Club Member Merrily Bell with a meter plus gummy shark she caught early last week before the weather went bad.
The fishing activity last week was all but a write off from Tuesday afternoon on. Those that ventured to sea on Monday and Tuesday morning caught fish. The outside sand and tiger flathead fishing still produced a good feed of sand and tiger flathead, but boats had to move around as they were not biting like the week prior, and there were a lot of undersized flathead in the mix. One upside to the fishing, the drift was very slow, and the Gummy sharks were biting very well. Merrily reported only catching eighteen keeper flathead, but they caught 4 gummy sharks. They were fishing between Tura Heads and Turingal Point and in depths from 30 metres out to 45 metres. The water temperature in shore is sitting around 19 degrees.
The reef fishing early in the week, saw some pan-sized snapper to 40 centimetres, morwong to 35 centimetres, and a mixed bag of nannygai, sargent bakers and plenty of maori wrasse. There were also a few gummy sharks caught over the back of the Long Point and Haycock reefs. Fresh squid was the best bait for the snapper and morwong. There were also a few rat kingfish reported being seen retrieving fish back to the boat.
The surf fishing is still firing, and now after the weather and while the seas are settling down a bit, the fishing for salmon and tailor should be great. Some of the gutters could have changed or moved along the beaches, and there could be some sand bars out deeper with a deep gutter inside it. The salmon and tailor will hunt in that gutter for your pilchards, usually under the white water coming off the sand bar. So, if you are a lure or bait fishos, make sure you are getting into that white water zone. Tura and North Tura beaches have some nice gutters, and further north Wallagoot and Tathra Beach also. There has also been an odd mulloway caught on the Tathra beach whilst targeting the almon.
Our estuary fishing should only get better after the deluge we got on the coast last week. Reports from Sunday afternoon I received, were the Merimbula front lake had some quality bream, trevally and whiting being caught using nippers for bait and prawns could possibly work as well. The water has dirtied up, but not so bad that you could not see the bottom in the shallow areas. That means the dusky flathead should still be up in the top lake around the edges and looking for a feed. The Bega River at Tathra has a few bream and perch down the front around the rock walls and dusky flathead around the
edges and an occasional mulloway around the bridge and in the deeper holes on the tide changes. The estuary water temperature will be cooler with the
added fresh water in the systems and are sitting around 18 degrees. The prawn are still running this week, with the high tide being around 10.30pm on Sunday night. So, any time after that is worth a try. Remember the tide is approximately one hour later each night. Monday night is the new moon.
The trout fishing at Lake Eucumbene has been consistent, with fish still moving around the edges polaroiding by the fly fishers and the lure guys are catching a few using Rapala trout imitation and 7cm Double Clutches and slow retrieved plastics. The boats are getting odd fish trolling at daybreak and dust.
There has been no game fishing over the last week, hopefully the weather improves to give the boats a chance to venture out to the shelf to target a marlin. The water on the shelf is showing to be around 22 degrees.
Coming events for the Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club. Brogo Big Bass club members fishing weekend. January 30th, 31st and 1st February and the Dusky Challenge fishing competition February 21st and 22nd. Check our web page for details at www.mbglac.com.au
The Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club is open every Friday night, opening at 6pm. It is a great time of year to meet new people and why not do it at the fishing club. We have Friday raffles, sponsored by Goodalls Butchers, The Bar Beach Kiosk, and the Lakeview Hotel, plus an array of other prizes. Catch up on some current fishing reports, from those that have been fishing, and watch the sun go down from the best view in town.
Till next week, Fishy Fellow