The Grudge Match between Eden, Merimbula and Pambula was held over the weekend, with Eden coming out victorious.  Here we have left to right, Merimbula President Shane Mayberry, Geoff McMahon (Eden), Eden President Val Cartledge and Pambula President Joe Klimas handing over the shields.

Great weather over the weekend for the Grudge Match between Merimbula, Pambula and Eden clubs and plenty of reports to help this week’s fishing report.  The outside flathead have come back to life with boats bagging out over the weekend.  Sand and tiger flathead were being caught in good numbers from Turingal Head down past Leonards Island.  Fish ranging in size from 40 to 55 centimetres were consistent in all catches.  We found our flathead fishing in depths from 43 to 55 metres of water and the water temperature around 18 degrees with a slow drift to the south.

The reef fishing was pretty good over the weekend with some quality fish caught on the reefs from Long Point, Merimbula down to Green Cape.  Fish caught were snapper, morwong, leatherjackets and Eden’s winning species, red rock cod, sweep, sargent baker, pike and wrasse.  The snapper were spread out but plenty of pan size were caught with good numbers up to 50 centimetres.  The weekends best snapper was 685 centimetres.  Burleying and lures all caught fish.

Our beaches are a bit slow at the moment, but salmon are being caught off Bournda Island, around the headlands and I heard of one school in the Pamubla River and also up the Top Lake at Merimbula.  All the salmon that were caught over the weekend were caught trolling.  

The estuary fishing is slowing down with the water cooling to around 17 degrees.  Bream is the only species feeding up at this time and some nice ones were caught from the Merimbula and Tathra systems.  The whiting, dusky flathead and luderick are bunkering down for winter.  Not to say you won’t catch them, but odd fish here and there are hard to come across.  Tailor are still around in Merimbula Lake but have thinned out lately.  Probably because of their spawning time being in August and with them having to travel up to Fraser Island, that may be why they have thinned out.

The game fishing is on the slow side, but I’m still getting reports of free jumping marlin, but no-one can catch them.  With the water sitting around 21 degrees, hopefully some more yellowfin might show up soon.  There was a report of a 91.6kg bluefin tuna caught off Bunga on Saturday whilst they were fishing for swordfish as they were deep dropping.

In closing, the Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club is open this Friday night, from 6pm.  Come on down and meet the local, catch up on the week’s fishing reports and get involved with our weekly raffle sponsored by Goodall’s Butchers and the Bar Beach Kiosk.  Enjoy a cold beverage with nibbles provided.  

Coming Events:

MBGLAC Working Bee this Saturday 17th May from 9am

Snapper Classic – May 24th and 25th.

Till next week.

Fishy Fellow

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