New South Wales Fishing Monthly - August 2015

PLENTY OF FATHERS’ DAY GIFT IDEAS INSIDE

Techniques

NEW!

Catching XOS flathead on plastics • Fishing secondary structure • Bait fishing basics • Do your fish shrink?

• Rigging squid skewers • Knot tying pictorials •

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Tried and Tested

TABS Jumbo 5.1 CC/Mercury • Jackaroo 455 Tournament/ Yamaha • Horizon 428 Stryker/Suzuki • Daiwa’s new J-Braid •

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Black Magic 60lb Tough Fluorocarbon leader was used by Matthew Hearn to catch this 18lb mulloway while fishing at Salt Creek, SA.

A Black Magic Squid Snatcher速 3.0 brown/red was used by Diego Gadea to take this impressive squid at Point Cook, VIC.

Neil Mackenzie landed this personal best, 7kg snapper while fishing in Port Phillip Bay using a Black Magic 6/0 C Point速 hook and Black Magic 20lb Supple Trace.

Lee Rayner landed this redfin on Black Magic 4kg+ Rainbow Braid and Black Magic 8lb Fluorocarbon leader while fishing in South Australia.

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Black Magic 60lb Tough Trace was used by Adam Epifanis to catch this Shark Mackerel. Adam was fishing from Steep Point, WA.

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August 2015, Vol. 21 No. 1

Contents BYRON COAST The Tweed 46 Ballina 45 The Clarence 44 COFFS COAST Coffs Harbour Coffs Game South West Rocks

43 42 41

MACQUARIE COAST Port Macquarie 40 Forster 38 Harrington 37 Port Stephens 35 HUNTER COAST Hunter Coast 34 Swansea 33 Central Coast 32 SYDNEY The Hawkesbury 14 Pittwater 16 Sydney North 17 Sydney Rocks and Beach 22 Sydney Harbour 18 Sydney South 24 Botany Bay 20 ILLAWARRA COAST Illawarra 53 Nowra 54 BATEMANS COAST Batemans Bay 55 Narooma 56 Bermagui 58

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25

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From the Editor’s Desk...

It’s a difficult time to publish magazines in the middle of winter. We’re rugged up in the office in July, hearing stories of snow in Queensland, putting out stories relevant to August and giving you ideas about what to do in September and beyond! Although a lot of us enjoy the spoils of some sneaky winter spots, it’s no secret that nearly everyone enjoys the warming trend of spring, the longer days and the change of the guard for dominant species.

The ABT bream competitors showed what winter fishing was all about at Mallacoota. It was windy, it was cold and the bream bit their heads off. All the results of the winter ABT events are detailed inside.

Including exactly what lures you need to get to emulate their great captures.

ME FISH SHRUNK! Ross Winstanley, though, hasn’t put the colder months to waste. His feature and literature review inside about fish shrinkage is a real eye opener for anglers and enforcement officers alike.

We’ve all heard stories – from the boat ramp to the tournament stage – about ‘how my fish shrunk’. It’s obviously not all imaginary!

FATHERS’ DAY There’s only a couple of times of the year that dads can really pass the hint about what they really need to keep them happy on Fathers’ Day. We’ve done our bit to try and help with a couple of pages of ideas inside. You know the deal – tick the product you like and leave it in a conspicuous place.

ATFA PRODUCTS The annual trade-only AFTA trade show on the Gold Coast happened just after we went to print with this

issue. If you follow Fishing Monthly Magazines or www. tacklejunkie.fish on-line, you’d probably be aware of our live AFTA coverage. Because the public can’t get into the show, we do our best to do video clips of all the latest and coolest products and upload them daily from the show.

Right now, you should be able to check out all of the bits and bobs and all of the winners of the Best of Show awards on the Fishing Monthly YouTube channel – and, of course, in the September issue of the magazine. With our short lead-times, you’ll find that Fishing Monthly is usually the first to print with these.

ON THE SOCIAL MEDIA BANDWAGON When we talk with readers in the field and at the various shows up and down the east coast, we know that not everyone is proficient with social media. The fact is,

though, that hooking up to our Facebook and Instagram feeds gives you the latest information about what’s happening in the fishing world, instantly.

If someone gives you an iPad for Fathers’ Day, get them to hook you up with Fishing Monthly Magazines (Facebook) or qfmfishingmonthly (Instagram) and enjoy the feeds.

LOVING THE READER PICS Every month you might notice that we run an assortment of reader pics in the magazine. We love getting images from readers. And there’s nothing like seeing yourself in print.

If you have some pics that you want included, send them to me at s.morgan@ fishingmonthly.com.au and we’ll make you famous. For a month at least!

Tight Lines.

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Sub-Editors: Glen Booth, Bob Thornton, Simon Goldsmith Publishers: Steve Morgan Matthew Drinkall

Office Manager: Marie Dykstra

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OUR OUR COVER COVER

Vicki Lear with an 85cm dusky flathead caught on 4lb leader from St Georges Basin. Caught while fishing a bream tournament.

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NEW SOUTH WALES FISHING MONTHLY

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SPECIAL FEATURES Bait Fishing Basics Father’s Day Gift Guide Catching Big Flathead Fish Shrinkage

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REGULAR FEATURES Back to Basics 12 Boating 85 Dam Levels 69 Fun Page 85 Kayak Fishing 62 Tides 94 Trade Directory 92 Tournaments 74 What’s New Fishing 26 What’s New Boating 84

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What bait, mate?

HUNTER COAST

Gary Earl earlybird13@optusnet.com.au

I have found that the over the 30 years of writing fishing articles, we have really focused on what is in fashion at any given time.

At the moment, any fisherman will tell you it’s soft plastics, but if you go back 10, 20 or 40 years it was all about a diving hardbody lure made from wood or some sort of plastic fitted with a bib.

Then there were chrome and brass lures, machined, and used to jig and troll.

They have been around since the 1950s and ’60s, and are still being used today. They either had a kink in them to swim along or were dazzled up with 3-dimensional stickers to reflect the sun.

Then the new battle blades came along; they showed up about 10 years ago and gave you the option of a hole at the top end of their body to provide either a deep or shallow run.

The new way is to catch fish on poppers — seeing a fish in the shallows and

Introducing

hoping it will rise to the occasion and snatch the popper from the surface in an explosive display.

Well that’s great fishing in anyone’s book and all these methods work

very well, and we really do have to hand it to the lure craftsmen. Taking nothing from them, they have tricked up the fishing scenario for the future and are probably saving a lot of

Fresh bait all collected and ready to fish. Almost any estuary and reef fish will take these baits. The time spent collecting them was long, but well worth it.

A clump of mussels taken from the waterline off a small pier. They have to be used straight away as they go slushy very fast, but bream and whiting love them.

baitfish from being taken from our waterways. The old tricks of streamcraft used in rivers, estuaries and lakes are becoming lost in the game of fishing, which really is a shame.

I know that one of the first things I did as a father was to teach my kids how to find and gather fresh baits,

8

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small smelt, cicadas, and other bugs such as grasshoppers and crickets.

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whatever the environment they were in. On the beach it was worms and pipis, off the rocks crabs, cunje or fresh green weed, then around the lakes cockles, bloodworms, trapped poddy mullet, squid, prawns or small herring and whitebait.

On a river I showed them how to get shrimp, yabbies,

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A cockle dug from the mud opened up and ready to catch a bream or whiting.

A live herring taken in a poddy mullet trap. This was fed down a channel in the hope of hooking a mulloway or large flathead.

Nowadays I look back on what I have shown them and it has paid dividends fourfold, as the cost of fishing for our family is very low and every time I take them out they know exactly where and how to get them. They still enjoy chasing soldier crabs across the flats, shuffling for pipis, trapping small fish,

or getting insects from trees and grasslands. With the baits being so natural, well the fishing has been usually very good. I really don’t think there’s anything more satisfying than collecting your own bait and then catching fish on it.

There are a few tricks with getting some of the baits. Most are related to

to find them. Look for an area with shell grit or small bumps on the sand. Without shoes on, it is as simple as doing the old 50s twist or the new duck dance. As you

sink your feet into the sand you will feel the shells, and a bit of digging will reveal them. Sometimes as 4WDs run over sand they push down with so much force

that the area around a pipi can open up and you will see a hole that is pushing out small bubbles. This is a sure sign the shellfish is underneath.

the tide phase or what time of year it is, as there are a lot of factors that influence what you are going to catch as bait. Warm water, travelling schools of fish and current are all obstacles.

BEACH On the beach, the easiest bait to collect are pipis.

On the low to about half tide rising is the best way

DARTER JIGHEADS

Worms keep longer in wet sand wrapped in paper. Bream go nuts for them, as do whiting. These bream were taken at night, and the trick was an open bail arm to let the finicky fish eat the bait without feeling any pressure.

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Medium size mullet caught on a yellowtail jig by adding bread to the hooks.

Mullet can be used as cubes for bream, whole for mulloway and kingfish, or they can be filleted to drift along for flathead. The frames can be set in pots for mud and blue swimmer crabs, so they’re a very versatile baitfish.

The other beach bait, worms, aren’t as easy to get hold of. They take a bit of practice to catch, half tides are the best, and an old fish frame in a keeper net swung back and forth in the waves is the way to lure them to the surface. Once the water recedes you will see a

triangle of water going back down the beach over the top of their exposed heads.

A hand-held bait such as a pipi or piece of squid has to be offered to the worm to make it rise further up. Then, either by hand or with a pair of worming pliers, grab the head and

hope for the best. A slow constant lift is best, as if you grab and pull too hard you will end up with just an inch-long head every time.

ROCKS Depending on where you live, it is pretty easy to get bait on the rocks.

Some city platforms

A squid scooped at night while prawning. They are fast, so quick reflexes are needed. Spotlight to dazzle them and scoop from behind.

are completely bare and barren of bait, but out of the built-up areas bait is in great abundance. Crabs live in rock pools and on the side of rocks falling into the ocean, weed for luderick and drummer are common also. It is found all over the place as the

more we pump rubbish into the water the thicker it grows, a bit like fertilising your plants at home.

Crabs should be spiked with either a long slender knife or coat hanger, as grabbing them bare handed can see some nasty bites.

They can be enticed out

of thin crevices with a bait of anything with an odour.

Weed can be scraped off the rocks with a sharp knife and, mixed with sand and bread, can be used as berley or bait on the spot.

Cunjevoi is down around the tidal mark and can be cut off with a sharp knife, with

A flathead that was enticed by a small live poddy mullet. They take them well down, so most of the time you have to keep the fish or cut it loose with the hook still inside.

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the inner soft flesh used as bait. Always use common sense when collecting this bait, as it’s usually right in the wash zone.

ESTUARIES The amount of bait in the estuaries is amazing — small mullet, whitebait, herring, cockles, bloodworms and yabbies are all fairly easy to catch.

Starting with nippers or yabbies, a lot of sandy and mud areas hold them; it’s just a matter of looking for the numerous holes on low tide. You extract them with a pump brought from your local tackle shop.

The lowest of tides are the best, and the longer the pump, the better. It takes a few goes to get used to

it, but getting your limit is quite easy Bloodworms are another easy to get bait.

Use your yabby pump around mud areas and look for holes.

A little more complex is trapping fish in clear plastic containers known as mullet traps. They will get a variety of bait if set

in places where you see small fish in good amounts.

Half tides to the rise is the time to set them, as the fish move up with the tides looking for food over

numbers of mullet. Put some crushed up bread in the trap and a handful of crumbs around the area to attract the fish to it, wait about 10 minutes and check

shoreline. Small bumps or great amounts of white shells are the evidence that you are looking for. Simply dig them out and with a sharp knife pry them open,

A simple plastic fish trap. It snared the small mullet and a couple of sandy sprats.

Prawns can be seen by the shine of their eyes at night and scooped up with a simple net. They’re great for bream, whiting and most fish that swim.

10

AUGUST 2015

the newly covered sand.

They need a float with your name, phone number or boat number attached.

For bait I use bread mostly, but have seen sweet corn from a tin catch good

the trap. Make sure you cup both ends when lifting it up as they can jump out.

Winter is the best time for mullet.

On mud banks, cockles are found along the

Prawns and squid can be netted of a night with the aid of a light over sandy patches in the estuaries.

Summer is the best time to find them. A simple net for about $5 will see

you get more value from it in the amount of bait you will catch. It’s not as simple as it sounds, but with a little practice you will start seeing the eyes of prawns shine in the light and you can get them to flick up from the sand and scoop them.

Squid lay around these areas feeding on the prawns.

They take off fast though, so quick reflexes are a handy tool. You can scoop them with the same net.

I suppose finding baits is rewarding, and for a

fisherman that hasn’t put a lot of effort into getting his own bait, well I think he is missing out on an important part of his fishing life.

The seasons always match the bait to the fish; for instance, in winter as already mentioned, mullet are very thick, so I use the small ones to live bait bream and the odd flathead that are around. In summer you use them for flathead as the numbers of these fish move into the estuaries.

Ya b b i e s and bloodworms are around

most of the year, as are the shellfish under the sand and mud. Usually used for bream and whiting, they are a great bait. The crabs from the rocks are a great winter option for groper and morwong, the weed is a winter option for luderick and drummer, and so is the cunjevoi. Pipis are used on the beach on which they are found, mostly for whiting and bream. Just remember, you are not allowed to leave the beach with pipis, so just take what you need as the number of beaches

with them still prolific is slowly dwindling.

A quick look in your state’s saltwater fishing guide booklet or website is worth doing, as different areas can have different rules. National Parks have different rules also, so a bit of check on the area you are in may save you a fine.

All in all, bait gathering can be great fun. Kids especially love it, and it gets them out of your hair while you fish. If they’re supplying you endless bait from around you, well we know that it’s

A great expanse of sandflat that would have plenty of fish skimming over it, and prawns and squid at night. This would be a great place to drift with the motor up.

y Mantara 7 G 02 “Strike” rized Glass Pola

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going to work as it’s what the fish are feeding on.

Probably the only thing you have to worry about is standing on something such

as a numb ray, stingray or jellyfish, blue bottle, or the worst, a blue ring octopus.

Keep an eye out and explain these dangers to your kids.

A sign such as this really speaks for itself.

Don’t take bait from the area, as it could hold a water-borne virus dangerous to humans.

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Take a kid fishing!

NSW STH COAST

Steve Starling www.starlofishing.com

Starlo espouses the benefits and identifies a few of the pitfalls involved in taking kids fishing, and offers some tips that can make the entire experience more enjoyable for everyone involved.

As keen anglers, most of us love the idea of getting our kids or someone else’s “hooked” on the sport of recreational fishing, and sharing the great outdoors with youngsters as we pursue this wonderful pastime together. But the fact is, with all the competition from other sources these days for the attentions and passions of our younger generation,

we need to be rather clever about how we package the fishing experience if we’re going to truly sell the concept to kids.

There are many motivations for taking kids fishing, ranging from the altruistic and generous desire to share our passion, right through to a rather more selfish desire to get out fishing more often ourselves by dragging the rug rats along. Whatever the precise reason, we need to accept that adult-style fishing experiences can be daunting and unappealing for kids.

Standing for hours on a windswept beach in the dead of night waiting for a run from that elusive jewfish, or braving the ice cold chill of an alpine lake in mid-winter to chase a few trout might not be the best choices for that all-important first outing

Top: Take the time to teach proper fish handling practices and instil respect for the rules and regulations, too: kids represent the future of our sport.

Above Left: Taking a group of young mates fishing can be extremely rewarding — if a little hectic! Above Right: Kids’ fishing outfits don’t need to be expensive, but don’t burden them with cheap and nasty combos, either.

bigfishgraphics.com.au 12

AUGUST 2015

It’s important for youngsters to learn that fishing is also about mateship and camaraderie. with the kids. The fact is, after such a start, you may find it very difficult to get them to go with you next time you suggest a family fishing holiday!

Personally, I reckon most adults need to totally re-think their take on selling fishing to youngsters. To begin with, we must always remember that kids generally have shorter attention spans than adults, and a greater need for immediate gratification.

That definitely doesn’t mean seven or eight hours sitting under the hot sun grasping a trolling rod, or shivering on a river bank waiting for a big bite that may never come!

In my experience, kids need to be doing fun stuff and catching something — anything — right from the word go. It doesn’t matter if the fish they catch are tiddlers, or even unwanted nuisance species by our lofty adult standards, so long as the kids are actually catching fish on a regular basis. When they’re not catching, get them involved in berleying, bait collecting or some other hands-on activity, rather than simply sitting and waiting for a strike that might never come.

This was the greatest single lesson I learnt when my own kids were growing up and discovering fishing.

For them, pumping yabbies or nippers for bait (complete with yabby pump fights that often saw them squirting each other with mud and water!) were far more fun than actually fishing with those baits, especially in the early days. Let them do the stuff they enjoy! Don’t project your standards and expectations onto them.

When the actual fishing process starts, deliberately aim low (again, by your standards) to ensure immediate action. Use little hooks and small baits, and consider the breadberley-and-float approach.

It almost always results in the kids catching fish, even

if they’re all tiddlers and throwbacks.

Keep those impressionbuilding first few fishing outings with the kids fairly short, avoid extreme weather conditions, and consider incorporating a treat like an ice cream or their favourite take-away meal on the way home.

Be sure to take a camera (or phone), too, and record the event so they can share it with their friends. Do everything you can to create happy, positive memories.

be. Keep it interesting and fun for them!

2. Get the kids involved in every stage of the fishing process, including gear preparation, bait gathering, mixing and distributing berley, fish cleaning and tackle maintenance.

3. Don’t project your hopes, dreams and expectations onto kids. Fishing achievements that seem significant to you might mean very little to them, and vice versa.

4. Keep those first outings reasonably short and avoid

You can’t beat the satisfaction of landing that first decent fish!

Follow my five basic rules below, and I can practically guarantee you’ll have the ankle-biters queuing up for another shot at fishing next weekend! How good would that be?

1. Remember: kids have shorter attention spans than adults. Generally, the younger they are, the shorter that attention span will

extreme weather conditions.

Slip, slop, slap, take plenty of drinking water and fruit juice and pack some favourite snacks.

5. Consider rewarding the kids with a trip to the movies, playground, amusement park or favourite eatery on your way home from a successful fishing outing, or later that evening.

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Lots of fish activity to warm your winter THE HAWKESBURY

Dan Selby dan@sydneysportfishing.com.au

We have been blessed with quite pleasant weather this winter, through plenty of big high pressure systems delivering stable, windfree days. Calm weather makes for great lure casting and this is where I have been focussing my efforts most days.

The ability to have a matching bait imitation in the form of a lure, whether hard or soft, is quite beneficial on an early bite that you would miss if you were sourcing bait at first light.

Mulloway have been the main focus, but it’s hard to ignore the crazy bream action we have been getting on the lures. Most sessions are seeing fish around the 40cm mark, with some nearing 50! The majority have been caught deep on rock walls and reefs from Bar Point to the heads.

They will be at their slowest right now with

water temps at their peak low, so retrieves should reflect their lack of aggression. Soft plastic grub tails like squidgy wrigglers and Z-Man GrubZ are invaluable when coupled with some scent and a slow, subtle retrieve.

Vibes are also great when searching deep for that big blue nose bruiser. There are a lot on the market to choose from, but you’re looking for blades that vibrate with a minimum of movement to stay right in the strike zone near the bottom.

The mulloway have been biting well, with a lot of smaller soapies turning up through June, They have taken a back seat now as the bigger models have a better tolerance to the low water temps. August has always produced multiple 1m+ mulloway for my clients and it’s shaping up well for the trend to continue this season. Covering the water at the key times is crucial to success and the Hawkesbury is great for dishing up some weird anomalies with regards to tides and predicted times.

There’s nothing like sourcing fresh bait then presenting it under a perfectly weighted float to produce stud Hawkesbury luderick like this.

Heath Robinson with a winter lure-caught mulloway.

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Only time on the water will enhance your knowledge of the Hawkesbury’s tides and the ever-important changes that occur between them.

Luderick are filtering back into the system, with the lower rock walls around Broken Bay producing some nice bags of fat, clean, ocean-run fish.

Fresh cabbage weed seems to be their preference under a correctly weighted float. Moving location if no activity has occurred after around 20 minutes of berleying will help locate active schools. Two anchors can be beneficial

when fishing multiple anglers if the current is slow or eddying in your chosen spot. Most times though, you can get away with a main anchor and a sea anchor out the back to steady the boat against wind/waves.

Flathead will be quite slow this month, but you can still get a few for a feed working the rocky points around Broken Bay and on the sun-warmed flats and associated dropoffs in Cowan Creek. Try to focus effort around the top of the tide, as this brings a slight temperature rise during winter. Lures with inherent tail action like curl tail grubs and paddle tails from 3-5” matched to 1/8-1/4oz jigheads are great assets when chasing flathead in cool water.

Tailor has been active in the lower reaches of Cowan up to and around Cottage Point. The seagulls are a great indication, but there have been many sporadic bustups occurring near major points and into the bays. Having a surface popper or stickbait rigged and ready to cast at a moment’s notice can get you into some great action, and a handsome feed of tailor fillets for the grill or smoker. Salmon can be mixed with the feeding choppers, with silver trevally and the odd snapper found below for those sinking a soft plastic under the surface melee.

Hairtail reports have thinned a bit as winter set

Kyle was on fire this day, nailing 4 mulloway on lures, with his best being this impressive 85cm fish that ate a 3” shad fished on light spin tackle. in, but I’m sure there is still the odd specimen hanging around. Matt Brown got a 7 footer in the main river near Dangar Island on a soft plastic while targeting

mulloway, and I’m sure 1 of my clients had an encounter with another recently that unfortunately bit through his light leader in no time.

Big bream have been common this winter, with deep water fishing producing the better class of fish.

They don’t seem too fussed about lure size either!

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Great weather for fishing PITTWATER

Peter Le Blang plfishfingers@bigpond.com

The colder water has moved into Pittwater and along the coast, but there are some great fish to catch.

With the calm morning conditions it has been easy to spot the schools of salmon and tailor feeding on the surface. It has been easier to find a bite first thing, and as the morning progresses the bite tapers off. Most of the action has been in Broken Bay towards Lion Island and the seagulls give away the location of the fish. The tailor are smashing anything that moves and the salmon (when they show) are eating floated pilchard pieces, small lures of all kinds, and soft plastics.

If you are lucky enough to find a school on the surface, go into stealth mode so you don’t spook the fish. If you get sick of catching the surface feeders, try dropping a 65g micro jig under the school near or touching the bottom; you

may be surprised at what you hook up to.

In previous years we have caught trevally, flathead, kingfish, mulloway and bream on soft plastics and baits, so micro jigs will be a great lure to try, or just have sit in your rod holder while you drift along.

We are still seeing kingfish being caught, but the bite has slowed although the size of fish has increased dramatically. Once again these yellow tailed missiles are only eating when and what they want, which can be a little frustrating. The 1 bait that they find hard to refuse at this time of the year is small live cuttlefish. These little ink machines seem to get slammed when nothing else gets touched.

The areas to target kingfish at the moment is still around Scotland Island, mainly on the western side and along the western shoreline from Longnose Point through to Sinclair Point. The fish seem to be cruising the shallower water near the weed fringes and the rocky shoreline.

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The other species worth chasing on Pittwater are bream, winter whiting and blackfish. The public wharves along Pittwater are starting to see schools of blackfish, which are responding well to green weed. It has been important to berley to get them active. For the wharf fisherman, the better spots are Church Point (wooden wharf) and Careel Bay Wharf. For the boater, Woody or Rocky Point and the edge of the weed beds from Mackerel Beach to West Head have been great places to start.

Hairtail are on the chew again for those that love the cold! The schools have moved around a bit, but once you find a school of yellowtail the hairtail aren’t far away. The deeper water in Jerusalem Bay is a great place to start and once again there is more than hairtail to be caught. While you are floating down pilchard fillets or the like, try placing a larger live bait on the bottom further down the berley trail.

There are mulloway that will find the chance at an easy feed irresistible. Other areas that have seen captures are at Waratah Bay and along Smiths Creek. They seem to be a bit spread out this year, but that is because the bait schools are spread throughout the system as well.

If you want to catch a hairtail but can’t handle the cold nights, try fishing the last part of the afternoon on a tide change (high tide seems to be the best). Quite often you will see a few being caught at the change of the tide, especially if nightfall is within an hour or 2.

Don’t forget that hairtail are quite responsive to lures as well. Flutter jigs, barra spoons and soft plastics will all work. Barra spoons are 1 of my favourite ways to catch hairtail. With the slow sink rate and fluttering action on the drop, these lures stay in the strike zone for a great deal of time. With gentle lifts of the rod, they can be deadly when a school of hairies come to play.

Recently Dave Butfield, Robbie Rochow (Newcastle Knights), Louie (Otto’s Bait and Tackle) and I headed along the coast to target kingfish, and snapper as a backup plan.

The morning started at Newport Reef and ended late in the afternoon at Long Reef.

The day started slowly, but Robbie woke us all up when he cast out his soft plastic, let it hit the bottom and was onto a decent fish as we were downrigging. After a spirited battle a 60cm snapper was brought aboard.

We also managed to find a school of kingfish on the surface at Narrabeen North.

The hoodlums we milling around on the top for a while and took a real liking to live yellowtail. Once again the bite only lasted for a short

time. After an hour or 2 of searching what now seemed like a desert, we finally hit pay dirt. Robbie managed to catch the fish of the day, a lovely specimen of 108cm.

Offshore, the reef fishing has been a bit patchy unfortunately, but will change for the better over the next weeks when the current picks up a little. The old saying of no run no fun is very true for reef fishing.

There are some decent snapper waiting to be caught in the shallower grounds (20-30m) and the bigger fish will be found just before or as the sun rises. After the sun is higher in the sky, the bite can sometimes occur in the deeper water (60-80m), especially around a tide change.

The best bait for snapper at the moment is squid or cuttlefish. If you can anchor at the edge of the reef to gravel or sand so you can drift down the offerings unweighted, you should do well.

The deeper water is seeing morwong, nannygai, trevally and the odd patch of flathead being caught as well.

Pilchards and squid strips seem to be the best baits.

The better reefs for the shallower water are Newport, Mona Vale and Long Reef,

Robbie with his hard-earned kingfish. It was an epic battle, so watch Fish & Hunt to see it. and the deeper water areas such as The Container, The Ordinance Grounds and The Gravel Grounds of Queenscliff are working well when there is a little bit of current.

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Kingfish like this are feeding along the weed edges.

A mixed bag like this can still be caught in Pittwater. Watch for surface activity.

Hawkesbury bumper bars on the prowl SYDNEY NORTH

Darren Thomas

Dead cold winter nights are sufficient incentive for most people to stay at home in front of the heater and watch the idiot box, but up here on the northern beaches there’s a mad kind of fella that loads up the boat and heads off down the Cowan in search of the mysterious and prehistoric hairtail.

Two of these young fellas are Jack Allen and his mate Luke Desylva. The guys headed down the Hawkesbury River for a night session after coming into the store for advice, and landed some of these mythical fish on light gear. Chasing the sabre toothed bumper bars on 8lb braid is a gallant effort. Some 27lb wire at the business end ensured no bite offs would occur, and they used pillies and live

in the anglers’ favour. Now most guys that get the ‘hairy bug’ often stay out all night, but Jack mentioned they were back at the ramp by 10.00pm.

Well done, fellas.

Some warmer than average temperatures are holding back our winter species’ arrival a little, but plenty of fish are on the chew offshore. Some tuna reports are filtering in and great kingfish are still on the bite in close. Vic and the guys from Oceanhunter Sportsfishing have been into the kings all month on live baits of squid and yellowtail, micro jigs, and even strip baits and plastics. Zane Levett fished with them at the 40m mark off Manly recently, landing some good fish over a metre, all of which were tagged and released. The boys were using live yellowtail with good success on the ultimate slow troll, working around structure and schools of bait picked up on the sounder.

your jig, be it Stimulate spray, S Factor or even pilchard gut.

This does 2 things; firstly, it gives the attacking squid a taste of what it thinks is a live creature, even though it may not feel quite right. Secondly, most scents will leave a trail of where they’ve been, therefore summoning any squid that crosses the trail to swim up it.

Pound for pound, squid have the largest eye in the ocean and can pick up movement from a reasonable distance, so make sure you pepper you cast zone, particularly at night.

The calmer days of late have allowed plenty of light watercraft anglers to get out and for me this means ‘hitting the ’yak’. The ability to launch a craft that doesn’t require a boat ramp means you can put it in virtually anywhere with minimal hassle. I grabbed the 2kg and 6kg kits and headed out in search of the elusive soapie mulloway that reside all over the harbour for a bit

Harbour soapies — great fun on light gear.

Jack Allen and Luke Desylva with some Cowan bumper bars. yakkas to land plenty of fish to 1.2m, keeping only a few for the table.

There’s a lot of mystery surrounding these fish and their preferred capture methods, and 1 such mystery of the red glow stick 2’ above the bait worked on this night.

Single hook rigs were also

Sydney Harbour in all its glory has some terrific visibility at the moment, so is holding good schools of fish from the heads to Parramatta.

Plenty of big squid have entered the harbour now and are taking 2.5-3.5 jigs of all colours and brands. Be sure to apply some sort of scent to

of 1-on-1 towing and certainly wasn’t disappointed.

Super clear water and a glass-off meant fishing the deeper water was a good option for an afternoon session, after fellow fisherman George Anastasiadis mentioned he has been catching them deep. I fished with the 6kg rod for the first hour to no avail, but all the action came when I picked up the 2kg. Flathead, bream and trevally all took a liking to the Austackle Sugar Glider in 12-16m of water. Towards the end of the afternoon it was tow time, when a couple of good soapies took a liking to the tiny lure on offer. I wasn’t doing any more than working the sinking stickbait quite slow, like a soft plastic, on and near the bottom.

I’m becoming a big fan of 2kg out of the ’yak for most species; the fight was intense with 6lb leader and tiny hooks, but with a well-set drag the gear did all the work. For those of you after a giggle, the 5 minute fight is on YouTube(Sydney Harbour ghosts on 2kg in the yak) https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=bUSFKTN53Zo Working full time in a tackle store, I want to keep

Zane Levett with a tagged kingfish onboard Ocean Hunter Sportsfishing. you all in the know with the fast moving trends as they hit, and this includes all products that go crazy. I want to finish off this month with a lure review and I think this lure should be in every light tackle armoury for the guys fishing in all depths of salt and fresh chasing bass, yellowbelly, flathead, bream, mulloway and whiting. The Sugar Glider is made by Austackle, whom are a relatively new company making some pretty serious inroads in the fishing industry.

They have plenty of wellpriced gear that is designed for the Australian market. At 5.3g and 45mm in length, this little lure is an absolute workhorse. It can be slow rolled or twitched like a plastic, or jumped across the bottom — basically there is no end to the different methods with which it can be worked.

In the past month we’ve sold out twice as anglers are learning that you don’t need to be a master to make this lure work. These are not an expensive Japanese lure, so they don’t come with the corresponding price tag. At around $13, give them a try.

They come in a variety of colours and having caught fish on most of them in all scenarios (even after midnight), I still haven’t decided on a favourite yet.

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17

Year-round kingies?

SYDNEY HARBOUR

Craig McGill craig@fishabouttours.com.au

There is a great number of kingfish holding in Middle Harbour, and the way things are going it looks like they are staying for winter.

A study done by Fisheries some years back incorporating sonic tagged kings showed that 80 per cent of them left the harbour in late April, making a small migration to the close offshore reefs. No surprises with this result. The info that really stood out to me though, was that the

20 per cent that stayed in the harbour remained right through until next season.

There is no further info as to whether those winter kings were the same fish that then stayed again the next season, lending weight to the theory of ‘resident’ kingfish. To find a small percentage of a given species straying from normal migration patterns is not unusual in nature though.

It aids genetic diversity and safeguards against extinction from natural disaster.

So we are seeing a better run of big winter kings in the harbour and it’s anyone’s guess whether it’s a result of a sustained La Nina cycle or a general increase in kingfish

numbers. Only time will tell.

There is a parallel precedent within the Sydney Australian salmon fishery.

Before the close of the Eden cannery and the easing of commercial pressure, salmon in Sydney were known to be very seasonal. Post revival salmon numbers boomed and their season expanded in both directions, to a point where they are nearly year round. Fingers crossed that this is the direction that the kings are also headed.

August can be a dicey month, but there are a few species that can generally be relied upon to get you out of trouble during these lulls, and they are blackfish,

Sydney Harbour abounds with good luderick habitat, accessible to shore-based and boat fishos alike.

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Big kings like this are becoming more common through the winter months. drummer and groper. These species do require specific baits and tackle though, and really are a much better option when specifically targeted rather than a second option when all else fails.

Blackfish move into the harbours and estuaries during the cooler months and don’t seem to mind the cold, still, clear waters.

They are a schooling fish, so when a concentration is found they can be taken in good numbers. They are respectable fighters, maintain a good average size (around 1 1/2lb), and when skinned and filleted are an excellent feed.

Occasionally blackfish are taken by bream or whiting fishermen on worms or yabbies, but they are primarily vegetarian. (I had a South African customer on board recently and when he found out that they were vegetarian he retorted with strong accent, “What the hell is wrong with them?”)

The 2 most common baits used are cabbage and riverweed. Cabbage is found on ocean rocks and the intertidal zone on the lower reaches of our rivers and harbours. It is best when it is used in the areas where it is found. Likewise with the riverweed, which is found in the upper reaches of rivers near the tidal limit and into the fresh. Having said that, riverweed often works well throughout the system, even around the washes on the lower reaches. Riverweed can often be purchased through tackle and bait outlets, with Parramatta weed being popular statewide. I have never seen cabbage weed available in shops, so you will have to collect it yourself.

The tackle and rig used for blackfish is fairly specialised. The use of long, slow taper rods stems from the fact that blackfishing is done with a float. Long sweeping strikes are often required to pick up the belly that forms in the line between the rod tip and float.

The slow taper is necessary as a cushion to avoid pulling the small hook from the

fish’s mouth.

The choice of reel is personal. I use a threadline, while many still opt for the traditional centrepin. I’ve even seen baitcasters used quite effectively.

There are a few options available in lines. Firstly there’s standard nylon, which sinks in the water causing problems when you go to strike. The stretch in mono is a good thing though, as it helps avoid tearing the small hooks from the fish’s mouth. Gel spun lines are the opposite. They float, but have no stretch. Ultimately, there is a line called Unitech, which is a co-filament nylon that both floats and stretches.

Whichever line you chose, I would recommend a minimum of 4kg breaking strain.

The size and type of float will depend largely on conditions. In perfect conditions (no wind) the lightest, most hydrodynamic float can be used. A good example is a quill float. In windy conditions, a light rig

bean sinker could be used if extra weight is needed, but a split shot will need to be placed on the line to stop the heavier sinker from running right down onto the hook. My favourite hook is a Mustad sneck size 8 or 10.

The amount of drop required under the float will vary. Adjustable float stoppers are used to set the depth. Start with about 4’ under the float and continue to adjust the stopper up, 2’ at a time, until you find the depth at which the fish are feeding.

Luderick can be found throughout a river system, from the freshwater reaches to the heads. Upstream they have a preference for deepwater locations and can be located around weed beds, rocky points, channel edges and man-made structure like bridges, jetties and retaining walls. Downstream they are commonly found around reef systems, rock ledges and breakwalls.

Typical of intertidal feeders, blackfish bite best

Quality luderick like these can be found from the upper reaches through to the heads. will become uncontrollable.

In this case, select a larger float that will carry more weight. More weight down under the water means the rig will move with the current and not the wind.

Floats are usually weighted with split shot type sinkers, although larger floats may require something more substantial. A ball or

on the top half of a run-out tide. A berley consisting of chopped weed and sand dispersed by the handful every 5 or so minutes will vastly improve catches.

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Toothy tailor and others BOTANY BAY

Gabe Quercigrosse gabeandgabe@bigpond.com

Botany Bay is a great attractor of baitfish, and this in turn lures large schools of tailor during the winter months right through to spring. They can be taken both day and night, with the smaller chopper variety more predominant during the day. Best catches are taken on small lures and ganged pillies.

Birds hovering over a feeding school of tailor are a dead giveaway as to their presence. When you spot this, bring the boat slowly up within easy range and cast alongside them or just in front. Retrieve briskly and the lure will almost immediately entice a tailor to strike. When tailor are being taken like this, simply drift with the school, but don’t run over the top as this will scatter them.

Bait fishing with pilchards or garfish is mostly carried out at first

At 1.3kg, that’s a top luderick.

light or into the darker hours. You need a stronger rod than your bream gear, but something with a flexible tip with a line rating of 6-8kg, backed up by a spin reel capable of holding 250m of 6kg line.

Use ganged Mustad 4200 or 4202 in 4/0, but the best I have found are the 4/0 Gamakatsu Gangsters.

They are a superb hook.

Place a number 5 snap swivel on the top hook to eliminate line twist during casting.

Most areas of the bay will produce tailor at night, but I find the most consistent is the Port Botany container area over to the hot water spot just south of the oil refinery wharf at Kurnell. If conditions are good, you can drift round with a floating bait out until you get a hit.

Alternatively, I settle down at anchor, floating baits well away from the boat and occasionally berleying with chopped-up fish pieces. This method works quite well in reasonably deep water.

Anglers fishing along Brighton Beach and the many rocky outcrops that dot the bay, including the small groynes at Kurnell and the Port Botany sea walls, often do very well.

THE BAITS Natural baits take most of the fish in the bay, and a lot you can gather yourself.

I am a believer that the bait you collect is always the best. Worms, pink nippers, squid, cuttlefish, cockles, prawns, garfish and yellowtail are there for the taking.

Cockles are a bait that many anglers ignore, but those in the know constantly catch the larger bream on this shellfish.

Some nice yellowfin are starting to move along the wider grounds.

While you may catch more fish on other baits, cockles will account for the larger ones.

They are easily gathered on low tide on many of the mud and weed flats around the foreshores.

Cockles have a hard shell and are the size of a golf ball. When opened, they discharge a bloodlike fluid, leaving a tough, clam-like flesh. In using, cut into hook size strips, with the gut section trailing from the hook as an added enticer.

On the same weed flats, anglers can pick up bobtail squid and small cuttlefish.

These account for very big bream and school mulloway. Make sure you split the cuttlefish into half a dozen baits. Remove the outer skin for better presentation; this fairly tough bait will overcome pickers, leaving the larger fish to seek it out.

The flats around Quibray and Towra Point will also produce garfish,

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These excellent whiting came from Oatley. with best catches made at night on half to full tide using spotlights and long handle scoop nets.

Bloodworms are the bait for the bay. They can be purchased from bait shops, and while not cheap, it’s all worthwhile as they catch fish. When bought, the worms deteriorate quickly and start to break up. I have found that the broken bits are best kept separate from whole ones, as they tend to bleed quicker and tarnish the water. They must be used first, while whole worms can be kept up to 8 hours live in a soft drink bottle filled with clean salt water.

