I was away for most of February but early in the month I caught plenty of jewfish on the rocky headlands of the Bundjalung National Park at Iluka.
February is traditionally the month when we get the warmest sea surface temperatures and this year was no exception. The water surface temps were hovering around 26 °C. There were plenty of mullet schools already passing the headlands and lots of smaller bait hugging the ledges. The water was clear. It was a relatively dry month with less than 40 mm of rain recorded.
In two days following the full moon I had a couple of good fishing sessions at Woody Head. I started fishing just before low tide for each session. I caught six school Jewfish on the first morning and seven on the next. I was mostly fishing with the GULP jerkshad and squid patterns rigged on 10g and 18g jigheads. The biggest mulloway of the two sessions was 67 cm long.
Sea surface temperature was about 24 Celsius through most of November 2024, well above the long term average of around 20 Celsius.
The weather was kind with not too much rain and light seas. This meant I was able to fish the rocks on both the full and new moons. There was a new moon on the 1st and another new moon on the 30th with a full moon on the 16th, in between the two.
I caught plenty of tailor through the month. They would often destroy my soft plastic when I was trying to catch a jewfish. They were generally quite big, ranging between 45 cm and 60 cm. When I swapped my lure to a big surface popper or garfish shaped stickbait, I tended to catch bigger fish.
I also caught plenty of jewfish (approximately 35 over about six sessions on the headlands). I usually found them when I was fishing close in to the base of the rocks with big GULP soft plastics. I was set up with 50 lb fluorocarbon leader down to 1/2 ounce or 3/8th ounce jigheads, depending on the amount of swell. I used to favor using the lightest jigheads possible but I have recently been fishing heavier to make sure my soft plastics hit the bottom fairly quickly. When things are slow/tuff I often go lighter with both jigheads and leader, to get the strike.
The best jewfish / mulloway fishing session was on the 5th, just a few days after the new moon. I caught three keeper size (all over 75 cm) and 5 smaller ones. I caught the two bigger fish in quick succession, about an hour after low tide.
I caught a few smaller jewfish around the drop offs in the river. The trevally were also marauding around, particularly at dusk and dawn. As ever, I also caught flathead and bream too.
November had been another great fishing month on the Clarence River at Iluka.
The weather in the Clarence Valley was great in October. Temperature and rainfall sat almost exactly on the 100 year average. Spring had definitely sprung. The river was clear and I caught flathead, bream, flounder, jewfish and a few trevally and small tailor. The bream were voracious, hitting all types of bait and lures. The flathead were harder to find and seemed to have followed the bait down into the deeper holes and channels. The big flock of black cormorants scoured the river every morning looking for the small bait or prawns.
When the swell was up I decided to go and explore some other fishing spots. I drove further to the north in the Bundjalung National Park and hiked out to the mouth of Jerusalem Creek. This is a shallow tidal creek system that runs out into the ocean a few kilometers north of the National Park run Black Rocks camping area. There is a well marked track that you can walk down to reach it. The track runs along the creek for almost it’s entire length and there are plenty of spots where you can walk along casting.
I fished with my ultra light spin combo which is currently a Daiwa Presso 22 562 ULRS trout rod matched with a Daiwa TD Sol LT III 2500 reel. I was using PE0.8 braided line down to a 10 lb fluorocarbon leader and 1/8th ounce, size 1/0 hook jighead. I love the super fast action of these trout rods have. You can feel every touch, bite, stone or even bump in the sand on the bottom.
Jerusalem Creek starts off narrow and gradually gets wider and shallower as it winds it’s way out to the ocean. I found a few fish in the wide expanses, on the edge of the channels. I couldn’t find any keepers but I saw plenty of good sized flathead lies, especially at the mouth of the creek. I also caught a few whiting in the shallows.
Fishing out on the rocky headlands of the Bundjalung National Park was excellent. The tailor were consistently turning up at Iluka Bluff, Woody Head and Fraser’s Reef at dawn and dusk. They were particularly active around the full moon. On one morning I was surprised to see my lure attacked by an Australian Salmon.
There were plenty of junior jewfish schooling up in the caves and sheltered corners. Even the occasional group of long tail tuna were still swimming by. In October the vast majority of the 50 or so jewfish that I caught were between 50 cm and 60 cm long. The biggest was just over 80 cm and I caught a total of five jewfish that were over 70 cm long.
Another great month of fishing in the Clarence Valley.
