Mid north coast

[GoingFishing]

Gday Raiders

looking at planning a trip somewhere in the mid north coast with a view to target spanish mackerel and maybe some mahi/marlin offshore. Sometime between Jan and March

Can anyone recommend some locations and the best time of year to be there ? 

Willing to drive up to anywhere between Yamba and Port Stephens. 

Any advice would be appreciated.

Sam

[rickmarlin62]

the two stand outs I fish are south west rocks and wooli/Minnie waters...plenty of other spots in between..scotts hd sawtell shoals coffs mulloway arrawara...barriers bay at plomer hat head.....even crowdy if they push south like the last few years...rick

[Peter Nelson]

South West Rocks is definitely good around that time of year.

Be carefull going over the bar as it can get a bit wild.

[tyrone07]

+1 for Wooli, Wooli itself is a bar crossing which if your not experienced is not fun especially when the arvo nor Easter is blowing with a run out tide. Minnie is a beach launch, once your out the options are endless. Not much in Wooli, the pub does a gun feed though.

[Scratchie]

If you can drive past Port Stephens then good luck to you! Has it all and in your boat if you head to seal rocks during that time your a chance of a Spanish too! More options than a Ferrari. 

I was at at wooli/Minnie in September. Definitely a great place to fish offshore but the bar looked dodgy at wooli even in moderate conditions and your boat,  I wouldn’t even try a beach launch at Minnie. 

Good luck on deciding Sam! 

Cheers scratchie!!! 

[GoingFishing]

Thanks all for your ideas and input.

Scratchie i guess your right, it will be very hard to drive past Port Stephens, only a 2 hour drive from my place !!

Which month would you suggest is best between Jan-March? You are of course welcome aboard Jeff

Also, for those who hve been to SWR, is there somewhere safe to park the boat? 

Thanks Sam

 

[Scratchie]

I know I’m a little bias Sam. Haha March is probably the best time to fish up here. All species available! 

Swr is certainly another spot worth looking at. I haven’t fished there first hand offshore only LB. But being the closest point to the shelf on the east coast, there’s a good variety of Pelagics to target! 

Cheers scratchie!!! 

[Towlersbay boy]

I will be up at SWR next week. There are a few launch options other than the bar that being back creek or the jail. Both are subject to swell & sand build up. The bar is ok but you need to time the tides & can get real dodgy real quick with a change in swell. March is best but we got our best Spanish In Easter a few years back, its all dependent on current & water temp. If you want Spanish go as far north as you can they just get more plentiful.

Hopefully I will have something to report next week. 

Cheers   

[PaddyT]

Nothing wrong with Coffs- no bar , islands, heaps of options for spannies-Port Stephens wouldnt really be a go to if you have your heart on Spannies- go north

[Jiggy]

Minnie Waters Beach launching; I used to be on another fishing site and one of the members lived at Minnie Waters most of the year. He used to launch a 7 metre platey from there, with a tractor, often solo. He said it was OK as long as you were quick otherwise you'd get stuck. It's in the corner of the lagoon so swell isn't much of an issue though I guess you can have good and bad days.

I was up around there a couple of years ago, not fishing, and there were plenty of boats being launched and no one seemed to be having trouble. It was April and a lot of Spanish and snapper being caught.

May be trying it out myself come March/April, wouldn't try Wooli as it scares the crap out of me. If bar and beach crossings are a no go then try Coffs. Still good fishing wise with a ramp in the harbor and lots of things for the non fishing people to do.

Cheers

Rob

 

[rickmarlin62]

you launch at the very bottom of the sand in above foto  as far into the corner as possible..you can launch large boats so long as you are quik..muck around too long and bogging is imminent..we drive on drive off..drop off passenger and circle till they back trailer down then drive on or winch on fast then get out quik....wooli is not that bad if you are capable and have experience with bars and reading a sea...rick

[GoingFishing]

That is all very good information. I kinda do have my heart set on catching a Spanish mack, both because I want to tick off my bucket list and also because I tried them recently and tasted great.

Winnie seems like a no go for me, whilst my boat is big enough to take it on I have absolutely zero experience with bars, and wouldn't want to go out on a bar as a first timer without having someone who has done it many times before with me.

Despite the fact that my boat + motor + equipment weighs close to 1.4 tonne I can actually slide the boat right off the trailer, and have a trailer catch for driving on solo. So a beach launch at SWR might be possible.