Pink nippers are the next best bait in the bay and river. They can be taken using a pump on the low tide on the sand flats at San Souci, along Douglas Park flats, the southern side of Tom Uglys, River Oak Bay, Woolooware Bay and Kogarah Bay. Prawns are a seasonal bait and can be taken during the warmer months, but I’ll leave that for the appropriate time. Yellowtail

are 1 of the most sought after baits for mulloway, kingfish and larger tailor. To catch them, try the entrance to Cooks River, in front of Towra at the Patches, the Port Botany seawall, the cove on the western side of the reclamation wall, Bumborah Point in Yarra Bay, the artificial reefs, and Watts Reef.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN JULY? The fishing in the bay has been very ordinary, with not too many fishos trying their luck. The bream have shut down for some unknown reason and are hard to locate, even with the use of rich berley. The cove on the western side of the Port Botany reclamation wall is an excellent possie to get live bait, but there are class bream and snapper to be taken by casting close to the rocks. Trevally are always available near the green channel marker and respond well to boiled wheat and pollard berley.

Flathead can be taken on the drift in Yarra and Woolooware bays, with

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and you’ll find them a lot close to rocky walls and mangroves.

Whiting should make a welcome return to the scene, especially at night, inhabiting the cockle beds in front of Connells Point and Kyle Bay. You’ll also find them at the entrance to the Woronora,

upper reaches of the Georges, with Deepwater Reef, the M5 Bridge and Chipping Norton Lake likely possies.

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21

Blackfish in abundance SYD ROCK & BEACH

Alex Bellissimo alex@bellissimocharters.com

A great way to start the day is with some exercise — whether it’s a walk, swim, run, bike ride or preferably going for a fish.

This especially applies to the land based fisho, which more often than not requires a hike to get out to those special locations.

You get a combination of exercise and the rewards of a feed of fish. And that’s why you will keep on doing it, simply because of the non-repetitive nature fishing offers compared to other forms of exercise.

And with it there’s a diversity of methods that takes more than a life time to master. In other words, you will never get bored with your exercise!

Let’s go straight to the report. Great catches of that entertaining and hard fighting sportfish, the rock blackfish, black drummer or pig, are occurring. They’re 1 of my favourite eating fish as well. Berley is a prerequisite when fishing for them, providing the current isn’t too powerful. Berleying up in a strong current/drift will only send fish away. Sometimes it’s best not to berley in those circumstances.

Thanks to pigs and other species liking bread, it makes a great cheap berley. Mix it with some prawn shells and prawn heads mulched

up, and of course the bait that you are probably using, which are peeled prawns to match. Rig with light ball sinkers and double strength hooks like the Mustard 92554 in the 1/0 or the 540.

These hooks are generally strong enough. Go up to a 2/0 to handle any pig that you may encounter on 12kg+ line in that nasty, boulderstrewn country where you have to not only extract a large fish, but possibly lift them up several metres. That line class is required to free lift or wind up 3+kg pigs.

Spots to try are at The Hat below the Quarantine Wall and Little Bluey right of Shelly Headland. Both these spots are in Manly. A mix of species like luderick, bream, some trevally, and small to medium silver drummer can be expected in amongst the pig bag. A few good tailor are being spun up at Little Bluey as well. Have your chrome lures like the 45-65g Snipers or Knights on standby when you see the signs of surface boils and splashes from marauding predators like tailor and salmon. For the salmon though, you may need to downsize your lure to a 25g metal.

North Curl Curl is producing a few trevally at the front ledge of the pool to about 100m north. There is the odd plate size (32-35cm) snapper being found by casting out wide 80-90m near the pool also.

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(as far as rock fishing goes) Long Reef. It is producing luderick in the shallows on hair weed, and pigs on the north face a few hundred metres from the cleaning tables.

At North Narrabeen Head there are some nice pigs near the gutters and off the front during flat conditions. A few trevally are mixed in, along with the odd bream and nice tarwhine also.

Warriewood Headland on the north east face is producing great bags of pigs.

One exceptional outing a client and I had produced 20 pigs from 1-2kg, with 14 fish released and 6 kept for fillets. Two nice tarwhine to 36cm were caught as well.

I was privileged to have participated in this fine haul of fish, as normally when guiding clients I don’t fish much. They are schooling up, so expecting a bag similar to that may not be the case when you pursue them from here.

As I have mentioned on numerous occasions, only catch what you want to take home. If they’re on, catch more for the experience, keep them alive in a wellaerated cool pool, take some photos of your haul and put back what you don’t need.

If you’re hooking fish deep and you want to release them, increase the hook size to a 2/0 so there will be a much better chance of mouth hookups.

There are a few luderick in the gutter near the Blowhole, with tailor, trevally and some small snapper in front of the gutter by casting wide. A spot that does not require too much effort and fishes okay is the rocks at South Palm Beach.

There’s good luderick in the shallow gutter 70m from the swimming pool, and further along there is trevally, salmon and the odd snapper in the washes. Fish a pilchard/bread berley with half pillies, peeled large

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Rob Marich and Mark Toddman with a nice bag of luderick and a token rock blackfish caught on light 3kg outfits. Hair weed was the choice of bait, but some days cabbage works better. prawns, squid strips, and fish fillets like freshly caught tailor or slimy mackerel. You don’t need all these baits, but at least 2 different types. You will find 1 will be better than the other.

This month the dominant species off the beach is salmon. Virtually every beach from Manly to Palm Beach is producing. Fish a set of 3 ganged hooks from 3/0-4/0. It’s not necessary to use a larger hook size than that unless the pilchards are L-XL size. I would prefer to stick to the pillies of 130-150mm length.

Take along a small tackle box of metals. Those 25g Knights and Snipers are a good start and up-size them to 45-65g. There’s no need to have larger metals for salmon. Carry 2 rods as well, 1 for bait fishing and 1 for lures. An outfit I can recommend is the Blue Steel Surf Light. It’s suitable for line classes from 8-20lb, but best used with 5kg TD Sensor braid and 12lb fluorocarbon Sufix leader.

A reel that marries well with this rod is the Daiwa Ballistic EX 3500. It’s light and an absolute dream to fish with.

Now to the other outfit suitable for casting pilchards for salmon/tailor fishing.

The reel I recommend is the Daiwa Fream 4000 with 5-8kg mono or braid, or the Alvey 625B. Best rod is a 13’ Live Fibre 6-10kg. You will be able to fish a moderate swell with this rod and is suitable for weights up to approximately 150g.

There are still pockets of whiting and a few bream available this month, although it is the tail end of the season. Perhaps don’t expect the same volume as what was available in July, but it’s still worth pursuing these species. There are only a few tackle shops that have live bait, so it’s necessary to pump your own nippers or,

Their first good bag of fish; 3 luderick, 2 rock blackfish, a salmon and a bream for Daryl Perumal and Bob Chanla. A week after this guiding trip they caught a great bag of trevally and a stud bream! if you can catch your own, beachworms.

Bloodworms can be pumped towards the back of Narrabeen Lagoon near Wimbledon Ave on the sandflat, but you require a kayak or small boat to get out there. It’s not bad for nippers as well. There are loads of spots in Pittwater.

So the beaches I suggest are the South Stein section of Manly Beach, towards the southern corner of Dee Why, Mona Vale Beach from the pool to Cooks Terrace, and in front of Mona Vale Hospital.

Some great tarwhine are coming in here — up to 42cm, which are cracker fish and a blast on 3kg mono!

These fish have soft flesh from the legal length of 20cm to about 27-28cm, but it becomes firmer and more flavoursome the larger they are.

If you have never caught a decent fish before, now’s your opportunity to have a crack at the salmon, which are a sensational fish to start on, especially off our ocean beaches. They are a strong fighting fish; they jump out of the water, they’re available in good numbers this month and for the next few. If bled, filleted, skinned and boned, the fillets thinned down and floured, fried in butter or olive oil, they’re just great. Release the stronger flavoured fish over 2kg and keep the smaller ones.

• For rock and beach guided fishing or tuition in the northern Sydney region, visit www. bellissimocharters. com, email alex@ bellissimocharters.com or call Alex Bellissimo on 0408 283 616.

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23

Snapper, snapper everywhere SYDNEY SOUTH

Gary Brown gbrown1@iprimus.com.au

July, August and up-andcoming September are 3 great months in Sydney to get amongst the snapper offshore, in Botany Bay, and towards the entrance to Port Hacking.

The cooler currents will not only bring with it cuttlefish, but also schools of snapper. I have been travelling offshore and spotted floating chewed-up dead cuttlefish.

I’ve stopped and cast either a strip of squid, whole pilchards or soft plastics at them and within a few seconds been hooked up to a nice snapper. It doesn’t

Adam Patterson with a pair of nice snapper caught while fishing off Broughton Island. I wonder which technique he was using?

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always happen, but if you see a floating cuttlefish you should flick out a bait or soft plastic.

There are a number of ways that you can target snapper offshore. You can drift while bouncing paternoster rigs along the bottom, drift while feeding out lightly weighted baits or plastics, anchor up and fish lighted weighted baits or soft plastics in a

berley trail, cast baits or soft plastics into washes from the boat, and you can slowly troll for them with downriggers.

TECHNIQUE 1: DRIFT WITH PATERNOSTER RIGS Once you have found your favourite patch of reef or gravel bed, you will need to position your boat so that you slowly drift over these areas. Drop your paternoster

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It may not be a snapper, but it’s a great looking bream caught with a lightly weighted 2” Gulp Shrimp. rig baited with either squid, cuttlefish, pilchards, tuna or bonito to the bottom. Once it is down, you will need to keep in contact with the line to feel for a bite. If you feel that the rig has come off the bottom too far, just release more line out to get it back down. I wouldn’t have the line out any more than 30 degrees from the boat though.

TECHNIQUE 2: DRIFT WITH LIGHTLY WEIGHTED BAITS OR PLASTICS This type of technique will take a bit of patience on your part, as you will need to remain in contact with the line at all times as you are letting it out. You can use either a baitrunner reel or just have the bail arm open when letting out

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the line. If you find that you are drifting too fast due to current or wind, I would suggest putting out a sea anchor to slow you down.

You will know when the snapper has taken the bait, as the line will start to take off fairly quickly.

Once this happens, you will need to allow a few seconds and then either engage the baitrunner or close the bail arm and strike.

TECHNIQUE 4: CAST BAITS OR PLASTICS INTO WASHES This is not a type of technique I would suggest for beginners. You will definitely need to have your eye on the waves and where you are positioned, as you may end up crashing into the rocks otherwise. I have found that when westerly winds are blowing it is fairly calm close to shore.

attached it to the back of my boat. I wanted it for slow trolling for kingfish, but now I use it during the winter months to troll for snapper.

Try trolling unweighted baits, soft plastics or a hardbody lure just off the bottom. The slower the better.

THE GEAR I USE For techniques 1, 2, 3 and 5 I use 3 different outfits.

They are a Pflueger Medalist 6-10kg rod mounted with a

Jason Clark caught this lovely 70cm red while floating a whole pilchard down the berley trail. He was fishing with Scotty Lyons from Southern Sydney Fishing Tours.

TECHNIQUE 3: ANCHOR AND FISH BAITS OR PLASTICS IN A BERLEY TRAIL Use the sounder to pick up a school of snapper and then position the boat up-current of the mark.

Once the boat has stopped moving, you will now need to start a berley trail of

Once you have selected the wash you are going to fish, you will need to position your boat so that you can cast either a lightly weighted bait or plastic into the wash. Once it has landed you will need to try and keep them away from the reef. This technique is not a 1-person technique.

Penn 65 Spinfisher threadline spooled with 10kg Fireline braid, a 6-10kg Ugly Stik rod mounted with a Penn 65 Spinfisher threadline spooled with 10kg Fireline, and a 10-15kg Ugly Stik overhead rod mounted with a 40LD Penn Squall spooled with 15kg Fireline.

As for technique 4, the rod is a 3.6m Ugly Stick 10kg rod mounted with a Penn 65 Spinfisher threadline spooled with 10kg Fireline.

Now if you don’t have a boat that is suitable to go offshore, you can try any of the above techniques that I have described over your favourite snapper possie inshore. Or if you would like to learn more about how to do it while catching a few snapper, you could always give Scotty Lyons a call on (0418) 169 439 or go to his website at www. fishingsydney.com.au QR CODE

David Tosland hooked a small snapper while blading the deep water, but something bigger took a liking to half of it. chopped up pilchards. Once you have a small, but steady stream of pilchard pieces flowing out in the current, drop a lightly weighted bait or soft plastic down through the berley trail.

Some of the takes I have had using this technique have been explosive, so keep your wits about you.

You will need to have someone casting while the other controls the boat.

Scotty Lyons from Southern Sydney Fishing Tours is a master at this type of technique.

TECHNIQUE 5: TROLL WITH A DOWNRIGGER Not that long ago I bought a downrigger and

If you’d like to see the proof in the pudding as they say. Go to YouTube and type in Fishing with Scotty Lyons or simply scan the above QR code.

AUGUST 2015

25

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Fishing around bridges, rock walls and river bends with large tides and fluctuating bottom topography can be difficult when there’s strong water movement.

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It is balanced to sink head down, reducing the likelihood of getting snagged, and comes rigged with a single strong treble midway which rotates 360°, reducing awkward angles that can result in a pulled hook. In order to maintain the sinking angle, there is a fish attractant off the rear hook point instead of another treble.

The X Drift measures 68mm, weighs 14g and comes in six fish-catching colours.

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PENN POWERCURVE RECON

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Fitted with top quality Fuji componentry and guides, the Recon comes in five models. Three are designed for casting lures to reef edges (7’, 3-piece 5-10kg spin; 7’3”, 3-piece 10-15kg spin; 7’6”, 3-piece 15-24kg spin), and there’s a 9’, 4-piece 6-10kg model for shore-based work and a 5’8”, 3-piece 15-24kg game rod.

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6

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SHIMANO SARAGOSA

Shimano are the masters of the open water, and have created an enormous range of equipment suited to fishos of all levels in all conditions.

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SAMURAI CRUISERS

Samurai’s four-piece travel rods combine superior rod construction technology with the convenience of a manageable length travel series. Whether you pack one in your suitcase or just leave one in the car, the Samurai Cruisers will make sure you never have to compromise on quality when you travel.

The advanced blank separates into four convenient lengths, and bends all the way through the joins with no flat spots, delivering true power along the entire length.

These rods also feature the kind of quality Fuji components that anglers have come to expect from Samurai: K Series Alconite guides to deliver long accurate casts and smooth line delivery, and a comfortable VSS reel seat finished with ultra comfortable cork split-butt handle and butt end.

There are four models, all 7’0” long: CS4-F70 (2-4lb), CS-8-F70 (3-8lb), CS-12-F70 (4-12lb) and CS-20-F70 (10-20lb). Together they’ll tackle everything from shore casting the banks of a river to offshore work for reef species.

Price: from $359.95 www.samurairods.com.au

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Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au

The Gerber Freescape Camp Kitchen Knife is just at home in the kitchen as it is in the outdoors. The short length, wide profile at the heel and tip, flatter design, and fine straight edge makes this knife great for working on smaller boards.

The Freescape Paring Knife is similar but built on a smaller scale, making it ideal for peeling or mincing. Its high-grade steel ensures it can stand up to a range of outdoor duties, such as cutting twine and feathering sticks.

Both knives have rubberised handles and steel blades that do what a lot of camp tools can’t, which is run through the dishwasher once you’re back home. In addition, their potential to be sterilized at high temperatures without dulling makes them great for the kitchen.

Other features include a grippy textured handle, hi-vis green accents, and a sheath to attach to your belt loop.

Price: RRP $79.95 for Camp Kitchen Knife, $39.95 for Paring Knife au.gerbergear.com

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BULLET LURES FIVE-0 MINNOW

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REDESIGNED ABU 7000 SERIES

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Anglers familiar with Abu Garcia’s original 7000 series remember the sheer power offered by this size of reel. Abu has maintained the power with the redesigned 7000 series, while increasing the balance and adding new features.

These reels feature an Anti-Distortion spool (ADS) design, giving the reel strength for long fights, plus Duragear brass gears for extended gear life. A four-pin centrifugal brake provides effective cast control, and the ergonomically angled handle and star drag keep your hands closer to the action. The synchronized level wind system improves line lay while a corrosion resistant IAR bearing provides greater protection.

The red C-7000 includes one bearing while the silver C3-7000 has two stainless-steel High Performance Corrosion Resistant (HPCR) bearings plus one roller bearing.

To control hard-charging fish, the C3-7000 includes a Carbon Matrix drag system and the C-7000 has a multi-disc drag system.

Price: RRP $259 for the C-7000, $289 for the C3-7000 www.abugarcia-fishing.com.au

FISHHUNTER PORTABLE SOUNDER

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COLORATO LURES

Bullet Lures designer Jason Pace has created a 5cm model called The Five-0 Minnow. In testing it has accounted for many freshwater and estuarine species.

The Five-0 Minnow has two Owner #10 ST36 trebles and Owner split rings, and comes in 24 colours. The Silent Sinking model weighs 5.2g, has a tight action and will swim in fast water without tumbling. It’s good for long casts.

The Silent Floating model weighs 3.7g, has a wide swim action and is great for floating down rivers with overhanging trees. On retrieve it sits between 2-3ft, and it has proven successful on the troll at around 4-4.2km/h.

The Rattle Slow Sinking/Suspending version weighs 4g, has a wide swim action and is a great lure to retrieve and pause to attract both fussy and aggressive fish. It’s also effective on the troll, diving to 3-4ft.

Price: RRP $14.95 www.bulletlures.com

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FREESCAPE CAMP KNIFE

FishHunter has introduced portable, smartphone-based fishfinder. It comes wrapped inside a sealed waterproof silicone-polymer case the size of a cricket ball, and contains a high frequency transducer. It works in all weather conditions and works with more than 7000 IOS and android devices.

The high frequency transducer operates at 380khz, with the power to reach and analyse to a depth of 40m in both fresh and salt water.

FishHunter delivers the most advanced GPS tracking and mapping available on your smartphone. You can mark your favourite fishing spots by placing ‘pins’ on the FishHunter map.

You can also add photos, notes or other pieces of data to each pin or in your catch logbook.

You don’t need to be within mobile phone range, you just pair your FishHunter with a smartphone or tablet using blue tooth and then cast it in the water. You can then check your smartphone/tablet to see the bottom contour, depth and fish locations.

Price: RRP $249 www.fishhunterapp.com.au

Colorato Lures is a family-owned business that makes quality game fishing lures handmade by Fishing Monthly writer Jason Scerri.

Jason said because he makes the lures himself he can ensure premium quality control and keep costs to a reasonable level.

“Our lures are slightly weighted to ensure they grip far better in the water, and this is even more evident in choppy seas,” he said.

“All are cup-faced heads so they create a fantastic bubble trail and are very easy for anglers to run, and they’re fitted with Japanese Yamashita and Yo-Zuri skirts.

“So if you’re chasing tuna, marlin, mahi mahi or any other gamefish that loves to chase skirted game lures, fit a Colorato or two into your spread and see the difference.”

Colorato lures come in 6”, 7”, 8” and 10” sizes in weighted and unweighted heads.

Colorato Lures Hoodies are now available as well.

Price: from $29 www.coloratolures.com.au

visit www.tacklejunkie.fish for the latest tackle news - AS IT HAPPENS!

What’s New FISHING

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NEW MASK VIBE GENES

New from the Jackall stable is a new generation of fork tail soft vibes. The team at Jackall developed this lure as a hybrid of the Transam and Mask Vibe, and it’s called the Mask Vibe Gene. There are two new sizes, 70mm and 55mm.

These cover every species from bream to jew in the saltwater to just about anything in freshwater like trout, redfin, yellowbelly, bass, sooties and more.

Smaller and more subtle in their vibration than their older brothers the Mask vibe and Transam, the new Genes exhibit the same fish catching traits. These include vibration at the first twitch of the rod tip, straight gliding fall and perfect balance. To see the latest developments visit the Jackall website or check out their Facebook page.

Price: RRP $20 www.jackall.com.au

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ARB HAS IT IN THE BAG

Weighing just 2.9kg, the compact, king single sized ARB Sleeping Bag is manufactured with anti-bacterial and fire-retardant treatments, and is machine-washable. It measures 200cm x 100cm x 100cm, and retains its ability to insulate even when wet.

To ensure its comfort rating of -5°C, the sleeping bag is filled with high quality Invista Dupont Thermolite Quallo 7 hole fill. Holding all of this together is a 100% cotton brushed flannelette inner lining, with sanitized antibacterial treatment for maximum hygiene protection and longevity. A single, continuous main YKK zipper with added Velcro closure ensures you keep warm and draught-free.

To join two bags you just fully unzip them and lay one on top of the other. The joining zipper runs around the outer edge, not up the middle, so each occupant can exit the sleeping bag via a side zipper.

The removable hooded section includes a pocket for a standard sized pillow, and there are two stash pockets to store valuables.

Price: RRP $229 www.arb.com.au

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DAIWA VADEL 2015

A new standard in light tackle shore game excellence, Vadel delivers anglers a very durable and reliable light tackle shore game reel in a range of sizes and gear ratios.

Light, powerful, and eye catching in its strong metallic cosmetic, the Vadel is ideal for shore casting and jigging, with its strength and reliability coming from the utilisation of many of the design features of its bigger brothers, Saltiga and Catalina.

Designed to excel and built to perform, Vadel integrates many of Daiwa’s most innovative designs and technologies including Mag Seal, Air Rotor and Super Metal, and blends them with proven designs and features to create a reel that has few peers when it comes to light game spin reel excellence. www.daiwafishing.com.au

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FISHING PRODUCT GUIDE

POWERED BY

TTS SNAKELOCKZ JIGHEADS

The latest addition to the TT Lures stable is the SnakelockZ jighead. Combining the ‘chin lock’ system from their ChinlockZ hooks, with the free-swinging front weight concept of their Snake Head jigheads, the team at TT have enabled anglers to secure their plastic with the ‘chin lock’ while offering maximum action and the weight required to get the soft plastic deep in structure with minimal chance of snagging.

SnakelockZ jigheads utilise a stainless steel, through wire loop, with a locking system that enables you to twist and unclip the hook from the head. This gives you the freedom to swap hook sizes and weights as required, or attach a different hook to the head to suit a particular soft plastic or technique.

SnakelockZ are built on chemicallysharpened, heavy-duty Mustad worm hooks, and the through wire has been tested to 75lb. SnakelockZ are available in 2/0H-6/0H and 8/0H in packs of three (8/0 is two per pack) and weights from 1/12–3/8oz.

Price: SRP $10.95 www.ttlures.com.au

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FOXWING ECO 2.1 AWNING

The patented Foxwing Eco 2.1 awning from Rhino-Rack can be set up and packed down by one person in a matter of minutes. This awning is perfectly suited for utes and small to medium sized SUVs that have existing roof racks fitted; this includes Rhino-Rack roof rack systems and some additional rack brands.

Constructed from a lightweight polyester with a polyurethane (PU) coating, the Foxwing Eco 2.1 is UV-resistant, has a 2000mm waterproof rating and a mould-resistant coating to keep you dry in a downpour. The beams and awning case have been created using a rust proof, anodised aluminium to make sure that the Foxwing Eco 2.1 stays in A1 condition whether it’s in use or packed away.

Built for both on and off road adventures, the Rhino-Rack Foxwing Eco 2.1 will keep you protected from the elements no matter the weather.

Price: RRP: $539 (roof racks not included) www.rhinorack.com.au

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AR21 INTENSITY LED

Whether you’re checking on livestock around the property, heading out on an off-road adventure, or even spotlighting your way up a mangrove creek in the boat, there’s nothing worse than being stuck in the dark with only the standard lighting in the vehicle to guide you home.

ARB have solved this problem once and for all by creating the AR21 Intensity LED driving light, which will turn night into day no matter what time it is.

Using 21 highly efficient Osram LEDs situated within a patented reflector design, the AR21 produces a huge light output of 6,950 raw lumens at 6,500 Kelvin. Suited to smaller bull bars or areas where space may be limited, these lights set a new benchmark for on-vehicle performance and deliver the closest possible colour to daylight, resulting in reduced fatigue for the driver and a massive increase in visibility.

Price: RRP $495 www.arb.com.au

Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au

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visit www.tacklejunkie.fish for the latest tackle news - AS IT HAPPENS!

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SCAN THE QR CODE!

What’s New FISHING TESTED:

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FISHING PRODUCT GUIDE

Daiwa J-Braid

To get a thorough low-down on Daiwa’s new J-Braid, we approached four of the people who use it the most: Daiwa Pro Staffers Mark Gercovich, Darren Weda, Andrew Badullovich and Leigh Fleet.

After testing J-Braid on everything from trout to kingfish, here are their evaluations and verdicts.

MARK GERCOVICH

“I’ve been using the new J-Braid on the local kingfish and tuna population for the past few months and have been super impressed by its performance. It hasn’t lost colour or frayed/fluffed up, and still bursts off the spool on the cast like new. Its limp/ fine enough to knot well yet doesn’t loop and tangle easily like some low diameter braids.

“The multi-coloured braid depth increments are invaluable for these applications for a number of reasons, like getting a feel for how far that tuna is from the boat or how close that king is from getting you on the bottom.

The 40lb has certainly been strong enough to stand up to the rigours of casting, jigging or trolling for these species. I spooled one reel up with 30lb, concerned it may have not been strong enough, but keen for some extra distance and stealth factor. Yes, the 30 does allow you to throw a stickbait an absolute mile yet I’ve been able to land tuna to 18kg on it. Sure, it may take a bit of extra time to get the fish in, but on days when hook-ups are difficult with finicky fish, it’s not an issue.”

“Daiwa’s new J-Braid has managed to tick all of these boxes, giving anglers a value-for-money braid that has great castability, thin diameter and high strength ratio. I have been using the J-Braid for all my trout fishing for a while now and have been super impressed with its performance when compared to other more expensive braids I’ve used in the past.”

ANDREW BADULLOVICH

“Braided lines have definitely enhanced our fishing strategies. Their zero stretching qualities are the main catalyst for their popularity, contributing to fresh techniques emerging and some old methods taken to new heights!

“There are a few key elements that I look for when purchasing a particular braid for light tackle saltwater applications. These of cast length. I also favour lines with a smooth finish, and I’m particularly fond of highly visible colours such as chartreuse.

Smooth finishes enable you to fire lightly weighted (and sometimes unweighted) lures into precarious positions where wily fish hold with caution. The hi-vis colour allows you to monitor the course of your lure during the retrieve, and is also useful as a bite indicator when working soft plastics.

“My choice to use Daiwa’s J-Braid for light tackle saltwater applications has definitely assisted all forms of my light tackle angling. The J-Braid on my reel is retaining its colour while conveying great knot strength, and so far it’s showing no signs of fatigue or abrasion. I can confidently say that Daiwa’s J-Braid performs well above its recommended retail price.”

DARREN WEDA

“For chasing trout you need a thin braid that comes off the spool nicely and guarantees to give you as much casting distance as possible. Super light lures are crucial for chasing species like trout but can hinder your casting distance, so using a braid that has great castability is essential.

“Another essential is a strong braid, one that will give you the most strength possible for the thinnest diameter. Chasing any skinny water species like trout can be rough on your line, so it has to have the ability to withstand a bit of abrasion from rubbing on rocks, logs, branches and so on.

appear as lifelike as possible. J-Braid’s new chartreuse colour gives you the advantage because it’s bright and highly visible in low light and dark conditions.

“Fishing heavy structure such as bridges and rock walls requires high abrasion resistance. We had a fish wrap us around a pylon, which necessitated a quick freespool, and to our luck it came back around! There was some slight scuffing on the line but it held up fine.

“Keeping in mind some of these key elements when you spool your next reel it’s hard to go past a high quality product made in Japan like Daiwa’s new J-Braid.” - FMG

LEIGH FLEET

include cranking hardbodies for bream, working topwater lures for whiting, or hopping plastics for flathead.

“I prefer fine diameter lines with a round profile, as this aids casting trajectory and accuracy. Those of you who hunt whiting on surface lures will understand the importance

Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au

“Targeting mulloway at night using small to medium soft plastic lures around heavy structure can be very challenging yet super exciting, and requires line that’s easy to use, highly visible, and is super strong, round and smooth.

“I’ve been testing Daiwa’s new J-Braid on light to medium setups and I can’t believe just how smooth this braid is. A perfect match, spooling a TD SOL 2508 with a good 150m of 10lb J-Braid, the line’s diameter is only 0.15mm but has a breaking strain of 10lb. This is very strong for a PE 0.08 line! It’s light enough to fool a welcome by catch of chunky bream yet strong enough to handle large mulloway. Knots bite down hard and casts are made easily even in windy conditions.

“As winter sets in, night is a great time to target these fish. When you’re working smaller soft plastics through various depths of the water column it’s important that you are able to see and control your line, keeping in close contact with your lure to make it

visit www.tacklejunkie.fish for the latest tackle news - AS IT HAPPENS!

Tech Tricks

How to: setting up a secure squid skewer BRISBANE

Gordon Macdonald masterbaitertackle@hotmail.com

Squid populations in Moreton Bay are very healthy but they’re a species that you’ll rarely encounter unless you specifically target them. Squid lurk in a broad array of areas, from the deeper channels to the

shallow surrounds of the bay islands and the weed beds close to the sandy beaches of Moreton and Stradbroke islands. Squid can be caught in several ways, with the most common being on species-specific lures called egi (squid jigs). Using egi is an active way of squidding in a cast-and-retrieve manner, but there’s a more sedate alternative: baited

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When you compare the barbs of the conventional skewer on the right with those of the Yamashita one on the left, it’s obvious the Yamashita skewer is a superior product. It rarely misses the mark on any squid that touches the bait.

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These are a few of the items required for rigging up and adapting a squid skewer and presenting it. Floats like these and float stoppers should be available at any decent tackle supplier. Fluorocarbon leader has low visibility in the water and is recommended, but not essential.

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Starting from the tail end, insert the shaft up the centre of the pilchard and out the mouth. I prefer to rig the skewer with the pilchard head at the top and the tail near the spikes, because squid usually grab the pilchard from behind. This presentation also looks more natural when wafting in the current.

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Using a sturdy pair of long-nose pliers, bend the end of the shaft into a loop. Try to make this fairly small by flattening the loop with your pliers.

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AUGUST 2015

squid skewers. Skewers are easy to set up and simple to fish. Let me tell you a little about them.

A squid skewer is a simple metal shaft with one or two rows of barbs at the bottom end. This is pinned through a bait, generally a whole fish bait such as a pilchard, slimy mackerel, yakka, gar or pike.

Pilchards work just as well as any other bait I have found, so I generally use these as they are easy to acquire.

Once baited, the squid skewer is floated out behind the boat. If drifting, I generally just cast it out and let it waft around in the current. If I’m fishing in a deeper channel or a situation where the current is keeping the baited skewer close to the surface, I might add a small sinker to the rig to keep it down.

When fishing in shallow waters, or when there is minimal current, I generally suspend the skewer below a float. This is especially the case when fishing from an

anchored position and the current flow is slow. It is best to use a float with minimal resistance so that the squid can easily pull it under when it attacks the baited skewer.

Often I might add some weighting to the float, or on the line below it, to decrease the buoyancy. A pencil type float is ideal for this and can be rigged so that it slides along the line. Some lead can easily be wrapped around the shaft to weight it down a little. A float stopper is used to limit the travel of the float up the line and allows the bait to be set to a certain depth.

The float stopper will wind through your rod tip easily, and even onto your reel, so as to not hinder the retrieval of the hooked squid. When retrieved, the float will also simply slide down to the skewer so it isn’t a problem either. When cast out again, the baited skewer will sink until the float stopper again holds it at the desired depth.

I often float out such a

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When you first take your Yamashita skewers out of the packet, you will notice there is a brown monofilament leader that passes through a lumo bead and lumo tube (which are on the main shaft) and is attached to the jig just above the two rows of spikes.

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Pass the monofilament along the side of the pilchard and pass the shaft back through the lumo bead and then the lumo tube. While this will hold the pilchard securely most of the time, I have found that an aggressive cast will sometimes see the tube and lumo bead come off, causing the pilchard to be ejected from the shaft.

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Your loop should just be large enough to attach your snap-swivel. Slide the lumo tube up so that it’s just over the bottom of the loop.

baited skewer when drifting around the bay islands casting plastics for the snapper and the like. I also use this rig in prominent channels such as the Rous Channel and other areas as it will often produce a few tasty squid for the table.

It’s also be a good option for those anglers targeting whiting around the Sand Hills and banks areas.

SKEWERS There are many brands of skewers available on the market. Most of these are very basic and are generally rather thick galvanised or stainless shafts with one or two rows of barbs on each. I generally find that these work OK but because the barbs are fairly thick, you often have to strike hard to embed these into the squid properly. When drifted behind the boat in the aforementioned method, these only work a portion of the time and a lot of squid are missed.

However, recently I got my hands on the best squid skewers I have ever seen.

These are of the Yamashita brand (one of the leaders in the egi market), which are imported by E J Todd. There are two models available, one with a single row of barbs and another (the one I like best) which has two rows of barbs.

This is the Yamashita Squid Spike KTISFB (code 3730916) which comes in a pack of two and retails below $15.

These have a fine shaft and two rows of thin, chemicallysharpened barbs.

These skewers have a special rigging system which is very easy once you know how, however because all the writing on the product is in Japanese it’s hard to work out if you’re new to using skewers. To give you a head start, I’ll take you through the process of rigging these skewers. I’ll also discuss an alternative way to adapt and set up the skewer, because the standard rigging method sometimes allows the pilchard to come adrift from the skewer when you do a powerful cast.

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Remove the lumo bead and tube off the shaft so you can put on your bait. Ideally you want a pilchard that’s shorter than the shaft, however you can trim the tail off the pilchard if it’s too long.

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To adapt your skewer and make it better at holding the pilchard is easy. First, cut away the leader and discard it, but keep the lumo tube on the shaft and retain the snap-swivel as well.

You won’t need the lumo bead, but don’t throw it in the bin; lumo beads are useful for many fishing rigs.

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Un-clip the snap, pass the shaft through your pilchard and then reattach the snap swivel.

It’s easy to change the bait and there is little chance of the pilchard coming adrift during casting.

Attach your fluorocarbon leader to the swivel and you are set to secure some succulent cephalopods.

*The payment examples are based on the weekly equivalent of the monthly payment and is based on secured consumer loan over 60 months with repayments of (1) $38.74 (2) $59.58 (3) $75.51. Drive away price of (1) $10,000 (2) $15,000 (3) $20,000, with a deposit of 25% for (1)(2)(3) and an annual percentage rate of 9.99%. Offer is only available to approved applicants of Yamaha Motor Finance. Conditions, Fees and charges apply. Finance applications must be received and approved by 31/10/2015. The comparison rate is based on a secured loan of $30,000 over a period of 60 months. WARNING: This comparison rate 10.56% is true only for the examples given and may not include all fees and charges. Different terms, fees or other loan amounts might result in a different comparison rate. The purchase price includes Goods and Services Tax. Fitting and extra outboard rigging charges may also apply. Credit is provided by Yamaha Motor Finance Australia Pty. Ltd. Australian Credit Licence No: 394553. Boat Package price does not refer to the pictured Renegade 420 package.

More sun, but not many fish CENTRAL COAST

Jamie Robley jrobley@iprimus.com.au

Although we are now starting to notice an increase in sunshine and some of the mornings don’t quite have that viciously cold bite to them, it’s still officially winter and unfortunately the month ahead is notoriously tough for fishing.

August is also historically one of the driest months along the east coast, but last year it turned out to be quite wet, thanks to a persistent onshore airflow that kept pushing coastal showers our way. So only time will tell how it pans out this month. Theoretically though, it should be dry, with westerly winds.

It has been quite a good winter for snapper along the coast.

Expect more reds through August, and remember that you may not have to venture out into deeper water to find them.

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AUGUST 2015

Around the lakes and Brisbane Water this month, the usual species like bream, blackfish, flathead and whiting are all on the cards, however, I would mainly be chasing blackfish and flathead over the coming weeks as it’s not really a good month for the others.

Flathead are more likely to be found in the deeper channels or holes at present, although if we do experience some early warm weather they could start poking around the shallow edges looking for relief from the cold and a potential feed. As a starting point though, it’s probably better to concentrate on depths of 2-5m, with natural baits or soft plastics slowly bounced along the bottom.

Blackfish are always a chance at this time of year.

Although this is the latter stage of the season, they’ll still be taking the usual weed baits for a while yet. It pays to be aware that they can become a little picky about what they eat during August and September.

The green weed you’ve been using in previous weeks may not be as good as some other types including various brown coloured weeds, or even pink nippers, live shrimp or worm baits.

Of course, some anglers would have encountered salmon while fishing for bream or flathead over the past few weeks. Sambos are more likely to show up in the lower to middle reaches of Brisbane Water or anywhere around Lake Macquarie, but a few do still come into Tuggerah Lakes as well. The chance of running into salmon remains high this month, especially if you’re casting soft plastics.

Rock fishing has been up and down in recent weeks, thanks to the typical winter problems of large seas 1 week, followed by dead flat conditions the next. This makes picking a safe day to fish difficult in the first place, but if you manage to get out

there with an average to small swell running, then salmon are still the dominant species.

Of course, bream, drummer, luderick, groper, tailor and trevally are others worth a shot at this time of year. Except for groper, who can be caught in very flat, clear water, the other species prefer a bit of wash around to feed in.

So apart from the inevitable sambos, I would be inclined to target drummer or luderick, mainly because they’re still a reasonably reliable option at this stage of the season.

Salmon are also abundant along our local beaches, especially North Entrance, Budgewoi, Birdie and Catherine Hill Bay. They really love these northern beaches, but they’ll still be plentiful along Wamberal, Terrigal and Avoca.

Despite the fact that August is one of our worst months for fishing, it shouldn’t be too hard to find a few flathead. Use decent bait or work soft plastics slowly through the deeper holes or channels. bream, tailor and even the odd mulloway this month. If you’re having baits hammered by the sambos, it could be worth sticking around, as bream or other fish could move in to pick up the scraps, and hopefully your bait. If, however, the beach is exceptionally flat, with little or no whitewash, then I wouldn’t waste too much time out in the cold.

Offshore, it’s been a pretty good snapper season for this region. Numbers of pan-sized reds have been caught on reefs between 20-50m, with the

over the same depths or even a touch closer in after bigger seas have calmed off.

Silver trevally, kings and those pesky leatherjackets are other species likely to be caught over coming weeks. As is the case with rock fishing though, having some luck and timing the outing with a decent patch of weather is half the battle at this time of year.

August isn’t really what you would call a good month for fishing along the Central Coast and it’s more of a salmon fest than anything else.

With some thought, effort and

Silver trevally are a reasonably common winter species in this part of the world. The author picked up this fish while lure casting for bream, but the trevs are more likely when fishing from the rocks or offshore.

