THE sea surface rippled as nervous baitfish huddled in tight schools against the rocks. Every now and then, hundreds would take flight as a predator came in for the kill. A lone fairy penguin buzzed through the bait, cleaning up any scraps. Further out to sea, pods of dolphins leapt clear of the water as they harassed larger prey.
The ocean was alive.
Enjoying the side-show, I was jolted back to the task at hand as my chrome slice came to an abrupt halt about 10 metres from the rock ledge. Split seconds later, three kilograms of angry, head-shaking Australian salmon cartwheeled across the surface in a bid to shake the lure from the corner of its jaw.
Hook-ups on big Aussie salmon are often short lived – especially on lures from the stones. Their aerial prowess is impressive and I reckon anglers spinning the rocks with slices and slugs are doing well if they land one in two. This bloke was well hooked, though. The relatively skinny leader survived a few dogged runs for cover and I eventually had the fat fish posing for a few pre-release photographs.
Solid Australian salmon were literally everywhere during the flood.
That encounter was typical of a series of battles I had that day with some of the hardest-pulling pelagic fish on the NSW far south coast, including salmon, bonito, trevally, small tuna and chopper tailor – and this was right in the middle of a clear, calm day on a busy long weekend!
It was the type of session that has become more commonplace on the rocks and beaches of the south coast since the year 2010 ended a decade of drought. Whether your quarry was bream or bonito – or anything in between – the fishing in 2010 and early 2011 will be remembered by those lucky enough to experience it.
After the flood
It was no coincidence that the hot fishing unfolded in the wake of one of the wettest periods the NSW far south coast had seen in a decade. Consecutive dry years had left a number of estuarine systems in the parched far south in poor shape. Many had been closed to the sea for some period, and a handful resembled a series of puddles.
They say a drought on the land means a drought in the water. Prolonged dry spells tend to have a negative effect on most forms of angling. Regardless of whether it’s an inland lake or an offshore reef, rain boosts fish habitats in various ways, flushing out river systems, transporting nutrients, facilitating breeding and encouraging plant and animal life in general to flourish.
The big wet began in 2010 with a downfall that had to be seen to be believed. In the space of one very wet weekend last February, some areas of the far south coast received close to their average annual rainfall in the space of 48 hours. The deluge opened up virtually every single south coast estuary between Batemans Bay and the border.
It had a profound and almost immediate impact on the fishing – and the impact was widespread and long-lasting. The improvement in the fishing didn’t simply last for days or weeks…it went for months. In fact, with consistent rainfall ever since, it’s still going. And it was noticeable across the entire far south.
I guess the floods illustrated how important rain is in breathing new life into an ecosystem. If you’re an angler, heavy rain and chocolate-coloured water might be a pain for a couple of days, but the long-term benefits are always positive.
Rock walls around river mouths are the first places to fire after heavy rain, with big bream a common catch.
Floods and fishing
River mouths
Rock walls at the mouths of rivers are always one of the first places to fire in the wake of heavy rain. In terms of chasing pelagics like tuna, tailor, salmon, the first few days immediately after a flood can be a washout as dark, coffee-coloured water and floating debris send most fish scurrying for cleaner water offshore.
But as cleaner water begins spilling in on the rising tide, hungry fish return to the river mouth en masse. Floods create a concentration of food in the form of baitfish and crustaceans around the entrance. For piscatorial predators, this represents an open smorgasbord, and they are drawn to the turbid slick to wait in ambush for anything that swims – or drifts – their way.
While they’ll happily wolf down a whole pilchard on a set of gangs, the most effective and fun technique is to hurl bits of metal at the horizon and retrieve them at speed through the murk.
Fish where the fish are – and that’s likely to be where the fresher, dirtier water meets and mixes with the cleaner saltwater. Sometimes this is clearly defined. Other times, particularly as conditions clear, it will be less obvious. If this is the case, always fish the slightly coloured water ahead of the clear.
If the pelagics aren’t there, you can bet your life there will be some great back-up targets in the form of big bream, trevally and flathead around the river mouths. Chase these fish with lightly-weighted fresh baits, including striped tuna chunks, pilchard pieces and peeled prawns.
Beaches
Beaches don’t always spring to mind as locations that benefit from heavy and prolonged rainfall. But last year demonstrated just how much the fishing in the surf can improve in the wake of flooding.
It amazed me to hear accounts of large schools of fish gathering on beaches that were adjacent to creeks and lakes that were set to burst their banks. Great catches of salmon, tailor, flathead, bream and a few mulloway were taken in these hotspots as water levels nearby rose. It was strong evidence that fish can sense that a waterway is about to flood into the ocean before it actually happens.
Beaches within close proximity to any estuary, regardless of its size, are always worth fish during and after times of heavy rain. You will catch fish in the lead-up to a system breaking its banks. The fishing then tends to go up a notch as murky, nutrient-rich water spills in the ocean. This is when serious predators like mulloway and monster flathead can be caught from the sand. Big fish-flesh baits or even a live-bait will do the trick under these conditions. Smaller baits like fresh worms fished on light gear will attract solid bream, while the humble pilchard will continue to catch tailor and salmon.
Rock ledges
Rock fishing really fires as floodwaters dissipate and conditions clear. Don’t wait until the ocean clears completely, though. I find water with a bit of colour in it will harbour more bait and attract more predatory fish. The scenario I described at the beginning of this article is a perfect example – on that particular day the water was far from crystal clear and the fish were “on” all day under bright conditions on both the ebb and flood tides. This was because the fish felt more at ease in the cloudy water, as did the bait they were chasing.
In this situation, I like ripping a chrome slice through the wash for big salmon, tailor, bonito, frigate mackerel and even small kings and other oddities. In the weeks and months following the 2010 downpour, quite a few far south coast anglers reported catching small Samsons, amberjack and the occasional little cobia from the stones.
The Big Wet reinvigorated the fishing on the NSW far south coast and resulted in many surprise catches like this little cobia.
Trusted lures, in my view, include the range of very good Spanyid Raiders and Snipers, with 25g and 40g among my favourites. Similar sized Halco Twisties and Halco Streakers are also very effective and have their devotees. Other models worth checking out include the Gillies range of metal baitfish profiles – I have a few of these in my tackle box and they cast like a bullet and appeal to salmon and bonito in particular.
This little bonito gave the author’s daughter the” hurry-up” on light gear.
When
Heavy rain at any time of the year stirs up rock, beach and breakwall fishing on the New South Wales far South Coast, but it tends to yield the best results during the traditional peak angling period, which generally runs from November through to June. During these months, anglers have the very real chance of tangling with traditional cold-water species like salmon and tailor, as well as fish that like the water a little warmer, such as kings, bonito, frigate mackerel and striped tuna. In late summer and autumn, when the water is at its warmest, a hot bite triggered by rain even results in a few “northern” species turning up in anglers’ bags.
Tackle
The latest generation of light but powerful spin rods has changed the face of rock and beach fishing for a lot of anglers, me included. Lighter gear has three advantages: it allows an angler to be more mobile, it makes it easier to cast all day and you can flick relatively light lures great distances. I mostly use either a light 10-foot graphite-composite “general purpose” stick matched to a 4000 size reel. I load this with 15-20lb braid and 20lb leader and I’m able to tackle most fish that come my way. In circumstances where I’m fishing a ledge close to the water, I find I can get away with the medium (4-6kg) seven-foot-six (2.2m) spin stick and 3000 size reel I use for snapper, big flathead and the like. This outfit is a joy to cast all day and has enough grunt to handle small tuna and jumbo salmon.
