It's good to see a refreshing few days of southerly winds and a little rainfall. Makes a pleasant change from the constant nor' easters and humidity we've had.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In the estuary, fishing still remains excellent with plenty of options available. Flathead are common in most locations with Limeburners and around Blackmans Point fishing well.
Limeburners has also produced some cracking whiting, with a few fish around 500 grams taken this week.
For those wishing to chase a feed of whiting from a land-based position, the back channel is certainly worth a look, and pretty well the entire Lake Cathie system. Surface lures and baits have proven effective.
Good news too for blackfish enthusiasts with the breakwalls and lower reaches seeing a few nice fish taken on cabbage and artificial weed. A few nice bream have been on offer from the breakwalls after dark, with bonito strips working very well.
Further upriver, the bream have responded to surface lures, with Rawdon Island and surrounds fishing well.
Lake Cathie has finally produced some nice sized prawns, although they have proven a little hit and miss. Hopefully they will be more consistent next dark, and if so, I expect a high level of participation by those with drag or scoop nets.
Off the beaches, the heavy and consistent swell has limited options, especially on the more exposed beaches.
Bream and whiting remain quite consistent, with good reports from the northern end of Lighthouse as well as near the entrance of Lake Cathie. Live beach worms have been the stand out bait.
Once these swells back down look for improved numbers of tailor off most stretches of sand.
The Mid-North Coast land-based game season has begun in earnest with good numbers of long-tail tuna and the occasional Spanish mackerel reported from the favoured ledges north and south of Port.
Apart from the pelagics, the Lighthouse has produced a few tailor at first light along with some reasonable bream. Plomer has also held bream and blackfish in reasonable numbers.
Offshore, a heavy swell and plenty of breeze has been the norm. However, since last weekend a few have managed to get out with the inshore pelagic scene starting to really fire.
Barries Bay produced mackerel, long-tail tuna and even mahi mahi, if you managed to get your catch to the boat intact that is. There is no doubt the sharks' presence has escalated substantially over recent years.
It might be worth exploring locations in front of Port, and to the south, where the shark problem is virtually non existent in comparison.