Club members Doug Hodsdon and Shane Mayberry with a pair of 40 cm bass caught last weekend in the Bega River.

 

Early starts seem to be the only option for the outside fishers, as the trade winds are kicking in from the north-east by 10 am regularly now.

The outside flathead fishing is still steady, with boaters catching their bags of sand and tiger flathead within a 3-hour period, fishing in depths from 35 to 55 metres. They’re catching sand flathead up to 45 centimetres and tigers to 36 cm. Boats are fishing off Tura Heads down to off the Haycock Reef system. The inshore water temperature is finally rising, with the East Australian Current reaching our area. Now the temperature has jumped to just over 18 degrees.

The reefs are still poking along, with snapper around 40 centimetres and morwong a tad smaller. There is also a mixed bag of other reef species being caught whilst targeting the better table fish. Unfortunately, nannygai now have a bag limit of 1 fish per person, with a minimum size of 25 cm. So they have been taken off the dinner table for those who eat them in our area. Bait fishing is your best option for catching a feed on our local reefs, using half pilchards and squid as bait. Have a metal jig out while drifting and attending your bait lines.

The surf fishing has a few salmon and odd tailor being caught off Bournda Beach and North Tura Beach and the northern end of Tura Beach. Fish to 55 centimetres are being caught on pilchards and a blue surf popper rig. There are also a few bream being caught using beach worms just out behind the shore break.
The estuary fishing is probably the best option of late, with the dusky flathead waking up after their winter slumber. They are getting up into the shallows where the water is warmer and seriously looking for a feed. The Bega River at Tathra has bream, tailor and mulloway being caught off the bridge, and odd duskies around the shallows, and bream, perch and a few duskies off the rock walls for the boaters.

Merimbula Lake has trevally and a few blackfish and odd dusky flathead in the front lake, and tailor, trevally, odd duskies and mulloway up the top lake. The Pambula system has bream, blackfish and trevally down at the river mouth beach and along the rock walls, and up the river towards the main lake, where flathead, trevally, tailor and still occasional salmon are being caught. The water temperature at Mogareeka, Tathra, is up to 21 degrees now it is closed to the sea, and Merimbula and Pambula are at 17 to 18 degrees.

Now is the last chance to put your names down for the MBGLAC club trip to Wonboyn Lake Resort. Final bookings by Wednesday by calling Avon on 0419 617 695 or Shane on 0428 424 996.

Reminder: The fish cleaning pontoon is being taken from Merimbula Lake for its annual maintenance work, so it will be vanishing soon for a couple of weeks.

There is a club working bee in our club rooms for a spring clean on Saturday 31st October, starting at 8:30 am. A BBQ lunch will be provided.

The MBGLAC club room will NOT be open this Friday night due to our Wonboyn trip, but we will be back on 30th October, opening at 6 pm.

Fishy Fellow.

Visitor to the area, Jax Dortmans, very happy with his recent capture of a 67 cm dusky flathead, fishing in the Nullica River, just south of Eden over the holidays.

The outside flathead fishing is still steady, so I’m told. The weather has been a bit sloppy over the last week and boats have been staying at home. The few boats fishing are catching sand and tiger flathead out in depths from 35 to 48 metres, and the fish size is around 38 to 40 centimetres. There are also odd gummy sharks and flying gurnard in the mix. The best areas have been just north of Tura Heads down to off Long Point. The inshore water temperature was a bit cooler over the last week, with the temperature sitting around 15 to 16 degrees.

The reefs have been a bit patchy. They’re still catching OK numbers of pan-sized snapper up to 45 centimetres and morwong to 35 centimetres, but a fair bit of time is needed to catch a feed. There is also a mixed bag of wrasse, sergeant bakers and red rock cod being caught. The better reefs have been the Haycock and Leonards Island reefs of late.

The local beaches have plenty of waves at the moment, but from what I’ve seen the gutters aren’t forming. They’re still getting odd salmon on North Tura Beach and Bournda Beach and Main Beach, Merimbula, down near the stink pipe. There are also a few bream being caught on these beaches using bits of pilchards and beach worms.

The estuary fishing has still been performing, with the Bega River at Tathra still closed to the ocean after the weekend’s wet weather. At Tathra they’re still catching bream, trevally, tailor, salmon and mulloway after dark around the bridge. They’re also catching these fish along the rock walls around Thompsons, and a few dusky flathead in the shallows on the warmer days. The Bega River water temperature is sitting around 19 degrees.

