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