Page 30 - Bush 'n Beach Fishing mag

Thomas with a nice flathead from the RSL wharf.
In case you hadn’t no- ticed, or your part of the world has not seen any sign of it yet, winter is most definitely here.
If you do intend to try a few lures, I would suggest downsizing everything as much as possible to match the white pilchard.
HTips for catching bream on lures
ELLO all and isn’t it great to be back.
Ballina Bait & Tackle
by BRETT HYDE
I hope each and every one of you has been safe at home during these past couple of crazy months.
suspect these fish are staying in those loca- tions because they are not going to be a part of the breeding run this year.
With large numbers of white pilchard in the river they’ve been the best bait to try, but it may be worth throwing a few prawns and even a couple of mullet fil- lets around next time you head out.
I also hope you man- aged to spend a little quality time with your family, and quality time out on the water catch- ing food for them too.
I am expecting to see bream hang around for the next month or so, which should be great as we have a qualifying round of the Australi- an Bream Tournament here in Ballina on the weekend of August 29- 30.
Evans Head Deep Sea
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I must admit I have re- ally felt it over the past couple of weeks, but maybe that is my old football knees feeling the effects of the cold more than anything.
So, if you’re in the neighbourhood around that time, make sure you come along and talk to the anglers to pick up great tips on catching bream on lures.
Keep lures around that 60-70mm size and try slowlyrollingthemclose to the seabed as flathead will be reluctant to ven- ture too far off the bot- tomatpresent.
Page 30 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, July 2020
* continued P32 www.bnb shing.com.au
The fishing around the Northern Rivers has been rather good of late.
For now, the run-in tide has been the best bet for most anglers, with prawns, mullet and squid being prime baits to catch your dinner.
Cold nights have been the order of the day for mulloway, with the Ballina breakwall producing school-sized fish and larger models falling to live bait be- hind the CBD.
We have had a sol- id run of bream in the lower reaches of the river up to this point, and we are still seeing good quality fish come through the mouth of the river and congregat- ing in reasonable num- bers for their breeding cycle.
If you want to have a go at catching these cagey little critters on lures, then it will be worth trying some 2-3” curly tail grubs rigged on a jig head with a weight of around 1/16 to 1/8, depending on the current and tide on the day you’re fishing.
The change of tide and the start of the run- out tide have been ideal to try your luck if you wish to chase these sil- ver ghosts during win- ter.
There have been a few smaller fish further upstream, but I would
Catching larger live bait has been a little dif- ficult of late, so make sure you have back-up bait just in case.
BALLINA
BAIT & TACKLE
BALLINA WEST SHOPPING CENTRE
Pacific Hwy, Ballina NSW
Ph/Fax 02 6686 2527 • brettrhyde@optusnet.com.au
With water quality the way it is at pres- ent, more natural col- ours have been working well.
The beaches have been difficult proposi- tions of late, with wild weather events normal- ly reserved for summer.
The cooler weather has slowed flathead down considerably, as you would expect, but there is still the odd one to be caught if you’re willing to put in time and effort.
Strong wind and large swells have made fishing the beach tough, but if you can get a slightly calmer day, quality bream have been taken from beaches because they haven’t found their way into the river yet.
Better numbers of fish have been in shallow water, with larger fish coming on warmer days – usually later in the day when they’ve been more active.
Pippies, pilchard and mullet fillets have all been good bait options