There have been some nice morwong and snapper also out at the island with pilchard and squid baits working best.

The odd large sand flathead is also about out at the island however if it’s a feed of flathead you are after, try between 30 to 40m in depth off the golf course, Kianga or Dalmeny.

Wagonga Inlet has been alive with a great variety of fish this week.

I’ve heard a few people say there are too many boats and the fish have been quiet.

I’ve heard that excuse too many times and can assure you, if you fish the right locations, tides and baits, there are plenty of good fish in the system.

It’s been great to see some land based anglers having success this week. Matt Pearce from Sydney took his two young boys, Bradley and Cameron out the front of Easts caravan park and fished the deep hole with nippers.

Matt landed a nice trevally and the boys helped wind the fish in, which was one of the highlights of their holiday.

There have been some nice whiting and bream taken from the hole this week and one angler nearly landed a flathead estimated at over 80cm only to have the line break just as the fish was about to be netted.

Forsters Bay has fished well again this week, with plenty of garfish on offer. These very tasty fish are in good numbers right throughout the bay and are taking striped tuna and prawn baits fished either unweighted or with a very small split shot sinker.

I took my partner Feelisea and the kids out on the weekend to escape the northerly wind and we had a ball catching garfish, mullet, trevally and bream that were all attracted to the boat with a fine mist of constant berley.

Feelisea landed a handful of garfish which we cooked up that night for tea in butter and lime juice and they were sensational.

The sand flats in the middle of Wagonga Inlet have been fishing well the first two hours of the run in tide.

I fished in a metre of water earlier this week and with a berley trail of pilchards, managed some nice whiting, taylor and bream all on bass yabbies.

These fish love sitting on the sand flats waiting for food to wash past, and a berley trail gets them all sitting in the one area to cast your bait into.

We managed a few small flathead amongst the bigger fish and had a ball catching and releasing more than fifty fish in the session.

If you are heading out to the island over the next few days; here’s a tip. Big live baits catch big kings. If you can catch yourself some large squid or even salmon, try these baits live when you have a good school of kingfish biting, and you might just catch yourself the big one.

- By David Kramer, iFish and 3AW radio presenter

Bermagui report: marlin showing

THE marlin bite continued this week with fish tagged from Tuross to Bunga Canyons

Bait has been scarce in recent days and it’s often taken many drops to get a few live baits.

Cowan Young were more readily jigged than slimies this week and down deep (30-50fathoms) but obviously, when a bait ball with marlin on it is encountered bait is crucial.

Simply making a pass with lures is a low percentage play but some fish have been fairly aggressive and more than average have been pinned on lures where lighter gauge hooks and smaller skirts (6-8inches) have been used.

Cowan Young are fine to pitch in to a bait ball, marlin have been readily taking these baits.

The lack of bait will mean many will have to keep any fresh bait from Salmon to Bonito to Cowan Young to make into skip baits as insurance against not being able to jig livies.

The full moon is behind us and a few gummy sharks have been landed on the beaches and the odd mulloway.

Fresh prawns and strip baits from salmon and tailor will help here and a running sinker rig is preferred as against the standard paternoster to allow the target species to take a bait well down before the strike allowing a better hook set.

Those pursuing bream and whiting with fresh beach worms are being rewarded with some solid whiting.

Garfish remain a popular option for kids in most warmer inlets and it’s a good opportunity to collect a very tasty table fish.

Small hooks, baits (pieces of peeled prawn for example) and floats are all important here.

Tailor seem to be in greater numbers at present from the beaches and in Wallaga Lake and the bag is certainly mixed at present for those fishing the sand.

Surface activity remains excellent and bream and whiting on the flats are taking poppers readily. The Bermagui river is punching above it weight in recent days also.

Cheers,

Scotty, Michael, Laurie and James

Moruya, Tuross fishing reports

Moruya River –

The river remains kind to fishermen and women, with great reports piling into the shop. Flathead and whiting are still being caught from the hospital flat, with the flathead being caught mostly on shallow diving Cranka Lures. These lures are fantastic, and as such as walking out the door so you better be quick! If its whiting you’re after, stock up on surface lures, such as Zappers and Squidgy Poppers for the biggest catches over the flats. If you’re around the Quarry wharf and down around Preddy’s you’ll catch plenty of tailor, but make sure you’re an early bird because these fish go deep during daylight hours. The flounder are everywhere in the river, so pick a spot and sling out some prawns or whitebait. The hole in the wall remains fishing well for luderick, which are also from the Quarry wharf down.

Tuross –

Hey kids! Get out and have a go at the Tuross ‘Hooked on Fishing’ comp this weekend. You can register all weekend and if you’re lucky enough to start pulling in the big ones, you might find yourself the winner of Tackle World Moruya prizes! So start doing the dishes and convince Mum and Dad that they should really take you down and let you get in on the fun. If its details you’re after pick up a flyer from Tackle World Moruya and the staff will be happy to fill you in. Great catches of flathead, bream and nice sized perch are being had from front to back, with the bass further up in the fresh. With reports of up to 47cm bass, it seems you don’t need to be a kid to have fun in Tuross this weekend! Whiting are also hitting fresh beach worms hard down the front and in quality sizes.

