Boultons Reef is an area found about 3kn miles South East of Palm Beach lighthouse . This is a loosly scattered area of reef , sand and gravel . Similar fish will be encountered here as with the other reefs but I have found that the Snapper tend to be abit larger and the Trevally abit smaller . Why ? Who knows ! I have also caught large specimens of Blue Morwong here . Leather Jackets are present but can be very difficult to catch . The depth of water is in the 30m mark generally deeper than the other reefs so far . The best method of fishing the reef would be to first locate the reef with either a GPS or depth sounder strong enough to bottom lock so the underwater terrain can be clearly seen . Next simply toss out a reef anchor feed enough rope out and wait for it to bite . I have had some good luck here and on its day nothing beats fishing at boultons when the Snapper are about .The offshore Reef I visit regularly is called The Esmerelda or Essie for short . One truely needs a GPS to find the right spot as this is far enough away from the coast that the smallest mist makes lining up land marks impossible . Drift fishing is the way to go here as you are fishing in about 70m of water . Too deep for me to be bringing an anchor up from . Out of Broken Bay Essie would have to be the best and most consistent for good Snapper . I have also caught good sized flathead on the drift here too .
One of my favourite past times as far as fishing goes is spinning Dolphin Fish up from under the fish traps . A GPS is a must to find all the fish traps off Broken Bay for a weekend punter . Small halco slices from say 30g up to standard tailor slices are used for this type of fishing . Simply motor up to the floats of the fish traps , cut the motor and allow your boat to drift within casting range of the floats . Cast out and let your lure sink by counting out 15 seconds and then bring it in . Slow , fast and a mixture of both speeds can be used . There is truly nothing better than a warm summers morning than to be stuck into a school of 4-8kg Dolphin Fish on light spinning tackle .
Email: s.duck@bigpond.com
