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Weather warms up and summer species come back to the east coast
  |  First Published: December 2012



With the weather starting to warm up and stabilise a little better there has been much more action offshore lately.

Boat anglers reporting good hauls of king flathead in 40-60 of water and appear to be quite large in size. Some fish have been exceptionally large compared to normal standards and are a welcome catch.

Further inshore, Georges Bay has been firing hard with massive schools of small baitfish, (mostly anchovies), all around the shorelines of the bay and around all of the jetties. Often the schools are so thick the water is just black with them and as a result all sorts of predator fish have moved in on them.

Australian salmon, silver trevally, tailor, pike and squid are all readily being caught by many anglers in boats and from the shore.

However this action has not just attracted the attention of just the fish. Large groups of cormorants, many more than have ever been seen in Tasmania, have lined the bay actively feeding on the larger bait fish and small salmon and mullet mixed in with everything else.

Up in the Moulting Bay area, boat anglers have been consistently catching good Australian salmon up to 2.8kg and some good tailor to around 1kg. Most of these fish have been caught using soft plastic lures with the Squidgy Flick Bait in Evil Minnow colour being very popular.

Silver trevally have also become very active with plenty of good sized fish are coming to both bait and lure anglers. Baits such as prawns and pipis seem to be very effective and soft plastic lures such as Squidgy Wrigglers in Evil Minnow as well as Gastronimic Baits Pin Tail.

The Scamander River had bream in full swing spawning in early November and has been producing some fantastic fishing. Most fish were in the upper reaches of the river but should have migrated back down stream as the month progresses moving their way back down the coast and into Georges Bay.

This month will also see the tail end of any sea run trout action on the coast, as both Scamander and the Georges rivers produced some fantastic sea run sport this season with many fish up to 3kg being caught from both systems.

Ansons Bay has also started to produce some excellent bream catches and always seems to be a little later than other systems down the coast.

The next month or so should see some trophy bream being caught up the river from the snaggy country.

Lures such as the Squidgy Wriggler in Wasabi and Bloodworm as well as the Cranka Vibe have been the stand out bream lures so far this season for both Ansons Bay and Scamander River.

For any more advice on where to go and what to catch just drop in and see me, Jamie, at St Helens Bait & Tackle…….Tight Lines.

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