THE water is warming up off Montague Island and locals are expecting the kingfish to arrive any day. Our tackle shop contacts tells us the estuaries are firing with lots of flathead and even the odd jewfish...
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The weekend out wide remained a bit slow with schools of striped tuna just beyond the island being a highlight.
John Moore of Narooma Fishing Charters took Lee and Guy from BCF Fyshwyck, Dave from Belconnen and local Bill Davis to the reefs in 60 metres offshore from Tuross on Saturday.
Lee and Guy landed six snapper (best just over 2.5kg), six mowies and plenty of small nannygai and ocean perch.
Dave landed his first ever snapper at just under 1kg and a nice salmon, while Bill caught three snapper, the best a smidge under 2kg, three mowies and a salmon.
The first mowie caught spat out very small white bait, so the squid was quickly taken from the hooks and replaced with strips of striped tuna and salted pilchard, this resulted in the snapper and mowies being caught on the tide change - one of the old tricks is to try and match your bait to what the fish are feeding on.
Most of the good fish by John’s crew were caught in about 45 minutes. When the current picked up to over 1 knot the smaller fish became a real problem
The water temp had improved, with 19.5 at Tuross and 20 at the island.
Darryl Bond, owner of Ocean Hut Compleat Angler, meanwhile had heard all week about jewish in Wagonga Inlet being marked up on sounders under all the tailor and bait schools.
He had a theory that fresh and live bait would bring them undone at night so put it to the test with son Cody and came up with the goods.
They managed a nice one estimated around the 6-7kg, taken on a freshly caught slab of tailor.
Bermi Bait & Tackle staffer Josh reported estuaries are firing, including Bermi River and Wallaga Lake.
He scored a good box of flatties from the Bermi River all caught on the 4-inch Bloodworm Zman Curly Tailz.
“Fish the channels on the run out tide to utilise the warmth in the water and focus your efforts on the flats as the tide starts to flood back in creating feeding opportunities for fish that are now starting to actively feed.”
Nice fish weighed in at Narooma Bowlo Fishing Club
THE members of the NSSC Bowlo Fishing Club enjoyed a great weekend of weather with some sunburn and a few fish weighed in.
It was great to see more new faces at the weigh-in and a few of them getting a trophy for their efforts.
Winners for the month were Bill Davis, Mick Kavic, Robyn Babidge, Jack Babidge, Randal Setzer, Max Favelle, Brenda Setzer and Peter Shakeshaft.
There were some very nice bream hitting the scales with cleaned fish hitting the scales at 1.4kg as well as drummer and a few snapper around the 1kg mark.
Now all reports have the warm water just off the Montague seamount and pushing its way to the island and with luck it will be here soon with a few kings in it.
And also mixed in are schools of whitebait, whales and mutton birds but in the next few weeks the big snapper will be back for another season of fun in the marine park.
A late report has seen a heap of striped tuna at the island on Friday with the water temp at 21 and Jack Babo needed a change of undies when he was visited by a big tiger shark!
Local charter boat operator John Moore found snapper to 3.5kg off Tuross so it’s all about to happen.
The beaches fished very poor this week with no gutters or white water but there are a few jewies on the chew in Wogonga as young Cody Bond found on Saturday night on a fresh squid. It pays to follow the fishing reports on the Ocean Hut Facebook site
The next comp will be November 2-3 and a week later the boys will be up at Brogo for our annual male bonding session - all the wives are clapping.
From this week, the elections for the board of directors will be held for a few weeks and the fishing club has three members sitting for a position, so have your say
I received a letter from the minister a few weeks ago to say our time is up on the Batemans Marine Park advisory committee as of December and we might be asked to consider if we would like to stand again.
Well I will be standing again as we have a lot of unfinished business that needs to be put to bed as we had only two meetings in three years – blah!
On a very sad note, our long time president from years ago Billy Thomas passed away a few weeks ago and the fishing club had a minutes silence for this man, who died a very lonely man and you might be gone old boy but you are not forgotten by your fishing club family
- Fish Fingers
Ocean Hut Compleat Angler report
Here is full comprehensive, unedited weekend fishing report from Dash from the Narooma Ocean Hut Compleat Angler. It was published on the shop's Facebook site on Friday - so make sure to like the page so you can get all the updates! Over to you Dash....
Insects are hatching, magpies are swooping, Temperature's are rising and the fish are biting!! Spring is here and in full swing bring it on! Here is your weekend report!!
THE BIG BLUE:
This is the only department letting fisho's down at the moment as temperatures are fluctuating between 12-18 degrees making it tough fishing conditions for the professionals as well as the recreational fisho's.
Hopefully this will settle down soon as warmer waters push down over the next few weeks making the temperature more stable and the fish more consistent.
For those who are willing to battle on regardless of the current conditions then Saturday seems the pick of the days with N/Ne winds 10-15knts then increasing to 25knts in the afternoon. So for those getting out wide in search of warmer waters and maybe a yellowfin Tuna or albacore it will be your best chance as Sunday the winds will increase to 30 knts from the south as will the swell. In a bit closer potato point and Montague Island will be your best places if looking for a snapper or two. Mowong and Nanigui are fairly plentiful at the moment especially at potato point with also the rough chance you might score a gummy or a kingfish. Best baits here will be fresh stripey fillet and squid and if wanting to increase your chances then a burley trail could make the difference between a good day or a great day. Remember the five "p"'s
Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Profit! (or in this case results ). Going by the almanac and the tide guide it looks like your best time is going to be very early maybe even before the chooks awake. Then again late in the afternoon. If it was me i would be making a daybreak start on the reefs hoping for a few snapper then as the day went on and the Ne wind increased i would be hitting the desert in search of a few Flathead.
