Since arriving at my new home in Maclean a couple of weeks ago, any spare time I’ve had has been spent fishing or thinking about fishing. Although I have fished the general area a few times previously while passing through, the sheer size of the mighty Clarence river – not to mention a vast coastal playground with which to discover – dictates a very exploratory approach. In an attempt to familiarise myself with the local fisheries that’s exactly what I’ve been doing, dividing my efforts in time on the water, time talking to locals and time exploring maps and google earth. The more I look the more I find and as each day passes it becomes increasingly apparent that I have a whole lot of exploring to do. The downside to this is that it’s going to take some time before I can confidently say that I’m intimately familiar with the area. The upshot, of course, is that hands-on kayak fishing exploration is a whole lot of fun and I’m not about to run out of new fishing grounds in a hurry. From bream to tuna, from estuary to open water, my wide-ranging piscatorial tastes should be well and truly covered. 2009 should be an interesting, if not highly entertaining year for me.

The majority of my efforts since arriving have been centred around the local waters of the Clarence river at Maclean. While I’m waiting for the tuna and mackeral to show up off the Clarence coast I’m taking the opportunity to try and find the most productive spots within a liesurely paddle distance from the Maclean boat ramp. On the whisper of long-time locals I’ve been directed to a fairly small rocky reef-like area that can be found about a km downstream from the boat ramp in the centre of town. It takes me all of 3 minutes (if I take my time) to walk my kayak to the ramp from home, so it’s been easy to get out whenever I can spare a couple of hours. It hasn’t taken me long to figure out that the local trawlers have pretty much gutted the central passage of the river but as quietly advertised, the rocky shallows has certainly produced the goods for me so far.

There are two spots specifically that I’ve found to hold good numbers of fish downstream from the ramp. One of them is the afore-mentioned patch of rocky shallows, which is a couple hundred metres upstream from the McFarlaine bridge. It’s a pretty easy patch to find, highlighted by a small mound of rocks that protrudes a few feet from the surface. Water flows past powerfully as tides rip in or out and fish can always be found on whichever side is protected at the time. I’ve found success here by gliding the kayak into the calm eddies created by the wall of rock and casting around the edges, as well as holding position in the current with a slow pedal stroke. I’ve also been able to anchor up by using the Hobie stake-out pole to hold position in the heaviest of currents.

I’ve already lost count of the amount of bream I’ve hooked here and am precariously close to losing count of flathead boated here as well. Success has come at the hands of a variety of lures, with the most productive being Ecogear SX40s, SX48s and olive-coloured Rapala slashbait hardbody lures. Soft plastics have also achieved results here, most notably small sized black & gold Squidgy Stealth prawns. Whilst I’m told that jewfish can also be caught here I’m yet to confirm that for myself, though admittedly I’ve spent most of my time working smaller lures in an effort to improve my finesse-fishing ‘bream-fu’ (with a view to prevent embarrisment at the up-coming ABT events).

A bit further downstream on the opposite side of the bridge is another rocky patch that seems to be equally productive. To add to the bream, tailor, flathead and catfish I’ve caught here, I’ve also had 2 very strong bites that I suspect came from jewfish. I can’t be sure unfortunately because lures were spat out on both occaisions. As the full moon nears I’ll definitely be earmarking this spot as one to try for hungry lunar-driven jews.

I have also ventured several km upstream to Harwood bridge, which has a reputation for consistantly producing mulloway. Along the way I hooked a few fish while trolling along the man-made rocky shoreline. The closer I was able to get, the more bites came. Though I haven’t yet employed the strategy, here locals favour live-baiting with herring. With plans to give that a try this coming weekend, I’ll also mix it up a bit by casting surface lures around the pylons and working the depths with appropriately sized and weighted soft plastics.

Only on one occaision so far have I car-topped the kayak and driven to another destination, making a beeline for the river mouth at Iluka. It was notably quiet that day, although a flighty big-eye trevally took a liking to a stealth prawn lure and tried to swim away with it unsuccesfully. With the tide running out fast I did expect to catch more than I did, although I think dolphins played a part in shutting the fish down. This is another kayak-friendly area I’ll be fishing often – especially during weekends whenever the weather is too rough to venture offshore. 
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Josh Holmes – Hobie Factory Team