Wednesday 23rd June 2010
Report courtesy of Bermagui Bait & Tackle
BERMAGUI
On the back of schooling Blue Fin tuna now reachable to many vessels and with the help of local longliners being right amongst the fish a number of boats were able to head wide to day for the best of the Blue Fin fishing yet. Fish were in good numbers over the 150'30 line and in line with both the sea mounts. Matt Cini of Reel Time Charters landed a 90kg fin as part of a 3-way hook up, Matt Bolton was also on board to land his 70kg fish, they drop the other solid fish after 15 minutes. We managed 3 from 4 around 45kg fish whilst on board with local boat owner Dick Brown of 'Reel Weapon'. Crusty was also with us. Good to see these fish are now here in solid numbers.
Monday 14th June 2010
Report courtesy of Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol
MERIMBULA
The weather is still a concern but anglers fishing on the inshore reefs have had success with snapper, morwong and leatherjackets all on the chew. Hopefully this is the start of a run of reef species as they have been a bit quiet over the last month. The flathead are a bit patchy and at this time of year can be frustrating as some days you will find a patch whilst the next you can't even lose a bait. Luckily you don't have to leave shore early as many days the frogs don't come on the chew until late morning or well into the afternoon which is a complete change to the normal early morning bite happening on the warmer months. The wind being from the south west hasn't made life easy for the gamefishing fraternity and even fishos in the estuaries are having a battle.This time of year tailor are a target and sooner rather than later salmon should be found in Merimbula Lake and the Pambula River. Beach fishing is a great option with the westerly winds and again salmon and tailor are the main species sought but bream and flathead can also be found. Rock and wharf fishing is also worth a shot providing the swell isn't up with all species including arrow and calamari squid on the chew. Were hoping for some great weather conditions over the next 2 weekends as alot of interest has been shown by anglers keen to have a crack at catching a broadbill swordfish.
Picture below: Quality catches of snapper such as these caught on the boat Obsession are not uncommon this time of year.
Thursday 10th June 2010
Report courtesy of Bermagui Bait & Tackle
BERMAGUI - Wallaga Lake
Open estuary mouths where tidal flows now occur once again are producing some great opportunities for those starting out through to the more experienced angler whether fishing by lure or with fresh baits. The likes of Corunna, Wallaga Lake, the Bega River and Cuttagee to name a few are filled with bait including prawns, garfish, whitebait and mullet and more. Wallaga Lake for example has plenty of small to medium prawns close to the lakes edges whilst many of the bays and open water are well covered by small garfish cruising the surface and large schools of mullet dwelling everywhere in between. This is providing some great opportunities for all of us to fish for a number of species. Those chasing Bream can work smaller soft baits (2 inch GULP/SLAM worms, Atomic/ Ecogear/Damiki Minnow Grubs, Squidgy Wrigglers and GULP Shrimps) of 1-3 inches in length close to the edges weighted so to allow a slow natural sink rate. Bream will eat these slowly worked soft baits or a hard bodied lure (Ie. suspending minnow) but you need to concentrate your efforts across weed beds or around structure near the edges to increase your strike rate and of course where you may see bait like prawns or shrimp being pursued or fed upon by your target species. Bream are in good numbers but of smaller size around the lakes bridge pilons. The current can be strong enough to make lures hard work but the bottom of the tide where slack water prevails is certainly worth a cast or three. Toward the lakes mouth the clear water pushes in on the incoming tide and is quite visible. Where this front moves in and meets the 'dirty' water is a great place to start in search of some large Bream that will take lures but we do prefer to up the size somewhat and 80-100mm Squidgy Wrigglers, Shrimps/Prawns or Minnow work well, even a 5inch Jerk Shad. There is some current on those flats so a jig head of 1/8oz on the hook size of choice is often required. Using this sized soft plastic will readily produce the lakes better sized flathead also and if you are off the bottom to often some solid Tailor are on offer but they will also cut through your leader line more often than not. Elsewhere in the lake Dusky Flathead are more prolific and sessions of 10 or more fish are certainly achievable by most. They are smaller in size but enough legal sized fish will be landed to take home if so desired. These fish will feed under under bait you may mark on your fish finder should you be in a boat otherwise a good spot to start includes either side of the Bridge on the run out tide, in particular the drop off on Bermagui side of the bridge on the western side. The lake will also produce Tailor for those casting poppers from it's edges or in the boat. Circling Terns and even the odd sea gull and sprays of bait fish from the surface are sure signs both Tailor and quite often Salmon are feeding. Kayaks are a good way to not only see the system but pursue it's many fish species. The use of Metal Vibes in the deeper water of 2-8m across the lake provide a very versatile alternative that worked very slowly and kept on the bottom will cover most species the lake has to offer including Flounder and pan size Snapper. Those bait fishing can use many methods whether unweighted nippers cast onto the shallows through to a whole pilchard fished beneath a float around the bridge area or the simple prawn or strip bait of mackerel or tuna using a sinker straight to the hook. Which ever you prefer the lake is certainly worth the effort now whereas previous years have been hard work. Much of the above is applicable to Corunna and our local river mouths.