Although they’re certainly not around in the same numbers as salmon, there’s still a chance of a few

odd larger specimen amongst them. If the sea conditions and water colour look okay, then the reds should be worth a shot

luck though, it’s still possible to enjoy a productive session on other species, ranging from kingfish through to flathead.

Tough fishing, but not all bad for flathead!

SWANSEA

Jason Scerri jayro@hotmail.com.au

Well it’s that month of the year again. It’s probably my least favourite fishing month if I am to be totally honest. Don’t get me wrong, there are always fish to be caught and it’s true that you won’t catch them sitting at home, but there is something about August that makes it hard for me to get up and out there.

Generally the weather is not great, usually the fishing is far from its best, and did I mention the weather? Okay, it’s not that bad, I guess. The weather can be a little windy and it can be a little wet and it’s a pretty cold month compared to what we usually get, but after saying all that there is still some very good fish on offer if you target the right species.

The fishing has slowed In the lake and we really are at that in-between period during August. Winter is wrapping up and summer has not yet started. The good news is for those anglers chasing a feed of quality flathead fillets, well you are in luck as it’s a flatheadathon out there. There are loads of good lizards on the chew at the moment. There are plenty of good eating size fish in that 45-60cm range, and more than a few large

around, so maybe this year I can upgrade my PB. These fish are available in various bays throughout the lake and the key is finding good deep areas around the 8-10m mark that are showing a good bait presence. Things like tailor, salmon and company all chewing up whitebait and the like is what we want.

These scraps then fall to the bottom and this is why the flathead are here. Make sure your gear is up to scratch; you don’t need the best reel on the market, but a smooth drag is critical, a reasonable leader of

a little risky if the seas are still up a bit. Slim profile stickbait plastics are working best, with Pro Lure Slim Minnows and Shads Flick Baits working well for our customers.

Kingfish results have really picked up and there are some great fish being landed over the 1m mark. The offshore reefs are firing up nicely with deep-set live baits, and deep water jigging again proving successful. The kings are biting offshore from places such as Texas right through to the Allmark Reef off Port Stephens. It can be difficult if

Game fishos are playing the waiting game at the moment. Shark fishermen generally take a break over these few months as there generally isn’t much drift for them. Tuna fishermen have their ears to the ground for reports, but they are few and far between at the moment.

There are some solid tuna

being caught, but not in great numbers as this goes to print. The fish that are being encountered are very wide offshore, but as with every year we are always hopeful of seeing a few schools closer in, so keep an eye out for reports on social media and particularly game fishing club pages.

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This is the result of a quick morning session working some 80mm and 105mm Pro Lure Fish Tails around in 9m of water. Water temps are best when around the 16-17° mark.

This lovely eating-size flathead couldn’t resist the 4.8” Keitech Swing Impact Fats plastic.

The tail action on these lures is insane. They’re very effective flathead/mulloway lures for us. ones as well, but I really encourage anglers to put back these larger breeding fish as we need to ensure we do our part to keep this great fishery going as strong as it is. My best to date is 85cm, but there is no shortage of larger ones

the trick for us lately. I like a jighead of around 3/8oz with a 3/0 hook. A 2-5kg rod is ideal for the lake and usually 6lb braid with 10-15lb leader will be fine. We don’t have much in the way of reef in these areas, so you’re not likely to be rubbed off on structure. As a rule, the fish will tire out after a few solid runs, so long as your gear stays intact.

Bream fishing is still going well for this time of year. Lure anglers fishing blades and soft plastics in the lower half of the water column are seeing the best results. It’s surprising,

at least 10lb, and be prepared as there is sure to be a few mulloway landed as bycatch every season.

For my winter flathead and mulloway sessions I like soft plastics between 4-6”, with Pro Lure and Keitech Fats doing

but there have also been a few good days on the shallows for the bream, despite the very cold water temperature. A few local ’yak anglers managed some nice bags over the shallows with shallow running hardbodies. For lure colours, I really suggest bright colour options when the waters are dirty from rain, and when the water clears again, switch to clear natural presentations.

You will certainly see the difference in results. This action will really start to pick up again in the coming months as water temperatures look to rise once again.

Mulloway anglers are also scoring in the lake at the moment. Bait anglers are doing as well as those throwing lures around. They’re not overly big fish, generally in the 70-90cm range. They are in the same areas as the flathead and bait schools, but are often a little higher in the water column.

I suggest working the edges of these bait balls, as these are often where the mulloway are waiting.

Offshore fishing has certainly been a mixed bag.

Snapper fishing has been fantastic on occasions. Some very nice bags have been taken, with guys getting great results off the inshore reefs and rock cliffs fishing the washes after big seas. It can be a very productive method, but just take care as it can be

the current’s raging, but when it allows the fishing is great.

There have also been some very nice deep water species such as blueye landed from our wide marks and they don’t get much better for those looking at a feed of fish, that’s for sure.

Be prepared for the hard work though, as it is a very long way out there and it’s a long way to the bottom too. Electric reels are all the rage for this style of fishing and they are well worth the investment if you plan on doing some deep dropping for table fish in this deep water, particularly if you’re as fit as I am (or as unfit as I am, that should probably read).

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Reasonable fishing prospects for August HUNTER COAST

Gary Earl earlybird13@optusnet.com.au

As I write this, word has just come through that the Fisheries Department is looking to find areas to construct artificial reefs. Now that’s great news for us fishermen, and hopefully they will end up in a spot that is close enough for trailer boats to reach.

There have been a lot of these put out in the past, off Botany Bay, Nowra, and other south coast areas. When you look north from Sydney, well maybe Swansea or Newcastle deserves it too.

We have a huge number of fishing clubs in this area and north of here there are enough reefs that exist naturally, but the reefs off Newcastle and Swansea are few and far between. A lot are just gravel patches or small reefs, so to all you fishing clubs in this area, band together, put in an application, and with the numbers of clubs here we may be in with a chance.

Don’t forget we have a

HUNTER · P O R T

shipping port and all the equipment to make the job easy for Fisheries to have the reef taken out to sea.

some big groper are hunting these areas also.

Divers have seen a few large models off the front

I really appreciate it.

Offshore has been a hot and cold affair. North Reef is covered in baitfish

there, but little has filtered through. Some big bream have been taken by those getting bait over the sailing

Luderick have been roaming the shoreline rocks on the coast as well as the estuary. This one was about to spawn and was released.

Barges and tugboats are all here, so let’s hope we end up with it.

The fishing of late has been sweet rather than sour, but you really have to pick the tides and day. Drummer, luderick and bream have been taken off the rocks around the washes, and

S T E P H E N S

·

Your local

of Merewether Baths, as well as schools of bream and tailor should be around off the platforms as well as salmon that are travelling through. Try throwing chrome lures right out into the back of the suds, pull them through the wash and you should hook up.

The beaches have been fishing well of a night.

Stockton Beach along with Nobbys Beach have given up a few nice mulloway around 10kg, and if you down-size your rigs, bream just after dark have been taken on small cubes of mullet. Not a lot of fishermen fish Nobbys and I now know why. Council has made it so hard to spend a night out fishing with parking restrictions in the area. The reason being hot car enthusiasts gather here and they want them moved on, so you can’t park overnight. Yes, parking officers even get you after midnight — thanks for the ticket guys,

Salmon are everywhere along the Hunter Coast at the moment, with big schools in Stockton Bight. Just look for the concentration of birds wheeling and diving and you will find them.

— yakkas, pike and squid, so you would think that the kingfish and mulloway who escaped the fresh in the river would be out

boat bait wreck out from the surf club on Stockton Beach, so give this a go on the way out in the afternoon.

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Schools of salmon are in Stockton Bight in great numbers, and the birds will show you where they are.

There has been some tailor travelling with them as well.

Sand flathead are on the sand around the Mudhole, and drifting with slabs of any filleted fish will snag them. Some have been of good size too. One angler saw a shadow under the boat and thought it was a great white shark, as they seem to hang in Stockton Bight, but it was an oceanic hammerhead of about 13’ long. It surfaced and gave the 2 of them a nice fright.

Usually a deep-water shark, it was in very close.

The Mudhole often has large sharks hanging around, so bait must be in abundance there at the moment. It may be the place for mulloway at night.

A shelf like this with deep water and a very washy area can give up good tailor, bream, school kingfish and drummer. Prawns are one of the best baits.

In the estuary, the river downstream from Raymond Terrace is returning to its natural salty state. Even with the amount of rain we have had lately, the fish are on the chew. Try Tomago or inside Ash Island. Bream have been caught mainly on bait during the night, with a few undersize mulloway as well. Please let them go, as they are the future of this fishery and don’t taste so good anyway — that’s why they’re also known as soapy jew They have a funny taste until they’re about 5kg.

All in all, the weather and westerly winds will determine the areas you can fish this month, and the wind can be freezing if you’re in the brunt of it. The beaches and close offshore waters tend to be calm, so close reefs or drifting the back of beaches will be the best spots.

Try trolling a safe distance out from the breaking waves and you should get salmon and tailor.

Westerlies aren’t all bad news PORT STEPHENS

Paul Lennon

August can be a tough month for fishing at Port Stephens, with relentless westerly winds turning the estuary into a foamy mess and making it very uncomfortable for boats heading offshore. This doesn’t mean that August is a month to write off, in fact there are some really good fish around at this time of year. It’s just a matter of taking advantage of those calm weather windows. Even on those days when the westerlies are puffing, all is not lost, as rock fishing will provide plenty of sheltered areas.

Inside the estuary and Nelson Bay marina and rock wall along with Little Beach jetty will all be productive for landbased anglers looking to catch a few bream. The key to fishing these parts is to fish tide changes with unweighted baits such as prawns or live nippers and using plenty of berley.

While you will have

success during daylight hours, night will be even more productive.

Further up the bay, there are plenty more bream to be found on the rocky points and rock bars between

into the estuary this month, frequently busting up within casting range of the Little Beach and Salamander Shores jetties. Often these fish are switched onto small

Targeting mulloway on plastics and hardbodies is another good option at the moment, particularly around Oyster Cove, the Karuah bridges and the Corlette wreck.

Colin King with a pair of typical August-sized calamari.

Chris Drake with a donkey sized Port Stephens red.

Solders Point and Tahlee, with small Cranks and 2” plastics working a treat.

Tailor and salmon schools have also moved

baitfish and won’t touch anything bigger than what they’re eating, so try and match the hatch with lures around 60mm.

A winter Karuah River mulloway caught by the author.

Off the stones, and drummer will be prevalent this month from Fisherman’s Bay through to Rocky — it’s just a case of fishing the right area according to the conditions. I find the best bait for drummer to be salted cunjevoi, as it’s not only a tough bait, but also picks up plenty of welcome bycatch like bream, squire and the odd luderick and groper.

The calm, sheltered bays south of Fingal will be producing some monster calamari this month and with the water being very clear, natural colours in 3.0 sized jigs will work best.

Tailor are about late afternoon and early morning, with the most popular spots to spin up a few being Tomaree, Box Beach and Sunny Corner.

There’s also a few big greenbacks coming from the beaches. Guy Wilcox scored a cracker

earlier in the month, which weighed 3.7kg. That is an exceptional tailor for Port Stephens.

The snapper fishing this season has been sensational. In fact, it’s the best I can remember for quite a few years, with not only numbers but also some real monster fish amongst them. I was even lucky enough to catch a 14.51kg model, which actually broke the NSW record that had stood for over 40 years.

The good news is that the reds haven’t slowed up yet, with quality fish to 10kg being caught by way of plastics and baits fished around the shallows

during low light periods.

Once the sun comes up, the shallows become pretty tough going, so move out onto the deeper reefs in 30-50m of water where the snapper aren’t as spooky.

For the few anglers doing it, micro jigging has been accounting for plenty of reds in this depth of water. This technique uses short, light-weight rods, 4000 size spin reels, 20lb braid and small metal jigs from 20-40g. It’s a particularly effective way to fish for those plate size fish up to 2kg, however, I know plenty of anglers who have been smoked by monsters.

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BEACH AND ROCK The tailor have been the best for several years, with some nice fish in the 2.5-4kg range being caught.

The larger fish have been taken at night by those hardy souls able to withstand the bitingly cold winds from the south. Bonito strips have accounted for the majority of the larger fish. Lures spun

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The mid north coast has experienced a cold and wet winter so far. Most of the rain has fallen on the edge of the coast, while the headwaters of the rivers have not had as much.

the mouth of the Manning has been excellent, with anglers taking fish during daylight and at night. The best bags of fish have been caught after dark though, and while it has been cold, the results have been great.

Fish to a kilo, gilled and gutted, have been landed, and most bags would average 700g. Baits have

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A pair of 37-38cm Manning River snapper.

This means that there have been no ‘freshes’ coming down and the river has been able to clear and let the salt water move up to the boundaries where the water changes to brackish.

These conditions have provided anglers with some great fishing over the past few weeks, particularly in the estuary. The mullet have moved back up the river, while the bream and

been mullet strips, yabbies and prawns.

Luderick anglers have been scoring fish during the daytime on green weed, and then again on fresh yabbies at night. Some of the daylight anglers have been using green weed type flies with some success.

Flathead are still being caught from the wall on bait, but numbers are not great. Most of the fish being

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Ricky Andrews with a 10kg mulloway taken on a Killalure Jewie 150 off the breakwall. luderick have made their runs. Tailor have moved onto the beaches and the salmon have departed for the time being.

ESTUARY The bream fishing at

taken are in the 45-50cm range. Mulloway have turned up occasionally at the Gantry and have taken live bait and soft plastic lures. The biggest fish have been around the 7kg mark.

through the milky water on the inside of the breaks have taken most of the smaller tailor caught during the day.

There were a few salmon around a few weeks ago, but they have moved on now. Bream have been scarce on the beaches, even though there are still plenty in the lower parts of the estuary.

OFFSHORE Snapper have been the most common species in the last few weeks. Some big fish to 7kg were coming in from the marks off Old Bar, while smaller specimens in the 1-2kg bracket were taken up around Mermaid Reef. Most boats have been able to catch a bag of flathead on the drift.

Morwong, pearl perch and other bottom dwelling species make up the rest of the catch.

IN CONCLUSION While August is not the best month of the year to fish at Harrington, it is still possible to get a bag of fish. Tailor will still be on the beaches and around the headlands, and the river will fish well for bream and luderick. Black drummer will have just spawned at Crowdy Head and will take cunje, bread, prawns and crab baits. Outside anglers will be able to concentrate on big snapper around the close in bommies with live baits. A few flathead will be coming on the bite up-river at this time.

AUGUST 2015

37

Don’t forget your jacket FORSTER

David Seaman dseamo@bigpond.com

It’s true that August is not the most attractive month on the year’s calendar, and the winter holiday periods that bookend the colder months are not patronised by as many visitors. However, it can be a month of greatly settled weather that allows boats to venture offshore to find a feed of mixed reef fish. It is also the start of the yellow leatherjacket invasion that is cursed by so many, but should really be enjoyed as the jackets aren’t too bad on the plate.

The best part of the periods of settled weather and seas is the opportunity to get to chosen reef areas like Blackhead quickly and safely. The often glassed-out conditions make fishing very comfortable, and catches of pearl perch, snapper,

Even from the rocks the jackets can get in on the act, with some large 7 spiners taking pig baits.

Chances are that if you find one schoolie you’ll find more, and with a bit of luck the bigger ones.

They may not look very pretty, but the ocean jackets make a fine dinner plate guest.

flathead and John dory are more than welcome.

In the calmer conditions it is time to try bouncing soft plastics for reds by casting forward of your drift and hopping it back towards the boat. It is worth a go, and the weight of the jighead will depend on the speed of the current and drift. A range of 3/4oz and heavier are good, and narrow profile plastics like Gulp 7” Jerk Shads or Gulp Nemesis will help to increase the sink rate and the fish love them.

Big bream in the lake are more noticeable this time of the year because the majority of 27cm males are out off the coast spawning and not snatching your bait or lure. The reduced fish activity around the leases is obvious, but it is the remnant stock and early return of spawned fish that make up the targets in the leases. Hitting kiloplus fish is easier to do this month than in any other, and it is the rack as far as Pitchford Island to

Lani’s that holds the bluenosed fish.

Fishing lures slowly is the key, so the best attack is soft plastics in the shallower leases, with vibes or Cranka Crabs in the deeper pockets along the edges and channels.

Around the entrance of the lake, the bridge and leases will fish well on the falling or slack water as they are the structured areas the returning spawners first hit.

If you’re looking for flathead you need only go as far as the Wallamba Channel against the leases on the right hand side, heading upstream. Laying on the dark mud, the fish have that terrific dark brown and white camo pattern and there are heaps of fish holding in the shallow water. Flathead are always a by-catch when bream fishing (often outnumbering them on occasions), so between leases and over the weed beds/flats there is always a good chance of fish.

Rock fishing comes into its own this month,

with the staggering run of quality pigs continuing.

More luderick have made appearances from the stones and it may be time to pump some yabbies and head out for a night session on them. It may be a psychosomatic thing, but I think blackfish caught from the ocean rock taste so much better than the lake fish. Perhaps it is that they are in better condition and have been grazing on the red weed, I don’t know.

What I do know is the late night high tide out on the rocks is well worth the effort — including the auto inflate life jacket of course.

Early mornings are still producing a few tailor, with fish up to 2kg being reported from the beaches and rock washes. School mulloway on livies, beach worms or lures are a respectable target option in spots like Janie’s Corner or the north end of Bluey’s Beach.

Don’t expect miracles, but the chances are good for a bit of evening or early morning action.

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Brian James’ 78 cod was caught in Lake Ginninderra.

Port Mac’s winter of plenty THE HASTINGS

Mark Saxon castawayestuarycharters@bigpond.com

As we enter August, the last month of cold weather, we look forward to the great fishing continuing.

Obviously no one told the fish it is too cold and there have been plenty of options for locals and tourists to get into some of the great fishing that has been on offer in the rivers and offshore.

GOOD VIBRATIONS ON THE HASTINGS No it is not the Beach Boys classic, but the type of lure that has been catching big numbers of fish in the Hastings over the last month and looks to continue doing so into August. The soft vibe lures have been responsible for the undoing of countless bream, plenty of mulloway and way too many flathead.

The lure that has stood out has been the Samaki Vibelicious and the whitebait pattern has proven to be a

standout. It seriously looks the part and bream have not been able to resist it.

As with metal blades, a vibration is emitted from these lures that stirs the fish into action. To start with, try a slow hop and pause retrieve, as this catches a lot of fish. Just remember to alter the retrieve to suit the area you’re fishing, and if you’re on a boat and get caught up on the bottom, driving past the lure and shaking the rod should see it come free.

the green weed flies yet, then get into a tackle store and grab a couple. They work a treat.

Bream fishos using bait has been concentrating on the evening bite and fishing into the night. Live nippers have seen plenty of bream captured, but the blackfish get into them as well. An evening high tide can be very productive and a mixed bag is on the cards if you have gone to the effort to pump a few nippers.

North Wall at Port Macquarie has been the scene of some very good tailor fishing, and early morning or just before dark has been the time to get into them using lures, pilchards or whitebait.

Mulloway have been coming in as well and a few crackers have been landed

Dan and Steve catching bream on vibes in the Hastings River. of North Beach around Plomer have produced, with tailor and bream featuring in most bags. The beaches have been also the place to get a few tailor and bream, with Lighthouse Beach, North Beach and Dunbogan giving up some quality bream. This should

as usual if you are after a beach mulloway, then don’t wait for the reports of fish captured. Be the one who makes the report! Try the full moon and dark periods this month and use some fresh tailor fillets or heads and you might still have a shot at a winter fish.

Corey Hicks posing for a quick snap of a 75cm flattie prior to release.

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Recently I have had the pleasure of witnessing quite a few mulloway come to the net on these lures, with 1 trip seeing 5 landed and subsequently tagged for Fisheries research. The underlying point of these last couple of months is the fact that there has been abundant whitebait in the river system, therefore these lures match the hatch perfectly.

Bream and blackfish have been in plentiful supply around both the North and South Wall, with the luderick boys catching heaps through the day.

And if you haven’t tried

Martin with a ripper of a tarwhine taken on the Samaki Vibe. for anglers willing to get live bait or the freshest fish bait.

ROCK AND BEACH Around the local rock ledges, there has been a good run of black drummer, bream, tailor and blackfish.

Underneath the Lighthouse and the ledges just north

continue into August and if you get a high tide between 6.00pm and 8.00pm you’re in with a great chance of a feed of fish.

Mulloway reports off the beach have been quiet (surprise, surprise), but they are a secretive lot. The news usually leaks out though, so

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AUGUST 2015

Jason and Corey Hicks with a couple of mulloway taken on the soft Samaki Vibe.

OFFSHORE The snapper have been patchy, but plenty have been caught, with some fish to 8kg coming from the southern Cathie grounds in 30m.

North of Port around the front of Plomer Bay has the reds biting, but a lot have been in the 1-3kg range, which is not to be sniffed at if you are after a feed. The flathead grounds off the front of North Beach have been a winner for those who like a feed of eastern blue spots.

The guys that used to only fish these locations with bait are finding that drifting with a plastic lure has been very productive when catching them on bait has been a bit difficult. Very interesting.

Okay guys, it will not be much longer and the days will heat up and our winter woollies will be put away.

So don’t take August for granted, as it will not be long until the hibernators come out of their winter slumber.

Now is the time to get out and make the most of the fishing before the crowds return.

All the desirable offshore species are biting SOUTH WEST ROCKS

Brent Kirk

be very effective when the conditions are right on the wrecks, however, this

been fairly painless lately, with good numbers of yellowtail, slimy mackerel

kempsey@compleatangler.com.au

It’s August already and winter has flown by this year. Calm conditions have been a regular occurrence of late and the weather has even been fair on weekends for a change, leaving no excuses but to get out and give it a crack, as you never know what you might catch.

At this time of year, bottom fishing is all the go offshore. It has been firing from the shallow inshore reefs right out past the continental shelf. Black Rock has been holding snapper and kingfish, the majority of which aren’t huge, but the number being caught has been exceptional.

Fish Rock, on the other hand, has been holding some thumping big kingfish at times this winter, as have the deeper wrecks along our coastline. Larger knife jigs are probably the easiest

Big pearlies like this can be found out in 100m of water.

Chris Webster with a nice bar cod on an equally nice winter’s day. way to fish these areas.

Live baits of yellowtail and slimy mackerel can

approach is not allowed around Fish Rock.

Live bait gathering has

and bonito inhabiting most of the inshore bait reefs. It pays to take extra bait jigs

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with you, as tailor and pike are also frequenting these same spots and can make light work of the flies.

Low current and fair wind conditions have been allowing anglers to get out a bit wider and partake in deep dropping on a fairly regular basis.

Bass groper, bar cod and hapuka are some of the species being encountered regularly. Some days the gemfish are out in force, making it difficult to get to the more quality species and being very hard on terminal tackle.

Big pearl perch are on the reefs in around about 100m depths, however, these areas are starting to hold large schools of leatherjackets. Switching over to a wire rig when bite-offs occur will allow for the capture of these fish if you want to keep them for a feed, but will definitely decrease your catch rate of most of the other bottom species.

Snapper, teraglin, pigfish, tuskfish and mulloway are all being found in the shallower areas in good numbers should the leatherjackets become too hectic out wider. Grassy Head has a lot of good territory in close, so most of the time there is no need to fish in water deeper than about 40m and still have a productive day.

Good runs of big bream are still taking place along most of the beaches. This year the bream seem to be of a larger size than they have been the last few years. Tailor and mulloway are accompanying these fish as well. Australian salmon have made a bit of a comeback along our coastline this year, with numbers that have not been seen for a few seasons now. Salmon may not be of the highest table quality,

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but they are an awesome sportfish in their own right. I cannot think of a better way for a junior angler to hone their big fish fighting skills than by tangling with a 5kg salmon on the beach using light gear. Flathead and whiting have also remained on the bite along the beaches throughout winter.

The Macleay River is holding some good-sized mulloway at present, and a huge population of bream that stretches all the way up-river to Smithtown.

Be cautious when fishing up around Smithtown though, as this area is also holding massive schools of spawning bass. It is a good

idea not to interrupt this species and their breeding cycle too much if possible.

Luderick have been present in the main river this year, but the local creeks seem to be producing the better class of fish for some reason.

The headlands throughout the valley are all holding bream, school mulloway and tailor, as would be expected at this time of year, however, kingfish, cobia and longtail tuna are still being spotted from the stones on a regular basis. Drummer and groper are in good numbers, with the gaol wall at Trial Bay as good a place as any to start looking for them.

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Looking back on a so-so season COFFS GAME

Glen Booth

It’s possible that we game fishermen have the most selective memories of the entire human race.

We’re really only adept at remembering the good times, and wipe from the memory banks the endless days of trolling around for nothing more than sunburn and a weary body. If we had

to recall all the dud fishing days as well, our heads would probably explode!

Those sufficiently committed to keeping a fishing diary can often tell a brutally different story as to how seasons unfold.

Likewise game fishing clubs’ catch/tag records, which are often used by marine scientists to gain a snapshot of how things ‘uster be’. Some stretch back over 50 years, so they’re a very

useful research tool when fluctuations in a particular species’ stock numbers are being investigated.

Consequently, the tag and release stats for the Solitary Islands Game Fishing Club for the 2014/15 season make interesting reading. All up, there were 13 black marlin, 13 striped marlin and a healthy 41 blue marlin tagged, along with 20 mahimahi, 5 yellowfin tuna, 5 yellowtail

As the water warmed the stripes moved on, with everyone hopeful that they’d be replaced by summer swarms of juvenile black marlin like the Gold Coast and ports further north were encountering. It wasn’t to be.

The poor black marlin tag numbers highlighted another dud season, with the fixed wings bypassing us yet again. One longliner I spoke to during summer said they were cutting a lot of blacks Clayton Livingston, skipper of Seaborn, accepts the beautiful Bodo Muche Champion Boat trophy from Solitary Islands’ club president, James McGinty.

Here’s where the hot blue marlin bite was during the Solitary Islands club tournament back in March…

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...and this is the reason why. kingfish, and a mako and a hammerhead shark. Then there was sundry yellowfin, mahimahi, mackerel and the odd wahoo that didn’t make line class, but always taste pretty good.

Given the crazy late summer bite, I was surprised to see there were actually 3 less blues tagged this season compared to the last, fewer stripes, and half the number of blacks. All up, 7 fewer billfish for roughly the same number of boats — there’s that selective memory at work again.

The stripes were largely the product of an old school hot September/October bite in around the wave recorder buoy and the FAD. These were a mix of sizes ranging from 25-100kg plus, and the bigger ones certainly had a few anglers wishing they’d set out a 24kg outfit rather than a 15 because “they’re only stripes…”

off well wide of the coast, but these were 80kg or more, so not the inshore run of juveniles everyone else in NSW seems to encounter.

The latter, he thought, just jump in the current along

the shelf and ride it past Coffs until it deviates or loses strength further down the coast.

And then we had the crazy blue bite of March and April.

Where 1 blue marlin bite a day was once considered acceptable, multiples became the norm for a month or so. The rest of the summer was a flop though, with a screaming north-south current discouraging the big fish from loitering in Coffs’ waters for any length of time.

Some 20 mahimahi tags is half of last year’s numbers, but there were fewer FAD rats around this year and plenty of 8kg-plus fish, so

many ended up on ice. The mahis always soften the blow of a billfish-less day and you don’t feel like it’s been a total waste of fuel.

As a consequence of all this tagging activity, the Solitary Islands Champion boat In-Hours for the season was Seaborn , while champion male and female anglers were Andrew Barter and Lynette Robb respectively. Champion Boat Out Of Hours was Better Than Vegas. The club is always looking for new members, and further details can be found on their website at www.solitaryislandsgame fishingclub.com

Certainly missing those warm blue marlin days of summer!

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Pick your fish, pick your location COFFS HARBOUR

Stephen Worley worleybirdfilms@hotmail.com

August is shaping up to be a cracking last month of winter 2015. After last year’s patchy and mild winter it has been a welcome surprise to have such a defined season.

There has been the odd mackerel captured, but mostly once it hit the end of May the Coffs Coast has been in full-on winter mode.

A more definitive season makes it far easier to predict where and what the fishing will be like. As would be expected in the middle of winter, there have been snapper in good numbers and sizes along this part of the coast. Reds are being caught from the inshore reefs out to the islands, and on the deeper reefs.

Throughout this month, the snapper should remain right in close on the shallow gravel beds and headlands.

Combined with nice calm weather days and a few less people using the boat ramp, and August would be an ideal time to get out offshore for those in smaller tinnies and kayaks who wouldn’t normally bother.

In close you can expect to find snapper, pearl perch and kingies on any of our inshore reefs.

Floatlining has been a very popular method, with this technique accounting for many snapper, pearl perch and the odd samson or king.

Micro jigging and ‘slow pitch jigging’ has also been a rapidly growing technique over the last year. Any fish that you normally target on plastics will also struggle to resist a small jig pitched in front of their face. Many

local anglers have been discovering the fun that can be had with this approach and reaping rewards such as snapper, pearl perch,

those looking for an edge in the Dave Irvine Memorial Snapper Classic mid-month.

Around the reefs you can also expect to find

target tailor, with smaller metal slugs attracting more attention from the salmon and tuna.

There has been plenty of

Rob Gaden captured this cracking luderick while out ‘FSHN’.

Macca Pacca with a nice mulloway on a lure. Is it true though, that his dad caught it and he’s just holding it up for the photo? kingfish, amberjack, samsonfish, mulloway, teraglin and trevally.

It is a very different technique to standard ‘deep jigging’, as the gear is lightweight and the reel does most of the jigging work.

You can do it all day and cover a lot of ground. This technique is ideal for areas with too much current, or your drift is too fast to get a plastic down into the zone.

It also has the added benefit that the fish haven’t really seen this style of fishing here. if you prescribe to the theory that they learn our lures and become wary, then slow pitch jigging may be the go-to technique this August, especially for

schools of tuna and salmon.

Most of the local bait has consisted of tiny glassy juvenile fish cowering in schools and getting smashed by predators. Small metals, plastics and hardbodies will work for either species, with metal jigs or slugs obviously having the casting advantage.

Schools of salmon and tailor have been consistent around the local headlands and beaches. Tailor have been the dominant catch over the last few months, but we should see the bigger schools of salmon asserting their presence throughout August. Hardbody lures and plastics would be the pick for those trying to

luderick on the headlands, along the rock walls, around the harbour, in the estuaries, and up the rivers. In fact, if you want to target luderick this month, you can take your pick of whether you want to chase them coastally, in the estuary or right up in the freshwater, as they are pretty much everywhere. The most popular locations, as always, have been the headlands and rock walls, but several anglers, including myself, are having some fun up in the freshwater reaches sightcasting to schools with fly gear. Most fish this far up are not the biggest, but they are still plenty of fun and it’s easy enough to bag a feed if that’s what you’re after.

The headlands and rock walls have also been the pick for most mulloway anglers. Big hardbodies have been the taste of

the last few months. Very shallow diving lures around the 150-200mm mark with a lot of action and vibration is what you’re looking for.

The only trouble is finding lures that you’re also happy to cast where you need to cast them. You can lose a few lures with this type of fishing if you’re in the right spot, but any lure casting mulloway fisherman will tell you it’s worth it to experience a big slab of silver slamming a hardbody as it passes over its chosen

piece of cover. Fish from 60-100cm have been fairly regular over the last month, and should continue into August. Mulloway on the lower end of that range have also been regular captures throughout the estuaries and upper reaches of all of the local creeks.

There’s a lot of choice this month over what species you target and where you target them, so whatever the fish and wherever the location, I hope you enjoy the end to a top winter.

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43

Lots to target in spite of the cold and mullet gut. There have been some nice blackfish around as well. Along the

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Well it’s definitely winter! Those bitter winds in the morning are certainly making it hard to get up, but the rewards are there if you can suffer the cold.

The inshore fishing is seeing a few good squire out at the 30m mark on pillies and bottle squid.

There are a couple of better quality 5-7kg models in amongst them on bigger baits also. Out a bit wider there have been kingfish and table fish like pearlies and pigfish.

In the river, bream have been lurking around the bottom end on the usual plastics and blades fished down deep. Baits that have been working well are mullet flesh and any of the stinky gut baits like chook

Steve Patti with a nice fish on one of his own creations. walls in the lower reaches have seen plenty of action.

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River2Sea 130 Bubble Pops are a favourite, as well as the Get Bent Pencil Popper, which have also accounted for some nice fish.

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AUGUST 2015

Jack Allen nailed this 9kg snapper in Westernport, Vic.

Great fishing when the weather permits BALLINA

John Goodwin

With August upon us, the weather gods still haven’t been too kind with the wind, but on the days when they have been friendly, the Richmond River and offshore grounds have produced some great fishing for snapper, pearl perch and mulloway, then you have bream, tailor and luderick in the rivers.

Bream have been thick around the Bream Hole and breakwalls, as well as the headlands. They’re not in the numbers of last month, but the quality is outstanding; some fish have been in excess of 1kg. People fishing at night have been reaping the rewards using mullet gut and strips of fish flesh. The lure fishermen

Crab in the heavy model.

Fishing these lures is nothing like a blade or plastic, as it’s not really worked too aggressively. It’s a simple matter of casting it out and letting it roll across the bottom with a gentle lift of the rod while waiting to feel a little tap. Once you feel it, raising the rod tip usually ends up with a screaming drag, or they can crash tackle it, but on most occasions it’s not really the take you would expect from a bream.

A big surprise for me last month was getting a few estuary perch while chasing bream from the Hobie and land based. I was quite amazed at the numbers that showed when I moved back up and found them on the sounder.

With these fish having a closed season and a no take limit from May 1 to August 31, I rarely

people have been bagging out in no time at all. When they gather on these walls I’ve seen a lot of people fishing cabbage rather than weed.

If gathering cabbage off the rocks or headlands, please be careful as this is not a place to be taken for granted. With all my breakwall and headland fishing I never fish alone, as if you get into any situation that’s dangerous, it can be dealt with a little easier with 2. Who’s going to throw you a life ring when you’re the only person fishing the wall when you go in on a heavy swell?

The Porpoise Wall, Prospect Bridge and the wall inside Mobs Bay also has good numbers of blackfish on them, but trying to get a spot on good days can be hard.

Flathead have been a struggle in the river, with few good sized fish. It’s easy to get

A good snapper taken from deep water while using plastics on 3oz jig heads.

Evans Head Fishing Classic final results for the week. are still braining good numbers on plastics and blades fished deep, and when the tide has almost hit its ebb are casting the hottest lure to date for bream and that’s the Cranka

stick around to see how many I can sting, as they’ve moved that far down the system to do 1 thing and that’s breed.

Luderick have moved in on the south wall and most

cricket scores of undersized ones, but I did find some good sized models in the surf casting plastics. Like in the rivers, these guys will hug the edge of the dropoff just at your feet

The author with a Murray cod that was caught while fishing private property at Ballandean. and wait to ambush anything that drops over it, so don’t go wading out to deep. A 1/6oz jighead will have you in the game, with a 3’’ plastic doing the damage. I’m still using a 7’ rod myself, but a graphite rod around 7’6’’ or 8’ with a light tip would be more suited for the job. Don’t just expect flathead. Bream, tarwhine, dart and even stargazers will hit plastics.

Offshore should start to get back to normal with the Evans Classic being run and won early last month. The closer reefs copped a hammering, as the wind didn’t really play the game for fishing the wider grounds, but some great fish were taken, like pearl perch up to 3kg.

The closer reefs that are holding snapper this month should see extra large models move in and make for some great fun on soft plastics or micro jigs. There’s nothing like having your plastic smashed by a big red that’s determined to get back to the bottom on light line. A 7’’ Jerk Shad, 6’’ Grub, or the Nemesis from Gulp in white or pink can never go wrong, but the Squidgy Flick Baits in Pillie are still a great plastic.

If it’s bait you fish with, just try and get the freshest possible and run as light a lead as you can get away with, as big snapper during low light hours aren’t really a bottom feeder, but more of a pelagic sitting up to 20m off the bottom.

Mulloway offshore have been taking all forms of baits, and afternoon sessions have been best in shallow water, but getting 2 per person over the 70cm mark meant having a backup plan and chasing something else. Live yakkas, even legal size tailor will have you tangling with a few silver slabs. While fishing for mulloway, you’ll also stumble across a few cobia, but they swim right through the water column looking for anything to eat, so setting a live bait 10m under the surface isn’t the most stupid thing to do.

If heading deep, make sure

Richmond river bream have been thick and falling for most plastic presentations. you buy your nearest tackle shop out of lead, hooks and line (or have shares in it), as the leatherjackets have moved in real thick from 60m out. If you do find these guys, it’s a wise idea to drive somewhere else for a fish, unless you’re good at re-rigging and have a great bank account.

Pearl perch numbers have been good and some great fish have been taken once people have found water that’s leatherjacket-free.

Fishing hard on the bottom with paternoster rigs is the way to go here, and hardier baits that can stand the pickers are best. Squid, small live yakkas and tuna strips work well. Having a little lumo tube above the hook can work on shut down days.

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Mixed bags for a mild month THE TWEED

David Solano

Fishing on the Tweed has been great over the last couple of months, and has seen the place restore its reputation as a fun and rewarding recreational fisho’s paradise!

I’ve never seen so many

why the bigger mulloway should start showing up! Oh, they have! I’ve just not got a legal yet, but other folks have.

Other species are being caught off the walls out the front, and not just the seaway, but also around the old pool at Rainbow Bay around to Snapper Rocks (fishing anywhere off rocks is extremely dangerous

sandbanks with weed around is where they hang. It also helps if you’re fishing the incoming tide, and with lures they like it fast, and with bait they like it live. Behind PKG Seafood is where I’ve been successful with live worms.

Flathead? There’s a lot of little ones around and big ones seem hard to come by these days. I notice a lot

picked me up at 8.30am (a sleep in for me), as that was the time the tide was turning to incoming and that’s how it ended up — incoming fish all over our rods.

It didn’t start out real well for me. To begin with I used a big popper — nothing. Then a big deep diver — nothing.

Switched to a heavy soft plastic — nothing. Scott, on the other hand, was getting bitten off every cast. He had on the sinker, swivel then hook, but on the hook he would load it with prime chicken fillet. I hadn’t eaten brekkie and the sight of 4 raw chicken fillets was making me hungry for some reason — maybe I could see their potential.

After a heap of casts with all manner of lures for no result, I sat on a rock and took in what was happening.

First, I hadn’t realised we would be fishing right near the sand pumping jetty on the point that overlooks the

Dave with a nice little soapy. would do the trick. Oh, he’s got some. Fourth, swipe some chicken and away we go.

First cast out towards the seaway with the heavy jighead, bring the bait back into the wall, wait a bit, just as it’s level with me there’s a tap, tap, strike! Straight away I’m on and with my

was. On my next cast I caught a massive bream, and it just kept happening until we ran out of bait.