Beaches and Rocks –

Plenty of benito are swimming around the Broulee rocks. Catch their interest with some Armour metal slices and Twisties for the bigger fish. Around Goulbourn Workers, the bream, flathead, salmon and tailor are still hitting hard on salted pillies and live beach worms. The beach worms are squirming right out the door, so make sure you secure your bucket! Decent sized whiting and salmon are still being pulled in off Broulee beaches.

Offshore –

Captain Ron aboard Winda Woppa I and II joins with Tackle World Moruya in our congratulations to Jack, who is a fishing veteran of 35 years and recently bagged his personal best king fish out in 71 metres of water off Moruya. Large snapper, mowies and king fish are staying within the 54 metre water mark, which means it’s time to throw out your sea anchor! Be patient however, as all good things take time – which is usually sped up by proper use of some burley. Out the front of the surf club, around the 12 metre mark, the snapper are responding best to Burkley Gulp 6 inch Nuclear Chicken, with some decent sizes rewarding fishos. If it’s the 30-40 metre mark you’re in, it’s likely you’ll pull in some tiger flathead, fish bait and squid. Marlin chasers that have ambitions of hitting the shelf should give Ron a call on 0404966607 and book an appointment before they all fill up.

Tackle World Moruya sends their best wishes to Noel, hoping for a speedy recovery and return to the water to fish another day.

Our apologies to customers who have recently tried to contact the shop via phone, as our phone lines our down. We’re battling with the phone companies to ensure you are inconvenienced no longer. Hopefully we’ll be back shortly, but please feel welcome to email us or contact us via our website (www.tackleworldmoruya.com.au) and we will be ever vigilant to respond.

Tight lines, and remember – everyday’s a good day for fishing!

Team Tackle World Moruya

Gaye, Graham, Bec, Mark, Nathan and Jade

Rob’s report: Reef and teeth

A GREAT bet at this time of year, weather permitting of course, is to hit the South Coast reefs for a mixed bag of tasty fish.

Right along the coast you will find the sand flathead fishing is good in around 30 meters of water.

You’ll need to be drifting so you can cover some ground and find a patch of flatties, good areas to start include off or between headlands or under bait fish schools.

Keep lifting the baits up and down off the bottom-this not only attracts the flathead and entices a bite, it will automatically hook the ones that mouth the bait and sit on it - I have watched this happen many times on my bait cam-angler above totally unaware there is a good flatty with their bait in its gob!

Braid line helps heaps-you will know if small flathead, leather jackets or toadies have pinched your bait because you will feel it.

If you have been having trouble with braid try the latest Suffix 832 in a breaking strain between 10 and 30 pounds depending on the outfit you intend to use it on.

This braid is much more user friendly than standard braids.

Closer to the reefy areas you will pick up tiger flathead, XL sized mowies, a few pinkie snapper.

Less desirable but still great fun and reasonable table fish if you know how to cook them include leatherjackets, sweep, wrasse and trevally.

Best baits are squid and pilchard cocktails, tuna strips, carp strips, and octopus.

You can also try soft plastics in place of your baits on the paternoster rig.

A 3 or 4-inch long Storm Pro Shad is my favourite - the tails on these things wiggle the best of any plastic I have tried and the reef fish respond accordingly.

If you need more help catching flatties and reef fish I have detailed it on disc 1 chapter 3 of my instructional fishing DVD series.

In the upper reaches of the estuary’s the summer bass fishing is going as good as ever.

Ray Smith has fished three different rivers over recent weeks, and has found good bass fishing in all of them.

Spinner baits during the day, and surface lures during the evening is the rough general rule, but Ray stressed that being able to cover ground in his Hobie has been key.

There is some beautiful country to be explored, but remember bass are not good eating, and leave only footsteps - there is only one NSW South Coast and we need to look after it.

Progress of the Marine Parks scientific audit

The Independent Scientific Audit of Marine Parks in NSW commissioned by the NSW government is well underway.

The Audit was originally due to be completed by 31 December 2011. Given the large number of submissions and the scope of the material provided to the Audit, the NSW government agreed that the Panel finalise the audit report in January. The final report is now due to be completed by the end of January 2012.

Public submissions closed on September 30, 2011. The current stage is that the audit panel is meeting in early December with recreational fishing associations to explore matters relevant to the management of NSW marine parks and more generally management of the NSW coast.

Organizations invited to the workshop include the Recreational Fishing Alliance of NSW, Australian National Sportfishing Association (NSW Branch), Australian Land Based Anglers Association, Coff's Harbour Deep Sea Fishing Club, Ecofishers, Byron Bay Services Deep Sea Fishing Club and the NSW Advisory Council on Recreational Fishing.

Further information including profiles for the six panel members, all documents made available to the Audit

Panel so far and submissions from the public comment period are available at www.marineparksaudit.nsw.gov.au

- See you on the water,

Rob Paxevanos

robpax.com