Marita Brandau with a nice yellowfin bream caught in the Bega River at Tathra last week

Our Spring, Summer weather is upon us, with calm starts to the days then north easterlies building in strength from mid-morning. So, it is an early start to get a feed of ocean flathead for those chasing them. The boats are still catching their bag limits fishing in 40 to 55 metres of water, fishing from Tura Heads back to Long Point. The size range is still around that forty centimetres.

Sand and tiger flathead are in good numbers with boats catching their bag in a couple of hours. There are also a few flying gurnard being caught in the mix.  The inshore water temperature is sitting between 15 and 16 degrees.

The reefs are also fishing okay with good numbers of snapper, unfortunately there are plenty of small ones in between the keepers. The morwong have been biting their heads off also, using fresh squid as bait. There are plenty of other reef species like wrasse, nannygai and sargent bakers to keep you entertained when there is bait on your hooks. Pilchard’s and squid are the preferred baits at the moment. Metal jigs have been working also with a bit of squid on the hooks.

The surf fishing is very slow of late, due to the deep beaches and no wave action. I hear there are not many salmon around the headlands also. I would love to hear if anyone is catching any anywhere.  

The estuaries are all fishing well at the moment. Pambula has good numbers of trevally and dusky flathead, a few bream and odd tailor. Merimbula has trevally, dusky flathead and blackfish, and odd bream and tailor. The Bega River at Tathra has plenty of small dusky flathead and a few bream and odd trevally and blackfish. Most of the flathead are being caught in the shallow areas of each system. Most of my reports are coming from lure fishers who fish these systems. I have a report from the Merimbula fishing club, who went to the Wonboyn Lake Resort over the weekend. They caught plenty of fish with bait and lures. Duskies averaging forty-six centimetres, trevally up to fifty centimetres, lots of small flounder and a few bream up to thirty-nine centimetres. The best dusky flathead for the weekend was caught by Riley Holley with a fish of fifty-six centimetres. Good job Riley.

The game fishing has slowed up since last week’s report. The weather has not been the best or everyone’s freezers are full. I did hear of one yellowfin weighing 52 kilograms, caught off Merimbula by an Eden boat last Monday, and today there was one fish caught out of Bermagui around 40 kilograms I heard of. There should still be yellowfin on the shelf, as there is a temperature break just on the inside of the shelf off Merimbula at the moment. The temperature on the shelf is nineteen plus degrees and around 70 fathoms it drops to 18 degrees, so that is a likely area to try your luck.

The Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club is open this Friday night, opening at 6pm. Come on down and enjoy a cold beer, support our weekly meat raffle sponsored by Goodall’s Butchers and the Bar Beach Kiosk, contribute to the fishing report, and enjoy the views.

Till next week.

Fishy Fellow