Riley Holley with a 70 plus centimetre Australian salmon, caught off Merimbula on the weekend.

The outside flathead fishing is still patchy, but sand flathead are being caught in depths from 25 to 30 metres off Bournda Beach and out wider, off Tura Heads at 50 metres.  There are less bites out wider, but they are from larger flathead to 50 centimetres.  The Pinnacles, also has a few flathead being caught around that 30 metre depth.  There is also an odd gummy shark biting in between the flathead bites.

The tides for the reef fishing aren’t very good this week, but boats that have fished the afternoons have been catching a few snapper around the 45 centimetre mark, odd morwong and other reef species.  Green Cape fished well on plastics during the week with snapper up to and over 50 centimetres.  There are still a few bonito being caught around the headlands and off the wharfs.

The beaches have settled down now, with new banks and gutters formed.  There should be a few salmon and tailor on the bite earlier on a rising tide, not at the top of the tide.  The reason for this is early in the tide there is still wave action stirring the water and as the tide fills, the wave action disappears.  Tura Beach and Main Beach Merimbula are looking good for this.  Unfortunately, I haven’t had any reports off any beaches.  There are a few bream being caught off Main Beach Merimbula on beach worms.

The estuaries are hard fising at the moment.  Merimbula Lake last weekend, with the Pirtek Challenge and those that fished, caught dusky flathead, mainly on live poddy mullet, bream, trevally, and tailor and during the week, a few mulloway on prawn style lures.  The Bega River at Tathra has dusky flathead, odd bream and mulloway biting this week.

The game fishing is pretty quiet out wide off the Far South Coast at the moment, but in shore, there is a fair bit of activity.  Fishing land based or off the wharf at Tathra, there have been quite a few long tail tuna caught averaging 12 kg in weight.  The Merimbula Wharf has had schools of yellowtail kingfish swimming past, with fish being caught by those that are there.  I have had one report from out wider that there are quite a few thresher sharks being seen and caught around the bait schools on the shelf.  The water temperature off Merimbula is around 20 degrees, but off Tathra it’s around 22 plus degrees.  The water is going to get warmer over the next few weeks and hopefully there are a few fish in it, otherwise we will have a long wait before the cooler water for the tuna finds our shores.

The Meirmbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club rooms are open this Friday from 6pm.  Come on down and talk strategy for the Grudge Match this weekend, support our raffle sponsored by Goodall’s Butchers and the Bar Beach Kiosk and catch up on coming events.

Till next week.

Fishy Fellow

Avon Rollason has done it again.  This time she has boated a lovely mulloway going just under 90cm.  Caught in the dirty water of the Bega River at Tathra.

The outside fishing is improving now the seas have settled and the water has cleaned up a bit.  

The flathead fishing is very patchy in most places.  Reports on Saturday were, the fish were very hard to find in depths from 30 to 50 metres and a lot of moving around for only a couple of fish here and there.  Then I spoke to one boat that was fishing in 25 metres of water between Bournda Island and Turingal Head and they had bagged out the last four trips with fish averaging 45 centimetres.  They’re not catching them one after the other but over a 3 to 4 hour period.

The reefs have come to life this weekend with boats catching good numbers of quality snapper on the early morning high tide over the weekend.  Burleying has been the most productive method.  The fish picutres I have seen are snapper ranging from 40 to over 60cm, which is great to see with the Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club Snapper Classic only 4 weeks away.  There were also a few morwong, leatherjackets and a mixed bag of other googlies(reef species).  There are still a few bonito getting around the reefs and headlands and also the Merimbula Wharf.

The salmon fishing has been a bit patchy over the last week.  The beaches are very deep with fewer gutters and sand banks.  The large swells the other week have washed many of the banks away, which attract the salmon and tailor.  Tura Beach and Quondolo Beach have some banks still, so it’s worth a try.  Otherwise, try the Merimbula Wharf or Tura Heads.  Live baiting, lures and or whole pilchards are the baits of choice.

