The past month has been a great time for all types of fishing in the Manning area. The sea temperatures have been up, and all sorts of fish that inhabit warm water have been on the bite. The river has had a little run in it and the mullet have schooled just upstream from the mouth of the river. Bream have come down the river to school up, ready to spawn while flathead have moved into all parts of the river. The beaches have formed up really well with plenty of gutters and sand flats where the fish can hide.

The wall at Harrington, is presently producing the best catches. Mulloway to 15kg have been caught on live bait (herring) as well as bream to just over 40cm. Luderick have been on and off the bite with the best catches made at night. Boaties fishing the edges of reed beds and the drop-offs with plastics have scored plenty of flathead up to 65cm. The sand flats in the mouth of the river are fishing well for whiting to 35cm.

The end of the sea wall has seen plenty of small mulloway to 10kg caught on soft plastics and live bait. There are also plenty of 1kg+ tailor to be bagged from the end of the wall. A couple of big tailor have been landed in the past few weeks. One 14lb model was taken from the end of the sea wall and another of 11lb was caught from the beach up near Diamond Head. The angler who caught the 11lb tailor scored a 4.5lb tailor and an 8lb mulloway on the next two throws. Crowdy beach is fishing well for tailor to 1kg and the occasional salmon. Now that the mullet are moving up the coast, sharks have become plentiful and take baits fished for tailor as well as half mullet specifically fished for them.

Usually the Spanish mackerel arrive here at the end of January and stay for three weeks, however, they have arrived in March and are still here. Spotted mackerel, Spanish mackerel and wahoo have been caught on trolled live bait as well as dead tailor and bonito. Snapper and teraglin have been taken from the northern grounds, while bar cod and pearl perch have been caught out wide in 170m of water. Flathead are still on the bite on the drift if you get tired of pulling in pelagics.

In June the tailor will still be on the bite from the beaches and headlands, while bream will be feeding along the beaches. Luderick will be on the bite in the estuary and around the rocks. The mornings will be nice and chilly but what a great time to be out on the beaches at sunrise spinning a lure for tailor. If you don’t like the early morning cold then the river wall is the place to go after a leisurely breakfast and have a try for a bream or a luderick.