Central Coast

CENTRAL COAST Jamie Robley

I mentioned last month how I love autumn because of the great fishing and stable weather encountered at this time of year, and then things promptly went a bit wet and soggy. This will make it the third year in a row we’ve had solid rainfall through late summer and early autumn.

We’ve really got to take advantage of good weather or favourable conditions for our chosen style of fishing, because the good times rarely last. This was on my mind through February, as I was getting stuck into the plentiful supply of bream on offer around Brisbane Waters and our lakes. Patchy rainfall throughout summer kept kicking things along nicely, but unfortunately the frequency and intensity of the rain eventually increased to a detrimental point.

One of the great aspects of being into fishing and living here on the Central Coast, is the variety of species and range of different spots to fish – everything from brackish creeks through to rock, beach and offshore options. I also thoroughly enjoy just about all forms of fishing, and so when we’ve had too much rain for the estuary and lake fishing, I simply turn my attention to rock and beach.

Historically, April is the peak month for rock and beach fishing here and I always look forward to making the most of it. Considering the numbers of bream I’ve witnessed in the

Bream fishing in the lakes and Brisbane Waters has been great through the warmer months, and the author got stuck into plenty of them. If the area doesn’t cop too much rainfall, you can still expect good bream fishing this month.

From page 68 as well. Easter/April is a very good time for diversity.

If you are after tailor in particular, the most effective bait is pilchards. Alternatively, if you are fishing the beaches, you can use a chrome slice around 40-65g. You need a slightly larger metal on the beach to punch out a long cast with a 10-12ft rod. In the estuary, when fishing with a 7ft rod, you can get away with a lighter slice.

Tailor will be hunting in our lake during April and May, and trolling is one of the more effective ways to catch them. This is for two reasons. First, you can cover a fair area to find them (a lot of the bait will be deep) and second, the better-quality fish are generally caught in that deeper water, and readily take deep divers which get down to 8-9m. Good lure options include the TDD11 Deep Tail Dancer and Halco Crazy Deep. I recommend running two depths at a time – one that gets around that 8m bracket, and one that runs around 3m. That way, you won’t get tangles when you turn a corner, and you’re also in with a chance of getting fish that are closer to the surface, chasing bait balls.

This kind of fishing is a something that the family can do in the school holidays. You just bring a lunch and chill out trolling the bays and working the bait schools. Look for the bait on your sounder, or if you don’t have a sounder, look for bird activity. It’s lovely at dawn or in the evening at this time of year, because it’s not too cold and you get a rest from the wind. You can troll until lunch time if you like, and still catch fish. You can also catch the odd flathead on the troll, and possibly even a mulloway on your deep diver. Even squire around 1.5kg will readily eat some of those deep drivers.

Over the last month there’s been a phenomenal number of bonito around. Most have been small but there are a few larger specimens in the mix. They’ll should stay in our system into April, and I still think they’ll be around on the offshore reefs this month. We have seen a few different species such as Watson’s leaping bonito mixed with regular bonito, along with frigates and some very nice tailor and small kingfish.

The bonito have been taking on chrome slices, floating pillies and trolling, but we can’t guarantee they’ll stick around along the coast in April.

Good numbers of tailor have been coming into the lake chasing bait. Other predators such as mulloway, flathead and kingfish will also be shadowing the bait this month.

If you want to catch kings, you can try live yellowtail, live slimy mackerel or live squid. The squid are still around, so you should be able to find a few to convert into kingfish. There are a lot of undersize kings around at the moment, but hopefully there will be some better fish caught in the coming weeks. Last month there were kingfish at Moon Island, the bridge and the dropover.

There were catches of big blue and striped marlin offshore before the rain set in and canned the action. Things should be better in the marlin fishery in April; the current will abate, the This is quite possibly the best month of the year for rock and beach fishing. So be sure to make some time to get out there!

lakes and Brisbane Waters through summer, and the fact that we’ve had all that rain (which encourages bream to move out to sea), I would pretty much bet we’re going to have excellent bream fishing along the beaches and rocks in the coming weeks. I’ll be armed with bread for bait when rock fishing, and at the beach it will either be pilchards, tailor, pike, mullet or pipis for bait. Despite being a lure fishing addict in the calm water, I still prefer old-fashioned bait fishing techniques for rock and beach bream. The aforementioned baits can also tempt other species like luderick, drummer or whiting.

If the weather behaves

water will cool down, and I still think we could salvage a striped marlin season in April-May. There have also been some yellowfin off the coast moving down the current, with some large 60kg+ fish caught. This winter we might see the mighty yellowfin again, fingers crossed.

April is a very good time for blue swimmer crabs. Look for the salty, deeper water around 7-8m as we head into winter. • Fisherman’s Warehouse Tackle World has a large range fresh and frozen bait as well as a huge range of rods, reels, lures and accessories. They also sell and service outboard motors, and have a competitivelypriced selection of new and second-hand boats. The friendly staff are all experienced local anglers, and they’re always happy to share their knowledge, whether you’re a novice or experienced angler. Drop in for a chat at 804 Pacific Highway, Marks Point, or give them a call on (02) 4945 2152. You can also find them on Facebook, or check out their website at www.fishermanswarehouse .com.au. itself and the ocean remains clean and calm inshore, then calamari squid are a sure bet right now. There are many excellent squid spots scattered along our stretch of coast. The south side of Catherine Hill Bay, Snapper Point, Wybung Head, Norah Head, Toowoon Bay and Terrigal all have some reliable and safe spots to cast squid jigs (when the sea is calm of course). I normally like a natural style size 3 or 3.5 jig, but sizes from 2.5 to 4 in a range of different colours will work on our local calamari population.

This is also prime time for mulloway and kingfish, so if you’ve caught some calamari squid, they will come in very handy for bait. In fact, if you put a live squid in front of a kingfish it is guaranteed to get demolished within seconds. Freshly-cut heavy tackle this month. I’ve always said that if there’s one month of the year you’re going to hook a jewie at the beach, April is it. The only issue is if the weather is going to be favourable or not. Jewfish certainly like to hunt in dismal, wet or windy conditions, but obviously the seas or weather can turn a bit too nasty to make fishing a practical exercise. If the beach gets a bit rough we can use a heavier sinker or try to find a more sheltered spots, but of course, there are limits. Tailor have been showing up in better numbers and sizes along this part of the coastline over the past five years or so. April is also one of the best months for tailor here, along with May and June. I love catching tailor, simply because they’re so aggressive and basically just a fun fish to chase. If you encounter good numbers of

It should be quite easy to find a few bream around the rocks over the coming weeks. Be sure to cast baits into the shallower washy water, rather than too far out into the deep stuff.

strips of calamari are also extremely deadly baits for smaller kings. April and May are when we tend to see a better class of kingfish around the headlands, bommies and inshore reef, and you’re less likely to encounter those tiddler rat kings that are more common through the summer months. In other words, pack the big gear!

Beach anglers should also be bringing out their them, be sure to try a few different types of lures such as surface stickbaits, fizzers or sinking stickbaits. Soft plastics also work well, but they don’t last too long when chasing choppers.

To be honest, I always look forward to April and wish I could fish every single day this month. Realistically though, when time allows, I hope to be fishing the rocks and beaches for calamari, tailor, bream and mulloway.