Nobby and Riley Holley with a great morning’s catch out from Merimbula on the weekend.  Riley’s snapper he is holding is just under 80 centimetres.  Great fish Riley!.

A great weekend’s weather and the fishing was great also.

The outside flathead fishing is still giving up a good feed of sand and tiger flathead.  The flathead can be found in depths from 40 to 50  metres of water in areas from Turingal Head back to Leonard’s Island.  The flathead are a consistent 40 plus centimetres with odd bigger fish in the mix.  There are also a few flying gurnard and an odd gummy shark being caught.  The inshore water temperature is sitting around 16 degrees.

The reefs are fishing very well of late and Riley and Nobby proved that on Saturday.  The reefs off Long Point, Haycock and Leonard’s Island are all giving up reasonable numbers of snapper ranging from 35 to 55 centimetres and an occasional monster.  There are also some nice morwong and still a few nannygai being caught.  The reefs south of Eden also have plenty of snapper, pigfish, morwong and nannygai being caught.  Drifting with patternoster rigs is working well to find the fish, then plastics are taking over when targeting the snapper.

The salmon and tailor fishing has slowed up.  The headlands, with these calm seas, are a good chance for the land based anglers and also the boats trolling.  The beaches have a smaller number of smaller salmon in that 500 gram size and odd larger fish.  The salmon in our estuaries are now confined to the Pambula Lake system.  The Merimbula Lake’s fish have left, which I found out on Sunday afternoon.

The estuary fishing has basically shut down for the bread and butter fish like bream, whiting and flathead etc.  There is an odd black bream still being caught in the Bega River, but with the water temperatures hovering around 12 degrees, the majority of fish have lost their appetite to feed and with the water being so clear and cold it is hard to entice a bite.

On a brighter note, the gamefishing fired up over the weekend with numbers of yellowfin tuna caught in the rescheduled Canberra Yellowfin competition.  Tuna were caught from 15 to 60 plus kilograms, all out of Bermagui.  There were a few tuna caught out off Tathra to Merimbula up to 50 kilograms.  Trolling hard bodied lures and Montague jigs caught the majority.  The boats were fishing from the shelf out to 35 nautical mile line.  The water temperature out wide is around 19 to 20 degrees.

The Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club is holding its seafood dinner next Saturday night starting at 6pm.  For last minute bookings please call Shane on 0428 424 496.  Other events coming up are:

• Tuna Bash – throughout June and finishing on July 31st.
• Snapper Classic – July 5th and 6th
• Junior Winter School Holidays competition – July 5th – 18th

The club rooms are open this Friday night opening at 6pm.  Come on down and get involved with the weekly raffle sponsored by Goodalls Butchers and the Bar Beach Kiosk.  Find out what’s biting and where, enjoy a cold bevvy whilst chatting to the locals.  Hope to see your there.

Till next week.

Fishy Fellow

Club member, Fiona Beasley, caught this oversized flying gurnard on the weekend fishing out off Tura Heads.  It measured 571mm.

We had great weather over the weekend for a bit of outside flathead and snapper fishing. The outside sand and tiger flathead fishing was excellent over the weekend.  The flatties were biting really well in depths from 40 to 50 metres.  There were boats from Bournda Island right down to the Pinnacles, that we could see.  We caught our flatties just north of Tura Heads.  The sand flathead ranged in size from 38 to 50 centimetres and the tigers were a contant 36 centimetres.  We also found a few flying gurnard, but no gummies.  However, others caught them closer to the reefs.  The water is a dirty green on top at around 18 degrees, but the sinkers were a lot colder when they came up and the current was to the south.

The reefs were a little slower this weekend, but the tide wasn’t quite right.  There were still plenty of snapper caught, but a lot of smaller fish around that 40 centimetre size.  There was also a few morwong, nannygai, sargent bakers and other reef species.  We even caught salmon out in 35 metres of water.  Plastics worked for us, but a bit of burley may have held the fish behind the boat.

The salmon and tailor are feeding well in our estuaries at the moment. There are plenty of smaller 500g fish on the beaches suchs as North Tura and Bournda.  The beaches are very deep with not many banks, which makes them hard to baitfish, but lures have been getting plenty.  Main Beach Merimbula has some nice banks and wave action and is probably worth a try for the bait guys.  Otherwise you will need a boat and to head into the estuaries.