30-40m mark would be a great place to start with mystery bay, Dalmeny/ Brou producing best results. My favourite rig for the flat fellas is a 30lb paternoster rig with a nice fresh bait like squid on the bottom hook while the top hook supports a plastic lure such as a mister twister. This is a deadly setup especially when the Flathead are a bit half hearted or west tigers like ( lol that one was for Darryl and Robbo )
NOTE# LATE MAIL JUST COME IN!!! HAD REPORT THAT THE ISLAND IS 20.2 DEGREES AND STRIPEY TUNA EVERYWHERE!!!!!!
ROCK AND BEACH
This has been my favourite department as the beach's have been on fire as of recent weeks with tailor and salmon the main stream. While the odd bream and trevally have made up the numbers and those whom have put in the darkened hours have come up trumps with a Gummy or two. Of course this is not the situation on every beach and one needs to put some time and effort in to find a beach that supports a good gutter that would be holding fish. lucky for you I have spent some time on the beach of late and can take the guess work out for you. MY pick of the beach's this weekend will be Brou/Dalmeny, Tilba, Corunna and 1080.
I have found metal lures in the 35grm mark have done all the damage during daylight hours and the bait preformed better during the night hours. the best times I have found have been the two hours leading up to the top of the tide regardless of time of day. So it will be very early just before the crack of dawn this weekend being your best time on both days while around mid afternoon till dusk being my second favourable time. Lures of choice will be metals like halco, sea rocks and samaki in 35grms. while bait of choice would be pilchards and mullet fillet. If chasing a bream around lake entrances then prawns would be a good option here.
On the rocks its also been salmon and tailor the main stream on again metals. ( poppers are also a great option from the stones as well and its also great visual fun ). while un weighted pilchards have been the pick of the baits. most productive places have been Mystery bay, Narooma break wall and golf course and Dalmeny headland.
Still the odd drummer, bream and luderick around also with mullet gut and prawns being the pick of the baits for drummer and bream while for the luderick weed and cabbage will be needed here.
one can only hope the warmer water will push in over the next few weeks and bring with it some fast hard fighting pelagic species like stripey's, bonito and hopefully the odd kingfish. The right gear and live bait such as yakka's and slimey's will bring these guys done every time.
INLETS,LAKES AND RIVERS:
If you have ever been in search of or wish to add the holy grail of the estuary (JEWFISH) to your bucket list. Then now is the time to put the hard yards in for over the next two months it is prime time for Jewfish as they move in and become very active in a lot of our inlets. The Clyde river, Tuross and Wagonga are three inlets defiantly worth putting some time in to if your goal is Jewfish.
If fishing lures like soft plastics and metals then finding bait balls preferably with tailor schools harassing them is your key to finding Jewfish. They will just follow these schools around picking up the scraps the tailor leave behind as they terrorize bait schools and if your lucky enough and put a lure in the path of a feeding Jewfish then yours chances are fairly high it will take the lure. "happy days"!.
The beauty of fishing for Jewfish around bait balls with lures is that you will pick up an array of other species like Flathead, tailor, trevally, bream etc. So its not all do or die and if your stay to matching the hatch and don't use to big of lure only targeting Jewfish then you will properly increase your chances. Making sure you have a good leader freshly tied around the 12-20lb should be enough to hold most Jewfish.
If fishing for them with bait then live tailor or squid will produce best results. but if unable to keep live bait then fresh slab of tailor or freshly caught squid should do the trick. When using bait because of the chance of Jewfish swallowing the bait I would up my leader from 20-50lb with a snooded hook rig with size 6/0-8/0 hooks.
Around the grounds its been all in all good fishing with Tuross producing some great size flathead from legal to the 80 plus mark with plastics and blade lures doing the damage. It seems to be shallow water is where you'll find the big girls at the moment. Although the daily catch numbers have dropped in recent weeks the size of fish has risen and like Jewfish its a great time of year to chase your trophy Flathead. A few bream, snapper and trevally have made up the bags.
Mummaga lake has produced some cracking flathead over the previous week with one reaching 85cm on a black strike pro blade. The same lure caught four other fish above the 60cm mark in Tuross and Mummaga. (will have to get me one of them.) Other lures doing well in there was the zman's and gulp. Most of the fish in mummaga seem to be in shallow water so harassing the edges near the weed would be my starting point.
Wagonga Inlet has been on fire if you want to chase tailor as they have been demolishing bait balls throughout the inlet with the main body near the big marine park marker been the most productive area. I Have fished it several times in the past two weeks and I can tell you its almost a fish a cast at times with tailor and if you do manage to get through them then its other species like snapper, flathead, trevally, flounder, salmon, bream and the holy grail Jewfish. just using your sounder to find the larger bait balls or one that looks like its active with tailor. Then with lure of choice preferably one matching the whitebait schools the fish are harassing. cast and hope for that distinct tick, run and head shake. You'll no what I mean when it happens.
the tailor have been active at different time through out the day but I have found they have been most active between sunrise and around 9am.
A little further down the road and Corunna lake has been ok with a few flathead. I call it the 3 out of ten lake for every ten flathead you catch only 3 are legal size. but its an awesome lake to hone your soft plastic skills and have fun at the same time. some days you can catch cricket scores of smaller flathead. make sure you treat them carefully and return them to the water in as good as condition as possible as they will grow to be the desired size quicker then you think.
Hope you all have a fantastically awesome weekend fishing! cheers Dash.
