Fish Painting - Tarwine

Fish Painting - Tailor

Fish Painting - Golden Perch

Fish Painting - Red Emperor

Shark Fishing

My daughter Maddii and I enjoy catching and tagging sharks for Fisheries NSW. A lot of fun and the information gained by Fisheries provides details of the movements and habits of these Whaler Sharks.

Fish Painting - Snapper

Fish Painting - Barramundi

Winter Fishing Ocean

Winter Rock Fishing 

The constant large swells (1.5 – 2m) that have run in from the south most of winter can cause a rethink when rock fishing. The rocks are a place to avoid when these swells are around, but if you look for the right locations that are protected from these swells then fish can be obtained.

A typical location: - a north facing place where the swell is avoided and plenty of wash is created by the swell pounding onto a point to the east. The added advantage is the SW wind is behind you and this increases your cast distance.

In this location the use of 40 and 60 gram metal lures were used to cast out beyond the wash, allowed to sink and then retrieved from a depth back through the wash. This method produced tailor up to 1.5 kg. These fish are sitting at the edge of the wash and constantly moving in and out to attack any baitfish hiding in the white water. Tailor will hang around until the sun starts to get high in the sky. The best times to fish for these fish are mornings up to around 10.0am and late afternoons.

A typical catch at 9.30 am on a July morning .

Winter Estuary Fishing

Winter Estuary Fishing

The fish are still there and it is just a matter of finding where they are, when the water temperatures are cool and the clarity high. In lake systems the temperature can vary considerably depending on the depth and movement of water as well as the prevailing weather conditions.

Over a period of years I have found areas in lakes that still produce fish when the cold southerlies of winter blow and the fish seem to disappear to the depths.

A typical location: July , southerly blowing, late afternoon and out of the wind.

Lure fishing is the best option in these places as large areas can be covered fairly quickly. I avoid bib lures for two reasons. The places are very shallow (less than 0.5 m) and secondly there tends to be lots of weed. The bibless minnows seem to work fine. They can be either floating or sinking depending on your preference, but both fish equally well.

The time to fish these shallow locations is when you are protected from the prevailing winds and only afternoons when the sun has been out most of the day. With the sun shining during the day the shallow areas have warmed up a few degrees. Without the wind on the surface, again this allows the temperature to increase. Try these areas early morning and you will be lucky to even have one strike as the water temperature tend to be 3-4 degrees cooler.

These shallow wind protected areas also seem to accumulate schools of baitfish and they are an excellent indicator to the possibility of larger predator fish. Some locations need to be waded while others can be bank walked. So rather than sit out winter because the fishing has shut down, get out a map and find an appropriate location that can give you a pleasant afternoon fishing.

 

    

                                                                                                                                                    Three fish caught at the above location during an hour fishing, using bibless minnows:

      Phil Turner- Forster July 2010

Fishing Article: Cockles & Winter/Spring Bream

Cockles & Winter/Spring Bream

Winter and Spring fishing gone quiet? Then this is the time to target large bream using a naturally found bait called the cockle. These bivalve molluscs can be found in shallow water on mud and weed beds and are easy collected. Most lake systems have shallow areas adjacent to channels that may contain cockles. The locations to look for are those that contain ribbon weed that grows to about 20-25 cm in a firm mud substructure. These areas are only covered by about 0.5 – 1 m of water at high tide. Collecting them is easy if you have a shallow draft boat. Just motor in when the water is about

30 – 40 cm deep, lean over the side and run your hand through the weed. If you are in the correct area then you will feel the golf-ball size cockles, which seem to cluster in large groups in their preferred habitats. The correct location will give you your bag limit (20 per person) in five minutes.

Fishing locations for bream are also easy to locate. Look for areas of sand patches mixed with areas of weed or sparse weed and mud bottom with a depth of 1-1.5 m. These areas must have some tidal flow when fishing. On the run-up tide anchor in the deeper water and cast onto the rise and shallows, while on the run-out anchor in the shallows and cast into the drop-offs and deeper areas.

The rods are 7 foot or longer, with 2 kg line and 4 kg trace. A small ball sinker (as small as possible) or no weight is used depending on the tidal flow. This is allowed to run above a small swivel with the trace of at least 1 m length. I place three rods at a near horizontal position facing the cast direction, which is with the current. The reel drag is off, so when the fish runs, little resistance is felt by the fish. Large bream do not pick at these baits, but simple grab and run at full pace, the longer and faster the run the bigger the bream. I use number 1 Mustard bait-keeper hooks, as they are large with the small barbs on the shank to help hold the bait. Once the bream is running it is just a matter of placing your finger on the spool to stop the run and tightening up the drag for the fight.

When fishing this way the best results are early morning and late afternoon, but large catches have been taken in the middle of the day at the right tides, providing there is minimal boat traffic around.

Quietness is essential when fishing for bream in these shallow locations and when two or three good fish have been taken, move at least 40 m further along and restart, and continue this procedure about every 30 minutes. A few times I have caught half a dozen in the one spot but usually each spot will only contain two or three.

To fish for these bream in the cold-water months, in locations where most anglers seem to avoid, using locally collected bait can be very rewarding. There is also the by-catch of large winter whiting, flounder and the occasional flathead, but without the small pickers normally found in the warmer months.