Page 26 - Bush 'n Beach Fishing mag

TAction heating up around Ballina
HE weather is quality fish have fallen When this happens, we starting to heat victim to several slow see a significant decline up and spring pitch jigs around the 60- in our catches of bream,
Ballina Bait & Tackle
by BRETT HYDE
has certainly sprung in 120g range. flathead and tailor due
and around Northern Rivers NSW.
bers significant enough to make chasing them worthwhile.
too cold – just right!
With weather warm- ing up and a small burst of current flowing south, we have seen our first mahi mahi hang- ing around the wave re- corder buoy.
to the heavily reduced volume of food.
The beauty of fishing during this time is the many awesome options to choose from.
Offshore
So, while a few salmon are fun, keep your fingers and toes crossed that we don’t see too many of them.
In freshwater, bass are firing up and it won’t be long before they’re hap- pily attacking surface lures.
Don’t forget the fun offshore, where snap- per and mulloway are hanging in close, and mahi mahi, kingfish, amberjack and pearl perch are waiting out wider for anglers.
The close reefs have been a little on the quiet side recently, but I am expecting them to be more productive from now until the heat of summer kicks in.
As summer ramps up, we should see better numbers of these bright- ly coloured acrobats, but for now it will be worth packing a few skirted lures and dragging them around on the 32 and 42-fathom lines.
South Ballina has been producing quality tailor and bream in re- cent weeks.
The same goes for flathead and whiting in saltwater.
It’s an amazing time of year with the bo- nus weather, which is in that ‘Goldilocks’ cat- egory – not too hot, not
Frozen pilchard and live bait with little or no weight have been the ticket to success in close, particularly up at Black Head and Len- nox Point.
The usual bait such as pilchard, mullet and bonito have all been working well.
Bream, tailor and mulloway are still hanging around in num-
A few nice snapper on bright-coloured soft plastics have also come from this area, but make sure you keep the weights to around 1/4oz, as red rock cod will find them quick smart if you’re too heavy on the lead.
Large models will usually show up early in the season, so now may be your time to bag a big mahi and trolling is a great way to do it.
The better fish have certainly been showing up late afternoon and into the evening with an incoming tide.
BALLI BAIT & T
Sam and a Richmond River athead.
ductive, but a few better-
Out wider, we have been seeing a mixed bag of quality flathead, tuskfish, pigfish and snapper – all on the
Back on the beaches, we have unfortunately seen Australian salmon hanging around.
NA
Before you howl me down for being negative about this species, let me say this... Yes, they are good sport... yes, they give a good fight... but, they do have the potential to decimate our bait schools if they show up in large enough numbers.
The river is certainly showing signs of sum- mer, with a few man- grove jack having been caught this season on live bait along the rock walls.
32-fathom line.
In most cases bait such
as mullet, squid and yel-
ACKLE
lowtail have been pro-
We have also seen the first signs of whit- * continued P28
Beaches
Unfortunately, we have had problems fishing the beach on a number of nights due to a strong rip to the north, which has made it nearly impossi- ble to fish without using the largest of sinkers. River
Ballina West Shopping Centre Paci c Hwy, Ballina NSW
02 6686 2527
Page 26 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, October 2020
www.bnb shing.com.au
Greg with 49cm of jig munching bass.