THERE could only be one word to describe the last week's offshore fishing conditions - windy.
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On the couple of days when the weather allowed, a few boats travelled out past “The Shelf”, and they were rewarded with great catches of striped tuna, albacore and a few small yellowfin tuna.
Reports of only a few kings and bonito caught at Montague Island late last week, which was to be expected with very little current flow.
The weekend was a wipe-out with winds over 40 knots each day, making the trip offshore out of the question.
Only a few boats gambled against the weather forecast on Monday and were rewarded with a few winter kings up to 8kg and heaps of bonito.
The bad news is that the water temperature has plummeted to 16c around Montague and as low as 15.2c south of the island.
If you plan to target albacore, they can be taken trolling, cubing, live baiting and jigging.
The “experts” last week were catching the albacore whilst trolling both hard bodies and skirted lures.
Once a hook-up is made have a look at your sounder and if the school of vertical fish shows on the screen then consider either dropping a jig or live bait over the side.
Also remember that albacore should be bled on capture and that they bruise easily, so handle carefully and place on ice as soon as possible.
With the westerly winds, and flat inshore seas, local divers have been scoring some great lobsters in close to shore.
This year has been especially comfortable for diving with water temperatures last week over 18c.
Now that the water temperature has dropped divers will be looking for thicker wetsuits.
The lobsters or crayfish we get around the South Coast are mainly eastern rock lobsters (also known as green crays) with the occasional southern rock lobster.
Tip of the week: Try using fluorocarbon line for leaders as it is almost invisible to fish, well worth the cost
Joke of the week: Q: What do fish and women have in common?
A: They both stop shaking their tale after you catch them!
- John Moore
Catch of the Week: tuna at 1000fa
ROUGH winter days kept most off Far South Coast NSW waters, but fishing on Friday was charter boat Playstation from Charter Fish Narooma.
On board were a group of builders on a project in Narooma who took a day off to chase tuna and they were rewarded with albacore and smaller yellowfin.
There were quadruple hook-ups on albacore with yellowfin mixed through.
Skipper Nick Cowley reported good numbers of albacore off Narooma today around the 1000 fathom line along with a couple small yellowfin out wider.
They ended up with over 20 albies and released quite a few.
There was no repeat of the 98kg yellowfin tuna that Nick and a previous group of clients caught last week, but the boys were pretty happy.
Good news is weather should improve as the week progresses.