Ocean Hut Compleat Angler weekly fishing report
CONFUCIUS says, “Before success, you must have great mess!”
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Who can argue with that saying when it comes to the oceans and all its tributaries.
After a week of rain flooding the estuaries, and big seas pounding the coastline, one could say it’s all just Mother Nature’s way of rejuvenating, renovating, and revitalizing the breeding grounds of our oceans jewels.
The mess will be short lived, but the repercussions will last for months to come. No time for maintenance now, spring is here, let’s go fishing!
THE BIG BLUE: There has been very limited opportunities in venturing into the big pool due to the oceans playing up like a second hand lawn mower, but those that seen the small window on Saturday found that it was worth the effort.
Snapper along with other reef dwellers being the main draw card, while flathead was the safe even bet.
John Moore from Narooma Fishing charters, recently back form a month’s holiday took a group of willing punters to the big rock on Saturday.
As expected the 15.5 degree water made for tough going, but as usual John managed a feed of snapper, mowies, flathead, and some ocean perch, which are at the top of the tree when it comes to the tastiest fruits of the ocean, and another boat load of happy customers.
Another well know local angler, Georgia Poyner dragged her dad out of bed and demanded to hit the "big blue" on Saturday.
Georgia decided the target fish of the day was to be snapper, and the method would be fantastic plastic.
Not quite sure of the location, but team Poyner found a patch of 16 degree water that was full with quality sized reds.
Fifteen reds and a few tiger flathead later, Georgia's daily salt water fix was met, thus dad was allowed to return home.
Was interesting to note that all better quality reds on Saturday came from using 5"-7" plastics at the business end, while bait was very productive, it seem to produce a lot of smaller sized fish.
Currently the ocean has more bait (pilchards), dolphins, and whales then reefers handed around at Woodstock, so one would think the average fishing is on a knifes edge of being of a higher quality.
Another indication of a possible early season, being in the arrival of the beloved mutton birds.
These rats with wings have just flown thousands of miles to migrate here, and will have an appetite larger than Jason Taylor’s "hate mail" for sacking Robbie Farah.
These guys will try and eat anything that slight resembles food, and can become a real pain when bait fishing.
Last year we had stories from divers hands being attacked in 10 meters of water to Rapala 30+ XRaps been taken while trolling.
It is best to try and avoid them if possible, and unfortunately sometimes that means driving away.
ROCK AND BEACH: Dear Mother Nature, Have you heard of the saying "if it's not broke then don't fix it"! Yours sincerely! Rock & beach fishers association (RBFA)
All was fishing well in this department, until several days of pounding swell went into rearranging mode, destroying the old and reforming the new. But as in all other departments the long term effect will far out way the short term devastation.
One red hot tip when this happens is to book yourself a spot near a recently opened estuary, or any opened estuary spilling its dirty water to the ocean for that matter.
When an estuary busts open to the sea it causes a burley trail for miles, drawing predatory fish from far and wide, and this will be where all the action will be.
Like a homeless family invited for Christmas dinner at grandma's house, fish will hang outside these spewing waterways waiting for the smorgasbord of food to be presented on the table.
If I was a betting man then due to the colour of the water I would think bait would out way the lure department, so for me it would be bait at the business end. Use pilchards, stripey, slimey or anything that has a bit of oil and smell to help attract fish in the muddy waters.
RIVERS, LAKES AND INLETS: A darker shade of chocolate would be one way to describe our inland waterways at present, as the recent drips and drops have left their trade mark across the land.
Although it looks muddy and unfishable at present, I like to think of it as Mother Nature's way of spring cleaning, clearing out all the old unwanted items and making way for a fresh new start.
The recent floods and pounding seas will only revitalize our estuaries, especially the ones that have just been re-opened to the sea after laying dormant and seemingly stale for years.
Lots of nutrients being washed in from the back door, while a new surge of fresh water entering the party through the front, bringing with it new life, and hopefully a few prawns as well.
Due to all the recent rains there is not much action to report from the previous week.
I personally found out first hand on Saturday while fishing Wagonga Inlet, which more resembled a Chocolate Moove then its usual picture post card of tropical waters.
You couldn't say that two guys casting lures for eight odd hours, for only a handful of fish hardly worth noting in a diary, nevertheless in a fishing report, but unfortunately that’s why it's called fishing and not catching. While there is no real news, the good news is that it will only improve each day, and is probably well on the mend by the time you read this report, so it’s all predicted "happy days" from here on.
Some estuaries definitely worth an investigation over the coming weeks will be recently opened Corunna, Coila, and Brou lakes.
All these lakes have had a good flush out and a good run of fresh back in. One can only hope it’s not too late for the prawn spawn to enter these lake as it will make for not only a great prawning season later in the year, but also plenty of food means lots of happy feeding fish.
Don't wait for the next fishing report to see what’s doing folks! It's probably already started.
Hope you all have a fantastically awesome weeks fishing - Dash!
Narooma Sport and Game Fishing Club report
PRESIDENT Les Waldock and his wife Sue represented Narooma Sport and Game Fishing Club last Saturday at the Australian National Sportfishing Association NSW's AGM and presentation night.
Les presented an award to Paul Emms on behalf of Russell Emms.
Member Bob Hirs on a recent trip to Lake Dartmouth in Victoria caught several trout, among them a nice brown trout over 6lb.
As usual the NSGFC rooms, situated on the inlet near the restaurants and boat ramp, are open for drinks and snacks from 4pm till 9pm every Friday. Visitors are most welcome to come along and have a chat with the members, share fish stories - greatly enhanced after the first drink - make some new friends, cook a steak on the barbeque or maybe even some fish.
- Jan Hemmingsen
Game on for great native sportsfish
Anglers can get back to targeting some of Australia’s great native sportsfish, with the annual three month fishing closure for Australian Bass and Estuary Perch drawing to a close.
Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Senior Recreational Fisheries Manager, Cameron Westaway, said an annual zero bag limit for Australian Bass and Estuary Perch has been in place from 1 June to 1 September 2015 in all rivers and estuaries (except in impoundments and in rivers above impoundments) to protect these species during spawning.
“Both species are sought after sportfish and are found in coastal rivers and lakes,” Mr Westaway said.
“Both species form schools and migrate to parts of estuaries with the correct salinity over late autumn and early winter to trigger spawning.
“When they are in these large groups they can be vulnerable to fishing, so a three month zero bag limit for these fish applies.”
Mr Westaway said the spawning period for these fish has now finished, with most returning to their spring and summer feeding ground higher up in the catchment.
“From today, September 1, anglers can once again take these native species, however they are reminded that strict bag limits do apply,” Mr Westaway said.
A total bag limit of two Australian Bass or Estuary Perch per person or a combination of both with a possession limit of four is in place.
Only one fish is permitted to be over 35 centimetres in length when fishing in rivers.
Recreational fishers who are unsure of the fisheries rules should check before they go fishing. Fishing laws are designed to protect, conserve and improve our fisheries resources for our future generations.
Information on freshwater fishing rules can be found in the NSW Recreational Freshwater Fishing Guide from DPI Fisheries offices, online, at fishing licence agents and at bait and tackle shops.
People can report suspected illegal fishing to the Fishers Watch Phoneline on 1800 043 536.