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Fishing Sydney Kingfish Flathead Jewfish Big bream Cobia & Remora Samson Fish Amberjack Rainbow Runner Watson’s Leaping Bonito Tropical Long Tom

▲TopFishing Sydney

May is one of the most diverse months of the year. All the summer fish are feeding up frantically to put on some fat for winter and some of the winter fish are starting to make an appearance . You will generally pick up the bigger specimens of most species at this time of year. To top it all off weather patterns are very stable making fishing on the lower harbour a pleasure and because air temps are starting to cool down general boat traffic is tapering off, giving fishos a bit more space to work.

It’s a time for mixed bags which means working a variety of baits, lures and techniques. Flatties are firing as are bream, tailor and kings so don’t put the lures away yet. In fact when it comes to bream and flattie luring there is no better time of year.

Trolling minnow style lures up around Rushcutters bay will produce whopping tailor.

▲TopKingfish

Kings will also be sitting deeper so its time to add a bit of weight to your stickbaits. Best method is to put a barrel sinker above a swivel ahead of about 1m mono trace. The marker buoys are still the spots to try but let your lures sink right to the bottom before ripping them back in.

▲TopFlathead

Flatties will be prolific up the back of the bays around the boat moorings in the lower reaches and ,once again, finding the bait clouds will be the key to success. They will be feeding on anchovies so lures like the Tsunami split tail minnow bounced along the bottom , under the bait schools, should be successful.

▲TopJewfish

Jewies will start to fire now and May through to June is peak season for luring up a Jew in the upper reaches and around the bridges. Kings are going nuts on fresh squid baits and this is the time when you are most likely to pick up a Jew as a by-catch of chasing kings. Baits for kings are usually suspended somewhere mid water and the bottom but I would thoroughly recommend putting at least one big squid bait on the bottom to increase your chances of picking up a stray Jewfish. Of course its well worth targeting jews specifically now and you will find them around the wrecks reefs and holes in the upper reaches. Work big squid baits on the bottom and fish the tide changes.

I rarely use live fish baits but at this time of year its worth having at least one out with the chance of picking up big flatties, Jew, Dory, kings or big tailor. You will find a few gar starting to move in and really big kings go nuts for them.

▲TopBig bream

Big bream move down into the channels and holes in the lower harbour and a few trevally will start to come in so its worth having a bit of burley going and a cut bait of pilchard or salted mackerel fished near the bottom.

Despite the fact that the water is cooling down, tropical ring-ins are traditionally at their best now.

▲TopCobia & Remora

Your chances of ever catching a cobia are slim but might be improved if you target them specifically. They are most common between Feb. and May inclusive. Most captures have coincided with a large influx of sharks into the harbour (which we have certainly had this year) and captures of Remora in the same area. The fish I cleaned one had three stingrays in its gut which is a fair indication that they feed on or near the bottom. Discussions with LGB boys revealed that the best locations are rock platforms that fall onto a sand bottom. Best baits include sand crabs, yakkas, squid and slimies and, who knows, it might even be worth putting out a baby stingray. Best spots in the harbour would include Cannae pt , Nth Head , Middle head and Clifton gardens. They are the most delicious pelagic I have ever eaten and is more like reef fish than game fish. This most likely reflects their diet.

▲TopSamson Fish

Samson fish are much more common but fluctuate in numbers with our best year producing over 50 and our worst only 2. Generally they appear to be coming more common. They can come in as early as December but are most prolific around Easter You will also find that the years that Amberjack are most prolific the Samson are least and vice versa. They are most often taken in the lower reaches but we have caught a few upstream in middle harbour.

They are caught in most of the spots that you take kings and are usually a by catch. We have taken a few trolling lures along the washaway/dobroyd run and over in quarantine bay but they are primarily a bait target. Best bait is squid by a long way followed by yakkas and slimies. I generally fish just below mid water for kings but if you are specifically targeting Sams then drop it a bit deeper but not on the bottom. On average they run at about 3kg but we did get one weighing 6kg one year. Best spots are Fairlight pt, Dobroyd and Quarantine bay. They are good eating

▲TopAmberjack

Amberjack can at times be very common. One season we were taking one amber to every two kings. Their average size is about 2kg but every year we get a handful at 6kg and once again usually a by-catch of king fishing.

Unlike Sams they are targeted specifically with exactly the same method you would for kings. The little ones are happy on squid strips but all the big ones have taken live squid. We have taken a couple on deep jigged slug-go’s but they are mostly a bait proposition. We have caught them in Feb and March but they are at their best in April / May. Prime spots include the Spit for the larger fish, Dobroyd , middle head and North head. We have taken a few up at Pickering pt in middle harbour. They have very similar eating qualities to kings.

▲TopRainbow Runner

You will see the occasional rainbow runner but like cobia they are very rare. They are always small around 1kg and swim with kings. There was a school of them at the yellow marker near quarantine a few weeks back but that is the first time I have seen them for six years.

▲TopWatson’s Leaping Bonito

Watson’s Leaping Bonito come in rarely. I can only remember 3 seasons when they have entered the harbour but they were in huge numbers so they are feast or famine. You will catch them with small metal slugs just as you would normal bonito. They often swim with frigate mackerel They are ordinary tucker being very red meat, certainly much more so than bonito. I’ve never seen them leap.

▲TopTropical Long Tom

Tropical Long Tom come in most years in large numbers but are seldom caught simply because they are so hard to hook. If you get them to swallow a small unweighted bait they are great sport leaping high and often. They are mostly in the lower reaches, particularly around Nth Head.