The lake fishing is producing some quality fish.  The water temperature in the Merimbula Lake was sitting around 20.7 degrees over the weekend.  The Merimbula front lake has good numbers of bream, trevally and blackfish and the Top Lake has dusky flathead, bream, tailor, trevally and heaps of juvenille snapper.  Bait and lures are catching the fish, but bait fishing is doing the best.  The Bega River at Tathra has plenty of dusky flathead below the bridge and fewer duskies, bream, perch and an odd mulloway up the river.

The game fishng has been a bit quiet off Merimbula of late.  There have been marlin seen, just cruising on the surface, sunning themselves, but not interested in taking a lure or bait.  The water out the front is around 21 degrees, but off Bermagui, it’s around 23 plus degrees and it’s coming down slowly.  Word is that over the weekend, Bermagui had a good yellowfin bite out off the sea mount and that water is heading our way and hopefully it doesn’t get pushed out to sea.

Last of all the Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club rooms are open this Friday night, opening at 6pm.  We have the monthly species draw and the March Marlin presentations happening.  There will be a BBQ dinner for those that attend for a gold coin donation as well as the raffles, sponsored by Goodalls Butchers and the Bar Beach Kiosk, plenty of cold beverages, fishing reports and a great atmosphere.

Coming Events:  

Grudge Match May 9th, 10th and 11th.

Snapper Classic May 24th and 25th.

We would love to see everyone down there this week.

Good fishing.

Fishy Fellow

The Bega River entrance at Tathra closed over the Easter break due to the rough seas.

I hope everyone had a happy and safe Easter.  With the low pressure system out off the East Coast, we ended up with some huge seas for half of our Easter long weekend.

Boats that were flathead fishing prior to Good Friday were catching good numbers of sand flathead in 25 to 30 metres of water up off Bournda Island and in the Merimbula Bay.  However, since the huge seas, the flathead have gone to ground.  Boats that ventured out Easter Sunday and Monday really struggled to find flathead from 25 to 60 metres of water.  The inshore ocean waters are very churned up and may need a week to settle down for the fish to come back on the bite.

The reefs, I would expect to be in the same boat. This rough weather however, will help bring the reefs back on the bite quicker, with the snapper up in the shallows chasing a feed of cunjevoi, crabs or squid killed by the huge seas.

There were a few salmon and odd bonito being caught on Monday off the rocks and Merimbula Wharf after the seas settled.  Hopefully the salmon have come back onto the beaches after huge seas followed two days later by no surf. The gutters and sand banks will have changed again, so the salmon should be searching in close for a feed. There also should be bream and possibly whiting in behind the shore break.  There were salmon caught off Merimbula Wharf early on Easter Monday on live yellowtail and pilchards.

The game fishing is still slow on the shelf.  With the water around 21 degrees. I did hear some radio chatter on Sunday of some marlin being lost in 80 fathoms off Eden.  There wasn’t much bait out wide, but the boat was drifting trying to catch bait and had the marlin taking bait off the jigs.  They spent 40 minutes on a marlin that took a bait jig before losing  it.  There was one marlin landed on a lure in 60 fathoms east of Mowarry Point, off Eden on Sunday.  The water Easter Monday was 20.5 degrees with no current.  The marlin have thinned out off Merimbula, so now it’s time to target a broadbill till the tuna turn up.

The Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club is closed this Friday, Anzac Day.  So we will see everyone at the club the following week, May 2nd, where there will be the monthly species draw for trevally, the March Marlin presentation along with our raffles and a BBQ dinner for a gold coin donation.  Hope to see everyone there.

Fishy Fellow

First and second prize winners of the rescheduled Dusky Challenge held over the weekend.  First place, Les Dirou, with his 877mm and second place, Avon Rollason with her 813mm duskies.  Big Thanks to Tackle World Merimbula for their major sponsorship for this event.

