into 2nd. 3RD PLACE: STEVE NEDESKI DAY 1: 4.080kg DAY 2: 3.953kg TOTAL: 8.033kg Motor troubles on day one was never going to be enough to stop veteran ABT angler Steve Nedeski from catching fish, especially on his birthday! Unable to fish the open in recent years due to work and family commitments and being resigned to living through live streams year after year, he decided it was his year to step up. Setting off on his electric motor, his plans to go to Hen and Chicken Bay were thrown to the wind and
By a stroke of birthday luck, he gave his motor one more crank after he had caught his bag near Birkenhead, in the hope he could get home quicker. The motor fired and he was off to Lane Cove for the last stop of the day. “When I pulled up at Lane Cove, I actually left the motor running because I didn’t want to get stuck if it didn’t kick over again!” he said. Nedeski used a G loomis DSR 820 4-8lb drop shot rod paired with a 2500 sized FE Stella spooled with 16lb Gosen casting braid and a long length (approx. 10m) of 4lb FC Rock leader. The trip to Lane Cove proved well
worth it as he netted himself three upgrades in the last 45 minutes of the session before scooting back to weigh in. With motor troubles resolved, Nedeski knew he was heading straight to the carpark for day two. “I tried fishing in close to the edges straight away, but the water was too dirty and too shallow, so I moved deeper” he said of his first hour on the flats. The strong current and wind meant that Nedeski couldn’t fish his typical flats combination of a 2” Camp Gulp shrimp with a 1/24oz or 1/32oz jighead. Instead he chose a Berkley Dam Deep 1/8oz size #2 jighead rigged with a 2” camo Gulp shrimp, a real confidence bait/jighead combination for him. A different rod and reel combo was called upon for the flats, being a 7’ 2-4 kg Duffrod’s SSP 842 paired with another 2500 sized FE Stella, 16lb Gosen braid and 4lb Sunline FC Rock leader. Like most passionate anglers, Nedeski has a very understanding wife at home who he’d like to thank for her support in fishing tournaments. A sentiment shared by many Steve!
Liam Carruthers conrinued his run of form with another high placing on the BREAM tour. APRIL 2022
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West Coast
WA
Salmon run worth waiting for AUGUSTA
Anthony Gillam
So here we are, waiting with rod in hand for the 2022 salmon run to come sidling through Augusta. The anticipation and hope is for this season to be much better than the last; where things went out with a fizzle rather than a bang. Most disappointing when you wait all year for a chance to sight cast into a thousand ravenous fish. The latest information to hand is that after leaving Esperance the salmon have started moving on their way towards Albany, just very slowly at this stage. Although they are in small numbers so far they are definitely beginning the
Salmon time has come around once again. Georgia Gillam with a lure caught Cosy Corner thumper.
Light gear and solid salmon means a whole lot of fun. trek around the coast and school numbers and sizes should increase quickly. It is expected that in the next month or so the schools should reach Augusta as they head towards the metro area waters. Unfortunately it was a very warm summer and autumn so far, keeping the water temperatures in close to shore above 20ºC. This has previously meant that schools stay out in the deeper, cooler water instead of coming in close to shore where shore based anglers can get a crack at them. Here is hoping for a sudden drop in temperature and big schools of bait. If you are shore bound try your luck at Hamelin Bay where most schools seem to come in very close as the beach shelves quickly meaning that often a school will be only several metres from shore and can be fished by even the youngest member of the salmon chasing fraternity. The beach can be accessed easily from the car parks at Hamelin Bay and you can find very comfortable accommodation at the caravan park only 100m from the beach. Any of the beaches 114
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from Colourpatch around to Skippy Rock are all two-wheel drive access and only a short walk from parking down to the water. The schools can generally be observed from the carpark and then the short trek down to the water made anticipating where the school is heading and casting bait or lures at the head of the schools. If you have a 4WD then there are many more options open with Boranup Beach accessed by Bobs Track, Deepdene from Cosy Corner Road and Conto’s from Caves Road. All of these beaches are salmon magnets and allow plenty of places to set up and wait for them to come to you or also allow you to patrol the beaches searching for them. Make sure to have lures or baits ready to go because once a school comes through the action can be frenetic leaving those that are unprepared standing there wishing they were more organised. Any lure from 30g up is worth a try and they have a penchant for mulies and herring tossed out in front of them. While waiting for
the salmon to turn up try honing your skills on the ever-present herring who’s numbers also increase as the season progresses. Not only
are they miniature versions of salmon they also breed during this time and migrate along the same path. Being a food source for salmon they are a good indicator that they are on the way. Numbers of herring on the beaches will suddenly increase and there will be a large amount of mature females ironically known as ‘bull’ herring aggressively competing for food to nourish their ever growing eggs that can number as much as 100,000. They will be released around Augusta in late May to create the schools for the future. Typically herring love anything they think they can swallow that moves much like salmon. Almost any lure will work but I have a preference for chrome bubbler style lures such as the Halco Streaker that has a red plastic flasher tab mimicking
Peter Nash with a decent bait-caught Flinders Bay dhufish captured on a trip with Leeuwin Marine Charters.
