South West Rocks (SWR) is a growing coastal town located on Trial Bay near the mouth of the Macleay River and is reached by turning off the Pacific Highway at either Kempsey (35 km) or Clybucca (12 km). SWR is approximately 470 kilometres from either Sydney or Brisbane and takes about five and a half hours to comfortably drive or it can be reach by air, bus or train via Kempsey.

There are four caravan parks plus a full range of accommodation options from self contained flats and cottages through to quality motels. Supermarkets, pub, club, fuel and a full range of services are available in the town.

The Fishing

The mix of tropical and temperate species is the first and most obvious part of the place's attraction. Spanish mackerel, spotted mackerel, cobia, dolphin fish, rainbow runner, longtail tuna, wahoo and sailfish are all seasonally common or at least reasonably available.

To southern anglers limited to yellowfin tuna, marlin and yellowtail kingfish the chance to tangle with tropical species only five to six hours drive north of Sydney is highly attractive. The bonus is that the yellowfin, marlin and kings are here too, often in numbers not seen further south.

Rather than just state what's available we'll cover some of the more common species.

This Marlin has the lure plus a few tags!

Black Marlin

South West Rocks is regularly invaded by huge numbers of small black marlin. Some years it's a bit quiet, (1 or 2 fish per day), some years it's average (3 or 4) and some years it just goes off with 20 billfish a day not uncommon.

The concentration of black marlin happens between mid December and late February, with a few fish hanging around to mid May.

Mixed in with the marlin are a few sailfish.

These fish are not common enough to deliberately target, but they turn up very regularly.

Spanish at Grassey

Spanish and Spotted Mackerel (Tengerric)

Both these fish are relatively common, particularly the spotted mackerel which arrives in numbers around Christmas and stays until June.

The spotted mackerel are often prolific and bag limit catches are not uncommon.

The main method of capture is either a live slimy mackerel on a 4/0 Suicide or Viking hook, or a floated blue pilchard.

Cobia (Black Kingfish)

Cobia

Known locally as black kingfish, the cobia is regularly caught at Green Island, Black Rock and Fish Rock.

Here they take both surface and bottom baits and while interested in live baits will often fall for large cut baits of bonito or tuna.

The fish are around from October through to June with peak activity in March, April and May.

Michael Cole with a nice Dolphin Fish.

Dolphin Fish

Another fish, which often invades the area, dolphin fish, are great sport and good eating.

Most of the smaller fish from 1 to 5 kg are located under fish trap floats.

When working around the floats, most fish are taken by casting pilchards or live slimy mackerel close to the buoys.

Big dolphin fish (10 to 25 kg) are caught while marlin fishing on either lures or baits.

Yellow Fin on a lure

Yellowfin Tuna

Small school fish from 4 to 10 kg are all around the area during summer with most fish being taken lure trolling.

The run of big yellowfin starts in July and goes through to October. These fish are in the 20 to 50 kg class and mixed with them are striped marlin, albacore and mako sharks.

These fish are mostly found along the 200-fathom drop over.

They are regularly found in numbers but the weather can be rough at times.

Continued...

Average sized Kingfish

Yellowtail Kingfish

Big yellowtail kingfish between 10 and 3 0 kg appear at South West Rocks from July to early December.

Most of the action is at Fish and Black Rocks with poppers, jigs and live bait all working.

Average size kingfish of 2 to 5 kg are available at these two locations all year round.

Other Species

Apart from the sport and game fish species there are plenty of bream, tailor, mulloway, drummer, groper, snapper, pearl perch, morwong and flathead for anglers who want good table fish.
Along with the temperate bottom fish there are also fish like spangled emperor, venus tusk fish and an odd sweetlips to brighten the catch.

Macleay River

The river has its own big flathead, mulloway, cobia, bream, whiting, blackfish, trevally (GT's) and mangrove jack all available. If you are interested in estuary angling then there are plenty of options available locally.

Summary

There are plenty of places to go fishing in New South Wales and all have their attractions. However there are few that have the delicious mix of fish and ease of access of South West Rocks.

Splashdown Fishing Charters offer visitors the chance to make good catches. Lawrie and Julie McEnally have the local knowledge and good quality tackle is provided.

For fishermen who like beach or rock fishing there are magnificent beaches and headlands and these areas also produce good fish particularly in autumn and winter.

Family visitors will find plenty of beaches, parks, historic sites and bushland for fun trips. Come to South West rocks and find out about one of NSW's best fishing spots.

Our runs of fish are as follows:

Marlin December to mid April, large numbers of small blacks. Blue and striped marlin on the shelf all year round.

Spotted Mackerel December to June.

Spanish Mackerel Late January to June.

Cobia December to August.

Dolphin Fish January to June, (March, April, May best).

Longtail and Mackerel Tuna February to August.

Yellowtail Kingfish All year round.

Big Tailor (2 5 Kg.) May, June, July.

Snapper/Offshore Bottom Fish January to October.

Bar Cod/Lge. Deepwater Species May to October.

Sharks All year round.

Mulloway All year round.

Yellowfin Tuna/A1bacore/Marlin August to October.
On the Continental Shelf.

Lge Estuary Flathead November to February.

Bream/Whiting/Flathead All year round.

Bass October to April.

The yellowfin season offers excellent fishing although winter weather can be rough. We have reasonable inshore fishing anyway if we can't get to the shelf.

The best 'all round' fishing for the average angler who just wants a week of 'full on' fishing but is prepared to do anything is December to June.

Anglers seeking premium table fish best time is May to October.

For specialist anglers, they may wish to select a time of year that suits what they want to catch.