WHAT a weird fishing week it’s been in the Narooma district.
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Things started off slowly, but after the weekend I was just flooded with photos and submissions for the fishing page.
Far more than I can use here but check out our comprehensive online fishing report with its gallery of photos.
While many of been lucky out wide scoring a yellowfin tuna or albacore, the truth is that it is a big ocean and one friend trolled for two days for nothing.
One theory I am hearing is that the front of warm water that pushed through earlier is now off Eden, meaning a lot of the tuna action is down that way.
The Narooma longliner apparently brought in catches of not only a few big yellowfin but lots of little ones too.
Charter boat “The Sherrif” had a momentous catch bringing back a 148kg broadbill caught by client and local Luke Quigley, which could have been a new record apparently.
Skipper Andy Legg went out all night using a suspended dead slimy mackerel bait to get the big broady as well as three small mako sharks.
Scotty at Bermi Bait & Tackle reported yesterday there were still some nice sea surface temps in place, which will certainly support this yellowfin bite.
Plenty of activity due east and down to Bunga as a cool water edge traps saury schools, similar conditions prevail off Tathra. The tide pushing south wide of Montague Island is also positive, he said.
Legend charter skipper Benny Bolton of Charter Fish Narooma says there are some big kings at the island, if you can find them.
He landed a few metre models and there was a report of a 20kg, 1.4m fish caught on Monday. He suggests slow trolling large live baits on the surface.
He has also been getting into the yellowfin and albacore.
Lisa Broman went diving with her dad Clive at Montague on Sunday where he speared a nice 2kg trumpeter.
However the real event of the day occurred when she witnessed him shoot into a hole looking for a black drummer and came out with three good sized drummer on the spear.
Three in one shot - surely some sort of record that was also witnessed by Canberra solicitor and friend Andy Finlay.
Ron Bakos fished Coila on Sunday just to see if anything was left after the much publicised recent netting.
He says he had to work hard for nine bream, all but two of which were over 40cm.
Then he hooked a cracker 49cm fish that he described as a “horse”!
They also picked up half a dozen nice flatties for a feed and he caught the big bream on a 2-inch Gulp shrimp in Nuclear Chicken on a 50gm jig head in about 1.8 metres of water.
John Suthern at the Tuross boat shed has been a getting mixed bag and posted the Moruya, Tuross and surrounds fishing report thanks to the Tuross Head Fishing Club.
The report says the tip is to fish early and on the turn of the tide. The lure of choice at the moment is soft plastics.
There are huge schools of baitfish about which are bringing down all species of fish.
Fishing members have reported good catches of tailor around the 1kg-2kg mark.
Heaps of Salmon although not too large, about 1kg and there are some beautiful black bream swimming around and flathead are still on the bite at the moment.
It’s been a good week for sizes, with most catches being legal and remarkably most on those soft plastics, even the Bream are biting on large soft plastics.
If beach fishing is more your style, you’ll have plenty of luck in the beaches between Moruya and Bodalla with plenty of salmon catches around the 2-4 kilo mark.
Out to sea there are a few kingies around, and some small yellowfin tuna out wide.
Locals have been pulling in some nice snapper and morwong. If you hit the right spots you’ll land yourself some nice flathead, but they are a bit hit and miss at the moment.
Narooma Sport and Gamefishing Club news
NAROOMA Sport and Gamefishing Club members Ken Ribbons and John Cathor on May 30 fished out of Narooma on Ken's boat "It's Magic".
They trolled wide of the Kink and hooked a 57kg yellowfin tuna, taken on a Rapala XRap by Ken.
Just lip hooked, it took over two hours to subdue from fear of going too hard on the fish and pulling the hooks.
Promising signs of some great fishing about to happen. On the way to the kink they landed some good sized kingfish as well as albacore. Lots of boats out on Friday with a few more yellowfin tuna landed,
John Cathor braved the elements on Saturday, June 1 and landed some smaller yellowfin tuna as well as schoolies.
On Sunday, June 9, Luke Quigley, fishing from the Narooma charter boat “Sheriff”, skippered by Andy Legg, hooked a 148kg broadbill, and landed it after an epic 3.5-hour struggle.
They were fishing off the south sea mount.
A few good tuna were landed during last week, around 30 to 60kg. Morwong and snapper were caught around Montague Island.
The monthly fishing competition was held over the weekend. Wagonga Inlet provided good size bream, flathead and, snapper.
The surf provided little action. John Cathor was the winner of the men’s event and Pat Lucock won the ladies award.
The Trivia Night was held Saturday, June 8, and everybody had a great time and there were some extremely inventive hats.
Cheryl O’Kane took out the Ladies best hat which consisted of a corn flake box with a sabre stuck through it.
What did this portray? A “cereal” killer!
Thanks to June, Josie and Charlie for their contribution to a very successful event.
As normal the clubhouse bar will be open from 4.30pm on Friday, call in and share your fishing experiences over a beer!
- Terry Vincent
HuntFest Fishing Classic
THE Narooma HuntFest Fishing Classic was held this weekend in the waters of the Eurobodalla.
The tournament was held in conjunction with the Narooma HuntFest held at the Sports and Leisure Centre in Narooma.
The Classic involved teams of two with the object being a “catch and release” competition involving just two species of fish, flathead and bream.
The aim was to combine the length of the largest of each species which were to be photographed on a brag mat and presented to the weigh master at O’Briens Hotel at the end of each fishing day.
With an entry fee of only $20 per person it was designed to attract the novice angler and family teams. Teams were able to fish day and night, with bait or artificial lures and on or offshore.
A hotly contested field took to the waters at noon on Friday and surfaced again at 3pm on Sunday.
The prize was a “winner take all” $500 voucher at Narooma Compleat Angler so competition was fierce.
Competitors had to work hard for their fish as cold currents moved in and meant the piscatorial fiends were not co-operating.
It was the family team of father and son, Paul and Jordan Smith, from Canberra that took the coveted prize of the polished timber and glass plaque and $500 voucher presented by Jeff Garrad from the South Coast Hunters Club at the presentation held at Obrien’s Hotel on Sunday evening.