The outside flathead fishing is still on fire, coming from reports over the weekend.  The water temperature is hovering around 21 degrees and there is basically no current.  The flathead are being caught in depths from 22 to 30 metres.  My reports came from in the Merimbula Bay, around Bournda Island up to Turingal Head and down off the Pinnacles.  The flathead size is around 40 to 45 centimetres and the bite was non-stop.  There were a few small fish in amongst the keepers I’m told.  Fresh fish bait is the bait of choice.

There are still a few snapper, nannygai and occasional leatherjackets on the reefs.  The snapper are up to 45 centimetres and plenty of pan size fish.  There have been a few gummy sharks caught around the edges of the reefs also.  Bonito and salmon are being trolled up on the points at Haycock and Long Point and I did hear of a decent kingfish caught on Thursday off the wharf at Merimbula.

There is limited surf over the last week for catching salmon on the beaches.  If you can find a deep gutter with a sand bank along side it, it’s probably worth a fish.  If you’re targeting salmon, try and present your bait in the white water area after the wave has broken.  Otherwise try spinning off the points at Tura Heads and Merimbula on the low tide.  You might get lucky there and you could also catch bonito and frigate mackeral.  Use smaller metals in that 20 gram range to have a chance.

The estuary fishing over the weekend was hard work for most, especially when targeting a single species like dusky flathead.  The water in Merimbula Lake was around 20.5 degrees and the duskies weren’t overly keen to play.  Everyone caught some dusky flathead , even though they were under 50 centimetres.  The two winning fish were caught on lures, and other better fish in the 60 centimetres range were caught on baits.  However, the by-catch was pretty good.  Bream, trevally, tailor, pinkies and mulloway were caught in Merimbula, Tathra, Pambula and Wonboyn systems.

Thank you again to Tackle World Merimbula for their sponsorship of the Dusky Challenge.  Without the support of our local businesses, we could not run these events.  The MBGLAC are very grateful for all the local businesses that support our club’s events and I’m sure our members are supporting them as well.  The club has VIP Tackle World cards offering member’s discounts on tackle, so contact club President, Shane Mayberry on 0428 424 496 to organise yours, or come to the club on a Friday night to get yours.

The game fishing has changed again since the bad weather.  The water has cooled and is now sitting around 21 degrees.  There is cooler water sitting underneath, at around 19 degrees and the current is going to the north slowly.  Reports from boats over the weekend said there is still bait on and just inside, the shelf.  There are still a few marlin around, but not like a few weeks back.  Slow trolling live slimy mackeral around the bait schools, around the tide changes is working the best.

The Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club is closed this week, Good Friday and is also closed the following Friday, Anzac Day.  So, we will see you again on Friday 3rd May.

Good fishing and tight lines.

Fishy Fellow

MBGLAC small fry member, Bronson Pryor caught this 830mm mulloway last week after dark in a local estuary.

The fishing has been on fire of late on most fronts and the weekend’s deluge will only help the fishing once it settles a bit.

The outside flathead fishing has slowed a little since last week.  The sand flathead are still being caught in and around 25 metres of water between Tura Heads and Turingal Head, but I’m told there are plenty of undersized fish between the keepers, and they’re ranging from 35 to 40cm.

The reefs are still very patchy with plenty of undersized fish being caught.  Only odd legal snapper and nannygai have been caught of late.  There is some cooler 20 degree water coming back into the bays and, with the rough seas, hopefully this will get the snapper feeding.  There has still been plenty of bonito caught over the last week around the reefs and rocky points/headlands.  Now the seas are up, don’t go near the rocks till things settle down.

The salmon fishing has been excellent of late.  There are schools off Tathra Beach at the Moggareeka end, North Tura Beach, Tura Beach and around the Merimbula Wharf and lake entrance.  Before this weather came in, the beaches at Tathra, Main Beach Merimbula and Pambula Beach also had good numbers of yellowfin bream, some trevally, whiting and an odd jewfish being caught on fresh beach worms.

