IT IS HERE!!! Hello Winter & big hello to some stable weather patterns. I hope I’ve not jinxed us all now…
So, the weather has been playing the game and so have the fish. Where do we start…? The unbelievable squiding, the great offshore fishing, the influxes of Winter Whiting, Bream & Flathead in the bay or the Tailor that are starting to show up in the passage…?
How about we start with Sand Crabs. I’m not going to say that they are on the march in The Bay just yet as we have only had a few sporadic reports of good catches. But a little further afield up around Figtree there have been some good numbers and good size Sandies taken by Fishos willing to travel a little further. While up that way it’s worth having a troll with some 100mm lures in 1m – 4m depths for a few Tailor to. For the Tailor Fishos the last couple of weeks have seen some good catches off the beach on Fraser in the 50-60cm range, Pillies doing the damage there, no surprises. Once you have your feed why not try spinning for them with a metal slug on a light 6-12lb 7’ spin outfit, great fun on a bit of silly string.
Winter Whiting have been in pretty good numbers the last few weeks & fishing the mouth of Carlo, Kauri & Teebar Creeks have been producing. The Squid have been out in numbers again with good numbers of Cuttlefish mixed in. Now while they might be messier to clean, they are regarded as better eating by many. Personally, I like my Squid tubes stuffed and baked and my Cuttlefish with a light coating of Salt & Sichuan Pepper and shallowed fried.
With the Bream starting to school up to breed you should start to see the catch rate increase. Worm, Squid & Prawns will work well but a nice Flesh Bait fed back down a burley trail should see you get the bite from the bigger models. A favourite way I like to chase them is on the flats using small Stick baits and Poppers, like Sugapen, Ecooda Mini Pop & Burkley 3B Cranks. Working them slowly with big pauses can make for some pretty cool surface strikes. Look for weed beds, rock bars or even slightly deeper channels on the flat using this method. Keep an eye out to as there have been some nice Goldens cursing the flats.
Offshore conditions have been great for most of month of July with light winds & small swell becoming a more regular occurrence. The Crews pushing out wide have been treated to great catches of Pearlies, Snapper, & some good Reds around that 14kg mark. In closer we have seen smaller Snapper, Morwong, Sweetlip & Cod filling the ice box. There are still a few Longtails & Mackerel around in close, so it pays to have a Floater out the back as you never know what could be swimming by.
That’s all for now Crew & don’t forget that if you get on to a few, feel free to post a couple of pictures of your catch on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thechandlerybaitandtackle/
Or pop into the shop and have a good old brag to the boys about the one that didn’t get away. We love talking fishing and love to hear you stories even if it did get away.
Find us at the Tin Can Bay Marina, Emperor St for all your boating and fishing needs.
Cheers & Tight Lines
The Chandlery Bait & Tackle
