Sydney South

SYDNEY SOUTH Gary Brown

gbrown1@iprimus.com.au

Everyone is over the stupid weather we have been experiencing over the last year. One day it’s fine and sunny, then the rain and the wind hit us, then it’s sunny again... only to turn lousy again the next day or two. This really makes it hard for those anglers who can only fish on the weekends.

Even though I’m lucky enough to be able to fish mid-week, I make sure I am prepared well in advance, so that when the opportunity arises, I can get out and have a fish. My freezer in the garage is stocked up with prawns, pilchard, salted tuna, garfish, mullet and chicken done in parmesan cheese. I have a number of 2L buckets of chicken pellets ready to go, and my tackle boxes have been restocked.

I have a tackle box (small 24 compartment tray) for beach, rock, shore-based estuary, luderick and one for offshore fishing. As for my boat, I have everything covered, from bait to lure fishing for bream, trevally, flathead, luderick, bass, estuary perch, tailor, salmon, kingfish and mulloway. It’s just a matter of hooking up the boat, filling it up with fuel and taking off.

Just recently I was invited out on a mate’s boat for a fish on Botany Bay to chase bream, trevally and flathead for a feed. Even

Tony with his mixed bag caught on a trip with the author. Tony was very pleased with his catch, as he had not been fishing for about 10 years.

BREAM SERIES 2022 ROUND 1: 28th August • Sydney Harbour ROUND 5: 18th September • Botany Bay GRAND FINAL: 9th October • Sydney Harbour Team Bream series consisting 5 rounds plus Grand Final • $150 entry per team. • Grand Final $200 per team. • Minimum $100 of entries back as prize money. • Grand Final 100% of entries.

There have been a few estuary perch around of late.

though the weather forecast was lousy, we ventured out. The forecast was for 60% rain and wind from the south.

The forecast was right for most of the morning as it did fine up at about 11am, and we managed three dusky flathead and one trevally. However, Glenn did get very wet as he forgot to take out his wet weather gear. Plus, I have never come across a boat with so much stuff in it that I was tripping over it!

Scotty Lyons was out on the same day and he also managed to get a few flathead, trevally and blue swimmer crabs. His clients for that day had also forgotten to take wet weather gear with them.

The fishing in the bay will start to slow down a bit over the next couple of months so you’ll need to plan your trips in advance. The trevally, which have been around that 26-31cm size, should start to get a bit bigger in the coming weeks. Just remember when you are at anchor, make sure you have a small but steady berley trail going.

Places to try would be the Fisheries marks in Yarra Bay, Trevally Alley, Bare Island on a run-out tide, The Drums in the middle of the bay, the oil wharf, the sticks and wide off Towra.

Further upstream you could try any of the bridges in the Georges River, Lugarno, Soily Point, Picnic Point and Cattle Duffers. Bream, whiting, trevally, flathead and the odd salmon or two can be caught at these places.

Offshore there should be snapper, morwong, pigfish, trevally and sweep on the close reefs. Pilchards, mullet, tuna and squid would be the best baits.

If you have a boat that can get you out to the Browns Mountain you could try for blue-eyed cod and gemfish. Try trolling on the way out for tuna and bonito. Small plastic skirts should do the job.

The cooler months of the year are when the rocks will start to fire for trevally, bream, drummer and luderick. I love this type of fishing because all I need is to take is one outfit, a shoulder bag, a kilo of peeled prawns and a small tackle tray. This way I can easily move about from spot to spot on the rocks.

If you prefer to fish off the beach you can do the same, only you will need some half pilchards or beach worms and you will be well on your way to getting a feed of whiting, dart, bream and maybe a tailor or salmon.

The beaches in Bate Bay would be worth a shot when the breeze is from the north, and the beach/rocks at Kurnell would be worth a shot during a southerly. There are a number of beaches that are worth a look at in the Royal National Park. At the time of putting this report together, Garie Beach and Wattamolla are closed due to a couple of big land slips and holes in the road. So, check with the park to see if they are open before you go to them.

Don’t forget to keep those small reports and photos coming in to gbrown1@ iprimus.com.au.