The Merimbula Lake has trevally scattered throughout the system. The bream are just starting to show their faces, and odd small duskies are getting up into the shallows on a high tide on the sunny days. The top lake still has tailor and odd salmon being seen infrequently moving around on the surface. The Merimbula top lake’s temperature is around 16 degrees. The Pambula entrance has a few bream, blackfish, trevally and odd tailor being seen moving around, and they’re moving up into the system, which is great to see and hear about.

Something different. For those who would like to fish the rocks, I fished Tura Heads on Saturday morning for some drummer. I hooked 6 and landed 5, all of which were over 40 cm, and 3 were over 45cm. Use green weed and cunjevoi as bait, and fish under a float around the rocks. Also have a life jacket on and watch the sea at all times. I only kept 3 fish and released the rest.

The Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club has its annual club trip away coming up in 2 weeks’ time, October 16 to 18 at the Wonboyn Lake Resort. Check out the MBGLAC Facebook site for details or contact Avon Rollason on 0419 617 695 and leave a message, as she’s organising things.

The MBGLAC club rooms are open this Friday night, opening at 6pm. Licensed bar, raffles and finger food. Raffles are sponsored by the Lakeview Hotel and Goodalls Butchers. Come down and check out the view, have a bevvy or two and catch up on the week’s fishing action.

Fishy Fellow.

Visiting from Brisbane, David Beasley, with a lovely estuary perch he caught on Saturday from the Bega River system over the weekend.

The outside sand and tiger flathead bite is still quiet, but boats who fished during the week caught flathead fishing out the front of Tura Beach off the golf course and up off Tura Heads, fishing in depths around 40 to 45 metres. Boats that were out early left early with their bag of fish. The fish size is up to around 40 centimetres with odd better fish and odd gurnard in their bags. The in-shore water temperature is sitting around 16 to 17 degrees.

The reefs are still on the slow side of thigs at the moment. There are still a few snapper being caught, but not bags full. Fish in that 40 centimetre size are common and morwong in the mid 30 centimetre size also. There are also a mixed bag of other reef species being caught. All the reefs are giving up a few fish, so just get out and have a go. A burley trail on the rising tide is probably the best method to catch a feed of snapper and drifting on the outside edge of the reefs to catch the morwong.

The surf fishing is still a bit patchy. At least there is a bit of wave action now after the recent southerly weather. The gutters are lacking on many beaches and the sand banks tend to be too far out to cast over them. So, check the beaches prior to heading there to fish. North Tura, I know has some gutters still forming up near Bournda Island and, Bournda Beach had a couple down from the car park a couple of weeks back. Hopefully they are still there.

The estuaries are fishing well at the moment. The water is warmer than the ocean by around 2 degrees. There are a few black bream, trevally, tailor estuary perch, odd dusky flathead and mulloway moving around. A lot of casts for the lure fishermen. The fish can be seen along the rock walls and down the front and around the bridge, but they are very picky at Tathra. The Merimbula Lake is a bit cooler, but they are catching a few blackfish around the weed edges on small nippers and green weed. There are a few smallish trevally in the front lake and around the bridge and along the channel hearing up the top lake. The top lake has trevally and tailor around the bait schools, odd dusky flathead up in the sunny shallows and an odd mulloway also. The Pambula River and Lake are fishing similarly to the Merimbula Lake.

I’ve heard there is a few squid starting to show up at the Merimbula Wharf and the rocks at Tura Heads has an odd drummer and occasional salmon being caught also, but watch the seas before heading down to fish.

The Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club has its annual Mex Williams memorial trip away coming up on the 16th to 18th of October. The venue is Wonboyn Lake Resort. If members are interested in coming along, come down to the Club on a Friday night or check the website out at www.mbglac.com.au for more information. The fish cleaning pontoon will be coming out of the water very soon for its annual maintenance, so please be patient. Hoping it will only take a couple of weeks this time.

The club rooms are open this Friday night from 6pm. Head down for a few bevvy’s and to hear about the week’s fishing. Support the club by purchasing tickets in the week’s raffle, sponsored by the Lakeview Hotel and Goodall’s Butchers. Members, their guests and visitors are all welcome. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Till next week.

Fishy Fellow.