July may be the depths of winter but there is plenty of both good weather and poor weather options here in the South West to keep anglers enthused.
May is usually a great time to get offshore, however this year a protracted period of strong winds frustrated anglers eager to get out amongst the tuna, gummy shark and other offshore species. Thankfully one of the great things about this area is the wide variety of fishing options and the best time to walk banks of the local streams is when the wind and rain has put paid to other plans.
Not only trout, but good-sized freshwater EP and even the odd bream can make for an entertaining session for those prepared to pick up a light spin rod, a few lures and do some walking. As we move further into July the waters can dirty up so targeting the runs as opposed to the deeper areas you target when the water is clearer usually works best.
Come July these larger EP should have moved from the fresh down to the estuary section of the Hopkins River as part of their spawning routine. The Hopkins estuary has been full, cold and pretty quiet fishing wise recently although the mouth was opened in late May, which often gets things moving on the fishing front as well.
When windows of decent weather popped up later in May there were still plenty of tuna around. As per usual these fish were quite flighty and difficult some days, particularly if you were trying to get a trolling spread anywhere near them. However, by thinking about the wind direction and the way the fish appear to be moving and watching the birds and the direction they were heading or looking, it was possible to be successful by good boat positioning and casting into the fish.
Stickbaits, like the Daiwa Overthere Skipping and Zipbait Monsoon Breaker, continue to be successful weapons of choice in this situation amongst many anglers. Watching a tuna demolish your stickbait in front of you and then take off at a million miles an hour is as good as fishing gets.
Offshore wasn’t all about tuna with plenty of gummy shark and the odd decent snapper coming in. Nathan McSween took a 45kg mako in only 25m of water from a small tinnie.
July often throws up similar scenarios; days and even weeks at time when offshore fishing is not possible but also chances of clear, cool and calm weather where tuna and bottom fish can be targeted in ideal conditions.
Keen surf anglers also love this time of year to target the salmon and some big yellow eye mullet that can show up in good numbers along beaches such as Levis and East beaches.
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