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Ballina bringing the bream action
  |  First Published: May 2016



The beaches around Ballina have had some great activity over the last month. Tailor have been showing up in very consistent numbers with the best spots being out the front of Boundary Creek and along the front of the Broadwater Rocks.

The tried and tested blue pilchards and metal slugs have been great during the day. In between the tailor, some quality big beach bream have been showing up.

Offshore has been going off for mackerel and there’s no sign of these guys slowing down anytime soon. Trolling 100mm divers like the Atomic Shiners in silver wolf, ghost pearl tiger and purple shadow seem to be working very well. Once you’ve found the active fish, try casting lures for them.

Out the front of Lennox Head, the 32-fathom line have seen good numbers squire and surprisingly, good numbers of flathead around the edges of the reefs. Out wider, there are also great numbers of quality amberjack being taken.

North and south walls of the Richmond have been fishing well for bream. The pick has been the south wall on the run-out tide. Try fishing surface lures and crankbaits over the porpoise wall when the water is flowing over. There can be some great visual action as the fish come from the depths to hit your lures. As the tide gets lower and you can’t fish over the wall anymore, try hopping blades and prawn imitation soft plastics down the rock face.

The bigger holes behind the town have been producing good numbers of mulloway and this should continue as the water starts to cool down. Live mullet have definitely been the best bait, but you will get them on big soft plastics during the day. If you chasing these beasts, the best fish have come on the making tide during the night time.

You will find some big flathead will come along as by-catch. These guys are in the holes chasing anything that comes in front of their faces. Just remember, the big girls are the breeders, so please, please, please put them back. Once they get big, they’re not that nice to eat anyway. Take a couple of snaps and quickly get them back into the water. It’s great watching a big crocodile swimming back down to the depths.

Crabs have been around in really good numbers. The dirty water around the Easter break has definitely stirred things up a bit and this should continue over the next month or so. Try mostly up river from Pimlico towards Wardell. The best baits have been whole mullet or mullet frames. One little secret from an old local crabber is save your luderick frames and use them for crab baits. The oily frames seem to bring good numbers in.

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