June started with some light winds and swell so I could fish on the headlands. On the dawn falling and low tides I fished for tailor. I focused on metal slugs and big hard bodied lures. When the tailor slowed down I swapped to the lighter gear to fish for bream in the wash. I even caught a few mini queen fish on the metal slugs. During daylight there were plenty of small jewfish around and they kept things interesting by regularly hitting the bream soft plastics.
In the river there was ample bait schooling close to the banks. There were flathead everywhere and at dawn and dusk there were also schools of junior giant trevally marauding around and the odd decent sized tailor. I spent a few dusk sessions fishing for the trevally on Goodwood Island. I experimented with a few different lures and concluded that the favourite was the DUO Realis Pencil 110mm surface lure. I fished it with plenty of jerks and pauses. The trevally were not huge (the biggest was around 45 cm), but they are so much fun to fish for, especially when they strike a surface lure.
I caught a few keeper jewfish out on the headlands at low tide on the day of the new moon, on the 6th June. The bottom of the tide is the easiest time to fish on most of the ledges I frequent. I caught the two mid 70’s cm fish in successive casts at about 12.30 pm. The fish may well also bite on the top of the tide but unless its a very calm day with a low high tide, I cant get to them.
For the first time in a while both of these fish were very fat and the one I kept and gutted had a belly full of “yakkas” (yellowtail scad). Hopefully the bait will hang around for a while.
At the end of march the mullet and garfish had started to school up in the Clarence River. As we moved into April the mullet started to emerge at the mouth of the river in huge schools. The month started with some good tailor and jew/ mulloway fishing sessions on the headlands. I even caught some 50 – 60 cm jewfish on my last packet of GULP Lizard soft plastics (another long discontinued pattern that never really caught on).
Out on the rock wall one morning I was casting a small sinking NOMAD Riptide 105 Longcast into the wash, just behind the wave break at dawn. A big fish came out of nowhere and engulfed the lure. I fought it for a while and then looked for a place to land it. I eventually found some flattish rocks I could get down to and manage to pull it up to me by the leader. It was another stonker tailor approaching 90 cm long. I like the action of the NOMAD Riptide but they cannot handle rock fishing, this one was fatally weakened during its first run in with a big fish. Longcast perhaps, long last – not so much.
Once the garfish were heading out into the sea it was only matter of time before the bigger predators turned up. Sure enough at the beginning of April people started to catch a few longtail tuna from the north wall of the river. Whilst chasing tailor I managed to hook a small mackerel and lost a few metal slugs to bite offs, which I assume where bigger mackerel.
I have tangled with plenty of tuna over the years but never managed to stop one. This year I was determined to change things. I now have a bigger reel – a Daiwa Saltist 10,000 size. I matched it with my Daiwa Saltist 962 MH rod and rigged up with 40lb braid and a 50lb fluorocarbon leader.
I started fishing the tide changes on the wall and one Saturday morning, I arrived to find a few longtails had already been caught. Whilst I was rigging up the long tails came past again, of course I wasn’t ready. I finally got sorted and started casting with a hard bodied surface garfish imitation. I did not have to wait long for them to swim by for another pass.
I was doing a sweeping retrieve and moving the lure quite quickly over the surface. My lure was about 4 metres from the base of the rockwall, swimming towards the beach, when a long-tailed tuna rocketed up behind it and took it on the surface.
It took off on a blistering initial run. My drag was set fairly tight. I watch the line peel from the spool and listened to that delightful sound. It’s difficult to tell but it took perhaps a hundred and twenty metres in that first run. It then paused for just a second and was off again.
It finally paused just long enough for me to start winding and getting some line back. The rod tip was beating fast. I watched as the fish now started to swim parallel with the wall.
I was very lucky and there was an experienced tuna fisherman (with gaff) close buy who came to help. He explained the mechanics of turning the fishes head as it started to swim in towards the rocks. The hooked tuna will swim in arcs in front of you and the aim is to gradually reduce the size of those arcs by keeping a constant pressure on the fish. Basically, tuna only swim forwards so you need to allow the fish to turn its head, so that it can swim back in the opposite direction when it finish its arc, at the base of the rocks. In order to do this it needs to feel slightly less pressure, this will make it turn away from the rocks and swim back in an arc the other way. So as the fish approaches the base of the rocks you ease up on the bend in the rod, just a little and it turns back in the other direction. You keep doing this as the fish tires and the arcs get smaller and smaller.
