April 1, 2021 Forster NSW

The turnaround time from a flooded fishery to a fishing bonanza has been nothing short of amazing! While we are still seeing a significant amount of ‘fresh’ pouring form the estuary on each low tide, we had a dramatic improvement in water quality and temperature over Monday/Tuesday which has really kicked things back into gear.
The estuary is fishing exceptionally well at the moment. Bream are really firing now and while you can still find the odd fish up river, most of the action is concentrated down around the mouth of the estuary with the rock walls fishing better than anywhere else. Bait fishermen have been enjoying the most success this week with baits of Mullet, Bonito, Herring and Slimy Mackerel working particularly well.
The local Flathead definitely slowed considerably due to last weeks’ weather but the increase in water temperature earlier in the week has stirred them back up again, particularly in the lower reaches of the system (from Wallis Island down to the mouth). If you have taken a walk down around the Co-op or break walls this week you will have noticed the big schools of baitfish around, if you want to chase a few Flathead just find the eddies that these bait schools hold up in and the fish won’t be far behind (or under) them!
The local beaches have settled down very nicely and most are producing some cracking catches. 9 Mile has been very consistent, the better fishing has been along the northern half where there has been plenty of Tailor up to about 40cm, solid Bream up to about 1kg and a surprising amount of nice Whiting. Unfortunately, 7 Mile is yet to reform in any decent sort of way so it’s not holding the fish like it normally would at this time of the year, you can still find a few Tailor down there though.
With ocean temperatures hitting 24 degrees and above from about Monday there have been all sorts of things popping up along our coastline, yes there are patches of dirty water about which are fairly lifeless, however if you can find a spot on the rocks with clean water out the front of it you never know what you might find!
Offshore fishing has been noting short of amazing this week. The local Snapper have loved the recent weather events, feeding insanely hard on just about any reef out to about 35m. The bite seems to have slowed a little now but earlier in the week boats reported sessions in the middle of the day where they were catching a fish a cast on just about any bait, plastic or jig that you can think of! The reefs in 40-80m have been all but unfishable due to huge amounts of current, however once you get out to 100-150m you will find workable ground and this week we have seen some great catches of Pearl Perch, Snapper, Kingfish and Bar Cod coming from the deep stuff.
Pelagic enthusiasts also have plenty of be excited about, inshore we have 24 degrees and green-ish water but once you hit the FAD and beyond the water is cobalt blue and up to 27 degrees which has produced Marlin, Mahi Mahi, Wahoo and Yellowfin Tuna this week…..
It’s definitely worth getting out there for a fish this weekend, have a great Easter!