Maybe I'm getting old because the mornings lately have been really cool.

With Summer well behind us, the water temperature changes at a far slower rate than the air temp. So even though there is a bit of a nip in the air, the water is still quite warm. This has been reflected in the good catches of mahi mahi and marlin off our coast. Some of the mahi mahi have been real bruisers that give conventional fishing gear a real workout. If you are chasing mahi mahi, you'll find that the bigger fish often hang deeper and usually require bigger baits to get their attention, so remember to hang out a heavier line with a deep-set big bait – you might be surprised what lurks below.

There have been some nice jewfish caught, especially around North Entrance Beach. Large tailor are also present and these fellows will gladly snap up whole pilchards or large strips of fish flesh. Mixed in with the tailor are some whopping big bream that are quite keen on the strip fish flesh as well.

Off the rocks there have been some nice bonito coming from the more prominent headlands with a few rock blackfish showing up in the washes.

The estuaries and lakes have been firing up really well with good catches of bream and flathead from all areas. It's worth noting that when fishing for both these species it sometimes pays to downsize your line if you’re not getting bites.

Only the other day we were fishing around Lion Island with various live baits and big strip baits as well as a couple of light (4kg) bream lines with far smaller hooks and sinkers. We caught three flathead in an hour with the biggest at 3.5kg and all these fish came in on the bream lines. It just goes to show that the fish were very sensitive to line and hook size in the clear water.

In Broken Bay there have been a couple of small schools of salmon popping up on the surface with good-sized tailor lurking down deep. These bigger tailor respond well to bigger baits, as mate Glen Borg found out when his 30cm live tailor was eaten by a 2.5kg tailor which he had set for jewfish.

I'm sure if tailor grew to two metres long it would be unsafe to swim in the ocean –Australia's version of the piranha!

On Calmwater Fishing Charters we have been regularly coming across some lovely big flathead up to 5kg of late. There also have been jewfish to 31kg, some monster bream and quite a few amberjack. Amberjack used to be quite a rarity on the Central Coast but lately we've been getting catches of four or five to 6kg up the Hawkesbury River. Fishing is full of surprises.

CAPTION:

1

Gordon McRory with a nice 31kg jewfish caught fishing with Greg Joyes on Calmwater Fishing Charters.

2

Michael Leyhan and friends with a swag of Brisbane Water jewfish caught on Calmwater Fishing Charters.