Mal Swarbrick with a beautiful example of a harlequin landed while working on Leeuwin Marine Charters. the red gill flash of fleeing prey. Any lure in the 10-30g range will work but if you swap out the treble hooks for a single inline hook you will be able to catch and release any unwanted fish without damaging their mouths. Should a salmon come along and take the lure you have a much better chance as they are known to wreck inferior treble hooks. For quick changing of lures try a Mustad Fastach clip, not only are they strong but the time you save will result in more fish when the pressure is on. Lure changing takes only a couple of seconds. During Easter the night fishing off the Ellis Street Jetty and Town Jetty is very active with plenty of tourists settling in for a few hours of bread and butter fishing. The bright lighting on Ellis Street Jetty provides for a safe night fishing spot for children to experience the difference to daytime fishing. Tailor and herring are a certain visitor to the jetty with the lights bringing them darting in to pick off any of the baitfish or insects attracted to the light. Recently there have been some legal sized flathead, flounder and black bream coming up with the regulars. Try small chrome lures straight off the jetty towards the channel for herring and tailor, prawns, glass shrimps and cockles for whiting and black bream and drop nets for crabs. Autumn weather out on the bay can be absolutely magic with light winds, low swells and flat calm days that are perfect for spending your time looking for new secret spots. With good polarised
sunglasses it is great fun to fish the shallow water reef that abounds in Flinders Bay where you can spot the predators hit a soft plastic jigged in front of them. The advantage of fishing these shallow waters in the 12-15m range are that barotrauma can be almost entirely avoided with any demersals that are undersized. Places like Bessies Reef and Little Bessies are perfect for this type of fishing and the size of some of the dhufish and pink snapper will amaze you. Just pay attention to the sounder because the reef can get really close to the surface in places and there is nothing worse than damaging your hull or sheering off a prop because you are too busy sticky-beaking at the fish on the bottom. Soft plastic jigging is the perfect way to chase everything living on the reef. Try bright colours like fluorescent orange or green in the 5” range. If you get the chance to head out deep and wide then make sure you are prepared, try to go with other boats and take plenty of fuel just in case the weather comes up which will cause you to chew through the fuel scary fast. Keep your eye on the weather reports and if there is a chance that it’s going to turn then err on the side of caution and head back. If you are not confident enough to give it a try then why not go on a charter trip? Leeuwin Marine Charters operate from the Augusta Boat Harbour and will take all the work out of getting onto the fish as well as providing the security of a well equipped To page 115
WA
West Coast
New autumn targets and top techniques that’s been evident lately with some solid specimen taking unsuspecting fisho’s dhu baits. What a problem to have! With no surprise, shark catches have escalated lately with the salmon running up the coast coaxing the toothy critters along with them. Plenty of tigers and bronzies
BUNBURY
Whiteys Tackle and Camping
With a long hot summer behind us, the cooler weather will drop the water temperature and bring in a whole range of new fishing targets and techniques. Salmon will be schooled up thick and ready for action along the local beaches, including the Back Beach, The Cut and Buffalo. When the salmon school do come through Bunbury region they do seem to be in a hurry to head up to the breeding grounds, so be ready to move around and hunt your target on the day. Saying that, they do seem to school up in places like the The Cut and Spot
This Collie River mulloway couldn’t resist a soft plastic.
