Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club President, Shane Mayberry has started his dusky flathead season with a respectable 65 centimetre model.
What a great weathered weekend we got given this weekend just been for all avenues of fishing.
The outside flathead fishing is still doing really well. This last week, anglers have been catching a good feed of sand and tiger flathead in depths from 35 to 60 plus metres. I’m told there are a lot of undersize fish in the mix and also some flying gurnard. One downer there is a fair bit of current pushing to the North and when the wind gets up it can be hard to hold bottom. The best areas have been off Bournda Island, Tura Heads and out from Short Point back to Long Point. The inshore water temperature is around 14 on the bottom and up to 16 on the top.
The reefs are still giving up a nice feed of snapper and morwong fishing off Long Point and Haycock reefs. I haven’t heard of any bigger snapper this week but plenty around that 450 millimetre mark. There are also plenty of Māori wrasse and a few nannygai in the mix. The current has made it too hard to anchor up, so lures and paternoster rigs, drifting has been working best.
The beach fishing has slowed up due to the lack of surf. There has been odd salmon and tailor caught fishing on the rising tide on Bournda Beach and Tathra Beach, at the Mogareeka, and Haycock Beach, early in the tide though.
Our estuaries are definitely waking up. The water temperature is improving rapidly. The water temperature at Mogareeka on Sunday was 16.5 degrees from the front to the back end. The fish weren’t easy to catch, but we managed some tailor, dusky flathead, and bream. Pambula still has some salmon up in the lake with odd duskies, trevally and odd bream. Merimbula Lake is probably quietest with an odd dusky, trevally and occasional tailor.
There are some nice brown trout being caught from our inland lakes at Eucumbene and Jindabyne. Jindabyne fished best over the weekend with fish being caught off the banks and trolling the boats. It’s worth a trip to either lake for those that are keen.
The talk this last week has been yellowfin tuna. Boats fishing out of Bermagui to the northern towns have been having a great time, but for us down here, it’s a bit slower. Boats fished off Tathra on Saturday and Sunday for albacore only, although on Sunday there were yellowfin seen jumping, but no hook ups. The water off Merimbula on the shelf was 17.2 degrees. The ocean currents are pushing the inshore fish further north, so we may have to wait a bit longer for our chance at them. There is a lot of bait in 35 fathoms off Merimbula. So hopefully it’s just a matter of time for our turn.
The Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club is open at 6pm this Friday night. Come on down and enjoy a cold bevvy, win a meat tray, sponsored by Goodalls Butchers or other prizes, including a voucher for the Bar Beach Kiosk. Catch up with the locals and find out what’s biting and.
Till next week.
Tight lines.
Fishy Fellow