Narooma News fishing report
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
SOMEONE forgot to tell the Montague Island kingfish that the annual run of kingfish normally starts to quieten by mid-May.
As we have seen this year is far from normal. After a quiet start, the kingfish season is in full swing - better late than never!
With the water temp around Montague Island still over 19c this week, great schools of kingfish and bonito have been taking all types of baits, lures and jigs.
The kingfish have been there every day, but some days they are only having a go for an hour or so. The best times have been early morning and the occasional afternoon.
While on the topic of unusual years, some local experts thought the marlin season was over for 2015, it certainly is not with one Bermagui charter boat hooking six marlin on Saturday, and tagged five of them.
Another large (120-150kg) marlin took a live bait on the north end of Montague last Saturday, which was quite a surprise as the angler was fishing for kings at the time, apparently the fight was short and the encounter was the topic of much discussion later that day, when the shock wore off.
There are still massive schools of bait fish in Wagonga Inlet, and as long as the bait stays, so will the predator fish like salmon, tailor and mulloway.
With the water temperature in Wagonga having dropped to 15c, the recommendation is for fishers to put the effort in now, as it won’t be long before the fish shut down for the winter.
Fishing Tip of the Week: When catching bonito, avoid their teeth - they are very sharp and carry some nasty bacteria, which will infect any cuts.
Fishing Joke of the Week -Q: Why do some fishermen use helicopters to catch their bait? A: Because the whirly bird catches the worm!
Fishing Soap Box: NSW Fisheries are currently consulting about changes to the Fisheries Act, check out the proposed changes on the NSW Fisheries website - and have your say.
- John Moore
Kingfish bites continues
IN late breaking fishing news, we can report that as we go to press on Tuesday afternoon the kingfish and bonito are still biting.
Speaking to Narooma regular Bruce Foldi on the mobile, he reported at 2pm that the kingfish were feeding on the surface and the sauries were jumping everywhere!
Skipper Nick Cowley on charter boat Playstation has also been cashing in over the past week.
Nick on Monday reported that Montague Island had proved to have exceptional fishing with this weekend just passed resulting in great numbers of kingfish.
“For the past few days now the kingfish have been there every day although alternating between biting very early In the morning and in the afternoon, many days in the past week resulted in bagging out within an hour. Friday morning after bagging out within an hour we tested new vibes and soft plastics on light spin gear, great fun! Hopefully they hang around for a few more weeks!”
Bait balls aplenty
Scotty at Bermi Bait & Tackle on Monday reported that bait was stacked up nicely again on Sunday, with the tide pushing westerly overall it would maintain the marlin bite.
He said there was a bit of activity in the morning with a number of boats having a couple of shots. Aquaholic, Tru Dee, Nautiness got fish and Nat got another one for the 12' tinny.
“Kingfish are more consistent now, good numbers of snapper too early and late. SST shot shows a push of warm water that should be touching in the bottom sea mount today.”
Mulloway in the estuary
Darren “Dash” Bowater at the Narooma Ocean Hut Compleat Angler and his mate Mark “Hippie” Carradus are still chasing the mulloway on Wagonga Inlet.
“Well it was only fair that since ‘Hippie’ put me onto a couple of school Jewfish last trip, I returned the favour (on Sunday). Now its battle of ‘who's the best skipper’ when comes to finding jewfish!”
Dash reports that Wagonga was pretty tough fishing on the weekend due to the water temp dropping down to 15 degrees from 20, only a couple of weeks ago. “There is still an assortment of species to be caught under the several bait schools, but you have to work hard for a good result.”
There have been reports of plenty chopper tailor in the inlet, so watch your fingers!
Mulloway stomach contents
THE NSW DPI continues its interesting posts on Facebook, including one about the stomach contents of mulloway.
“The most common prey items in the diet of mulloway are widely reported to be fish and squid.
“Not surprisingly, these are the most commonly used baits when targeting mulloway in NSW, however the opportunistic feeding behaviour of mulloway is evident by very interesting other things found in mulloway stomachs.”
Other items include squid in estuaries and beach and eel worms in the surf and even a well-digested unidentified juvenile shark, possibly a blind shark or cat shark from the stomach of a North Coast mulloway.
“While gut content analysis isn’t specifically part of the NSW Research Angler Project, many mulloway frames with the stomachs intact come through DPI labs to be processed.
“The following photos show some additional prey items that have been found in mulloway stomachs during the project.”
For more information on the Research Angler Program go to www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/recreational/researchangler
NSGFC eat-in, music
MEMBERS please note that this Friday is eat-in at the club night, so bring some food along and join us for dinner.
Visitors are most welcome to come and have a chat with the members, with stories of the one that got away.
You do not have to be into big game fishing to join us. Everyone is most welcome, kids, mums and dads.
Also this Friday we shall have the pleasure of listening to some live light piano music so please joins us for a pleasant evening.
Club bar open between 4pm and 9pm
- Jan Hemmingsen
Ps: A Reel - A weighted object that causes a rod to sink quickly when dropped overboard!