King George Whiting

Best in winter months, but can be caught year round.

Cockles, squid, cuttlefish, razorfish, mussels, gulp! Worms, beach worms, seaweed worms.

Fish in sand holes amongst the weed, or on a mixed weed and sandy bottom. Berley your area up with cockle shells, razorfish shells and guts, or berley pellets.

Snapper

Summer months best, but can be caught year round.

Squid, pilchards, tommies, 7inch jerk shads, Yo-zuri Adagio, Yo-Zuri Forte, Shimano Lucanus jig, mackeral, whiting heads.

Artificial and natural reefs hold majority of the snapper here in the gulfs, along with scallop and razorfish beds. One productive way is to drift around the reef and find the schooling fish. Then anchor on the fish and keep feeding berley in small doses but at a constant rate. This will keep the fish interested but no over feed them.  Bigger snapper can't resist a live slimey mackeral! Make sure you check bag limits and sizes as they vary in certain areas.

Australian Salmon

Winter/Spring but can be found year round

Pilchards, squid, cockles, fish strips, chrome lures, most bibbed lures, soft plastic minnows and jerk shads, whitebait, blades, poppers.

Fishing from the beach into gutters is the most effective way of targeting these fish. Find the deep water holes along the shore, which can be identified by a lack of breaking waves. On low tide, berley can be buried under the sand, as the tide comes in, the burley will slowly come out and attract fish to your area. Bleed your salmon immediately to ensure good quality fish for the table.

Yellowfin whiting

Summer months, late Spring, early Autum

Nippers, cockles, worms, instinct clear sprog popper, shimano stiffy poppers, beach worms, seaweed worms.

Use 8-9ft nibble tip rods and work the shallow sand flats on a rising tide. This is a good option for when the family is crab raking as they are regularly found in the same areas.

Blue crabs

Spring/Summer/early Autum

Any sort of fish flesh, squid or fish heads.

Use a drop net from the boat or jetty. Raking the shallows with a crab rake can be very productive too. Be sure to return all females with eggs back to the ocean.

Garfish

Year round, but warmer months better.

Gents, cockles, fish flesh.

Surface berley is the key to catching these guys. Tuna oil with a fine bran berley mixed together will no doubt bring schools around your boat. Floats are a must for catching garfish as they are surface fish. Berley feeder floats work well from jetties and the shore, allowing your berley to bring the fish right next to your hook.

Tommy Rough (Australian herring)

Year round

Gents, cockles, squid, mince meat, small bibbed lures or small chrome lures, prawns, small crabs.

Very similar to catching garfish, however tommies will swim mid water too, so you can sometimes target them not using a float.

Bream

Winter/ Spring

Fish flesh, cockle, bigger ones are targeted using bibbed minnows, or small soft plastics.

Work your lures around structure. The big bream are around pylons and bridges as they are feeding on the sea life that is attracted to these areas. Work your soft plastics along the bottom, allow it to settle for a moment between jerks and lifts of your rod tip.

Snook

Summer months, but can be caught year round.

Pilchards, tommy strips, chrome lures, bibbed lures, soft pastics

Paravanes are an effective way of getting your un bibbed lure to the strike zone. Normally hang around weed beds and can be caught by using small ganged hooks on a float with a pilchard bait.

Squid

Summer months, but can be caught year round

Tommy rough, yo-zuri / IKA / Yamashita / or other squid jags. Come in and see us, we'll show what colours/styles are working best.

Water clarity is a big factor when chasing squid, if the water is clear, they should be on the bite. Drifting over rocky weed beds is the best method, however they can be found almost anywhere in our gulfs that has some weed. Sand bars are the only place not worth a try.

Flathead

Year round

Pilchard, whitebait, soft plastics, bibbed minnows, blades.

Found in shallow areas and feeding in deeper channels as rising tides bring in smaller fish over sand bars etc. work your baits and lures similar to smaller fish, and be prepared to cover large areas to locate the bigger ones.

Mullet

Late Summer and Autum

Mince meat, cockles, beach worms, seaweed worms.

Found close to shore in deeper gutters and channels, jetty shallows and in esturies. Use spring sinkers to distribute berley within the vacinity of your baits.