Scott got into them after ditching his traditional rig for a jighead and a lighter setup. The smile on his face after catching a big bream on a 1-3kg Ian Miller T-Curve

Dave with a bream feed for tea. luderick fishermen. They, like their target species, are everywhere, as the river is full of fish of all kinds. After my last ’yak adventure where I caught around 50-60 fish — all on lures, but with only 5 being legal — what I’m trying to say is there’s a lot of bait to interest bigger fish and that’s

and all precautions should be taken). I’ve been told mac tuna have been around in numbers, and even the odd squire off the walls at Tweed? Yeah, right! More on that later.

It’s just getting better.

The whiting are on the munch and I found that shallow

of nice lizards for sale in the local fishmongers and I’m told they are legally netted in certain areas of the Tweed. Commercially netting the Tweed? What! I looked into it and yeah, they do, and somehow they are allowed to do it.

Back to the fun part. After catching so many last Saturday I was looking forward to hitting the river in my ’yak again, when I got a text from Scott, a fellow fishing bud.

“Fishing tomorrow?” Der. Silly question! He asked if I wanted to fish the wall on the Fingal side? Oh no! I’d put in a big 1 the day before and couldn’t imagine doing the long ride out there, but I need not have worried as he meant fishing from the rocks.

Cool, got off that one. Scott

Rocks can equate to dangerous fishing under the wrong conditions. little beach at Fingal. Second, the only way to get fish here was down deep and close to the rocks. Third, raid Scott’s tackle box looking for what?

I reckoned a 1/4oz TT jighead

light rod I really give it to the fish, which felt like a horse bream. Somehow I got it through the rocks, weird colour though. Then Scott yells that’s a snapper and so it

teamed with a Sol 2000 had to be seen. Next time I think I need to take him out to the end of the wall where the really big fish tend to hang out.

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How to use a Sounder

John Adams’ book How to Use an Echo Sounder/Fish-finder is an excellent and simple to follow guide explaining how to set up and use your sounder to catch more fish.

The book is written with the aim of keeping it simple, so it’s clear and easy to follow and understand. Whether you’re a novice with little or no experience with fish finders, or you’re a more experienced sounder user seeking to broaden your knowledge and skills, this book is for you.

The five major parts of the book take you step by step through the learning process, with each part leading into the next. For more information, and to purchase a copy, visit www. howtouseafishfinder.com.

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Backbone Tide Watch

The Backbone Tide Watch is perfect for anglers, boaties or anyone who enjoys aquatic pursuits. The watch is equipped with a stack of features, including the ability to calculate past, present or future tidal movements of your chosen location once set.

Built tough, the watch comes as standard with a rubber case and strap - in 6 colour combinations -with stainless steel fittings. Features include a 12-digit display, dual time, a stopwatch with 1/100 sec. resolution, a countdown timer and a tide calculator with easy to follow set instructions, and an EL backlight for easy viewing at night. The Backbone has 10ATM/100m water resistancy and is backed by a 12-month warranty on movement.

Price: RRP $49.90 www.backbonetime.com.au

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In years gone by, the common esky has been a present that all dads would love to see wrapped up as a Fathers’ Day gift. So why not give him something out the box this year and consider getting a Chiller Fish Bag? This fantastic product is designed to store your fish catch in a hygienic environment ensuring fresher, long lasting fish. This insulated bag holds ice for days and is ideal for both small and large boats.

Its flared bottom keeps it stable on the deck, and it’s insulated with 1/2” dense foam and has a waterproof zipper to keep fishy fluids contained. These sturdy bags are UVresistant and mildew-resistant, and are built to withstand the harsh saltwater environment. They have a drain spout and a filler spout for easy cleaning, and fold up for easy storage.

Even though they were originally designed for anglers, they are also a great way to keep your food and drinks cold when camping or at parties.

There are five models in the range, from your MICRO Model (75cm length) through to the massive MAXI model (2m in length).

Price: from RRP $119-$299 www.bluebottlefishing.com

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Every year at Christmas and on Fathers’ Day, Fishing Monthly gets a rush of gift subscriptions for lucky dads. We thought that it was about time that we upped the ante on Fathers’ Day! Mention this deal on our 1800 number in the ad hereby and not only will we sell you a two-year subscription to your state’s most comprehensive fishing magazine, but we’ll also send him a free Okuma Siren spinning reel. The reel itself will cost you around $80 at your local newsagent, so it’ll be hard to find a better deal for Dad’s special day.

Subscriptions to Fishing Monthly are the gift that keeps on giving. Each month, the latest issue of the magazine will be delivered to his address and for the full duration of the subscription, he’ll be in the draw for the great subscriber prizes that are offered each month. Better still, renewal to the sub will be around Fathers’ Day 2017. So you’re covered for a gift then, too.

All Fishing Monthly's come with a guarantee that if Australia Post misplace your magazine in their system, we’ll replace noquestions-asked and free of charge!

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The Korr 10 Watt Zoom LED headlamp is going to make a lot of friends with anglers and campers as it ticks every box as far as portability, convenience and power are concerned.

Aluminium alloy construction ensures the new Korr headlamps – with their 10W Cree XML2-U2 LEDs – are robust and durable, and designed to give years of useful service.

There are three light output modes: high, low and strobe.

On the high setting there’s a range of 150m and the output is 850 Lumens. With four AA size batteries in the battery compartment (which is out of the way at the back of the head when the unit is in use) there’s up to 10 hours endurance depending upon the setting chosen and battery quality.

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The Beachmate carries everything you need in one trip, no more trekking back and forth to the car. The Beachmate is a well-designed caddy that can store and assist you moving your gear with the added bonus of a comfortable seat to sit on until the fish start biting.

Features of the trolly include: a pocket that is great for securing such things as your keys, wallet and phone; the product is easy to assemble and folds within seconds into a small size for easy storage in the car boot; it only weighs 4.8kg; and the wheels are designed to not bog down in sand and can carry up to 90kg of gear.

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Under new management since 2014, Mad Keen is bringing back the great slogans we all know and love plus moving into new slogans, smart new designs and a refreshed look. Mad Keen clothing is designed and printed in Australia on 100% pre-stretched cotton, and they’re great to buy as a gift or just to express your passion for fishing.

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Tying on the hook: the multi purpose uni knot 1 BRISBANE

Kim Bain

The uni knot is a viable alternative to the locked half-blood knot (aka improved clinch). The Uni-knot is a universal knot, multi-purpose and suitable for almost every fishing scenario.

I use it as my quick-to-tie go-to knot for attaching the fishing line to the arbor of a reel spool; or for attaching fishing line to swivels, snaps, rings, and\or eyed-hooks in general ‘bread and butter’ fishing situations. It is very reliable and very easy to tie; even in the dark or if you’ve forgotten your glasses.

The uni knot retains approximately 85-90% of the monofilament main line’s breaking strength depending on how evenly you tie it and the brand of line that you use.

Uni knots work well with all monofilament fishing lines, with soft monofilaments often easier to tie than the harder stiffer lines. The knot also works well with fluorocarbon fishing lines.

In America and Australia the knot is known as the uni knot, in Britain it is commonly known as the grinner knot.

main line or trace tag (free) end

Thread the end of the line through the eye of the hook (or swivel etc).

Pull plenty of line through the eye and lay it alongside the line to make two parallel lines.

Then loop the free end back to the eye of the hook (but not through the eye).

2

Pass the free end under the parallel lines and inside the loop that you have created in step one.

main line or trace

main line or trace

4

To finish the uni knot, pull the free end (tag end) in order to slightly snug up the turns; then moisten the knot and pull the free end slowly and firmly to snug up the knot tightly against the eye.

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Make up to six turns with the free end around the parallel lines; starting at the eye end of the loop.

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Technique

Targeting dusky flathead on soft plastics ST GEORGES BASIN

David Johnstone

You have to dedicate yourself to a single species of fish if you really want to understand them fully — what depths they feed in and why, peak times of the year, water movement and tides, and bottom structure to name a few.

With flathead, people have the idea that they’re a summer-only target when the waters are warm, but I can honestly say that they’re an all-year sportfish for light line anglers. Down my way, the season is in full swing from September right through to the end of May. People think that flathead hibernate through the winter months, but that’s not true. They still feed, but not as regularly as they slow right down due to the cold water temperature. They still eat when they need too though. Some of my largest fish come during the winter months, but you must put the time in.

A lot of fishos tend to over-finesse and overthink their approach when targeting this species. I fish quite a heavy jighead of around 3/8oz in water from 2-15m deep, as it has to be on or near the bottom as that’s where they live. Flathead are a specialist in ambushing, by laying half buried in the bottom. With their eyes on top of their head, they have the perfect body design to

TECHNIQUE The standard single or double lift will do the job, but try and vary the lift speeds until you find what they like on the day. About 99 per cent of the fish hit the lure on the

52

AUGUST 2015

knot, as it allows a lot more natural movement by the lure.

PERSISTENCE AND PATIENCE THE KEY To put things in perspective, I’ve personally caught and released over 100

the mesh, they don’t rip off the scales.

After netting, leave it in the net in the water for a few minutes so the lactic acid buildup from the fight can disperse.

weight hang unsupported, as it stretches their neck and backbone. When releasing, hold the fish level and upright in the water and it will swim off in great shape.

When you fish a system

The idea that they’re a summer-only target when the waters are warm, but I can honestly say that they’re an all-year sportfish for light line anglers. sink after the lift. And when you do your next lift, you will come up solid. Keep an eye on the line for any bite movement or a short tug. If you see it, strike hard.

In between lifts, the lure must hit the bottom before the next lift. Depending on the wind or current, you can

To put things in perspective, I’ve personally caught and released over 100 flathead over 80cm in the past couple of years. explode from their hiding place before the bait even knows what’s hit them.

important when targeting flathead. It helps you work out what depths they are feeding in. It also assists in finding the fish, as normally where there’s 1, there are more.

In winter they are very

also lengthen or shorten the pauses between lifts.

Covering water is so

patchy, but as summer moves in they group together prior to and during the spawning season. It’s not uncommon to have 2-3 large females and 30-40 smaller males in the same area during that period, so if you find some fish, stick with that depth and location and there should be more in the area.

TACKLE There are so many options and brands of fishing gear that will do the job, so I will tell you what I use and why.

I am lucky to have Ian Miller make my rods, so he has designed a couple of flathead-specific sticks.

My rods are called a Flatty Flickers and they’re 7’ 6” long and 3-5kg 1 piece.

When I know the very large females are around I go to my 7’ 1” 3-6 kg, but any rod in the 2-4 and 3-6kg class will do the job.

Covering water is why I use a longer rod, as they cast further and you can cover a lot more ground before the lure is back at your feet or the boat.

Any reel from 1000-2500 size loaded with 6-8 lb braid will do the job just fine. I prefer the 2500, just in case I hit a mulloway.

During the summer months, a leader of around a rod length will do, but in the cooler months I go to a 10-12’ leader in 8-12lb, as the water tends to be clearer.

A simple FG knot to join your braid to leader is perfect.

When attaching your jighead, use a locked loop

flathead over 80cm in the past couple of years. The beauty of targeting the humble flathead is they are so willing to take a lure, as well as going like a freight train when of a larger size.

I release all flathead over 55cm, as from roughly 60cm up they’re females, so I like to put the breeding fish back.

Carefully handling of the larger fish prior to release is so important to their recovery, so here’s a few tips that I use

Never hold the fish by the bottom jaw and let the body weight hang unsupported, as it stretches their neck and backbone.

Use a glove or a wet towel to hold the flattie’s mouth and support the body weight with the other hand.

I don’t use lip grips on

for a while, you will get a mental picture in your head of what the bottom looks like and it will be like a light globe going off as you work

Use a glove or a wet towel to hold the flattie’s mouth and support the body weight with the other hand. to ensure they go back nice and healthy.

Try and use a knotless net or Environet with a deep pocket. Without knots in

the fish that I am releasing, as they tend to tear a hole in the bottom lip of the fish.

Never hold the fish by the bottom jaw and let the body

out why the fish are there.

Flatties love structure, so dropoffs, gutters, rock bars and any depth changes will hold fish.

Look to the shelf for tasty treats ILLAWARRA

Greg Clarke clarkey1@westnet.com.au

In the 1980s you could count on 1 hand the anglers who had caught a blueye trevalla or hapuka on rod and reel in the deep waters of the continental shelf.

Professional dropliners caught these and many other ooglies of the deep, but this part of the recreational anglers’ expertise was sadly lacking.

Kiama Canyons was one of the spots where a few locals rode their luck and techniques to drop down 3, 4 and more football fields deep and wait for a bite — that is if the current didn’t get hold of the thick nylon and drag the baits away from the strike zone before they even got there.

When a bite did come, it was 15 to 20 minutes of solid winding and pumping where many a lesser reel exploded from the pressure buildup of stretched nylon coming onto a spool and exerting massive inward and sideways strain as it tried to shrink back to its normal diameter.

A few anglers almost exploded too, as their arms would cramp from the constant winding of the heavy weights after a few drops. If they were lucky and got a bite and ultimately a fish half way up, it would then shoot to the top and float after it filled with air, not being able to depressurise after being pulled from the depths at a quicker speed than it could handle. This often concluded with a big mako cruising in and taking the fish anyway.

These days there are purpose-built electric reels, and with braids that are thinner for their breaking strain than mono creating less drag and virtually zero stretch, it has become so much easier to get down and stay down in the zone. Consequently, some pretty extraordinary catches have been made over the past few years.

It is now commonplace for anglers to head out to their favourite deep underwater canyons and walls and accurately drop their baits just where they want them with the aid of electronics, and score good fish on most trips.

The only thing that hasn’t changed is the big makos still get their share!

August is a good time to have a look, as many boats head out chasing yellowfin and albacore. If it is a bit slow, drop a line down to take home a feed, or just chase the deepwater species themselves.

There isn’t any sport in it, but for pure taste it is hard to beat a piece of trevalla.

Just be aware that it is still westerly time and winds that calm the ocean so nicely in

close in August can generate very quickly at this time of year. They get big, up to and well over 50kts, catching small and larger vessels off guard with potentially dangerous consequences. We had a 50kt plus blow come though in June that caught a lot of anglers out and some had to be rescued, so watch the weather and don’t

They are excellent fun, but not as fast as the striped tuna that are about at the moment as well. They show up at this time each year and are usually extra large models for the species and really go on light tackle. The seagulls will show you where the salmon are, while the terns moving fast over a school will show the way to the stripies.

floaters, or just drift around with plastics. It all seems to be working to 1 degree or another at the moment.

Berley is attracting plenty of trevally, particularly over the shallow reefs and near the bommies and islands, while the plastics are getting lots of Sergeant Baker and rock cod.

For the bottom bouncers there are plenty of nice little

Fishing the deep water is so much easier these days, with great results on blueye trevalla.

Reds may be on the cuttlies, but plastics fished a bit deeper will get results too. take chances.

There have been some albacore to 10kg about, and a few yellowfin to 30, with the odd bigger fish along the shelf, but as yet nothing to get too excited about. There have been a few bluefin captures, but they have been way

Working the washes with pilchards on ganged hooks is another way to get a few salmon, with tailor, bream, trevally and even snapper getting in on the act. Don’t bother if the westerlies are blowing and the water is gin clear, as the results will be

Trevally can be a pest when you are berleying for snapper, but if the reds don’t show they’re better than nothing and good fun on light gear. offshore. Some boats I have heard of have been operating 85nm out. That’s a long way in a small boat if you run into strife.

Back closer to shore, the salmon have been on the move, working in schools on the surface all along the coast.

They are feeding on small clear baitfish at this time of the year, so very small lures and light lines are needed to be successful.

pretty ordinary — you need some white water.

Snapper are still on the chew as the cuttlefish spawning run still has a few weeks to run, but will taper off towards the end of the month.

Good reds to 6kg are over all the northern reefs and most of the other spots along the Illawarra coastline.

Put the anchor down and berley them to you, chase the cuttlies and cast at the

snapper and a few big ones grabbing baits on the bottom, while the flatties are quiet, with only a few fish finding the energy to grab a bait as it passes by.

Kingies have made a bit of an appearance on the deeper reefs, grabbing knife jigs and live baits. Some have been nice fish to 10kg, but they are here today and gone tomorrow. They should get better next month. Just beware of the dreaded barracouta, as the bigger ones can cut through leaders with those razor teeth and easily taking the jigs with them. Throw in leatherjackets and it can be an expensive few drops before you move on.

On the rocks the fishing is not that great, with westerlies leaving the water crystal clear or a ground swell making it dangerous. If you can get some consistency, there are plenty of salmon on the deeper ledges down south around Kiama, with ganged pilchards scoring most fish. A bit of berley will lure in any bream and trevally in the vicinity, while casting lightly weighted prawns into the washes will get more of the same as well as smoking big drummer — both black and silver.

About the only thing that pulls harder than a big silver is a groper. They are about too, and don’t mind the clear water. They taste good, whereas the fillets off a silver drummer would carve up into a nice pair of thongs — they are that tough. A quick pic and back into the drink with them.

On the beaches it is not too

bad, with quite a few school mulloway getting along this winter. The odd bigger fish is being caught, but the majority are 5-7kg, which is better than a poke in the eye.

Salmon, as always, are the mainstay at this time of the year, with good numbers of winter bream getting into the gutters as well. Some very good sized tailor have been popping up here and there along the beaches, but they just seem to be random schools, with fish to 3kg grabbing fresh mulloway baits and not so much pillies. The bigger fish get a little more selective it seems.

In the estuaries it is still very quiet, with the feeder streams to the lake producing some nice bream if you work

the snags with unweighted peeled prawns. Lures don’t seem to be getting many results, except in the lake proper where the water may be a tad warmer.

The odd mulloway has been spotted around the bridge and along the front of the lake breakwalls, as have a few salmon and tailor.

Minnamurra has a few resident bream around the bridges if you can outsmart them, while there are salmon about the entrance on the top of the tide during the evenings.

If all else fails, you could chase few calamari squid around the place, as they seem to be in good numbers over the kelp beds close to shore and in the harbours during the evenings.

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Keep an ear to the water for tuna NOWRA

Wes Murphy wesmurphy@bigpond.com

This time of year we really see the cold weather set in and with the good

movement of water out wide off the shelf, we should have yellowfin and southern bluefin tuna turning up in big numbers. This means lots of miles travelled and big hours put in to find these

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beasts of the bluewater, but if you do find them the rewards are big!

It really pays to listen to your radio and be communicating with your fellow fishermen whilst chasing tuna, because numbers of boats in the same area and bait in the water is the key to keeping these fish feeding around the boat. The fish will stay up longer and everyone can then get a chance to hook and maybe land that trophy fish. I like to find a break in the water temperature and start my cube trail there, where others troll a mix of skirted and deep diving lures until they get a bite, then pull up and start cubing. Both work well.

Also at this time of year the inside reefs fire up, with plenty of snapper and kingfish, with drift bait and/or casting plastics working well. My favourite setup for the snapper is 12-20lb leader, 3/8-1oz jig head in the Stealth range from Berkley, and 5-7” Gulp Jerk Shads in Nuclear Chicken or Camo colours. Have a look on your GPS to find pinnacles, then use your sounder to identify schooling fish.

Place a mark on that spot and set up a drift to come back over them. If you don’t have a GPS with contour maps, download the Navionics app on your phone or check out their maps on their website at http://www.navionics.com. au/index.php/en/web-app.

If you start catching reef species such as rock cod or sergeant bakers, then you should be in the right area. If the snapper are there, it will only be a matter of time before you hook 1. I find the best time to target these guys is when the sky is golden/red, so sunrise and sunset, but in saying that they will also be more active around the change of the tide, with a lowering tide being the better option.

The kings are not as prolific or big at this time of year, but if you have a chat to your local tackle shop they should be able to point you in the right direction.

If your boat is capable, a good place to head is The Block (34.58.200S 150.58.380E), located about 10nm from the Shoalhaven River entrance.

At this time of year, a fun way of targeting these hard

Snapper remain a good option inshore. fighting fish is with the use of knife jigs. You will need to select the right weight depending on depth and current, but a good start is the smaller 200g models on a semi light setup in the 20-30lb range.

Reports have been a little quieter in the estuaries, but as I’ve spoken about before, Facebook is a fisherman’s best friend! Photos of regular catches of mulloway in the Shoalhaven are starting to pop up a little more frequently, and anywhere from the mouth of the river to the canal is your best bet. Make sure you’re aware of the tides and get ready to follow the slack water up and down-river.

Try ¼-1/2oz jigheads with 5”-7” soft plastics, or try the increasingly popular soft paddle tail vibes and you should be onto a winner. If bait is more your thing, then try a small whole squid with a running ball sinker.

In St Georges Basin, the bream have been out deep, so start throwing around some Gulp minnows on 1/12-1/6th oz jigheads.

Have a try in the south eastern corner, and look for schooling fish on the sounder. There has also been reports of some big flathead, with a 92cm fish popping up on Facebook not that long ago. Try south of the reefs at around the 9m mark.

Raise the bluefin tuna alarm!

BATEMANS BAY

Anthony Stokman

Bluefin fever has hit the south coast. Now I know I made the call of the 10th of July, and I was like a week late and I’m never late! (Well, except when it comes to this fishing report...) We worked hard and got fish on the 29th of June, but it’s still the 10th when things should really kick into gear.

Fish are being found between 18 and 19.5 degree temperatures in the slack water coming out of the currents pushing north. The current that has been running up-hill has been pushing in and spreading the fish out and also pushing them in. A special mention must be made of the 91.5kg bluefin caught inside Montague Island by the vessel Reel Weapon.

Bluefin have been caught in

and below, they will drag you all the way back to Tasmania.

You will also find there is not much bird activity over the bluefin. When it comes to finding them, the best structure is temperature breaks and slack water with food sources. Don’t go looking for a flock of diving gannets because you may not see that all season. Instead, look at the sounder, look for temperature breaks, look for the slack water and keep an eye out for surfacing fish.

Don’t rule birds out all together though. We saw off in the distance 2 birds behaving anxiously, fluttering up a few metres, dropping vertically, fluttering up and dropping again. It was just 2 birds, but this behaviour obviously indicated fish, food or action of some kind. We headed over to find a small number of big bluefin hitting the surface and instead of

Craig Rushby with a barrel!

1200 fathoms just over the shelf, but if this keeps up you’ll be catching snapper and tuna together!

The DPI states that bluefin feed a lot on baby squid. You’ll find when you catch 1 that quite often the fish regurgitates these little critters. I’m going to cube with pilchards and put a hook in a squid and watch them run to my bait.

It seems bluefin migrate up in the currents and school up in the slack water where they conserve their energy.

You’ll notice also in the slack bluefin-looking water that when it gets over 19° degrees that the fish tire much quicker once hooked up. It’s like us trying to sprint in the desert.

When you catch one in 18°

trolling past with lures and possibly pushing them down, we started throwing cubes and a pilchard on a hook with a spin outfit and hooked up straight away.

The fish stayed at the back of the boat for a little while, but were a bit flighty and we couldn’t keep them up. You may also see a group of small storm petrels (tuna birds) fluttering around in a group; this doesn’t necessarily mean tuna under them, but it does mean you are in a good area.

Temperature breaks in slack water with food is paramount when it comes to bluefin. We are also seeing a good number of yellowfin getting caught amongst the bluefin, so it sometimes pays to cube with a more expensive

box of IQF pilchards to tempt the fussier sickle fins. If it’s just bluefin you are after, then a cheaper box of trap bait will do fine. We are also seeing a number of albacore out there, with some real horses amongst them.

While there is 19 degree plus water out there, don’t rule out marlin either, as we are still seeing catches of them. Up to 8 fish were seen hitting bait balls in June.

Jeff Brooks off Little Aspro tagged a 150kg blue marlin off Batemans Bay in July, and we still haven’t forgotten that 250kg plus blue marlin caught at Bermagui last August If you’re not chasing the elusive tuna, then inshore you could be chasing the elusive kingfish. Montague Island has been quite good for them over the past weeks. Large numbers of smaller fish with some big ones mixed in have been schooling off Moruya, but not holding there for long. Some brutes have been getting around our shallow water locations, but they have been hard to get a bite out of and when they do you have 2 seconds of glory and then line breaking devastation. People that have managed to keep their heads up have boated a beauty or 2. There has been a little run off Ulladulla also. So, just like the bluefin, you could be driving up and down the coast to launch at different ramps in order to find good schools.

Snapper fishermen have been happy lately. Whether plastics or bait, everything is great. Plenty of customers have been coming in with good reports of catches. A typical scenario in the shop is letting me know they have bagged out on snapper and good ones too, as they hold their hands a metre apart. I’m always tempted to push their hands in a little closer. A customer caught a metre bream the other day, according to his hand gestures. It’s funny, you wonder why people even do it when explaining the size — I guess it goes hand in hand with a fish story.

The rocks are rocking with snapper and drummer at the moment, as it should this time of year. We are seeing the gang down here really tuning the snapper from the stones with plastics these days. The snapper run in close this winter is looking pretty good.

My customers are starting to discover the Gamakatsu 1/0 octopus for their drummer fishing. I have a lot of faith in these hooks, having caught some big fish on them.

I believe hooks should be just like your leader. You should go down to as thin as possible until breaking it.

Thin hooks are prickly and you will find more hookups, particularly with fish with

difficult or small mouths like marlin, mulloway, bream or drummer.

The Decoy range of hooks and products is also flawless and you will find some deadly hooks in their range. Decoy Micro Game assist DJ-91 is the best single assist hook on the market for catching bream. Thin, strong, prickly and deadly. Whack them on blades, hardbodies it doesn’t really matter where or on what, they just catch fish.

Experiment!

The beaches are seeing a small number of salmon, with some big tailor mixed in. Don’t rule out whiting and there are still plenty of beachworms from Broulee to Moruya. Mulloway are also still a good fish to target.

They were a bit slow over the last full moon, but it looks as though they are on the chew again. These guys are still partying in the estuary as well as out on the beaches and coastal bays.

There have been some good schools of estuary perch in the Clyde from Big Island to the bridge, but remember, if you do catch 1 they are to be released until the end of August.

Don’t give up on the flathead either. They’re

The author finally got out of the shop and into the bluefin. always around, just very lethargic. And if you are feeling cold and lethargic, then come in and get some of our thermals, winter hoodies and beanies!

• For more up-to-theminute information on

what’s biting where, drop into Compleat Angler Batemans Bay and have a chat to Anthony or one of the other friendly staff.

They’re located at 65A Orient St, Batemans Bay (02 4472 2559).

AUGUST 2015

55

Game fishing 12 months a year NAROOMA

Stuart Hindson stuart@ausfishing.com.au

Narooma has a deserved reputation as a game fishing Mecca, with a smorgasbord of pelagic species on offer. The game season would typically run from November to May, with a sprinkling of fish — especially yellowfin tuna — in June, but a lot depended on prevailing conditions like water temperature and current.

than 60km from shore, which is a fair hike in a 17’ runabout. So in the old days no one would even consider travelling that distance to find fish, but today we don’t look twice at it.

W i t h this change in attitude, we have opened up a whole new chapter for the game fishing fraternity and in turn made the game fish season a year-long event.

Where anglers would have originally parked the boat up for winter, they are now targeting these speedsters of the deep and reaping the

few fish. I’d expect anglers who berley and cube to come into their own this month, with the chance at a decent yellowfin tuna on the cards also. Every season there’s a few yellas mixed in with the SBT, which is great if you’re the lucky angler on the rod.

There are solid reports of albacore from the northern grounds off Tuross. These fine eaters have been quite thick at times, so if the bigger fish out wide don’t play the game, trolling smaller skirts along the shelf might

A solid kingfish of about 8kg caught off a local reef.

The last decade has seen this change, with the ‘season’ now a year-round proposition, with better boats, state-of-the-art electronics, more in-depth water temperature charts and, more importantly, southern bluefin tuna swimming past our doorstep.

SBT are a species that rarely frequent inshore zones, opting for deeper water from the shelf and beyond. It’s typical that in some seasons we don’t see SBT anywhere closer

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rewards right through the cooler months.

Over the last few weeks the SBT have been really hitting their straps, with a handful of bigger fish coming from the wide grounds. The best fish we have heard off went a solid 101kg, with quite a few around the 70-80kg mark, so pretty good fishing.

Most of the SBT have fallen victim to the trolling brigade, with bibbed minnows and skirted pushers in green lumo colours accounting for a

2

save the day.

At Montague Island, the kingfish have slowed to a crawl, though there are patches that will chew when the conditions are right. Current is the main factor in getting them amused. If it pushes from the north heading south, you might just get lucky.

Both trolling and jigs will work, but live baiting with slimies will produce better results. Where the fish are will change every day, but the southern section around Aughinish Rock is

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a good place to start at this time of year.

In the estuaries, the water is cold, very cold, with some systems as low as 10°. You tend to find the systems that are closed to the ocean are the coolest and usually the slowest to fish. This is especially true for the humble flathead, which will become very docile in these conditions.

You will still get a few, but will need to slow your presentation down to a crawl. If using soft plastics, the smallest hops are the go, with longer pauses on the bottom creating more bites.

Another option is blades. These bits of metal come into their own in shutdown situations, so again, small lifts will entice more strikes. You’re also a good chance at bream, especially if fishing Mummaga Lake at Dalmeny, where there’s been a few solid blacks coming in over recent weeks.

Wagonga Inlet has slowed right up with the coolish water, and the fish that are chewing are the pelagic species like tailor, salmon and trevally. These speedsters have been consistent over winter and that should continue this month. I must admit though that they are not thick so you do have to work for them.

The key is to find active bait balls of whitebait, which can be done by watching for diving terns or, better still, the sounder.

We’ve found over recent weeks that the sounder is everything to catching fish.

Wagonga is loaded with bait and you will sound up massive schools in the main basin, but not all bait balls are holding predators.

Look for balls that have been broken up on the sounder screen and not in a clump, as this is where you will find the fish. It sounds a little confusing, but once you work it out your catch rates will increase 10-fold. If the tailor are on top, bream, snapper and flathead will be under them grabbing the scraps, so if you see the choppers busting up, get over there quick.

The rock fishers that brave the cold have been rewarded with blackfish, drummer and groper. Baits like cunjevoi, cabbage and crab have done the damage, with Dalmeny Headland being a standout of late.

A few locals getting down there are scoring an easy feed, so it’s definitely worth a look. If you’re after the pelagics like salmon and tailor, casting whole pilchards past the

Darren Cooke with a cracking black bream he caught and released. wash zone with a light sinker will do the trick.

The salmon have been in great numbers, with fish to 3kg common.

Reports from the beaches have been slow, with just the odd salmon and tailor, but that should

pick up when we get a bit more swell. With the offshore westerly breezes it’s been quite flat of late, so let’s hope for a bit more movement. When it does pick up, better beaches to try include Brou, Narooma Main and Tilba.

Cameron Johnston and his family holidaying at Kingfisher Bay Resort landed this great bream.

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Winter water temperatures still staying high BERMAGUI

Darren Redman djsxstreamfishing@bigpond.com

This year has seen very high water temperatures, which in turn have resulted in some special fishing that’s not about to stop any time soon.

The estuaries are unseasonably fishing better than they should, with Wallaga Lake being the pick and having the most species on offer.

from the winter rains.

Tailor are also in good numbers in the lake, and the terns will indicate their presence. Trolled lures are an effective way to find them, and once found switch to surface poppers for something special. For the kids, (and the big kids too), check out the Bermagui Harbour for schools of trevally.

They are great fun and there are some monsters that will keep the best of anglers honest.

choose conventional drift fishing, try the Four and Six Mile reefs, while Goalen Head has sharks too.

Closer to shore you could anchor and berley the snapper up and drift baits back at varying depths, or do what is becoming more popular — casting soft plastics around. This is done in depths from 20m through to right in close to the rocky outcrops.

Not only will you catch snapper, but there will be a host of different species

Tassie trumpeter mixed in with the flatties.

Game fish are usually not at their best in August,

be blues and whalers.

Berleying is the way to attract them, and it goes without saying that you

and luderick have been excellent, and should remain so for some time.

Some very nice bream,

Luderick certainly don’t mind the cooler water of winter.

Salmon are in good numbers along the coast at present.

At present, the Bermagui River and Wallaga Lake around the bridges are producing a good run of luderick, with some exceptional fish amongst them. The better fish seem to be at Wallaga — a result of the entrance staying open

Not only have the warm waters affected the estuaries, the offshore and coastal scene has also benefited. Out to sea the reef and close-toshore fishing is excellent.

Snapper are liking the conditions and there are plenty of them. If you

willing to get into the act.

Tiger flathead offshore are also on the improve, with better fish coming from deeper waters. About 60-70m is a good depth to try, although if you are after big fish, try the Twelve Mile Reef as you may encounter those tasty

however, the unseasonably high water temps this winter that caused all the bad weather off the east coast has maintained some tuna stock. Albacore would definitely be on the short list, along with some yellowfin. Bluefin tuna in varying sizes also visit the coast around now and by trolling a good spread of lures, these fish can be encountered on the shallow reefs to wide out over the 1000f line. There has also been a few captures of the rarer bigeye tuna, which will mix in with the other species but rarely come to the surface.

Wherever you find tuna you will encounter sharks. Makos are on top of that list, plus there will

use plenty of tuna in your berley. Doing this around the Twelve Mile Reef or the edge of the Continental Shelf will also permit some deep water bottom fishing.

All those lovely rough conditions this winter has really stirred up the rock species. Drummer

trevally, groper and wrasse have also been invigorated by these conditions, with salmon up on the surface.

These are along the coastal beaches and make regular visits to the deeper gutters, thus providing anglers some very good winter shore-based fishing.

Check out Luke Lea’s wicked 18kg blue eye trevalla from SWR.

58

AUGUST 2015

Just a great time for fishing TATHRA

Darren Redman djsxstreamfishing@bigpond.com

This fishing year has been great, with water temperatures high and staying high, producing some excellent angling.

This is set to continue, with the reef fishing the best at present.

On leaving the boat ramp and turning south, the coastline is rocky for quite a few kilometres, allowing access to the many reefs only a short distance out. If visiting the area and you wish to find out the better spots to fish on these reefs, simply cruise over them with the sounder on, looking for the pinnacles and structure that should have fish showing. Once located, simply drift over them to see what sort of results you get.

If this method produces for you, repeat the drift while that spot is still fishing, then move

basis are producing sizeable Tassie trumpeter and a host of other species. These are just inside the Continental Shelf, where the correct use

groper or the many wrasse that frequent there.

Salmon are constantly passing along the coastline between the Wharf and

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Shallow water fishing is a lot of fun, whatever the species.

Flathead are available at present, both offshore and in the estuaries. on looking for a similar 1 and repeat the process.

In the opposite direction travelling north, the coastline changes somewhat, with rocky headlands, bays and long sections of sand beaches in between. Out from these points, anglers can use the same system as down south, sounding out the better spots.

All these areas are producing a mixed bag of snapper, morwong, ocean perch, pigfish and the ever-present leatherjackets.

Out from the beaches is also producing plenty of action on the flathead front, with both tigers and sandies being taken consistently. There has also been good numbers of gummy sharks, as well as red gurnard, caught in the area.

Not only are these inshore grounds producing well, the deep reefs the locals are fishing on a more regular

of the sounder becomes an important item with which to fathom out your quarry.

You don’t have to just stop there for now, as with modern

technology and electric reels, deep water fishing out in the canyons is gaining popularity for fish like hapuka, blue eye trevalla, gemfish and many cod species.

Now if offshore fishing is not your cup of tea, the other option you have to explore are areas like the Tathra Wharf.

This spot always produces some action, and at present it is in the form of trevally and salmon. These species are a constant catch, along with the ever-present schools of yellowtail, the odd garfish, and quite a few luderick close to the rocks. These like a well presented piece of cabbage weed.

Weed will account for more blackfish off the rocks below the pub, where drummer are also present in good numbers. These fish also have a liking for cunjevoi and red crabs, as do the blue

Kianinny Bay, where switched-on anglers can present a well-placed lure or bait to find plenty of surface action.

In the Bega River, anglers are awaiting spring and warmer weather for the fish to get into a more active mode.

As for now they have to be enticed to strike at a lure or bait.

There is quite a lot of black bream hugging the structure, where they can be polarised quite easily. You may sight several fish holding on a snag and if you place a suspending lure in the right spot with the right twitching action, you may draw a strike. It may be necessary to try several schools before a bite occurs.

This method also works with estuary perch, which can be clearly seen at this time of year in the cool water. Take note and persistence will eventually pay off.

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59

It’s all about rugging up!

MERIMBULA

Stuart Hindson stuart@ausfishing.com.au

This winter has been one of the coldest that l can recall in the Merimbula region, but there’s still a few fish to be caught if you brave the elements.

Offshore sportfishers targeting SBT (southern bluefin tuna) are getting amongst them, with some sizeable fish being caught, mainly by trolling bigger bibbed minnows and skirted pushers. The SBT are very wide, with long distances

60-70km offshore when the conditions suit. That’s a long way from land, so having a good seaworthy boat and experienced crew is the go.

Reports suggest that the SBT are very concentrated, with tight patches of fish occurring; the trick is to find them. It’s a good idea to listen to radio chat, as you might get a clue or even be lucky enough to get called in on a patch. It doesn’t always happen, but does more times than not, especially with local crews.

I haven’t heard of any jumbo cruisers yet (120kg

too. There’s also been a handful of yellowfin tuna caught whilst targeting the SBT, so that says to me the water is still pretty good.

I think the tuna fishing will only get better in the coming weeks and it’s awesome to see that our game fishing season is a 12 month proposition these days, thanks to the schools of SBT travelling past our shoreline.

Closer to shore, the snapper are excellent on most reefs. Again, they are readily available all year, with winter producing some solid reds. Both Long

This kingfish fell to a slowly twitched soft vibe fished deep. Photo courtesy of Nick Cowley.

A couple of nice yellowfin bream from the flats, which were released. needing to be travelled for success. It’s not uncommon to see boats heading

plus), but there’s plenty of 40-50kg tuna on offer, with 70-80kg fish on the cards

Reef and White Cliffs have fished well, with fresh squid and tuna strips the better

baits to use while drifting.

Anglers anchoring up and fishing over the gravel have done okay, though the current and wind directions need to be favourable to get consistent results.

It has slowed in the estuaries, especially Merimbula, but Pambula to the south continues to amaze me. This tiny bit of water has seen all the usual estuary dwellers chewing at various times, and fishing the correct tides for nominated target species has seen some super action of late. Due to the water clarity with the colder water temperatures, the draining tide has fished best for bream, flathead and blackfish. The flooding tide has certainly been better for trevally, salmon and whiting.

What’s interesting though, is that the bait fishos have really struggled,

with anglers using a variety of soft plastics and blades definitely getting the better results. The front river section is the place to fish, but is only firing when there’s current, so fish accordingly. The main basin is seeing the majority of flathead captures, but you will have to move around to locate them.

When you find a patch, you will be pleasantly surprised with the results. I would be looking around the 4-5m sections off the ribbon weed edges. You can expect a few bream in these same areas, especially if using blades.

On the beaches, salmon are the main winter quarry, with their numbers in force at present. Almost all beaches with a half decent gutter are producing, with the occasional decent greenback tailor thrown in.

