A large school of Australian salmon at the bottom of Tura Beach Drive, before the large seas came in.
The outside fishing for sand and tiger flathead last week was still very good with reports of sand flathead over 60 centimetres. However, the average size was 45 to just over 50 centimetres and many double headers of quality fish. There were also quite a few small gummy sharks around 60 centimetres and an odd longer model occasionally. There were flathead and gummies being caught off Long Point all the way up to Bournda Island and the best depths were from 40 metres out to 55 metres. Those fishing in shallower, at 30 plus metres, still caught flathead around 40 centimetres, but the small bait stealers were a menace. Since the weekend’s weather, the water has cooled a bit and is sitting around 20 degrees.
The reefs had reasonable numbers of pan-sized snapper and morwong on them and still good numbers of nannygai also being caught before the weather came through. It should be better once these seas settle down. I heard that the lures have been catching some better snapper in that 50 centimetre size and float baiting also, using pilchards and squid for bait. There have also been a lot of bonito, frigate mackerel and salmon seen off the points and reefs, feeding on small bait fish, so casting small metal slugs or trolling small skirts around the feeding fish will catch them. However, the turbulent water over the weekend will definitely have pushed these fish out to sea, so once it settles down they should come back.
The salmon on the beaches will liven up after this weekend’s weather. Tura Beach has a great gutter and so too does Tathra Beach. So pillies, off the bank or casting smallish slugs, will catch these fish. Main Beach Merimbula has some nice bream and whiting being caught using beach worms for bait.
The lake fishing is doing very well of late, with the Bega River at Tathra, still giving up good numbers of bream, dusky flathead, perch and mulloway. This fresh water should only stir up the fishing even more. The Merimbula Lake has bream, blackfish, trevally and whiting in the front lake and bream, trevally, dusky flathead and a few mulloway and an odd tailor up the top lake. The Pambula River and Lake has dusky flathead, whiting, bream and trevally in the river part and dusky flathead, trevally, odd bream and flounder in the lake section.
The game fishing last week saw the marlin had pushed north. They were caught from Tathra’s northern canyon to the north. Sharks were a huge problem and so too were the seals if you found bait. It was a fight between the seals and sharks as to who would get your bait first and every so often a marlin would win. The water temperature on the shelf is sitting between 21 and 22 degrees, with the current slowly pushing north. There have also been a few decent size dolphin fish caught over the last week or so. They have been taken using some slow trolled livies and lures. There are still two days of fishing left in the BSR March Marlin competition. There have been 28 marlin recorded so far, so fingers crossed, there can be a couple more caught before the end of March. Reports just received since the bad weather, the water has turned over and the bait has vanished and no action at all on Monday.
The Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club rooms will be closed this coming Friday night (Good Friday), so we will see you all the following week.
Till next week.
Fishy Fellow