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Bay of Bounty
  |  First Published: November 2010



Back in September this year I gave a talk at Fergo’s Tackle World store at Taren Point.

The evening was designed for beginners and intermediate anglers and I covered topics like tackle selection, where to fish, types of knots to use, different techniques, moon phases and tides.

There was close to 200 people at the presentation and at the end of the night there were a number of lucky door prizes drawn.

The major prize on the night went to Vince Joyce (a local angler) who won a day on the water with me in my new boat learning how to put all the techniques that were discussed on the night into practice.

Late in September I took Vince out on Sydney Harbour to put theory into practice. We managed to pull in a number of small snapper, bream and the odd trevally.

The techniques I took Vince through were deep water jigging with blades and soft plastics, casting at moored boats and fishing the flats.

Vince also won a pair of Monsoon Photochromic Polarized glasses from UglyFish sunglasses.

Over the past week or two a number of the reports that I have had come in recently have indicated numbers of tailor, Australian salmon and kingfish are increasing in Botany Bay and the Port Hacking.

I found plenty of legal sized tailor schooling up in the middle of the bay and at the end of the third runway.

We also trolled up a couple of kingfish at Cape Banks and Monoilex Point.

Silver trevally and bream are feeding on the rising tide at the Sticks and Dolls Point. The beach at Dolls Point is worth a throw for a mulloway or two at night on the run-out tide. Fresh mullet seems to be getting the best results.

I fished Botany Bay during the week and over the weekend for bream, dusky flathead, flounder, tailor and frigate mackerel.

There are plenty about, but you will have to be prepared to move around a bit to get the results. I was only using peeled Hawkesbury River prawns for bait, but you could also try using tubeworms and strips of the frigate mackerel you can catch.

If you are after a few kingfish in Botany Bay you could always try the following places: Sutherland Point, Bare Island, Shaky, the Lighthouse off Kurnell, Monoilex Point, Yarra Bay, the Drum, the oil wharf, the old runway and the end of the third runway.

I have also caught kingfish while drifting for bream and dusky flathead in the middle of the bay.

Kingfish are being caught by downrigging squid and yellowtail baits both live and dead. Try working the area of the oil wharf (when not crowded), Yarra Bay, the third runway, Bare Island and the rocks off Kurnell.

The Georges and Woronora River have been proving very successful for Carl. He has been fishing out of his kayak for bream around the Oatley and Alfords Bridge areas.

Carl has managed to get bream to 37cm, dusky flathead to 59cm and whiting to 39cm. All have been caught on Gulp sandworms.

There has also been a number of estuary perch and Australian bass caught up at the back of the Warwick Farm racecourse.

For those of you who fish outside the reef areas of the Lighthouse at Kurnell, Boat Harbour, Merries Reef, Osborne Shoals and the bommie at Jibbon are all producing kingfish, snapper, morwong, sweep, silver trevally and tailor.

To get amongst a few you will need to anchor up and have a small but steady stream of berley going.

The beaches off Cronulla have been a bit quiet lately, but the southerly wind and rising seas will change that.

Once the weather and wind has calmed down a bit start targeting bream, whiting and tailor in the gutters just north of the clubhouse at Wanda. You could also try fishing Maroubra, Little and Bondi beaches in the early part of the morning.

Best baits have been blood and tubeworms. You could also try using strips of fresh squid and pink nippers.

The area on either side of the Como Bridge is worth a drift for bream and dusky flathead.

I also got a report from Tom Mavens who pulled in a 4.6kg mulloway while anchored up at the entrance to the Woronora River on a run-out tide.

There are plenty of under sized kingfish in the Port Hacking. I fished on Sunday with my son and we saw at least a dozen fish chase up our bream and small snapper. There are also a few frigate mackerel and tailor about.

The Port Hacking is also producing leatherjackets in the deeper parts of the port and whiting, bream and flathead over the shallow areas. Kingfish, tailor, bonito and frigate mackerel are working in the bays of the port.

The best results are either early in the morning or just before the sun goes down. You could also try getting out during the week.

Australian salmon, bonito and frigate mackerel have been working a few of the deeper bays in the Port Hacking. Both the falling and rising tide have been producing good results.

There are also a number of blue swimmer crabs been caught in the Port Hacking, just remember that you are not allowed to use nets and traps to catch them. (You can use a landing net to land them).

Scott, Carl and I caught eight while working the sand and weed beds near the entrance to southwest arm and at the back of the Ballast Heap.

We also managed to get a few whiting, dusky flathead and bream while anchored near the sand bar.

Drummer, bream and silver trevally are being caught off the rocks at the northern ends of Garie and Stanwell Park Beach. The beaches have been a bit slow over the past week or two, but will pick up with the larger tides over the next couple of weeks.

The rock platform at Coalcliff is worth a shot with spinners for bonito, kingfish, tailor and Australian salmon. Try and fish when there is a rising tide early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

Further south at Stanwell Park the northern end of the beach has been producing whiting and bream on pink nipper and pilly tails.

Try fishing just out in front of the clubhouse at Coalcliff for snapper, bream and silver trevally, especially after the seas have quietened down a bit.

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