Friday 18.10.18
Ian Mcnabe working hard bodied lures from Shoal Bay Beach and The Tubes taking some nice Tailor during the week. Ian reports lots of bird activity with the Tailor working through schools of bait fish. Quick tip, if your casting lures to fish working the surface don’t cast into the middle of the school as this will spook them, work the edges of the school for best results. Ian also been spearing some solid flathead from Shoal Bay Beach between 53-56cm. He ended up with around 1.2kg of flathead fillets which is a good feed.
Blackfish have started to slow off from the main Breakwall during the week with less and less be taken, although if you work hard you still can get a feed. I have had reports of large schools of black around the Tubes; around the below area;
Reports of some rat kings being taken on the outside of the break wall on pilchards, metals and small stick baits. Reports of Jewfish taking vibes lures around Middle Island and the Salamander wreck. Apparently, the rattling hard body vibes have been doing the trick.
Reports of tailor continue from the commercial Breakwall at Nelson Bay (Where the Tea Gardens Ferry departs) floating pilchard baits, cast towards fly point. Afternoon and night are producing the best results. Metals lures are also a fun way to take these fish, throw as far as you can to cover more ground then skip the metal back quick on the top of the water and hang on, the bite on the lure feels like the reel has locked up, when this happens hit the fish. Also try your luck at the Anchorage Marine Corlette for bream, blackfish and tailor.
John & Frank report bream from the main Breakwall continue this week, on floating prawn and pilchard baits. They said they are getting 3-4 bream most days if you work at it. The guys having the most success are bereyling, this is key to attracting and holding the fish in one place.
1/0 hook and small running ball sinker. Let the bream pick the bait up and swim away before striking. When using fish baits always be mindful of best method for baiting is to thread the bait up the shank of the hook leaving the barb and point fully exposed, this will increase your hook up rate You can simply see if the berley is working when you clean the fish the berley will be in the fish’s gut. Don’t strike straight away, give the bream a little line, either use a bait runner feature or open the bail arm or dip your rod. This will give the fish a better chance of taking the bait fully and you a greater chance of a hook-up. It is rather common for bream to swallow the bait. It is not recommended to use circle hooks in this example. Although they limit gut hook-up’s they are more effective with the rod in a set position.
Check out ‘Fishing Blog’ on catching bream from the Breakwall;
https://www.salamanderbaittackle.com.au/catching-bream-from-nelson-bay-breakwall/
or Podcast
https://soundcloud.com/user-352216496/catching-bream-nelson-bay-breakwall
Colby Page from Medowie nailed this angry muddie while fishing for bream in Swan Bay. It’s with crab time, those little guys roaming the mangroves and weed bed’s in search of an oily treat! Mullet of course is the preferred crab bait due to its high oil content, although I heard a tip yesterday, those that go outside fishing keep your Traglan frames, apparently, they also have a high oil content and the crabs go nuts for them.
For mud crabs think mangroves and the more upper reaches off Tilligerry and Karuah. For blue swimmers work the weed beds, Sunset & Wanda Beaches around Soldiers Point for example.
