Spring is finally upon us and although the weather has still been a tad unstable there has been some magnificent days to be had on the water. With it has come an increase in water temperatures in the bay, 13-14 degrees seems to be constant at the moment and small pilchards, anchovies and the Tasmanian Whitebait have moved into the bay in huge schools with the water around some shorelines becoming black with baitfish..

Fish such as Australian Salmon, Tailor, Pike, Sea Run Trout and even Trevally will all feed heavily on these species of bait. The schools of Salmon that were holding down the channel have dispersed throughout the bay now and can be found throughout the Moulting Bay, Stiegletz Boat Ramp and Sea Scout Hall areas.

Australian Salmon will also respond well to a number of different baits such as blue bait, whitebait, squid, sandworms and prawns but “matching the hatch” is always your best option and if the fish are chasing bait schools then the smaller fish bait is the best option. Drifting and casting lures, or drift spinning, is one of the most effective ways of catching Salmon.

Many of the Salmon are quite large in size with anglers reporting fish of 2-3kg being caught from the shore and jety’s.

There has been some large Silver Trevally caught in the Moulting Bay and Channel areas as well with a few fish reaching 50cm and over in length, once again these large fish that we have become accustomed to over the last few years have graced us in good numbers again this season.

The floodwaters earlier in the previous month sent the Garfish scattering for a while but they have come back strong and anglers have been reporting good bags of big Gars, these fish will start to thin out as the month progresses so take advantage of them while you can as they are a great table fish. The schools can be found along the channel edges over top of the seagrass beds.

Offshore the fishing has been quiet with all the unfavourable winds however in the gaps in the weather boat anglers have reported good bags of big king Flathead in deeper water. Water up to 70-80 feet deep seems to be where the schools are sitting and Silstar Jig-Em-Rigs are the stand out lures to haul them aboard.

The Scamander River has also been producing some fantastic Bream catches and will continue to do so for the next couple of months however as the fish will be in spawning mode mat well prove to be very frustrating at times. Both lure and bait anglers have fared well with crabs and prawns being the most popular baits. Lure fisherman have seen mixed days of success most having trouble finding the schools of fish as they move up river. Once found though Bream have been quite receptive to the 100mm Squidgy Pro Range Wrigglers with S-Factor in the Wasabi and Bloodworm colours fished on a 2gm #4 jighead very slowly and let pause on the bottom during the retrieve.

Further inland the Trout fishing has been fantastic the Georges River has had a couple of floods but has cleared up nicely and the fish are very active, some good Trout have been taken on fly near the bridge on the way to Binalong Bay and as the whitebait start their run the Sea Run Trout will follow.