PICTURED here is “Coilly” on his boat “Fraid Knot” with the first striped marlin of the season for Bermagui.
DOUBLE KINGS: Ryan O'Beirne from Melbourne with a couple of nice kingies caught on Monday.
RARE KEEPER: Matt Kuusela from Langwarrin, Victoria with a nice kingfish caught off the eastern side of Montague Island on Monday.
WAGONGA FLATHEAD: Mitch Cox with a nice Wagonga Inlet flathead caught using nippers for bait.
MULLET GIRL: Six-year-old Kirsten Carratelli with a nice mullet caught in Wagonga Inlet this week.
Editor Stan Gorton fished his home lake Corunna for lots of small flathead and the odd keeper like this one...
Ian Payne of Bingi with his two keeper flathead from Corunna Lake...
Ian Payne of Bingi on his Hobie kayak on Corunna Lake...
The main event last month at the Narooma Sport and Game Fishing Club was the Christmas party attended by 80 club members and friends.
Narooma fishing report - by David Kramer
THIS week kicked off the holiday fishing season for the many holiday makers visiting Narooma.
Both offshore anglers and those fishing Wagonga Inlet have tasted success with all the species you could expect turning up on queue for the many boats and land based anglers in town.
Montague Island has been a bit quiet on the kings with only a handful of size fish being landed on Sunday but things improved for those anglers who ventured to the island on Monday.
The eastern side of Island has been the most productive as Matt Kuusela and Ryan O'Beirne found out with four nice kings to 75cm.
There have been plenty of undersize fish down south, but not too many size fish coming from that area.
It’s just a matter of time, a bit of current and the southern end will fire.
The encouraging thing at the island is the amount of snapper out there, particularly down south of the island.
Snapper to 2 kilos have been a regular bycatch on kingy rigs with squid being their preferred bait.
For those anglers wanting a feed of flathead, there have been good numbers caught offshore from Dalmeny and Kianga in the 30m to 35m mark. Drifting with enough weight to hold bottom, and squid strips for bait, anglers have been catching their bag limits with some fish some fish getting up to 70cm in length.
Wagonga Inlet has fished well over the past week. The boardwalk has seen a lot of land based action, with leatherjackets and trevally the most common species coming from the area; prawns and squid strips have been the best bait.
The shallow channels and flats just west of the highway bridge have produced some good whiting and bream.
Bass yabbies (nippers) have worked well for bait and the best method has been casting into less than a metre of water on the start of the run out tide.
The lake proper has fished well for dusky flathead this week, with plenty of fish coming from areas in five to eight metres of water.
Bass yabbies, live mullet and soft plastics have been the preferred way to target these nice flatties.
There is some serious numbers of tailor in the lake too. Many anglers drifting for flathead are coming across large schools of tailor up to 35cm. There is also an abundance of big mullet in the inlet.
A little bit of berley attracts the fish and a bit of peeled prawn or bread is the best bait if you want a bit of fun for the kids.
Garfish are another species that are in good numbers in the inlet. Once again, berley is essential and a bit of peeled prawn the best bait.
With a few cracker days forecast over the next week, there’s sure to be large numbers of boats hitting Montague Island and some serious numbers of kingfish hitting the cleaning table.
With the amount of new boats in town, everyone needs to be aware of the weather forecast which can easily be found on the Bureau of Meteorology web site or by contacting Marine Rescue Narooma.
- David Kramer
Bermagui offshore report…
PICTURED here is “Coilly” on his boat “Fraid Knot” with the first striped marlin of the season for Bermagui.
Scott at Bermagui Bait and Tackle reports it was taken on a lure wide of the Kink.
Scotty says a few slimy mackerel have been holding off Camel Rock for those looking for bait, and there have been some bait balls seen on the shelf with odd marlin hanging around.
Other boats have successfully hooked up on these bait balls using live bait.
The current recently was pushing down so this bodes well for more marlin to be coming down in the near future.
Tackle World Moruya – fishing report
Moruya River:
Whiting are being caught on the sand flats on surface lures, specifically Strada Virals and Chaos. The river is also producing some nice size flathead and bream, which are hitting both soft plastics and hard bodies. The prawns are running so make sure you’re stocked up on prawning nets and lights.
Tuross:
Flatties are around and biting aggressively, taking well to the soft plastics and deep diving hard bodies. However, a great deal of these fish are undersize, so make sure you check your measurements! Reports of catches around the 60cm mark are quite common. Tackle World members John (Junior) and John (Senior) enjoyed a good session on Thursday down from the Steel Bridge using SX40s. Tackle World team member Jade caught and released an 80cm flathead on blood worm wrigglers in the Four Ways, which are also producing good bream and perch, responding best to Strada Badgers.
Beaches and Rocks:
The salmon are popping up everywhere up and down the coast, so you can’t go wrong with throwing out ganged pillies or Armor Anchovies at your beach of choice. Tackle World team member John (Senior) has been catching plenty of flathead, bream and whiting off Congo beach on fresh beach worms. If you’re not trained in the art of catching beach worms, secure yourself a tub in store. Hurry though, they’re going fast so you’re safest to ring ahead and get the staff to put one aside for you.
Offshore:
Reports of nice kingfish have been coming in, with the lure of choice being Knife Jigs or live bait. Good sized snapper and tiger flathead have also been had, responding best to fish bait. If you’re fishing in close, however, try throwing out some soft plastics. The water temperature is currently 19.7 degrees, consistent with a recent warming up. Congo has been producing squid on IKA Squid Jigs.
Tackle World Moruya has now joined facebook! So go to www.facebook.com/tackleworldmoruya to check the site for updates on specials and great photos! Have a great week everyone and “remember everyday’s a good day for fishing ...!”
Team Tackle World Moruya
Graham, Gaye, Bec, Mark, Nathan and Jade
Narooma Sport and Game Fishing Club news
THE main event last month was the Christmas party attended by 80 club members and friends.
There were lots of children there which made a thoroughly enjoyable evening, especially for the kids when Santa arrived.
The food, prepared by the club ladies, was exceptional and copious wine was also consumed. The scene was enhanced by a superb Narooma sunset, viewed from the club jetty.
January features the Junior Fishing Clinic, which is on Thursday, January 17 from 9am to 2pm, at the Club House, Riverside Drive, Narooma (next to Taylor’s seafood restaurant).
Fish is improving with kingfish, snapper and flat head being caught near Montague Island.
The northern end of the island seemed most productive. There were quite a few under sized kingfish caught (and of course released), but it is good to see the catches improve.
Further out albacore and bonito were in good supply. Good size flathead were caught straight out from the bar.
The lake provided small undersize snapper, flathead and trevally. Garfish and whiting were also caught.
The club will be open from 4.30pm on Friday, why not call in for a New Year’s drink?
- Terry Vincent
