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Winter sees many forms of fish life go through transitions. Some species of fish completely shut down into hibernation, some migrate to more favourable climbs and others move into our estuaries to take advantage of seasonal food, favourable water conditions or reproduction urges.
Here we will look at what winter can offer those fishing our east coast estuaries. We will focus on what common species are available, which techniques work and when the best time to target them.
Australian salmon are a highly rated sportfish and can venture right up into estuaries when conditions are favourable. They will most commonly be found on the flood or incoming tide in the lower reaches of your particular system, favouring areas of strong current adjacent to major points, drop offs and reefs.
They are easily found by monitoring bird activity around the lower reaches, flocks of birds sitting on the surface are a good sign and a few prospective casts around the general area with a soft plastic or small metal slice should alert you to their presence. Gulls and Terns that are wheeling and diving are a far better bet when looking for active Aussie Salmon, these fish generally respond best when casts are made at the leading edge of the feeding school. A selection of metal slices from 5-40 grams, some small soft plastic stick baits like the Berkeley 3 inch minnows and some small poppers and walkers will see most of your bases covered.
Tailor are regular inshore visitors throughout the cooler months. Although large schools head north to Fraser Island to spawn they can be intercepted on the headlands, beaches and in the lower estuaries as they stop off to terrorise local baitfish populations. They can at times mix in with the large salmon schools or be found in their own surface feeding schools where diving birds will give up their location. Here they are best targeted with metal slices, poppers or hard body diving lures as they all give some protection against the tailors’ serrated teeth. When there are no visible signs on the surface, trolling is a very productive way of finding concentrations of Tailor and Salmon. Shallow(.5-2m) and medium depth(3-4m) hard bodies plus 40-80 gram metal slices allow you to cover the water column and get in close to the washes where the better class of Tailor and Salmon will wait in ambush. Alternatively you can slowly drift at a safe distance out from the washes and cast and retrieve poppers, metals or ganged pilchards/gars for good results too.
Chopper Tailor (sub legal<30cm) are regular winter visitors in the estuary and can play havoc with soft plastics aimed at more sought after species. All is not lost though as these ravenous juveniles create a natural berley trail as they crash through bait schools. School jewfish, bream, Silver trevally and flathead are all quite opportunistic and will sit beneath the feeding choppers to pick off scraps and the odd chopper Tailor too! Casting soft plastics around the edges of feeding tailor schools can turn on some great mixed bag fishing with a different species each cast. You must resist the urge to strike at the vibrating bite of the tailor though, as this will tear the soft plastic, just let it sink all the way to the bottom where hopefully a bigger predator will engulf your lure. It’s common in this situation to catch good Bream, Flathead and Jewfish on the stub of a four or five inch stick bait after the Tailor have bitten the tail off while it’s sinking, this is exactly what these predators are looking for beneath the choppers.
Yellow fin Bream are highly sought after year round and winter generally yields a better class of fish for those prepared to fish a little bit lighter and a lot deeper. The washes around headlands and break walls are great places to start prospecting for winter Bream. Casting small soft plastics tight to the washes and watching for a take on slack braid is an enjoyable way to spend a winters’ day. Another successful approach is to Berley up with stale bread and fish lightly weighted bread, prawn or cunje baits in the white water, don’t be surprised if a rock blackfish/ Drummer or Silver Trevally gets in on the act either. It may pay to fish a little heavier for this reason when using bait to minimise tackle losses to these brawlers. This type of fishing is great as it’s available to shore and boat anglers and requires a simple rig of either just an unweighted hook or a small pea sinker free running onto the hook.
Further into the estuary is where some big resident bream lurk deep on the rock walls and reefs. They really kick into gear when the last of the flood tide peaks as this will be the warmest water during the daily tidal cycle, it may only be .5 of a degree warmer but can be the trigger to get them on the chew. The key is to get small offerings down deep where they feel comfortable in the increased clarity that’s often associated with smaller winter tides. Blades are a great tool to find deep schooled Bream in these conditions, allowing anglers to cover plenty of ground with their lures in the strike zone for longer. The addition of artificial scents can be advantageous when the fish are not responding and seem shut down. Soft plastics in natural, translucent colours tend to be more effective in the clear, cool conditions. When fishing deep water of 6 meters or more, it pays to select lures that have minimal resistance in the water like stick baits, minnows and wrigglers as they will get down deeper with the lightest possible jig head weight resulting in more bites/hook-ups.
Flathead are a highly regarded table fish and although they may not be as aggressive, they too, have to eat at some point. They prefer the sun warmed flats up the back of bays in the late afternoon where the bait gathers in the slightly warmer water. They will also be found on major drop offs, reefs and deep rock walls in the lower estuary and will be at their most active during the last of the flood tide. Drifting live and dead baits is quite effective as is slowly hopping soft plastics and blades. The key is to slow everything down to give them time to react to your offering. It may pay to try several different locations until a few fish can be found as they tend to gather where conditions are at their best. Most of my winter Flathead are by-catch whilst targeting Bream and Jewfish but they can be consistently found throughout the lower third of all estuaries at this time of year.
Jewfish/ Mulloway are still active through winter for those willing to put in the hours. Long, cold nights aren’t required as these fish will seek that slightly warmer water of the incoming tide like the afore mentioned species. Their peak feeding activity coincides with the turn of the tide and they will take advantage of any morsel that happens past their nose. They especially like the migrating species such as mullet, bream, blackfish, whiting, EPs and herring. All of these species concentrate in the lower third of the estuary to feed, stage and spawn giving the predatory Mulloway ample opportunity. Lure fishing with soft plastics is the most effective I find, as it allows you to cover several spots during a tide change and negates the need to secure live baits before a session. Smaller presentations like 3-5 inch shads and minnows are readily engulfed as they are an easy meal to digest in the cool waters with a slow metabolism. Move around and find where the concentrations of bait are and the Mulloway won’t be too far behind!
You will note a few consistencies throughout this article, the main point is to concentrate your efforts around the incoming/flood tide, If it so happens in the afternoon after a nice sunny day all the better. Fish as light as the conditions allow and take plenty of warm clothes as conditions can change rapidly on the water.
Gentleman’s hours(9-5) are the most productive to fish and is far more comfortable for us anglers. There’s nothing worse than blasting to your spot first thing in the morning and needing an open fire to thaw out before your hands and whole body stop convulsing just to tie on a lure!
Gear Box:
Salmon and Tailor- 6’6”- 7’2”, 3-6kg rod paired to a 2500 sized thread line reel 6-8lb Braid.
Bream and Flathead- 6’6”- 7’2”, 2-4kg rod paired to a 1000-2500 sized thread line reel 3-6lb Braid.
Bream in the washes- 7’-10’ 4-8kg rod paired to a 2500-4000 sized thread line reel 8-15lb Braid.
Jewfish/Mulloway- 7’ 6-8kg rod paired to a 4000 sized thread line reel 15lb Braid.