MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: Scott from Bermagui Bait & Tackle fished the Clyde River with good customer and mate Steve Thornton and their kids. They landed a couple of solid duskies and Scott got this jewie.
LAND GUMMIES: Pete the Irishman with the unusual catch of a gummy shark off the Tathra Wharf on Sunday. Another gummy was landed off the Bermagui rock wall.
DALMENY COMP: Dalmeny Fishing Club member Todd Ayers with a 1.5kg snapper and a nice flathead. See the story on page 43 about the club’s competition on this weekend.
FIRST FISH: Narooma Sport and Game Fishing Club member Jill Johnson caught her first Australian salmon at Cemetery Beach Tilba on her first cast.
MEN’S WINNER: Winner of the men's award was Les Waldock weighing in a trout caught up near Goulburn.
QUICK FLICK: A quick flick in Wallaga one afternoon last week for a jewfish resulted in no jewies but some nice flatties like Burns’ fine specimen.
Winner of the ladies prize was Pat Lucock with a Trevally caught in the lake.
Also successful was Dan Edwards with two nice salmon.
Bermagui fishing report: flathead and salmon
OFFSHORE waters have hovered around 16-17 degrees with little tide north or south, on occasion patches of warmer water to 19 degrees have pushed inside the shelf.
This time of year is prime time for sharking with the odd mako to 100kg turning up in the trail.
However, conditions at present out wide are better suited to blue sharks and they have been in good numbers but are not the target species for those who pursue sharks in general.
Some bigger tiger flathead have been taken in 70 fathoms, as well as the odd kingfish.
Kings have eluded most fishos for some months now and the bite off Moruya has to have stepped up a notch so we'll have to see where these fish turn up - hopefully at the Island.
A little rainfall mid-month pushed plenty of bait to the mouth of the Bermagui River, so the rock wall produced some nice salmon and tailor, despite gummy Sharks being few and far between off the local beaches this year one customer landed a 1-metre fish of 4-5kg also from the end of the rock wall.
Warmer water in the bays and creek mouths of Wallaga Lake has allowed for the estuary fishing to step up a notch.
Some bays are over 20 degrees now while the eastern areas in the main basin and wide of the bridge remain below 17 degrees, still a big step up from 12-14 degrees only a few weeks ago.
A school of salmon entered many east of the bridge for a few days last week with plenty of hook ups on light tackle on poppers and other surface lures producing some excellent sports fishing.
The fish were from 1-3kg in size. A run out tide at the back of the lake (some 2-3hrs later than the tide change at the mouth) has produced some better sized flathead, there are plenty of wrigglers but you will land the odd fish over 50cm.
The deeper bays have produced some good fish but your hook-ups are fewer.
- Scotty, Bermagui Bait & Tackle
Narooma fishing report:
DARRYL at the Narooma Ocean Hut Compleat Angler reckons the kingfish up at Moruya could come down to Montague Island in less than a day with the current expected to start flowing.
A Narooma charter boat got snapper and morwong on Friday and some exciting news of a patch of 5-6kg albacore out there too last week.
Usual salmon on the beaches with a few bream thrown in for good measure.
There were some really good flathead caught in Wagonga Inlet over the weekend backing up reports last week of plenty undersize but a few around 40cm, mostly in less than 4’ depths.
Blades and plastics are working well, particularly the blades upstream where trolled minnows also took some flathead.
Staffer Rob heard about big salmon and tailor to 60cm feeding on schools of whitebait.
Rob also reported the odd jewie in Wagonga but better numbers in Tuross with the best of them about 13kg.
Corunna reportedly is also finally coming good flathead.
Moruya/Tuross fishing report:
VIP member Cruiser fished the river prior to the rain seeing a lot of big bream in the snags all the way up the river but found they were still a little bit timid.
Plenty of salmon and tailor around Preddy’s Wharf on an incoming tide throwing around Arma Twisty and Metalik lures. VIP member Dean has been catching and releasing a few flatties up to 90 cm recently - not a bad effort out of his canoe.
Tuross Lake has big trevally and flathead being caught through the Four Ways on soft plastics with VIP member Tom catching (and releasing) himself a nice 65 cm flattie on a 100 mm Black and Gold Squidgy Fish.
VIP member Noel also reports some catches of flatties with a lot being undersize and those that were legal were also released.
Whiting are starting to bite on poppers, in particular the Strada Viral surface lures.
There are a lot of big tailor being caught in the channel in front of the boat shed on large Sguidgy Shads.
Stuart Hindson from Aussie Fish Estuary Adventures has been giving clients the time of their lives with 16 jewies in four outings with the best so far from VIP member Evan catching and releasing a beautiful jewie measuring in at 111 cm (all fish were released to play another day).
Beaches and Rocks: Prior to the weather turning bad over the last week there was plenty of luderick being caught off the rocks around the Moruya and Tuross area.
Some good salmon and tailor have also been caught in the gutters along the beaches. Your best bet of a good catch is to throw around some metal slices like Arma Metalik or for those who prefer bait, pilchards on a paternoster rig with a surf popper on the top.
Offshore: Captain Ron aboard Winda Wopper 1 and 2 reports good catches of flathead while fishing in close off Congo.
Ron then moved further out into 35 metres of water to catch snapper between 3-4 kilos - these fish were caught on Squidgy 140 mm Flick Baits and Lucanis jigs.
Ron then headed back towards Moruya making use of his sounder to locate and then catch some excellent kingfish using River2Sea jigs.
The usual reef fish are still being brought in, with the water temperature sitting at 17 degrees celcius with a mild current running at the time of writing.
- Graham, Gaye, Bec, Mark, Nathan and Jade
Team Tackle World Moruya
Narooma Sport and Game Fishing Club: October News
OCTOBER events included the annual trivia night held October 13.
This event attracted around 45 of the elite of the Narooma brain trust. Theme of the evening was cross dressing with quite a few members taking the challenge adding to the festivities of the evening.
At the end of the evening, the top three places were separated only by one point.
The quiz master Charlie Bettini did a sterling job and managed to keep the contestants somewhat under control.
Supper was prepared to the normal high standard by the lady members.
Sunday, October 14 was the weigh-in for the monthly bottom fishing competition.
The ladies first prize was awarded to Pat Lucock for a trevally she caught near the club house and the men’s prize was awarded to Les Waldock for a trout he hooked near Goulburn.
Fishing has been a little slow for members but salmon have been hooked on most beaches.
Flathead are being taken both in Wagonga Lake and in the channel, as well as some yellow-eyed mullet in Lake Wallaga. Let’s hope the weather and fishing improves over the next couple of weeks.
- Terry Vincent
Dalmeny Fishing Club news
OCTOBER weigh in on Sunday with not to many weighing in unfortunately, the early wind played some part but the whale watching was spectacular. Norm and Buzz picked up a couple of hitchhikers at Dalmeny boat ramp (Wacka and Lisa) with Lisa out fishing the guys. Todd and Andrew had a bonza catch with Todd winning the day with 500 points. That’s what happens when you stay out there… Enid took out the ladies with 160 points. No juniors weighed in, but a great arvo was had at the barbecue weigh in, thanks to the cooks and helpers, thanks to Kate and Cody for the lovely salads. This weekend is the seafood night at Club Dalmeny October 27 with only couple of tickets left. Don’t forget the AGM this Sunday at Club Narooma starts at 10.30am.
Happy fishing The Captain…