The estuary fishing is pretty busy if you are after salmon and tailor.  The Pambula River has good numbers of salmon and tailor in the river section.  There is also still a few bream and odd trevally along the rock walls.  The Merimbula Lake has salmon and tailor in the front lake and a few bream and odd blackfish were seen on Sunday.  Up the Top Lake the salmon and tailor were gorging on the baitfish on Saturday.  There were a couple of trevally also feeding with the preditors.  The Merimbula Lake’s water temperature is around 16 degrees also.  The Bega River is very dirty and the boat ramp is covered in trees after the recent rains.  If you can get your boat in the water, there are a few bream and odd perch biting up the river and odd salmon and trevally down the front.

The game fishing is showing signs of firing up.  Sunday, a boat out of Tathra found a few small yellowfin.  They didn’t give any details, but it is a positive sign.  There are a few of our local longliners fishing out wide off Mallacoota, well over 50 nautical miles off shore, and that current looks to be travelling up along the 1000 fathom line.  So hopefully, we get a chance at these fish at some stage.

The Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club is open this Friday night at 6pm.  We have the draw of the monthly species, “snapper” which will take place between 7 and 7.30pm.  Fish must be on the board by 7pm.  The draw is sponsored by Michelin and Son eath works of Eden.  We also have raffle with a meat tray sponsored by Goodalls Butchers and a voucher for the Bar Beach Kiosk.  Come on down and enjoy a cold bevvy and catch up with the locals.

Till next week.

Fishy Fellow

Member, Glen Rollason caught this nice mulloway, just before the rain, in the
Bega River. It measured 960mm.

The fishing over the last week has still been pretty good, and with the rain to dirty up the water, it should get better.

The outside flathead fishing is still fishing well, with good catches of sand and tiger flathead being caught off Long Point in 45 to 55 metres of water and inside the Haycock reef system in depths from 25 to 30 metres.  Fish to 40 centimetres are consistently being caught.  There is also an odd gummy shark and flying gurnard in the mix.  I haven’t had any reports from Tura Heads, but would think if the fish are off Long Point, they would be off Tura as well.

The local reefs are still producing snapper, morwong, nannygai and a quantity of other reef species.  The snapper are ranging in size from 30 to 55 centimetres with odd larger fish occasionally.  I have had reports from North and south Head at Eden, Leonards Island and Haycock reefs.  Over the weekend prior to the rain and swell, anglers were drifting, burleying with float baits which worked a treat.  Casting plastics is also producing a few.

The salmon have been on the bite off the Merimbula Wharf.  There is a also a good patch of salmon and tailor on Main Beach, Merimbula.  They have been going into the lake overnight, so bait fishing and lures early in the morning or late afternoon might catch a fish or two off Mitchies Beach.  The salmon are very skittish once in the lake, but thirteen seals in the lake can do that to any fish.  Other beaches giving up a few salmon are North Tura Beach and Tura Beach.

The lake fishing has slowed up considerably.  After the rain, the lakes have cooled down in water temperature to around 15 degrees.  The Merimbula front lake is struggling with the amount of seals looking for a feed and even with the dirty water on the weekend, the fish were very hard to find.  The Top Lake has a few mulloway, salmon and tailor around the edges and the bream and dusky flathead are hard to find.  With the temperature low, they look like they have bunkered down for winter.  The Bega River at Tathra still has a few bream, perch and odd mulloway biting at the moment and the water is only 13 degrees up there.  Pambula River has some salmon and tailor in the system currently.  

There is nothing to report on any game fishing through the amateur boats, but some of the longliners are currently working off Merimbula, fishing between 25 to 30 nautical miles out.  So, if the weather allows, maybe some boats may get out for a look.

The Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club rooms are open at 6pm this Friday.  We love to see new faces down there.  We have raffles with three meat trays, supported by Goodall’s Butchers, a coffee and cake voucher from the Bar Beach Kiosk, wine and chocolates.  Also, fishing reports and of course plenty of mixed drinks.

Till next week.

Fishy Fellow