After what felt like and hour ( but was actually only about 15 minutes) the fish was at our feet and my new friend expertly gaffed the fish for me – mission accomplished. It later weighed in at 9.4 kgs.
In March the winds were predominantly from the east and south east. The water temperatures were around 26.9 degrees which was slightly above average. The tailor started to show up in on the headlands towards the full moon. I caught my best tailor of the month on a 60 gram metal slug at Iluka Bluff, just after low tide on an overcast afternoon. It was over 85 cm long. I caught plenty more through the month when the swell allowed. They were nearly always over 40 cm long. I tried a few sinking hard boiled lures but metal slugs caught the biggest fish.
In the run up to the new moon on the 10th I had a couple of good sessions fishing for jewfish/ mulloway at Woody Head. I caught plenty of small jewfish before finally tempting an 80cm unit on a GULP squid vicious soft plastic in the Nuclear Chicken colour.
The river was fishing well and running fairly clear. I caught a few flathead and flounder in the shallows in between the rock fishing sessions.
December was hotter and drier than usual in the Clarence Valley. In fact the only substantial rain for the month came on Christmas Day. The river was crystal clear and full of bait. The flathead were plentiful and even though I could not find them, other anglers were catching mangrove jacks especially on the more humid days..
Since I decided I can no longer afford G.Loomis rods (or perhaps just cant look after them properly), I have been using the Samaki Zing Gen 3 SZG-562SXL for light tackle fishing in the estuary. It is a great rod with a very fast action and sensitive tip. It is also unbelievable value at under A$150. However I never miss an opportunity to spend more money on tackle so I have been looking for something even lighter.
My search for and even more sensitivity put me firmly in trout rod territory and after a few windy days scrolling the internet and reading the reviews I decided to buy a Daiwa 22 Presso 562ULRS. This is an even faster action rod with a 0.3g to 5.0g cast weight rating but Daiwa stresses it should be very durable thanks to its ” X45 and HVF Nanoplus blank “. It is very light and demands a very light line and leader with its tiny guides. I pair it with my Daiwa TD SOL MQ 2500D spinning real, PE 0.8 braid and usually a 10 or 12lb breaking strain fluorocarbon leader. When fishing for flathead and bream in the estuary it really means you feel absolutely everything your lure comes in to contact with. So far I have found it very capable of subduing quite big fish and I am very happy with it. If I hook a small jewfish or a big flathead it makes landing the fish a little more challenging but I am prepared to let the drag do the work.
There were not many days when the swell stayed light enough to fish the rocky headlands. However when conditions were safe enough I went looking for jewfish. I found quite a few. They were mainly hiding under the overhanging ledges but not many were keeper size. The bait was thick and we had a run of bonito following the schools around. The tailor were also hanging around. The bonito eat what the tailor eat and will attack any fast moving lure. I kept a few for sashimi, which I have never tried before and they were delicious. It is a much lighter flavour than fresh tuna. As always eating it within12 hours of catching it probably helps. I am very lucky to live where I do.
August was a great month for winter fishing in the lower reaches of the Clarence River. The mornings were cool with mainly light south westerly winds. The water temperature was a degree or so warmer than August the year before averaging about 20.5 C.
The warmer waters may have been attractive to the flathead. I caught plenty through the month in virtually all sections of the river. I caught the occasional bream but it has definitely not been a good bream year. There was plenty of bait and the cormorants and pelicans herded it around in the shallows.
Out on the rocky headlands there were plenty of tailor. There was ample bait schooling up and when the tailor were biting they did not much mind what lure I threw at them. Quite often I was fishing for a jewfish/mulloway with a big soft plastic when a tailor grabbed the lure. Sometimes I landed it and sometimes it just ate its way up the plastic and then bit through the leader. Either way I would then swap to a hard body and a few casts later I would get another one.
The resident eagle at Woody Head is getting increasingly bold when it comes to stealing fish. On one occasion he picked up a tailor that was still hooked. I had loosened the drag and thrown the fish in a rockpool while I went in search of my pliers. The eagle saw its chance and grabbed the fish and flew off. I heard the screaming drag, grabbed the rod and after a brief tug of war, it dropped the tailor back in the water with the lure firmly in its jaw. It was slightly easier to land second time around.
I could not find any jewfish in August. They were no doubt there but I was away for a week or two at the end of the month, so I did not fish as much as usual.
