Fresh New South Wales Fishing Reports

The November once again proved that spring is the month for big kingfish off Sydney . Seamus and I caught multiple fish over the magic metre mark and many over 120 cm . Stuart

This year the EAC has pushed warm water off Sydney early and its loaded with mahi mahi

Oscar and Tobi showing the adults up

Middle October to mid December is big kingfish season . Both my pb and client record fall in this time frame . Big baits big fish

Well it did turn out to be a good day. Not so much weatherwise though. We had a shot early for Kingfish but it must have been too early for them. We only had jigs and eventually managed to lose what seemed to be a good fish. So, it was offshore we went. The wind was blowing around 15 to 20 knots from the South-West but predicted to ease early in the afternoon. However, as we approached the shelf and the nearly 2 knot Northerly current the resonable swell turned into some really steep nasties. Conditions didn't seem to be worrying the guys so I continued out and just then had a take on the shotgun. At first I thought it was just a Stripy but it turned out to be a Yellowfin of about 7kilo's, enough incentive to keep on going. Sometime later we had a much more solid hit on the lumo. This fish gave the angler a bit of a workout; using a new set of muscles. After a decent fight we gaffed a Yellowfin of about 25 kilo's. There was no turning back now and fortunately the wind was easing, it was still very rocky and rolly but definitely backing off. It wasn't too much later that the rigger went off again and this was a very much bigger fish taking a screamer of a run. Then before I could slow down the flat line took off, again a screamer. Sadly, the second fish dropped off after a few minutes but the other one was still going. It took a while and a toll on the angler but after twenty odd minutes we had our third Yellowfin, this one about 35 kilo's. So, what started out with an interesting sunrise turned into a great if not uncomfortable day's fishing. Interestingly all the fish were blind strikes without any bird activity. But I guess it did show that the rough days are the good ones, at least for Yellowfin. Tight lines, Ivan

We went out on Sunday in ideal conditions. And after hearing of the results of those who fished on Saturday there was an degree of optimism. Boats out on Saturday caught Yellowfin from way wide of Heatons, Northeast of Browns and down on the Southern Canyons. The fish were wide spread but you still had to put in the hard yards to find them. So, we went out optimistic in knowing there were fish to be found. I put the lures out just inside the shelf where there was quite a bit of bait though it was quite deep. There is always the chance of an early season Striped Marlin. Travelling out there were reports of Yellowfin around Heatons and wide of the Bait Station. I continued on moving wider. The fishing was slow and since I had seen a few schools of Striped Tuna put out a small lure to give the clients a taste of what I hoped would come. We caught a few Stripies when in about five hundred fathoms old Brad went off. It was a Yellowfin but not quite as big as was wanted, just a jellybean about 7 kilo’s. Continuing on we saw a couple of whales and caught a few more Stripies. By then it was time to head for home. As we crossed over the one hundred fathom line the Stripie lure went off. It took a good run but since it was only a 15kg. outfit thought it was a bigger Stripie or maybe an Albacore. But then it stuck its head out and we saw it was unmistakenly a Short Billed Spearfish. It took about 20 minutes but we landed the fish to the jubilation of the Sunni and his friends. What used to be a rare capture off Sydney and considered to be a tropical fish only found in the warmest water, water where you were likely to run into a Blue Marlin and there was one of those taken recently too, the number of Spearfish caught over the last couple of weeks defies explanation especially since they were caught in only nineteen degrees. One could theorise that since the SST’s only reflect the top two or three millimetres of the surface there might be a much warmer current running a little deeper. Anyway just a speculation… Tight lines, Ivan