Squidgy bugs, lobbies and the old faithful bloodworm wrigglers lightly weighted have been highly effective in getting the bite.

We’ve seen a few more mulloway this week and the tailor fishing for those spinning from the rock or the entrance to Wallaga Lake has been good.

We have not seen too many gummy sharks from the surf but the odd one is still coming on board for those fishing 20-30m of water of Cemetery, Camel Rock and the Murrah mouth.

Squiding is gaining more momentum with some nice calamari on offer. Fishing 3.5” size jigs in the deeper water of 5-10m in effective and these high morning tides this week will help your cause as the water is quite clear also in the bays and of the headlands.

- Scotty and the boys at Bermagui Bait and Tackle

Narooma report: Bowling Club fishos

FOR a start I would say all the members of the Bowlo fishing will be buying lottery tickets tomorrow as it was the first time in so long that the weather was good.

And with the fine weather, there was no shortage of fishermen and it was one of the best weigh-ins for the season.

Winners for the month were Garry Blood, Dave Clark, Moya Hicks, Randall Setzer, Colin Armstrong and Ken Shepard.

There were some nice salmon weighed in with most around the 2kg mark and the reports are there are plenty of bream on the beaches but they are in very poor condition.

Wagonga Inlet is still hit and miss, as the water is still cool for this time of year up there, and it seems if you pick a warm patch you will get fish.

Tuross is the place as it’s alive with whiting near the entrance.

Montague Island is on one day and dead the next and if you’re chasing kings, live bait is the go.

Now this time of the year the island should be alive with big snapper and they too are hit and miss but that’s more due to the full moon right now as the lead liners have been knocking a few over chasing kings.

So next month’s comp is on March 4-5 then a week later it’s our annual freshwater comp at Buckenderra.

The club welcomed new members Chris and Di MacDonald who have relocated from Captains Flat, while Peter Jay who has decided to call Dalmeny home so welcome to the club

Things that are happening at the fishing club:

It was good to see the local state Government change its mind about forcing the E10 onto boat owners as 95 per cent of us would have been forced to use the new super and that would have hurt all of us that owned a boat.

The Marine Park Independent Audit is still to be released at time of writing and we are all about to get our say in the new Fisheries bag and size limits review.

And I have a feeling the department will get a very big response this time as we had a fellow angler who was nailed a few weeks ago with too many poddy mullet for bait, so it pays to keep an eye on the latest in rules and if somebody from the DPI reads this can you drop 100 books at the Bowling Club.

The fishing club also put in a submission in regards to the federal Marine Park down this way and as I understand the radicals are looking at closing Tuross Canyons down for God only knows what reasons so everyone should have their say - it’s that simple people!

And the latest is we won’t be able to buy pilchards soon as the fish farms in SA have taken the lot to feed their tuna, hmmmmm…

Well not much else to report except Rosco was taken to Moruya hospital on Saturday, so get well soon!

Annie has had her operation and is resting and the fishing club members send their thoughts out to Ian and Jill Huckstead who lost their daughter last week at the age of 40 and on that note I am lost for words people!

- Fishfingers

Moruya/Tuross report

Moruya River –

Unfortunately due to the poor weather lately, there’s not much to report in any of the systems lately. However, when the weather did permit, Tackle World Moruya members Nathan and Justine squeezed in a rewarding session of bream, whiting, flathead, and luderick in the backwaters. VIP member Jimmy also reports large catches of mullet, bream and whiting. As always, the whiting are hitting the live beach worms hard and if you’re a lure fisher, you can’t go past a popper session. The bream remain responsive to Cameons, however the old faithful SX40s are as successful as ever if you prefer to stick to what you know.

Tuross –

Tackle World Moruya member Mark reports the system is fishing best around the oyster leases and in the snags. The leases are your best bet for the bream, which are responding best to Cranksters cast right up into framework. Be careful not to cast too far and get stuck however, so if you’re taking the kids out you might want to teach them how to control their casting first. If it’s the flathead you’re after, try a combination of Strada Piccolas and soft plastics to get a feel for what the fish are hitting hardest. The whiting are probably the most predictable of the lot, with almost guaranteed success on live beach worms sold exclusively by Tackle World Moruya.