The weather cooled but very slowly in May. The water temperature dropped quite quickly and averaged about 2 degrees C cooler than May 2022. We had a few misty starts on the river and some spectacular sunrises.
The swell settled and I managed a few rock fishing sessions at Iluka Bluff, Fraser’s Reef and Woody Head. I landed a few jewfish using the GULP Crazylegs Jerkshad and Squidvicious soft plastic lures, mainly in the nuclear chicken colour. The dangling legs of these patterns often seem to attract a strike when other shapes are not working. Only two of the jewfish/ mulloway that I caught in May were big enough to keep. Both were around 80 cm long. There were a few tailor around but not many bream.
The flathead were still hard to find in the river even though there were plenty of jelly prawns hatching on the new and the full moons. The trevally were still marauding around, especially at dawn and dusk.
March and April are traditionally excellent months for flathead fishing in the Clarence River. In 2022 after the catastrophic floods the fishing had bounced back very quickly and I had caught good numbers of flathead throughout the system. But in 2023, April was less successful than it had been the year before. Perhaps the shift from the La Nina to El Nino weather pattern had something to do with it. There was definitely a little less bait around despite comparatively warm water temperatures.
Bait prawn trawling in the Clarence River has been suspended due to an outbreak of white spot disease in the prawn farms that are adjacent to the river. The disease was detected in August 2022 and then again in early 2023 so all of the prawn farms destroyed their stock and and have stopped operating. Its very disappointing for the local economy but it will allow the river bed to recover its weed beds and other fish habitats if the trawling ban stays in place.
I still caught plenty of flathead, a good mangrove jack and a few good trevally. The juvenile jewfish and tailor were also always on the bite around dawn and dusk. The bream, however were noticeably absent (even around the full moon).
In March 2023, I was able to spend a bit more time fishing the rocky headlands of the Bundjalung National Park at Iluka. The swell came down to around the 1 metre mark on a few days and this meant I could safely fish in very close to the base of the various rock ledges at Woody Head, Frazer’s Reef and Iluka Bluff. I think the jewfish are always around, but when the swell is light you have much more chance of getting a lure in front of them for long enough to entice a strike.
I caught plenty of jewfish/mulloway through the month. I was mainly successful around the tide changes, particularly when these coincided with dawn or dusk. In one of the best sessions I caught five mulloway, all of which where over the 70 cm size limit. After a quick spell in the recovery rock pool I released them all. I often keep a fish for dinner but find the smallest fish (i.e. those closest to 70 cm) tend to taste the best. A 70 cm fish will yield about 1.2 to 1.3 kg of boneless fillets and I also roast up the frames and wings for a good meal. The head is usually given away to a neighbour for his crab pots.
The biggest mulloway that I managed to stop and land was just over 90 cm. I caught it at Woody Head, using a 5 inch GULP Crazylegs Jerkshad soft plastic in the nuclear chicken colour on a 3/8th ounce 3/0 hook jighead, 40lb fluorocarbon leader and 30lb braid. I was fishing with my Daiwa Saltist MH962 rod and Saltist 3000 reel. The moon was in the waning crescent phase and was 47% full. The tide had been running in for about an hour.
There were also a few tailor around as there usually are at this time of year and I caught quite a few spinning metal slugs around the rocks.
The fishing was also good in the river with jelly prawns and herring lining the banks. I caught plenty of flathead, small jewfish, bream and a few flounder.
I was away for the second half of November and the swell had picked up again meaning that the rocks were largely unfishable. In the first half my son came down to fish with me and he caught his first mulloway on a soft plastic. It could not have been any smaller but he is off the mark! We caught plenty of good flathead and a few bream in the Clarence River, fishing at Browns Rocks. There were lots of very small jewfish hanging about in the holes or next to the drop offs but they only ever seemed to bite before sunrise or after sun set.
My fishing diary is now so far out of date that posting pictures may seem superfluous. But in the interests of trying to maintain and approximate record of what I caught and when, I will post some pictures for each month and try to catch up.
There were lots of flathead in the river in October and loads of junior jewfish. I only managed one rock fishing session and landed one just legal size jewfish / mulloway. Everything was caught on soft plastics.
July rolled into August and although the La Nina weather pattern persisted, we did have a few cool clear days. There was plenty of bait in the river and a few mullet but according to the professionals the floods had killed the traditional autumn/ winter mullet ‘run’.
