Great news that the FAD has now been deployed off Narooma and you can read all about that here. Now to what’s biting….
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Everyone was left struggling at Montague Island over the weekend with a distinct lack of current.
John Moore from Narooma Fishing Charter reported another day of scratching around Montague Island on Sunday. The highlights were this 62cm sand flathead and a 65.5cm kingfish. The water temp was up around 20c on the surface, but colder underneath.
Plenty of rat kings around over the weekend but only heard of one other legal king caught. Nick Cowley from Charter Fish Narooma managed that one legal king off the north end of the island, but other than that it was all rats. The charters did come back with a nice mixed bags of reef fish. “Kingfish where slow over the weekend with plenty of undersize fish, we found this better one up the north end on Sunday along with a good mixed box of reef fish. It won't be long till things fire up again!”
Bermagui Bait and Tackle also reports that the kingfish were nearly all 'unders' again over the weekend, and there were a few snapper about but pretty hard fishing, little to no current. Sea surface temps are taking shape in our favour and with a couple striped marlin tagged up north it won't be too long until we see them. One customer did lose a nice blue marlin off Bermagui but little else to report gamefishing wise offshore.
A mix of sand and tiger flathead remain the staple for the offshore fishers. A good strategy when there is little current is to use a ball sinker, running rig with a whole baby squid on the end. This drifted just above the bottom around the edges of the reefs could result in snapper and or flathead even when the kings are not biting. And if a king does come along, it is just as likely to take it!
Wallaga Lake, the Bermi River and estuaries to the south have continued to produce good numbers of bream and dusky flathead, some even taking surface poppers off the top. There are also some solid bass around on the freshwater scene and lots of salmon on the beaches.
Meanwhile back on the estuaries, the jewies seem to be firing both at Narooma and up at Tuross Lake. Mark Feeley finally beat his wife Pam who catches the big flatties. He got a very nice 13.5 kg jewfish at Tuross, that was 1.1-metre long and he got it on live bait. He also released six flathead over 80 cm last week. Well done Mark.
Narooma’s Mark “Hippie” Carradus was at again on Wagonga Inlet over the weekend and fishing with his buddy Darren “Dash” Bowater from the Narooma Ocean Hut, he managed another rather nice jewfish.
The kids appear to be doing well fishing from the jetties and pontoons on Wagonga Inlet. Narooma Sport and Game Fishing Club hosted the CanTeen kids who with a little help from the volunteers apparently had no problem getting a range of fish from bream to tailor from the back of the club and surrounding jetties.
Kids do well on Wagonga
Local girl Ella Sultana meanwhile caught and released a very nice black bream at the old jetty on a perfect Sunday afternoon. Thanks mum Jen for sending in the pic and great to see a young person keen to do catch and release. Hope more kids want to release their fish. All this action from the bank, bodes well for the holidays and visiting anglers who like nothing better than to have a fish from the boardwalk or pontoon.
NSGFC takes CanTeen kids fishing
Last weekend the Narooma Sport and Game Fishing Club played host to the ACT and Southern NSW CanTeen, the Australian organisation for young people living with cancer. We were treated to a really nice bunch of kids with big smiles on their faces as they all landed their catch. Thanks to all volunteers, sponsors for their generosity, and Fishcare volunteers and Fisheries for their support. – Jan Hemmingsen. Click here to see all the photos
The Bermagui CC Social Anglers’ Club
Bermagui CC Social Anglers’ Club were in holiday mode at their annual event at Ocean Lake Caravan Park. Friday night’s fish meal was courtesy of member Ian Reid. The competition continued on Wallaga Lake while other prepared Christmas dinner. President Fran presented the annual species winners: Blackfish – Jim Manton, Bream – Lyn Manton, Drummer – Michael Broder, Dusky Flathead – Jim Manton, Sandy/Tiger Flathead – Ian Reid, Leatherjacket – Ian Reid, Jackass Morwong – Fran Vercoe, Rubber Lipped Morwong – Michael Broder, Salmon – Ian Reid, Snapper – Ian Reid, Tailor – Ian Reid, Gummy Shark – Ian Reid. Overall Champions – Ian Reid, Gwen Symes and Michael Broder. – ON THE DRIFT