DESPITE positive signs of an early arrival of large pelagic species, the only reports over the weekend were of a few striped tuna being caught out wide off Moruya.
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The water temperature at Montague Island is still hovering around 17c, the water appears to be warmer over 30mts down with some fishers noticing that their sinkers are coming up feeling warm to the touch.
After weeks of very average fishing at Montague Island, schools of snapper have finally started to make an appearance.
There are some undersize fish in the schools at the moment, but there are also a large proportion of pan-sized pinkies, with the main catching zones being on the edges of the reefs.
The deeper reefs off Tuross and Potato Point continue to fish well, a little local knowledge is needed to find the better fish, but a bit of effort will be rewarded with a mixed bag of snapper, morwong, pigfish, silver trevally, nannygai, and flathead.
There are also some super sized sergeant baker being landed, if anyone knows of a good way to use these great fighting fish - please send an email to: stan.gorton@fairfaxmedia.com.au, and we will share your knowledge in next week’s Narooma News.
Chinaman leather jackets were targeted by a couple of fishers over the weekend after losing rigs whilst they were fishing for flathead. Six jackets were caught ranging in size from 28cms to 38cms, with 2 of the bigger fish being enough for a single good feed.
Wagonga Inlet has been the place to be this week with good catches of snapper being taken in the deeper water, those with the better catches were using plenty of berley and light line with fluorocarbon leaders. Other visitors to the Inlet were a couple of humpback whales which helped reinforce Narooma’s reputation as a great whale watching destination.
The Narooma Bowlo Fishing Club had a very successful monthly fishing competition last weekend. Usually the loyal members of ‘The Bowlo’ are happy if they get a comp weekend which isn’t blowing and raining, but to have nice weather and catch heaps of fish was a double bonus. The overall winner was Mick Kavic who was rewarded for his long hours spent at Brou Lake and a couple of other ‘secret’ spots. Other section winners were Wayne Giffen, Randall Setzer, Max Favell , Brenda Setzer, Karen Spackman, and Bill Turnbull. Adam Giffen took out the ‘juniors’ section with a great mixed bag (well done Adam). The Rosco Inskip Encouragement Award was split between Amadora and Gracie.
Mutton bird numbers are steadily increasing offshore, these seabirds can be a real nuisance to fishers as they steal baits and tangle lines. Despite almost being a ‘pest’ you have to admire their resilience, eighteen million of them travel 15,000kms from the Arctic Circle to breed in southern Australia each year.
Joke of the Week: What do you get if you cross a salmon, a bird’s leg and a hand? Birdsthigh fish fingers
Fishing tip of the Week: When mutton birds tangle in your lines, it is recommended that you have a towel on board to disentangle them - they bite (HARD) and scratch.
Fishing Soap Box: There is still plenty of confusion about the new fishing regulations. They start on November 3, hopefully the new size and bag limit stickers will be available shortly.
Narooma Sport & Game Fishing Club news
MEMBERS of the Narooma Sport and Game Fishing Club have recently had successful fishing trips.
Chris Hemmingsen and his cousin Jamie Lankford boated up Wagonga inlet and got themselves a few flathead.
The larger ones, 62cm and 64cm, were released back into the water, and the rest provided dinner.
Les Waldock and Ben James took to the deep blue water off Tuross Head and caught some nice snapper and a 2kilo morwong.
But the catch of the week goes to two little girls, Cassidy James and Luna Wheat, who landed a small bream and a trevally off the clubhouse jetty on Friday, October 3 evening, with sausage as bait!
At Friday night’s social Stephanie Ovington, who was absent from the AGM, was presented with her trophies for ANSA Junior catch and release, ANSA Sub junior, and the local junior for length.
She also took out the junior comp prize for October, at Sunday’s monthly weigh-in.
The ladies winner was Pat Lucock and the men’s was visitor John Swinhoe form the UK, showing the local boys how it is done!
- Jan Hemmingsen