With the onset of summer, people’s minds turn towards spending some fun times at the beach, and of course while enjoying the sun, surf and sand don’t forget to pack the fishing rod because summers the time for the fighting whiting and their isn’t a better feed than fresh whiting fillets some chips and salad.

Fishing the edge of gutters and just behind the shore breaks where there is a lot of churned up water is the go as the whiting search for a feed of worms and pipis dislodged by the waves. Running either a mid sized ball sinker or a light paternoster rig using live worms or freshly caught pipis is a great recipe for success and may also pick up a bream or two that seem to always lurk around.
The most popular and productive beaches include Perkins Beach, The farm, Seven Mile and South Beach Shellharbour. Combine a rising tide around the low light periods and don’t forget the sunscreen.

Kingfish are they here yet? A question we’ve been asked recently well the answer is yes and no! There are some good fish available but a few anglers have reported that the schools of small undersized fish are at times being a pain in the rear. Reports have filtered through of some fish landed to 8kg, and most of these fish being taken on live baits slow trolled down deep.

Fisheries have advised that the F.A.D.s are back out on the water. So hopefully with the warmer water moving in the ever-popular dolphin fish will be back and in good numbers. Just remember there is a bag limit of 10 fish with the minimum size limit of 60cm and only 1 fish over 110cm.

The coordinates for Wollongong are as follows 34,27.321 S and 151,04.308 E while off Kiama it’s 34,41.000 S and 151,59.500 E. 

Tight lines,

Hayden Capobianco
The Tackle Shop, Shellharbour

Tough conditions made for tough fishing but those that persisted were rewarded with some good catches.
Conditions offshore on the weekend kept most anglers off the water, those that did head out kept in the lee of places like the Port Is. and Bass Pt. came up trumps on some good fish who where also taking respite from the average conditions.
Rob Hardy and Brad Williams fished in the lee of Bass Pt, trolling small skirted jet heads the boys landed several stripey’s for the bait freezer as well as a couple of 8 kg yellowfin for the BBQ.
Don’t tell anyone but the kingfish are about. The fish are ranging from annoying little rats that devour everything and anything frustrating most. But a few anglers have been tussling with some nice fish to 10kg. Good live bait is the key.
The rocks have been a mixed bag of late with trevally the main stay of late. While tailor and bream have been on the chew around the break walls at Lake Illawarra. While Alan Griffiths who attracts fish like a magnet hit the rocks around Gerroa for a couple of reds to 1.5kg.  
 A couple of local anglers headed up to Lake Windamere home of the mega yellowbelly. The keen anglers fished the Golden Classic Tournament taking on some very high profile and experienced anglers. With conditions going from stinking hot and blustery winds to cold and wet it was an interesting and challenging weekend.
Using bladed lures and jackals the fish thankfully were on the chew hitting hard and fighting even harder. The format; a teams catch and release event on lure and fly only with the best 10 fish counting. The south coast boys did us all proud placing 5 teams in the top 10! Grant Evans took the biggest fish a fat yellowbelly that went 611mm on the lie detector that fish scored Grant a new reel valued at $500 (lucky bastard).
Anyone wanting to explore the heart of NSW and sample the fine fishing that Windamere has to offer not to mention the food and wines that Mudgee has to offer contact Cudegong Waters Park on 02-  6358 8462   
 

Hayden Capobianco,

All you had to do to catch a fish on the weekend was add water! Everywhere was firing and on all cylinders.

Offshore the word was striped tuna, albacore, yellowfin and marlin! The striped tuna were anywhere from 30 fathoms to the shelf, while the albacore were wider they were a good size with a lot of fish coming in weighing around 8 to 10kg’s and tasting great in the fry pan, just ask Chris and James Huk who tangled with a few on the weekend.

The yellowfin have been something of a lucky dip with a few fish landed lucky to weigh 2kg something not often seen, while others have been modestly pulling the scales down to 30kg. Reports filtered through of a couple of striped marlin being caught on the weekend, which has all the game fisho’s salivating.

The Estuary’s are a smorgasbord of fish with the Shoalhaven River, St Georges Basin and Lake Illawarra throwing on a feed of flathead, whiting, bream and tailor. The catch of the weekend must go to 9 year old Lachlan Budd who landed a 620g monster whiting on a ganged pilchard while fishing for tailor, Lachlan also out fished Dad Shaun with a bag of 10 quality fish.

Col Leech doing some preliminary work for an upcoming tournament fished the Shoalhaven River and landed what he said “were the best quality and well conditioned luderick he’s seen this season” Col fished a variety of methods landing a total of 42 fish including bream, tailor, luderick, flathead and some serious whiting.

And for those who like a feed of reds, they were on with the best catches coming from places like Kiama, Jervis Bay and Gerringong.

Hayley Gassman and Luke Pascott made the most of a weekend away and fished the pristine waters of JB and having a blast with both Hayley and Luke bagging out on snapper. Hayley won bragging rights with the biggest fish.

Warilla Beach has a few tailor in the suds terrorizing anglers chasing bream and flathead using whitebait.

While up north Ben McElhone and Jennifer Martin have been tangling with the fabled mulloway unfortunately I’ve been sworn to secrecy on the location!  

 If a spot of freshwater is the your cup of tea? Eucumbene is the place to be turning on some succulent trout Billy Lee just got back from a recent trip and regaled us of stories of fish “That didn’t get away” Billy landed some nice conditioned and very tasty brown and rainbow trout, his biggest was a well round brown that weighed 3.75kg and was 61cm in length. 

Hayden Capobianco,
The Tackle Shop, Shellharbour

With the warmer water the albacore have thinned out but there are still plenty of striped tuna and a few yellowfin. Anglers trolling small flies have done very well taking stripies to 6kg.

The yellowfin have been taken on small skirts and deep divers. Andrew Koberlein and wife Kerrie, trolled up a 14kg yellowfin and a 6kg albacore on deep divers. A few striped marlin have also started to show up.

The rocks are producing some good mixed species catches. Tailor and trevally have been consistent captures on the south side of Bass Point. Some nice bream, snapper and rock blackfish have been taken in small numbers.

The estuaries are really starting to fire. Bream continue to be the target of anglers using the highly successful “blade” type metal lures. Good flathead are showing up in the Shoalhaven and St George’s Basin. Estuary perch have been almost a pest for anglers chasing bream and bass in the Shoalhaven. Most fish have been taken using blades, soft plastics and whitebait.
 
Inshore there have been some really good flathead taken from the sand and gravel patches in about 60 metres. Nice morwong, and snapper around the kilo are also being taken on the reef sections.

Prawners are have been out on the lake prospecting and are getting a feed. Indications are it could well be a good prawning season.