The estuaries are also fishing very well.  Lures and baits are all working.  The Bega River at Tathra has odd dusky flathead, bream, mulloway, perch and salmon being caught.  The Merimbula Lake has trevally, bream, blackfish, dusky flathead and odd whiting being caught and Pambula Lake also has bream, dusky flathead, trevally and odd mulloway.  The best baits are nippers and strip baits and for lures, small prawn imitation plastics and 80mm wrigglers.

The marlin bite on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday was out of this world.  There were plenty of boats hooked up in an area the size of a football field.  This was all happening due east of Long Point on the continental shelf.  Every boat caught fish some days.  Slow trolling or switch baiting slimey mackerel enticed these marlin and occasional sharks and the atmosphere was electric.  Saturday saw a very slow day off Merimbula, but Tathra through to Batemans Bay had good action.  There is some hot water moving down, but it is very wide.  On the shelf we have temperatures around 23 degrees and not much current so hopefully things will fire up again for Easter when this weather settles down.

Coming events for the Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club:

Rescheduled Dusky Challenge April 12th & 13th

The Grudge Match May 9th, 10th & 11th 

Snapper Classic May 22nd & 23rd

Check our website at www.mbglac.com.au for details.

The Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club is open this Fiday night from 6pm.  Come on down and meet the local, support our raffle, sponsored by Goodalls Butchers Merimbula and the Bar Beach Kiosk.  Cathc up on the week’s fishing reports and enjoy a cold bevvy.  Hope to see you there.

Fishy Fellow

 Glen Rollason caught this oversized tailor up the Bega River last week.  It measured 614mm.  Great capture.

The outside flatty fishing has picked up, but not out deep.  Thirty to forty plus metres has heaps of small flathead and small leatherjackets up under the boats.  There are also oceanic toads buzzing around.  However, the sand flathead can be found in 20 to 25 metres north of Tura Heads in and around Bournda Island.  Flathead 35 to 40cm are being caught readily, but there are patches of small fish in amongst them.

The reefs are a bit patchy.  The drift is to the north with the water around 20.5 degrees.  Some nice nannygai are being caught on the reef edges.  The snapper and morwong have been mostly undersize.  There are some nice sized bonito being caught over the reefy areas, trolling 100mm hard bodied lures at 5 to 6 knots around the points and bombies.  This could catch you a bonito or two up to 60cm in length.

The salmon schools are on the move.  There were two separate schools on Tura Beach last week, and Main Beach had a large school also.  So boaters might find them off Long Point Merimbula around to the wharf, trolling some 100mm long stripy lures, trolled at 6 knots.  You might also catch a bonito if you’re lucky.  The beach fishermen need to look at Tathra Beach, Bournda Beach, Tura Beach and Quondola Beach.  There are also a few whiting and odd bream being caught on Main Beach Merimbula and Pambula Beach.  Fresh beach worms is the bait of choice.

The lake fishing over the weekend was pretty good.  The Bega River at Tathra saw bream, perch, trevally and a few dusky flathead caught.  Merimbula had dusky flathead, bream, tailor, trevally and a few blackfish caught.  Pambula had odd bream, trevally, dusky flathead and a few whiting reported.  Most of the reports were from lure fishos, but baits were also used by some.  Nippers and live poddy mullet were the baits used.  

Another great weathered weekend was had over the weekend.  The fishing was very good on Saturday with plenty of marlin caught and tagged out from Merimbula.  Mostly striped and an odd black.  On Sunday the marlin were a bit more spread out but all boats had action on marlin with every boat catching at least one.  The boats that went south and wide also had some yellowfin action and that went all the way up to Batemans Bay, with odd fish caught out of most ports.  The weather is looking good most of this week, so there are no excuses.

Coming Events for the Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club is the rescheduled Dusky Challenge catch and release competition.  It is set down for April 12th to 13th.  So get yourselves sorted and check out the website for details.

The Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Club rooms are open every Friday night from  6.00pm, except for Good Friday.  Come on down and enjoy a cold beverage, support our raffle, sponsored by Goodalls Butchers and the Bar Beach Kiosk and chat with the locals about what is being caught.  Everyone is welcome.  Hope to see you there.  

Till next week.

Fishy Fellow