Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
If I had to give the fishing along the Clarence Coast of northern NSW over the past month a rating out of 10, I reckon a seven would be about right. jewfish
I’m sure luderick and bream anglers would be giving it a 10, though across the board, it’s a seven from me.
Both jewfish and tailor were playing silly buggers, with neither species firing as good as they normally would during August, even though a few nice fish of each were landed.
As is the case every year, August is the month that sees catches of luderick reach their peak and here on the Clarence River the fishing has been amazing, with fish being taken at almost every fishable platform.
At Iluka, the old ferry approach continues to be the pick of the spots, with fish over 40cm very common and most anglers reached their bag limits each day.
The one downside to this spot is its accessibility because you fish right beside your vehicle and this in turn has large numbers of anglers trying to squeeze into a small area.
On the Yamba side of the river, the approaches to the bridge crossing Oyster Channel have fished well, as too has the mouth of the trawler harbour and out along the breakwall.
I have even seen numerous boats fishing along the Collis and Middle walls – which hasn’t happened for a long time – and I am sure those boats got among the fish as well.
A few fishos have been taking big luderick along the Iluka breakwall and also in the nursery on the northern end of the Iluka Bluff, during any swell over 1.5m.
Bream were also playing ball as they enter into their final stage of spawning, with excellent catches being reported throughout the lower reaches of the river.
Yes, you can catch bream all year round, however during summer they’re in a much poorer condition after spawning and not quite as aggressive in taking a bait or lure as they are in winter.
Tailor continue to frustrate anglers with their inconsistency in numbers and we’ve had yet another month of anglers catching a good feed along the beach one day then not being able to raise so much as a bite for the next three days.
A few of the anglers that usually catch honking choppers from Main Beach on cut bonito bait have even resorted to driving the length of Shark Bay Beach during the day and tossing metal lures along the gutters in an attempt to get a feed.
Casting slugs or popper surface lures around the headlands has been by far the most productive form of tailor fishing lately, though the size has been average, but I guess a feed is a feed.
Large jewfish were missing in action around Iluka recently, even though the occasional decent fish has been landed along the breakwall, with occasional being the operative word.
Inside the river was even worse for big jew, with the usual winter run of big fish not coming to fruition this season for some reason, however on the plus side, fish around 6-8kg have been taken regularly.
My son Mischa and a couple of his friends, who were visiting Iluka, fished a few nights at the old ferry approach, using whole squid during a rising tide at night for nice schoolies of about 7kg, yet couldn’t raise a scale on either a live bait or lure, so go figure.
Yamba fisho Allan Anderson rubbed our noses in it by taking quality jewfish from both offshore and the Yamba breakwall – it looks like I may have to start following him to find the fish.
Allan went for a run offshore to our southern grounds off Minnie Water, chasing snapper using live yakka and nailing a beautiful jewfish as a bonus.
Then a few days later, spent three hours casting minnow lures in the shallow gutter on the ocean side of the Yamba wall for another cracking fish.
The T-Piece on the Yamba wall has continued to fish OK for bigger jew, however the numbers have dropped off compared to recent months, which I suppose is to be expected as winter comes close to ending.
There have been a lot of schools of mack tuna feeding along the breakwalls in recent weeks, so if you want a bit of fun, you could do worse than spending a few hours casting small slugs at these hard fighting little critters.
Offshore catches were dominated by snapper, which is usual for this time of year, with Glenn Innes boatie Jimmy Creighton fishing offshore at Woody Head for a few nice snapper and a handful of teraglin.
I’ve included a picture of a trifecta of longtail tuna that Ipswich angler Slaine Dodrill and a friend caught from the Iluka wall a while back – I was to have had it in last month’s issue but, me being me, I lost the copy I had then.
Awesome fishing from this crew in the middle of winter, long after everyone else had stopped chasing tuna.
Which goes to show that dogged determination will eventually be rewarded, with the best part being that they had the whole wall to themselves.
I’ve been housebound for the past six weeks with vehicle problems.
Hopefully I’ll get these sorted out soon, get back to lurking around the traps and keep my finger on the pulse a little more.
September has never been one of my favourite months for fishing, as you tend to get the winter fish beginning to move out before the summer species arrive.
Having said that, a feed is always on the cards any day of the week and I could think of a lot of worse things to be doing, even if I’m not getting a bite – so get out there and have fun doing it regardless.
Until next month, safe fishing.