Alan GRIFFITHS

“Tuna in a can!”, was one way an angler described the scenes out on the water. "They were so thick it was not a matter of when and if? It was matter of how many?". The reason for this, the albacore have turned up and these chickens of the sea are out on the shelf in big numbers and are hungry devouring anything and everything!
James Huk made the most of the last days of his school holidays dragging his dad Chris out. The boys hit the water and had fun on some great little fish! On light line they can't be beat, and of course on the plate there may be no better. The boys kept 3 fish out of a countless many for a feed.
For those that don’t know the NSW Fisheries limit for tuna that includes albacore, yellowfin, big-eye and bluefin, etc. The maximum bag limit that can be kept is 5 fish combined under 90cm as well as only 2 fish combined over 90cm.
Still with tuna the boys aboard “Fishaholic” did it again landing some nice fish on succumbing to Rob Bird favorite lure! This time Rob Hardy was on the rod landing a hefty 45kg yellowfin, while trying not to laugh as he weaved the fish around the hydraulic outriggers that were acting up dancing around like something out of a Jane Fonda workout! 
Richard Keen must have the Midas touch as lately he just keeps producing some seriously good fish.
Fishing around Greenwell Pt and the Banks, Richard landed a bag that included 6 red’s between 2 and 4kg’s, two 5kg kingfish and to top it off some 6 well conditioned flathead to 1.5kg.  Unfortunately he won't let on to his secret formula that is keeping everybody guessing down the ramp.
Col Leech needed a scenery change so he headed down and took in the magnificent sites and fishing the Shoalhaven River has to offer.
Fishing the weekend Col landed what would be many a keen fisho’s dream bag of fish. The bag included species like luderick; bream, tailor, whiting and how many fish did Col land 45 in total! Not to mention all the throwbacks. Most anglers would be over the moon with a quarter of that catch.
4 year Jordyn Norval was not too happy with her dad on the weekend when they arrived a bit late for their fishing clubs weigh-in. Jordyn had a nice catch of “slimy fish” as she called it which were actually a couple of nice sized dusky flathead.
Windang beach was awash with salmon on the weekend, if you couldn’t catch a fish you must not have had a fishing rod in your hand. As reports came through of the fish clamouring over everything and anything.

It’s tuna time. The waters turned up with some good fish being taken out wide.
Reports have filtered through from some keen game fisho’s that yellowfin to 30kg have turned up on the shelf as well as the sweat tasting albacore. Though there are not huge numbers of fish busting up everywhere some of the boats are landing 4 or 5 fish.
 The best way to find the fish is to troll a mixed pattern of lures including skirts divers and big metal vides until the ratchet screams on one of your reels and than start cubing because if there’s one fish another couple will be lurking nearby.
The beaches are still producing salmon and with the midday high tides it’s the perfect excuse to take the kids down the beach to enjoy the sun and catch some fish on the school holidays the best gutters of late have been off Warilla beach, Windang beach and the Farm.
Alan Griffiths dusted the cobwebs of the old wooden Alvey and hit the rocks at Bass Pt fishing the rising tide Alan and his son in law Jeremy landed some nice bream and trevally and where blown away by something called a USO (unidentified swimming object) that scorched 50meters of line of the reel before busting them up.
Flathead are on the menu down the Shoalhaven River with most anglers working soft plastics the lower reaches of the river is producing best with it’s slightly warmer water helping to concentrate the baitfish in the area.
Lake Illawarra has bream and trevally hanging along the rock walls and with the solid current that now rages through their the best time to fish is the slack periods of water between tides live nippers or squirt worms should pick you up a good feed While the shallower sand banks on high tide have whiting cruising the flats looking for a feed. 

Hayden Capobianco,
The Tackle Shop, Shellharbour

It’s certainly warming up outside and so is the fishing. 
Schools of salmon have been marauding around the Port Is. and Windang Is. and they’re hungry engulfing anything thrown at them. The best fun is throw metal lures out amongst them and wind fast, with fish to 2.5kg willing to jump all over and devour the lure. What better fun could be had?
Grant Evans after a hard week at work decided to get away for a bit of R & R and headed down to Jervis Bay fishing of the rocks grant didn’t have much time to relax hooking in to some good groper and a couple of nice reds to 1.5kg.
Flathead are making a splash this spring with some solid fish turning up at the cleaning tables. Fish well over 1kg are schooling up in good numbers along the deeper water drifts wide of Shellharbour and Windang.
Trevally and small sweep have been harassing anglers around Bass Pt. stealing bait meant for other more succulent fish. The bream and drummer are there but the key is patience and if the pickers are hounding your bait relentlessly move further along, also use tougher baits like cunjevoi or mullet gut.
With the season reopening a lot of keen bass anglers have been out at their favorite freshwater hole getting a fix on these great little Aussie battlers! And the reports of some good fish have been coming through the biggest we’ve heard so far and it’s only early, is 53cm! Unfortunately I’ve been sworn to secrecy on the location but I can say is it’s a river somewhere?
With the upcoming long weekend and opening of the trout season it’s also time when local DPI Fisheries officers will be out enforcing the rules and regulations so don’t forget to check your licence is valid and grab a copy of the updated regulations. 
 

Hayden Capobianco,
The Tackle Shop, Shellharbour

Well what can you say about the weather other than it hasn’t been kind to us fisho’s! But things should start to turn around from here and the warm water and sunny days shouldn’t be to far away.
The recent seas and blustering southerly winds will benefit the deep-sea anglers stirring the water up and adding a bit of colour. This should bring the reds out to play as they move in to feed on the inshore reefs.
For land-based anglers the rocks should turn on a slew of fish and maybe a couple of decent reds, for those keen to fish the upcoming morning tides, but remember as always to keep your eyes on the water.
Before the swell reports came through of some good flathead captures on the inshore drifts. Jeff Risk did well scoring half a bag of succulent flatties around the 40cm mark.
The Barry’s crew has been invaded with a Marilyn jumping on board taking over the boat and from the looks of it Marilyn is also taking all the fish! Marilyn on her first trip out landed a groper that weighed 7.5kg, some snapper to 1kg and a couple of flathead, while husband Barry could only manage a 1kg leatherjacket and one solitary flathead.
Peter Dent had some time off work and made the most of it fishing the Shoalhaven River. Peter is in to his bream fishing and wanted to give the new blade style lures a run to refine the technique and hopefully catch some fish.
Well, Peter certainly hit the winning formula fishing on the shallower banks and casting in to the deeper water. Peter literally had bream jumping all over the lure as they followed the lure up out of the depths fighting to devour it. In one small section Peter landed half a dozen bream ranging between 30 to 40cm and seen bigger fish chase them up.    

Hayden Capobianco,
The Tackle Shop, Shellharbour

Bring on summer; frustrated anglers are baying for the warmer water and sunny days that summer brings, not to mention the fish.

