WITH the colder months just around the corner it is time to reorganise and focus our efforts on fish that are more likely to arrive in our waters.
This is the start of the bream and luderick season so you can expect to see the breakwall in Nelson Bay bristling with rods with an expectant angler on every flat rock.
The sea mullet will arrive within the coming weeks bringing much excitement and activity on our beaches from Stockton to Fingal and into the harbour.
I have been watching the Easter mullet run along our coastline since my earliest days and still it amazes me.
Massive schools of mullet in their millions leave the safety and stillness of the east coast estuaries and venture out into the open ocean, where they are confronted by many dangers and conditions that they have never experienced. The estuary systems boil with fish until the magical signal tells the mullet to swim out to sea.
Old commercial fishermen have told me that the magical signal is when the wind blows from the west.
So intrigued have I been by this annual movement of fish that I wrote a book for young readers with the purpose of explaining to them the magnificence of the event.
“Milly the Flying Mullet” is my attempt at telling the story from the mullet’s perspective.
Snapper stay around for the entire year so there is no need to pack your gear away or garage the boat.
When the right conditions appear anytime of the year the snapper go crackers.
Mulloway, tailor and salmon remain over the coming months.
Come to think of it – not much will change.
By John ‘Stinker’ CLARKE
