Monthly Archives: December 2025

Iluka – The Clarence River and the Bundjalung Headlands – May 2025

Posted on by
Reply

Sea surface temperatures remained a degree or so higher than usual at 23 degrees, during May. The wet weather continued. The Northern Rivers experienced significant, persistent, and often heavy rainfall in the latter half of May 2025, leading to major flooding in some areas and a persistent flow of fresh but dirty water in the Clarence River.

In the first week of May the swell eased off just enough to fish the rocky headlands of the Bundjalung National Park. The full moon was on the 12th but the only day that the headlands were really safely accessable was the 7th. We were approaching the time for the mullet to head out of the Clarence River and into the ocean in huge schools. The big jewfish and many other predators usually follow them.

I fished the early morning run in tide. It had been low at 4.45 am. The swell was at about 1.1 metres and the wind was a light south westerly. I was fishing with 40 lb braid and a 50 lb fluorocarbon leader down to a 20 g jighead, loaded with a Gulp Crazylegs jerkshad in the Nuclear Chicken colour. I cast around through the dawn but did not get any hits. At about 7.30 am I felt a grab and briefly lowered the rod tip to let the fish inhale the plastic. When I struck, the fish was on. I let it make couple of runs but prevented it from swimming under the ledge and then brought it up the stepped ledges with the swell. It was a healthy 80 cm jewfish. I decided to keep it for supper. I caught two more smaller jewfish which I released. They were both about around 60 cm long.

The tide was now pushing me way from my favorite ledge so I moved to another spot and spun up a couple of 45 cm tailor on a shallow diving hard bodied minnow lure.

The swell picked up and the rain came in again. The river was filthy but it was still producing plenty of smaller jewfish and some solid sized flathead.

Towards the end of the month I tried a few sessions on the rockwall at the mouth of the river. I fount a few tailor and plenty of smaller jewfish. I only managed to find one keeper size jewfish, on an afternoon session just after the new moon on the 28th.

Sunrise at Iluka

Iluka – The Clarence River and the Bundjalung Headlands – April 2025

Posted on by
1

Early in April the north coast of New South Wales was hit with even more rain. The Clarence River didn’t flood. However the water was now so dirty and so fresh, I thought I was never going to catch a fish again.

But the key to fishing is persistence and time. Fish a lot and you will catch more fish. Don’t like the wind and swell, just wait, it will turn around. The continued wild weather made the headlands too tricky to fish for most of the month. From experience I know that the river can never be too dirty for jewfish/ mulloway so this focus kept me venturing out.

I went fishing for jewfish with my light spinning gear and soft plastic lures, often fishing the top of the incoming  tide when the water would be cleanest. I caught a fair number of small jewfish and a couple just over the 70 cm legal size limit. But I was surprised that I kept catching flathead. They were generally solid fish, with many up around the 60 cm mark. It appeared that the constant flow of freshwater had washed them and their prey down toward the river mouth.

I also caught plenty of bream and a few good sized whiting in the dirty water. However as the dirty freshwater continued to flow down to the mouth, many of the fish had lesions or sores on them. I presume this is because the ph of the water and its purity changes dramatically and the scratches, which they pick up all the time, start to get infected. The sores often appear on the bream after heavy and continued rain but this is the first time I have witnessed them in the flathead population. Leave a comment if you know why this happens.

On the few days that I was able to fish on the headlands I caught jewfish, tailor and trevally. There was plenty of bait around but the persistent high seas made safe fishing difficult.

Iluka – Cyclone Alfred – fishing the aftermath – March 2025

Posted on by
1

In early March tropical Cyclone Alfred crossed the Queensland coast over Moreton Island. Fortunately for me I was out of Australia. I flew in late in the month to find a very dirty Clarence River at Iluka. The cyclone had dumped over 800 mm of rain on some of the upper parts of the Clarence River catchment.

Despite the wind damage and the dirty water coming down the Clarence River, the fishing was surprisingly good. The deluge of rain, particularly upstream from Maclean seemed to push some big flathead down towards the river mouth. Local fishermen had been catching plenty of bream and flathead in the silty water.

I decided the best strategy would be to fish the rock wall at the Clarence River mouth on the top of the tide, when the water would be cleanest. This paid off on a few mornings and I caught some school jewfish, mostly just under the legal 70 cm size limit. The water can never be too dirty for jewfish / mulloway.

Cyclone Alfred incoming