Those few that did find time to hit the water did it tough, Windang beach was the place to be with salmon and tailor honing in on everything that went in to the water.

Metal lures like “Gyro’s” and “Psyko’s” with their wounded bait fish actions proved irresistible to these psyched up and hungry fish. One angler frustrated with the recent conditions, fished Windang in the early morning on the wrong tide just to get a fix and relieve the jitters came up trumps on some nice sambo’s to 3kg’s.

Andrew Crook was one fisho’s who braved the cold winter waters and was seriously rewarded with a serious fish one thumping snapper that weighed 6.5kg! Andrew wouldn’t let on with exactly where he got it other than the area had a mixture of sand and reef bottom.

The Barry’s were another crew that needed that fishing fix. The boy’s fished the inshore areas around Shellharbour and with 14-degree water temperature did it extremely tough landing a few small reds and some hungry flathead.

Tight Lines,
Hayden Capobianco

The cold weather kept most indoors but a few mad anglers braved the conditions for some hard won fish.

Groper was the fish of choice for most boaties before the swell came up. Joe McNamara fished the area around Minnamurra for a nice blue around 6.5kg. Red crabs and a good berley of urchins is the key to tangling with these hard pulling fish.

Alan Glover fished the rocks around Shellharbour for a feed of bream; conditions were extremely tough with clear and calm water. Persistence paid off and Alan was rewarded with some nice fish to 1kg.

Grant Evans and Grant Hartley were foolhardy enough to head up to fish Fitzroy Falls Reservoir at night. Using lures Grant Hartley took great pleasure in out fishing his good mate by landing the only fish of the evening a very skinny rainbow trout buck that weighed 2.8kg’s.

Windang Beach and the entrance to Lake Illawarra have been teaming with salmon and anglers have been having a ball with fish to 2.5kg hitting metal lures and ganged pilchards.

Squid have been out and about. With the full moon bringing in some good-sized cephalopods, a few keen young anglers who don’t mind the cold of the evening are throwing squid jigs or spikes and coming up trumps. Usual haunts like the base of the gravel loaded and the rocks around Shellharbour Harbour or any weedy area will produce a feed. 

With the increasing swell and a warmer change predicted the upcoming weekend looks good for a feed of fish. The water may finally be turning and things will hopefully pickup from here, reds will be on the minds of most anglers with a few fish recently showing up at the cleaning tables.

Tight Lines,
Hayden Capobianco

The rocks were the most productive areas to fish the past week.

Barrack Point though only small seemed to hold most of the fish. Luderick and rock blackfish were the mainstay, it was just a matter of who was keen enough to fish the low light periods and put up with the cold.

Alan Glover and his boys Wade and Rory were just a few of the keen anglers who were willing to put their limbs on the line for a feed of fish. The boys landed some nice luderick and drummer to 1kg while Alan bagged a solid 4kg groper.

Alan Griffiths did it tough around Bass Pt; Alan had to use his many years of local knowledge to scrounge out a few fish. Alan went through several areas and a bucket full of berley to land some nice pigs.

Reports from the beaches were salmon on the chew just head out and throw some pillies into any gutter on South Beach Shellharbour or Windang beach for a bit of fun.

The story out on the deep blue was subdued with not many anglers venturing out. Jeff risk and Glen DeBritt fished around Minnamurra reef for a mixed bag of fish that included trevally, luderick, tarwhine, bream and drummer but from all accounts the fishing was tough.

The boys did mention that the dreaded barracouta are around snipping off baits and being a general pain.

Word came through from Richard Keen who fished the pristine waters of Jervis Bay that the action was hot. Richard landed several solid fish that included several reds to 2kg a couple of kingfish to 4kg, bream and luderick to 1kg now that is truly a mixed bag.

Tight Lines,
Hayden Capobianco

It was just a matter of grin and bear it as we experienced several seasons in on week.

The beaches when the swell abated provided plenty of action with salmon freely feeding. The beaches that reported most of the action were South Beach Shellharbour and Windang Beach.

Grant Evans got amongst the action during a bit of down time from work and had a ball throwing metal slugs at these aerobatic sport fish.

Sunday proved the best day for those who wanted to get the boat wet. Even though the conditions out wide were still quite lumpy most decided to stay on the inshore reefs and sand patches drifting for a nice feed of fresh fish.

Flathead where on the chew around the Warilla and Windang while on the reefs around Bass Pt a few small reds and mowies were taken, it seems we are having a respite from the hordes of leatherjackets, which for the time being look like they have moved on.

Steve Rhind decided to head further north and fish the reefs around Wollongong and Bellambi, drifting over the broken reef Steve landed a few nice mowies as well as a couple of well conditioned pigfish to 1.2kg.

Lake Illawarra is the place to go if your searching for a bream they have moved back in to the lake and with the recent rain it will help stir the water up a bit, make the fish less shy and willing to bite down on a well presented bait or lure.

Luderick are also schooling along the northern side of the bridge, though they have been extremely finicky the key is to find yourself some squirt worms and fish them near the bottom.

Hayden Capobianco
The Tackle Shop, Shellharbour

There was action a plenty out on the water the past week.

Snapper have moved in to the inshore reefs chasing a feed of cuttlefish that have moved in for their annual spawning run. With fish in the shallower water the key to good success is fresh bait and a very quiet boat any noise can shut the fish down so softly does it.

Tailor and Salmon are still milling around Windang Beach taking in the great views under the moonlit sky. Fishing in to the night or early in the morning on the rising tide is the best bet. Just remember to rug up, as it gets cold down on the beach at night.

The southern end of Warilla Beach has had bream schooling near the entrance to little lake with some nice deep gutters, grab some strips of mullet and fish them on the edges of the gutters for best results.

Alan Griffiths making the most of his semi-retirement fished Bass Pt during the week for a mixed bag of fish that included luderick, trevally and drummer.  With the calm conditions Alan found the areas that had a little bit of wash to help stir things up as the fish sit in wait for a tasty morsel being flailing about in the subs. Royal red prawns are the perfect bait for this kind of fishing.

Another retiree Jeff Risk spent almost every day out on the water last week. If Jeff’s on the water you know there is fish around. Fishing several locations and techniques Jeff landed several different species in good numbers

Bream, luderick, pigs, trevally, bonito and salmon all fell prey to Jeff who is always thinking continually adjusts rigs to better refine his technique and improve his catch results.  

Lake Illawarra has been frustrating for some anglers of late chasing luderick with weed, the most likely reason for this is that they’re feeding on something else in this case squirt worms.So best bet is to grab the nipper pump and head down at low tide and pump some squirties. You may even pick up some bream that are starting to move back in to the lake in good numbers.