The birds would show me where the bait was schooled up and I would plan my fishing around their focus, whenever I could reach it. I caught plenty of flathead in the run ups to the new and full moons. In this river system when the bait is up close to the rock walls that line the bank the flathead are usually sitting directly underneath. I like to fish from high tide down to about half way out but I have caught them at any point in the cycle.
There were lots of junior jewfish in the river
With plenty of bait, the mini tailor were around in big numbers and so were the small jewfish. In some sessions it was hard to catch a flathead because these two species would always beat them to the soft plastic lures
The bream were also a consistent catch. Soft plastics, hard-bodied lures and a variety of fresh and frozen baits all seemed to work. On angler even claimed the only thing they really liked is chicken breast marinated in curry powder. I live and learn.
The big swells put the rocky headlands out of bounds for all but a few days of the month. However, when I could safely fish at Woody Head I caught a few tailor and a couple of legal sized mulloway / jewfish. The lure of choice for the jewfish remained the GULP Squid Vicious soft plastic in the nuclear chicken colour.
July had its fair share of windy days but was also a good fishing month. The mulloway/ jewfish were all around the ledges, when I could safely get at them and I caught plenty of keepers.
When the swell is up I focus on land-based fishing around Iluka and Yamba. If you have a pair of waders the options are pretty much endless and you can always find a spot to get out of the wind.
Fishing with my light rig and a 12lb fluorocarbon leader I caught plenty of decent flathead on soft plastics and small hard bodies. I also caught a few bream and tailor on these lures. The best tailor were caught working hard bodied minnow lures along the riverbanks at dusk. I got bitten off a few times like this. The biggest tailor I landed from the river where about 40cm long.
By the beginning of May the Clarence River was fishing pretty well. The water was clear on the higher tides but wading around quickly stirred up the newly laid sediment. The floods had washed away a lot of sand and sediment from the rocky bottomed areas and dumped it in new spots. The rain continued but not on a scale that would cause more flooding.
A keeper sized Mulloway
The junior jewfish started to school up around the overhangs and drop offs in the river and sometimes I would catch 5 or 6 in row on lightly weighted soft plastics. The biggest of these junior mulloway were about 35cm long. The little mulloway love soft plastics but strike in a completely different way to flathead. Flathead smash the soft plastic with a hard and noticeable thud, where as the mulloway seem to slowly mouth the plastic before trying to swallow it.
The weather was cool and so was the water. I caught bream, flathead and some small trevally in the river. There were plenty of small jelly prawns and the bream were often to be found feeding on these, as they schooled up in the stingray holes on the flats. On several days I caught a bag limit of five flathead and kept the fish to feed the family.
Lots of variety fishing in the Clarence River in May 2022
The swell dropped off for a few days in the middle of the month and I caught several keeper size jewfish at Woody Head. I also hooked a few giant trevally on big soft plastic minnows. I had one session fishing the rock platform at Shark Bay on a falling tide. I caught a couple of small tailor just on dusk.
A few good fish from the Bundjalung National Park headlands
For most of April the Clarence and Richmond Rivers continued to run completely brown. The rain kept coming in bursts. There were no more floods but the displaced silt and sediment washed around. Towards the end of the month a little clarity returned on the higher tides. The flathead were back quite quickly, in their usual spots, even when the water was still pretty murky.
By about the 20th the catfish were thinning out and the flathead were solid. I did best fishing with high contrast and dark coloured soft plastics stirring up the bottom with a 1/6th ounce, 1/0 hook jighead. A few bream re-appeared. There were quite a lot of zombie fish with sores on them but the flathead all looked ok. Perhaps they are hardier than the bream.
I could not get out to fish the rocky headlands as the swell was constant, but I presume the jewfish were also out there.
We had plenty of rain through early February and there was not much fishing to be done in the muddy brown waters of the Brunswick, Richmond, Wilsons or Clarence River.
In the middle of the month the Clarence River started to clear up a bit and I fished the flats at Browns Rocks, near Iluka. I saw quite a few big flathead lies so they were definitely back in the river after the deluge. I fished my light rig with minnow and paddle tail soft plastics and a 10lb fluorocarbon leader. I was mainly using 1/8th and 1/6th ounce jigheads. I caught a few flathead and a lot of small jewfish. The tailor were also a constant and I had a few snip offs.
