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May Fishing Reports |
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Monday 24th May 2010
Report courtesy of Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol MERIMBULA Fishing has been great over the past week with anglers having a ball catching yellowfin tuna. Most of these fish have been caught over the continental shelf between the first and second drop off. Unfortunately us people that have to work for a living are finding it a bit tough as the tuna have been lining up to take baits on weekdays but have proved a little tougher on the weekends. Our snapper tournament sponsored by Merimbula Mowers and Marine was last weekend and plenty of plate sized snapper between 800 grams to the kilo were caught. A few bigger fish were also about and Pella DiDonato took home the $500 cash prize for a snapper that hit the scales at 2.2 Kilo. Runner up was Shane Mayberry with a rod and reel winning fish of 1.95 kilo. Daryl Williams took out the mystery weight snapper. Plenty of morwong, leatherjacket, nanaguie and gear stealing barracouta were also caught. Flathead fishing is also firing with crews reporting reasonable catches off the grounds north of town. Estuary fishing can be alot of fun with salmon and tailor caught in Pambula River and the Merimbula System. Local beaches have schools of salmon and tailor taking lures and pilchards but beach worms can be a handy backup if targeting bream and flathead. Picture Below: Club member Stuart Green with his 50.5 kg yellowfin tuna. Stuart has been trying for 17 years to catch a tuna to qualify for the over 50 kilo club and has now done it.
 Wednesday 19th May 2010 Report courtesy of Bermagui Bait & Tackle BERMAGUI The current has eased and water temperatures have dropped considerably over the shelf in recent days to below 21 degrees and down to 19 in some places and this has seen the tuna's move in with good numbers of fish being taken on the cube. All fish are over 45kg and only the odd rat is being taken on the troll. Next week will be prime time for tuna and the weather looks good all week. There are plenty of marlin on the edge inside 100 fathoms and those still wishing to land a beakie this season will have a good chance of doing so. Some vessels are seeing up to 15 fish on any given day but most boats here want tuna and are driving over them to get to the fin. Kingies have been great at the Island but the current has slowed down and may start running to the north a again for a few days slowing this bite down. All rivers are fishing well for Bream and Flathead and hard bodies lures on structure and metals vibes will come in to their own from now on. Salmon on the headlands and ledges are in good numbers and we've landed some nice Drummer, Tailor and Bream off the rocks also. Wednesday 19th May 2010 Report courtesy of Bermagui Bait & Tackle BERMAGUI The Yellow Fins' are absent this week but the Kingfish are on solid at the Island with plenty of fish to over 90cm taken on the jig. SST's are certainly pointing toward a good marlin bite and up to 19 fish were seen today by one boat alone. The 12 Mile reef is holding good numbers of these fish. Dolphin Fish and Spearfish are still also on the agenda. Gummy Sharks and Flathead are in good numbers of the usual northern haunts like Camel, The Step and Cemetery. Snapper are in better numbers now on the 4 and 6 Mile reefs than in close, but it's that time of year. Water temps and above 23 degrees inside the shelf and down to below 20 degrees over the 1000 fathom line. Looks like the season is going to be very late and the thickest of the YFT bite is likely to be in June and July...then hopefully it's big Blue Fin on the Menu. Thursday 13th May 2010 Report courtesy of Bermagui Bait & Tackle BERMAGUI A 100lb Yellow Fin Tuna is a dream fish for many that visit the region during April and May. Fish of this size have been caught regularly in the past month by those dedicated to cubing in our offshore waters. In recent years good numbers of tuna's have not presented themselves until late May and Early June however since early April this year we have seen good numbers of such fish captured largely between 600 fathoms to beyond the 1000 fathom line. Whilst the majority of tuna landed whilst towing hard bodied and skirted lures are so called 'Rats' of between 6-10kg only a handful of larger fish have been taken on the troll. The heaviest being 'Hotshots' 82kg model which is an impressive fish by any means, the fish ate a Halco Laser Pro 190DD which remains a must in your spread of lures whilst pursuing such fish. Secondly, Darren Buttigieg's 78kg fin which ate a skirted lure whilst working the southern sea mount wide of Montague Island was a great fish it was hooked up while the neighbouring boat was hooked up to a Striped Marlin. There are no rules when it comes to defining the boundaries that determine where these fish may or may not be on any given day. The warmer waters most fin captures have occurred in clearly show how different this season really is. Many of the Yellow Fin landed have come out of 22-23.5 degree water whereas we would 'normally' be pursuing these fish in water temperatures more suited to such fish like that between 18-21 degrees or along clear temperature breaks found offshore. Despite tuna season being under way those still wanting to satisfy their hunger for a Striped Marlin will still find these fish holding inside 200 fathoms and current sea surface charts clearly highlight some areas that are likely to hold such fish where currents are slower and bait levels remain good, in particular the 12 Mile reef and the lower end of Tuross