Sub-junior member, Elsie Pryor (3 years), caught this 33 centimetre Australian bass during the week fishing with her brothers.
The outside flathead fishing has improved in the last few days, with some good catches of sand flathead and odd tiger flathead. Turingal Head back to Bournda Island in 40 metres of water has been producing some nice fish in that 45 centimetre size range. There are still small fish in the mix, but their numbers have declined. Fishing off Long Point and down along the Haycock Reef is also producing a good feed out in 45 to 55 metres of water and there have also been a few gummy sharks caught in this area. The water temperature in close is sitting around 20 degrees.
The reef fishing, with the cooler water, has also perked up, with a few better snapper to 45 centimetres. Also, morwong, nannygai and a mixed bag of other reef bait stealers. There are also plenty of bonito and squid being caught around the headlands and wharfs.
The beaches are all giving up good numbers of salmon and some tailor. Some of the salmon are pushing that 4 kilogram mark and they’re really fat at the moment. Tathra Beach and Tura Beach still have schools on them and the headlands on the low tide when conditions are right. The Merimbula Main Beach and Pambula Beach have some nice whiting, bream, and odd trevally being caught on the low tide rising, on beach worms also.
The estuary fishing is still the most consistent with the Bega River at Tathra giving up a feed of bream, dusky flathead, odd estuary perch, trevally and mulloway. It is closed to the ocean at the moment, but that’s keeping the water temperature up, dropping from last week’s 28 to 26 degrees. The Merimbula Lake has bream, trevally and whiting in the front lake and bream, trevally, dusky flathead and tailor up the top lake. Pambula River and Lake has some nice whiting, bream, trevally and flathead in the river and up in the lake flathead, odd trevally, flounder and tailor. Fresh nippers and mullet strips for the bait fishing and lures are catching the fish.
The local game fishing has picked up over the last week. We had 5 marlin recorded and others lost. There was good bait early in the week, but it dwindled by the end of the week and sharks and seals were a nuisance. The water early in the week was 22 degrees and by Thursday, it had jumped to 24 degrees and there was a 1.8 knot current pushing south. Dolphin fish are still in good numbers around the FAD. Fish up to 90 centimetres are a regular occurrence at the moment. The MBGLAC BSR March Marlin event is running the whole month of March, and you can enter at any time. Check out the club’s web page or FaceBook pages for details on how to get involved. You might be the winner of the BSR (Big Smart Reels) $6999 electric reel up for grabs.
The Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club rooms are open at 6pm this Friday night. Everyone is welcome. Come on down and enjoy the view from the balcony and watch the sun setting. Support our weekly raffles sponsored by Goodalls Butchers Merimbula, the Lakeview Hotel and the Bar Beach Kiosk. Catch up on the week’s fishing reports whilst enjoying a cold bevvy.
Till next week. Fishy Fellow
Fellow