Thursday 10th June 2010
Report courtesy of Bermagui Bait & Tackle
BERMAGUI - Offshore
Water temperatures play a key role in what species we may encounter and where the are likely to hold on any given day. This season is a late one and we've seen Yellow Fin, Dolphin Fish and Marlin all captured again last week even though water temperatures have cooled considerably to now range between 19-20.5 degrees. We also saw the first Southern Blue Fin Tuna of the season landed with visiting customers from Warrnambool in Victoria landed four of these fish of between 35-45kg. On that day they also landed Yellow Fin Tuna to 55kg. The Blue Fin were taken trolling lures whilst the Yellow Fin of that size are still being taken mainly by those cubing. Odds are now that 3 out of 5 boats cubing for 'fin' will land a Tuna or two most days but persistence is the key and a minimum 4 hour session is often required. Over the past couple of weeks the fish are becoming more apparent in closer toward the shelf and with these fishes stomach contents often Yellowtail then they are certainly beginning to feed inside the 100 fathom line. Albacore are not in any great numbers and on the next moon we will expect to see greater numbers of Southern Blue Fin Tuna.
Another Broadbill capture was made last week and it was Rob Bexterman fishing out of his own boat 'Blue Yonda' who landed the pictured 167kg fish at the end of a day's cubing for Yellow Fin Tuna. Rob had a large whole squid bait down deep and the fish took the bait some time before they realised he had. After 30 minutes fighting the fish to the boat it was another 45 minutes until the fish was brought on board. An awesome result, a dream fish for many on rod & reel and a record claim is likely.
Montague Island is still producing Kingfish and some great Snapper fishing continues on the western side and south western areas. For some the only thing stopping the Snapper captures is the hook-ups occurring on smaller Kingfish as they are that thick some days. The days following the heavy seas of late have made for some nice Snapper to be caught on the 4 & 6 Mile Reefs. Such seas have also made for a good opportunity to cast metals from the sheltered rocks ledges where mainly Salmon and Tailor are on offer but a Kingfish of good sized can be encountered. Surf fishing is good for salmon but heavy seas have made it difficult at times.
Monday 7th June 2010
Report courtesy of Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol
MERIMBULA
The weather hasn't been kind to us for the last two weeks and this if frustrating for gamefishers as plenty of yellowfin tuna are to be caught if the seas enable us to travel over the shelf and on to the 1000 fathom line (also known as the second drop off). For those that don't fish, this mark is about 25 mile to sea and as you can imagine weather conditions are the most important factor of the day and dictates if and when we are to be successful. Some boats were able to get out during the early part of last week and yellowfin over 50 kilos where caught north of Merimbula. Broadbill fishing is shaping up as excellent as another was caught during the day on a deep bait . The fish was over 160 kilo and is a pending Australian record.
Picture below: Anglers Shannon Stokes and John Rankin with one of two Broadbill Swordfish Tagged and Released on a recent night time broadbill trip.
Thursday 3rd June 2010
Report courtesy of Bermagui Bait & Tackle
BERMAGUI
Water temps are down below 20 degrees consistently now over the shelf and inside the edge it's 19.5 degrees. We landed a nice fin of 45kg yesterday and an Albacore again on the cube. Cubing seems to be the go still although a couple of customers from Melbourne from landed a couple on the troll yesterday of around 30kg whilst Bruce Farmer also landed one of tuna of 20kg. We have seen very little fish taken on the live bait. After last weeks blow we would expect to see a few tuna's in closer now on the 12 Mile and one fish we cut up was full of Yellow tail so we'll assume he's been inside the edge feeding where bait is more likely to be holding.
