FISHING: Rains bring on basket catch

BIG rains this week have muddied up local waterways.

There’s a good clear tideline rolling out of Newcastle Harbour which may well be worth working for jew and any other predators lurking round the flush for a feed.

Anglers report picking up a bit of this, a bit of that, but nothing spectacular this week.

See a slideshow of the past 10 winners of Fish of the Week by clicking below.

Brett Wilkins got good numbers of flathead in close off Birubi last Sunday.

Brett was out on the water with Ivan ‘‘Hozzie’’ Hozjan competing in the regular Maryland Tavern Fishing Club event.

‘‘We got a lot of good quality flathead,’’ he said.

‘‘The odd pan-size snapper. The flathead were in good numbers. The biggest was close to 2kg.

‘‘Me and ‘Ives’ were pretty much going fish for fish for about an hour, then the wind blew us in.’’

Brett reports another club angler got a solid haul of luderick down round Catherine Hill Bay.

‘‘This bloke don’t give much away,’’ Brett quipped.

Like a lot of fishos, Brett is waiting for the water to warm up and the fishing likewise.

‘‘We had water around 20degrees last Sunday, but it’s been patchy,’’ he said.

‘‘I’m really looking to give it a good crack outside this year. I got a 25kg mackerel last year but this year I’m hoping to go after a marlin or something.’’

Brett had the misfortune earlier this year to have all his gear ripped off on the first day of a fishing trip at Harrington.

He’s back on the water now with new gear, but it wasn’t a pleasant experience, he said.

Has anyone else suffered similarly? Post a comment on the Herald’s fishing column website.

Dad one down

GLENN Quinnell likes to take his 14-year-old son Darryan fishing with the boys, but reckons Darryan is often distracted. That all changed last Sunday.

‘‘I had asked him to come and take the rod for a couple of minutes while I fixed my other rod up, and within a couple of minutes he is pulling in what we thought was going to be a shovel nose [shark], as we had already got four of them, and didn’t think he would get it in anyway, as I was rigged up light to see if there were any whiting around,’’ Glenn reported.

‘‘It was a surprise to see the mulloway and I was over the moon to see him catch one, even though all my fishing life I have never managed to get one. Got one up on Dad, he reckons.’’

Shark takes a stroll

GLENN also reports a strange phenomenon witnessed recently involving a hammerhead shark.

‘‘We went up for an early throw [at Blacksmiths], got a couple of salmon and cleaned them,’’ Glenn recalled.

‘‘About half an hour had passed when I turned to my right and this hammerhead shark was just trying to get back into the water only five metres away from me.

‘‘It was about six to seven foot. I yelled out to my mate and he only saw it when it was back in the water and there were no waves so we could see him easily.’’

Glenn wasn’t quite sure his mate believed him when he said it was up on the sand – and then about 30metres down the beach it did the same thing again.

‘‘He believed me then,’’ Glenn said.

‘‘This same shark came up the sand six times in total.

‘‘A couple of blokes turned up and were pulling on their wetsuits to try and catch a wave. I went and let them know it was not a good day for a surf here.’’

Glen said the shark had come up onto the beach four times, then disappeared for 30-odd minutes.

‘‘We were wondering why,’’ Glen said.

‘‘After thinking about it for a while we realised because there was no swell the salmon guts I had thrown back in were floating right along the shore. I went and filleted the salmon then and chucked in the backbone and sure enough it came straight back out the other two times to get that.’’

Anyone else seen sharks do this?

Primary pin-ups

THE Department of Primary Industries has released the names of the 12 lucky winners who will appear on their 2012 Recreational Fishing Calendar. Alas, there were no Hunter area recipients.

Entries are now open for 2013. For entry information and to register for a free 2012 calendar, go to dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/recreati onal/info/photo-competition.

Shuddery shot

FOR those of us who like big sharks caught on camera – and who doesn’t – check out news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8382857 /giant-great-white-shark-circles- boat.

Big babe

WITH his wife due to have their first child this week, Fish of the Week winner Andrew ‘‘Crawdaddy’’ Crawford decided he would sneak out on the lake early last Sunday morning to get in one last fish, knowing it would be his last chance for a while.

The father-to-be didn’t waste his time, delivering a 70cm-plus, 2.7kg flathead on a 7-inch Berkley Gulp.

‘‘My mate Cye ‘The Tackle Sniper’ Buckland had to have a few swipes with the net, though we got her in the boat,’’ Crawdaddy reported.

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via theherald.com.au

~≈~From The World of Fishing News Team~≈~

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