NEWSFLASH....Big Numbers of Schoolies Arrive at Oceanfront

There has been a trickle of fish all week along the oceanfront.  But, the Mother Lode arrived today.  My son, Ben, gets the first big numbers of the season in the Pickering family as he fished the oceanfront today and came away with 25 schoolies.  He was not alone in the spot he was catching as about 100 schoolies were landed in just one place today by five lucky early season fishermen.  The hot ticket to catching them was using a Cocahoe on a jighead along with shrimp fly teasers.  In many instances Ben reports catching double and even triple headers using a double shrimp fly teaser rig with the jig.  These were all small fish under 20 inches, typical of early season migrating schoolies.  The oceanfront had ideal conditions today with a west wind and a bright sun to warm the water.  Unfortunately, the weather will head downhill this weekend with rain and northeast winds.  Those are not the best of conditions for early season schoolies, but who knows what will happen with this unpredictable start to the season.