Decent catches are increasing as autumn begins

200 for the year.

The fishing has been out of control over the past month in Port Stephens and it’s showing no signs of slowing up. In fact, it should only get better in April.

In the bay, the red-hot flathead bite continues, with fish to up to 90cm being reported just about every week. At this time of year, the fish are very spread out, with every mud and sand flat from Karuah to Shoal Bay potentially holding a flathead.

Fishing the early morning high tides before fish are disturbed by swimmers, kayaks and boating traffic will greatly increase your chances, as will using lures over bait

Bream are preparing for their spawning run. when it comes to flathead.

Bream will start to come on the chew in preparation for their spawning run next month, especially in the bottom end of the estuary, so fish the rock walls around Soldiers Point Tea Gardens through to Nelson Bay. They can be easily tempted by an unweighted peeled prawn or live nipper fished on the tide change, and while most anglers fish daylight hours for them, the best time is during the night.

There are crazy amounts of small pelagics in the bay with tailor,

Watsons leaping bonito, bonito, frigate mackerel, mac tuna all gorging themselves on frogmouth pilchards and whitebait. Look for the birds working from The Anchorage to North Arm Cove and cast small metals 5-10g into the bust-ups.

While the action is starting to taper off now, there are still inshore fish to be caught. Slow trolling or drifting live baits around the Vee and Gibber reefs is the easiest way for you to catch one.

The Shelf marlin bite has also been hot, with numbers of stripes, blacks and blues.

Live baiting the inshore reefs this month is a great way to get connected to a trophy fish of some description. There’s the chance of catching anything from kingfish and cobia to marlin, snapper or longtail tuna.

First and last light along the ocean beaches is a great time to target tailor with 20-40g metals or whole gang-rigged pilchards. While you can catch tailor at just about all of the ocean beaches, the most consistent ones are Fingal Spit Box, Beach and Samurai.

There’s some great bream fishing to be had over next couple of months, it’s just a matter of choosing a good-looking gutter and through a live worm or pipi on the high tide.

OCEAN ROCKS

It’s the prime time of the year for land-based game fishing, so if you want to have a crack at a longtail tuna off the rocks, now is the time. When targeting these guys, mono line is the preferred option, with 10-15kg being ideal. You want to use a reel that holds at least 300m, which is why overhead style outfits are the most popular. Being able to catch live bait is key to success, so take a second rod rigged with bait jig and try to get yourself some slimy mackerel or yellowtail.

Once you have caught your bait, send them back out suspended around 2-4m under a float on 50lb leader line. Then it’s just a matter of waiting with your reel in freespool ready for it to scream!

Casting 20-40g metals off the rocks at this time of year is a great way to fill in the time. You can catch bonito, salmon, tailor, mac tuna and longtail, too.

OFFSHORE

It’s been one thing the hottest inshore black marlin seasons we have ever had, with some charter boats easily catching over