BIG FISH, LITTLE LAD: Young Tom Dawson went fishing with his dad Scott at Montague Island on Saturday and landed several kingfish on his little rod all by himself. His dad had to help with the bigger ones but soon he will be landing legal-size fish on his own!
SQUID: Regular Canberra visitor Bruce Foldi spent a few nights last week targeting squid in Forsters Bay, Narooma with some success.
BIG JEWIE: Corey Walters of Tathra hooked this mulloway on a live yakka at an undisclosed location last week.
MUD CRABS: It's not just blue swimmers you'll find in your crab pot on the Far South Coast but the odd mud crab as well, like this 2.2kg model being held by Tommy McDonald of Narooma.
BEST FLATHEAD: Little Maxim Ray with his PB dusky flathead from the Bermagui River on Sunday. It went 55cm and was taken on a soft bait.
10AM STARTS: Quinny and the boys on Happy Hooker prove 10am starts can be productive with the release of a nice striped marlin.
THE marlin as of Sunday were still out there and Quinny and the boys on Happy Hooker got on the board on Sunday catching and releasing a nice marlin and proving 10am starts can be productive.
There have even been a couple of marlin encounters at Montague Island showing how close in these fish are at the moment.
Scott from Bermagui Bait & Tackle said there were a few marlin over the weekend out the front of Bermagui, at the bottom of the 12-Mile and at the Kink.
The water had its better spots but to the north it was green and ordinary even thought it was still holding a heap of bait.
There were a few yellowfin tuna around and the water pushing westward to our north should produce some great marlin fishing in coming weeks.
Last week, Scott was saying we need the water to tidy up a little more, that water down at 48 should be 22.5, usually 1 to 1.5 degrees lower than SST charts show.
On Thursday, there were four marlin landed with a few others raised or seen free jumping.
Water had cooled off a degree to the north, there was some better water pushing in down at 36'48. Bait was about but down deep mostly at 60 fathoms.
On Wednesday last week the kingfish remained solid at Montague Island, even an 80kg striped marlin was landed there, according to Scott.
Later in the week on Friday, Narooma charter boat The Sheriff had a 75cm kingfish taken by a black marlin at the island – read the full story on the back page.
There were a few marlin around midweek with bait building again and a couple caught at the Kink after some kingie fishing.
There was also a bit of activity on the 12-Mile as well.
The kingfish were solid at the island all last week with up to 50 boats possibly more all out there.
The fish were reportedly mostly well over size at 70 to 75cm and some charter boats landed as many as 55 fish in one session.
The kingfish, known for being fickle, dropped right off on Saturday and Sunday when the current slowed right down.
Charter boats were only getting one or two kingfish by Sunday and so turned their attention to either reef fishing around the island getting morwong and long-finned perch, or going after the flathead.
The earlier plagues of leatherjackets appeared to have dispersed with one charter boat getting 150 flathead in session south of the island, which meant almost two hours of cleaning back at the wharf!
You can’t go wrong in the estuaries or the beaches at the moment with tailor being encountered in the surf between Bermagui and Narooma, as well as the more common salmon.
Frigate tuna are a common catch down at the Tathra Wharf, while all the estuaries are in top condition and producing a range of fish all the way from mulloway to whiting.