Hayden Capobianco

What an absolute cracker of a weekend, everyone was out to play on the weekend and the fish came to the party. With the moon and tides falling in sync the fishing action was hot all over the ocean and on the rocks

Richard Keen fished early in the morning on the inshore reefs around Kiama for a great mixed bag of fish that included a 4kg kingfish, bream, morwong and snapper. Richard was not afraid to try some new techniques and was rewarded with a good mixed bag.

Jason Czornobej did well on the drifts but fished the afternoon and into the evening for another fine mixed bag of fish including flathead, snapper and when the leatherjackets moved in Jason changed tact and hit the inshore washes for rock blackfish and bream.

Bonito are about and it’s either an early start to the new season or an extremely late and fashionable arrival for the last. The marker buoy’s around Bass Pt are proving to be extremely good F.A.D.s holding these fun little sport fish.

Jeff Risk and Glen DeBritt fished the area trolling small green skirted lures and came up trumps landing a good dozen fish before the seal moved in.

The word for those that are stuck on solid ground is Windang Beach. If you don’t mind getting your toes wet is to head down to the beach as there are several good gutters holding salmon and tailor arm yourself with some pilchards or metal spinners for some good fun.

Col Leech did just that and came up solid on some very good fish it’s not often you hear tailor weighing more than salmon but Col managed to land some hefty tailor to2.5kg while the best salmon he could manage only tipped the scales to 2.2kg.

Col also landed some monster winter whiting off the beach two of the fish weighed just under 600 grams.

Alan Griffiths took time out from the shop to fish the evening tide at Barrack Pt. anyone who knows Alan knows he likes to keep it simple.

Armed with a bucket of bread for berley and a few royal reds and some striped tuna for bait Alan fished the top of the tide for a mixed bag of bread and butter fish to 1kg that included luderick, rock blackfish, trevally and bream to 1kg.
 
Word has filtered through of a few mulloway being taken in the Shoalhaven River during the day in the deeper holes as well as some nice flathead to 3kg that are sitting in the shallows sunning themselves.

Hayden Capobianco
The Tackle Shop, Shellharbour

What a weekend to be on the water and if you weren’t the excuse must be a good one because from all accounts it was standing room only at a lot of boat ramps and rocky headlands.

Chad Davison and Glen DeBritt fished away from their usual haunts, heading down the boys sampled the fishing the waters off Kiama has to offer. Fishing the deeper reefs, Glen and Chad had great success on a mixed bag of reefies landing snapper and morwong to 1kg as well as a few sweet tasting pigfish for the table.

Billy and Les Lee fished one of the wider reefs off Shellharbour and had good success on the reds, fishing baits floated down the berley trail Billy and Les managed 7 fish with the average weight around 2.5kg’s. Billy however did win bragging rights for the day landing the biggest snapper that was a very thick and well-conditioned specimen that weighed 4.68kg.

Phil Spencer did some scouting around the rocks at Bass Pt seeing what was on offer and though pickings were slow due to the ultra clear conditions.

 Phil did manage to pull some good fish, flicking royal red prawns in to the washy areas after peppering the area with a bread and bran berley mixture. Phil landed some nice luderick to 0.7kg as well as having some fun on hard pulling trevally.

Wade Glover got into some serious action on the weekend. Fishing the rocks Wade tangled with some serious pigs and these fish weren’t for the faint hearted. After getting absolutely bricked by a couple of hefty fish, Wade wrestled one out of the water the pulled the scales down to 3.1kg. now that is one mean and fit pig.      
 

Hayden Capobianco
The Tackle Shop, Shellharbour

Picture perfect had local fisho’s jumping out of their skin to hit the water on the weekend and who could blame them.

Robert Bird lived up to his boats name “Fishaholic” hitting the wide grounds for some serious fish as he calls it. After a few hours after burning some fuel and just before the boys decided to cube one rod went off, 20secs later another rod went off, then another then 2 more went off, a quintuple hookup!

After some serious twisting a weaving the 3 boys on board managed to land all 5 fish and the weren’t yellowfin but the much sought after and highly prized southern blue fin tuna, the fish averaged between 15-30kg. The fish were taken on a mixture of hard body and skirted lures.

Jeff Risk has been at it again fishing the inshore waters around Port Kembla for a mix of fish that included bream, trevally, pigs and bonito that have turned up. Hopefully their visit wont be brief and these prime bait and sport fish will have an extended stay.

Tony Whitfield’s finally hit the water again after an extended break due to tearing his Achilles heel, and what a return, Tony out fished everyone on board the boat including his dad. Tony chimed back into the ring with a 5.4kg groper, a couple of nice bream and trevally as well as drummer to 1.3kg and salmon to finish a well rounded bag out.    

Wal Garvie from Lakeview fishing club fished the rocks around Bass Pt for a nice bag of luderick around the 0.8kg mark, the main area of action lately has been below and around the gravel loader with fish and fisherman schooling up for a feed.

Lake Illawarra is still pulling some surprises out at this time of year with some good flathead still being caught. Fish up to 50cm have been landed which is very strange! As these lizards usually join their land loving namesakes and hibernate during the cooler months.

This upcoming weekend St Georges Basin will host the Sussex Bream Classic. Some of the countries best bream lure fisherman will be down there over the weekend. Applying all their skills and tricks to fool the Basin’s weary bream and take out the top prize, some big dollars and bragging rights.

Hayden Capobianco

Those that made it out midweek had the pick of the weather, the tides and the fish.

Jeff Risk fished the Port Is. for a good mixed bag of luderick, rock blackfish and bream. The early morning tides were almost perfect to anchor up in close to the islands. And fish small un-weighted baits into a good berley trail.

The full moon during the week had a few of the underground mulloway fisherman jumping at the bit to hit the beaches, the good sized evening tides and a reasonable swell were almost the perfect jew fishing conditions. Reports did filter back of some nice catches, but this cagey lot of fisho’s don’t let too much out of the bag on when, where or how!

Reports of reds on the chew after the swell died down enough for anglers to get out on the water. Ryan Brown fished the rocks around Shellharbour and came agonizingly close to landing a good red, losing it in the last stages of the fight at his feet.

Lake Illawarra is still producing some good flathead and big winter whiting for those willing to put in the hard yards. With the water temperature cooling anglers that are taking the time to catch live bait and search for areas with a bit warmer water like shallower sand banks have been scoring some good fish.

Mark Helson and Harry Butler have been out on the tiles searching for good weed and have been rewarded with there persistence bagging out on luderick during a few mid week session. Ledges around Bass Pt, underneath the gravel loaded and Cowries have been the hot spots during the week depending on the prevailing wind.

