Even though there has been plenty of work going on in Botany Bay with the desalination plant and the extension to Port Botany, it hasn’t really seemed to effect the fishing at all, well maybe just one species, the squid. This is probably because the squid’s usual haunts are becoming very dirty.

Nevertheless, there are still a number of places where you can target squid in the bay. They are Watts Reef, the Hot Water Outlet, the reef in the western corner of Yarra Bay, Bare Island, Sutherland Point, entrance to the no-go zone at Bonna Point, Yarra Point and the Patches.

There are also a number of places to try for squid in Port Hacking, such as Shark Island in Bate Bay, Sandshoes, the eastern side of Jibbon Beach, Gunnamatta Bay baths, Cabbage Tree Point, Burraneer Point, Dolans Bay, the weed beds off Costens Point and Lilly Pilly baths.

Lately I have been using the Yamashita Natural Colour Squid Jigs and they have certainly been getting a number of squid. Even after I have enough for bait, there are still a few left for a feed.

Now if you find getting squid for bait a bit hard, then try berleying up a few yellowtail, garfish and slimy mackerel. They work just as well as the squid.

During the months of December and January there have been a lot of kingfish about in the Bay and Port Hacking and this should continue right through to the end April, tapering off a bit towards the end of May.

Just recently I took my daughters boyfriend out to target his first ever kingfish. Andrew wasn’t disappointed despite both of the kingfish he caught were just under legal size and he got busted off three times. We were using Gulp 5” Jerk Shads in bone jack, peppered prawn, curried chicken and smelt colours.

Dusky flathead, Australian salmon, bonito, snapper and very large bream will also take your live baits that were originally meant for a kingfish, which is not such a bad thing. You could also try using small poddy mullet as live bait.

Yellowfin bream, silver trevally and pan sized snapper can be berleyed up at places like the middle of the Bay, the Drums, the Oil Wharf, Monoilex Point and the end of the third runway. I have found that it doesn’t seem to matter which tide works the best. Just as long as there is a fair amount of movement in the water. For this type of fishing I prefer to use a leader of between 1-2m in length, a swivel, no. 2 bean sinker and a 1/0 hook.

When it comes to bait for bream in the Bay you can’t go past the nipper, blood or tubeworm, peeled Hawkesbury River prawns, strips of tuna and chicken guts. Yes, there are other baits that do catch bream, but these are my favourites.

If you are after a few sand whiting and only fish from the shore you could do no better than fishing the shoreline from Dolls Point to the entrance to the Cooks River. Silver beach at Kurnell would also be worth a shot and if you are going to fish Port Hacking you can’t go past Maianbar and Dee Ban Spit on a run-out tide.

The rocks from Kurnell to North Garie Beach would be worth a shot for yellowfin bream, silver trevally, tailor and Australian salmon in the earlier part of the morning and a couple of hours before and after dark.

Garie and Stanwell Park beaches will start to fire on the mulloway front. There will also be a few Australian salmon and tailor mixed in with them. On the weekends you will need to get down to these beaches early to get a good spot. Try using either whole pilchards or garfish for bait. Whole yellowtail and slimy mackerel will also produce the goods.

Offshore will see good catches of morwong, snapper, silver trevally, kingfish and mahi mahi. For those of you who like a feed on sand and tiger flathead you could also try the drift at 50m off Long Bay jail.

Well there you have it, a quick rundown of what will be on offer during the month of February. If you would like any more information you could always email me or visit my web site at www.garybrownfishing.com.au