The last couple of months have seen a hive of activity on the water around St Helens both in the bay and offshore. A large amount of rainfall and regional flooding during the latter half of January put a spanner in the works for a short period however once the systems had flushed the fishing action was hot.

Increasing offshore water temperatures, up to 18 degrees just inside the shelf line and between 16-17 degrees just offshore, have seen small albacore tuna around 3-5kg being caught by numerous anglers. Most of the larger fish, up to 10kg, have been caught on the shelf line with much of the smaller fish being taken in and around the 100m mark. Most are falling to small 4-6” sized trolling lures such as small Christmas tree’s and feathers however a couple of standout styles are small Hexhead Lures and the Pakula Fluzi skirted lures.

The Mako Shark have also increased in numbers with many anglers tussling with the hard fighting Shark right along the coast, some of the smaller fish even being caught only a few km’s offshore, fish from 90kg right through to 250kg have been caught and released during recent months.

The coastline around Elephant Rock and Binalong Bay has also continued to fish well, huge numbers of Arrow Squid are all up and down the coast and massive schools of large Australian Salmon consistently feeding on the small baitfish and krill, Salmon of up to 3-4kg have been caught all around Elephant rock and surrounding bays. Mixed in with the Salmon have been numerous Yellowtail Kingfish up to about 3kg and have surprised numerous anglers with their fighting ability.

Georges Bay has cleared up well after the rains and continued to produce a wide variety of fish, large Silver Trevally are still stretching the arms of light tackle anglers all up and down the channel and schools of large Salmon continue to come in and out of the bay feeding on the baitfish, although spasmodic with their locations and appearance at any given time there will be a school of Salmon feeding hard somewhere in the bay.

Other fish such as King George Whiting, Elephant Fish, small pinkie Snapper are continuing to be caught on a consistent basis as well as a host of other fish such as Leatherjacket, Mullet, Tailor, Flathead and Squid.

The recent flooding and dirty water however has done nothing to disturb the hoards of Bream that spend the summertime feeding hard on the flats throughout Georges Bay.

Anglers have been peppering the flats for the last couple of months and with numerous ABT style Bream Tournaments on the calendar for February and March it’s been no surprise. Many anglers are reporting that there are larger numbers of Bream then they have seen during the last few seasons with a lot of larger fish present as well, many fish over 40cm to the fork are being landed regularly. Stand out lures have been the 100mm Squidgy Wriggler in Wasabi, Bushy’s Stiffy Minnow in Tassie Tiger & Prowler, Shimano Lure Project Medium Minnow in Natural Shrimp & Purple Ghost and the Atomic Hardz Bream Shad 40 Medium & Deep in various colours.

The Beach fishing up and down the coast has also been reasonably consistent with good catches of Australian Salmon right the way from south of Four Mile Creek right up to Tailors Beach north of Binalong Bay. The Beaches along the Scamander coastline have produced a few Bream, escapees from the various lagoons that burst during floods, and good sized Gummy Shark as well. Swimcart Beach had produced some unusual catches of Blue Shark, these fish were reported as being right in the shallows with tails protruding from the water and were caught on whole fillets of fresh small Salmon.