Sydney North

SYDNEY NTH Steve Winser

With the water temperatures dropping and hopefully a final end in sight of this relentless La Niña weather pattern, we could be seeing return to some sort of normalcy (touch wood).

Some solid kingfish are present in the harbour just now. Most of them have been caught in the lower reaches, but a few are starting to push up into the upper reaches as I write this.

The drop in water temperatures has seen the squidding improve, with some XOS size ones over the kelp and ribbon weed beds as they get ready to spawn.

Green or orange jigs in the 2.5-3.5 size range have been working well for us. Usually we fish cut baits in the harbour but live squid also have been producing some good fish. A mix of the two baits is worthwhile.

The fish have been ranging anywhere from 50cm through to 1m+, all swimming together. For this reason, it’s prudent to fish heavy because you don’t want to be caught with your pants down when the meteries show up. We are currently running 10,000 Saragosas loaded with 24kg braid and 24kg leaders.

The washes are starting to work well as the water temperatures drop, with some solid blue groper and black drummer. We like to fish bread and prawn baits under bobby corks for the drummer, and crabs for the groper.

We are currently using 8ft rods and 15kg braid – although even this has proven a little lightweight recently.

There are still a few solid bonito mixed in with some big tailor and trevally on the lower harbour structure and wrecks. We have been fishing these with cut pillies in a pilly cube trail.

Next month will see the kingfish push further into the upper reaches of the harbour. The squidding should stay consistent, and the washes will only get better from here on out.

We are also hoping to see the large bream and blackfish push up into that shallow water again.

Tight lines! • Fishing Sydney Tours takes pride in tailoring every trip to the customer’s preferred species, style of angling, and level of expertise, all within a friendly and relaxed atmosphere at competitive rates. There are some excellent fishing spots that can be accessed straight off Sydney, and Rob with a solid fish from the lower reaches.

we will show you where. We offer harbour, wash and offshore fishing for species ranging from kingfish and mulloway through to snapper and mahimahi. For more information go to www. fishingsydneytours.com. au, call 0481 120 600 or look up ‘Fishing Sydney Tours’ on Facebook.

From page 52 7-15kg, Daiwa 5000 BG MQ, 20-30lb J-Braid Grand, and 20-30lb FC fluorocarbon leader. An outfit like this is a dream to use and lethal on the pigs!

Spots to try are Little Bluey Ledges at Manly, North Curl Curl boulders and ledges, Warriewood’s boulders on the north face and the Warriewood high ledge, approximately 150m east of the beach.

July is also a good month for snapper. Distance casting for this species is a relatively common way for rock anglers to fish for them. When distance casting, try to find spots that are not too snaggy because you can lose a lot of tackle. South Curl Curl’s high ledge (especially when there is a 2m+ swell from the south), Flat Rock ledges in flatter seas, and Mona Vale Pool front ledge are good spots to try. Squid strips, salted slimy mackerel and striped tuna fillets are all great baits.

BEACH FISHING

Some good size tailor and salmon have been the main predators on the surf beaches of late, often picking up large baits meant for jewfish. Tailor have sharp, severing teeth used to either chop their prey’s tail off, chop the fish in half, or even swallow it whole. Salmon have a padded mouth used to grab small fish and swallow them whole. A 1.5kg tailor or salmon would attack a mullet, yellowtail, or whiting up to 27cm+! However, on westerly winds start making the water temperature really plummet. For now, Manly, Dee Why, Collaroy, Bungan, and Palm beaches have enough whiting to keep you enthusiastic. Bream are also being caught, as well as some trevally.

For the tailor and salmon, all of the beaches mentioned

the days when the baitfish are only 2-5mm long, the salmon and tailor will gorge themselves on tiny fish. Salmon can be especially fussy at times, refusing any presentation that’s bigger than the tiny fish they’re focussed on.

Spinning lures off the beaches is a great way to fish, and it’s an active way to search from gutter to gutter. You can have one outfit that may suit all sizes of metal lures in your tackle box, or you can have two outfits – one 6-8kg outfit suitable for metals up to about 60g, and a 2-3kg outfit which can cast tiny metals when the fish are eating small baitfish. A 6-8kg outfit will cast a 40g metal a good distance, but it won’t cast a 15-20g metal at the distance you may need. The lighter outfit will cast a small metal much further.

A set of 3/0-5/0 ganged hooks with a whole pilchard works well for tailor and salmon. Here’s a tip – when baiting up a whole pilchard on gang hooks, avoid putting the second hook through the belly part of the pilchard, as that is the gut cavity. It will tear, and your damaged pilchard will not handle the cast and the current/waves/ turbulence as well, and will fall apart quicker.

The vast majority of whiting anglers gave up fishing for whiting a month or more ago. However, these fish are still available on some beaches. When the whiting are in season you can pretty much catch them on any of the surf beaches in Sydney, but now it is mostly a few select beaches holding whiting. A lot of these fish are semi residential. In August they will be fewer in number, especially if the are worth a try, along with Curl Curl. • For rock and beach guided fishing or tuition in the northern Sydney region, visit www. bellissimocharters. com.au, email alex@ bellissimocharters.com.au or call Alex Bellissimo on 0408 283 616.