Working hard for snapper, salmon

The afternoon bite on the snapper has been unbelievable the last couple of days, with plenty of healthy three kilogram-plus fish coming from both shallow and the deeper reefs.

Again plastics have out fished bait. Beaches have been all the rage.

Brad Gibson took on the less than desirable conditions last weekend and still managed to pop quite a few tags in some good-sized school mulloway as part of the DPI-Fisheries program.

David Cole has been making the most of good weather earlier in the week, giving the big salmon schools a hiding down on Towradgi Beach with his biggest weighing in at three kilograms.

Mark Stolk took his fiancée Janene out fishing for a trip off the stones where she proceeded to get not only to out fish Mark, but also got her personal best with a nice groper.

Kingfish are still about but tend to only turn up once the heavy gear has been put away. Some monster bruisers cruising the waters of Bellambi and Wollongong harbours have left many locals shocked at seeing these one-metre-plus fish cruising in less than a metre of water.

Meanwhile, DPI-Fisheries recently apprehended two adult males near Manyana (Lake Conjola) and found them to be in possession of 102 abalone, of which 99 were of prohibited size. 

The men from Warrawong and Warilla are now facing charges for a number of offences, including possessing prohibited sized fish, exceeding possession limits and trafficking an indictable fish species.

Abalone have a minimum legal length of 11.7cm and bag limit of only two from waters between Port Stephens and Wreck Bay Beach (Jervis Bay)

Abalone can only be taken on weekends and adjacent NSW public holidays.

Report suspected illegal fishing activities to your local Fisheries Office or by contacting the Fishers’ Watch Phone line on 1800 043 536 or online at dpi.nsw.gov.au and follow the compliance and report illegal activity links.