Cold Comfort

Winter heralds the start of cool westerly winds, chilly nights and brisk mornings. The days are short, and the vast majority of trailerboat fishermen have packed the boat and tackle away for the annual three-month layoff. For most, the thought of being out on the water and catching nothing but a cold is distinctly unappealing. For experienced anglers though, quite the opposite is the norm. Spawning urges cause many species of fish to congregate inshore during these cooler, so-called "off season" months and stick around well into spring.

Around my home town of Sydney, tailor, salmon, bream, luderick, drummer, groper, trevally, kingfish and snapper are the primary target species at this time. Over the last couple of months I have encountered all of the above species, with my most notable catch being a fabulous snapper around 6kg in weight.

The winter and spring westerlies make inshore boating a dream. Glassy seas and clear blue skies allow anglers to fish just outside the wash zone along the rocky coastline. The shallow inshore reefs at the foot of Sydney's high coastal cliffs can also be fished with ease, and the good news is that several species often queue up to take bait. It can even be somewhat warm out of the breeze, and a day on the water without sunscreen, when offshore winds prevail, will see you fry.

WISE IN WESTERLIES
An exciting technique to try when westerlies are blowing is wash fishing. While very productive, caution is necessary at all times, and a trailerboat's engine must be kept in tip-top condition. An unexpected swell that looms up and starts to break can roll a boat in a split second, and tip everyone into the water.

Should a big "greeny" appear out of nowhere, you need to be able to get out of there and either outrun or attack the breaking wave without the motor spluttering or stalling. Consequently, one person fishing and the other standing by the controls with the motor in idle is the only safe way to fish this technique.

With westerlies flattening the sea, it's also possible to fish areas that are usually inaccessible to rock and boat fishermen at other times of the year. Rock and reef adjacent to high cliffs and deep water provides the experienced angler a chance to encounter great sport, and with lighter tackle than would ordinarily be used when fishing from the shore. Pulling dirty fighters like drummer and kingfish away from the rocks is certainly a lot easier than battling them back into the edge.

GEARING UP
Rods for this style of fishing should be robust, but sufficiently light in the tip to cast a lightly-weighted bait, 2/0 hook and 20m of line with ease. Baits are usually peeled green prawns, live or frozen yabbies, or that great standby bait, the West Australian pilchard. Six to eight kilo mono is ideal, with a small ball sinker running down the line to the hook providing casting weight. The key to success is berley. A big handful of water-soaked bread is all that's needed to start the ball rolling, and tossed in regularly it keeps the fish on the boil. Chook pellets also make good berley, although they can't be thrown as far as a cricket ball-sized clump of wet bread. Mixed with a little tuna oil however, pellets will still attract fish from near and far.

LURES WORK TOO
Don't discount artificials in these situations, either. Slim metal lures and a fast retrieve do the business on tailor, salmon and trevally - especially if there's a little bit of white water foaming around the base of the rocks. Cup-faced poppers (bloopers) and pencil poppers are a good way of waking up any resident kingfish, while a big Squidgy fished with a slow lift-and-drop retrieve back through the wash will work also, as well as taking snapper and bream.

Heading out wider, shallow reef systems within a couple of kilometres of shore can provide solid action on everything from trevally to kingfish, but it's the chance of battling a quality snapper that really stirs me into action.

Reds over 4kg can be somewhat elusive off Sydney these days, and a bit of preparation is necessary in order to enjoy consistent success.

SNAPPER SECRETS
A decent sounder is the key to locating and anchoring over productive ground, and being able to tell the difference between sand, reef and that all-important gravel bottom can be the difference between catching reds or missing out.

Some of my favourite winter/spring snapper grounds lie in about 20m of water, and within 100m of broken reef. In fact, the hard reef doesn't have to be particularly large - just as long as there's a decent gravel bed adjacent to it. I usually anchor 60m up-current of the hard stuff and find fishing back towards it over the gravel extremely rewarding.

Just like fishing the washes, berley is vital to success, and pilchard cubes, prawn shells and chook pellets - in fact, any fish scraps - will get a snapper's tastebuds working. Once the trail is established I fish two rods - one with a snapper sinker on the bottom and two long droppers above it - but my main rig is a flesh bait lightly weighted to drift down with the berley.

FEELING FLOATY
This floater rig is as simple as it gets. Six to eight kilo line is plenty heavy enough, as snapper can be finicky in clear shallow water and will often shy away from heavy lines. I use a Shimano 6500 Baitrunner which, combined with a seven-foot, 8-10kg spin stick, makes for an extremely versatile and well-balanced outfit. The beauty of the Baitrunner reel is that it's possible to feed a bait back with the berley while in Baitrunner mode, and then as soon as a fish makes off with the bait, a turn of the handle sets the hook. Then the fireworks begin!

KING OF THE FISHES
The commotion created by yellowtail, slimy mackerel, pike and sweep feeding in the berley means that kingfish will occasionally put in an appearance as well. Trevally also respond to the berley and floater technique, and on the shallower reefs big yellowfin bream can be added to the hit list.

It's the snapper we're really after, however, and the hours of patient berleying really pay off when that Baitrunner screams into life as a big red surges for the bottom. It certainly sets the heart racing and this adrenalin surge is only surpassed by the first sighting of that magnificent knobby-headed red as it spirals upwards to the boat. Take it from me - big snapper certainly make getting up in the dark and the cold early morning starts all worthwhile.

And once that pink and silver fish flecked with blue spots is safely in the boat, there's only one thing better - and that's catching another one!