Scott Macleod with a soapie mulloway. X hanging around the rock walls and reefs. I’ve spent many mornings and afternoons chasing the salmon up and down jetties, rock walls and beaches around Bunbury just to feel that screaming From page 114
boat and experienced skipper and crew. They will get you catching without any of the hassle. Beach fishing is currently pretty good with lots of reports of sand whiting along the eastern and western beaches with excellent catches off the Dead Finish sand as well as Ringbolt where King George whiting have also made a good showing. The beach at Elephant Rock has provided some nice whiting and also some small bronze whaler sharks that are mooching around. The marina rock walls are currently alive with fish and spending a bit of time just looking from the advantage of height will show you what to set
catching and releasing some slabs, which is even better. It has been an exceptional year for the mulloway in the river with a massive amount showing up in force. The majority of the mulloway would be classified as soapies (in the 30-60cm range) but there is always the chance of a bigger
run on light gear that we don’t always have the opportunity to experience fishing land-based locally. If you’re fishing the jetties and rock walls, I’d suggest a well-balanced soft plastic around 6” in length. I find your sights on. Plenty of herring, squid and garfish are getting smashed by monster samsonfish so it’s a matter of matching the lure to the prey or catching a live bait or two to get your arms stretched. If you are more into bottom dwellers go up to the northern end of main rock-wall for the chance of a pink snapper or breaksea cod. Rock fishing at Elephant Rock has also been excellent with herring, tarwhine and the odd demersal and small bronzie coming in when berley has been used. Choose your spot wisely as some of the sections of rock in this area are steep and slippery. Don’t take risks! Choose a spot that allows you the chance to seek refuge from any king waves and don’t
those areas to have more sharp drop offs or ledges, which will benefit from having your lure get close to the bottom, something a diving lure can’t always accomplish. Whilst fishing the
beaches, I’ll take the heaviest metal slug or minnow profile hardbody lure that my rod will allow. Having that bit extra weight with a well matched line can be the difference of 20m on your neighbours cast and ultimately first punt at the school of bruisers. Both boaties and landbased fishers have been collecting some impressive numbers of herring both for their breakfast toast and as excellent bait for their bottom bashing. Half the fun of the trip is the bait collection beforehand. Boaties are experiencing some pretty hefty sized squid that are pillaging their drift baits around the 15m mark while baiting for hungry snapper. As well as some fat skippy and tailor showing up in the shallow waters. As always, plenty of dhufish to be had in Bunbury waters when you’re happy to put in the time and effort sounding up new grounds. King George whiting quite often haunt the same grounds as that of the dhuies and
A squid caught off the beach by David Moore. Balloons can help get your offering out further. taking the baits recently, particularly around Dalyellup beaches and further south, making for some exciting sports fishing. A slab of the Mandurah mullet we have delivered weekly have been enticing them well but can never go wrong with a fresh caught bait. Black bream catches this time of year start to ramp up. Local fanatics are fishing the higher ends of the Collie in chase of the 40s with a few being successful both in
Salmon off the rocks near the marina are a common sight during the Easter run.
unit jumping on that will give your gear a real good workout. Hands down the easiest way to get onto them is to use a 3” plastic, load on the scent and fish slow in any deeper areas. • The crew at Whiteys Tackle and Camping are always more than happy to share their knowledge of the Southwest and fishing techniques so don’t be shy, come on in and say hi, show off your catch and ask any questions you may have. let calm conditions fool you into thinking you are safe. Rogue waves are just that and can quickly result in being thrown into the water. People have died here after being washed off by king waves. • Unpredictable weather can quickly affect the fishing conditions and slippery rocks are a recipe for disaster. Please remain vigilant when rock fishing; wear a life jacket and tie off to something solid. You can hire one for free from Augusta Xtreme Outdoor Sports at 66 Blackwood Avenue Augusta -the local tackle shop and font of all local fishing knowledge. Look for the big green sign on the roof, it’s right next to the BP Service Station in the centre of town. APRIL 2022
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