Monday 29th March 2010
Report courtesy of Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol
MERIMBULA
Fishing was good over the weekend for the bottom bashers with nice catches of flathead taken from the grounds north of Merimbula. Not so good for the gamefishers as marlin, tuna,kingfish and sharks were rarely sighted. The rocks headlands and beaches were a better shot with salmon, tailor, bonito, bream and whiting all on the chew. Estuary fishing was fantastic with dusky flathead, trevaly, tailor, snapper and bream keen on taking baits and lures but again Pambula River still has that shocking weed in it. 

Photo below shows- a bag of bream up to 36cm caught locally about to be released back into the system.

Monday 22nd March 2010
Report courtesy of Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol
MERIMBULA
Last week was a ripper for anglers fishing outside with great weather and most species keen to take a bait or lure. Gamefishing is looking good with marlin, sharks and tuna all on the prowl.
Paul Jones fishing on his boat Sea Mode had a great day Saturday catching an 86 kilo Thresher shark of Bournda Island whilst flathead fishing. This was a most welcome feed of flake to add to there catch of flattie fillets. Kingfish are still on and its proving to be the best season for many years with jigs, poppers and live baits all doing the job. Inshore reefs are now starting to fire and the crews that have experience and the right approach can be assured of some snapper ranging up to 2 kilo hitting the decks regularly.
Local wharves and headlands are also proving fun for anglers throwing small metal jigs with plenty of salmon and bonito on the prowl and there's also the added bonus of trying for a squid or two. Beach fishing is also hot with plenty of salmon and tailor on lures and whiting, bream and flathead on worms.
Estuary fishing hasn't stopped since last week with many dusky flathead, bream,tailor, trevally and small snapper all on the chew. All in all its a great time of year to fish with all types of fishing worth trying. 

Monday 15th March 2010
Report courtesy of Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol
MERIMBULA
Fishing over the last week has picked up for anglers fishing the flathead grounds with both sand and tiger flathead hitting the deck regularly. Still a few gummy sharks caught and I'm thinking that they will come on even better as we start to get into the rising stage of the moon.
Reef fishing is still a bit slow with only a few snapper found but plenty of kingfish, bonito and salmon on the prowl. Gamefishing is also great with marlin, mako sharks,dolphin fish and striped tuna all encountered and again the 40 to 60 fathom line worked best for most crews.
Estuary fishing has now also picked up with anglers catching dusky flathead, bream, trevally, whiting, tailor and snapper in very reasonable numbers. 

Friday 12th March 2010
Report courtesy of Bermagui Bait & Tackle
BERMAGUI
A quiet couple of weeks on the marlin front with only one or two captures each day whilst the strong currents over the shelf have produced a few Yellow Fin to 8kg it is only in the last day or so we have seen some bait starting to hold again on the 12 Mile, Bait hole and the Kink. Southern Aurora had a nice Blue of 400-450lb on last week and targeting Blue Marlin specifically is not a bad option as we have had a good run of Blue's this year with some nice specimens caught inside the shelf. Between 500-1000 fathoms is more likely to hold these fish. Yesterday saw 'Slammer' tag one fish from two bites and Sika, Shadow Dancer and a couple of other trailer boats took fish. The weather for the coming week through until Thursday night looks great and plenty of vessels will be again heading to the Island to capitalise on a good run of kingfish to 10kg of which are largely being taken on the Jig on the northern end of the Island. Drifting with fresh strip bait of local squid or slimey mackerel also works a treat. A heavy paternoster rig with a single dropper made out of at least 80lb monofilament is the go. A heavy duty 3-way swivel does assist this rig somewhat and allows you to pin a live bait on the rig also through the nose to drift with. Bait fishing is best on the western edge. Remember you can not use bait on the northern end of the Island in the habitat protection zone as it is a place where only trolling or jigging is allowed. 

Monday 8th March 2010
Report courtesy of Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol
MERIMBULA
Sadly the game fishing dropped off a bit this week with marlin rarely sighted, bait disappearing and only a couple of small yellowfin caught on the shelf. This is not all bad though as maybe we have just gone through the quiet time of the month.
Great news for the bottom bouncers fishing the sand flats over the last week with sand and tiger flathead caught in reasonable numbers. Fishos that fished late in the afternoon instead of early morning also found gummy sharks on the sand but the best spots were on or near the inshore reefs and headlands as plenty of bonito, kingfish and salmon have also been on the chew.
Even better news is the appearance of morwong and snapper in our waters around Merimbula but these fish can be a bit choosy and at times take baits intended for other species. Beach fishing is still at a premium with plenty of flathead,bream and whiting keen to take beach worms and the ever present salmon great on a high tide taking pilchards, surf poppers and small metal slugs.

Monday 1st March 2010
Report courtesy of Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol
MERIMBULA
Gamefishing is at its best at the moment with bonito, kingfish, striped tuna, yellowfin tuna, marlin and sharks all caught over the past week. Bonito, sharks and kingfish have been taken close to shore on lures and livebaits whilst the majority of striped tuna, yellowfin tuna and marlin have been taken between the 40 to 60 fathom line.
The weekend proved to be a cracker with over a dozen marlin hooked up by anglers fishing out of Merimbula and Eden. The bottom bouncers fishing on the sand flats and inshore reefs are still doing it tough and unfortunately the estuary fishing isn't much better.