The east coast low had most fisho’s down in the dumps over the weekend. The best remedy I could suggest for this to fisho’s as they came through the door on the weekend was to take up flying kites!

The good news though is the resulting seas will stir things up a treat be prepared for some good fishing on the inshore reefs for species like the ever popular and highly prized snapper which will move in and feed on the tasty morsels dislodged from their homes.

Hopefully the stir up will also move the leatherjackets on for a while and give a reprieve to some very frustrated fisho’s.

The rocks will also fire with luderick moving into the more sheltered spots schooling and hungry they’ll gladly down a float. Bream and drummer will also be on the chew feeding in those washy areas on small crustaceans and the like. There’s no better excuse to go soak lightly weighted bait in the washes.

Just remember if you are fishing the stones to keep a watchful eye on the water as it only takes one wave to wash you in. if it looks and feels too dangerous it is!

Ocean Beach Hotel Fishing Club, Shellharbour held their final weigh in for the year and the weather didn’t help especially for Chad Davison and Richard Keen who were fighting it out for top honours in the Deep Sea section, the boys did manage to get out and fish.

Richard fished the more sheltered waters of Jervis Bay that in the end was the decisive move. Richard bagged out on snapper had a good few morwong, 2 kingfish to 5kg which in the end was enough to take out the monthly comp as well as the overall yearly comp by a meager 8.2% points which pretty much equates to 1 fish.

Phil Spencer fished the sheltered rocks around Bass and Barrack Pt for a catch of fish that included pigs, bream and luderick the 20 fish Phil caught in the not so ideal conditions was enough to just to take out the monthly comp in the BRE section. Overall winner in both BRE and the club in general Col Leech had a good bag of fish from Lake Illawarra but the fishing was tough in those winds. 

Hayden Capobianco
The Tackle Shop, Shellharbour

The rocks have been the place to be with plenty of action for those chasing luderick. The usual haunts around Bass Point have produced good fish but the washy areas around Barrack Pt and Windang Island are also worth a go.

There have been some good tailor around the rocks, which are being taken on pilchards, metal lures and poppers. Fish to 1.5kg have not been uncommon. Bream, rock blackfish and trevally have also been keen to take lightly presented baits around the washes. Best baits being royal reds and striped tuna cubes.

Lake Illawarra is well worth a go for bream, We saw plenty of fish above the bridge on a recent trip. Reports are that one angler has been doing very nicely using Shoalhaven prawns.

Yellowfin are still around terrorizing and frustrating plenty of game fishermen. Anglers have had to dig deep for fuel, as the fish are a long way out. But the effort of tangling with these speed machines is worth it!

Alan GRIFFITHS
The Tackle Shop, Shellharbour

Winter is here and so are the winter fish.

Those fishing in and around rock headlands have been rewarded with some quality fine eating fresh fish.

Sean Heath has been throwing soft plastic around the rocks at Kiama for a slight change of pace and has been hooking some solid fish. Earlier in the week Sean landed his personal best bream a 0.9kg big bruising blue nose on plastics in not the easiest of places to pull a fish out, especially on a 7-foot bream spinning stick.

Chad Davison fished around the Windang Is. for a large variety of fish using royal reds Chad and his mate Andrew hooked into everything from drummer and luderick to salmon and tailor which is not a bad way to spend the early morning hours.     

A few of the boys from Ocean Beach Hotel Fishing Club, Shellharbour headed out west to Lake Lyle for some therapeutic trout fishing and a couple of cleansing ale’s. Grant Evans, Darryl Wardman and Angelo Garcia found the fishing a little tough landing a few trout to 1kg and dropping some as Grant calls it “whoppers”.

Robert Bird and the crew aboard “Fishaholic” were at it again terrorizing the local yellowfin population.

Anyone who knows Rob knows he doesn’t like to cube so the boys set out the proven lure pattern that has accounted for some serious fish this season and they trolled from Shellharbour down to Nowra and didn’t turn a reel. Until they turned to move in and head back, it was on!

One rod went off for a fish about 30kg and then a double hook up and then a quadruple hook up as fin busted out of the water! Engulfing the lures, all up they landed 9 yellowfin between 15 and 35kg. The boys also raised a marlin on the trip down unfortunately it didn’t want to play ball.

Yellowfin out wide, that’s all we’ve been hearing for the past week!

The local game fisho’s have been reel game this week heading out even wider. Fishing between the 500 –1500 fathom mark (that’s deep!) the guys and gals have been rewarded with some serious fish.

 Andrew Koeberlein started things off with a nice 50kg fish while Grant Hartley and Joey Formosa had fun on 40kg fin and 15kg albacore. A few other boats out late on Sunday hooked up and were fighting fish late into the night one boat landed a fish that in the old scale easily went 150lbs.

Alan Griffiths and Keith Goodfrey fished around Barrack Pt mid week for a swag of tailor measuring 35cm plus that were chomping down every lure known to man. Except for soft plastics in a lumo colour now if only the leatherjackets would do the same.

Speaking of leatherjackets these scourge of the seas have moved on to the inshore areas like a group of bikers on their yearly road trip running local fisho’s off the water. The size of fish has ranged from and annoying 10cm up to some nice eating size fish over 40cm long.

The local estuary scene down south is still going strong. Alan McIlquham has been doing some R & R down at St Georges Basin chasing and tangling with some good healthy bream around the lake and the rocks. Using the humble royal red prawn as bait you Alan reckons you cant’ go wrong.

Billy Lee enjoying his retirement from work has been out and about around the rocks at Bass Pt. chasing luderick. Billy has been getting in to some good fish really putting a bend in his rod the biggest so far this season and it’s only early is 1.25kg.

While local luderick stalwart Stan Neaves has been doing the same. Though we’ve heard from fishing mate Des, Stan is setting his float out halfway to New Zealand. He must be going for those big luderick with yellow fins.

Salmon are harassing anglers around the entrance to Lake Illawarra with only small fish between 1kg and 2kg jumping on every bait. Grant Evans has been out there chasing a few slowly working his way up to some serious fish hopefully someday soon. 

Winter gave a warning it was just round the corner as cold windy conditions tormented anglers over the weekend.

Boating conditions deteriorated considerably and few anglers showed rewards for their efforts. Leatherjackets, flathead and a few small snapper were the main captures.

The rocks were able to provide some action for those chasing rock blackfish, bream and trevally. Luderick have become the main target fish especially from the washy areas around Bass Pt, Barrack Pt and Windang Island.

Tailor and salmon continue to be taken on pilchards and metal lures from most beaches. Rod White nailed a solid 2.5kg salmon from the lake entrance.

Squid have been a good alternative for anglers in the flat conditions. Many a feed of calamari was caught from Shellharbour and Kiama harbours using squid jigs or squid spikes.