The Clarence River began to clear up after lots of rain in mid-February
On the 20th the swell eased off and I had a fish on the rock platform at Woody Head in the Bundjalung National Park. I started with soft plastics on my heavy set up and caught a few bream. I moved around, casting until the tide started to run in and swapped to a GULP Crazylegs Jerkshad in the Lime Tiger colour. I was using a 3/8th ounce jighead and 40lb fluorocarbon leader. After a couple of drops I felt the weight of a good fish. I pulled its head out from under the ledge but it was too heavy and kept thrusting its nose back down into the cunjevoi. The swell wasn’t big enough to help me and soon my leader was tightly tangled. The fish swam away leaving my jighead firmly lodged in the rocks. It had felt like a jewfish but trevally are also good at using this technique to free themselves.
I tied on the same set up and threw it out again. Three casts later I was onto a fish again. It was not as powerful as the first but it still tried to get under the ledge. I let it run a little way but when I put some pressure on it swam out rather than in and I was abled to subdue it. It was a decent school jewfish about 65cm to 70 cm long. I took a picture and speared it back into the water pretty quickly.
There are so many sharks in this zone that I am not sure whether these released fish have much chance of survival. Hopefully they swim straight back under the ledge.
A nice jewfish from Woody Head
After a few more river fishing sessions the rain set in again. This time it just did not stop and the soaked river catchments could not absorb it. A low off the east coast dropped solid rain for three days and nights and the whole Northern Rivers area of New South Wales suffered the worst floods in living memory. Lismore was completed wiped out and Broadwater/ Wardel/ Mullumbimby/ Ocean Shores/ South Golden Beach/ Brunswick Heads, Fingal Head and many more areas were completely flooded and rendered in accessible for days.
Telstra and the NBN, it transpired, had chosen to route their entire regional telecommunications backbone through a basement telephone exchange at Wardell which was 5m under water. This made local communications next to impossible, severely hampering rescue and recovery efforts. The devastation was complete. People dragged their flooded belongings out onto the streets and the clean up began.
On the Clarence River the flood waters cause massive fish kills. Dead mullet, mulloway, flathead, bream washed ashore along the banks, unable to survive the sudden deluge of fresh and filthy water.
I had a quick fish at Iluka in the beginning of the New Year before the weather turned wild and stormy in early January. The flathead and small jewfish were still in the river. I did best fishing the run out tides before we had some really heavy rain that turned the river brown in the middle of the month.
For the rest of the month I escaped Australia for a visit to my relatives in England. The UK seemed to have already moved on to living with Covid and although restaurant and pub staff were still masked up, everybody else was over it. It was bloody cold and I caught a stinking cold but regular RAT and PCR tests refused to say it was Covid. The plane was already packed with travellers keen to reunite and the additional Covid checks and paperwork made the tedious process of long haul travel more miserable than ever. I was glad to get back to Australia for some fishing in February.
Most of us were now getting vaccinated against the Wuflu with the exception of a few very boring people who insisted on sharing (at length) the reasons why they weren’t. I carried on fishing (and slowly going bankrupt).
We finally had a break in the swell in late November. It was still grey, windy and rainy but I was able to get back out on the rock platform at Woody Head and fish through a middle of the day low tide. The moon was 25 days old and waning. It was about 20% visible.
It looked like perfect jewfish weather but after a few casts a good tailor grabbed my soft plastic. I landed it and changed tactics. I rigged up a metal slug. I was using a 40 gram multi-coloured metal slug from Gillies. It soon found its mark and after a couple of casts I connected with another tailor. It was a decent fish, about 65cm long. I decided to keep that one for supper. I connected and then dropped another two tailor and then swapped back to a soft plastic set up to try for a jewfish.
Tailor will always hit a soft plastic if they are passing
I selected one of my rapidly declining store of GULP Crazylegs Jerkshads in the Lime Tiger colour and put it on a 1/4 ounce, size 2/0 jighead and lobbed it out just in front of me. I was using my battered Daiwa Demonblood 962 H rod and Daiwa TD SOL III LT 6000D-H spinning reel. I was using 40lb braid and 40lb fluorocarbon leader. I made a few casts with no results. I moved a bit further along the rock platform. I kept dropping the soft plastic in close to the rocks. After a while I felt some resistance, paused and set my hook. The fish tried to swim under an overhang but I managed to pull it out and land it. It was a school jewfish. It was about 60cm long and so after a few pictures I sent it back into the ocean. I could not find anymore fish that day.
Tailor and jewfish/mulloway from Woody Head
The swell came back up but the Clarence River still fished pretty well for flathead and smaller tailor all through the month.
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