Anglers are enjoying more moderate weather

SWANSEA

Jason Nunn

After weeks of oppressive heat, we are all looking forward to more moderate weather this month.

Because autumn has been so warm thus far, we may not get a big exodus of mullet out of our estuaries in the first couple of weeks in April. Instead, the mullet run may not occur until we get more of a cooling climate, possibly at the end of April and into may.

The good thing about the mullet run in autumn period is that we get a lot of travelling fish such as bream. These fish are found on all of our ocean beaches and rocks, and inevitably make their way into the estuaries, particularly the Swansea area, where they enter into the channel and the lake during this time. Typically, they’ll be here through into June. This cycle of mullet can linger on until then, unless we get a big rain event (which isn’t anticipated).

Already we’ve started to see a good improvement in catches of tailor – another autumn fish which comes into our area at this time of year. These fish are getting caught off ocean rock platforms early in the mornings, and they’re also along the beaches in relatively good numbers. This will likely continue right through until June along our ocean rock platforms and beaches, with early mornings and late afternoons being the ideal times to fish.

The lake has now started to get quite a few schools of tailor, but they’re not big fish yet; a lot are around 35-45cm. However, the bigger fish should be just around the corner. We can expect specimens around

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Catches of lake squid have been inconsistent, but we have seen aa slight increase in numbers, which I anticipate will continue through April. The population took a real hit from the floods, so we have to be careful not to overdo it, especially during their current spawning period. Please don’t load up continuously in this time – just take what you need. The floods killed a lot of squid larvae, and the population needs all the help it can get to recover from this loss. Hopefully next year we’ll see good numbers.

We have had an exceptional run of yellowtail kingfish in our lake, with a by some escapees from the kingfish farms up at Port Stephens, which got smashed up a couple of seasons ago with big seas.

The offshore scene has been fairly quiet lately. The water temperature has been a telling factor: 24°C at the island and up to as high as 26°C on the shelf.

It’s been a great season for small blacks. I call them ‘COVID fish’, because I suspect the COVID shutdowns in allowed the black marlin to spawn in greater numbers. Marlin grow very fast, and a 1.5m+ fish may be less than 2 years old. The big numbers of these young fish bodes well for the future of this fishery.

That said, the season has now tapered off; there are still a few blacks around but they have become quite sparse. If you do catch one, be sure to swim it before release so it can recover. Your goal is for it to swim away strongly, and not just roll over after being torpedoed in.

We are hoping to see a late run of striped marlin as the water temperature settles through April. It’s a key time when we start to see blue marlin as well.

There are some smaller mahimahi (dolphinfish) on the FADs and the trap line. There are a lot of undersize fish around, with a few 3-5kg models in the mix. All in all, it hasn’t been a great season for mahimahi.

There are a lot of bonito being caught off the surface coastally, but the majority are little fish up to around 8” long (I call them ‘next year’s fish’, because in 12 months’ time they will be a good size). A few bigger bonito are mixed in with the undersize ones. Some days you’ll catch a 0.5kg fish, and then a 4kg fish on the next cast.

1-2kg around late April and early May when the weather cools further.

When the tailor (and to a lesser extent, salmon) start working the bait schools in the lake, it’s time for a different approach. The use of lures such as soft plastics or vibes jigged on the bottom around the schools can pay dividends, down to 9m depth. You can enjoy some good fishing this way in late autumn and into winter (in summer it’s more about slow rolling). When bait schools are being pulverised by tailor, scavengers like flathead, bream, squire and jewfish like to hang around underneath. It’s a prime spot for these opportunistic species to snap

It’s been a great season for black marlin. Image courtesy of danguilfoyle range of size classes being caught (remember the minimum size is 65cm). The kings have been throughout the lake, and schools of very good fish over a metre long have been working the edges, bays and jetties, crunching the baitfish. Swansea Bridge has been a real hotspot, and anglers have been catching plenty on live yellowtail and live squid, plus big plastics, poppers and stickbaits.

It’s great to see the kingfish make a bit of a comeback. You have to wonder whether COVID has positively impacted some species like the kingies, thanks to the break from angling pressure. Stocks may have also been bolstered

At the time of writing, I haven’t had any reports of cobia caught locally. A couple of cobes were caught north of us, but nothing off Swansea. However, April is typically a time when we see the cobia coming down a little bit more. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see few caught this month, particularly as the water is warmer offshore. There’s certainly plenty for them to eat, with the bonito being in good numbers.

Bottom fishing for snapper has been very quiet. We are hoping for better things as we move into late April and May, when the water temperature should drop off a couple of degrees. You’re not going to find lots of snapper in the warm water we have now; they like cooler water around 19-21°C.

The trag had a very strong start at the end of the year, and then in JanuaryFebruary the catch rates