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.