Canyons and too inside the 'Kink'. In coming weeks the tuna's will increase in numbers and cooler water behind the warm front hugging the coast at present will produce conditions much more suited to these fish. The 25 degree water (current) that pushed in last week certainly reduced any chances of a tuna capture not that the weather allowed any vessels to hit the water for most of the week. This water actually produced a few Dolphin Fish for those cubing and little else. When this report goes to print we hope the strong SW winds have rolled the water over and slowed the current somewhat making it a little easier to go cubing as this method has produced plenty of fish of 50kg in recent weeks. Local beaches are holding Salmon most days and those spinning metals for Tailor are getting some nice fish to 600gm. Bream off beach at the bottom of Long Swamp, Cuttagee's mouth and Wallaga Lakes opening are of good size not the usual wafer thin variety we've seen in recent years, I gather open estuaries this season with plenty of bait in the form of gars, mullet a variety of smaller bait sized fish is providing plenty of food for predators schooling at the many inlets north and south of the township. The water has remained warm enough to pull a few flathead out of on most lure types but soft plastics and metal blades will come into the own for these fish as the waters cool further. Bream numbers have picked up in the rivers and a few hour session in the river here with some burley and fresh bait on the run up tide will produce a feed of Bream for sure. As more Bream take residence on the snags up river in coming weeks small hard bodied sinking and suspending lures will be a must for those fishing structure. The bridge pilons are holding good numbers of larger Trevally and Bream and they are fished for early morning and little or no breeze is an advantage. Drummer off the rocks in many locations are of size and after last weeks swell and seas things should be stirred up just nicely for these fish to bite and so too inshore Snapper fishing. The fishing grounds to our north in particular Camel Rock and Cemetery are producing some good Sandy Flathead in 30-40m of water. Montague Island is certainly fishing well for Morwong and Snapper and they are reasonable specimens at that. The current ran up hill for most of the month slowing the Kingfish bite although a few have been taken on the gravel at the bottom end of the Island and close to Auginish Rocks. Monday 10th May 2010 Report courtesy of Bermagui Bait & Tackle BERMAGUI Sunday fished better Saturday. Marlin remain just over the shelf with a couple landed by those chasing tuna's on the troll whilst only smaller Yellow Fin are being taken on lures. A view boats saw a number of free jumpers. Mr Hooker went 1 from 3 to the north. A couple of vessels deep sea fish off Bunga Canyons more than 5 marlin for the morning. Anyway tuna's are the main focus and those cubing solid again landed fish. All tuna's we weighed in on the weekend were over 40kg. No big ones over the past few days that we have seen. It is taking at least 4 hours for many to bring these fish up and short cube sessions are rarely producing fish. The charts look great and the weather looks bad at least for the next couple of days unless it copies last week and swings below Tathra allowing those here to fish. Saturday 1st May 2010 Report courtesy of Bermagui Bait & Tackle BERMAGUI The solid marlin bite eased mid-April to make way for the tuna's that slowly made their way into fishable areas over the 1000 fathom line and then inside that line toward 1st drop off (100 fathom line) late last month. Prior to that commercial vessels were amongst these fish for a couple months well out to sea (50-100km offshore) where sizeable Yellow Fin and Big Eye tuna's were common captures. Those cubing in recent weeks have landed plenty of nice. The positives for this season include the average size of these fish as we have not seen or weighed in many fish under 45kg. The smaller fish are fewer and largely taken whilst trolling. Last Thursday (29th April) evening's strong winds turned the water over so Friday and Saturday it was a little hard gauge which way to go with water temperatures sporadic and tuna's then up high feeding hard on sauries as seen by many boats on the water. Therefore, those cubing struggled for a couple of days whilst a few small tuna's were taken on the troll and a couple of real nice ones including Darren Buttigieg's 78kg fish were taken over the weekend. Basically, last weekend's conditions returned the marlin bite to some extent and the best tuna fishing was below Bermagui toward Tathra Canyons. Conditions have now improved and are more suited to tuna and they will return to the bite for those cubing again this week. Highlights over the weekend included Brian Schofields 50kg fin on 8kg and another of 48kg on 15kg line classes. Geoff McMahon's boat last weekend also fishing Tathra Canyons landed a marlin, a 106kg Broadbill and a 50kg Yellow Fin......an awesome trifecta. Whilst the current remains pushing north at Montague Island some nice Kingfish have been taken below the Island in areas such as Auginish Rocks and the 'Fowl House'. The seals remain a problem and are accounting for a number of fish including plenty of good size Snapper and Morwong which have been fairly consistent at the Island this year. Those fishing deep on the continental shelf landed some good Blue Eye Trevalla over the week end including Graham Darlington catch of 5 fish between 12-16kg and 'Four Play's' 8 fish of smaller size amongst some Gemfish and the odd Ling. |
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