Sydney North

SYDNEY NTH Steve Winser

With the relentless rain and wind of the La Niña cycle still continuing, the inshore waters have turned to cappuccino... more like latte actually!

Temperatures are up though, and if you can actually manage to get out, the fishing hasn’t been too bad.

Kingfish can be found in numbers in the upper harbour reaches – everything from swarms of rats to a better run of fish in the 80-90cm range. The channel markers have been producing some nice fish on the run-out tide, and squid is once again the go-to bait, with the odd fish coming on live baits and lures. If you prefer to flick plastics, the Slug-Go type plastics in the 9-12” range in white are going well.

The water in the lower levels is still cooler though, as is evidenced by numbers of trevally, big tailor and some nice bonito taking strip baits and livies. There’s also still the odd snapper in the mid-50cm range taking strip baits in the deeper areas.

One less than awesome aspect to this current cycle has been the influx of sharks. The ‘men in grey suits’ have been everywhere lately; we’ve had kingfish chopped in half, and we regularly see the sharks chasing hooked fish and just cruising round on the surface. As a result, they are moving the fish around. If you find a patch of good fish, you need to make hay while the sun shines before the party poopers show up.

With this rise in temperatures and this flush of fresh water, we should see a few nice jewfish turn up next month, and the kings should also remain consistent... let’s just hope the sharks don’t! • Fishing Sydney Tours takes pride in tailoring every trip to the customer’s preferred species, style of angling, and level of expertise, all within a friendly and relaxed atmosphere at competitive rates. There are some excellent fishing spots that can be accessed straight off Sydney, and we will show you where. We offer harbour, wash and offshore fishing for species ranging from kingfish and mulloway through to snapper and mahimahi. For more info go to www. fishingsydneytours.com.au, call 0481 120 600 or look up ‘Fishing Sydney Tours’ on Facebook.

From page 60 and then your third hook. Two swivels make up one set of a 3-hook gang. Size 3/0 and 4/0 hooks are the best for the average pilchard, which is the most common tailor bait. You can grab a bag of IQF (individually quick frozen) pilchards at your local tackle shop. Alternatively, fish strips cut into lengths of 15cm long by 2cm wide work very well and are affordable. Yellowtail fillets or whole yellowtail are a good options too, and they can be caught at your local jetty or wharf. Garfish will also work well, but they’re too expensive nowadays.

Whiting numbers are great this month as they are getting ready to roe and milt up for the run in the next month or two. Fat fish to 40cm and bream to 38cm as a by-catch when whiting fishing are common off the beach.

It is common knowledge to catch whiting in close, but how close? That last wave that breaks just before the shoreline can be as close as only 5-7 off the sand that you’re standing on. A light flick out just beyond where the wave breaks close to the shore can produce some great whiting and bream. The reason they are in so close is to pick up small pipis, worms, crabs, tiny shrimp etc. These little invertebrates become disoriented after being tumbled around by the wave action, and it takes a few seconds before they can escape back into the sand again. Often they don’t make it, because there are whiting, bream, dart and more hunting to pick them off. The best bait is live beach worms, or pink nippers if you cannot catch worms. Alternatively, you can purchase them from reliable tackle shops.

Some very nice jewfish have been caught by anglers in recent times. Fish around that 17-20kg mark are falling for tailor baits, live yellowtail and hardbody lures. Sharks, tailor and salmon are there in good numbers as well.

The beaches to fish are Palm Beach, Newport, North Narrabeen, and Dee Why, for all of these species. There have been quality fish caught from all of the beaches of late, providing the structure like beach gutters are there.

All in all, the autumn period is a very good time to fish. The hot sun is not beating down on you, which makes it way more comfortable. Don’t miss out

Al with his first kingfish capture.

on this month! • For rock and beach guided fishing or tuition in the northern Sydney region, visit www. bellissimocharters. com.au, email alex@ bellissimocharters.com.au or call Alex Bellissimo on 0408 283 616.

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