All posts by WFS Admin

Who is WFS Admin? Over about 45 years I fished most of the Aussie mainland and Tasmania. I mapped Top End river rockbars, reefs and wrecks using early sonar mapping software. I published the North Australian Fishing and Outdoors Magazine (closed it when COVID took off), and still publish the biennial FISH FINDER book of fishing maps. I was Sunday Territorian fishing columnist for two decades. Perhaps more importantly, I have caught 20lb+ snapper off Adelaide's metro jetties :) Also have great memories of catching tommies, chow and slimies at Port Giles and Edithburgh with my dad, and fishing in England for everything from carp and grayling to cod and plaice. This site is pretty much a love job, so be patient with site issues. Fishos can help by posting useful comments, fishing reports and feedback. Fish on!

Spring fishing in Sydney – what fish to catch around Sydney in Spring

As the weather warms around Sydney, the wind also picks up and afternoon sea breezes kick in.

Sydney Harbour fishing improves in late spring, from around November.

Sydney offshore waters have migratory tropical fish that leave when the water cools each year, including most of the gamefish species.

These gamefish return with the warm water of late spring, with fishing peaking in mid to late summer.

Many bread and butter species bite well in spring, and freshwater fishing improves as the weather warms.

As global oceans warm, Sydney fishing might kick off earlier some years, with more tropical species might be caught.

Fish around Sydney in spring …

Australian salmon – late winter and spring.
Bass – bass are often at their best in October.
Bream – all year. They tend to move upstream in summer.
Flathead – all year, but a good run of fish in September/October, and that applies to bluespot, tiger and dusky flathead.
Flounder – all year, but a good run of fish in September/October.
Garfish – all year.
John Dory – fish deep over bait grounds with livebait in early spring.
Kingfish – spring and summer.
Mahi mahi – from September, best between December and February.
Morwong – from late October.
Mulloway – often caught in spring.
Pink snapper – all year, but on offshore grounds they are often slowing down from late spring.
Silver trevally – good is September, slower after that until next winter.
Squid – all year. Try jetties with night lights, but many locations will produce at dawn and dusk.
Tailor – all year, but best late winter and early spring.
Yellowfin tuna – late winter and until September.

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fish finder book

Sydney tides
Sydney offshore artificial reef
Sydney estuarine artificial reefs
NSW stocked waters
Sydney dam levels
NSW dam levels
NSW fishing regulations
NSW marine parks

Email corrections, additions, pictures or video here.

Spring fishing in Melbourne – what fish to catch around Melbourne in Spring

Melbourne (Williamstown) tides
Melbourne dam levels
VIC fishing regulations
VIC marine parks

Melbourne weather gets windier in the spring months.

This tends to dirty the clear winter waters, and dirty water and turbulence can be helpful when chasing fish in shallow water.

There is increasing traffic traffic at the boat ramps as the weather warms and the October snapper run starts.

Melbourne winds tend to blow northerly in winter, and southerly in summer, and as spring sun warms the land, sea breezes begin.

Inside Melbourne’s two bays of Port Phillip and Western Port, lee shores provide calmer landbased fishing in spring’s windier weather.

Victoria’s tidal range is small, being near 1m at Portland and under 2m at the NSW border.

Nonetheless, high tides tend to be the best time for landbased anglers and the turn of the tide is best when boat fishing.

Fish to catch around Melbourne in spring …

Garfish – best in winter but still some around in spring.
Barracouta – all year.
Black bream – these are in the lower parts of estuaries in winter, and move upstream in summer.
Bass – in estuaries in winter and spring, and move upstream in summer.
Estuary perch – these are also in the lower parts of estuaries in winter, and move upstream in summer.
Flathead – flathead bite all year, with big fish caught in spring.
Leatherjackets – these bite well in spring.
Mulloway – can fish well during winter in the lower parts of rivers.
Pink snapper – these bite well in spring, usually from October through summer.
Salmon – these are about in spring.
Silver trevally – winter for bigger fish, still some around in spring.
Tailor – all year but best in spring.
Trout, brown and rainbow – usually good in early spring.
Squid – these fish well when the water is clear, which happens less in spring. Try jetties with night lights, but many locations will produce at dawn and dusk.
Yelloweye mullet – best April to October.

Some ideas …

Salmon and yelloweye mullet off the beaches
Snapper around the bays from October
Gummy sharks in Western Port Bay
Salmon in southern section of Port Phillip Bay
Leatherjackets around rocky foreshores

Further afield …

Early spring – bream and estuary perch in the Great Ocean Road lower estuaries
Salmon on surf beaches

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fish finder book

What will rising sea temperatures mean for Australian fishing?

Fish such as pink snapper, yellowtail kingfish and king george whiting appear to have increased in numbers in southern Tasmania in recent years, a probable indication of warming waters.

If global sea temperatures keep rising as fast as they have in 2023, what’s next for Aussie fishos?

Coral reefs globally are already at risk of a major bleaching event in the current El Nino cycle, with record sea surface temperatures seen across the planet.

Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef and WA’s Ningaloo may be affected.

Tasmania is probably the ‘canary in the coal mine’ for overall ocean warming, Tasmanian fish captures can be seen on the Redmap here … https://www.redmap.org.au/region/tas/

Graphics above adapted from https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/sst_daily/ and https://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/charctic-interactive-sea-ice-graph/

Have you already seen changes in your area?

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