Small fry member, Riley Holley, captured here a morwong that will go on the board next week for a monthly species prize.
The fishing was great on Friday before the temperature plummeted on Saturday and then cleared up again for Sunday fishers. The ocean flathead are still biting in depths around 40 metres. I had reports on Friday off Short Point, Merimbula, of sand and tiger flathead to 40 centimetres in that depth, and Sunday, the boats were a little wider off Long Point and the Haycock reef catching the flathead out to 50 metres. The inshore water temperature on Sunday was around 14 degrees. If you feel your sinker when you retrieve your line, it is very cold on the bottom.
Our local reefs off Long Point and Haycock gave up a few fish on Friday and Sunday. The snapper were either throwbacks or over 50 centimetres, morwong up to 40 centimetres and plenty of other reef species like sargent bakers, nannygai, maori wrasse, and parrotfish. So, no shortage on bites. Squid with a piece of prawn over the barb worked great on Sunday.
The salmon and tailor surf fishing is happening on Tura, Bournda and Tathra beaches that I know of. Bait fishing with pilchards and casting metals are catching a few. The beaches are very deep, but the sand bars are more visible early in the rising tides. That’s when the better fishing is done, while the wave action is happening. So, plan to fish the first 3 to 4 hours of the rising tides, especially if the beaches are deep.
The estuaries are all starting to stir. Reports on Sunday from Merimbula and Tathra River were positive. At Merimbula, reports from Sunday were dusky flathead to 60 centimetres and blackfish to 47 centimetres, all on lures. The Bega River at Tathra had tailor and some bycatch estuary perch. Pambula also had a few salmon and tailor caught, which is a very positive sign for the start of spring. The estuary water temperaturs are around 13 degrees at the moment.
The trout are still biting around the edges on lures and baits at Eucumbene and Jindabyne Lakes. Trolling is also catching a few larger fish using deep diver lures.
The gamefishing is going off from Bermagui to Batemans Bay in water from 50 to 100 metres deep and they’re catching yellowfin around the tide changes casting surface lures when the fin hit the surface feeding on bait. Fish from 10-50 kilograms is very common at the moment. Sunday, there had to be a dozen caught that I heard of.
The Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club rooms are open this Friday from 6pm. Come on down and catch up on the week’s fishing reports. Buy a ticket in our weekly raffle sponsored by Goodalls Butchers and the Bar Beach Kiosk.
Hope to see you there.
Till next week.
Fishy Fellow