News has filtered through from the Bermagui game fishing tournament where a severe weather change created havoc for anglers. However, some great fish were landed.

Dave Hall, fishing aboard Fishaholic, took the honours with a staggering 75kg yellowfin. There were many fish in the 15kg range taken and albacore to 22kg were also in the mix. Richard Keen was one of our local anglers to do well.

Some interesting captures were also reported. Daniel Bennett landed a 208kg thresher shark and Trevor Lillico caught a 37cm luderick on a piece of yellowfin!

Clear and clam conditions hampered inshore fishing but made for a pleasant change for those out wide.

Those that decided to h the deep blue waters of the shelf were rewarded with some spectacular catches. Yellowfin tuna have turned up in numbers where it may now be worth the fuel costs to head out.

The charter boats from Kiama have been getting into schools of fish ranging between 10kg -25kg.
These were not the only fish being boated because the boys have also been bottom dropping landing some sweet tasting gemfish and big blue eyes to 15kg+.

The rocks at Bass Pt were a challenge with the northern side flat as a tack, while the southern side was rough and in some places dangerous.

Though a few of those spinning in the early morning hit fish that were unstoppable even spooling one poor bloke of a spool of 15lb braid.

Alan Griffiths fished inside Maloney’s Bay for a truly mixed bag that included bream, trevally, tailor, luderick and pike. This catch as well as a few drummer taken from the ledges of Barrack Pt was enough for Alan to take the clean sweep of Biggest Bag, Heaviest Fish and Fish of the Month in the BRE section of Ocean Beach Fishing Club’s monthly competition.

The sea conditions made it hard for the boaties who fished the inshore grounds with some areas like Port Is. fishing hot and cold.

Chad Davison avoided the leatherjackets on the flathead grounds and fished a variety of inshore washes flicking royal reds back into a berley trail, landing a groper and a few succulent drummer as well as bream and tailor. This catch was enough for Chad to take line honours just a nose infront of Richard Keen in the Deep Sea section of Ocean Beach’s Fishing Club monthly comp.

Minnamurra fished well for flathead with the action best further up the river. It was a lot of fun for a few of the boys from the Fishin’ Hub except Harry who somehow lost a rod overboard! 

Hayden Capobianco
The Tackle Shop, Shellharbour

The weather hasn’t let up for a week and most fisho’s stayed home and tendered to gear or chores around the house gaining brownie points for when the weather turns.

The offshore scene has been quiet with only a few larger boats heading out wide and wide they went. Fishing the 500 fathom mark their was only one thing on their mind and that’s tuna of the kind John West wont reject! Yellowfin and few beasts were caught.

The boys on “ Dirty Berty” snagged a few prime fish in the 40kg range while some of the other boats out of Kiama managed fish in the 60kg range a great start to the season.

Hapuka and blue eyes are also on the go with the season starting off with a bang. A couple of charter boats out of Kiama have been putting some clients on to truly monstrous fish with some trevalla being hauled on board weighing over 20kg’s. while other fish are coming up scaled!

The rock fishing has slowed down but mainly due to the dangerous conditions. Those that did fish the stones took time in choosing the spots carefully and watching the water with due diligence. Bream were to be had as well as luderick who moved into sheltered locations where they could have respite from the currents as well as feed on the bait that was being washed into these areas.

With the rain and hefty seas as well as the tail end of a full moon a few anglers who headed up to the northern beaches of Wollongong were rewarded with putting up with the cold and rain by landing a few mulloway. Brett Bailey fished up that way and took a few nice fish to 5kg’s while his friend hooked onto a fish that was just unstoppable after a good 30mins and several thumping headshakes the fish using the conditions that prevailed won it’s freedom.

Hayden Capobianco
The Tackle Shop, Shellharbour

The very wet and windy week kept most anglers at home, but those foolhardy enough to head out into the wild were rewarded with some quality fish.

The picturesque water of Lake Illawarra was the venue on the weekend for the 2nd round of the Southern Bream Series run by the Basin Lure and Fly Club. 25 very keen anglers put up with less than ideal conditions to battle it out for glory and prize money.

The task, land the biggest bag of 5 live bream using fly and lure only. No simple feet considering the amount of fresh and unhelpful tides. Only 3 teams managed their bag while many teams went fishless. Team McCallums took out the competition with a bag weight of just over 2kg on a mixture of hard body and soft plastic techniques. Chopper tailor were in plague proportions making it a costly adventure for some anglers myself included!

Ivor and Gillian Wright competed in the Deep Sea event of the NSW Fishing Clubs convention held down at Sussex Inlet during the past week. The competition waters stretched from Shellharbour in the north to Ulladulla in the south.

 Ivor and Gillian had a bag that included salmon, tuna and a hefty king that was enough for them to win their respective divisions as well as taking the individual prizes and championship.

Bass Point fished well in the early mornings with some solid bream caught Alan Griffiths and Keith Godfrey hit the rocks on a few occasions for a mixture of fish including bream, mullet as well as being smoked on the spinning gear by a good fish that took 80m of braid off Keith’s reel in 10sec before spitting the lure. 
 
    

Hayden Capobianco
The Tackle Shop, Shellharbour

Lake Illawarra still firing.

Col Leech made the most of his weekend chasing luderick around the lake, the hardest part was finding some quality weed, Col did say that things are looking promising with some good growth around the place.

It must have been pretty good because Col nailed one of the biggest luderick I have seen in a long time. This thing was bigger than those big dinner plates you see in restaurants! It weighed 1.56kg more than twice the weigh of your average fish. Col did manage a few bream as a side dish. 

Lachlan Budd has started the school holidays off with a bang! Fishing Lake Illawarra on Saturday for a few bream and mullet and tailor. On Sunday Lachlan talked dad into taking the boat out around Kiama trolling up tailor to 0.7kg on small-skirted lures.

Marilyn Whitfield somehow got a spot on husband Barry’s boat over the weekend (must have been some serious arm twisting.) Marilyn not only went out fishing, she out fished the Barry and the rest of the crew. Landing trevally, mullet, bream and samson fish. Marilyn of course didn’t miss a beat letting the boys know who caught the fish, especially down at the local watering hole afterwards.

Grant Hartley who fished the Bass Pt Classic landed a nice 38kg yellowfin, which is a great sign for the upcoming season. The tournament had a few other memorable catches also! A thumping big tiger shark that weighed around 400+kg being the stand out.

Steve Trott fished the rocks and beaches around Sussex Inlet in the NSW Fishing Clubs, fishing convention on the weekend. Steve and the team from Ocean Beach Hotel Fishing Club, Ivor, Gillian and John took out the mixed team event for the second year running. This victorious team of dedicated anglers had a good mixed bag of trevally, tarwhine, tailor, salmon and bream as well as a few other species. Which is a great effort as conditions were reportedly tough down the coast.

