Boats Out! Mid North Coast Fishing Heats Up
Boats Out! Mid North Coast Fishing Heats Up
By Kate Shelton PM002
As the weather settles down, local and visiting anglers have ample opportunities to cast a line on the beautiful Mid North Coast region.
In the Camden Haven River, a few Drummer are still lingering, with some impressive catches, including some up to three kilos, being reported off the rocks. Cunjevoi has proven to be a productive bait. Tailor fishing has been average, with Crowdy Head demonstrating to be a productive location. For those targeting Luderick, Bonny Hills is worth exploring, particularly if you can float some cabbage in the washes. Beach anglers have been finding nice Bream and the occasional solid Salmon. In the river, local anglers fishing the breakwall have caught some decent Flathead and Bream during the day high tides. Keep an eye on Lake Cathie as we will start to see some school prawns and mud crabs as we head into the warmer months.
In the Hastings River, Luderick fishing is gradually slowing down, but persistent anglers can still find success at the breakwall using green weed and weed flies. Bream numbers have been slow, but fishing has been more productive towards the mouth of the river using bait. Flathead numbers are on the rise, making most parts of the Hastings worth exploring. Offshore, game fishing anglers have been targeting striped marlin with success. Hopefully we will be in for a bumper upcoming season on the inshore black marlin. Snapper remain active but require more effort, with anchoring and burling proving effective. Kingfish have been plentiful around Trag Rock and Crescent Head. You could almost always guarantee a feed by fishing the flathead grounds in around fifty metres of water.
The NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) installed the fish aggregating devices (FADs) ready for the upcoming summer fishing season. Fisheries Aggregating Devices, or FADs, are strategically placed along the NSW coast during the warmer months. FADs are GPS-tracked floating buoys anchored to the ocean floor to attract fast growing pelagic fish species such as mahi mahi, marlin and wahoo. See below for the GPS Coordinates for our local FADs.
South West Rocks 30° 50.534′ 153° 11.803′
Hat Head 31° 00.636′ 153° 07.795′
Port Macquarie 31° 24.567′ 153° 04.725′
Laurieton 31° 39.601′ 152° 56.235′
Photo – Kaleb Cooper with his first striped marlin he caught skip-baiting on local game fishing boat ‘Eastbound’ skippered by Joel Pavy