All the usual methods are

working, with paternoster rigs, ganged pilchards or Shiners the way to go.

A few anglers are still getting amongst the bream, with North Tura excellent at present. Try towards the southern end of the beach.

This action will continue through the next few months; it’s basic stuff, but still a whole lot of fun.

Anglers fishing the stones for bread-and-butter species like drummer and blackfish have fared okay, but a lot depends on wash movement. If there’s little or no swell it’s been tougher, but when you get that white water it really fires up. Short Point continues to be the hotspot for these fine eating fish, with cabbage and fresh prawns working as bait.

I’d be using a little berley, although not too much, particularly when the seas are flatter.

Nothing wrong with fishing except the weather EDEN

Kevin Gleed captainkev@wildernessfishingtours.com

Well it’s the middle of winter already and it’s been extra cold R E V A L LY . S N A P P E R . E S G.T TU A PE R RY

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the high pressure systems right over us.

The Eden area has been experiencing warmer than usual water temperatures for this time of year. This has kept the fish on the go.

Further to the south there

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is cold water, and once this arrives the fishing will again slow down for the winter period.

Yellowfin bream, sand whiting and salmon are still being caught on the local beaches, and with all the consistent swell there is no shortage of good fishing gutters in the area.

Plenty of nice size salmon have been caught from the beaches down in Disaster Bay, and this area offers some great fishing. At this time of year you will probably have the place all to yourself.

The beaches inside Twofold Bay have been fishing well for bream and whiting, with a high tide

around dawn or dusk the best time to soak a line.

Fresh bait like worms and prawns has been the pick of the bait.

Good fish are being caught from the rocky headlands in the area. The snapper are about, with the best time to expect to catch a red has been first light.

Some good size blackfish are also being caught in the same areas.

The inshore reefs have fished well for those chasing a feed pinky snapper, with the odd bigger fish on the go.

Some good fishing been had for both sand and tiger flathead.

Recent weather

conditions haven’t allowed too many boats to head out wide chasing game fish, and at the time of writing there has been little to report.

Fishing in the estuaries has been good and some excellent fishing has been had at Wonboyn. This is a half an hour’s drive south of Eden and in a day’s fishing here you might not see anyone else on the water. Good black and yellowfin bream and estuary perch are caught over the winter months, with the dusky flathead firing up as things warm.

The winter months can also see some big tailor put in an appearance.

We’ve got the winter fishing all to ourselves MALLACOOTA

Kevin Gleed captainkev@wildernessfishingtours.com

Great winter weather is with us once again — clear skies, cold mornings, with beautiful sunny days and very few visitors in town.

This is when you get to enjoy the fishing without seeing another boat on the water all day.

As usual the fishing offshore during the winter months is hardly worth the effort. There can be some good fishing for gummy shark, but everything else like flathead is suffering from lethargy, but with the water temperature around 13° it’s not surprising. The past month has also seen plenty of days with big seas, which hasn’t been the best for offshore boating. They have, however, have created some great gutters along the beaches. Salmon are moving along the beaches, with fish being caught from Tip Beach down to Betka Beach, with the rising tide the best time to be fishing.

The salmon have been moving in and out of the lake on the tide over the past week, with fish caught near

the entrance and in the deeper water out around Goodwin Sands. The lake water has really cleared up after the recent rains, with good water flow at the entrance. The

shifting sands have been moving the entrance down towards Bastion Point.

Silver trevally are about in good numbers and the colder months sees more fish

Ashley with the sort of bream that draws anglers to Mallacoota during the winter months.

entering the system. Fish are being caught in both the Bottom and Top lakes, but finding them is a bit hit and miss. The weedbeds around the entrance area are still not fringing the channel like the old days, so the trevally don’t frequent the area like they used to.

Some big winter tailor are in the system at present, but catching them isn’t easy and most encounters end quickly with the loss of a lure. The past month has seen some great fishing for dusky flathead, black bream and yellowfin bream, with fish caught in the Bottom Lake, the Top Lake, and right through to above Gypsy Point.

The flathead are biting well on soft plastics and blades. You need to keep moving until they are found, then fish with a variety of lures and vary the retrieve until you work out the best method to catch them. Big fish are available, with plenty of good eating size models around the 40-45cm size. This is great to see, as it wasn’t long back that the common size was around 30-35cm.

Some good size yellowfin bream are about,

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The average size of winter flathead has been great.

It’s all looking good for the summer period. but as big as they appear they don’t weigh up like a black bream, being a bit lean at present. The black bream though, are in top winter condition as they

head into spawning mode.

Once again, you have to find the fish, but once you do they have been caught on a variety of blades, soft plastics and hardbodies.

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61

Kayak fishing secondary structure BRISBANE

Justin Wilmer Find me on Facebook at Yaks On

This issue I want to look at 1 of my favourite types of fishing and how some recent experiences have reinforced the importance of mixing things up, taking note of what’s happening around you, and being prepared to alter techniques to catch a wider variety of species.

One of my favourite types of fishing is drifting the edges for flathead. It’s

for those that like a feed of fish it’s hard to beat fresh flatties.

When targeting flathead I prefer the last few hours of the run-out tide and first hour of the run-in, as the fish become concentrated along the edge of dropoffs, waiting for the baitfish and prawns to be forced off the flats with the diminishing water depth. It can be as simple as sliding the kayak in, paddling half a dozen strokes and turning the kayak to face the bank so that you are drifting along the edge about a cast away.

hop and pause retrieve, ensuring the lure is on the bottom between hops as flathead bury themselves to ambush their prey.

My go-to lures are generally 2.5” paddle tail soft plastics rigged on 1/4oz 1/0-2/0 jigheads if the bait is small. If there is larger bait in the system I will upsize to a 3” paddle tail and 1/4oz 3/0 jighead. The 1/4oz allows me to fish fairly quickly, while still maintaining contact with the bottom, and it also makes it possible to fish down the dropoff into the channel,

back into. I recently fitted a Raymarine Dragonfly-5 PRO Sonar/GPS to the kayak though, and have been spending more time tinkering around with the GPS, mapping, sounder and DownVision. Upon seeing a snag on the sounder, I decided to cast back over my drift and fish the snag.

First cast, snagged…

A few casts around this school of bait and fish soon produced some quality bream.

Sunrise and sunset are prime times to be on the water. relatively simple, a great way to make the most of short windows of time, can be quite productive as flathead love lures, and

As you drift, cast toward the edge of the bank, slightly ahead of the drift, allow the lure sink to the bottom, and then commence a double

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which where I fish can commonly reach depths of 3-5m. A 7’ 2-4kg rod, 2500 size spinning reel, 6-8lb braid and 8lb fluorocarbon leader will generally have you covered, unless there are numbers of big fish in the area, in which case it’s worth upping the leader to 12-14lb as the raspy mouths of flathead can destroy leaders, especially when larger fish are inhaling soft plastics.

When fishing the channel edges, the primary structure I am targeting is visible structure; the edge or dropoff itself, along with the weedbeds, sand and gravel patches, rocks, timber and other snags that attract bait and in turn predators. Drains also make up part of this visible primary structure, acting as ‘bait funnels’ that bring the last of the prey off the flats and into the strike zone of the waiting flathead. This article is about fishing ‘secondary structure’ though, so what am I referring to when talking about this?

SECONDARY STRUCTURE When chasing flathead, I am generally zoned in on the edge, paying little attention to the depth sounder other than for an approximate depth of the area I am working the plastic

Top: This snag produced a nice grunter. Check out the jellyfish also clearly displayed by the sounder. Middle: When targeting the edge, any lumps and bumps the ’yak drifts over could potentially hold fish. Above: A yellowtail pike school holding off the end of a boat ramp shown on the sounder and DownVision. well, at least I knew that the sounder was accurate!

I grabbed my second rod, cast, and kept the lure a little higher in the water column on this retrieve,

swimming it over the snag.

The rod buckled over, the drag screamed and after a short, stubborn fight a nice grunter was in the net. That started the cogs turning.

The bottom was pretty flat for a while and then I came to a boat ramp; a piece of man-made structure that is always worth a few casts. This was the perfect

opportunity to check out the DownVision on the Dragonfly-5 PRO and there it was; a perfect picture of the boat ramp scrolled out across the screen in front of me. I was pretty blown away by the detail.

I have come from the era of a paper sounder in my dad’s old steel hull cruiser, drawing a line on a paper roll and flashing a light to tell us the depth we were in.

From there it was a sounder on my first sit-in kayak in the mid ’90s that must have had about 100 pixels total and looked like a game of Tetris! A few more sounders over the years and now I found myself sitting in my pedal kayak, with my graphite rod, braided line, ElaZtech soft plastic and enjoying the latest in depth

sounder technology… we have come a long way.

It got even better though.

As I drifted away from the ramp and my normal edge bite, the DownVision clearly displayed the end of the ramp and a school of fish, which I believed to be a school of yellowtail pike holding in the same area where we had targeted them as kids. First cast with the smaller paddle tail and a yellowtail pike came aboard the kayak. Seven casts later and I had 6 yellowtail pike in the Evakool icebox, with a couple of ice bricks keeping them in good condition for an afternoon fish smoking session. Not a prized Australian sportfish, but fun, addictive fishing and a great oily fish for the smoker. If I had stayed focussed on my

edge bite I may have missed out on the entrée for the evening’s meal.

As I continued my drift, picking up flathead at regular intervals from the edge bite, I also located another piece of secondary structure on the sounder that produced a cod and better than average flathead, before coming across what appeared to be a rubble patch holding fish. The area I was now fishing had more current flow, so I marked the rubble patch as a waypoint on the Dragonfly-5 PRO’s GPS mapping. This allowed me to reposition the kayak and pedal up current to the structure, so that I could cast ahead of the kayak, over the structure and bring the soft plastic back naturally with the current and through the strike zone.

The first cast was smashed, the reel screamed with a light drag setting, and

bream following the lure almost to the kayak. If a hook did pull from 1 fish, another was there to inhale it. The school of bream were angry, competing to get a crack at my little plastic,

it was time to head for home and I enjoyed the pedal in calm conditions, reflecting on what the secondary structure had added to my session. Keeping an eye on the Dragonfly-5 PRO

So next time you’re on the water, be it edge fishing, surface fishing, or targeting structure such as weed, lilies, timber, mangrove edges or rocks, don’t forget to keep an eye on the sounder and

Top: A flathead from a weed edge. Above Left: Fishing the edge while monitoring the Dragonfly’s DownVision.

Above Right: Another nice bream from a school picked up on the sounder while drifting the edges.

I soon saw the silver flash of a quality bream. After each fish I repositioned the kayak, cast again and the action continued, with

and with a few days until the full moon I’m guessing they were feeding up before spawning.

After a dozen or so bream

had added a grunter, cod, nice flathead, 6 pike and a dozen bream to the 20 or so flathead that the edge bite had produced.

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63

It’s monster cod time COPETON DAM

David Allan manager@copeton.com.au

As August approaches, we see Copeton coming into the best time of year for those fishermen out there that want to tick a big Murray cod off their bucket list. Now is the time to be planning a trip to Copeton, so earn a few brownie points around the house over the next couple of weeks.

If you can organise a few days off around the middle of the month (new moon on the 15th), you will give yourself the best chance of catching that fish of a lifetime, especially if the weather gods are kind and you can combine a rising barometer around this dark moon period in either August or September.

So now you have your time off organised and accommodation booked, all that is left is sort the tackle.

You can just bring everything, but there are some things that we find are well worthwhile paying particular attention to.

The general trend is to use either baitcasting or spin tackle in the 4-8kg range. Rods need to have some beef, particularly in the tip to cast some of the

big lures we regularly find ourselves fishing these days.

Spin gear has always been the go for fishing very light lures, but it does have a spot fishing the big, heavy lures that are now being used in a lot of cod waters. If you have come to Copeton to catch and release the fish of your dreams, I have listed my thoughts on some areas of tackle setup that may help.

LURES You are chasing a fish that will eat anything from a shrimp to a duck, so never consider a lure is too big. I have seen cod eat 40cm yellowbelly beside the boat, and lures up to 30cm long. I think we might delve a lot deeper into this subject next month.

TERMINALS Cod have a very big mouth, but can be hard to hook, particularly on surface lures. We have found that retrofitting lures with heavy duty 2X and 3X strong chemically sharpened hooks, and giving thought to increasing hook exposure (mainly upsizing trebles and double or triple split rings) is helping the conversion rate.

A 4-1 ratio seems to be about standard with surface lures without these modifications.

I have been using 1/0 and

2/0 Owner ST-41s and ST-56s with good results.

LINES Cod fishing is all about the strike; nothing moves water like a big green fish, but they’re not going to pull a lot of string and make your drag smoke. In saying that, they do have some real low down grunt and in a lot of cases timber or rock structure is only metres away. Most people run with 20-50lb braid main line, but forget about your super thin braid — use something tough, as just touching granite rock will shred all but the most abrasion-resistant braid. The heavier breaking strains are only used for their abrasion resistance, otherwise we would use 15-20lb. Some locals are going back to fishing mono or fluorocarbon as a main line.

LEADERS Cod have a mouth full of little holding teeth and no sharp gill rakers, so the fish itself is not that hard on leader material. The structure our cod live in is what your leader has to contend with, but a word of warning — if you pull hard on a big cod that’s taking your leader or main line around or past granite, it is going to end in tears. Back off and let it swim away from trouble.

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I like to use leader in the 30-50lb range. For surface fishing, I generally use mono around 30-40lb connected with a strong clip or loop knot. Sub-surface, I use fluorocarbon, again in the 40lb range, but if the dam is really clear like it is now, I will drop back to a hard 12kg fluorocarbon. Generally, we use about a rod length of leader attached with a strong slim knot like the FG, although I find an Albright works fine if well tied.

LANDING THE FISH OF YOUR DREAMS If fishing from a boat, a release in the water is always going to be best for the fish, otherwise the biggest landing net you can find with fishfriendly mesh will do the job.

Keep in mind that it may take 2 to lift it into the boat though.

When fishing from the shore, lip-grips are our preferred option, remembering that the bottom jaw of a big cod will test the gap on all but the biggest designs. Due to the likelihood of them kicking and rolling at the last minute, a swivel head is a plus. Don’t forget to support the weight of the fish at all times if lifting them out of the water.

The beauty of the Copeton winter cod fishery is that it is open to all. If fishing from a boat, get right in amongst the sticks and work just a long cast from the bank. The hits will often come in the first few

metres of the retrieve. When fishing from the bank, work the lure right to your feet; a hit on the surface just a few metres from the rod tip in complete darkness will put the heart rate of the most hardened angler through the roof!

Next month we will look at big fish lures, talk about preparations for the upcoming

yellowbelly season, and some of the go-to techniques for September.

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A high barometer can save the day in winter MAITLAND

Dave McLean djfmclean@bigpond.com

August can be a very enjoyable time of the season to head out for a fish, but the mornings can be cold and foggy, although are usually followed by very bright and clear days. It is also quite common to get long periods of high barometer readings, which tend to peak around midday. This is the peak bite period.

down in the metabolism of the bass. This leads to a smaller strike zone and the fish less reluctant to feed and travel. This can be true for both vertical and bank fishing around structure and cover.

The key ingredient is to keep the lure in the zone longer by fishing slowly and using a finesse approach of light leaders and sharp hooks.

The bass and goldens tend to prefer deep water this month, be it out in the 20-30m areas where

growth. Any nearby timber can transfer warmth into the water.

Vertical fishing is best using ice jigs — Jackalls and Nilsmasters — or plastics slow rolled with the use of a good sounder.

The new Lowrance Chirp range is excellent for this, as it has very good target separation, as you can see your presentation at the correct depth.

Use blades and plastics when working the banks, as they can be adjusted to the correct depth by their weight

Over past years I have noticed that until the water temperature begins to rise in August, wherever you find the fish they will usually

the 15m depths, as well as up the arm in amongst the timber.

The Carrowbrook is usually a bit quiet, but in

A spot that is closer to the bottom of the dam (which is handy if a westerly comes up around lunchtime), is in Yellow

Bass and estuary perch together so you can see the difference. That’s the EP at the top.

Pete at Glenbawn with 2 beaut bass caught on Keitech plastics on a top winter’s morning.

The water temperature in the dams is usually at its lowest this month, around 13.5°, with Glenbawn the slowest to start to warm as it’s fed by snow melt from the Barringtons.

It takes a serious attitude change to go fishing during winter, but it can be worth the drama. With this month being the last of winter, it can only improve as the days become longer and a bit warmer.

With the very cold water temperatures comes a slow-

they can hold in 10-15m, or adjacent to steep dropoffs or banks close by to deep water. These areas allow the bass to easily move up and down the water column, depending upon the weather, water temperature and clarity, without using too much energy.

I like to fish banks that face north during the early morning periods and very late in the afternoon, as they have had sun on them all day, can attract bait and have more weed

and retrieved with regular pauses — sometimes as long as 5 seconds. Another very good option for the banks is neutrally buoyant jerkbaits, with my favourite the Jackall Squirrel.

Keep in mind that this month the bass are usually in spawning mode and condition. Although it doesn’t happen, they can be very scattered and slow to react. Try different areas, from open banks, adjacent to timber and varying structure.

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hold there for an extended period. This can mean a lot of sounding around, but Lowrance Sonar Logging is the ideal tool to help you find them, as it can be very enjoyable just logging this month.

When using Lowrance Sonar Logging, I save it to an SC card and when home on a freezing cold day play it back on my laptop. You will be surprised at what you can see, but missed when out on the water.

When you find areas of fish, you can then go to Lowrance Insight Genesis and check out the maps and work out why the fish were holding up in that particular area.

LAKE ST CLAIR It has been fairly ordinary up there over recent weeks, with plenty of schools on the sounder, but all very reluctant to bite.

Up the Fallbrook will be the best option, with the deep water around Carnell’s Corner for deep jigging and plastics off the banks, trolling up to Richards Reach, and also dropping baits around the timber.

Further down the Fallbrook off Point Andrews in the river channel is worth a try, both deep jigging and dropping bait alongside the timber.

Around the Broadwater is another good spot for the deep fish, especially the area north of Alcorn Point and around the deep section off Richards Point if there have been some strong westerly winds blowing. They’re common this month!

Further up the dam, around Gindigah and Perkins Point should be some school fish out in

saying that, if there has been an influx of fresh water then it is worth a try in the river channel up at Bird and Lloyds points.

This area is really good for small spinnerbaits.

LAKE GLENBAWN There have been some pretty cold and windy days, but when it’s nice, the fishing has been quite good.

The better fishing this month will come from around the back of the dam, up near the Soil Con Shed, and the Panhandle.

The bass tend to hold up in the deeper water around 10-15m, especially near

Buoy Bay. Look for the deeper areas where there is a change in depth. This is 1 location where the use of Lowrance Insight Genesis maps will give you a hand up.

Trollers and baitos will also be able to try this area, as over the years it has accounted for some quality fish.

With Pete and Carol still at the kiosk, I am sure they will steer you in the right direction.

Along with the boys from Port Stephens Hatchery, we had a very successful morning catching brood

Top: Social map of Yellow Buoy Bay at Glenbawn. Bottom: A screen shot from St Clair using Sonar Logging to find bass, as can be seen on the right in the sonar window. cover and structure change.

Another very good area to try is around the Dogleg on the point where it meets the river channel.

stock for breeding this year, scoring about 16 pairs. I will keep you informed on their progress as they all spawned 3 weeks ago.

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The wind is my friend LITHGOW/OBERON

Glen Stewart stewie72@bigpond.com

The wind is my friend, the wind is my friend, the wind is my friend. The power of positive thinking will surely be tested this month and next up at Thompsons Creek Dam. I have often doubted my intentions, right up until that next rainbow trout smashes my spoon and gets aerial and then the wind is soon forgotten.

The cold, aerated water is oxygen-filled and despite the time of year holds a surprising amount of life, pushed to the windblown side of the dam by the constant wave action. Early post-spawn rainbow trout use this time to feed up.

They will have expended a lot of energy over the spawn and will have eaten very little, and hungry moving fish can be easier targets.

Obviously lure choice needs to be taken into account when throwing into the teeth of a cold sou’ wester. Compact and heavy is the go; metal blades, slices, and spoons, and if you can get yourself out onto a point or rock that juts out into the lake, all the better. Most fish will be cruising the lakeshore a few metres out, so casting at angles down each side puts you in the strike zone for a longer period. The wind and wave action also conceals anglers on the bank, so staying low and back is not as critical.

PICK YOUR SPECIES The theory or trend

You have to rethink your presentations in TCD when the wind doesn’t blow. Micro jigheads and a 3” OSP Dolive Craw is hard to beat.

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is a bit of a loose one, but it’s one that I don’t mind sticking my neck out on. Brown trout in TCD love a presentation close to the bottom, or better still, a presentation that contacts the bottom.

It’s obviously related to the bottom dwelling bull head gudgeon and yabbies that they predominately feed on. Rainbows, on the other hand, seem to be more pelagic in nature, quite happy cruising deep thermoclines, wind-blown shores, and wind lanes, feeding on open water tidbits. The theory is very general in nature, I know, but I am happy to run with it…

ON GOLDEN POND A tad early I guess, but Windamere golden perch will start to stir later in the month. It’s been interesting watching the pages on social media and the captures in places like Burrendong, Windamere, and Wyangala, the advancements in sounder technology, angler education, and the techniques from tournament anglers filtering through the ranks.

It shows in catch rates over the winter period, is great to see, and good for the industry as a whole.

Late in August you will see a definite spike in capture rates in all these dams on bait, scented plastics, and an early season favourite of mine, the skirted jig. I have been fishing with these for many years and have quite an affinity for them.

Unfortunately, they are not widely available, so ask the owner at your local tackle shop to source some. Most large distributors have them in their range.

For golden perch, steer clear of the ones aimed at largemouth bass — generally speaking they are too big (great for cod though, but more on that another time). The ones you need to be looking at are aimed at the smallmouth bass market in the US. Most come with weed guards, but I cut them off most of the time or trim them right back. They can be fished in a number of different ways, but at this time of year you want to be fishing them close to or on the bottom, with lots of pause time.

Try gravel rock points and slopes, mix up the retrieve, but always close to the bottom with slow drags, pops off the bottom, slow falls, double pumps, and then let it drop back.

Let the fish tell you what works then repeat. Scented trailers (plastics) work a treat sometimes, while at other times less is more.

Bottom contact, lure and leader selection are all things you need to take into consideration when targeting brown trout in Thompsons Creek Dam. LAST MONTH FOR COD August is the last month of the year you can target cod, and with a spawning season just around the corner the aggression shown by some fish can be quite evident. I have

not had it happen to me, but have heard quite a few stories about fish slapping the underside of boats and swiping at electric motor props.

Picking your days will be important, so look for a high barometer and a new

moon. Wyangala has turned up some thumping fish in late August over the last couple of years for those who have put the time in.

Heavy structure, steep banks, and plenty of time on the water are a recipe for success.

Skirted jigs are a favourite of mine early in the season for golden perch. Bottom contact is important, but mix it up and let the fish tell you what is working.

Reid Cunninhame nailed this 92cm Murray cod in -5% temperatures on a topwater lure.

Cool mantle of winter in Canberra-Monaro CANBERRA

Bryan Pratt

The Canberra-Monaro district is now in the depths of winter, with snow and ice abundant on the mountains. This means a major change in fishing tactics that visitors in particular should take note of.

Fishing at Lake Jindabyne last week was a good example. A colleague wanted to troll lures in his favourite stretch of water in the Thredbo Arm leading up to the Thredbo River. The flowing water of the river, of course, is closed to fishing until the season reopens in October, but the lake is open all year round. It was a cold, overcast day with deeply shadowed areas shielded by the nearby mountains.

Motoring up the lake, breathing and exhaling frosty air but feeling very relaxed, the boat suddenly banged into something solid. Backing off, he examined the situation and discovered the lake was actually frozen over, with thick ice stretching away into the distance, as far as he could see. To

shorts and T-shirts for much of the year, the fishing can be quite pleasant and productive as long as we dress appropriately.

Mostly we wear thermal underwear, breathable neoprene waders, and high quality jumpers and overwear. Beanies and balaclavas reduce heat loss from the head and face, and fingerless gloves protect

Remember, too, that this is trout country and trout love cold water. My colleague shifted to another location in the lake and trolled Tasmanian Devils and small hardbody minnows for the rest of the day and finished with a bag of nice rainbows to about 1.8kg. That’s pretty satisfying fishing and not uncommon at this time of year.

region, the situation is quite different. This is native fish country, dominated

by Murray cod and golden perch, with some carp and redfin. The lakes and rivers here do not freeze over, although on a tough day you can get a small fringe of ice around the shoreline.

Fishing is much quieter in wintertime, but fish can still be caught.

Trout are a cold water fish, well adapted to winter in the high country lakes, and staying active under the coldest conditions.

In Canberra’s urban lakes for example, a few golden perch have been caught on bait recently, mostly on yabbies and scrubworms.

There were no big bags, but catching 1 or 2 fish a session on a crisp afternoon, with just enough sun to make the world look liveable, can be eminently satisfying. Enough redfin, too, remain active to make fishing interesting.

In Burrinjuck Reservoir, the deeper water can become stratified

Sections of Lake Jindabyne freeze over in winter, so it pays to dress appropriately. and this gives the fish an opportunity to choose the water temperature, and thus the oxygen load, they prefer. This is their comfort zone, and when you find that you might find fish.

One angler did it recently, trolling up a 30kg Murray cod on a big hardbody worked down deep in the warmer water.

Others have taken good bags of golden perch by bobbing locally-caught shrimps, scrubworms or yabbies around flooded

trees. Some good golden perch have been taken on soft plastics bobbed in the same locations. The most successful of these has been the Gulp 8cm Minnow Grub in black, which has accounted for fish up to 48cm in recent times.

So winter here might be tough compared with where you live, but it can still be fished successfully, as long as you are properly prepared. If you are an intending visitor, we look forward to seeing you.

DAM LEVELS

Dam Murray cod can be surprisingly active in winter in deeper lakes such as Burrinjuck Reservoir, where warmer stratified layers form into a comfort zone. check how thick the ice was, he gunned the motor and gave it a hefty nudge.

It crumpled a bit, but otherwise remained intact.

It was obvious he was not going to get to his favoured fishing grounds.

The temperature gauge on his sounder read 1.3 degrees Centigrade, so it was unlikely the ice would thaw any time soon. Time to find a new fishing spot.

That’s the reality of fishing in part of our world in wintertime, and while it might seem unnerving to northerners who fish in

the hands. One or 2 solid fuel pocket warmers thrust into pockets or lodged in boots or gloves help stave off some of the cold.

Runners that keep freezing up as line is cast and retrieved can easily be defrosted by dipping the rod in the water.

Food and grog can be prevented from freezing by keeping it in the Esky, but remember that alcohol and cold water is not a good safety mix and that excess alcohol means the body will be cooled rather than warmed.

So just note that there can be some good fishing here in midwinter, but only if you are fully prepared and properly dressed. Even if you are just a holiday visitor, remember to put adequate antifreeze in your car radiator and use only Alpine diesel in your 4WD. Ordinary diesel freezes quite quickly up here and the last thing in the world you want in the high country is an immobilised vehicle.

LOWLAND DIFFERENCES In the lower altitude areas of the Canberra-Monaro

% Full

Dam

% Full

Blowering............................. 31

Glennies Creek....................... 86

Brogo................................ 100

Grahamstown....................... 100

Burrendong........................... 14

Hume.................................. 33

Burrinjuck............................. 48

Jindabyne............................. 60

Carcoar................................ 11

Keepit................................... 7

Chaffey................................ 42

Lostock.............................. 100

Clarrie Hall......................... 100

Pindari................................. 26

Copeton............................... 18

Split Rock.............................. 6

Dartmouth............................. 72

Tantangara............................ 24

Eucumbene........................... 49

Toonumbar.......................... 101

Glenbawn............................. 83

Windamere........................... 43

Glenlyon............................... 29

Wyangala............................. 36

(All levels correct at time of going to press. Dam levels can change at any time, so please check with local authorities to ensure safe boating and fishing.)

AUGUST 2015

69

Transition time and there’s winter fish about BATLOW

Wayne Dubois waynedubois@westnet.com.au

Winter might not be quite over yet, but anglers will already be getting itchy feet as they anticipate the warmer conditions and better fishing ahead. The weather will be starting to improve this month, which is great for fish and anglers alike, but it won’t be warm enough for the skiers just yet, so anglers should get the lakes to themselves. This transition from winter to spring can really get some fish species fired up, so it pays to make the most of it while you can.

Trout have been a main target over the last couple of months and will also be active this month, but there

time of the year and they are often overlooked as anglers are generally either trying to get their last Murray cod fix before the season closes at the end of the month, or are still targeting trout.

Redfin can be caught in huge numbers at times, and some very large specimens are encountered at Blowering Dam at this time of year.

Just like the rest of winter, these fish are best targeted vertically with lures, jigs or bait. The fish are normally still sitting fairly deep, anywhere from 7-20m down, but once a school is located it is quite easy to entice them with any vertically presented bait or lure. Just remember to keep it moving and you’ll fill your esky before you know it.

GOLDEN PERCH Most people think that September is the beginning

Anglers will be out in force trying to get their last cod fix before the season closes at the end of the month. are plenty of other fish species now starting to really fire to give anglers alternatives.

REDFIN The redfin fishing is normally sensational at this

of the golden perch season, but this is certainly not the case. More often than not, the goldens have been going off for over a month before anglers really start to focus

their efforts on them. I dare say it is mostly because they are still chasing Murray cod before the closure, which is fair enough, but these anglers are missing out on some of the best golden perch fishing to be had for the entire year.

Sure they are still biting in September, but it might surprise some people to hear that it is often even better in August — most years. I say most years, as this is not always the case; in a really cold year they might not start firing until the very end of August, but on a good year you will find these fish going nuts from the beginning of the month.

The goldens in late winter and early spring will move right up into the edges of the lakes or sit up in the very tops of any standing trees. They do this to warm themselves, but also to start feeding up on the smorgasbord of food that starts flooding into and onto the lakes at this time of the year. Insect life is really starting to pick up and this alone warrants moving around the edges and mopping them up, but the frogs start to get very active and they are on top of the golden perch’s diet list from now on, all the way through the spring months.

As well as this, the baby fish from the winter spawn run are stacked around the edges, so it is easy to see why these fish start congregating around the lake margins.

These goldens are best targeted by repeat casting with lures, and it is very hard to beat small 50-70mm lipless crankbaits. Casting from a boat, especially around the tops of trees that you can’t

reach without a boat, works sensationally at this time of the year and quite often it is possible to see your fish

LAST CHANCE FOR COD Those that aren’t targeting redfin or golden perch at Blowering Dam this month

aggressively, during the middle of the day.

This all changes once it warms up through the

One of the many treetop huggers caught last August/September. Don’t wait until mid spring to start targeting golden perch; this month is one of the best of the year. before you even cast to it.

Watching a fish turn and then follow and inhale your lure is about as good as it gets when it comes to golden perch fishing.

Alternatively, casting from the bank with these same lures will see you rewarded more often then not. Just keep casting and moving along the bank in between casts until you come across some active fish. Remember that at this time of year the fish will be often schooled up, so if you do catch a fish or get a follow, it pays to stick to that area for a little while longer in case the fish has a few friends around.

will more than likely be getting their last Murray cod fix before the official close of the season at the end of the month.

Although the majority of Blowering Dam’s Murray cod anglers prefer to target them at night at this time of year, the middle of the day can also be just as productive.

The reason for this is that the air and water temperatures are at their highest in the middle to later part of the day and the cod’s metabolism will also be at its highest at this time, which means the normally nocturnal Blowering cod will feed, and sometimes

summer months and the water and air temperatures go above their comfort zone. Once this happens, it is too hot during the day and they then prefer to wait until the middle parts of the night to feed up when the water and air temperatures are closest to their liking.

As you can see, it is not just Murray cod and trout that are worth targeting this month.

The redfin fishing should be good and, as I said earlier, the golden perch fishing can often be the best you’re going to experience all year, so if you have never targeted golden perch at this time before, it might pay to give it a go.

Time to cast for cod MILDURA

John Menhennett goobyfish@hotmail.com

It is definitely the time of year to start casting the snags for Murray cod. As winter rolls on, casting becomes the technique of choice for most cod anglers to draw out those giant fish.

Some nice fish have been caught recently in multiple locations around Mildura. The maintenance of the Mildura weir structure in early June meant that river levels above and below Mildura were extremely low, making it difficult to launch boats. Not only that, when there are significant changes in river levels the cod seem to go off the bite.

This means serious cod anglers have had to travel either further up or downstream to brave the cold conditions and 70

AUGUST 2015

catch that fish of a lifetime.

Consequently, there have been some good ones over a metre caught on trolled large hardbodies. Anglers have also reported nice cod caught on cast spinnerbaits in the shallows over timber.

Bait fishos have been enjoying the fishing despite the cold weather, with reports of yellowbelly up to 50cm on shrimp and worm above Mildura. Of course, there have also been plenty of carp taken on all sorts of baits, including cheese and corn. Shrimp in the river at present are a rare catch.

Reports of cod to size caught on bardi grubs have also been made recently in several locations around Mildura, particularly below.

As the river settles, anglers wait in anticipation for the weir to be put back in place so the river resembles what it did towards the end of May. At the time of writing, Mildura downstream had dropped a little bit, but is still good water

with nice clarity.

Even though a few nice cod are being caught, fishing is still relatively slow as the cod transition from summer habits into winter ones.

Fishing is always fairly slow at the beginning of winter, but when the fish do bite they are aggressive and usually in excess of a metre in length.

The signal to start fishing for large cod is when the flowers drop off the willow trees following a frost period.

This same change will see yellowbelly slow right down before firing up again in the spring.

Just remember, with this transition comes a change of technique for the angler.

Where trolling has its place, casting is the thing most cod anglers are waiting to do and will achieve more in the colder months. There is nothing better than casting up an angry metrey from the snags.

Trolling of late has been most effective using large

Even the smallest of cod can take big lures at any time of the year. Luke Haaja, from Mildura, trolled up this little fella during winter on a lure intended for a bigger fish. lures like Muldoon King Mongs and Koolabung Codzillas. The best casting lures this winter have been Bassman Spinnerbaits from

5/8-1oz in whites and blacks, or a combination of both.

Graphite rods from 4-10kg and reels spooled with 50lb braid and 60lb leaders are

ideal setups.

So get out the woollies and thermals and upsize your gear for 1 of the best winter seasons yet!

Everything’s on the move JINDABYNE

Steve Williamson swtrout@airlan.com.au

The last month of winter sees a turnaround in the way the lake fishes.

Most of the brown trout have spawned and have returned to the lake so are looking for a feed.

Most of the rainbow trout spawned a little early and although there will be some small spawning runs

and the fly has to land on the water without spooking the fish, so all of that adds up to a good challenge and that is what is so exciting, especially when you see the trout move towards the fly. If the trout takes the fly, then that is the ultimate adrenalin rush and playing out the fish is just so exciting, even if it does end up busting you off.

Some days the trout will take big flies like my Goldfish pattern, Hamills

and fish them off the bottom using a running sinker.

There is a lot of weed about at the moment, so it is best to put floatant on your line to keep it above the bottom.

You can also suspend a bait under a float and if you want to use artificial bait (most float), try a little split shot on the hook to keep the bait down.

As the fish move about the lake so much over winter, there is no particular

Yabby beds are the place to find big brown trout! to come in the Thredbo River, the majority of fish are already back in the lake. Of course not all trout spawn, so there are plenty of fish to target this month.

The Atlantic salmon and brook trout are also on the bite at the moment and this might be your last chance to target the brookies before they all go and hide once again over the summer months.

The fact that the water level on the lake is also rising due to the snow melt and rain means the trout are cruising close to the edges and that has to be a good thing if you don’t have a boat.

Over the past couple of months the bait fishing has been very good. The fish are hungry and have not been too fussy about what they eat. This makes for perfect shore-based fishing.

The best of the fly fishing usually occurs when the browns return from spawning and of course that is now. Polaroiding cruising trout around the edges of the lake is 1 of my favourite things to do.

You sometimes have to look for shadows as the trout can be hard to spot.

Of course you have to be a reasonably accurate caster

Killers, and Woolly Buggers, and other days the tiniest black nymph will work best. You just have to experiment a bit.

The fish are hanging about the bays with the higher lake levels, so some areas to try are Creel Bay, Hayshed and Hatchery Bay, Mill Creek Inlet, The Claypits, and The Snowy Arm. If you want big brown trout though, look for yabby beds!

Bait fishing has been good over recent months and will again be good this month.

On the cold, windy and even snowy days, you often see anglers around the campfire or sitting in their cars waiting for a trout to bite. The ‘bite’ can happen any time of the day, so a little patience may be necessary, but the rewards will be there.

Winter is big brown trout and Atlantic salmon time and we have seen fish this season in excess of 14lb.

Worms and artificial baits have always been a favourite winter fishing approach and it always brings results. When worm fishing, use plenty of tiger worms or a single scrubby

spot better than another, but try shallow water early and late and slightly deeper water in the bright sunny parts of the days — just not too deep! Try the sheltered bays at creek moths for the brookies. Wollondibby Inlet and Rushes Bay are both worth a try.

Winter boat trolling can be a little slower than the summer months, but winter is when we catch all the big trout, even if we have to put in the hours to get them.

Gaden Trout Hatchery have released all the excess Atlantic salmon and brook trout brood stock, so if you want to troll up a brookie, now is the time to do it because there is very little chance of you achieving it over the warmer months when they lie low.

Brookies are so aggressive that lure fishing is usually best, and trolling is 1 way of locating where they are as you cover so much area by moving around.

Atlantic salmon are not fussy as to where they move to and what lure they take.

Jointed Rapalas similar to the ones we spin the lake edges with are worth a try, and the bigger the lure the better. We quite often troll 9-11cm lures for the bigger

Atlantics.

Like trolling for rainbows, the same applies for when targeting Atlantics. You just never know where they are in winter and so the more area you cover, the better.

Older proven Tasmanian Devil colours like pink number 55 or orange number 56 are still the best over winter. These are aggression colours and the trout will strike these hard. Also keep in mind a number Y36 Yellow Wing for the sunnier days and Tassie Devil Holographic or number 48 or Y48 early and late in the day, or off 3 colours of lead core line.

There is still plenty of big fish at Creel Bay and it is not too difficult to fish given there is much more water this year. The Orange Tiger Rapala is also a great aggression colour and a slow trolled orange Minnow Spin is also worth a try for these pre-spawning rainbows at the top end of the lake.

Spinning from the shore of Jindabyne, even in the middle of the day, can be productive for all species. I like to use mainly minnow lures like Rapalas in natural patterns, the Spotted Dog, and even just plain black and gold.

Tasmanian Devil lures are perfect on windy days and it is always best to cast into the wind rather than have the wind at your back.

