SOME very large sharks in our waters this week have kept the seals out of the water and allowed fishers to land nice bags of kingfish.
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We can only hope that the seals are distracted for a couple more weeks.
Saturday was the best day for kings at Montague Island this week, with kings in the 67cm to 80cm range being caught on live baits, squid and also jigs.
Good catches of kings have also been taken at Ulladulla and Eden this week, so we can only hope for things to keep improving - better late than never!
Congratulations to the members and committee of the Narooma Bowlo Fishing Club as they celebrated the Club’s 40th birthday this week.
All the local fishing clubs do a great job, with some very knowledgable members who are happy to share their skills with new members.
The water temp is very slowly starting to cool, at the moment the inshore temp is around 19-20c, this range can offer some of the best fishing conditions offshore.
For fishers chasing a feed, there have been plenty of sand flathead east of Kianga in 35mts, last week some were 'brown monsters' measuring up to 55cm.
The winter run of green toads and Chinaman Jackets have appeared at a number of spots offshore this week.
Keep an eye on your sounder, and when you see soundings on the bottom - and have your bait stripped, it will certainly be these pests. The only option is to move to a different depth and try again.
The Grey Nurse Shark summer closure on the north end of Montague Island finished last week, this means that bait can once again be used, which allows fishers to access some of their favourite snapper fishing spots.
This seasonal closure has the support of local fishers and shows what can be done when Government departments actually listen to fishers.
It sounds like a broken record, but Wagonga Inlet continues to fish extremely well, and will continue while the large schools of bait keep the predator fish hanging for a feed.
The secret continues to be ‘find the bait and you will find the bigger fish’. Some of the best spots have been around the ‘power lines’ and on the edge of the oyster racks.
Fishing Joke of the Week: What do fish sing to each other? ’Salmon-chanted evening’
Fishing Soap Box: The mid-water trawler Geelong Star has agreed to voluntarily tie up whilst an enquiry is undertaken into the deaths of eight dolphins and four fur seals in two fishing trips. This vessel has a quota of 16,500,000 kgs of small pelagic fish which can be taken in Commonwealth waters between NSW and WA.
- John Moore
Ocean Hut Compleat Angler report
In a week of inconsistencies on the fishing front Wagonga inlet has been the shining light. This patch of water has been red hot with Bream, tailor, trevally, snapper and flatties all being caught and there is no reel trick to fishing it.
Simply find the bait and you will be rewarded and that is pretty easy to find. The hard thing was knowing the depth of water you are in as the bait schools are that tight they are reading as the bottom.
The method to fish these schools is up to the angler as everything seems to be working at the moment. Great fun if you want to get your technics honed as last trip we tried softies, hard bodies, metal slugs and poppers with equal success.
The one thing I will say though is that the bite was at its hottest early morning and later in the afternoon.
Beaches are fishing reasonably good with same cracker salmon being caught as well as some good bream and still some nice whiting being reported. Spend some time checking out where the better gutters are and the results should come your way.
Offshore has been a bit harder to get a handle on with kingies being red hot one day and quiet the next.
Flatties have gone quiet as well although I did hear there are some good flatties and some nice gummies in the 18-20 meter range.
Reef fishing has also been pretty hard even with good current and temperature. Throw in all the rough conditions we have had over the last couple of weeks and it has made offshore hard to get any consistency.
Out wide is moving into that period that we should start and see the arrival of some tuna, both yellow fin and albacore but as yet nothing much to report. The continual weekend blows has made it harder to get a reasonable number of boats out wide looking for these highly prized fish. - Darryl Bond
Bermi Bait & Tackle report
Beaches are still firing up with salmon, tailor, bronzies and some nice gummies getting around all our beaches.
Staff member Baron took his mates mark and Daniel for a fish Sunday evening and put a nice gummy on the sand by 5:15pm, using fresh strips of salmon and tailor is best.
Good fishing is predicted for the next week with the full moon making a showing and the tides being at all the right times. The current biggest tailor in our current comp is only 0.815kg so very attainable.
James Caves and Dave Cassar landed some cracking bream on fly on Monday, including a new PB for Dave. - Scott Bradley