Hayden Capobianco
The Tackle Shop, Shellharbour

Marlin are still on out wide, Mark and the boys on “Anticipation” have been out doing some preliminary field work the during the week tangling with some marlin up to 120kg. The fish were eager too, taking live slimies and fighting hard.

This is great news for the guys and gals fishing the “Bass Point Classic Tournament” this coming weekend. Anyone interested in seeing what’s been caught. The weigh in will be from 4pm on Saturday and between 2pm and 4.30om Sunday down at Shellharbour Boat Ramp.

On the inshore grounds the news isn’t good the leatherjackets are back and with a vengeance devouring everything sent over the side (so watch your toes.)

 Now they are a great fish to eat and if you want a couple for the table there are few tricks to get them use long shank hooks and just enough bait on the shank, squid is good! Use wire traces and try not to handle the line too much especially after you’ve had your hands in the bait.

Glenn Sheriff had a ball on a quick session before work on the weekend, fishing the washes around Barrack Pt, Glenn managed to knock over several bream, 4 drummer and a couple of thumping luderick. What makes this catch more remarkable was Glenn was using soft plastic instead of bait!

The fishing at Bass Pt has slowed a little but the main reason is no ones getting out early enough. Those that have been on the rocks before dawn have been having a ball with tailor and bonito ripping through everything and turning the water to foam.

The reason for this the amount of small baitfish around yakka’s and slimies no bigger than you hand have been schooling up with the garfish making an irresistible meal to those big predatory fish.

It’s funny how you only hear the good stories on “The Fishing Hub”?

It’s been over a week now and two members haven’t regailed us on there story of catching several good reds off Kiama only to loose every fish with in sight of the boat!

Now it wasn’t bad knot tying, which brought these members undone. No, it was a pesky little seal, I’m sure you can just imagine the looks on their faces when this mammal whipped out of nowhere stole their fish and then preceded to play with it in front of them. 3kg snapper being thrown about like a rag doll!   

So come on boys pipe up which two of you was it?

Hayden Capobianco
The Tackle Shop, Shellharbour

Richard Keen had a couple of days R and R down at Jervis Bay and made the most of it out on the water. Richard fished the deeper reefs and came up trumps on some very serious reds.

Richard bagged out on snapper with every fish weighing between 2.5kg and 4kg now that’s what I call a great fishing session!

Nathan Egan and girlfriend Carina fished around Windang Is for a mixed bag of tailor and bream as well as a thumping 8kg groper that took a liking to the royal red prawns used for bait. After a torrid battle the fish was boated for a few quick photos before being released.

Col Leech hit Lake Illawarra the other night, fishing with live nippers and a few hard found live squirt worms. Col worked extremely hard shifting positions several times but with perseverance and some local knowledge Col was able to bag out on whiting.

After landing a 116kg striped marlin last week, Trevor Lillico was back on the water looking for another billfish to have some fun with. Trevor found one; only this time the fish was after revenge. After engulfing a skip bait the marlin then preceded to charge the boat jumping and shaking precariously close to the boat.

Trevor did his best to maneuver the boat away but the fish still was on his tail when with one last leap the marlin crashed straight down onto the outrigger pole snapping it clean and the line to win it’s freedom.
 

Around The Clubs

Well d-day finally arrived for the fisho’s at Ocean Beach and Warilla Hotel. After some serious preparation the game plans were in hand, it was only a matter of who could carry it out and not drop the ball! 

Warilla winners for the previous last 2 yrs were mildly confident of a 3peat with the guys and gals from Ocean Beach desperately wanting to regain the trophy and bragging rights.

With the system that was introduced last year the boys from Ocean Beach didn’t hold back and worked superbly as a team. Landing the bags limits of 10 of the 14 available species, while Warilla only managed 9. The final points difference would come down to weight.

After some serious calculations Ocean Beach Hotel Fishing Club, Shellharbour landed the quality fish for a total 2668.9pts to take out the title.

The boys were humble in victory while the boisterous crowd at Warilla hotel quieted down to console themselves in a few beers and reflect on where they went wrong in their plans, they vowed to be back next year raring to go. 

Tailor made for fishing.

If you didn’t pick up a fish on the weekend you definitely weren’t on the water. Because the humble chopper tailor were everywhere!

Barry Whitfield literally couldn’t fish for anything else around the Port Is. the tailor were jumping on to everything that was thrown in the water! The fish were all solid fit specimens around the 1.5kg mark.

The tailor bite wasn’t just confined up around the northern reaches Lake Illawarra break wall in the low light periods was a fish a cast with ganged pillies being devoured to the anglers joy.

The same reports came in from Bass Pt. also with frantic phone calls made to friends and family to get down here and grab some bait on the way! The bonito are still doing the rounds but they have become a little bit choosy.

Alan Griffiths hit the water to snare a couple for snapper baits and they would not hit metal lures or bait. Alan being an ever resourceful fisho’ searched through his bag of tricks and gave a popper a go! The fish jumped all over it 5 fish in 5 casts which isn’t too bad.

Trevally were also on the chew around Bass Pt with some hefty trevally that headed down south for a vacation ending up on the lines of some unsuspecting anglers. These fish can pull hard!

Speaking of pulling hard, the mother-in-law fish has turned up too. The dreaded silver drummer is hanging around the washes giving all sorts of curry to the bream fisho’s hitting prawn baits like sledge hammer to face! Some of these silvers have been in the 7kg plus range and are great sport on light gear off the rocks or out of a boat.

There’s marlin on the high seas, after a couple of weeks absence, reports flowed thick and fast of marlin hitting lures with some boats having multiple strikes and hookups, a couple of boats from Shellharbour Game Fishing Club hit the canyons around Jervis Bay and had a ball on striped marlin in the 80-100kg range.

Rien Pawlowski fished for trout around Eucumbene over the week; the trout were more active in the night. Rien the fish were well conditioned, rosy cheeked and feisty crashing flies like there was no tomorrow. Some fish even broke the 9lb tippet; Rien biggest for the week was 2.5kg     
 

Hayden Capobianco
The Tackle Shop, Shellharbour

What a ripper of a weekend. Sunny, not much wind, barely any seas and fish everywhere!

Jervis Bay and south seemed the place to be with some solid surface fish action. Striped tuna were on the boil out wide and reds were on the chew around the Bay.

Richard Keen was at it again landing 8 solid snapper with not one of them weighing under 3kg’s as well as an albacore which is strange for this time of year.

Grant Evans, Col Leech and Grant Hartley made the most of the conditions and pulled an all nighter out on the South East Grounds chasing reds and what ever else might have jumped on board. The boys did manage some nice fish for a feed.

