Blue swimmer crabs and monster flathead can be found inside the port. Blue swimmer crabs and monster flathead can be found inside the port. LIKE so many, Christmas is my favourite time of the year. Time for the family to gather and time to all sit at the same table. This year give the turkey […]
Stockton Beach bream.
THIS Christmas give rock fishing a miss and concentrate your efforts on the beach. Family-friendly, the local beaches have loaded up with cracker whiting and thumping big snowy white bream. Unlike their cousins that live in the estuary, beach bream are broad shouldered and pearly white. In the kitchen the beach bream can be filleted […]
Whiting season in full swing.
DECEMBER means warm water, Christmas Bush, growing excitement and whiting. Big, broad shouldered, bright eyed, 40cm whiting swimming onto all the beaches between Stockton and Fingal. Recent reports suggest we are in for a bumper season as schools of whiting have taken up residence in the shallows on the beaches. Catching a whiting is not […]
AUSTRALIAN rugby union international Mark Gerrard took a break from his Warringah coaching duties to spend a few days walking the beaches and catching fish on and around Broughton Island. A Wallaby on 23 occasions, Mark was a first-time visitor to Broughton Island and has vowed to return. Accompanying Mark was Scott Levi, announcer of […]
The original ‘Duncan E McBride’ moored in Esmeralda Cove on Broughton Island.
JAMES (Jimmy) Thurston Hill, one of seven children, was born in the Hunter Valley town of Kurri Kurri in 1908. Jimmy, who suffered from rheumatic fever as a child, qualified as an electrician and began working in the mines which further impacted on his health. In 1931, for health reasons and the prospect of a […]
A unique snap of Esmeralda Cove on Broughton Island.
THE “Broughton Islands” were named after Captain William Broughton, whose first visit to our coastline was in August 1795 when he sought shelter, during adverse weather, in the lee of the islands near the entrance to Port Stephens on board HMS Providence. The name “Broughton Islands” appears to have been adopted by the 1860s with […]
SHORTLY after finishing school at Nelson Bay High, Darren “Doddy” Dodd found work on the Nelson Bay waterfront. As a 16-year-old, Doddy started preparing seafood by opening oysters, cooking crabs and lobsters and filleting fish. It has been recognised, over the past 38 years, that Doddy has developed into a master of his craft of […]
Local champ Benny Doolan with an offshore monster snapper.
OFFSHORE fishing from Birubi north to Broughton Island is as good as it gets. Snapper is without doubt the most sought after fish because of its tenacious fighting qualities and outstanding performance in the kitchen. The offshore coastal stretch to Seal Rocks, including the islands, is dominated by reef – ideal habitat for snapper. Mulloway […]
OVER the coming weeks, if my Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) site is accurate, we are in for some rough weather accompanied by a bumpy sea. As the sea continues to settle the local headlands and rocky outcrops along our coastline, between Birubi and Tomaree, become a focus for those who chase a tenacious scrapper we […]
Broughton Island, a fishing paradise.
ONCE a little-known NSW island, Broughton has become a ‘must visit’ destination for fishermen, boaties and day trippers. Over recent years the island has changed socially, for the better, with an influx of families rather than a domination of fishermen. Bird watching, hiking, photography, snorkelling and of course fishing are all part of the island […]
