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Chilly but productive
  |  First Published: July 2012



Another windy start to the weekend as I sit in my office at 5am after sending out text messages that today’s charter trip is called off. Botany Bay is very open and shallow, so any wind above 20 knots can make things tricky.

It’s a disappointment after spending the previous week in Weipa, where the weather was spot on every day and the fishing was red hot.

Once this weather settles Botany Bay is very productive at this time of the year and I have always found good numbers of fish to keep everyone happy right through Winter.

I troll a lot in Winter. There are no special spots to work your lures, it’s about getting out there and sitting back and dragging two or three lures around to cover as much ground as you can.

Often I start at the top of Yarra Bay and head down along the container wall and troll right around the foreshore and end up at Bare Island.

You could also try trolling around the Drums in the middle of the Bay. The Third Runway can produce well at times as can the beachfront at Brighton Le Sands along the drop-off.

Lately I have been trolling Stiffy Minnows for good results. They are built well and come with strong hooks that kingfish and salmon have a hard time straightening.

Spinning with soft plastics along Brighton Beach can be very productive in Winter. Many species frequent this great drop-off, like trevally, bream, flathead, tailor and salmon.

Sliver Beach and Towra Point are commonly fished by many for flathead and trevally. Trevally like smaller plastic or vibes and for the flathead my pick would 80mm-100mm soft plastics.

TREVALLY

Trevally are at their best now and yes, I know I list them just about every month, but this species has come ahead in leaps and bounds due to improved water quality and the halting of netting in the Bay.

Water quality is the big one, I reckon, When I first started running trips around the Bay there was no marine growth of any type from the Captain Cook bridge right up the Georges River, only brown slime over anything that sat in the water.

Now the oysters are back growing on everything and this is the sign we have turned the corner.

I had a feed of oysters a few weeks ago on a shoot for the Hook and the Cook. Cook Paul showed how to open oysters the correct way for a YouTube clip and we used Botany Bay oysters, which were large and very tasty.

Luderick are another prime Winter species right around the Bay and they school in good numbers and show up in the rivers now as well. If you have never fished for blackfish, why not do a little home work find out what’s needed and set yourself up.

You can fish both tides but many like the run out.

So rug up and enjoy all that Winter has to offer.

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