MOVING inside the heads to the protection of the port I discovered that the fishing options seemed endless in this massive waterway.
When I first arrived in Nelson Bay in 1975, I was a regular out on the “tubes” at all hours of the night and in all conditions.
The bream fishing was, and still is, sensational – in the right conditions.
On a dark moonless winter night on a rising tide bream gather over the boulders that surround the Torpedo Tube.
A floating bait of fresh mullet or prawn will do the trick on a 2/0 hook and 6kg line.
Bream fishing off the Torpedo Tube is at its peak during the winter months when strong and persistent southerly winds whip up angry seas in excess of 2.5 metres.
Big grey swells crash into Tomaree Headland and swing around the corner into the Port where they first encounter two, man-made, structures constructed during WWII.
At the time, the government of the country was convinced that the Japanese Imperial Forces would target Port Stephens as a point of invasion.
Tomaree Headland is heavily fortified and has a long history of occupation during the war years with American troops involved.
Referred to as the Gantry and the Torpedo Tube the two structures, crumbling with time, have now become hot spots for bream and drummer fishers.
The structures jut out from the natural contour of the land and provide an ideal platform for fishing.
The Torpedo Tube is one of the most popular bream fishing spots inside the port, however this does not mean that you will catch bream simply by turning up.
On still, glassy nights, with little to no wave action on a full moon, there is every chance that you will not get a bite.
You will return home empty handed suggesting all the positive reports that you heard and read about were all nonsense.
This can be said for every fishing spot.
If the right conditions are not in play you are wasting your time going fishing.
Greatest bream fishing success, while fishing the “tubes”, can be achieved in the coldest months of the year particularly around Easter and Anzac Day when the huge schools of mullet are on the move.
All the bream fishing rules apply.
A 2/0 hook on a 6kg unweighted line will give you every opportunity to hook a thumper.
I find the best, most available and easiest to handle bait is a strip of freshly caught mullet.
Allowed to slowly sink, the steady pull of the bream is a sure sign that the action is about to begin.
As the line tightens, lean back and gently strike.
There is no necessity to swing like a rusty gate if your hook is sharp.
Once hooked the bream will helter-skelter out into deep water.
Hold your rod erect and let the bream do all the work.
Fish around one kilogram can put up a fair battle before they are lifted up onto the platform.
Only metres apart the fishing opportunities are very different on the Torpedo Tube and the Gantry.
The Tube is recognised as one of the best bream spots in the Port while the Gantry is better known for tailor, drummer and mulloway.
By John ‘Stinker’ CLARKE
