The river fishing has been going great guns, and the recent rains have really brought it to life!

If you’re into bream, the Tweed is the best I’ve seen it in years. I mentioned the dirty water and all the muck in last month’s mag, and I said that a good rain should flush it all out. Well, it happened and the quality of the bream needs to be seen to be believed, as they have a shine and glow about them that’s not always there. They’re crazy fighters, and on light gear they fight like miniature snapper. You’ll find them out at the seaway walls, and pretty much throughout the river.

I’ve been in the canals chasing them on an ultra light rig and, by accident, I learnt a new and extreme way to cast. I let my finger go off the line way too early while firing out a cast, my soft plastic prawn smashed into the water a metre away from my target, but like you skip a rock as a kid the lure bounced four times, landed between a boat and a jetty and got smashed by a 30cm bream!

It’s not just bream though, as tailor are in good numbers and quality, with plenty caught off the beaches and also off the rocks from Duranbah, all the way down to the Fingal Headland. It’s pretty crazy, as guys have been catching snapper off the north sea wall and good ones at that. Apparently it’s common after a lot of fresh.

Yellowtail kingfish are also showing up, and if you don’t mind fishing the wee hours, there’s some big trevally around too. Just find a bridge that has a light source shining onto the water, and you should be in business. They love the structure, as that’s where their food is.

Now I want to share a story about an incident that happened to me the other day.

Saturday and Sunday are my days off and if I’m not scrounging a ride with a mate who owns a boat, I’m in my Hobie Pro Angler. We tend to take stuff for granted and after years of use, something broke and I was pretty much stuck, up the river without a paddle! I was right up the back of Cobaki, miles from home and my Mirage Drive snapped in half and all I could achieve with one fin was to go round in circles. I looked over at that thing I rarely use, a paddle, and tried my luck with it. I’ve got that much stuff attached to the yak that I literally had no room to move so to speak, so I ended up sitting on the bow (which made my rudder useless) and attempted to paddle home and again, it was 360º Dave. This really brought home to me how heavy my yak is as I was pretty much going backwards. There was no one around to help. All I could do was drop anchor and wait for help.

After a lot of struggling and chaos, I made it to the Maritime Museum just on first light and went into a deep sleep, only to be woken by some fellow yakkers who were poking me to see if I was alive. They scared me, and I scared them! Anyway, to cut a long story short, they towed me home behind their Hobie Revos. What absolute legends. I didn’t know these guys, yet they went out of their way to help.

I just hope all this goodness hangs around for a while, because the Tweed is really rocking at the moment.