Make The Time For Fishing This May

By Dan Trotter on May 21, 2013 in Other

Inspiration is everywhere on any given local fishing trip: crystal clear waters, the sun’s bursting rays scattering as crystal ripples across the ocean’s oily surface, and the fish swimming deep below, streamlined silhouettes in an ecosystem full of life. Our hometown holds its own as one of the real gems of coastal sports fishing, all within minutes of a thriving metropolis.

What an extended summer we’ve just enjoyed; countless idyllic days, a city brimming with talent and creativity in a world-class location, and plenty of fish and fishing opportunities to inspire us all. The last four months have been exceptional and the action fast all along the inshore reefs. Kingfish have shown that Sydney is home, with untold numbers of fish in the metre to metre-thirty size caught and often released on many a hard inshore reef or deepwater headland.

The game-fishing season has been an inshore angler’s dream, with marlin, mahi mahi, jewfish, snapper, smatterings of mackerel, the occasional emperor, and impressive small tuna keeping Sydney anglers abuzz and the tackle stores bursting with tales of the deep blue sea.

If you’re yet to enjoy any of these great days on the water, make the time in May as the ocean’s summer seas will soon retreat.
Flicking through dog-eared pages of the fishing dairy, there is record of calm afternoons and offshore evenings with decent catches of snapper and kings, the occasional mulloway and a few silver-sided trevally during May. Being offshore when day is enveloped by night is often thought to be only for the adventurous inshore angler, but with practice, all the required safety gear and a love of the ocean, it’s can certainly prove worthwhile.

Right on your doorstep, there are plenty of land-based options to keep you busy with a rod in your hand. Whiting on worms, squid on the jigs and Australian salmon and tailor on pilchards or metal slices are all worthy pursuits.

I spent Easter down on the far south coast, a paradise for those who don’t mind the colder weather. Of course, much time was spent doing the inevitable: fishing and exploring the beaches, coastal estuaries and magical National Parks. The south coast has enjoyed a brilliant warm year of blue water bounty, with northern bluefin tuna even turning up for the faithful to add to their mix of pelagic conquests.

Interestingly and frustratingly, what would seem like plague proportions of chinaman leatherjacket have taken up residence almost everywhere. Whilst these fish have been turning up in many estuaries and on mid- to deep-water reefs over the last few years, the shear range and numbers of this species at the moment is truly impressive, or terrifying, depending on how you look at it.

Stories of these voracious hordes harassing the more regular inhabitants of our coastal waters stretch far north and south. Alas, beaches have been littered with them, whether discarded as by-catch from the trawls or simply a an act of nature, it’s hard to know.

Many people dislike the ‘jackets’ for their sharp, beak-like teeth. However, if you do encounter them and are keen for a feed, you can catch these tasty frypan morsels using long-shank hooks and, dare I say it, a wire trace. Small baits of prawn, squid, yellowtail scad or slimy mackerel fished on a paternoster rig will all do the trick, as will metal lures on a trace, dangled in amongst the schools.

There are a few weeks (or possibly months) of good fishing ahead, so don’t hang up rods and put away the tackle just yet – fish and fishing to us all!