Big fish coming in to feed WOOLI
Stan Young
The mackerel season was a good one with plenty fish being caught, mainly schoolsize fish. As the season starts to slow down the big fish will come in close to feed on the massive schools of baitfish.
Longtail tuna and cobia will be with the Spanish competing for the baitfish. North Solitary Island has produced good catches of mackerel and kingfish. Even a fair few snapper have been showing up with trag, pearl perch and tuskfish being caught. This year should be a good snapper season with all
the rain we’ve had in the last couple of months. Whenever we have big rainfalls we always have a good snapper season. We’ve been catching decent fish on the charters. Snapper will get thicker in the coming months as the weather cools down. I like to anchor and berley and use floaters to catch the
bigger fish, sometimes letting out a couple hundred metres of line to catch the big ones. I find if you can let out a lot of rope on the anchor you have a much wider berley trail so your berley covers a lot more country. You need a run of current to take the berley down the trail for the maximum results. The bream are now in full swing on the beach and at the breakwall a lot of luderick are also being caught. A few keen fishos have been catching mulloway on the beach, but you have to be prepared to fish into the dark for top results. The tailor have been feeding on the close beaches and the breakwall. There have been a lot of choppers and some bigger fish around the 3kg mark have been caught on spinners. This is good sport and productive. The rains have chased the mangrove jack to the mouth of the river. A couple of the locals have been catching them on plastics. They are not an easy fish to stop when they are running so be prepared to get smoked or busted up when they hit the rocks. Locals use the 7” ZMan in smoky shad colour or the pink 16g
Snapper will turn up more as the weather cools. Trollcraft Fork Tail in the 98mm size. Wooli has a bar to cross when venturing to sea so make sure you have a life jacket on when going out and coming back in. Remember when putting a life jacket on it must be tight otherwise you could be in trouble. If you go over on the bar and it’s not tight enough it can slip up around your neck and make it difficult if there are waves coming in at you. Always wait for the lull in the waves before venturing out. If you’re in doubt, don’t go out. You can always fish another day and it’s better to be safe than sorry. • Call into our tackle shop at 43 Riverside Drive, Wooli and we’ll help you with
rigs, knots and more. Our charter business has two boats, both purpose-built for chartering. If you want a fun day out give us a call on (02) 6649 7100 and talk to Stan or Claire. We also provide accommodation overlooking the Wooli River. We supply food, drinks, all tackle including rods and reels and ice for your fish. All you need to bring is an esky to take home your catch. If you don’t have a boat and want to go to sea, call into the tackle shop and put your name down on a charter. Or if you’re not sure about conditions, give me a ring on 0266 497 100 and I’ll let you know about conditions.
This year should be a good snapper season.
WOOLI FISHING CHARTERS
“EREBUS” “THE KRAKEN”
Plenty of snapper have been caught recently.
WOOLI BAIT & TACKLE • Top Accommodation • Tweed Bait • Ice • Terminal Tackle • Lures & Soft Plastics • Fishing the North Solitary Islands
1/2 day or full day charters. All bait & tackle provided. We are only a one hour drive north of Coffs Harbour or one hour drive south of Yamba.
Contact Stan or Claire Young
02 6649 7100
43 RIVERSIDE DRIVE, WOOLI
www.woolifishingcharters.com.au fish@woolifishingcharters.com.au
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JUNE 2017
Whenever there are big rainfalls, there is always a good snapper season.