FISHING REPORT – 3 JULY 2020

With the school holidays upon us the fishing is pretty good at the moment despite the coolish conditions. It really just depends on what you want to target and where, there’s ample opportunities for everyone.

Those venturing offshore after a feed of bottom fish are in luck with multiple species chewing at present. Snapper, morwong sand and tiger flathead plus some decent sized gummy sharks have all played the game this past week and l can’t see why that will change anytime soon. I know of one boat getting 17 legal snapper for the session which is solid fishing, throw in a few flatties and a gummy or two and it’s nothing short of exceptional. The fish have been spread out but the better areas seem to be down south off Haycock Point in 25-30 meters. Other reefs that fished OK include Long Point, Turingal and a few fish close in off Tura Head which is pretty interesting as well. All these areas should still fish well this week with Lennard’s Island another spot worth a look.

Further offshore the water has cooled considerably with 16-18 degrees the norm now. It’s not all bad news though with a few yellowfin tuna and albacore getting caught wide of Bermagui and Merimbula over the past week. These fish will hopefully push south and don’t be surprised to see some big SBT over the coming weeks. There’s been a few monsters caught just North of us with Benn Boltons 148.3 kilo monster coming from Narooma a few days back. Considering they also lost a bigger fish after 5 hours to a shark there are some brutes around.

Inshore the beach goers are having loads of fun on salmon and tailor with the beaches north of Merimbula fishing extremely well. We had a local fella come in store this morning with a glowing report off Tura beach which comprised of 22 salmon and 3 big tailor in a few hours so exceptional fishing in my books. The salmon averaged a kilo or so but on the right tackle still a stack of fun. A few different techniques are working with a paternoster rig, rigged with a bait/popper combination with half salted pilchards the gun bait to use. Casting a range of smaller metal shiners up to 30 gram has also been good on these mid-sized fish and if a thumper comes along you’re in for some serious fun. If you’re after gummy shark or mulloway then you’re in luck. Both these species have been around with a few of the gummies nudging 12 kilo so nice fish and great in the pan. I’d be fishing either Middle beach or Haycock with fresh slab baits for the sharks or big bunches of live beach worms which jewies find hard to resist. Yes both these species are not thick so time on the sand after dark will hopefully get you the just rewards.

Off the stones the action is mixed depending on what you’re targeting. The bread and butter species like drummer and blackfish have come into their own over recent days with the water temperature dropping and solid wash available on most headlands. Using a float with cabbage weed or fresh prawns will catch you a feed, use a little burley here but not too much. You can expect a few bream and trevally on the prawns also with Short Point the pick of the headlands to fish. There’s still plenty of pelagic action happening off Tura head, mainly salmon but a lot depends on conditions to the results you are getting. Both lures and ganged pilchards have produced results though the bait guys do seem to have the edge at present.

In the estuaries Pambula Lake has really fired up this week. The main basin has seen plenty of the action with one local getting some awesome results. He got a mixed bag of no less than 9 legal species for the day which is pretty remarkable considering he caught them on a mixture of bait and soft plastics. Bream, whiting, blackfish, salmon, tailor, flounder, trevally, flathead and mullet made up his bag with a few of the bream nudging the kilo mark. The key was to fish very light leaders in the crystal clear water and fish light jig heads and sinkers. Casting towards the ribbon weed edges in the basin in 3-4 meters of water with a little burley was all that was required. In Merimbula Lake the lower sections in the channel is still firing for jumbo sized trevally. Fish to 50cm have been common and on bream gear they do put up a struggle. Anglers using smaller softies on light jig heads on the draining tide have fared best. The top Lake still has plenty of tailor about and the odd trevally and bream under the whitebait schools. This coming weeks weather looks pretty good, if your new to the sport or just want some local info don’t hesitate to pop into the shop and the boys will look after you.

Tight lines till next week, Tackleworld Team Merimbula.