Kingfish, kingfish and more kingfish
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HELLO again from the current kingfish capital of Australia!
During the last week, kingfish and large bonito have been taken on the southern and western sides of Montague Island.
Despite a couple of days of wind and rain most fishers using live bait have been rewarded.
There have been a good mix of sizes for the kings, with some fish weighing in at almost 8kg, and the even bigger fish can't be too far away. In the last few days the fish have been biting best around the tide change, so plan your trip accordingly.
Some days the fishing has been getting better later with fish being caught on dusk on poppers.
Live bait has again proved difficult to catch this week, so some fishers have been travelling as far as Dalmeny and Mystery Bay for yakkas and slimies.
But their efforts have proven worthwhile with kingfish and bonito only wanting livies on most days. But be prepared because they are sure to change to jigs shortly.
Due to the leatherjackets, a feed of flathead is proving hard to come by, but there appears to be a jacket free zone inshore between Brou Lake entrance and Potato Point.
Fishers targeting flatties have found mixed success just outside the Sanctuary Zone north of Brou through to the Tuross Lake entrance. Again, the golden rule is if you come across jackets - move.
Some fishers trying for kingfish, have again caught a few amberjack. These occasional visitors have mainly been taken on squid baits, but they can also be caught trolling.
There have been good catches of pan sized snapper and larger mowies taken around Tuross and at Montague.
Best results have been achieved using pater-noster rigs with a mix of squid and fish baits.
Hopefully the weather will stay good for the long weekend, with plenty of fishers wanting to catch fish and have a look at HuntFest, maybe next year there might be a fishing section.
The water temperature has been around 20c, which is what's keeping the good schools of kingies and bonito around Montague.
As it is now June, technically we are catching 'winter kings', let's hope they stay around for a while.
The wind for May was an average of 15.2knots at Montague Island, last year the average for May was 12.5 knots.
If you want to check any weather trends simply go to willyweather.com and enter either 'Montague Island' or 'Narooma', the information provided is excellent.
Tip of the week: Check the runners on your rods regularly, as many fish are lost when line breaks due to cracks in rod runners. If you have cracked runners, see the crew at Ocean Hut where they will do a great runner replacement.
Joke of the week: "I caught a twenty pound kingfish last week.” "Were there any witnesses?"
"There sure were. If there hadn't been, it would have been 40 pounds."
Locals enjoy Eucumbene brown trout run
LOCALS have been heading to the hills in droves to get in on the amazing brown trout spawning run on the Eucumbene River.
It was hectic with 86 cars in one spot alone, but it’s about all over now as the trout fishery closes this long weekend.
State Fisheries meanwhile made a commitment to more research into the Snowy Mountain trout fishery at a public meeting in Cooma last week.
The meeting followed a couple of days of workshopping between current Fisheries officers and trout stocking advocates, retired fisheries managers and even a trout fishery expert scientist from New Zealand.
Manager of Inland Fisheries Cameron Westaway led the well-attended meeting opening proceedings by admitting more research into the trout fishery was needed, particular given the perception of declining catches of rainbows.
Bowlo fishing report: Dave is back!
WELL it’s good to be back on deck again and back to home after the little accident three months ago.
The final fishing competition for the 2013-2014 was held over the weekend and with the Sunday turning on the real first day of winter with a cold wind and rain, the club still managed to have 50 odd members at the weigh-in and it was a great effort.
Anthony Hicks, Mick Kavic, Moya Hicks, Chris McDonald, Peter Shakeshaft, Brenda Setzer, Gary Landells and Dennis Maggs were all in the money this month.
There were some solid bream, drummer, kingfish, snapper and tailor weighed in by some dedicated fishermen and women, but the best to come out of this month’s comp must go to Chris McDonald and Mick Kavic who went for a charter trip with John Moore of Narooma Fishing Charters.
Let’s just say one of them has not stopped talking about the fish he got and for the other it was the first time in 62 years he been to the island.
They both got fish and had a ball so a big thanks to John for looking after the club with his charter boat.
Now for a bit of homework - names need to be down by 9pm on the Thursday for the month’s fishing comp as it’s a 6am start now on the Friday.
We had a tarwhine weighed in this month and it somehow got deleted from our score sheet so the sheet will be amended for next comp.
Members have asked what’s going on with the Marine Park Advisory committee and was contacted by them on Monday and advised it’s in the pipe line and still on the Minister’s desk - only 18 months late so far! I have however been very active in applying to get an artificial reef grant and it’s a very long process but with the busted foot I seem to have plenty of time
And with an election next year and a change of the Marine Parks Act, it’s full steam ahead as it would be a great asset to this town.
On a closing note, speaking of the people of this town I have been blown out of the water with members and non-members that decided to have a working bee on my home a build a ramp so I could get out and about.
And to all that supported me and the family while I was in Canberra it just shows what a special town it is!
A very humble Bowlo Fishing Club president
Dave Clark