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Reasons to get out of bed
  |  First Published: July 2011



We’ve had some pretty crisp mornings on the water when the word cold, well, just really doesn’t explain it, but in truth it’s been a great start to Winter.

I know it can be tough to get going in the mornings (trust me, I know!) but throw those extra layers on and get on the water because there is quality fishing available.

The weather has changed at the drop of a hat but there have been plenty of decent days in there.

I grabbed one of those days a few weeks back and got out to the 80-fathom mark to have a go at dropping a few baits in the deep water.

Troy Boulton who put me right on the money spot and I was pretty stoked to put some pressure on my first bar cod. So you can imagine how happy I was when I got finally got the hardware back to the surface to find a double header of cod. I got a great feed out of those two.

Snapper are still playing by the rules, with plenty available. I’ve seen some nice bags of fish coming in lately with reds around 8kg mixed with plenty of smaller models.

Troy and I also got out and trolled a few lures around from his little tub No Limits and while we heard plenty of reports of yellowfin and the odd billfish, we managed only a single yellowfin and missed a double hook-up as we came over one little patch of fish.

There have been some good days game fishing out there, though, and I’ll let Glen Booth fill you in on the details.

HEADLAND BREAM

I love this time of year for bream and the coastal rocks are turning on the fish.

I spoke to a few mates who had a great afternoon session on monster bream around the Coffs South Wall and adjacent headland.

Flicking out plastics and lightly weighted yabbies did the trick. The yabbies were definitely the goods, though, with bait going off every cast as soon as it hit the water.

I was soaking prawns at Boambee Headland at the time, looking for a drummer, and while I couldn’t get the hooks into any of my target species, the bream were pretty keen on the prawns down that way.

So if you can’t get hold of any fresh yabbies, don’t sweat – fresh prawns or cunjevoi will get you out of trouble.

Back in the estuaries, where I can stay rugged up (and my keep my uggies dry), there has been plenty going on.

I’ve seen a lot more flathead in the systems this month but there isn’t much size to them with a few just-legals (36cm) and occasionally one that might go around 50cm. That’s a good size for the plate, though, so I have no problems with them.

As normal, they are all over soft plastics so it’s a breeze to get into a few.

Whiting have also been coming to the boat with plastics in their gobs.

It’s not something you see a lot of but over the past month I’ve had a few on board that have been enticed by plastics, Gulp of course, in Shrimp, Fry and Turtleback Worm patterns.

The whiting haven’t been small fish, either, with one I took on a Turtleback a few weeks ago going close to 40cm.

There are plenty of soapie school jew hanging around in the estuaries again, too. They are always a welcome surprise on the bream gear when fishing the deep holes, drop-offs and underwater rock bars I regularly hit in the Kalang and Bellinger systems.

I’m looking forward to another productive month of Winter fishing. Drummer, tailor, snapper and bream, just to name a few, are all on the cards for me.

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