7 hours ago, Towlersbay boy said:

I will be up at SWR next week. There are a few launch options other than the bar that being back creek or the jail. Both are subject to swell & sand build up. The bar is ok but you need to time the tides & can get real dodgy real quick with a change in swell. March is best but we got our best Spanish In Easter a few years back, its all dependent on current & water temp. If you want Spanish go as far north as you can they just get more plentiful.

Hopefully I will have something to report next week. 

Cheers   

Would you happen to know where the sand build normally builds up in back creek or the jail? Just so I know what to look out for if I do decide to do SWR?

 

Thanks again everyone.

[GoingFishing]

7 hours ago, Towlersbay boy said:

I will be up at SWR next week. There are a few launch options other than the bar that being back creek or the jail. Both are subject to swell & sand build up. The bar is ok but you need to time the tides & can get real dodgy real quick with a change in swell. March is best but we got our best Spanish In Easter a few years back, its all dependent on current & water temp. If you want Spanish go as far north as you can they just get more plentiful.

Hopefully I will have something to report next week. 

Cheers   

that's great, thanks for your reply. Please post up a report as I imagine lots of raiders (including me) will be keen to get a real time update on whats happening up there.

[rickmarlin62]

the jail can be very shallow on low tides..back creek gets a buildup of sand at the entrance and gets too shallow to drive thru..saying that we have pushed the boat thru then got going..same as hat head creek...Minnie woul be easy for you...we ve launched 2 tonne pride bahiamar with diesel no probs...you can catch mackerel 1/2 mile from Minnie on close reef or hit sandon shoals or nth solitary...unreal place...rick

[Smasher]

10 hours ago, Jiggy said:

I used to be on another fishing site and one of the members lived at Minnie Waters most of the year. He used to launch a 7 metre platey from there, with a tractor, often solo.

I once went diving with a shop / group that are based at Mullaway just north of Woolgoolga.

The skipper launched what must have been at least an 8 meter vessel off the beach, with a tractor.

Most impressive is that he only had one arm and he was smoking a cigarette as he manoeuvred his tractor to back down the beach 'ramp'.  I didn't dare ask him how he lost his arm. 

[Peter Nelson]

5 hours ago, GoingFishing said:

That is all very good information. I kinda do have my heart set on catching a Spanish mack, both because I want to tick off my bucket list and also because I tried them recently and tasted great.

Winnie seems like a no go for me, whilst my boat is big enough to take it on I have absolutely zero experience with bars, and wouldn't want to go out on a bar as a first timer without having someone who has done it many times before with me.

Despite the fact that my boat + motor + equipment weighs close to 1.4 tonne I can actually slide the boat right off the trailer, and have a trailer catch for driving on solo. So a beach launch at SWR might be possible.

Would you happen to know where the sand build normally builds up in back creek or the jail? Just so I know what to look out for if I do decide to do SWR?

 

Thanks again everyone.

Back creek changes all the time and can be a bit shallow on low tide, they dredge it from time  to time as well.

As for the jail ramp, the nation parks can close it off for access with locked gates. Not sure what times.

[Towlersbay boy]

On ‎18‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 5:26 PM, GoingFishing said:

that's great, thanks for your reply. Please post up a report as I imagine lots of raiders (including me) will be keen to get a real time update on whats happening up there.

Hey Mate sorry been smashed at work. The jail has a gate that opens at 7am I think to stop people making noise as it is next to a camping area. Last time I was up there in October the ramp was quite deep with little sand but super slippery & had to lock diffs to get boat out. On a low swell day the bar is fine & you can blast out no worries. The channels change with back creek as its a surf break & gets super shallow at low tide but its a tiny creek so the current pushing out is not as bad & you only have to clear 1 maybe 2 waves. I will update you when I get up there.

 

[Orange roughy]

Hi, I grew up at Wooli and watched many boats come unstuck on the bar. Usually boa ties/fishos that were visiting. A golden rule is if the locals aren't out, there is generally a reason so ask why?  Wooli bar crossing should be avoided if possible on a run out tide, especially if the NE is blowing. A run in tide is no issue at all, wait, watch, count commit,  I would go out as far as the Bommy in a 12Ft tinny with a 15hp,as for the fishing, cracking!! Lots of reefs, heaps of variety, caught everything from Marlin, Kingies, trevs, snapper, Spanish, pearlies, flathead, big cobia, samson etc.. the Solitary islands (approx 10k run out E of the bar) provide some good diving options as well if that's your thing.  Lots of pro boats worked out of there when I was a kid, mainly trapping, and lobsters in season. Minnie is a cracking spot as well, we seemed to get the bigger snapper off Minnie and also more Trag for whatever reason.