THIS year fishers aren’t asking about kingfish, they just want to know if the marlin are still running.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Just when everyone thought the season was over, the striped and black marlin made a return this week, with fish caught from east of Montague Island through to Eden.
Most marlin have been in the 70-120kg range, with the odd fish up to 150kg. This range of sizes indicates that the marlin population is in great condition on the South Coast.
On Sunday afternoon local butcher Dave White and his 6-year-old son Ozy fished out over the ‘First Drop’ with a fantastic day catching two 18kg yellowfin tuna, a 12kg spearfish and also dropped a striped marlin at the side of the boat which was estimated at 150kgs,
Local fishers Brett McDonald with crew Jonathan and Georgia Poyner pulled an all-nighter on ‘The Shelf’ on Sunday night, after a great session on arrow squid and 10-15kg rudder fish, they battled and landed a nice big eye tuna of approximately 35kg.
The kingfish at Montague Island have gone quiet again, but with this weekend’s full moon, the action should start again.
Bonito have started to show at the island, with most boats catching a feed, best results have come whilst trolling 10cm skirted lures at around 6 knots.
For those inshore fishers wanting an Easter feed of fresh fish, Brou Reef, Potato Point and Tuross Head reefs have been fishing consistently this week with excellent catches of snapper, morwong and flathead.
Fishing Tip of the Week: Some of the best results this week for fishers targeting marlin and tuna have been scored by fishers using 10cm skirted lures.
Fishing Joke of the Week: Q: Why don’t fish go near computers? A: They don’t want to get caught in the internet
- John Moore
Update: The yellowfin catches continued on Tuesday. Bermagui Bait & Tackle staffer Kevin Facey got a 47kg yellowfin tuna caught in 500 fathoms out from Bunga on Tuesday, his first for the year! There were also reports that longliners had been getting into the yellowfin with one unconfirmed report of 70 fish up to 70kg!
The Wagonga whisperer!
I SPENT the day fishing the pristine waters of Wagonga Inlet with old mate "Hippie", who now I've named the "Wagonga Whisperer"!
Although we never got the jewie (s) he promised, we did manage 36 legal size fish consisting of 19 flathead, 10 tailor, four snapper, one bream, leather jacket and a trevally.
No 37 legal, a flounder made it to the side of the boat but spat the hook, thus couldn't join the tally. That's pretty good fish for Wagonga Inlet, which has been good for a few weeks and I reckon it possibly could fish this well right up till winter.
It's not rocket science, just find the bait, use lures resembling the bait (ie mostly white bait) in colour and size and you’re bound to find some success!
Lure of the day was Zmans 3" Streakz 4"Curlz in Bad shad, Bloodworm, Mulletron and the Pearl colours!
- Darren “Dash” Bowater
Narooma Sport and Gamefishing Club
NAROOMA Sport and Gamefishing Club visitors Ken and Karen Young from Canada are still enjoying some great fishing on our beaches, with a healthy salmon, caught from Brou Beach on a pilchard bait during last week.
Peter Hewitt, a NSGFC member from Sydney also had some success at Brou Beach. Good to share their success.
As usual the Narooma Sport and Gamefishing Club rooms, situated on the inlet near the restaurants, will be open for fish stories, drinks and snacks from 4pm till 9pm on Friday. Visitors are most welcome to come along and have a chat with the members.