Reel Deal: Southern bluefin caught off Sydney

Offshore there were some southern bluefin tuna that reportedly turned up north of Sydney.

One boat had a six-way hook-up on some solid fish and also were able to keep them up under the boat by setting up and working a cube trail.

The guys boated five fish with the biggest pulling the scales down to a healthy 50 kilograms.

There were a few sharks reported out wide with some solid makos swimming up the berley trails.

Closer to shore the snapper fishing was again tough with the majority of the fish being caught around the 1 to 2 kilo mark.

Most were coming out of the deeper water but there were still plagues of barracouta. Those who persisted were able to get through them and onto the fish below.

Schools of striped tuna were all over the inshore zones with some solid fish in the mix, but the hardest thing was ‘matching the hatch’ to what they were feeding on.

Eventually the smallest metal slugs or skirted pink and or white ockie rigs did the damage.

There were some fish close to 10 kilograms in these schools and offered some serious fun on the light gear.

There were quite a few cooked drags turning up in the shop for repairs after battling these great sport fish.

The flathead drifts were still producing some good size fish with deeper sand drifts holding the better size at the present.

Bass season opened last weekend and it wasn’t long until social media was flooded with everyone’s first for the season with plenty of good catches among them.

But everyone agrees that we need some good solid rain before too long to help the state of the creeks and rivers.

Weather for the weekend is looking bleak to say the least but for the diehards there should be plenty of luderick around.

Please take care as the forecast says it looks like high surf and rough conditions.

Email: gazwade@bigpond.com