Beaches and Rocks –

The pick of the beaches currently is arguably the gutter at Goulbourn workers, which is providing the opportunistic beach fisho with a great chance for some memorable catches. There’s plenty of salmon rewarding anyone who throws out Arma Twisties, which will also attract the tailor. The whiting are again responding best to live beach worms, so either catch some while you’re there or buy a tub in store. The beach worms will also catch bream, as will cubed pilchards.

Offshore –

Captain Ron aboard Winda Woppa I and II reports that before the weather turned foul, large kingfish, mowies and pigfish were being caught on live fish bait. Extra large nannygai and wera are also hitting fish bait and squid, with some less substantial ling in the mix. All of the above were found in 57m of water, at a 21.3 degrees water temperature. If it is the large kingfish you’re after, first head out off Moruya heads in close and stock up on slimies for live bait. Due to the mild currents, it is advised that you use a sea anchor. Also in close around Pedro Point are the snapper, which are hitting the soft plastics hard. Off the shelf, there are plenty of marlin looking to show you a fantastic fight.

Tight lines!

Team Tackle World Moruya

Gaye, Graham, Bec, Mark, Nathan and Jade

Rob Paxevanos: Snapper heads

A family friend by the name of Mal Crawford has got the fishing bug good and proper and I’ve been coaching him a little where possible over the last 6 months or so.

There is an old proverb to the effect of ‘buy a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for the rest of his life’. This is very true, but I would like to add that teaching fishing can be as infectious as the fishing itself and Mal the student turned teacher on a recent fishing trip.

Applying the basic principles I detail on my instructional DVD’s Mal soon worked out how to catch fish in numbers down on the Murray river near Mildura. Most fish caught were carp sure, but he soon had the rest of the dads in the camp following him down to the river each evening excited that they would actually know what they were doing and catch a few fish!

Amongst his new found understudies was little 3 year old Hayden Collins from the ACT, who, armed with a new rod his grandparents brought him for xmas, desperately wanted to catch his first fish.

With Mals guidance he achieved this and many more, right up to the point where he happily took his mid day nap just at the hint there of the possibility of more fishing later that evening.

By the end of the trip Hayden commented that “Mum…I know Mal is a great fisherman…but I am better” That’s Gold!

How good is it that just one new person to this sport has led to numerous other fans of fishing of various ages-all enjoying learning about fishing and looking after the environment, and in my experience that’s one of the best things our country side can have-awesome stuff!

While on the topic of family fishing, my family and I recently had a few days on Port Phillip Bay while visting family.

Three Generations of Snapper Heads, myself, daughter Emily Paxevanos and her Papou (greek for granddad) hit the 17 meter line off Mornington and caught around a dozen snapper between 30 and 70 cm and kept a couple for the BBQ, YUM!

Bait Fishing for snapper in places where there is just a slow current is similar the country over, here’s one good technique

For a start, while spring is one of the easiest times to catch snapper in Australia, late summer is very productive as well, and better still the whole family can join in the fun while the weather In southern Australia is ‘usually’ a little more user friendly. The set up is very simple:

Four quality 6 kilo rod and reel outfits are needed. No surprises that I use Fishing Australia outfits that I designed for this purpose and come spooled with premium quality 6 kilo Sufix line.

When fishing in places with little or no current, all you need is a bean sized (7 gram) sinker on the 6 kg main line running straight down to a single 5/0 VMC perma steel hook.

Whack on a bait-they all work well-pilchards, red rockets, silver whiting, small Californian squid, but best of all is a fresh yakka, gar, salmon or slimy etc caught on site.

Use a slightly heavier 28 gram (one ounce) sinker if using a live yakka.

Cast the rods in various directions-it can be hard to judge which way the berley is going, especially if the boat is swinging a lot on the anchor.

A berley bucket is a big help to keep that trickle of scent happening. Importantly keep checking and re casting the baits every five minutes or as needed-flathead, sweep, jackets, sea lice, etc will get them, and besides big snapper often like taking the bait on the drop. This is not the only way ‘how to catch snapper’ but it is good easy fun, give it a go where ever you fish.

This weekend there is a rising tide at dawn and dusk, so the lead up to these times should be great. Good spots include 15 to 40 meters of water off the headlands at Merimbula, Potato Point, Moruya, Richmond Point, Grasshopper Island (Durras) and Bendalong just to name a very few. You should also get into bonito and kingfish as well, this technique is good at attracting and catching a wide variety of species.

See you on the water

Rob Paxevanos

robpax.com