You catch more trout on the windward shore and the best colours are aggression colours like pink number 55, or Yellow Wing number 36 to represent goldfish, and brown number 48 or holographic pattern as these colours look like yabbies to brown trout.

A variety of soft plastics also are worth trying at this time, possibly due to the smell that is impregnated into these products. It’s best if they are also natural or cold colours for the inlets, and orange or pink for open water. The Strike Tiger range of plastics have been great in Lake Jindabyne, especially the 3” curl tail in Princess Pink and Vodka N Orange.

Best of luck with your winter fishing and if coming down to Jindabyne over the next few months, why not call in and get the latest fishing information at Steve Williamson’s Trout Fishing Shop, 1 Snowline Centre, Kosciuszko Road (next to the Shell Servo). I also run fishing tours right through winter, so why not come and catch a monster trout or Atlantic salmon on Lake Jindabyne.

My shop is open 7 days a week during winter,

Fernando Pontes caught this brown trout by trolling close to yabby beds. with extended hours over August.

If you want the very latest reports, on an almost daily basis, please check out my Facebook page at https://www. facebook.com/LJTFA JULY ROUNDUP — THE BEST OF THE BEST! Best method: Bait fishing, but spinning is also good.

Best lake lure: Tasmanian Devil in pink 55 or Holographic.

Rapala ‘Pinkie’ trout 7cm.

Best lake area: Claypits and Creel Bay. Best fly method: Williamson’s Goldfish or Woolly Buggers, and maybe a black nymph.

Best rivers: Rivers reopen on Saturday October 3, 2015.

• If you would like some personal guiding, I will be available over the coming months for fly-fishing tuition and lake trolling trips. Lessons can be booked from 2 hours’ duration, and trolling trips from 3 hours to a full day.

If you want to know more about the latest in fishing conditions, just give me a call on (0264) 561 551 or check out my website at www.swtroutfishing.com. au. You can also see our daily Facebook updates at https://www.facebook. com/LJTFA.

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www.providencelodge.com.au AUGUST 2015

71

Frosts fire the fishing ROBINVALE

Rod Mackenzie codmac@bigpond.net.au

With the frosts on the ground the full chill of winter has done little to dampen the enthusiasm of anglers fishing the Murray River.

Good reports of large Murray cod and golden perch have filtered through from Swan Hill all the way through Mildura and spilling over the border into South Australia. Amongst the catches have been a few monster cod surpassing the 130cm mark, and most of these giants have been landed on large deep diving lures on the troll.

Visiting Daylesford angler Michael Hallinan has been fishing for cod most of his life but nothing could prepare him for the monster cod that engulfed his lure a few weeks ago.

He was winding the 200mm lure in at the end of the troll run when the cod struck hard. Hallinan said the take was like two bricks clacking together and he wondered for a brief second on whether the lure could withstand such an assault.

Hallinan new it was a giant as the rod loaded to the cork and the drag begun to yield line at a slow

steady pace. Seconds rolled into minutes and the giant fish was finely drawn to the boat before breaching the surface within net

range. Hallinan could hardly believe his luck as the monster cod could barely be squeezed into one of the biggest Shimano

Ken and Vic Woods with a solid Murray cod they landed recently casting a StumpJumper lure along the Murray River.

Michael Hallinan hoped into the icy water of the Murray River for a memorable photo of his biggest cod to date measuring in at 133cm.

Environets.

Measuring in at 133cm, Hallinan said it was his finest fishing moment and although the weather was less than favourable, he hopped into the water to have his pictures taken with the giant cod.

In other reports, the Murrumbidgee River at Hay has anglers landing good numbers of Murray cod up to and over a metre in length on lures. The humble StumpJumper has been doing the damage both on the cast and troll, with the best colours being a mix of the full spectrum. I’m guessing the colour closest

the hungry fish is the one that generally gets eaten.

Swan Hill tackle proprietor Jim Credlin says the Murray has been fishing well for golden perch on bait with scrub worms working best. It’s a similar story at Boundary Bend with a few cod landed on lures. The Merran Creek has produced cod up to 85cm on yabbies and grubs while the Wakool River at Stoney Crossing has cod to 95cms on lures with some large golden perch on bait.

Wemen has fished well with several metre plus cod landed on lures and numerous perch taken on

bait. Small yabbies and worms are working well in this area for the bait anglers.

With the lowering of the weir pool above Mildura, anglers are finding the fish a little quiet but it’s business as always below, with Wentworth, Fort Courage and lock 9 at Lake Cullulleraine all yielding Murray cod on lures.

It seems the first few frosts have certainly fired up the fishing and while the weather might be a little on the chilly side, I’m sure there will be no shortage of anglers keen to wet a line as the good reports continue to filter in.

Boom or bust time YARRAWONGA

Tony Bennett codclassic@bigpond.com

Predicting what could be happening in and around Lake Mulwala fish-wise at present is nigh on impossible. As you’re reading this, the lake should be filling, or has refilled, after being drawn down to around 20 per cent over the winter period for maintenance and weed issues. How the cod will resettle back into their home snags is anybody’s guess. If history repeats from the last drawdowns, the end of cod season should peter out quietly, with action expected to return to normal come the opening of the season on December 1.

Looking back, there was a period of 2 weeks where any spinnerbait or mumbler cast into Lake Mulwala was in severe danger of being brutalised by a marauding monster.

Time spent on water was rewarded with some great returns. The average minimum size was well 72

AUGUST 2015

above the Mulwala average (45-60cm), with a 70cm model being small! Plenty of names spring to mind when it comes to landing the big fish, with the likes of Whitfield, Stewart, Crabb, Keetelaar and Roberts gaining numerous mentions, with cod measuring in excess of the magical metre mark.

I managed to share a magic fishing moment with ‘The Boss’ Vanessa on a recent outing exploring our magnificent drained waterway. With a favourite Bassman spinnerbait attached, Vanessa’s cast was perfectly placed 2” from the edge of a newly exposed creek. A slow retrieve was met with a small ‘tick’, upon which VB exclaimed, “I just had a hit!” Next thing this ‘hit’ proceeded to come to life and swim towards the centre of the creek, seemingly unaware it was attached to quite an excited female fisho!

With the drag being tightened to match this monster’s strength, all things went perfectly and it was boatside in less than 2 minutes. Before being brought aboard,

preparations were made for a quick photo shoot, measure and safe release for the monster that lay quietly in the net boatside.

Its true size was realised when brought on board. A quick weigh while in the net bottomed the scales out at 50lb with ease, while the Brag Mat measured it at a healthy 110cm. Certainly not the biggest cod to come out of the lake, but one of the biggest known of for a female. Well done, VB. And then, “You should have been here last week!”

Never a truer word spoken, as the cod completely shut off in late June after a couple of weeks of excitement.

The cray season continued though, with most returning with their daily bag limits. The common theme from those pursuing this favourite pastime is the average return is about 20 undersize or female to 1 legal.

As the fishing slows down, organisation for the 2015-16 fishing competition season ramps up. If you are keen to get your name added to the Golden Dollars, Cod Classic, Dash 4 Cash, His and Hers Partners Classic

Vanessa Bennett with her 110cm monster Murray cod. or Cod Nationals mailing lists, shoot me an e-mail at codclassic@bigpond.com The big news on the Cod Classic front is a tagged Cod with a potential reward of $1 million being on offer.

This is the biggest thing to ever happen in the fishing

competition scene, and will make it an event not to be missed. Keep your eyes peeled for more details soon.

• If you are visiting town, I urge you to call into Lake Mulwala Fish, Camp & Ski (opposite the post office) in Mulwala and say G’day.

We are your largest Murray cod-specific shop in Yarrawonga/ Mulwala and specialise in all things ‘green’!

For any information on the upcoming events or fishing reports, give us a hoy on (03) 5744 3133.

Habitat Action Grants again open for 2015 Have you wanted to improve your chances of catching a fish? Have you got a favourite spot that’s not what it used to be and needs some help?

Get involved in the Habitat Action Grant Program and make a difference!

The Habitat Action Grant Program is a great example of how anglers’ money is being invested back into recreational fishing, supporting the improvement of recreational fish populations, by putting funds toward fish habitat improvements in local creeks, rivers and wetlands and popular fishing spots across NSW. Funding for these grants is provided through the Recreational Fishing Trusts,

where money raised by the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is used to improve recreational fishing in NSW. Last year over half a million dollars was made available to recreational angling clubs, community groups, landholders and local councils, with 31 fish habitat projects now underway from Dareton to the Dumaresq and Cobaki to the Clyde, with many locations in between.

Over $500,000 will be available again this year for projects up to $40,000. The best news is that anyone can apply!

The Grants will be opening soon for projects including: — Protecting wetland habitat — Controlling invasive

Planted vegetation, well maintained and growing rapidly.

riverbank weeds and replacing lost native riverbank vegetation — Managing riverbank erosion and stock access to streams and estuaries — Putting back lost snags and fallen timber, or — Helping migratory fish get on their way by improving road, weir and floodgate structures.

So whether you’re an individual, a member of a fishing club or a friend of a landholder, if you want to improve your chances of catching fish, get a habitat improvement project together to give fish the best chance we can of thriving.

Applications for the 2015-16 Recreational Fishing Trust funded Habitat Action Grants will be open from August 10 to October 16.

Scott Nichols (02) 6626 1396 (scott.nichols@dpi.nsw. gov.au) and Charlotte Jenkins (02) 6626 1107 (charlotte. jenkins@dpi.nsw.gov.au) are available to discuss potential projects and help you with the application process.

TUROSS HEAD FISHING CLUB This club has been involved in habitat restoration projects previously, planting up areas along the banks of the Tuross River.

The club recently approached Eurobodalla Shire Council to see if they could work collaboratively to improve another section of the river, including Snake Flat. This is a popular fishing spot and has suffered from its popularity.

The club has now worked to replant native vegetation along 220m of river frontage, with Council working to undertake 50m of erosion control works and bankside fencing.

INLAND WATERWAYS REJUVENATION ASSOCIATION The Inland Waterways Rejuvenation Association is a very active fishing group, well recognised for their leadership and organisation of the popular Burrendong Classic. The group fishes locally and in recent years has developed a strong interest in supporting and assisting projects to rejuvenate fish habitat in the local area.

Mapping and assessment of the aquatic habitat in the Macquarie River by NSW DPI Fisheries revealed a deficiency of woody habitat in locations around Dubbo, with strategic re-snagging identified as an important step in improving the health of the river for fish.

Using snags sourced

The Tuross Head Fishing Club planting team.

A new home for Murray cod goes into the Macquarie River near Dubbo thanks to IWRA. from a road upgrade project and employing a local earthmoving company to transport and install them, sites were strategically chosen to link areas of existing healthy habitat adjacent to or near Crown Reserves with easy boat or bank access.

The project, completed in October 2014, resulted in 72 individual trees installed in 14 snag complexes at 2 reserve locations and has given a weighty contribution to native freshwater fisheries in their local area.

Want better fishing?

Well do something about it!

HABITAT ACTION GRANTS are now OPEN for projects to improve fish habitat in your area.

Applications open

10th August, 2015 Projects of direct benefit to recreational fishing and involving recreational fishers will be given preference.

Habitat makes fish happen!

Grants of up to

40,000 are available

$

For more information contact PH: 02 6626 1107 or PH: 02 4916 3817 or email: fish.habitat@dpi.nsw.gov.au

or visit www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/hag AUGUST 2015

73

McNamara twitches to win TER 1ST BOA Muswellbrook’s Alan McNamara (6/6, 7.54kg) claimed his maiden BASS Pro boater win and punched his ticket for the end of the season Grand Final with victory in the OSP Lake Glenbawn BASS Pro, 4-5 July.

Fishing steep rock walls near the 8knot speed zone in the upper reaches of Lake Glenbawn McNamara’s winning approach involved casting his offering tight to the wall then letting it sink down the rocky slope while imparting a series of shakes and twitches.

“The bigger fish were feeding tight to the rock so it was important to keep the lure close to the wall”, explained McNamara.

McNamara’s lure of choice was a 1 1/2” Slider Sea Grub, a small bite size offering that the bass ate with gusto. As is often the case with moved and paused soft plastic retrieves the bites came just after the lure was shaken and twitched. While the technique produced the big bites it didn’t produce a lot of fish with McNamara only catching three fish in the first session.

“I wasn’t worried about not catching many fish, I was just hunting for quality, and I was quietly confident that the spot I was fishing would produce quality,”

Alan McNamara nailed the big fish at Glenbawn to claim his maiden BASS Pro boater victory. explained McNamara.

Delivering the heaviest bag (2.87kg- Duffrods Big Bag) for the tournament to the scales in session one, McNamara hit the water for session two far from

bit,” explained McNamara.

With one fish from his rock walls in the first hour McNamara soon moved, hitting a series of

1 1/2” Slider Sea Grub muscadine colour, rigged on a 1/6th Nitro Dam Deep jighead, and with the tail of the plastic dipped in Spike It. brimming with confidence about what session two would bring.

“Glenbawn hadn’t really been fishing well in the afternoon for a while so I knew there was a good chance that it would be a grind and that I may have to move around a

other locations, including standing timber and weedy points. His mobile and openminded approach paid off with Al catching three fish for the session. Weighing in a 2.42kg limit, and equal second heaviest bag for the session, McNamara retained

The shake and twitch retrieve

Shake

STORM

Shake

VENTAFISH® Shake

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74

AUGUST 2015

his number one spot, to once again lead the field out on the final morning.

“I was confident that I’d get fish, but wasn’t confidence that the big fish would still be there,” explained McNamara.

My 8am McNamara had his two fish in the well, once again falling to his shaken and twitched soft plastics fished down the rock wall. While getting the lure tight and fishing it close to the rocks was crucial to getting the bites it was a fine line between getting it close enough and getting it too close.

“You really needed to pay attention to what you were doing, if you let the lure sink too much and gave it too long of a pause you’d hang up on the rocks,” explained McNamara.

McNamara’s careful and steady approach paid off delivering him a 2.25kg limit for the session, and in the end delivering him a comfortable wire-to-wire victory over 2015’s man on fire Warren Carter.

Post victory McNamara accredited much of his win to his soft plastic.

McNamara explains, “While a Slider is nothing new, the 1 1/2” Sea Grub I was using is smaller than what we usually use, and was perfect for the finesse winter bite that we get this time of the year.

Its colour was also something different. It was one of the older, paler muscadine colours, rather than the darker stronger coloured muscadine colour that’s more commonly available today. I think using the more transparent version made a big difference,” explained McNamara.

Fishing his first event of the 2015 Toray BASS Pro season McNamara has now booked himself a spot in the Grand Final, slater for 24-25 October at Lake Glenbawn. With a victory at this venue already under his belt for 2015 McNamara will definitely be one to watch in October.

Carter carts for second place CE 2ND PLA

Victoria’s Warren Carter continued his hot bass form for 2015 with the 48 year-old tournament veteran finishing 2nd to add to his 1st and 3rd from the first two rounds of the year. Fishing the upper reaches of the lake, Carter focused his attention on the weeded points and bays to catch his fish.

Keying in on the areas with the thickest weed as the prime spots to fish Carter would position in boat in 10-20’ of water before casting to the weed edge and working the lure back to the boat.

“The sounder on the bow of my boat wasn’t work, so I had no eyes below showing me fish that may have been sitting out from the weed edge so I just focused on the

weed edge and the fish that were holding in it and close to it,” explained Carter.

Fishing a mixture of 2” and 3” Keitech Easy Shiners rigged on 1/4”oz TT jigheads Carter’s technique involved worked the lure out from the weed edge with a combination of small hops and shakes followed by a slow roll. The fish were active early in session one with Carter filling his limit in 40 minutes, followed by eight upgrades for the session. Session two proved more frugal with Carter fishless for the first two hours of the session.

“It wasn’t until around 4pm that I finally caught my bag. I got four bites in total and lost a big fish at the boat. It was certainly a lot tougher,” explained Carter.

Weighing in 2.47kg for the session Carter found himself sitting in 2nd place, and with a hot morning bite hopefully ready to greet him

on the final day, another BASS Pro podium finish was on the cards. Picking up where he left off on Saturday morning Carter found the fish on the edge and eager to eat again and by 7.15am he had his limit. Two upgrades were to follow and another dropped fish at the net rounded out his session. Weighing in a 2.29kg limit for the session Carter’s bag while heavier than McNamara’s wasn’t enough to rein him in.

Carter’s tournament tackle included an Edge Rods FWR 702 rod, 2500 spin reel, 6lb Varivas PE,

McNamara knew his location wouldn’t produce quantity, but it would produce quality. Fishing for size over numbers definitely paid off.

Winning Tackle

Warren Carter continued his hot form for the year, securing another top two finish.

Cool misty conditions greeted anglers for the Saturday morning take off.

Owen McPaul finished strongly on the final day to claim the non-boater win.

and 2” and 3” Keitech Easy Shiner soft plastics in ayu, silver/flash, gold/flash, and lime/chartreuse colours.

Carter added Pro Cure scent in nightcrawler flavour to his plastics, and cut down his 3” Easy Shiners. The 2” Easy Shiners he fished un-shortened.

With a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd to his name from the first three rounds of the 2015 Toray BASS Pro Series Carter will be hard to beat for the PowerPole BASS Pro Angler of the Year crown.

Winning Ways

-BOATER 1ST NON

wall McPaul would present his lure close to the rock, let it sink to bottom, then begin a slow roll retrieve.

“I found the best retrieve to be a slow roll, and when I got I bite I didn’t strike I just kept winding until the rod loaded up,” explained McPaul.

SP

WINNING NOTES

Owen goes soft for win Taree’s Owen McPaul broke through for his maiden BASS Pro win at Glenbawn with the TT tournament angler coming from behind in the final session to leap frog session one and two leader Peter Morgan to secure the win.

Fishing with Mitchell Cone on day one McPaul fished the upper reaches of the lake and used a jighead rigged soft plastic fished parallel along rock walls to catch his fish. With the boat sitting in 40’ of water and a cast distance out from the

BASS PR O Presente SERIES d by O

The approach paid off with McPaul catching his limit in the first three casts of the first session. Session two saw Cone and McPaul change location, moving to deep timber in 40’ of water. Using a similar retrieve, a sink followed by a slow roll, McPaul picked up his first fish in the first hour, and then late in the session he caught his second, followed by two upgrades. Weighing in 2.14kg for the session McPaul sat in 2nd place, only 460g behind leader Peter Morgan.

Fishing with Tom Slater on day two McPaul fished the middle reaches of the lake, targeting timber and sloping banks in 27-40’ of water to catch his fish.

McPaul’s technique once again involved sinking his plastic to the bottom and slow rolling it back to the boat. Picking up where he left off from Saturday morning McPaul filled his limit in 15 minutes.

“Tom had us right on the fish, and they were eating the plastic quite aggressively,” explained McPaul.

McPaul reached double digits with the number of fish he caught, including four upgrades for the session, while the kicker fish in his

bag secured the Austackle Big Bass for the tournament.

Weighing in a 2.86kg limit for the session Owen turned a 460g deficit into a 940g winning margin to secure the event win, and in the process book a spot in the 2015 BASS Pro Grand Final.

The next stop of the series sees the Toray BASS Pro tour head north to Queensland Bjelke Petersen Dam for the 4th and final qualifying round of the series. For more information on the 2015 Toray BASS Pro Series visit www. abt.org.au.

Rod: 2-5kg Millerod Control Freak Bass Reel: 1000 Shimano Sustain Line: 3lb Power Pro Bite Motion Leader: 6lb Ocea Lure: 1 1/2” Slider Sea Grub (muscadine colour), rigged on a 1/oz Nitro Dam Deep jighead, and with the tail of the plastic dipped in Spike It.

Austackle Big Bream

Owen McPaul valued added his non-boater winning prizes claiming the $500 Austackle Big Bass prize with his 1.54kg bag caught early on the final morning on a Keitech Easy Shiner soft plastic.

TOP 10 NON-BOATERS

Place

Angler

Fish

Weight

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Owen MCPAUL 6/6 7.14 Peter MORGAN 6/6 6.20 Rebecca FAZIO 6/6 5.40 Tony NEAL 6/6 5.28 Brett HYDE 6/6 5.11 Tim OAKLEY 5/6 4.90 Adam SHARPE 4/6 4.41 Rodney THORPE 5/6 4.26 Jamie JOHNSON 4/6 3.74 Paul DUNLOP 4/6 3.69 For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au

Payout Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack

TOP 10 BOATERS Place

Angler

Fish

Weight

Payout

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Alan MCNAMARA Warren CARTER Stephen KANOWSKI Peter PHELPS Anthony THORPE Craig SIMMONS Mitchell CONE Paul GILLESPIE Robert BALDOCK Kristoffer HICKSON

6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6 6/6

7.54 7.30 7.03 6.90 6.80 6.75 6.69 6.62 6.27 6.21

$2,300 $1,350 $950 $850 $650 $450

For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au AUGUST 2015

75

All Betts are off at Gippsland TER 1ST BOA

Declan Betts, a 37-year-old retail nurseryman hailing from Colac, Victoria took out the Mercury Gippsland Lakes BREAM Qualifier.

Betts (10/10, 9.03kg) sat in third place after day one, but rocketed into the number one position courtesy of his day two limit of 5.44kg, securing the victory by 650g from his nearest competitor.

Betts’ pre-fish was plagued with motor issues that threatened to derail his tournament, but fortunately these problems appeared to work themselves out as the event loomed. A number of locations on the Nicholson River proved to hold fish, and these formed the basis of Betts’ tournament plan.

Betts’ morning got off to a good start when he boated four fish quickly. The fifth fish, however, proved difficult to catch and even more difficult to land.

“I was attached to the fifth fish a couple of times, but those battles ended in tears,” he said. “As the morning wore on I could tell that section of river was shutting down, and I knew I had to move if I was going to fill my limit.”

Betts and his non-boater then snuck down to the lower reaches of the river and fished a section where Betts had previously caught fish.

“I soon found myself attached to a kilo fish, and after all the hard work was done the fish came close to the net and then turned… and the jig and fish parted ways. Harsh words were uttered!”

Fortunately, Betts picked up a consolation prize soon after and his non-boater picked up a fish as well. That was the end of the excitement for day one.

Day two started slowly and, as is often the case on the

Declan Betts finished strongly at Gippsland, weighing in 5.44kg on the final day to claim the event win. second day of a tournament, the fishing appeared to be tougher than day one.

“I was concerned that the river was not coping well with the amount of traffic it had seen, especially after I had only caught one fish off my original bank from the previous day,” Betts said.

He switched banks and dropped a fish but quickly regained composure, and after a short space of time he had four fish in the well. Again the fifth was proving difficult; Betts was getting the hook-ups but for various reasons putting that fish in the boat was eluding him.

“I decided to put my faith in my original bank and finally put a good fish in the well,” he said. “Shortly after I traded a 28cm fork bream for a 37.5cm fork bream.

“I started mixing it up, switching sides of the river and I found another upgrade, a 39.5cm fork fish, at which point I was happy and wondering whether sticking around was being greedy. I pressed on, and on one hook-up I thought ‘this feels just like the average fish, nothing special’. Then after seeing him under a tree branch I realised I’d better take this fish seriously. After landing it and realising it was actually a 38 fork fish, I knew I was sitting on a good bag and gave myself plenty of time to get safely back to the weigh in. It was the first time in

my life I have come in over 15 minutes earlier than my allotted finishing time!”

Betts caught his fish by casting ZMan GrubZ rigged on a Decoy Nail Bomb weedless 1/16oz jighead tight to the natural timber structure. He then hopped the lure out and waited for a good committed strike. Once hooked it was a no-holds-barred fight on tight drag in an attempt to get the fish into the open expanse of the river to play them out on his terms.

Betts said that using light line was key to securing the

all-important big fish bites.

“I went light to get the bites as the water clarity was still really good,” he said.

“It was a risky strategy that thankfully paid off. I always believed that I was on the fish to put two reasonable bags together, but the calibre of some of the fish I found on day two far exceeded my expectations.

“I’d also like to give a big thanks to my two non-boaters Tanya Konsul and Paul Siemasko for their company and help on the water.”

WINNING NOTES

Winning Tackle Rod: Samurai 101 Reel: Daiwa Certate 2506 Line: Unitika Aorika braid Leader: 4lb Sunline V Hard Lures: Zman GrubZ rigged on a Decoy Nailbomb weedless 1/16oz jighead

Winning Ways Betts attributes the use of light line (4lb) as a key to his victory at Gippsland Lakes.

Austackle Big Bream Damian Domagala took out the Austackle Big Bream at the Mercury Gippsland Lakes BREAM Qualifier. The 1.62kg bream, caught in session one in Toms Creek, fell to a Jackall Chubby in brown suji colour retrofitted with size 10 Vanfook trebles.

Hodges sticks to the plan STORM

CE 2ND PLA

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AUGUST 2015

Brad Hodges, a 34-year-old PE teacher was runner-up at the Gippsland Lakes event. Hodges led the field after day one, but was overtaken by Betts’ final day heroics. Always consistent at ABT events, Hodges again caught the bream to

contend for top honours.

In the pre-fish Hodges went towards Lakes Entrance where he worked a combination of jetties, moored boats, shallow flats and sunken timber.

As the morning rolled on he worked the shallow flats and edges but found no signs of fish holding in these areas. Eventually a move up the system resulted in Hodges locating a large concentration of fish holding on the fallen snags and drop-offs.

Faced with a decision

on day one whether to target the jetties or fish concentrated around the snags and drop-offs, Hodges hedged his bets and decided to hit the jetties.

Ultimately this decision set up his tournament and got him tuned into a pattern that produced quality fish throughout the event.

“Within the first handful of casts I hooked up to a solid fish only to pull the hooks,” he said. “Luckily within the next few casts I was on again, and this time a kilo bream came quickly to the net.”

As Hodges worked the next couple of jetties and moored boats he landed two more fish and his confidence was building.

Then, at 9:30am, he headed upriver to search for the schooling fish.

“The fish seemed to have thinned out compared to the pre-fish, but after working a couple of snags with a Berkley 3B Puppydog I landed my fourth legal fish,” He said. “It was shortly after that I hooked a really large bream very deep in a snag. This fish was every

bit of 1.5kg and for a spilt second I could see a 5kg bag beckoning, but it quickly came to an end after this fish tore me to shreds on the barnacle-encrusted snag.

“Knowing that you generally only get one chance to land a fish like that in a tournament I felt I had wasted a great opportunity.”

With an hour to go, the fish fortunately began to bite a little more freely.

After landing his fifth legal and upgrading a couple of times Hodges headed back to the weigh-in.

“I was happy that I had five decent fish in my bag, but I still knew I had let two solid fish get away!” he said.

Day two saw Hodges return to the same jetties

BREAM

Presente SERIES d by Me rcury

Cast lure tight to structure

Z-Man GrubZ rigged on a Decoy Nailbomb weedless 1/16oz jighead

Wait for committed strike Hop lure slowly

where he lost an early fish.

Working the nearby jetties saw him quickly boat three

fish before he headed up to the snags that had delivered him the larger of his fish

Brad Hodges was as consistent as ever at Gippsland, claiming another podium finish.

on day one.

“Targeting the sunken timber resulted in only one more fish in the well, and doubt started to creep in,” Hodges said, “but when I moved back to the jetties I got a kilo fish that rounded out my tournament limit.”

This relief enabled Hodges to relax, and in the remainder of the session he found a couple of small upgrades before heading back to the weigh-in.

Hodges used three presentations throughout the tournament, all rigged on an Abu Garcia rod matched to an Abu Garcia SX20 reel with 6lb Nanofil and 4lb Sensei leader. His lures of choice were the new Berkley 3” Nemesis in camo and Berkley 6” Sandworm in

camo (both ridged on a Nitro 1/16oz jighead) and a Berkley 3B Puppydog in mongrel.

“The tail action on the Nemesis is the best I have seen,” Hodges explained.

“Matched with the deadly combination of Gulp and the camo colour, I reckon this lure is a must have.”

Hodges’ techniques with the Nemesis and camo Sandworm was to cast in

tight to structure and/or first drop-off then allow the lure to hit the bottom. He then worked the lure back to the boat with a combination of lift and drop and a double hop retrieve. When using the Berkley Puppydog he cast the lure in tight to the timber snags, and aggressively retrieved using a twitch and pause motion through the sticks.

with small gentle lifts and drops. Interestingly, the fish became more aggressive and started hitting my vibe almost every third or fourth cast. I went through quite a few small fish before I landed another keeper. With four fish in the well I knew I had a chance

of winning.”

Franchuk alternated his outfits throughout the event, favouring a Millerod Bream Buster XF Classic 7’0” when using an Ecogear SX40, and a Millerod Bream Buster XF Long Cast 7’3” for soft plastics and vibes. Both rods were

teamed with Daiwa Sol 2000 reels spooled with 10lb Unitika Aorika braid, with 2m of 4lb Sunline fluorocarbon leader.

Franchuk said his previous knowledge and experience at Gippsland Lakes over the last five years were key to his victory at this event.

Franchuk takes out non-boater title

-BOATER 1ST NON Alex Franchuk, a 57-year-old electrical engineer at Jacobs Australia, took out the non-boater division. Franchuk didn’t get a chance to pre-fish on the practice day, but was confident in his knowledge of the system given his previous performances at ABT and VicBream Classic events.

Franchuk was paired with Geoffrey Borg on day one and Scott Bilton on day two.

During day one Franchuk suggested they head to the Tambo River, near the Johnsonville boat ramp, as he knew the area held a school of legal fish. The team made their way to the location and started

to investigate.

“The fish were in the deep and the deal was to use soft plastics and bladed lures to get the fish biting,” Franchuk said. “On Saturday the fish weren’t too active and didn’t want to pay any attention to soft plastics. After we caught some fish on bladed lures we decided to stick to blades. I was using Strike Pro Cyber Vibe 35 cm in colour 780E (black) and Ecogear VX35 in 439 colour.

“I landed only three legal fish on day one but went through numerous undersize fish in the process. That bag put me in contention and I was happy with the result.”

On day two after speaking to his boater Scott Bilton, the decision was made to inspect the Mitchell River edges first and then go to the Tambo

Alex Franchuk dominated the non-boater division, with close to a 2kg winning margin over his nearest challenger.

River and try to catch fish in the deep. Bilton, a NSW local, took Franchuk’s lead when the anglers arrived at the Mitchell River.

“I made only a dozen or so casts into the bank with the SX40 in custom Geneo paint job when I felt the hit, and my rod loaded with the nice size black bream of about a kilo mark,” Franchuk said. “I was thrilled that my plan worked out off the bat.

“About five casts later a bigger fish hit the lure and I was on. After a few minutes of careful fighting I landed my biggest bream for the tournament – around 1.3kg.

At that moment I knew I was heading towards the podium.”

After another hour of casting the anglers packed up and headed to the Tambo River.

On arrival at the same spot where Franchuk had fished the previous day he was told that the bite wasn’t there and nobody had caught a legal fish. It was not good news but knowing the fish were active the day before Franchuk felt confident he could get a bite.

After trying blades that had worked on day one, he decided to tie on a favourite deepwater lure that had worked for him in the past – a Bassday Range Vibe in black.

“After a few casts I had my third fish on board,” he said. “I fished extremely slowly

BOATING RESULTS #

Angler

Fish

Weight (kg)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Declan BETTS Brad HODGES Steve GILL Daniel MACKRELL Mark HEALEY Brad ROBERTS Ross CANNIZZARO Mark BROWN Cameron WHITTAM Tony PETTIE

10/10 10/10 10/10 8/10 10/10 6/10 7/10 5/10 5/10 5/10

9.03 8.38 6.79 5.41 4.52 4.37 3.92 3.75 3.71 3.53

Payout $3100 $1500 $1200 $1100 $950 $800 $700 $600 $450 $450

For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au

NON-BOATERS RESULTS #

Angler

Fish

Weight (kg)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Alex FRANCHUK Michael HODGES Braddley YOUNG Simon JOHNSON Owen WATSON Clint VOSS Steven PRYKE Nathan LEICHT Tanya KONSUL Ben THOMPSON

7/10 3/10 4/10 3/10 3/10 2/10 3/10 2/10 2/10 2/10

5.02 3.12 2.89 2.32 2.12 2.02 1.89 1.76 1.58 1.55

Payout Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack

For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au AUGUST 2015

77

Hickson spikes another victory TER 1ST BOA

Manning River Marine’s Kris Hickson continued his winning ways from 2014 with the current Grand Final champion completing a wire-to-wire win to claim victory in the Hobie Mallacoota BREAM Qualifier, June 9-10.

Coming off a quiet opening round (Gippsland Lakes) of the two-event Victorian leg of the 2015 Berkley BREAM Series Hickson hit the water on day one of the event, far from buoyed with confidence after a quiet and relatively uneventfull prefish.

“I struggled to lock in a solid pattern during the prefish. I picked up a few fish on blades on the points in deeper water but they didn’t hold the quality of fish that you need to get to feature in the top ten at Coota”, explained Hickson.

Without a hard pattern to turn to on day one Hickson fished two areas he hadn’t touched the day before.

Areas that he expected to produce in the strong wind that was forecast.

“My first two spots didn’t pan out like I hoped, and 1 1/2 hours into the session I had no bites and no fish in the well”, explained Kris.

Reverting back to the spots he fished the day before Hickson found little to get excited about.

“Not only couldn’t I

Kris Hickson continued his winning ways from 2014 securing another BREAM victory at the Hobie Mallacoota BREAM Qualifier. catch a fish I also couldn’t find them with my Humminbird sounder like I did the day before. So I stopped, composed myself, and had a think about where they might have moved to”, explained Hickson.

Confident that the fish wouldn’t have moved much Kris fished a nearby point.

His thinking was spot on and on the first cast he picked up his first legal on a blade. His first fish was soon followed by his second, a 35cm caught on a Daiwa Spike crankbait cast to the edge. With only one small legal to follow for the next half hour Hickson cut his loses and went in search of greener grass.

“The plan was to fish as much bank as possible, and hopefully pick up a good fish here and there”, explained Hickson.

A run and gun approach

throwing Daiwa Spikes to the edges and on the flats paid off with Hickson filling his limit and upgrading three times for the session. Delivering the heaviest bag for the day to the scales Hickson sat in the number one spot heading into day two, a day that would hopefully deliver him another four, or perhaps even five, kilo bag.

Opting to start the day on a location that was more likely to put fish in his livewell early Hickson started off at Palmers Bank, and with good result putting three fish in the well in the first 10minutes. A confidence booster to start his day he them moved to one of his productive day one banks in search of bigger fish. A legal and three dropped fish followed. Disappointed, but far from defeated, Hickson once again moved, leaving

to run and gun other spots, confident that he could come back later to catch fish once he’d give this spot a chance to rest and recover.

The approach worked with Hickson picking up fish like he had the day before, albeit slightly smaller, on his rolled and twitched Daiwa Spike crankbaits.

The last angler to hit the weigh-in stage, Hickson in the end had enough weight to secure the win over Ross Cannizarro. A result that mirrored the 2014 BREAM Grand Final when Hickson beat Cannizarro to claim the GF crown.

The win at Mallacoota not only further confirmed Hickson’s reputation as one of Australia’s best tournament breamers, but also elevated him to the status of Australia’s number one ranker BREAMer.

Cannizarro hits the spit to win CE 2ND PLA

STORM VENTAFISH®

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78

AUGUST 2015

32-year-old self employed concreter Ross Cannizzaro fished a deep water pattern in the bottom lake to catch his fish, keying in on a concentration of quality yellowfin bream holding adjacent to a sand spit as the location to catch his potentially tournament winning fish.

Finding a one acre patch of fish during the prefish, Cannizzaro opted not to target them during the tournament, knowing that Ross Cannizzaro bagged out at Mallacoota fishing a deep they weren’t big enough plastic and blade approach to finish second. and that small fish wouldn’t count it Mallacoota, a venue Finding active fish on the where big fish are need to yellowfin I found weren’t more fish nearby that were well conditioned. So I kept bigger and fatter”, explained edge and holding in water cash a cheque.

2-15’ deep Ross used a “The first patch of looking and found some Cannizzaro.

BREAM Presente SERIES d by Hobie

Daiwa Spike in brown suji shrimp

combination of lures to catch his bream, with his go-to lure a Berkley Power Blade in assassin colour.

“The retrieve was straight forward. Cast it out, let it sink to the bottom, then work it back with a lift and drop retrieve. The key though

was to make sure you kept the blade tight to bottom”, explained Ross.

While the Power Blade caught the bulk of Ross’ fish, when they did shut down he switched to the perennial bream catcher, a Berkley Gulp (3” Minnow in pepper

prawn). Rigged on a 1/12oz Nitro jighead Ross fished the Gulp with a shake n’ drag retrieve. Once again keeping the lure in touch with the bottom was the key to the retrieve.

Ross’ patch of bream was incredibly active, with the

Abu Garcia BREAM Pro catching his limit by 8am each morning.

“They were active, especially early”, explained Cannizzaro.

Catching 30 plus legal fish each day the fishing can only be described as classic coota.

Instrumental in Ross’ two fished filled days at Mallacoota was a new series of rods that he’s testing from Abu Garcia called ‘Salty Stage’. A range that’s to be released soon, and that he has quickly fallen in love.

“These have been glued in my hand since I first picked one up. I won’t use anything else”, explained Ross.

The balance of Cannizzaro’s tournament tackle included a Abu Garcia MGX reel, 4.4lb Berkley Fireline Exceed, and 4lb Berkley Sensei

fluorocarbon leader.

Ross’ podium finish cemented his already

strong affiliation with the Mallacoota fishery, and once again confirmed him as an angler to watch in any event he fishes.

WINNING NOTES

Winning Tackle Rod: Daiwa Tournament Specialist Bream 762LFSOH Reel: Daiwa Caldia 2500 Line: 4lb Daiwa Brave Lure: Daiwa Spike in brown suji shrimp

Winning Ways Hickson added sticky weight to the chin and tail of his crankbait so they would cast further, and swim deeper. The sticky weight allowed the lure to hit and dig along the bottom at any depth.

Austackle Big Bream Champion nonboater Jesse Rotin secured the Austackle Big Bream Prize, with the Daiwa Bream Pro securing the $500 prize on day two with his 1.33kg kicker fish.

Jesse jags victory -BOATER 1ST NON

Continuing the dominance of Daiwa anglers at Mallacoota was 24-year-old Jesse Rotin of Victoria. Fishing with Shaun Clancy on day one Rotin fished a 3-4m deep flat in the bottom lake early to catch his fish.

“We found fish on the sounder hanging around schools of bait, and it didn’t take long for these fish to respond to our lures”, explained Rotin.

Fishing a combination of 401 coloured Ecogear VX35s and VX40s, and bloodworm coloured 100mm Squidgy Wrigglers Rotin picked up three fish early before the bite slowed, nessecitating a change in technique.

“The lift and drop technique continued to produce fish but I needed to alter the drop slightly and

keep more tension in the belly of the line so I could feel the bites which now had become very slight and

subtle”, explained Jesse.