Shaun Budd fished the grounds around Kiama for a truly mixed bag of fish that included striped tuna, tailor, snapper and trevally.

Steve and Monica Trott decided to get away for a few days, heading down to St Georges Basin. The fishing’s been great with Monica showing Steve how it’s done landing some solid bream, flatties and whiting 50 meters from their doorstep!

Steve has been getting into the crabs picking up a few every day as well as a few kilos of prawns at night.

Bass Pt is proving popular with the bobby corkers and that’s because of one fish, the humble bonito is still loitering around feasting on pilchards. That’s not the only fish around with word coming through that kings have been on the boil as well tormenting the fisho’s. A few solid fish were landed too, with one going 85cm.

The bonito are here!

After what seemed like an eternity the bonito have finally made an appearance around the ledges and it didn’t take long for the word to get out!

Bass Point by lunchtime Saturday was covered in anglers chasing these little speedsters using all types of rigs and lures. Chad Davison got out amongst it and had a ball on 2kg line with the fish averaging 1kg in weight makes a fun and interesting fight.

By now everyone’s heard about the 9kg snapper taken in a boat somewhere off Bass Pt. Well folks the reds are still there with some nice solid fish being landed. One angler named Adam, down from Sydney stopped into the shop to put a fish on the good old lie detector and this red went 2.5kg cleaned, which if you ask me is perfect eating size.

Dorado are still hanging out around with a lot of just legal fish hanging around the fad. The boys on Dirty Berty had fun on some light gear and were kind enough to drop me in a feed.

New Zealand, I know it’s not local, but Alan Griffiths who’s been given time off for good behavior from the shop is over there with good mate Keith Goodfrey tangling with trout down on the south island.

Alan reported back that the weathers been a bit ordinary with the wind making it hard going with the fly gear, yet they're still managing 10 fish to 2kg between them a day. 

What fish would you like for dinner?

That could have been the question put to family members over the past week, with every possible species on the menu and keen to take a bait.

The Barry’s were around Port Is tangling with tailor and salmon. Trolling small skirted lures the fish were literally jumping on for the ride.

Nathan Egan took time out from busy city life and fished with Chad Davison for a extremely mixed bag of quality fish. The boys landed 7 different species. Fish like groper to 6.5kg, snapper to 2kg, bream to 1kg, drummer, tailor, salmon, solid trevally as well as a couple of others. It’s amazing that the bait that knocked all but the tailor over was the humble royal red prawn.

Ivor and Gillian Wright decided to make the most of the fine conditions and head down to Jervis Bay and fish around the southern point landing some nice kings on the troll. Gillian again out did Ivor with the biggest king at 5.5kg cleaned.

Ivor also mentioned that the rock ledges on the southern headland were full of anglers looking for that big one and making the most of the perfect weather and ocean conditions.

Around the Clubs

Ocean Beach Hotel Fishing Club, Shellharbour held their monthly competition over the weekend and what a weigh in it was with several anglers weighing some good mixed bags.

Richard Keen took the honors in the Snr. Deep Sea section with a bag that included 6 good solid reds to 3.6kg.

Col Leech again showed his versatility fishing Lake Illawarra for a mixed bag that included bream to 1.2kg, tailor over 1kg, several good whiting and a couple of salmon to take out the Snr. BRE it good to see the Lake producing some good fish again after the rain.

Cameron Holz won Jnr. BRE catching 4 fish (4 more than dad) and they were good fish too, bream, luderick and drummer.

What fish would you like for dinner?

That could have been the question put to family members over the past week, with every possible species on the menu and keen to take a bait.

The Barry’s were around Port Is tangling with tailor and salmon. Trolling small skirted lures the fish were literally jumping on for the ride.

Nathan Egan took time out from busy city life and fished with Chad Davison for a extremely mixed bag of quality fish. The boys landed 7 different species. Fish like groper to 6.5kg, snapper to 2kg, bream to 1kg, drummer, tailor, salmon, solid trevally as well as a couple of others. It’s amazing that the bait that knocked all but the tailor over was the humble royal red prawn.

Ivor and Gillian Wright decided to make the most of the fine conditions and head down to Jervis Bay and fish around the southern point landing some nice kings on the troll. Gillian again out did Ivor with the biggest king at 5.5kg cleaned.

Ivor also mentioned that the rock ledges on the southern headland were full of anglers looking for that big one and making the most of the perfect weather and ocean conditions.

Around the Clubs

Ocean Beach Hotel Fishing Club, Shellharbour held their monthly competition over the weekend and what a weigh in it was with several anglers weighing some good mixed bags.

Richard Keen took the honors in the Snr. Deep Sea section with a bag that included 6 good solid reds to 3.6kg.

Col Leech again showed his versatility fishing Lake Illawarra for a mixed bag that included bream to 1.2kg, tailor over 1kg, several good whiting and a couple of salmon to take out the Snr. BRE it good to see the Lake producing some good fish again after the rain.

Cameron Holz won Jnr. BRE catching 4 fish (4 more than dad) and they were good fish too, bream, luderick and drummer.
 
  

Hayden Capobianco
The Tackle Shop, Shellharbour

The fish are there; just get out on the water. That was the catch cry.

Snapper was the number one menu pick for anglers the past week with good reports of solid fish being taken right across the board. Glen DeBritt has been doing his best to keep a low profile but spies have been telling me that Glen has been getting into some solid 3kg fish in relatively shallow water.

The boys on “Dirty Berty” have been getting amongst the action around Ulladulla tangling with a marlin estimated at over 300kg with the fight going well over 5hrs before the fish one the battle and its freedom. Angler Justin Eather was exhausted after the battle. The boys did manage to a boat a few nice yellowfin for the trip.
  

Bass Pt has been producing tailor with Alan Griffiths making most of his time off and catching a few 1.5kg fish during the early morning high tides. These fish taste absolutely delicious smoked and go down a treat with a nice beer in the evening.

Flathead fisho’s might not like this, but reports of leatherjackets making a not so welcomed return have been making the rounds around Shellharbour boat ramp. With fish reported to be harassing anglers both on the inshore and the wider grounds.

Anyone interested in improving his or her fishing strike rate should head down to Warilla Bowling Club on February 12th at 7pm. Guest speaker is world-renowned lure maker and game fisherman Peter Pakula. Peter will be talking about the advancement in lure technology and how to get the most out of lure fishing so whether you chase marlin and tuna or catch flathead and bream there will be some valuable information that can be gained for all anglers (and who doesn’t want to catch more fish?). Entry is FREE!

Things are starting to warm up, action aplenty from the long weekend.

Australia day festivities were not just for those on land, the myriad of anglers that hit the water joined in on the fun that fishing has to offer. Everything was on the menu and a few also turned up on the BBQ!

Ma