The fishing is firing and now is the time for us locals to get out there before the tourist onslaught begins.
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Both Wallaga and Corunna lakes are now open which should improve fishing in the long run, but unfortunately it has come too late for prawns this summer season, so the kids will be disappointed.
Dash at the Narooma Ocean Hut Compleat Angler confirms the myth is no longer a myth – metre-plus kingfish exist in Wagonga Inlet.!
“We have been hearing stories of meter plus kingfish being sighted in Wagonga Inlet over the past few weeks,” he reports. “I’ve checked it out myself several times but have only seen undersized models being caught and seen following lures on occasions.
“But local lads Craig Dawson and Peter Churchill proved the myth to be true with this whopping 117cm kingy caught in the inlet (Tuesday) night on a piece of chicken gut.
“The fight lasted well over an hour and the landing net was broken trying to net it. So next best thing after a few tense moments was a tail grab which sign sealed and delivered this awesome capture.
“Well done boys love ya work you've definitely got me keen to have a more thorough search.”
Mitch Mikolic of Narooma meanwhile caught and released a lovely 91cm dusky flathead on Sunday afternoon in the Tuross system. He took a few photos and then sent it on its way. Tuross certainly does produce the goods and is one of three voluntary trophy fisheries for dusky flathead where the big fish should be released.
Graham from Moruya Tackle World reports mulloway have been caught this past week towards the front of the Tuross system near the boatshed, mainly on live baits such as tailor. Plastics have been catching plenty of flathead throughout Tuross. Live poddy mullet has also caught some large flathead.
The sand flats near the Fourways have been holding some nice whiting and the rack fishing for bream has really started to fire up.
On the beaches, some nice gutters have formed along North Head. Moruya and Coila beach and they are holding lots of fish.
Whiting and bream have been caught using fresh beach worms for bait. Some nice size salmon are also coming in off the beaches and also off the break wall using pillies for bait. The odd flathead has been caught along the beaches throwing small metal vibes into the surf.
Offshore, when the weather has permitted anglers have reportedly had some good flathead sessions just off Moruya. Drifting pillie cubes and squid along the bottom has been catching a good feed of sand flathead.
The bombies around Pedro Point have produced several nice snapper this week on soft plastics. The reefs just off Moruya are fishing reasonably well for mowie, snapper and nannygai using jigs and bait.
Well done to Marianna Tornabene-Elliott for winning the Champion Ladies trophy in this year's Brogo Bass Bash competition. She won it with a nice 31.5cm bass caught on a “Elliott’s Dinky Darwin Dart” built and designed by her husband Mick. The winning male angler Luke Molyneux from Canberra won it with a 42cm fish.
NSW DPI Fisheries in conjunction with the Far South Coast Bass Stocking Association has just released 10,000 estuary perch fry bred by Bruce Lawson of Narooma into Brogo Dam, a first for any impoundment in NSW, which is great news.
Meanwhile outside, the kingfish have been firing for the past week at Montague Island, although fish just undersize seem to be still dominating. There was a massive school on the northeast corner that resulted in a hook-up on just about every drop of the jig or bait.
Adam Callahan of Narooma had a solid morning fishing at Montague Island on Sunday with captain David Moran, getting about 50 kingfish between four in five hours. The fish on Sunday were taking live bait, squid bait and jigs. Jedd Clothier got his nice 75cm kingfish in the rip at Montague Island on Saturday and was stoked to have finally caught a bigger kingy than his old man!
Getting them past the seals is always a challenge and the author of this report even lost one to a shark, or at least half of one.
The flathead out wide have apparently bit harder to find, but there have been some caught west of the island down to Camel Rock.
There have also been reports of the first marlin of the season and let's hope we have as good a season as last year. Get out there and have a go!