This New South Wales, Australia, hot spot draws billfish, tuna and bottomfish galore.
FishTrack Staff
Browns Mountain is a well-known hot spot for anglers chasing tuna, billfish and bottomfish. Located roughly 22 nautical miles off the coast of New South Wales, the seamount is a reasonable (and popular) run from Sydney. Crews that make the trek to Browns Mountain should go armed with quality cartography such as these charts provided by C-MAP by Jeppesen to help them pinpoint the drop-offs that hold fish.
Whenever there is a lot of bait in the area, the taxman is not far behind. Mako sharks are one of a handful of apex predators that call Browns Mountain home, and the shark fishing can be insane come August. Photo by Al McGlashan.
Employ tools like this C-MAP raster chart to help you plot the fastest course to Browns Mountain. The area has long been popular with commercial fishermen and recreational crews running large sport-fishers, and is also becoming more frequented by anglers in smaller trailer boats.
The warm waters of the East Australian Current run over Browns Mountain as you can see in this FishTrack Sea Surface Temperature (SST) chart. Check the latest before you go and watch for temperature breaks over the fish-attracting structure, then use FishTrack's Waypoint Tool for a heading and GPS coordinates.
Currents hitting the undersea structure create nutrient-rich upwellings that attract baitfish and, in turn, big pelagic predators like blue marlin and bluefin tuna. Crews in the know will pull trolling lures or dead baits for marlin, and chunk for tuna along the up-current side of the mountain. Photo by Al McGlashan.
This high-resolution bathymetric chart by C-MAP illustrates how Browns Mountain and adjacent Woolnough Knoll rise above the slope of the Continental Shelf. The depth surrounding the seamount averages about 600 meters, with Browns Mountain rising to about 480 meters in depth. This change in depth pushes water up and helps to trap bait.
The structure of Browns Mountain rising above the generally featureless surrounding seafloor attracts a range of bottom fish as well as pelagics. Anglers that deep-drop baits with conventional and electric reels are rewarded with tasty local species like these gemfish and blue-eye trevalla. When targeting bottom fish you'll want to study the currents and position your boat for the perfect drift. Photo by Al McGlashan.
Another high-resolution bathymetric view courtesy of C-MAP by Jeppesen HRB charts shows Browns Mountain rising above the seafloor in the right-center portion of the screenshot.
Once you plot a course with C-MAP charts, be sure to check FishTrack's latest New South Wales imagery for the Browns Mountain area. This chlorophyll chart shows a color break in the vicinity of the offshore hot spot.
