Tracking down the bait schools

Kevin Gleed

captainkev@wildernessfishingtours.com

It has been great to see some nice warm days as we head into Easter. Before you know it, the winter months will be on us once again, so let’s savour the warmth while we can. The Easter period will see the town busy once again before the quiet winter period sets in.

Over the past month there have been some great reports on the local fishing, with those anglers who fish here regularly having some excellent results on a variety of species. Still, the fishing in the lake is always challenging, even for regular anglers. You may need to do a bit of searching to find the fish, and once you’ve done that you can focus your efforts there.

The best approach is to use your sounder to find the bait concentrations, and the bigger fish won’t be far behind. Some of the regular fishos to the area have been doing just that and having a ball – sounding up the baitfish in an area and then bagging out on eating-size flathead. They have also been catching some great yellowfin bream, with the stand-out lures being black vibes. On a recent trip they picked up two good jewfish (mulloway) of around 70cm, both caught on the vibe. An added bonus was turning up the next day at the same time and catching another jewfish – a tactic that often works. salmon and tailor are coming into the estuary on the incoming tide, giving anglers using metal lures lots of action. Other common captures in the estuary are salmon, trevally, small snapper and a lot of eels.

The entrance is still flowing well, and Harrisons channel out to the John Bull marker has seen numbers of flathead caught along with some sand whiting and yellowfin bream. Good fish are being caught through into the Top Lake and up to Gypsy Point, but once again, finding the areas to catch fish takes time.

Fishing above Gypsy Point into the rivers is a good option on those windy days. Just remember that this area is shallow, and navigating can be tricky.

Fishing offshore for flathead, both tigers and sandies, has been good, with regular fishers bagging out.

The surf beaches are nearly always a great place to fish, and this past month was no exception. The land-based gamefishing anglers have been having a great time catching plenty of big sharks. Most of the sharks have been bronze whalers. The big ones are catch-and-release, but the smaller ones can be great eating, so naturally these anglers occasionally keep a bronzie for the table.

For the rest of the surf fishing fraternity, the beach is also producing plenty of salmon, tailor, flathead, stingray, and gummy shark.

Offshore is fishing well, with plenty of flathead, salmon, gurnard, squid, octopus, pinkie snapper, barracoota, morwong and gummy shark. For the anglers who prefer a little more action, the kingfish are still here in good numbers, with the occasional bluefin tuna swimming past. As long as the baitfish remain plentiful, the predators will stay and the good fishing will continue.

Gummy sharks are still on the cards, with fish being caught out around Gabo Island and down towards the Aerials.

The local beaches have seen some good fish caught, with the entrance area fishing well for whiting and yellowfin bream.