It seems the Mid North Coast is copping a real hammering with strong southerly winds one day, followed with gusty north-easterly winds the next, the weather this past week can't make up its mind as to what season we are in.
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This kind of weather pattern can often lead to inconsistent results on the angling front, however there is still some great action to be enjoyed by those willing to put in the time and effort.
In the Macleay River region, flathead numbers remain excellent with best reports coming from those fishing lures during the day. Offshore, despite windy conditions there have been excellent catches of snapper from most reefs, on both soft plastics and bait. Wider out, anglers have reported catches of kingfish, pearl perch and mulloway, with live bait seeing the better results of catches.
Down south in the Camden Haven region for anglers fishing off the rocks, things have been a little on the quiet side, however those chasing luderick on cabbage still report some nice catches along with the odd drummer still inhabiting the washes around Perpendicular Point and around Diamond Head.
Bream numbers have also been reasonable, with ledges around Bonny Hills worth a look.
For the offshore anglers, those who have got out in the brief periods of decent weather report there are still good numbers of snapper and pearl perch on most reefs, along with plenty of nannygai and a few kingfish from the wider grounds.
For game fishing enthusiasts, striped and blue marlin will be well worth chasing from now on, as well as mahi mahi.
With the FAD now somewhat settled and beginning to get a little growth, no doubt the fish will soon follow.
In the Hastings River area, flathead and whiting are once again the best bets with numbers and quality of both species improving each week. On the flathead front, most sections of the Hastings are worth a look, with good reports coming from around Rawdon Island, Hibbard and Pelican Island in particular.
Lures have been by far the most productive approach, with the surface and bent varieties seeing terrific responses in shallow water from the better-quality fish.
In the upper reaches, bream have been quite consistent, whilst the bass action has certainly picked up over the past week.
Offshore, reports from the past week that it was quiet all around with only the odd snapper caught on bait and some teraglin caught further north around Crescent Head and Point Plomer.
Hopefully over the coming weeks we start to see some more pelagic species off our coast as they get pushed south in the current. There were also a few reports of bar cod and kingfish for those deep dropping in closer escaping the current.
I believe there is an opportunity for a deep drop before we head into summer as this time of year, we do see the odd day or two where the current backs off and the deeper species seem to fire.
