Where they’re biting around Ballina
NSW Fishing Monthly editor Tony Zann reports on the fishing activity …
Mandy at Dave’s Bait Shop says outside reports have been encouraging with a few Spanish mackerel turning up at last on the inshore reefs such as the Lennox Pinnacle and down along the Riordans reefs. There’s also the odd cobia and some snapper on the wider reefs.
Tailor have been quite good off the beaches and headlands on both sides of the river early and late in the day on gang-hooked pilchards and garfish or lures, along with some decent bream on cut bait.
The mouth of the river has whiting and flathead in the clearer water as the tide pushes it in, with bream in the dirtier water biting on smelly baits like mullet or chicken gut and mullet strips. Mud crabs have been about in good numbers .
But the big talk this week has been the continuing fish kill from oxygen-starved water which has continued a path of destruction in the Richmond River. The death toll is estimated to be more than 10,000 fish now and the affected area has spread to Woodburn and possibly beyond.
Flooded vegetation decomposing in closed agricultural drains strips all oxygen from the water and when the drains are eventually opened, this water hits the river and asphyxiates all fish almost instantly. NSW DPI Fisheries has tried to work with landholders and local flood management authorities to alleviate these impacts and has been successful on the Tweed and Clarence rivers but to no avail on the Richmond, it seems. The cost to recreational and commercial fishers will be drastic, with flow-on effects to tourism and the local community.
