We had great weather over the weekend for a bit of outside flathead and snapper fishing.

The outside sand and tiger flathead fishing was excellent over the weekend. The flatties were biting really well in depths from 40 to 50 metres. There were boats from Bournda Island right down to the Pinnacles, that we could see. We caught our flatties just north of Tura Heads.

The sand flathead ranged in size from 38 to 50 centimetres and the tigers were a contant 36 centimetres. We also found a few flying gurnard, but no gummies. However, others caught them closer to the reefs. The water is a dirty green on top at around 18 degrees, but the sinkers were a lot colder when they came up and the current was to the south.

The reefs were a little slower this weekend, but the tide wasn’t quite right. There were still plenty of snapper caught, but a lot of smaller fish around that 40 centimetre size. There was also a few morwong, nannygai, sargent bakers and other reef species. We even caught salmon out in 35 metres of water. Plastics worked for us, but a bit of burley may have held the fish behind the boat.

The salmon and tailor are feeding well in our estuaries at the moment. There are plenty of smaller 500g fish on the beaches suchs as North Tura and Bournda. The beaches are very deep with not many banks, which makes them hard to baitfish, but lures have been getting plenty. Main Beach Merimbula has some nice banks and wave action and is probably worth a try for the bait guys. Otherwise you will need a boat and to head into the estuaries.

The estuary fishing is pretty busy if you are after salmon and tailor. The Pambula River has good numbers of salmon and tailor in the river section. There is also still a few bream and odd trevally along the rock walls. The Merimbula Lake has salmon and tailor in the front lake and a few bream and odd blackfish were seen on Sunday. Up the Top Lake the salmon and tailor were gorging on the baitfish on Saturday. There were a couple of trevally also feeding with the preditors.

The Merimbula Lake’s water temperature is around 16 degrees also. The Bega River is very dirty and the boat ramp is covered in trees after the recent rains. If you can get your boat in the water, there are a few bream and odd perch biting up the river and odd salmon and trevally down the front.

The game fishing is showing signs of firing up. Sunday, a boat out of Tathra found a few small yellowfin. They didn’t give any details, but it is a positive sign.

There are a few of our local longliners fishing out wide off Mallacoota, well over 50 nautical miles off shore, and that current looks to be travelling up along the 1000 fathom line. So hopefully, we get a chance at these fish at some stage.

The Merimbula Big Game and Lakes Angling Club is open this Friday night at 6pm. We have the draw of the monthly species, “snapper” which will take place between 7 and 7.30pm. Fish must be on the board by 7pm. The draw is sponsored by Michelin and Son eath works of Eden. We also have raffle with a meat tray sponsored by Goodalls Butchers and a voucher for the Bar Beach Kiosk. Come on down and enjoy a cold bevvy and catch up with the locals.

Till next week.

Fishy Fellow