Narooma Sport and Game Fishing members scored a mixed bag on Monday when they headed offshore from Narooma for a day on the ocean.
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Club member Darrin Stollznow caught a beautiful 83cm striped trumpeter deep dropping near The Kink. Striped trumpeter are considered one of the finest table fish in the sea.
"Deep dropping is a term used for dropping heavy rigs with big baits into hundreds of metres of water in search of some great eating deep cold water fish species," Club member Les Waldock said.
"Striped trumpeter is one such species more commonly caught further south in Tasmanian waters," he said.
Les Waldock and Dennis Maggs fished the Tuross reefs on Monday coming home with a lovely feed of snapper, perch and flathead.
Narooma Gamefishing Club members Brett Indian and his mate Bert fished south of Montague Island for a great feed of big flathead
Former club president Mick Roberts reportedly caught what is probably the first kingfish of the new season trolling around Montague.
Fishing has seen a marked improvement over the last couple of weeks with rivers and estuaries starting to warm up after their winter slumber.
There have been increasing numbers of flathead showing up in the lower part of the Moruya River from Quarry Wharf down to Preddy's Wharf an behind the hole in the wall.
With the days getting warmer and longer, the team at Tackle World Moruya are advising to look towards the flats as the shallower water warms up more quickly.
Whiting are expected to start showing up over the sand flats soon.
Further upstream there have been numbers of estuary perch holding around the Moruya town bridge after dark. Tackle World Moruya recommends using 2.5" soft plastics or surface lures cast to areas over the weed beds.
Although slowly, the bass are starting to move further upstream in the fresh parts of the river.
Southern bluefin tuna continue to excite the game fishers with schools found all along the coast
- MBGLAC secretary Chris Young
The Tuross River with its abundant shallow sand flats, warms up quickly earning it the reputation as a premier flathead fishery.
Look for shallower darker bottomed areas that will have a higher water temperature than the deeper channels. You can expect to find bream and whiting also making the most of the warmer water flats.
Luderick have also been in good numbers in the Tuross system over the last couple of weeks with fish up to 45cm being caught.
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Further down south Merimbula Big Game and Lake Angling Club (MBGLAC) is reporting the Pambula River producing dusky flathead, bream tailor, trevally and Australian salmon remain on the bite.
"Southern bluefin tuna continue to excite the game fishers with schools found all along the coast," MBGLAC secretary Chris Young said.
"Although patchy the schools are easily identified by bird activity and a break up where the tuna are in a feeding frenzy.
"Sometimes the tuna are just inside the Continental Shelf other times well out to sea," he said.
There have been reports of yellowfin tuna from Ulladulla and out of Narooma as the tuna heads south.
There are still some reports of Australian salmon running off the beaches though not in huge numbers.
Metal slices, cast and retrieved or set baits of pilchards on gang hooks will get you a salmon to two if they're around.