A light, warm summer breeze pushed us slowly south past the edge of a long shallow shoal. Our two deadbaits, suspended under styrene floats, had only been in the water a short time when the ear-piercing sound of a ratchet frightened the daylights out of us! One of the Shimano TLD 20s was shedding its 8kg line at an alarming rate, so we had to quickly fire-up the outboard and chase the fish. In under a minute, there was only 100m of string left on the reel, when thankfully the fish slowed up!
We had little choice but to run the speedster down with the boat, and I managed to gain all but 50m of line before the fish decided to go for the depths. This is typical of a big Spanish mackerel, which, after its customary long and blistering run, makes you work for line. On light line they are terrific sport: it took about 25 minutes to boat this mackerel weighing 26kg. I suppose by now you're thinking we were probably fishing North Queensland or some other tropical location? Surprise, surprise, this happened close to Sawtell, a couple of miles south of Coffs Harbour, in NSW.
CURRENT AFFAIRS
Coffs Harbour is a unique location and boasts some outstanding sportfishing opportunities. In fact, it offers some of the best inshore fishing on the east coast of Australia. There are so many places to fish its not funny, and many of the productive grounds are within a 'bulls roar' of a safe harbour entrance. Even venturing a few miles to the north or south of the harbour, there are many headlands, reefs and bommies to fish.
Coffs Harbour is an amazing fishery because it's situated far enough north to benefit from the tailend of the warm currents from the Coral Sea, yet far enough south for the warm currents to overlap offshore with the temperate Tasman Sea currents. The mixing of these rich currents is reflected by the huge variety of fish that turn up here at any given time. For instance, there are days when Spanish mackerel compete with yellowtail kingfish for the bait or lure, or a coral trout might be caught among a snapper or pearl perch bite! Believe me, these things can, and do, happen off Coffs Harbour.
Light tackle sportsfishing is immensely popular here and can be enjoyed almost year round. Apart from the Spaniards and others just mentioned, there are a number of tuna species that roam the inshore grounds as well. These range from the humble little frigate mackerel and bonito, to the more robust speedsters like the mackerel tuna and northern bluefin, or longtail tuna as they are referred to these days. Yellowfin tuna were once a regular contender around the offshore islands, but with the yellowfin stocks so depleted - thanks to some irresponsible eastcoast longliners - they're rarely seen anywhere anymore.
The bonito and mackerel tuna are known to stay around these grounds for most of the year, whereas the solid longtails are quite seasonal. These bluefin can be encountered right along the shallow reef-edges and headlands when they migrate to the south coast in autumn and again on their return north in spring. These tuna are fabulous fish to catch on light tackle. Like the big Spaniards, drag settings need to be spot on, as their first long run is an absolute sizzler.
There are two kinds of mackerel that show up here, and both are very seasonal fish. When the water warms in the summer months, these fish stray south in the currents and often stay as late as May or even June. Coffs Harbour boasts some jumbo Spaniards at times, as its well documented these southern migrators are mostly 15kg or better. The Spaniard's smaller cousin, the spotted mackerel, often arrives in good numbers and is certainly a popular fish among small-boat anglers. Both these speedy members of the razor gang make for great sport and good eating, but when targeting these fish make sure the terminal tackle carries a short length of fine single-strand or multi-strand wire attached to the hook. The teeth on these things can slice heavy monofilament leader without even making the rod tip quiver. They also need to be handled carefully when pulled into the boat.
HOODLUM ALERT
Another bunch of speedsters found here belong to the 'hoodlum' family, and they are the yellowtail kingfish, black kingfish (cobia) and samson fish. These fish are all very tough customers and will try to destroy tackle with dirty tactics like running over reef edges or pinnacles. Pound for pound, there's not too many fish that can out-class them, and the bigger they get, the smarter and tougher they are. It's not a bad idea when targeting these fish to use slightly heavier tackle than for the hot-shot surface speedsters. A good length of substantial monofilament trace material with around 75 to 100kg breaking strain is certainly needed to act as a buffer against the reef.
All the sportfish mentioned can be caught using very similar techniques. Trolling dead baits rigged to swim or minnow-type surface and deepdiving lures are sure-fire ways to catch them. Fishing with floaters while anchored up or on the drift near the reef-edges is also a great method. Here, livebaits such as big yellowtail or, best of all, slimey mackerel are a good option, but deadbaits such as large WA pilchards, big garfish or frigate mackerel (if you can get them) are also effective. Remember, in the mackerel season a wire-trace must be used, and it's also a good idea to use either a doublehook rig joined with wire or a ganghook arrangement covering the length of the bait. The sharp eyesight of these 'chomping' mackerel gives them the amazing ability to snip off the part of the bait that hasn't got a hook in it almost every time!
BOTTOMS UP
Another side of Coffs Harbour's great inshore grounds is the phenomenal bottom fishing. With so many reefs close to the coast, it's not hard to bag a swag of different species. The list of delectable tablefish here is even wider and more varied than the gamefish species, and again things turn up here that usually live in the tropics. We've caught critters we would only expect to see north of the Queensland border. The most bizarre capture of all was a solid coral trout! It was caught during a hot snapper bite in May of last year!
The most targeted of the bottom critters here are snapper, teraglin and jewfish, but concentrate on these fish and any damn thing is likely to be hooked. Pearl perch, parrotfish (venus tusk-fish), various perch and cod, morwong, trevally, flathead, leather jackets, etc, are all caught at some stage by the bottom-bashers. There's always something on the chew here. I can't remember a single day in the past six years of fishing this place when we have come home empty-handed.
When the conditions are right, many local bottom-fishing anglers prefer to slow drift and probe the miles of productive grounds. This is when a real assortment of species can often be caught as the baits run across the sand and gravel patches between the hard grounds. On the drift, the basic rig used is the paternoster set-up with one or two droppers and a suitable weight sinker to hold the bottom. Some guys still prefer the simple hand line spooled up with around 15-20kg line, but the popular choice seems to be a lightweight, short boat rod with a medium overhead reel such as a Shimano Speedmaster or TLD.
Anglers who particularly target reef fish prefer to anchor up on their favourite ground and fish with baits on the bottom, as well as with floaters. Again, overhead multiplying reels on short boat rods are a popular choice for the heavier lines, whereas with the floating baits most anglers prefer slightly lighter line classes fished off the larger Shimano baitcasters, baitrunner threadlines or the good old Alvey side-cast reels.
I could go on and on for ages about the amazing grounds off Coffs Harbour, and I haven't even touched on what lies out on the wide deeper reefs or way out over the continental shelf and canyons. Then again, we haven't even looked at what can be found in the local estuaries for that matter, either. There's everything from marlin to mangrove jacks to be caught around this neck of the woods, so if I've got your attention, you should drag your boat there and check the place out!
Coffs Harbour is situated 570km north of Sydney and 350km south of Brisbane. Coffs is a huge, modern township with enormous shopping centres, great resorts, lots of hotel/motel accommodation and plenty of excellent camping areas. The harbour launching facilities are first class, with a multi-boat ramp and loading pontoon inside a small inner harbour. Where the ramp is situated there is also plenty of parking for cars/trailers, etc. The large, modern Coffs Harbour Amateur Fishing Club is situated on the hill just a stone's throw from the boat ramp and with its sweeping, breathtaking views of the ocean, you won't find a better place to relax with a nice cold draught after a spot of fishing!