On the boat out at the Tuross Canyons on the Continental Shelf northeast of Narooma were skipper Benn Boulton and deckies Nick Cowley and Alex Krantz.

Deckie Nick reports plenty of life on the shelf on Tuesday between deep-dropping spots after a few gemfish and ocean perch, the crew on Charter Fish Narooma’s Playstation landed a 178kg blue marlin with more fish around the boat.

The boat beside got one and dropped one while the Playstation did battle with the big fish.

Nick says straight after the marlin, they got a yellowfin tuna and dolphinfish along with an amberjack around a floating log.

“Good to see some life in the ocean in 25.6 degree blue water!”

Now back to this week’s report:

AFTER the wind and heavy rain of last week fishers were wondering what was going to be happening offshore when the weather settled down.

Before the bad weather the current was steadily coming from the south, when fishers returned to Montague Island there was a northerly current. As you would expect after such a deluge of rain, the water colour resembled weak black tea, but it finally cleared on Monday.

The dirty water didn't stop the kingfish and bonito from biting at the island, with good fish up to 6kg taken trolling and with live bait.

As the water cleared the temperature lifted to a very warm 23.6c on Monday with all the signs that the consistent catches of kings and bonnies should be around for a while.

The local experts are saying that the kingfish season has finally started.

Schools of sauries have been few and far between this season, but with the warm water they should start making a regular appearance.

Saury schools can be identified by observing bait fish 'skipping' along the sea surface - usually closely followed by predators.

If you see a school of sauries try trolling with either skirted lures or thin hard-bodied lures. The saury is blue above with a silver lower half, so match your lures accordingly.

For those boats venturing further offshore there have been some good catches of dolphinfish and striped tuna, the best area has been along the Continental Shelf (first drop off) where there are still a few fish traps acting as FADs (Fish Attractant Devices), the best method has been to drift near the fish trap buoys and cast poppers or metal lures near the buoys.

Also at the island and to the north of Dalmeny have been reports of excellent snapper fishing, with a couple of fish in the 3.5- 4 kg mark taken.

The best baits have been strips of fresh slimy mackerel and squid, one local “snapper specialist” has been using a “cocktail” of both baits on a running sinker rig with some great results.

Tip of the week: When you catch live bait handle them with extreme care, remember that live bait have a distinctive slime on their body and this is like a 'sauce' for predator fish. If the 'sauce' is removed or tainted the predator fish will be reluctant to take your live bait.

The estuaries should improve as things clear up after last week’s rain but Nick Cowley and Alex Krantz got out in the muddy water in Wagonga Inlet getting a few descent fish, including flathead and tailor.

We also hear that Corunna Lake was fishing well prior to the rain with locals having no problems getting a bag of fish.