Fishing Reports

FRIDAY 12.2.21

What a week with bonito busting up around the bay chasing white bait & Garfish. Try the small wharf at Little beach, Sally Shores & break wall with 15-20g metals. Cobia around the metre mark was taken from Sally Shores Wharf on Wednesday – trick is to get a live bait out to the deep channel around 80m off the end of the wharf.

Garfish are on – they are here & hungry biting their little beaks-off. Best method is float fishing with your bait suspended around 3 feet under the surface. Small 10-12 size long shank hooks – float goes down and whack.

Today’s tip is around Garfish – berley is key, use pieces of bread or chicken pellets to get the school into a feeding frenzy will increase your catch rate. Bag limit is 20.

Best spot is Shoal Bay Wharf around half to high water. Great fun to catch and a top table fish or prime snapper bait.

Eastern Sea Garfish (Hyporhamphus australis) (nsw.gov.au)

Early signs of blackfish with the odd fish taken on weed from the main & break wall.

Reports a number of small jewfish, all throw back’s but a little fun. Also reports of school Jew from Western side of Middle Island on squid and fish baits.

Hit the short-cut wall for bream on hard bodies or work plastics for hungry lizards. Anchor at the Short-Cut with beach worms or nippers for whiting to 38cm.

Reports of sand whiting on high water at Roywood Reserve and Taylors Beach – try surface poppas.

https://www.salamanderbaittackle.com.au/bassday-sugapen-surface-lures-for-bream-whiting/

Crabs on the chew this week. For blue swimmers get you’re traps out along Wanda Beach and Sunset Beaches. For muddies hit Tilligerry Creek, Karuah River, Fame Cove or North Arm Cove– mullet bait is the way to go. Please remember to mark your crab floats correctly so the DPI don’t seize them. For all the local crabbing rules;

https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/654963/Port-Stephens-recreational-crab-fishing-guide.pdf

Bream to 38cm drifting west of Rocks a wash on fish baits, although the fish are sensitive. Best method for bream 00 running ball sinker onto a 1/0 Mustad Penetrator hook or similar and let the fish take the bait and swim away before striking. Hold the rod under your arm with the tip pointed towards the water, leave a little slack in the line and watch it, the bream will pick the bait up and the first thing you will see is the line move, give it a little line and then set the hook. Use a reel with a bait runner feature or if not then perhaps consider opening the bail arm to let line peel off freely. The fish are to 35cm and appear in good condition for this time of year.

Flathead taking plastics around Sandy Point, Shoal Bay Beach, Little Beach and Nelson Bay Beach towards Fly Point. The flathead hit instinctively thinking the vibe is a live fish. Loop-knot is recommended to attached your lure to FC leader allowing the lure to action as naturally as possible.

https://www.salamanderbaittackle.com.au/samaki-vibelicious-for-flathead-bream/

Little Beach Wharf producing heaps of Arrow squid in the evening on 1.8 size jigs. Hit Sally shores wharf for bream, squid and the odd pelagic from the end of the wharf. Always worth live baiting out to the deep channel which runs about 80m from the end of the wharf.

FRIDAY 12.2.21

Live beach worms at Duffs this weekend

The water is warm, solid sand whiting, thick bream and lizards. Old Schoey taking whiting to 35cm, bream to 40cm and the odd lizard on live beach worms around 3-4km marks off Birbui. Whiting being taken at the Fingal Spit.

One-Mile Beach presents a fantastic opportunity for bream, whiting and school jewfish. Reports this week of sand whiting to 36cm being taken on beachworms just South of Middle Rock at first light. Fish slightly South of Middle Rock in the gutter, beachworms are the way to go there. Further North try Samurai Beach for, Tailor, Salmon and bream. Samurai is also a great beach to set-up for a Jew.

Box Beach is also worth a throw for tailor, salmon and bream. It’s a deep beach with little formation although the Southern end next to the rocks, or on the rocks is the way to go.

Good beachworms reported around 3km mark on half-tide. If you want to catch a worm work half-tide down rather than starting near the bottom of the tide at which point you need to fight the in-coming tide back.

https://www.salamanderbaittackle.com.au/catching-whiting-from-the-open-beaches-port-stephens/

FRIDAY 21.2.21

Numerous reports of tasty lobsters from Big Rocky, Fisherman’s Bay and Barry Park. Reds to 3kg from the rocks this week around Boat Harbour. Green-eyes around Fisherman’s Bay. If you can find a sheltered bay this weekend the squid is a size 3 jig might be the way to go.  Some nice snapper to 58cm have been reported from the Ledge on fish. Boulder Bay producing bream and green-eyed squid. Reports of Salmon from Sunny Corner and Big Rocky. Reports of Blackfish and small pencil Garfish at Barry Park and around the Ledge.

FRIDAY 21.2.21

Peter Silcock reports heap of bonito around, few of the Watson’s Leaping Bonito whacking anything that swims past. Small blacks are in-close chasing bait around the islands .

Little Island producing the odd bonito and Trag., reports form the charter guys is that the V & 21 reefs are producing reds and the odd flathead from the gravel.

Big Tommy producing Jew to 3kg and the odd red, flathead drift off Wreck beach producing a feed. North Rock delivering reds and bream in the wash. The Sisters small reds and flathead. Sisters South working well for reds to 2kg at first light. Reports of snapper to 3kg from The Tank and Uralla reefs also Jewfish to 5kg at the Tank and the odd small king.

The FAD has been a little hit ‘n miss although the Dolphin fish reported have been on reasonable size to 10kg.

FAD is out!