The change paid dividends with Rotin delivering 3.74kg to the

Rotin’s 1.33kg kicker fish secured the $500 Austackle Big Bream prize.

BOATING RESULTS #

Angler

Fish

Weight (kg)

Payout

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Kristoffer HICKSON Ross CANNIZZARO Peter NORD Chris WRIGHT Shaun CLANCY Brad HODGES Mario VUKIC Declan BETTS Warren CARTER Cameron WHITTAM

10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10

8.72 8.30 7.96 7.86 7.76 7.70 7.57 7.16 7.14 7.03

$4,450 $1,750 $1,750 $1,200 $1,150 $1,000 $700 $600 $500 $400

For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au

scales to lead the field heading into day two.

Fishing with top lake with Jason Harlock on day two Rotin went for a completely different approach and rather than fishing sounded fish out in the open like he did on day one hit the edges.

Fishing Daiwa MR and DR Rolling Cranks on the open sand edges and a Z-Man Grubs on the snags Rotin’s approach involved casting each lure tight to the edge them working them with a slow twitch and pause retrieve. The approach proved deadly with Jesse filling his limit by 8am.

With a focus of looking for fresh fish the pair moved, hitting a bank that Jesse’s boater fished on the prefish.

The move was spot on with both Rotin and Harlock picking up several upgrades.

With time running out and the need for a serious kicker fish in the bags forthright in the their minds the pair

Daiwa Bream Pro Jesse Rotin shone at Mallacoota shallow and deep, hard and soft to catch his non-boater division winning fish. hit one final spot. A tailor caught by Harlock was soon followed by Rotin with a solid fish that came dangerously close to finding its freedom.

Tempted by a Z-Man Grub the fish tried its best to rub itself free on a snag but Rotin’s quick rod work and the abrasion resistance of his 4lb Daiwa Brave fluorocarbon prevailed and a 40cm bream soon came to

rest in the landing net.

The upgrade that he was looking it was the kicker fish that anchored his 4.21kg bag and ultimately his event win.

“Coota is a outstanding bream fishery, and to experience just how good it is and win an ABT event here is very special. I’d just like to thank my two boaters and my sponsor Daiwa for helping me make it happen”, concludeds Rotin.

NON-BOATERS RESULTS #

Angler

Fish

Weight (kg)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Jesse ROTIN Grayson FONG Richard PATTERSON Joel CORRIE Glenn WATT Braddley YOUNG John GALEA Ben THOMPSON Paul SIEMASZKO Jack DIHM

10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 9/10 10/10 9/10 10/10

7.95 6.63 6.25 6.01 5.96 5.91 5.82 5.65 5.29 5.09

Payout Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack Prize Pack

For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au AUGUST 2015

79

Lenthalls BASS Electric comp moved to Isis The Lake Lenthalls BASS Electric competition was held recently at Lake Gregory due to work being done at Lenthalls Dam. Fifteen anglers took on the windy conditions at the Isis impoundment. The wind was a steady 25km/h with gusts up to 30 km/h and the water was considerably choppy.

Sheltered spots were hard to come by and 12 quality fish were landed by anglers.

First placed Jordan Renz

bagged 2 fish weighing 1.86kg. Jordan also took out the Austackle Big Bass, weighing 1.18kg. Jordan used 2½ inch Ecogear Grass Minnows with 1/4oz jigheads. He also used a 4” Nories Spoontail with 1/2oz jighead. Jordan is sponsored

by Ecogear and ACM rods.

Second placed Adrian Wilson boxed 2 fish weighing 1.72kg. Adrian used jerkbaits on a BarraBass Rod and Certate reel. Adrian

found better quality fish on the points.

Mitchell Renz filled out the rest of the podium with 2 fish

weighing 1.60kg. Mitchell’s lure of choice was also a 2½ inch Grass Minnow with 1/4oz jigheads. – ABT

RESULTS Angler................ Session 1.....Total......Option Up 1 Jordan Renz....... 1.86...............1.86.......$110 2 Adrian Wilson..... 1.72...............1.72.......$50 3 Mitchell Renz...... 1.6.................1.6 4 Tim Steenhuis.... 1.47...............1.47 5 Jonathan Bale.... 1.11...............1.11 Big Bream: 1.18kg by Jordan Renz

First placed Jordan Renz bagged two fish weighing 1.86kg.

Second placed Adrian Wilson boxed two fish weighing 1.72kg.

Grima wins Terry Grima took out the Sydney Harbour round of the Basin Lure and Fly Southern Bream Series, which consisted of 41 kayakers chasing bream around the usual Harbour haunts. Terry’s bag of 3 fish for 2.50kg was half a kilogram ahead of second placed Matthew Hooper.

Terry wasted no time in filling his bag within sight

of the start line – a 38cm fish ate his first cast and a 27cm bream ate the second. Filling his bag within 15 minutes of fishing, the rest of the day was about upgrades.

Rotating between a Bait Breath SL Remix and a Gulp Crabby on a jighead with a #1 light weight jighead, Terry found the fishing quite easy while others struggled.

RESULTS Team............................... Angler..................... Fish.. Weight 1 Luresnbream................Terry Grima............3...... 2.50kg 2 C.C.B.M.......................Matthew Hooper...3...... 2.00kg 3 Prolure/Sailing Scene..Luke Kay...............3...... 1.64kg 4 Samaki/Ecooda...........Glenn Allen............2...... 1.55kg 5 Samaki/Prolure............Jason Meech........3...... 1.52kg Big Bream: 1.21kg by Glenn Allen 80

AUGUST 2015

TOURNAMENT CALENDAR JULY 2015

AUGUST 2015

SEPTEMBER 2015 OCTOBER 2015

NOVEMBER 2015

FEBRUARY 2016 MARCH 2016 MAY 2016

Jul 3-9

Sussex Inlet Annual Family Fishing Carnival SIFFC (02) 4441 2017

Sussex Inlet www.sussexinlet.nsw.au

Jul 4-5

Toray BASS Pro Series Round #3 ABT (07) 3387 0888

Lake Glenbawn www.abt.org.au

Jul 12

GTS Bream Mid Round 5 AFT

Port Macquarie www.fishingcomps.com.au

Jul 31-Aug 2

Atomic B.A.S.S. Australia Nation Series BASS Nation

Lake St Clair Classic www.bassaustralia.com.au

Aug 8-9

GTS Bream Elite Round 4 AFT

Clarence River (Iluka) www.fishingcomps.com.au

Aug 9

SBS Bream Basin Lure and Fly

St Georges Basin www.basinlureandfly.org.au

Aug 9 Hobie BREAM Kayak Series Round 11

St Georges Basin www.hobiefishing.com.au

Aug 15-16

Berkley BREAM Series Qualifier #5 ABT (07) 3387 0888

Hawkesbury River www.abt.org.au

Aug 21-23

Greg Whitehead Memorial Fishing Challenge

Burrinjuck Waters State Park

Aug 28-30

Grabine Classic Grabine Lakeside State Park (02) 4835 2345

Lake Wyangala

Aug 29-30

Toray BASS Pro Series Round #2 ABT (07) 3387 0888

Lake St Clair www.abt.org.au

Sep 24-27

North Coast Fishing Bonanza AFT

Ballina www.fishingcomps.com.au

Oct 10-11

SBS Bream Grand Final Basin Lure and Fly

TBA www.basinlureandfly.org.au

Oct 17-18 Hobie BREAM Kayak Series R14

Georges River www.hobiefishing.com.au

Oct 17-18

SCFCAEstuary Competition southcoastfca@yahoo.com.au

Kiama

Oct 24-25

Toray BASS Pro Series Grand Final ABT (07) 3387 0888

Lake St Clair www.abt.org.au

Oct 24-25

Allworth Fishing Club Flathead Classic Kristy 0428 327 678 or aadsf@hotmail.com

Karuah River

Oct 24-25

Leigh Martin Marine Lake Hume Classic

Adrain Kent 0490 049 111

Nov 6-8

Berkley BREAM Series Grand Final ABT (07) 3387 0888

Clarence River www.abt.org.au

Nov 6-8

ANSA Burrinjuck Convention info@canberrafishos.com

Burrinjuck Waters State Park

Nov 14-15

SCFCA Freshwater Competition southcoastfca@yahoo.com.au

Eucumbene

Feb 13-14

SCFCA Beach southcoastfca@yahoo.com.au

Albion Park

Mar 19-12

SCFCA Deep Sea southcoastfca@yahoo.com.au

Oak Flats

May 21-11

SCFCA Rock southcoastfca@yahoo.com.au

Berry

Add your tournament or competition to this list by emailing nsweditor@fishingmonthly.com.au or calling 07 3387 0800 in office hours.

Just supply a date, venue, tournament name and a telephone number and contact name.

AUGUST 2015

81

Post-capture shrinkage of fish: Fact or fiction?

GEELONG

Ross Winstanley

The occurrence of — and how to deal with — shrinkage of fish that were legal sized when caught, but then measured as undersize some time later, has been known to fisheries agencies for some time.

Possession of undersized fish is 1 of the most common offences seen in the fisheries compliance field, resulting in large numbers of Penalty Infringement Notices for minor offences and court appearances, convictions, boat/vehicle seizures and major penalties for more serious offences.

Fisheries agencies have tended to keep the shrinkage issue quiet, largely because it’s just so hard to know how to deal with it. It flares up occasionally, mainly in interactions between Fisheries Officers and those commercial fishermen whose catches include numbers of fish that are millimetres undersized when inspected.

On rare occasions, such instances become public knowledge, arousing interest among anglers and local media. For example, in 2000, Fisheries Victoria decided against prosecuting a Gippsland Lakes’ commercial

fisherman alleged to be in possession of undersized black bream on the basis of the department’s own research on post-capture shrinkage of bream. While some local anglers pondered how prevalent this might be among commercial fish catches, the implications for their own fishing did not produce a ripple of concern.

It is probably safe to conclude that, in most states, some potential cases of possession of undersized fish have not proceeded to court

based on consideration of the shrinkage factor. If so, it’s fair to contemplate how many anglers may have paid Penalty Infringement Notices for lesser offences of the same sort when their fish were all of legal size when first caught.

Careful examination of fish that are close to Minimum Legal Lengths (MLLs) is front and centre when Fisheries Officers conduct field inspections of anglers’ catches.

MLLs are crucial to the regulatory framework needed to ensure that recreational

meet a MLL while alive, the possibility that the fish may shrink after death presents

To inform fisheries agencies on this point, there has been some good work

was 5.0 and 4.2mm as measured by 2 observers.

Modelling showed that

FACT BOX For redthroat emperor there is about a 1 in 5 chance that a legal-sized fish will shrink by as much as 10mm within 2.25 hours after death.

Shrinkage of up to 3.7mm in summer whiting occurs mainly in the first 6 hours after death.

More than 70 per cent of legal-sized black bream up to 10mm above the MLL may shrink to less than the MLL within a few hours of capture.

Legal-sized King George whiting measuring up to 5mm above the MLL may shrink by up to 8mm within a few hours of capture.

Shrinkage of snapper occurs faster over the first 6 hours after death and is virtually complete after 24 hours. For those measuring close to the MLL, the reported shrinkage averaged 5.5mm and ranged from 2-9mm.

Where tag-recapture programs are aimed at measuring growth rates in fish, it is critical that recaptured fish are measured carefully while alive, immediately upon capture.

Fishers should be wary of keeping just-legal sized fish in ambient conditions for hours before landing. and commercial fishing is conducted sustainably. In some instances, such as stocking-based recreational fisheries, MLLs are important in strategies aimed at ensuring that fishing conforms to broad community views on what constitutes a fair or acceptable size for retaining fish. Wherever MLLs are specified, they are widely publicised and are a key focus of both the fisher information and field enforcement sides of compliance programs, supported, where necessary, by the courts.

So, when recreational and commercial fishers take (catch and keep) fish that just

Modelling showed that “there was almost a 1 in 5 chance that a legal-sized fish would shrink by as much as 10mm within 2.25 hour post mortem, but the probability of observing a 15mm reduction was very low” for red throat emperor. a risk to the fisher and a challenge to Fisheries Officers in how they interpret and apply the regulations. There are several possible explanations for a fisher to be in possession of undersized fish. These range from post-capture shrinkage of fish that met the MLL when taken, to carelessness, calculated risk-taking or out-and-out flouting of the size limit regulations. Among the factors that a Fisheries Officer may take into account are the fraction of the total catch that are undersize and the degree to which fish measure under the MLL when inspected. How the officers respond might be left to their discretion or agency directions might guide them — who knows?

conducted — independently of each other — by marine fisheries researchers in Queensland, Victoria and South Australia on the shrinkage of 5 popular saltwater species that are taken by recreational and commercial fishers along the East Coast.

REDTHROAT EMPEROR In a 1991 study of coral reef fishes, 45 red emperor were hooked, measured, tagged and iced in insulated containers. They ranged in length from 235-495mm fork length. At the time the MLL was 350mm total length, equivalent to 324mm fork length. When measured around 2 hours later, the average reduction in length

FACT BOX In most states, fisheries legislation specifies 2 distinct offences in relation to undersize fish — taking fish that are less than the minimum size, and — possessing fish that are less than the minimum size. In relation to the possession offence, the relevant size of the fish is the length of the fish at the time it is examined by a Fisheries Officer.

“there was almost a 1 in 5 chance that a legal-sized fish would shrink by as much as 10mm within 2.25 hour post mortem, but the probability of observing a 15mm reduction was very low”.

SUMMER WHITING Thirteen summer whiting taken in a beach seine in 1996 measured from 134-329mm fork length; the MLL was 300mm, equivalent to 281mm fork length. They were divided into 2 groups held separately in insulated containers: 1 group was placed on a tray over crushed ice and the other fish were buried in crushed ice. They were re-measured after 2, 4, 6 and 24 hours.

All fish shrank over 24 hours with virtually all shrinkage occurring in the first 6 hours after death.

The chilled fish shrank by 1.1-3.7mm (average 2.5mm) while the iced fish shrank by 0.7-3.7mm (average 1.9mm) over 24 hours. Shrinkage was faster among the chilled fish compared to the iced fish.

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SNAPPER Carried out in the early 2000s, the Victorian study of post mortem shrinkage in snapper was a more sophisticated investigation.

Using snapper measuring 179-262mm fork length (about 19-29cm total length), the study was designed to account for any impact that rigor mortis may have on shrinkage. The possible effect of rigor mortis was examined by comparing shrinkage of intact snapper and snapper that had been carefully filleted to eliminate any compression of the vertebral column during rigor. After being euthanized, measured and tagged, both filleted and control snapper were covered with ice and held in a chill room at 4°C. They were then measured 1, 2, 4, 6, 12, 24, 48, 72 and 168 hours after death. Fish from both groups showed similar amounts of shrinkage, so the results were pooled for all fish. They showed that shrinkage was faster over the first 6 hours and was virtually complete after 24 hours, although some showed slight shrinkage up to 168 hours after death. The amount of shrinkage averaged 5.5mm and ranged from 2-9mm.

While they eventually shrank by the same amounts, the intact fish shrank faster than the filleted fish.

BLACK BREAM In a December 1999 study in Victoria — when the MLL was 26cm — 70 black bream were caught in a commercial haul seine and were initially treated as if part of a commercial catch, being stored in unrefrigerated insulated boxes. They were individually tagged and measured about 1 hour later, then divided among 3 separate treatments involving differing levels of ambient temperature and cold storage. When first measured, the bream were 246-353mm in total length.

When measured 24 hours after death, the mean shrinkage was 5.0mm. There was no difference among the groups subjected to differing forms of storage, and the degree of shrinkage bore no relation to the original length of the fish. Bream that were held at 22°C for 12 hours before

being iced tended to shrink faster than those immediately iced or refrigerated at the start of the experiment. The researchers estimated the probability that 50 per cent of bream measuring 260-264mm when caught would shrink to below the 26cm MLL after 24 hours. They estimated that the probability of a bream measuring more than 270mm shrinking by 12mm is extremely low.

The researchers noted that the rapid initial shrinkage observed may have been even greater if the bream had been measured immediately upon capture and not the 75 minutes or so later. They calculated that between 60 and 145 minutes after capture, bream shrink by an average of 2.5mm per hour.

KING GEORGE WHITING The 1995 whiting study was conducted in SA, where the aim was to measure length changes between capture by commercial fishermen and onshore inspection up to

at the processing plant up to 12 hours after capture. When re-measured, 72 of the 76 whiting showed shrinkage of up to 8mm.

This study was carried out at 2 locations — Coffin Bay and Port Lincoln. What was particularly interesting — and important if results are extrapolated elsewhere — was the significant difference in the amount of shrinkage between whiting of the same sizes at the 2 sites. Coffin Bay fish shrank by an average of 3mm, while Port Lincoln fish shrank by an average of 5mm. The researchers calculated the probability of whiting measuring up to 5mm above the MLL when caught shrinking to below the MLL was 4 per cent at Coffin Bay and 30 per cent at Port Lincoln.

OVERSEAS OBSERVATIONS These Australian studies have shown post mortem shrinkage to be common in all 5 species examined. Similar results have been observed for many species in the northern

Snapper. While they eventually shrank by the same amounts, the intact fish shrank faster than the filleted fish. found that, while most bluefish (tailor), Spanish mackerel and pompano shrank over 6 hours after death, 7 out of 8 common snook increased by an average of more than 1 per cent of their length over the same period.

One study showed that all Summer whiting shrank over 24 hours with virtually all shrinkage occurring in the first 6 hours after death.

8 hours later. Mesh-netted whiting were measured immediately on capture, individually tagged and placed in an ice-seawater slurry in insulated bins. At the end of normal fishing operations, the fish were measured again

hemisphere. These range from tropical reef and pelagic fish to coldwater groundfish and trout, and are linked to a variety of post-capture storage treatments. Adding to the intrigue attached to this phenomenon, a Florida study

AUSTRALIA WIDE

WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS? Post mortem shrinkage of fish can pose serious risks to fishers, and complex challenges for those in compliance and judicial positions. For those species in for sale on

which it has been observed, shrinkage happens fastest in the first hours after death and happens faster in fish held in ambient/warm conditions than those chilled or iced.

The findings for these 5 popular species pose a number of interesting questions. It is all very well to advise anglers to measure their retained fish carefully and to immediately place them on ice or in chilled brine for food quality purposes.

However, the reality continues to be that this is not how many (most?) anglers operate. So, either way if their catch is going to die and quickly begin to shrink, should they be advised to act conservatively by routinely allowing a margin of error for fish that barely meet their respective MLLs when caught?

What margin of error do — or should — Fisheries Officers allow for legitimate shrinkage?

Whether their judgements are based on set departmental protocols or their own discretion, are these the subject of discussions and review with angler groups and industry?

In the complex business that constitutes fisheries management, compliance is “where the rubber hits the road” and has 2 equally vital components — education and enforcement. So, what messages do recreational and commercial fishers need to hear

to maximise compliance with MLLs and are these messages being clearly delivered? In every state, MLLs are well publicised, as are messages about holding and dispatching fish humanely and chilling them as quickly as possible, but shrinkage is not mentioned in information products.

A special consideration is worth mentioning here.

Scientific programs and high level fishing tournaments that depend on accurate measurement of fish lengths should emphasise the critical importance of carefully measuring fish immediately they are caught. This is particularly important for tag-recapture programs that are intended to determine growth rates in fish and for age-length studies where fishers supply otoliths along with length, other capture data and fish frames.

Maybe it’s time for an open conversation about post mortem shrinkage for the sake of fishers and effective fisheries compliance?

Footnote Most of the information presented comes from the 2003 report “Post mortem shrinkage of 4 species of temperate and tropical marine fishes, without freezing or preservation” by A K Morison, I W Brown and G K Jones in the Journal of Fish Biology vol.62(6).

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83

What’s New BOATING

1

ARB REMOTE FRIDGE MONITOR

ARB Corporation has announced the latest addition to their growing camping and touring range.

There’s nothing worse than arriving at your campsite after a hard day’s 4WDing, only to discover the drinks that you put in your fridge freezer are warm.

Fear this no more with the release of the ARB Remote Fridge Monitor. This monitor allows you to keep track of the temperature of your ARB Fridge Freezer from the comfort of the driver’s seat.

Using clever wireless transmitting technology, the ARB Remote Fridge Monitor displays operating data such as internal fridge temperature, supply voltage and compressor status of your ARB Fridge Freezer on a conveniently located backlit display for the driver to monitor whilst in transit.

If you’re sick of finding warm drinks after a long journey, the ARB Remote Fridge Monitor will make a handy addition to your camping accessories. www.arb.com.au

2

GX SERIES WINCH

Lone Star Marine has once again found a way to cram more value and performance into their mainstay without the high price tag.

The all-new GX series is set to become the new workhorse and standard in perfectly engineered anchoring systems at the right price. Featuring all Australian Made 6mm 316 stainless and machined 6061 T-6 aluminium construction, ‘Real Italian’ transmissions, triple sealed bearings, twin shaft bearing systems, machined slimline ‘fast change’ collars, and an all new emergency release as standard on all models.

Motors are once again custom manufactured and are pre-rigged with twin leads. LSM have claimed to manufacture the Worlds First drum anchor winch with a 200mm drum that is easily suitable to boats 6m+ with a holding at anchor capacity of 2800kg.

This tiny yet very powerful model will be well suited to larger boats with very small anchor wells. The GX series cater to boats up to 9m+.

Price: RRP from $1099 www.lonestarmarine.com.au

3

MINN KOTA ULTERRA

The bar has been set to a new height with the Ulterra freshwater motor. With Auto Stow/Deploy and Power Trim, we can understand the excitement.

The Ulterra comes with your choice of i-Pilot or i-Pilot Link, and a standard redesigned foot pedal with Spot Lock button, Power Trim and Stow/Deploy all from the pedal or remote control. The Ulterra also comes standard with Universal Sonar 2 transducer built into the lower unit that will suit Humminbird sounders as well as other electronics with the correct adaptor cable listed below.

Once your motor’s in the water, Power Trim lets you easily adjust the motor depth for changing conditions, using the included i-Pilot or i-Pilot Link remote, or the redesigned foot pedal. It’s one more way Ulterra handles the busy work, so you can focus on fishing.

We’ve also added Spot-Lock to the pedal, making it even easier to stand your ground.

The saltwater Ulterra motor is expected in early 2016. www.arb.com.au

4

FISHING PRODUCT GUIDE

POWERED BY

MARINE DYNAMICS HYDRO-NUT

Trolling motor accessories are seldom seen, but here’s one that is starting to turn some heads! Marine Dynamics have released a product designed to increase your trolling motor’s performance. The Hydro-Nut is an accessory for electric motors and replaces the stock standard propeller nut.

The wider surface area of the Hydro-Nut applies a greater force to hold the propeller down compared to the usual stock nut. This, in turn, reduces vibration and noise. Trolling motor vibration is often felt through the boat when used at high speeds or in high current areas, and the Hydro-Nut is the perfect way to stop that excessive noise and movement.

Made from billet aluminium, Hydro-Nuts are also anodised in a number of different colours for corrosion resistance and to add some serious bling to your boat. To grab a Hydro-Nut and maximise your trolling motor’s performance, visit the online store on the Marine Dynamics website.

Price: from $65 www.marinedynamics.com.au

5

REPOWERED 26 CARIBBEAN

People have been asking about Andrew Weekes’ 15-year-old 26 Caribbean flybridge cruiser when he repowered it with a pair of MerCruiser 4.5L 250hp V6s.

“It’s a fantastic little boat. I actually bought it to do the conversion,” he said.

A well-known face in the ski-racing world, Andrew had just sold a 61’ timber displacement cruiser because family boating time was at a premium, and he was after a smaller, faster craft.

Weighing about 4,500kg loaded, the repowered Caribbean is performing brilliantly.

Optimal cruising speed is around 27 knots at a combined fuel burn of just 62L/h, which gives the boat a range of 185km, with a comfortable margin.

The top speed is around 45 knots at 5,000rpm, and went from 0-20 knots in a meagre eight seconds.

“These new MerCruiser engines have a great power to weight ratio and experience shows they are going to be really reliable,” Andrew said. mercurymarine.com.au

6

2

3

4

NEW ARVOR 730 DIESEL

It’s an outstanding combination – Arvor’s new 730 Diesel and the Mercury Diesel 2L 150hp engine which powers it.

“This is a combination which we have tweaked to within an inch of its life,” said Arvor’s Peter Collins. “And the results are really obvious when you get it out on the water and put it through its paces.”

As you might expect with Arvor, the 730 D is a shaft drive which makes it all but unique at 7.3m long (6.70 meter hull) and a dry weight of 2.10 tonnes (approx. 3.40 fully loaded on the trailer).

“The engine? I love it because it’s so reliable, smooth, quiet and fuel efficient,” Peter said. “It is so much better than the competition and you can have all the mod-cons, interfacing with Smart Craft instruments and the like.”

The new boat is going to make its first public appearance at the up-coming Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show, followed by Melbourne and Sydney. mercurymarine.com.au

Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au

visit www.tacklejunkie.fish for the latest tackle news - AS IT HAPPENS!

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FINS SCALES & TALES by A. Both

SUBSCRIBER PRIZE The subscriber prize winner for June was W Asplin of Wyndham, who won a Mako Eyewear prize pack.

All subscribers are entered in the monthly subscriber prize draws. Prize delivery takes up to 8 weeks. – NSWFM

FIND THE VMC LOGO JUNE LOCATIONS The answers to Find the VMC Logo for June were: 12, 14, 19, 26, 29, 31, 37, 40, 43, 44, 54, 56, 61, 68, 71. – NSWFM

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FIND THE VMC LOGO WINNERS The Find the Berkley logo prize winners for June were: C Barden of West Haven, H Turner of Telarah, P Tsolide of Sanctuary Point, S Dunford of Young, J Butcher of Basin View, D Chandler of Theodore, R Rich of Hamlyn Tce, A Munro of Glen Innes, P Bak of Monash, A Roach of Lamboin, B Wyatt of Ulladulla, S Roweth of Millthorpe, F Seal of Junee, A Goldrick of Mooney Mooney, B Laurenson of Oakville, P Simpson of Armidale, M ryan of Aberglasslyn, A Blood of Mudgee, D Trudgen of Mullumbimby, G Waugh of Greystanes, M Baker of Gorokan, L Bedingfield of Merimbula, R Allen of Dungog, B Shaw of Macquarie Fields, T Gounder of Macquarie Fields, T Stark of Medowie , L Jeffs of Gateshead, R Derreck of Barraba, J Littlewood of Harrington, P James of Urunga, G Jones of Weston, D Conroy of Page, T Forbes of Bolwarra, L Cupitt of Goulburn, A Higgins of Helensburgh, S Mulcahy of Taree, K Durham of Erskine Park, C Rowe of Loganholme, P Allen of Beacon Hill, J Kigler of Surf Beach.

Prize delivery takes up to 8 weeks. – NSWFM

ALVEY YABBY PUMPING PACK

GEORGE & NEV by Michael Hardy

The Alvey Ultimate Yabby Pumping Pack winners were W Wood of Keppell Sands, J Vagg of Sunshine Bay and H Hovington, who each won an Alvey prize pack worth $160. – FMG

FIND-A-WORD WINNER Congratulations to J. Cupitt of Sanctuary Point, who was last month’s winner of the Find-a-Word Competition!

Monthly winners receive a Fishing Monthly prize pack. Prize delivery can take 8 weeks. – NSWFM 2

• DECEMBER 2010

AUGUST 2015

85

Jackaroo 455 Tournament right on the money BRISBANE

Wayne Kampe wkff@aapt.net.au

Coomera-based Jackaroo Boats aren’t as well known as some other

water.

These boats have an all fibreglass construction, even to the point of having a fibreglass stringer system under the floor plus a composite/fibreglass transom for maximum

SPECIFICATIONS Length..............................................................4.45m Beam................................................................2.05m Deadrise.............................................................. 18° Hull weight......................................................400kg Fuel......................................................................70L Engine ratings............................................. 60-90hp Engine fitted.......................... 70 Yamaha four-stroke Persons...................................................................4 Towing............................ Family six sedan or wagon

although the basic design of the Jackaroo’s soft riding and quite stable hull naturally remains the same.

The reviewed Tournament 445 featured fore and aft casting decks, ample rod storage, a massive 110L live well (with divider) plus a neat door-equipped centre console. If you prefer though you can go for a tiller steer rig and order seating to suit your needs – it’s all up to you.

TOURNAMENT BASED LAYOUT The test boat is used

by Scott Corby of Jackaroo Boats as his current tournament rig, but the 445 Jackaroo appeals to more than just tournament anglers. It’s in the popular 4-5m range that can be towed by the family sedan, yet would suit up to four anglers with ease.

Up front there’s an electric motor pad to port of a lid-equipped anchor well. An (optional) sounder

Well-made, lined and lockable under deck compartments are located up front.

SEQ manufacturers, but once word gets around I’m certain we’ll see more of these well-performing fibreglass craft on the

long-term durability. The hull warranty is 20 years!

There’s also some flexibility in the interior layout of these Jackaroos,

A right-sized centre console dresses up the Jackaroo’s interior without being intrusive. and convenience, featured two large under-floor waterproof and carpet-lined and lockable compartments for storage of valuable tackle. The large steps either side of the console

moulding) were both set up as ice boxes.

The centre console had plenty of room for instruments and gauges on its upper section, yet was not so large as to take up

The Jackaroo’s hull travels with very little fuss or spray. was set up to function via a transducer on the Minn Kota electric. The raised casting deck was coated with SeaDek for safety

which lead down from the raised deck up front (these were part of the deck

excessive room within the craft. On the upper face of the console, tucked behind

a tinted windscreen, were Yamaha multi function gauges, a Humminbird 958C sounder/GPS combo, ignition switch, steering wheel linked to hydraulic steering and forward controls for the Yamaha F70A four-stroke on the transom. No seating was provided on the test boat because Scott prefers to stand and drive, but several seating options are on Jackaroo Boat’s books.

Rod storage is always important on a fishing boat, and even more so with tournament boats where several ready-to-use outfits are usually on hand. The Jackaroo 445 has three in-hull storage facilities along each side which sees rod tips protected up under the outer edges of the front deck, while the butt sections are set onto horizontal rod holders at the stern.

Rods are easily removed yet entirely protected from mishap while underway. I gave Jackaroo full marks for this easy to use set-up.

Aft of the console the main work area’s floor also featured non-skid rubber

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86

AUGUST 2015

5519 4674

An easily monitored dash is a handy feature.

coating. The main features here were 600mm high cockpit sides, rod holders and grab rails on the top decks. Pride of place went to the 110L dividerequipped live well which doubled as a two person seat or casting platform. It was naturally plumbed and tournament ready. Further aft, a storage compartment in the port quarter could easily be converted to a bait well when required.

Aft of the transom, paired boarding platforms sat astride the Yamaha 70 four-stroke.

70 YAMAHA DID IT EASY Engine ratings for the 445 Jackaroo Tournament are 60-90hp, which saw the Yamaha 70 fourstroke as mid range – but entirely adequate – power.

I really enjoyed test runs on the Coomera River as Scott and I put the Jacka through its paces. The easy handling of the rig impressed me, and the pick up from the 1L capacity 70hp Yamaha (which featured a lot of grunt off the mark – something these

F70A’s are renowned for) saw the craft up out of the hole and planing in only a couple of its own lengths.

The 18° vee hull with its reversed outer chines eased onto the plane at a modest 16.3km/h at 2700 rpm. At 3000rpm the GPS recorded 22.4km/h, 4000rpm saw 38.5km/h while 4800rpm saw the craft skipping along at 47.7km/h. The ride was excellent, with wake crossings in the Coomera causing only the slightest bump as we ironed them out.

The Jackaroo’s hull, with its very pronounced forward flare just below the gunwales, was remarkably dry. Also, the craft rode slightly bow-high at speed.

I reckon only a nasty crosswind over chop would bring the spray jackets out of a storage compartment.

Stability is always a factor to consider in a smaller boat, and I’m pleased to report that the Jackaroo’s vee hull wasn’t inclined to tip or lean even with Scott and myself on one side. Weight distribution within the hull

was obviously ideal, and along with the prominent under-hull strakes and outer reversed chines the hull’s grip on the water saw easy balance all round. As a tournament rig that inherent stability would certainly be appreciated, and as a craft for a small family it would be just as valuable for maximum comfort.

FISHABILITY Looking at the Jackaroo 445 there’s around 650mm of interior side height.

Stability is very good, and with that great ride this craft is punching well above its weight. Fishing features are certainly there, and it would be easy to fit a couple more rod holders to side rails and perhaps tick the option box for a live bait well. Modifications are available to suit individual requirements but I believe a lot of small boat orientated anglers would find the Jackaroo 445, as presented, ideal for their needs.

In all I saw the craft well suited to both tournament and sportfishing. Estuary or bay trips would certainly be on the cards in suitable

The Jackaroo 445, with Scott at the helm, shows off its attractive lines.

A general-purpose hatch at the rear of the craft can be set up as a live bait well if necessary.

The Jackaroo has a practical layout.

Ice boxes built into each front step are handy features.

conditions, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Jackaroo 445 out off the Seaway with a couple of punters holding onto trolling rods when the pelagic fish are on the job.

The ride is the thing: these craft ride very well, and with some ice in the live well a morning on the water would be a no-brainer.

Overall the standard of finish was quite good, with a very lustrous gel coat complementing the interior with its rubber floor matting and flow coat on the sides.

The price of the boat as tested was $36,184, without electronics or trolling motor but with quite a few extras. Jackaroo Boats can be contacted on (07) 5519 4674 or 0418 602 019, email at peter@jackarooboats. com.au, or at www. jackarooboats.com.au.

• Quoted performance figures have been supplied by the writer in good faith. Performance of individual boat/motor/ trailer packages may differ due to variations in engine installations, propellers, hull configurations, options, hull loading and trailer specifications.

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AUGUST 2015

87

Horizon 438 Stryker SC with 50 Suzuki BRISBANE

Wayne Kampe wkff@aapt.net.au

This neat 4.5m Horizon side console rig has a lot going for it. While a team of keen anglers could put the well turned out alloy rig to good use for some serious fishing in bay or estuary, there’s no denying the craft’s tremendous family boating appeal given the generously wide layout, ample interior work room plus a red hot price, at under $21,000 from the dealer’s yard. And that’s with electronics as well.

And, as I was to find out during test runs with Scott from Horizon Boats, it also has a very easy and totally forgiving ride, in many respects better than you might expect from an alloy craft of such modest dimensions.

Available in several sizes and configurations – extending to 438 and 454 runabout or tiller steer models – the Horizon Stryker range are quite new and for a fishing team or small family boating enthusiasts looking for real bang for the buck are going to be very hard to overlook. So let’s take a closer look to see what all the fuss is about.

The Stryker’s flexible seating system, maximizing interior room, is a great feature of this craft.

GENERAL LAYOUT Up front there’s a handy grab rail, plus a quite large drained anchor well just ahead of the carpeted, 250mm high, casting deck. Note that the Stryker’s option sheet covers an electric motor pad up front. Stepping down from the carpeted cast deck with its large under floor storage compartment, plus useful seat spigot, and into the main work area easily allows us to note one of the great advantages of side console rigs; the side console with its helm station was right out of the way. Also, the windscreen and grab rail equipped side console offered ample legroom below, being open through its lower section.

I found the seating position within the high backed pedestal skipper’s seat certainly was quite comfortable given the easy leg placement under the console. Steering wheel and engine forward controls were also within easy reach while the modest engine gauges plus Humminbird 788d HD sounder set onto the upright section of the console was very easy to keep an eye on. A modest yet quite useful dash layout saw instruments and sounder uppermost, switches and marine radio lower on the console’s face. Note that a

On the beach and ready to go. Note the generous beam of the Horizon 438 Stryker.

Side consoles make sense in a fishing craft: the Stryker’s console taking up very little room.

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AUGUST 2015

side pocket was handy for the skipper’s use.

I liked the seating options within the Horizon Stryker, in

platforms (with rails) were set up each side of the Suzuki 50 4-stroke outboard, a transducer bracket to

25.2km/h on the Humminbird 788d. More throttle saw a rapid transition to 4000rpm and 32.8km/h, while

Interior work room is a great feature of this craft, as can easily be noted here. that a seat spigot was installed up front, another to port just ahead of the side console, plus a fourth beside the skipper’s helm seat providing for a side by side configuration or with one person further forward to keep the craft trimmed, a handy option in smaller craft.

Current production models of the 438 Stryker also have a quite large under floor storage compartment set to port of the console, no doubt going to be appreciated by owners for storage of all sorts of gear from tackle to tucker.

The main cockpit work area with its 550mm interior side height came equipped with 1m long off floor pockets aft, two rod holders per side in the 280mm wide extruded side decks.

A compartment for the fuel tank to starboard plus a plumbed live well to port completed the aft, near transom features. Note that this area, also carpet covered, could be used as a small cast deck if necessary, although I believe most anglers (with maybe four working aboard the craft) would simply fish from up front or within the cockpit area. Aft of the transom a pair of boarding

SPECIFICATIONS Length................................................................4.5m Beam................................................................2.06m Length on trailer...............................................5.3m Height on trailer..............................................1.95m Construction..............3mm sheet sides and bottom Weight hull.......................................................350kg Deadrise.............................................................. 13° Fuel...................................................... tote tank 25L Engines.................................................... 30 to 50hp Engine fitted............................Suzuki 50 four stroke Towing............................... Family sedan, ute or 4x4 Persons...................................................................5 starboard. In all, I saw the 438 Stryker as having a very useful layout with sufficient features for the angler to make it a desirable fishing craft.

SUZUKI 50 TOP POWER With engines rated from 30-50hp, the Suzuki 50 4-stroke was always going to impress with its easy performance on the Horizon’s 350kg hull. Whisper quite at idle the Suzuki never seemed to make much noise at all, tucked down below the Horizon’s transom as it was, but it certainly made its presence felt once the forward control unit was moved.

Easy, seamless power seemed to be the forte of the Suzuki 50, which planed the craft at 16km/h and at 2800rpm, while 3000rpm saw

This image gives an insight into the way displaced water is pushed away from the Stryker’s bow at speed.

5000rpm recorded 41.6km/h, with WOT of 6000rpm seeing a brisk 53.5km/h.

While top speeds are always fun at the time a sensible cruising speed, to my way of thinking, was an easy 30km/h at just under 4000rpm with fuel usage being very frugal, engine intrusion being absolutely minimal.

A CONFIDENT AND DRY RIDE The 438 Stryker impressed me with its ride.

We did quite a few test runs down towards the Tweed River bar and the craft handled the incoming swells with ease. By backing off a little, accelerating when necessary the Horizon’s Hydro Lift hull – with its variable deadrise and quite large wet area pressings as well as a reversed outer chine – rode very surely and with great confidence.

It was also dry too, as pushing hard onto wave action saw very little displaced water likely to affect occupants; most being pushed well away at the stern area of the hull. Moving away from the sudsy stuff and back up river we had the chance to do some fancy circle work to test out the efficiency of the hull’s design, which I’ll candidly admit impressed me with its very smart turning ability, plus quick recovery from same. No doubt the craft’s large keel contributed greatly in this regard while the extremely light steering made

driving a very easy matter.

