Crabstar Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 Evening. Usually i only do this trip once a year, but will be heading North again in 4 weeks but after this report my mind is telling me not too. Departed Campbelltown NSW approx. 23:30 on Tuesday 30th January and with lack of sleep due to excitement levels we left. We drove through the night to arrive in Macksville 630am. Nambucca River 31/1 Through 4 crab traps out in spot X to see if any muddies were about., Shortly after soaking the pots we decided to flick lures along the river to see what fish was about. We fishing for approx. 10hours that Wednesday for Zero fish in return. We flicked hardbodies, Soft Vibes, Gulps, paddle tails and bait with assorted colors and sizes. Couldn't believe our luck. We checked the Pots that day two have approx. 15 muddies in 4 traps. return a lot of smaller ones with a few stonkers left. Coffs Harbour and Nambucca River 1/2 Conditions were meant to be mint off shore so we darted up the pacific highway and launched the boat to go offshore, Got to the break wall and Muttonbird island to be greeted with messy chop. Boat was back on the trailer and thought we would back the Nambucca river again. This time we fished from Macksville Highway bridge all the way up to Tewinga. (Some serious KM's there) Again we used hardbodies, Soft Vibes, Gulps, paddle tails and bait with assorted colors and sizes, we worked both sides of the shore and middle of the river with various depths and drop offs with no success. What a deflating the trip. Checked the traps again this time we had 15 muddies across 4 traps. returned all the small ones and kept another 2 or 3. Coffs Harbour offshore, Nambucca River and Kalang River 2/2 This was the day where i thought the pressure is on to get some fish. Like offshore from Coffs Harbour, blue water 26 degree water temp with a 0.5 meter sea and swell. You'd think the fishing gods would be kind? Right? Wrong! We launched approx. 7am and pushed out approx. 1km and were in 20m of water, hooked up to a few rock cod (returned) proceeded to push out further into 25m, Finally 2 flathead! To which we thought hey we are on a "patch" , but nope wrong! All went quiet for another hour so we pushed wider, we were drifting in around 30m of water with nothing around, had the police visit us offshore for a safety check, wind got up around 11am went back in (long drive in when the wind gets up to 20knotts in a 420 renegade) Once we arrived back inshore we decided to go back to macksville to check the traps, again more muddies. Took was we were allowed, we decided not to fish Nambucca river that day after 2 days of absolute 0 results. So we went to Kalang River and Urunga, I've never fished it before so we focused around the railway and road bridge, managed to pick up a flatty on a massive paddle tail. I have been fishing the Nambucca River for the last 5 years, 4 of those was either during the floods, or after the floods. This year so far has got to be the worst ever time. I'm due to head back in first week of March but i don't think ill be risking all those KM's and time driving. Forster or Harrington could be a better option.... 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordy Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 Hi Crabstar was up that way myself same time landbased though, flogged the water to a foam very little to show. That included numerous sessions up at the Broadwater as well. Things improved a bit further north around Redcliffe but not much. Maybe all the rain had a bad effect. Funny you had good success with the crabs, as we had more action on big blue swimmers getting tangled in our rigs as opposed to fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustJames Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 Crabstar, this may not float your boat, but with warm, clear water, I would have tried trolling some deep divers around the points/islands and even in between in search of pelagics. First week of March, they should still be around, if that sounds like something you want to try. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kantong Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 Tough fishing mate, but on the upside those crabs must have been great eating! Hopefully the water clears up and the fishing improves for your next session. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bessell1955 Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 The fresh water has put off a lot of fish. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 That's a bummer. Should have stayed home and fished the Hacking instead. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crabstar Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 8 hours ago, Yowie said: That's a bummer. Should have stayed home and fished the Hacking instead. LOL your telling me. Probably would of been a lot more productive! Not to mention the fuel and KM's i done over three days 😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larkin Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 Good effort on the crabs! Shame the fish weren’t playing ball. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now