Inshore
LOCAL beaches are absolutely firing with herring and loads of large schools of Australian salmon. Both these species will eagerly chase down a metal lure or soft plastic.
Salmon are best targeted with a bait cast mulie on a floating rig if the schools are not visible. If you can see the school then it is a case of launching a large metal slice or popper out to them. With so many lures to choose from it is hard to say one will work better than the other.
Herring are still best caught on a berley blob and number-four baitholder hook with a small piece of luminous straw on the shank of the hook. If they are being fussy then revert back to coral prawn in place of the luminous straw.
King George whiting are still present along the shores, as are flathead and tarwhine.
Offshore
"Jig-Jig-Jig"; those that are using them seem to be doing very well out on the hard coral. Both dhuies and pinkies are driven into a frenzy by both soft plastics and metal flutter jigs. The Auratus120gm is absolutely dynamite. The top soft plastics doing the job are the McArthy's red mullet in the eight-inch, bull-head minnow with a 2-4oz jig head.
Yellowtail kingfish and southern bluefin tuna seem to be the most active pelagics off the coast and have been landed in the vicinity of large schools of salmon out wide in the deeper water. Of course with all this activity along the shoreline there are the ever-present larger predators. Bronze whalers are thick along the shore and are in greater numbers due to the bumper salmon season we are experiencing this year.
Freediving
As mentioned above, with all the salmon we have along the coast it is a little harder to keep your catch away from the other hunters in the water. If you do plan on spearing salmon from our shores or a boat then have a plan on how you want to deal with the very hungry bronze whaler that is in your face and chewing the salmon off your shaft.
Already this week I have heard of two encounters from freedivers hunting salmon off the shore both losing their fish to large sharks. Always dive in pairs so you can help each other to keep your catch and keep an eye on what type of shark is approaching you.
As for the hunting out wide, well it is red hot and we still have schools of Spanish mackerel coming in to see fish we have speared.
Watch your dive buddy as he surfaces with his catch, he may have just offered you a golden opportunity to shoot a Spaniard if they come in. Burley and flashers work very well but they also attract unwanted predators.
Crays are still hiding in every nook and cranny of our reef systems and are the best way to warm up for deeper dives out wide.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to watch your dive buddy for the whole dive from top to bottom. There have been a few boys pushing out deeper dives and losing consciousness in the last 10metres from the surface this is what we call a shallow water blackout.
There is no coming back from this if your mate does not see you drifting back to the bottom unconscious and out of sight.
'Til next month, safe fishing and freediving.