Stability at rest was also a strong point of the Stryker and two of us moving about made little difference to level attitude: a feature that family boaters will appreciate.

FISHABILITY AND SUMMING UP Horizon are certainly on a winner with their Stryker series of craft. The reviewed 438 featured 1.1m high sides, which gave it plenty of sea keeping ability while a very large work area ensured that those aboard (up

to five) should be able to enjoy their time aboard. I’d see a family with a couple of youngsters enjoying bay or estuary fishing with ease and safety thanks to generous interior freeboard of around 750mm while more dedicated types could see three people, perhaps up to four in suitable conditions, wetting a line. The excellent and dry ride, very easy handling and stability are important for the rig with its useful fishing features.

Overall presentation was very good with a neat standard

of welding and a well-applied paint job with contrasting strips completing the package.

With a starting price of just $16,990 and the reviewed rig coming home for just $20,490 on a single axle trailer, this is truly a value for money craft quite suited to a complete beginner or old hand alike. For the location of your nearest Horizon Boats dealer, contact Horizon Aluminium Boats by telephone on (07) 5598 1033 or at www.horizonboats. com.au or email to admin@ horizonboats.com.au

• Quoted performance figures have been supplied by the writer in good faith.

Performance of individual boat/motor/ trailer packages may differ due to variations in engine installations, propellers, hull configurations, options, hull loading and trailer specifications. This boat test was performed in Queensland. By law in New South Wales you would be required to wear a life jacket while operating this boat alone.

A generously large anchor well is a handy feature of this neat fishing craft.

Left: There’s a lot of useful work area within the 438 Stryker, as this image shows. Right: The Horizon enjoying a little airtime, that Hydro Lift hull made easy work of swells within the Tweed River.

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89

Tabs Jumbo 5.1 Centre Console ILLAWARRA

Greg Clarke clarkey1@westnet.com.au

I know there is no such thing as an all-purpose boat. Inshore and offshore fishing, family picnics, towing the kids around on a tube, all that stuff — they just don’t all blend to get the best of everything for everyone. There will have to be compromises.

But what about an all-purpose fishing boat? No picnic stuff, forget about skiing, just a straight out fishing boat that is big enough to cover both inshore and offshore sport and game fishing, yet is equally at home in the estuaries, rivers and dams.

That’s a big ask and I doubted if it could be done, and because of this I have had 2 boats for a long time. A 5.5m centre console for offshore PERFORMANCE 700rpm.............. @2.8kts 1500rpm............ @5.5kts 2000rpm............... @7kts 3000rpm............. @16kts 4000rpm............. @25kts 4850rpm....@32kts(WOT)

When considering your options, there are a multitude of questions you have to ask yourself. Size, comfort, motor, handling and cost are some of the main items, but when you start to break it down to the finer details there are literally dozens that may not seem all that important. When the time comes for the pieces to fall into place though, be it as far apart as foul weather or that fish of a lifetime, the smaller details could be the ones that come into play to either get you over the line or fail miserably.

One of the first things I considered was the ride, because let’s face it, I’m not getting any younger and a smooth ride in all conditions is paramount.

Then it had to be aluminium, which doesn’t always get mentioned in the same sentence as smooth ride…

Some of the ramps along the coast can be difficult and rough on the exterior coatings, and the extra weight makes glass boats unsuitable in many situations. The lighter weight also helps, as I spend 90 per cent of the

I figured somewhere between 4.3 and 5.5m was the go, which would fit in my garage just nicely.

It also had to be bigger than 4.8 so it cuts out the compulsory life jacket scenario. But what type of TABs? I was initially tempted by the Territory Pro Centre console with a few subtle changes, but there is a step at the rear of the vessel, which to me is wasted space that doesn’t allow you access all the way to the rear extremes.

When fishing solo this can make things difficult.

The live bait tank was also tiny, lucky to hold a few yellowtail. Not conducive to a good day’s fishing at all.

So I had another look through the TABs brochure, and in it I saw the Jumbo, which is basically a big, bare, empty boat that you can get right to the back of with no step in sight, with a huge list of options so you virtually set it up exactly the way you want.

It doesn’t get any better than that.

The 4.8 was just a tad small for offshore work, so the 5.1 got the nod. Not

There is plenty of room on the front platform and it is just low enough for safety when putting down the pick.

Now the fun begins, as we start at the bow and work our way back. You need a bowsprit and roller, which on my old boat was fully moulded and bulletproof. This one is bolt-on aluminium, which is handy as you can change it if you bump into the local jetty when a surge is on and will be beefed up if this happens.

Next option was the deep-carpeted anchor well that swallows your reef anchor a heap of rope and marker buoy.

Built into the front of the gunwale is the electric outboard bracket in the perfect position (more on this later). Since you have an electric motor, you need a casting platform, which takes up the front third of the boat in front of the centre console. There is a mount for a bum seat or chair in the centre.

The platform is set about 200 mm below the gunwales so as to afford a bit of safety when offshore using the anchor. We don’t want to slip off if there is any chop.

Some say the boat looks strange without bow rails, but in all honesty I have had them on other boats and they don’t serve much purpose except protecting the sides at the jetty. Having better casting and fishability on the deck outweighed this small disadvantage.

Two hatches in the casting platform allow access below for a ton of storage, a position to mount the 110Ah deep cycle battery for the electric motor, and store just about everything else from safety equipment, wet weather gear and spare everything.

The console has plenty of room for all the usual gear, heaps more for electronics, and a large screen to keep the wind off. for maximum storage of the gear you constantly use and the mounting of electronics. It also affords a bit more protection from the elements when travelling.

The console has 3 compartments. The full width floor level area holds my Plano 758 tackle box, plastics’ lure bag and water bottles with ease, then there is the mid level shelf for everyday items that are constantly used, and finally a small compartment at the top beside where the instruments are mounted for sunnies, hats, cameras, phones and sunscreen. It is open and allows the rain

The bowsprit with roller and the extra large anchor well. There’s also an anchor and marker buoy in there. sport and game, and a 4.35m setup with casting platform and electric for the estuaries and dams.

So how do you to blend them both into 1 boat that will be workable in most situations? One plus straight away, is having a single boat means fewer services, regos and maintenance.

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AUGUST 2015

time fishing solo, so manual handling is a factor to be considered.

I already had a good idea of what I was going to get from previous tests on numerous boats and this particular brand, so after a few more test runs I was now convinced it had to be a TABs, but what size?

When working, the Motorguide Xi5 electric is out of the way and barely noticeable. too big for the estuaries and dams and not too small for offshore — a happy medium. It has a 4mm Xpress hull and 3mm sides, with all gunwales and side decks fully welded.

Then comes the console, which has to fit under the garage roof. This is made easy as the TABs consoles fold down for easy access to low cover areas.

I chose the larger console

in and could do with a Perspex cover to keep the moisture out. That is in the making now.

Around the console are 10 stainless rod holders, 3 each side and 4 at the front.

These are not an option, but ones I sourced myself, as I like all the rods tucked out of the way yet still easily accessible.

They had to be the right spacing too, as so many on the market today hold a rod, but they don’t take into account that a reel has to go on the rod and either won’t fit or bash against each other when travelling.

Two lots of 3 holders were purchased for each side and they were pretty good 316 marine grade stainless units, but a 4 rack was needed for the front, which proved difficult to obtain.

Then I finally found some that did the job. I purchased these at full price because readers think this stuff is all sponsored, and being a tradie I appreciate fine precision work and a quality finish from an Aussie business. Well these holders were beyond excellent. Obviously built with pride and polished to a mirror finish in 316 marine grade stainless. Perfect.

They were made by Stainless Marine Essentials, who also do custom rocket launchers, bait stations, Biminis and snapper racks — very impressive and worth a look. Had to put that in as I was so impressed.

That’s the storage rod holders taken care of, and then there are the actual work rod holders. There’s 3 down each gunwale and fully welded, so no screw holes to promote corrosion.

The rear holders on each side face straight back in line with the gunwales,

the middle ones are set at 45 degrees and the front holders were ordered to be at 90 degrees, but actually face forward at 45 degrees, Why? It’s beyond me, but they are welded in and that’s it. Someone had a bad day and now I am living with the result.

The other 3 rod holders are set into the bait board, with the middle straight and the sides at 45 degrees. The bait board is a ripper, with a shelf under the cutting area as well, which is just so handy for keeping knives, grips, stones, bait rigging gear and other tools out of harm’s way.

Below this is the custom-built 50l bait tank I had made locally and plumbed up with pump and force-fed water uptake and isolator, with a space below

Sitting in the well is a new 2.1l 75hp inline 4cyl multi-port fuel-injected Mercury outboard. There are a lot of outboards out there these days and most are very good, but I went with the Merc’ after doing a bit of research on economy, power and value for money, which made it a winner on all counts. It also helped that my previous outboard was a Mercury Optimax, which was an exceptional motor, so when you’re onto a good thing stick to it as they say. Another plus is that it simply looks good, not something that usually sways me 1 way or the other, but what the heck.

Now the motor also has a 35A water-cooled voltage regulator and is Smart Craft-compatible, giving even more options for

as it is almost silent when at idle with no vibration at all. It virtually purrs, so you have to check the instrument screen or the water tell tail so you don’t turn the key again to start.

For a 4 stroke it certainly has some grunt off the mark, so much so it surprised me because I have used other 4 strokes and they seem to ramp up rather than take off like a 2 stroke. Your crew have to make sure they are hanging on, or it is a quick trip out the back. Speed is handy to have when crossing bars and a wave jumps up as they sometimes do. Not lose your deckie, but get the nose up and over a wave rather than through it.

It certainly gets some grip on the water too, with the 17” pitch Trophy 4 blade stainless prop.

For those of you who like that sort of thing, this is what it looks like under the bonnet. Impressive, isn’t it? to keep the battery all neat and tidy. It works perfectly.

Just in front of the bait tank is the large in-floor flooding kill/live well for keeping the catch fresh or alive, which works exceptionally well. At rest it fills with water, keeping smaller fish swimming. I have kept 5kg snapper alive and bream swim about in it all day. When you get underway it drains to minimise the weight, you can put the plug in and keep the water, or not allow water in at all.

Having this under the floor leaves so much more fishing room on the deck that it’s just amazing. A big ice box could go in the boat and you’d still have plenty of room, but it really isn’t needed. So far I haven’t mentioned the seating arrangements because there aren’t any; this is a fishing boat, so if you need to sit, the gunwales are very wide and make great seats.

Finally, there is a full height outboard well to house the motor, and on each side you can walk right to the back of the transom and all the floors are fully carpeted.

The flooding underfloor well keeps all the fish out of the way and fresh.

It swallows up 5kg mack tuna and bonito with a ton of room for more. If I told you what we managed to get in there, you wouldn’t believe it. made the same comment.

It doesn’t ride like a tinnie, more like a very slick ’glass boat, as it just doesn’t bang or bash.

It is inevitable that you hit a bone jarrer every now and then in a tinnie, but as yet this hasn’t happened and it has been out in some pretty rough water. The other excellent feature is you don’t get wet; even with a solid cross-wind in chop and swell, you would be unlucky to cop a few spots. My last boat had a wraparound console and it was needed in a cross-wind (and it was better than most others), but the full length spray chines on the TABs really work amazingly well.

That’s a blessing on those cold early winter mornings.

Broaching is not a

Above this is a Lowrance HDS 7 GPS sounder that does everything I need and more with clarity and precision, and the GME GX 600D VHF marine radio is there for when needed.

The electric motor is a new Motorguide 55lb thrust Xi5 with wireless control. This does the lot, even remembering routes you have taken, and taking you back exactly the same route or to a specific point and holding you in place with the GPS facility. It’s all controlled from a remote anywhere in the boat, in 1 hand. These days it is just too good and easy when you have great equipment like this.

You could probably program it to go out for a troll and come back while

you have a beer on the bank.

I’ll work on that one. The only trouble is you still have to get the fish to bite.

In short, this setup really gives you confidence in any conditions, with both boat and motor a perfect pairing.

The boat and motor was supplied, installed and serviced by the crew at Leisure Coast Marine, 20 Princes Highway Fairy Meadow. Phone (0242) 844 803 or www. leisurecoastmarine.com.au.

• Quoted performance figures have been supplied by the writer in good faith. Performance of individual boat/motor/ trailer packages may differ due to variations in engine installations, propellers, hull configurations, options, hull loading and trailer specifications.

Set up and ready to go fishing. instrumentation and weighs in at 163kg. This is fed by a 110l under-floor fuel tank, which will keep you going for a long time. I put 26 hours on it for under 80l. A lot of that was slow trolling live baits and it does use a bit more at higher revs, but at all speeds it is extremely economical.

It takes some time to get used to when it is running

To keep on the straight and narrow, the fully hydraulic Ultraflex steering is a dream, with smooth instant control in all conditions.

When the boat is travelling it gets along comfortably in most conditions at around 3500rpm and 20kts and it’s smooth. Everyone who has had a run in it so far all

problem as it slides down the face of any swell or chop like a surf boat with a champion sweep.

All the gauges are contained in a small screen that can scroll through all the important info at the touch of a button, including revs, engine water temperature, speed, volts, fuel consumption and a multitude of other settings.

The bait tank is custom made with a spot for the battery underneath. The cutting board is excellent.

AUGUST 2015

91

Trades, Services, Charter BAIT & TACKLE BYRON COAST Yamba Bait & Tackle (02) 6646 1514

COFFS COAST Compleat Angler Kempsey (02) 6562 5307 Rocks Marine Bait & Tackle South West Rocks (02) 6566 6726

MACQUARIE COAST Graham Barclay Marine (02) 6554 5866 Manning River Marine Taree (02) 6552 2333 Port Macquarie Tackle World (02) 6584 9972

HUNTER COAST

MARINE MECHANICS SYDNEY Penrith Marine (02) 4731 6250 Moby Marine (02) 9153 6506 or www.mobymarine.com.au Aqua Marine 0415 600 301 or www.aquacash.com.au Cohoe Marine Products (Sydney) (02) 9519 3575 Blakes Marine (02) 4577 6699 Watersports Marine (02) 9676 1400 Neken Marine (02) 9979 9649 Family Boats (02) 9622 0222 Boat Assist 24 - On Water Mechanic (02) 9746 6224

Port Stephens Tackle World (02) 4984 2144

SYDNEY Gabes Boating & Fishing Centre Narellan (02) 4647 8755 Gabes Boating & Fishing Centre Sylvania (02) 9522 5100 Windybanks Bait and Tackle (02) 9477 1520

1

MOBY MARINE

S E R V I C E S

P T Y

L T D

SYDNEY’S Your Outboard and Sterdrive Specialists

#

YOUR ONE STOP SHOP

FOR OUTBOARD & STERNDRIVE SERVICE OPTIONS

EDENS COAST Bermagui Bait and Tackle (02) 6493 5444

FRESHWATER Loomzys Fish and Fix (Forbes) (02) 6851 1425

BOAT IMPORTS Import USA Boat 0435 476 177

KAYAK DEALERS

SERVICING ALL MAKES AND MODELS MASSIVE RANGE OF SPARE PARTS 44 Barry Ave, Mortdale, NSW

www.mobymarine.com.au

(02) 9153 6506

Bold Trailers (02) 8544 8114 www.boldtrailers.com.au Salt Away 1800 091 172 www.salt-away.com.au

SYDNEY The Boat Pimpers (Sydney) (02) 9792 7799

3 Transom & floor repairs 312v Electrical installations 4 Aspinall Place, MULGRAVE 02 4577 3482 www.westernboatrepairs.com.au

Advertise here - $195 + GST for 6 months Email: ads@fishingmonthly.com.au MACQUARIE COAST Graham Barclay Marine (02) 6554 5866 Manning River Marine Taree (02) 6552 2333

Dubbo Marine and Watersports (02) 6882 2853

ONLINE TACKLE PRODUCTS www.fishin.com.au 0425 230 964

www.fishin.com.au ONLINE BREAM TACKLE STORE

Fish Taxidermist 0428 544 841

BREAKDOWN RESPONSE Boat Assist 24 (02) 9746 6224 or www.boatassist24.com.au

CHANDLERY & ACCESSORIES Anchor Right (03) 5968 5014 Korr Lighting www.korrlighting.com.au

92

PH

(02) 6258 7515

0400 587 515

MOB www.u-make-emsoftplastics.com.au

U-Make-Em Soft Plastics www.u-make-emsoftplastics.com.au Adrenalin Flies www.adrenalinflies.com.au Techni Ice www.techniice.com J Roc Tackle www.jroctackle.com.au Jayro Tackle www.jayrotackle.com.au

HOLIDAY RENTAL NORTH COAST Brooms Head Caravan Park (02) 6646 7144 Calypso Yamba Holiday Park (02) 6646 8847 Iluka Riverside Tourist Park (02) 6646 6060 Wooli Camping & Caravan Park (02) 6649 7671

MACLEAY VALLEY COAST Macleay Valley Coastal Holiday Parks 1300 262 782 Crescent Head Holiday Park: 02 6566 0261 Hat Head Holiday Park: 02 6567 7501 Horse Shoe Bay Holiday Park: 02 6566 6370 Stuarts Point Holiday Park: 02 6563 0616 Grassy Head Holiday Park: 02 6569 0742

• Cabin Accommodation • Caravan and Camping

• Activities for the whole family • Resort pool with deck and wading area

BOOK A GREAT GETAWAY TODAY!

1800 666 264

www.southwestrockstourist.com.au South West Rocks Tourist Park: 1800 666 264

HUNTER COAST Wangi Point Lakeside holiday Park (02) 4975 1889 Blacksmiths Holiday Park (02) 4971 2858

CENTRAL COAST Central Coast Holiday Parks 1800 241 342

ILLAWARRA COAST

Jan’s Retreat

St Georges Basin

• The perfect family/fishing holiday location • Renovated 2 bedroom house • Fully furnished • Combustion five & spa • Laundry facilities

Book today on

(02) 4441 7000

FISH TAXIDERMY Neptune’s Treasures - Your Catch Reproduced 0405 226 282 www.neptunestreasures.com.au

HUGE RANGE OF LURE MAKING PRODUCTS AVAILABLE!

Jetty Boating (02) 6651 4002

FRESHWATER

3Gelcoat repairs 3 Insurance repairs

Soft Plastics & Spinnerbaits

COFFS COAST

Hunter Water Sports (02) 4947 7899

MODIFICATIONS & REPAIRS // BOAT & TRAILER

MAKE YOUR OWN

www.jansretreat.com Specialising in “Tournament Quality Lures” 0425 230 964 SHOP 18, 29 KIORA RD MIRANDA NSW 2228

Blue Bottle Fishing www.bluebottlefishing.com info@bluebottlefishing.com Ph: 0409 333 380 Out of the Blue Tackle 0417 608 344 or www.outofthebluetackle.com.au Mo Tackle (02) 6652 4611 or www.motackle.com.au Specialty Fishing Products www.specialtyfishing.com.au

Jan’s Retreat (02) 4441 7000 Currarong Beachside Tourist Park 1300 555 515 Sussex Inlet (LJ Hooker) (02) 4441 2135 Riviera Caravan Park, St George’s Basin (02) 4441 2112 Killalea State Park, Shell Cove (02) 4237 8589 Holiday With Us, Sussex Inlet (02) 4441 2135 Surf Beach Holiday Park (02) 4232 1791 Kendalls on the Beach (02) 4232 1790 Werri Beach Holiday Park (02) 4234 1285Seven Mile Beach Holiday Park (02) 4234 1340 Kiama Harbour Cabins (02) 4232 2707

This section in NSW Fishing Monthly consolidates the trades and services in your area that are relevant to your fishing and boating. Whether you’re a local looking for more options or a travelling angler fishing around the state, this guide will direct you to reputable businesses in the area you’re searching.

AUGUST 2015

Boats & Guided Fishing Tours Directory BATEMANS COAST

Ulladulla Headland Tourist Park BOOKINGS: 1300 733 021 14 Did-Dell St, Ulladulla, NSW 2539

• close to boat ramp and Harbour • boat parking for park guests • accommodation for fishing groups • large outdoor areas and BBQs • 27 cabins and 140 powered/ • short walk from Ulladulla town unpowered sites centre

www.holidayhaven.com.au/ Ulladulla

SOUTH COAST NSW

www.holidayhaven.com.au

Ulladulla Headland Tourist Park 1300 733 021

EDEN COAST Fishermans Rest (Eden) (02) 6496 1999

FRESHWATER Burrinjuck Waters State Park (02) 6227 8114 Providence Lodge (Eucumbene) (02) 6454 2200 Winter Keep (Snowy Mountains) www.winterkeep.com.au Grabine Lakeside State Park (02) 4835 2345 Lake Glenbawn State Park (02) 6543 7193 Wyangala Waters State Park (02) 6345 0877 Bass Lodge Macleay River NSW 0433 482 325 Chifley Dam Cabins 1800 68 1000

Top Cat Charters (02) 4472 7340 or 0427 727 340

EDEN COAST www.southwestrocksfishingadventures.com.au

Freedom Charters Eden (02) 6496 1209 or www.freedomcharters.com.

PORT & REEF SFISHING GAME ERS

CHART

Bay & Basin Sportsfishing 0413 610 832

BATEMANS COAST Aussie Fish Estuary Adventures (02) 6495 9902 or 0400 062 504

EDEN COAST

au u Mid week packages from $420 p/p* u Weekend packages from $320 p/p*

*Minimum 6 people

On board our fully equiped 38ft Randell TRIFECTA Contact: David Hayman (Stumpee) Mobile: 0411 096 717 info@swrcharters.com.au

Line listing from $15 + gst per mth* 2cm x 2 from $35 + gst per mth* 5cm x 2 from $50 + gst per mth* 7cm x 2 from $74 + gst per mth* 9cm x 2 from $89 + gst per mth* 10cm x 2 from $99 + gst per mth* 11cm x 2 from $105 + gst per mth* 12cm x 2 from $110 + gst per mth* * Conditions apply Call (07) 3387 0800 or email ads@fishingmonthly.com.au BOAT HIRE

HUNTER COAST

BYRON COAST Evans Head Deep Sea Fishing Charters, 0428 828 835 Sea Master Fishing Charters, (07) 5524 8849 or 0415 593 901 Reel Time Fishing Charters 0428 231 962 Coffs Coast Sport Fishing 0434 517 683

COFFS COAST Oceanic Sea Urchin II Charters (02) 6566 6623 or 0428 650 321 South West Rocks Fishing Charters (02) 6566 5298 or 0429 995 390 The Rocks Fishing Charters 0412 074 147 Wooli Deep Sea Tours (02) 6649 7100 Trial Bay Fishing Charters, 0427 256 556 South West Rocks Fishing Adventures 0411 096 717

BEST VALUE FOR MONEY ON THE NSW STH COAST! • Reef, Game and Kingfish • Shared and private charters • Bait and tackle supplied • Homemade morning tea • Packages available • Owner operated

WE CATCH FISH!

Tailermade Fishing Adventures 0411 096 717 E:

DEEP SEA & GAMEFISHING

Ph: (02)

6496 1209 or 0415 602 446

fishing@freedomcharters.com.au W: www.freedomcharters.com.au

QUEENSLAND

MV CAPRICORN STAR EXTENDED FISHING CHARTERS

BOOK NOW FOR MARLIN, MAHI-MAHI AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN

MONTIQUE

BOOK YOUR

40ft RANDELL. Fishing capacity 12 persons.

TRIPS INCLUDE

All Bait, Fishing Rods and Reels Sunscreen and Morning Tea

2015 TRIP NOW

PHONE: 0411 096 717 www.tailermadefishn.com.au DEPARTS STOCKTON BOAT DOCK...

SYDNEY Harbour and Estuary Fishing Charters (02) 9999 2574 or 0410 633 351 Sydney Sportfishing Adventures 0405 196 253

Swains Reef • Bunker Group • Coral Sea • Shoal Waters and Beyond

MV Capricorn Star 0408 755 201 or www.amytiadventure.com.au Mikat Cruises Fishing Charters Swains & Coral Sea 0427 125 727

ILLAWARRA COAST Sea Lady Charters 0411 024 402 Silver Star Fishing Charters (02) 4421 7462 or 0412 977 000 Shell Harbour Fishing Charters 0425 216 370

SILVER STAR FISHING CHARTERS

Greenwell Point only 10 mins from

NOWRA NSW

Game and Deep Sea, Charters ing Reef Fish

Choice of

Snapper

3 BOATS

Mowong

SILVER STAR FISHING CHARTERS

SATELLITE TV INSTALLED

SWAINS

Kingfish

Plus more!

• Reef, Deep Sea and Sport Fishing • Swains, Samurez, Cap Bunker Group • Dories available • LUXURY 20m Cat. New V8 Scanias. Large comfortable and stable.

• Air conditioned and fast (cruise up to 16 knots) • Professional crew (over 22 years experience) • Cater for groups up to 12 people from 3 to 10 days • BYO or fully licenced bar • Desalinate unit • Trips designed to suit your requirements

www.mikat.com.au

Flathead

Tuna

FISHING EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME!

Phone: 0427 125 727 I Fax: (07) 4972 1759 michael@mikat.com.au

Boab Boat Hire (NSW) 1300 002 6221

CHARTER BOATS

EDEN

Castaway Estuary Charters 0427 239 650 Ocean Star Fishing Charters 0416 240 877

Captain Kev’s Wilderness Fishing Tours (02) 4474 3345 or 0424 625 160

TRADES AND SERVICES ADVERTISING

FREEDOM CHARTERS

MACQUARIE COAST

FISHING GUIDES ILLAWARRA COAST

Esprit Fishing Charters 1300 556 658

NSW Recreational Fishing Licence.

EXTENDED REEF TRIPS

NSW Maritime Surveyed.

Jervis Bay Marine Park permit.

Phone John 0412

977 000

www.silverstarfishingcharters.com.au

FOR UP TO 10 PEOPLE •Swains Reef •Port Clinton •Stanage Bay •Island Head Creek •Shoalwater Bay •Pearl Bay P: 0419 789 921 www.inyadreamscharters.com

Advertisers wanting to be involved in this directory can call (07) 3387 0800 or email ads@fishingmonthly.com.au

AUGUST 2015

93

SYDNEY (FORT DENISON) – NEW SOUTH WALES MAY Time 0024 0620 FR 1230 1852

1

Time

m 0.61 1.50 0.51 1.61

2015

LAT 33° 52’ LONG 151° 13’ Times and Heights of High and Low Waters JULY JUNE

0025 0628 SA 1233 1857

m

Time

Time

m

0203 0800 TU 1342 2013

2 0222 0815

17 0311 0910

3 0306 0903

18 0347 0949

4 0352 0953

19 0422 1027

5 0440 1045

20 0457 1105

6 0529 1138

21 0531 1146

7 0619 1233

22 0609 1230

8 0038 0713

23 0023 0650

9 0139 0807

24 0114 0737

2 0200 0752

17 0250 0848

3 0242 0835

18 0334 0934

4 0325 0921

19 0416 1019

5 0410 1010

20 0458 1102

6 0458 1100

21 0538 1145

7 0549 1155

22 0618 1230

8 0643 1253

23 0018 0700

9 0054 0739

24 0106 0745

16

1

0.40 1.41 0.47 1.89

0.33 1.44 TH 1356 0.44 2029 1.94

0232 0829 TH 1406 2035

m

Time

Time

m

0.34 1.39 0.48 1.83

0245 0844 SA 1430 2057

0.35 1.39 FR 1446 0.50 2113 1.80

2 0330 0933

17 0344 0951

3 0416 1024

18 0415 1027

4 0503 1115

19 0447 1104

5 0552 1209

20 0522 1145

6 0022 0644

21 0600 1229

7 0123 0738

22 0036 0645

8 0231 0837

23 0133 0737

9 0346 0939

24 0243 0839

16

1

0.16 1.52 0.30 1.98

0313 0917 SU 1503 2121

16

2 0104 0700

17 0121 0722

3 0143 0739

18 0214 0815

4 0221 0817

19 0304 0906

5 0300 0857

20 0354 0956

6 0341 0939

21 0442 1045

7 0424 1024

22 0530 1133

8 0512 1113

23 0617 1222

9 0603 1206

24 0015 0705

10 0010 0700

25 0102 0754

10 0157 0835

25 0202 0834

10 0245 0903

25 0214 0829

10 0457 1039

25 0356 0944

11 0110 0801

26 0158 0844

11 0304 0931

26 0303 0924

11 0356 1000

26 0320 0924

11 0002 0556

26 0500 1045

12 0216 0902

27 0258 0932

12 0411 1025

27 0405 1012

12 0503 1055

27 0427 1018

12 0051 0645

27 0000 0557

13 0326 1000

28 0358 1019

13 0514 1116

28 0502 1059

13 0013 0603

28 0526 1111

13 0131 0728

28 0048 0646

14 0431 1054

29 0452 1102

14 0018 0613

29 0010 0554

14 0105 0657

29 0030 0618

14 0208 0806

29 0133 0734

15 0531 1145

30 0541 1143

15 0114 0708

30 0056 0642

15 0151 0745

30 0115 0707

15 0241 0843

30 0218 0822

0.55 1.51 SA 1303 0.50 1926 1.68 0.50 1.51 SU 1336 0.49 2000 1.73 0.46 1.50 MO 1410 0.49 2034 1.78 0.43 1.48 TU 1445 0.51 2110 1.81 0.42 1.46 WE 1522 0.53 2149 1.81 0.43 1.42 TH 1604 0.56 2231 1.80 0.44 1.39 FR 1649 0.61 2318 1.76 0.46 1.36 SA 1742 0.65 1.71 0.48 SU 1306 1.35 1843 0.69

1.67 0.48 MO 1412 1.38 1952 0.70 1.64 0.45 TU 1518 1.44 2107 0.67

1.63 0.42 WE 1619 1.55 2219 0.59 1.64 0.38 TH 1715 1.67 2325 0.50 1.65 0.35 FR 1807 1.78

0.30 1.58 MO 1406 0.40 2031 1.97 0.29 1.53 TU 1451 0.46 2117 1.96

0.32 1.47 WE 1536 0.52 2202 1.91 0.38 1.41 TH 1620 0.60 2245 1.82 0.45 1.36 FR 1705 0.67 2330 1.73

0.52 1.32 SA 1753 0.74

1.63 0.57 SU 1314 1.30 1845 0.79

1.54 0.61 MO 1409 1.31 1945 0.83 1.47 0.62 TU 1506 1.34 2053 0.83

1.42 0.61 WE 1600 1.40 2200 0.79 1.41 0.60 TH 1650 1.48 2301 0.73 1.41 0.57 FR 1734 1.56 2353 0.66

1.42 0.55 SA 1814 1.64

31 0038 0626

0.58 1.43 SU 1220 0.53 1851 1.72

0.45 1.45 TU 1336 0.51 2008 1.85

Time

m

0.33 1.44 WE 1427 0.50 2056 1.92

0.34 1.62 SU 1320 0.36 1945 1.95

1

Time 0139 0729 WE 1310 1945

0120 0709 MO 1258 1930

16

m 0.34 1.46 0.47 1.93

0.41 1.65 0.35 1.88

0.51 1.44 0.52 1.79

Local Time AUGUST

0.40 1.45 WE 1417 0.50 2048 1.89 0.37 1.45 TH 1500 0.51 2131 1.91 0.35 1.44 FR 1547 0.53 2216 1.89 0.36 1.43 SA 1638 0.56 2304 1.85 0.37 1.43 SU 1732 0.60 2357 1.79 0.39 1.44 MO 1833 0.63 1.71 0.41 TU 1354 1.47 1941 0.65 1.63 0.42 WE 1456 1.53 2054 0.64 1.57 0.43 TH 1556 1.61 2208 0.60 1.53 0.43 FR 1654 1.70 2316 0.53

1.50 0.43 SA 1747 1.79

0.45 1.49 SU 1207 0.43 1838 1.87

0.38 1.48 MO 1255 0.44 1927 1.92

0.35 1.41 TH 1510 0.54 2138 1.87 0.39 1.39 FR 1552 0.59 2217 1.80

0.44 1.36 SA 1634 0.64 2257 1.72

0.49 1.34 SU 1718 0.69 2336 1.63

0.53 1.34 MO 1806 0.74 1.54 0.56 TU 1318 1.34 1900 0.78

1.46 0.59 WE 1411 1.37 2002 0.80 1.39 0.60 TH 1506 1.41 2112 0.79 1.34 0.60 FR 1600 1.47 2219 0.74

1.32 0.59 SA 1650 1.54 2319 0.67

1.32 0.57 SU 1736 1.63

0.58 1.34 MO 1143 0.54 1819 1.72 0.49 1.37 TU 1226 0.50 1901 1.81

0.27 1.46 FR 1444 0.43 2115 1.97 0.24 1.48 SA 1534 0.43 2201 1.95 0.24 1.50 SU 1627 0.45 2251 1.89 0.26 1.51 MO 1723 0.49 2343 1.79 0.31 1.52 TU 1824 0.54 1.67 0.36 WE 1331 1.54 1930 0.58 1.55 0.41 TH 1432 1.57 2044 0.60 1.44 0.45 FR 1534 1.62 2200 0.58

1.38 0.48 SA 1634 1.68 2311 0.53

1.35 0.48 SU 1731 1.74

0.46 1.35 MO 1147 0.48 1823 1.80 0.40 1.36 TU 1237 0.48 1911 1.83

0.36 1.38 WE 1323 0.48 1955 1.84

0.37 1.38 SA 1526 0.53 2149 1.74

0.40 1.38 SU 1605 0.56 2225 1.68

0.43 1.37 MO 1646 0.60 2300 1.60 0.47 1.37 TU 1730 0.65 2339 1.51

0.50 1.37 WE 1820 0.69 1.42 0.54 TH 1318 1.38 1917 0.73 1.33 0.57 FR 1412 1.40 2025 0.74

1.26 0.59 SA 1509 1.43 2136 0.71

1.23 0.59 SU 1605 1.50 2244 0.64

1.23 0.57 MO 1659 1.58 2340 0.55 1.27 0.52 TU 1748 1.69

0.43 1.33 WE 1200 0.46 1836 1.79 0.32 1.39 TH 1249 0.40 1922 1.89

0.13 1.56 SU 1522 0.29 2145 1.94 0.14 1.59 MO 1615 0.32 2235 1.86 0.18 1.60 TU 1713 0.36 2327 1.73 0.26 1.60 WE 1813 0.43 1.58 0.34 TH 1306 1.59 1920 0.50 1.43 0.43 FR 1407 1.58 2034 0.54 1.31 0.49 SA 1512 1.58 2151 0.54 1.24 0.53 SU 1617 1.61 2303 0.50 1.24 0.53 MO 1716 1.65 0.45 1.27 TU 1134 0.51 1809 1.69

0.40 1.31 WE 1224 0.48 1854 1.72 0.36 1.35 TH 1308 0.46 1935 1.73 0.34 1.38 FR 1348 0.45 2012 1.73

0.33 1.40 SA 1426 0.44 2047 1.70

31 0200 0756

0.23 1.46 FR 1339 0.34 2010 1.95

 Copyright Commonwealth of Australia 2014, Bureau of Meteorology Datum of Predictions is Lowest Astonomical Tide Times are in local standard time (UTC +10:00) or daylight savings time (UTC +11:00) when in effect Full Moon New Moon First Quarter Moon Phase Symbols

m 0.34 1.42 0.45 1.66

0.35 1.43 MO 1541 0.47 2155 1.61 0.38 1.43 TU 1619 0.50 2230 1.54

0.42 1.43 WE 1701 0.54 2307 1.45 0.46 1.42 TH 1747 0.59 2348 1.36 0.51 1.41 FR 1841 0.63

1.28 0.55 SA 1320 1.40 1944 0.66

1.20 0.59 SU 1418 1.41 2056 0.65

1.16 0.60 MO 1521 1.46 2207 0.59 1.18 0.57 TU 1624 1.54 2309 0.49

1.24 0.51 WE 1720 1.65 0.37 1.33 TH 1141 0.42 1812 1.77 0.25 1.43 FR 1233 0.33 1900 1.86

0.15 1.53 SA 1325 0.25 1949 1.92

0.09 1.61 SU 1416 0.19 2038 1.93

31 0303 0911

0.07 1.67 MO 1510 0.18 2129 1.88

Last Quarter

Tide predictions for Sydney (Fort Denison) have been formatted by the National Tidal Centre, Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Copyright reserved. All material is supplied in good faith and is believed to be correct. It is supplied on the condition that no warranty is given in relation thereto, that no responsibility or liability for errors or omissions is, or will be, accepted and that the recipient will hold MHL and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology Australia free from all such responsibility or liability and from all loss or damage incurred as a consequence of any error or omission. Predictions should not be used for navigational purposes. Use of these tide predictions will be deemed to include acceptance of the above conditions.

94

AUGUST 2015

Built to perform.

Built to last.

More Power, Performance and Reliability – Insist on Mercury MerCruiser.

See your authorised Mercury MerCruiser Dealer today.

ALBION PARK HI TECH MARINE

PORT MACQUARIE HASTINGS MARINE

GRAFTON DISCO MARINE

SANS SOUCI AQUATIC POWER

40 Princes Highway ALBION PARK 2530 Phone: (02) 4256 6135 Email: pauline@hitechmarine.com.au Website: www.hitechmarine.com.au 160 North Street GRAFTON 2460 Phone: (02) 6643 1199 Email: sales@discomarine.com.au Website: www.discomarine.com.au

HORNSBY SHANNON OUTBOARD SERVICE 3/41 Leighton Place HORNSBY 2077 Phone: (02) 9482 2638 Email: sales@shannonoutboards.com.au Website: www.shannonoutboards.com.au

NEWCASTLE ENDEAVOUR MARINE 1 Nanda Street MARMONG POINT 2284 Phone: (02) 4958 4588 Email: sales@endeavourmarine.com.au Website: www.endeavourmarine.com.au

185 Hastings River Drive PORT MACQUARIE 2444 Phone: (02) 6583 5511 Email: sales@hastingsmarine.com.au Website: www.hastingsmarine.com.au 2 Wellington Street SANS SOUCI 2219 Phone: (02) 9529 8109 Email: aquaticpower@optusnet.com.au

SILVERWATER AVANTE MARINE 212 Silverwater Road SILVERWATER 2128 Phone: (02) 9737 0727 Email: info@avantemarine.com.au Website: www.avantemarine.com.au

THE NEW STANDARD OF PERFORMANCE Born out of passion for perfection, the Mercury Racing Verado 400R ups the ante in outboard engine performance. Serious enhancements have been made to the proven 2.6L supercharged dual overhead cam platform, delivering incredible achievements in power and efficiency.

A 7,000 RPM rev limit for blistering acceleration and performance, custom Mercury Racing calibration and impressive power-to-weight ratio are just the beginning of the advancements the 400R delivers.

For your nearest Mercury dealer visit mercurymarine.com.au