Narooma fishing charter skipper John Moore took clients Monday out but the water temp had dropped to 17.6c and turned a dark green in colour.

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Kings and snapper were nowhere to be seen, fortunately there were plenty of nice sized flathead around, he said. This follows reports of kingfish of up to 90cm last week.

Other charter operators in the area have also been targeting gummy sharks, and Bermi Bait & Tackle reported a 30kg yellowfin out of the blue off the 12 mile last week and then on Tuesday that there were still a few yellowfin tuna about.

Mitch and Chris on 'Manowar' got a nice yellowfin and the tackle shop also saw some albacore and a couple of mako sharks come in Tuesday also. Weather however remains tough going in coming days.

Things are firing up in the estauries with reports of some good flathead.

The Tiffen family of Narooma showed us how to fish with the old man Greg catching and releasing a nice 5.2 kg dusky from Wagonga Inlet on the weekend. Young Will helped dad land the big fish that was released to breed more flathead.

The estuaries should be firing up now that the temperatures are increasing. Other locations to try would be Tuross and Corunna lakes, with the shallows on a sunny day worth a go.

Batemans Bay resident Jason Smith got the surprise of his fishing life when what he thought was a shovel nose shark appeared under lights in the form of a giant flathead. 

Jason and a friend were catching jewfish on 10kg tackle, and due to the slower fight of fish they called it for a shovel nose, a common by-catch. 

But when it appeared to be the flathead of a lifetime the adrenaline hit the roof. Jason had lost a similar-sized flathead one other time in his 12 years fishing the Clyde. 

Euphoria followed when the fish was finally netted - It went 106 centimetres. A genuine metre-plus flathead is extremely rare these days, even among expert flathead anglers.

It was handled with care, and after a quick pic, seeing it swim off was the icing on the cake for Jason.

An enormous tailor (Pomatomus saltatrix) was caught by lucky angler Wal Balzan in St Georges Basin in July 2015.

The frame from the fish was generously donated by Wal to the The NSW Research Angler Program.

At 86cm and 6.1kg this giant "chopper" was estimated by researchers to be six years old by counting growth rings in its otolith (or earbone).

Tailor are now one of five important recreational fish species that passionate fishers can donate to the NSW Research Angler Program, the others being mulloway, snapper, yellowtail kingfish and dusky flathead. To get involved, please visit: www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/recreational/researchangler

Pomatomus saltatrix is also found in Atlantic US waters where it is known as 'bluefish'.

There, the species has been documented to live for up to 12 years, however none of the six-year old Atlantic fish were anywhere near as large as Wal's 86cm bruiser making it one of the fastest growing tailor worldwide!

Well you could tell it was time for our monthly fishing comp at Club Narooma, because like clock work the wind blew and blew.

But even with the disappointment of having to cancel the charter boat trips it ended up being a real good comp with the new members shining with their catches and some good fish.

Overall winner was Mick Cavic with Randal and Brenda Setzer, Will Tiffen, Colin Armstrong, Greg Tiffen, Gary Landells, Mel Tiffen, Dave Clark and Gary Beves.

As you can see the Tiffen family showed us how to fish with the old man Greg catching and releasing a nice 5.2 kg dusky flathead, while Mick had a nice bream over 1.4 kg and a nice salmon going 2.5 kg so there are some fish around if you look hard enough.

A big welcome to our new members Jeremy Seaton and the Smart family from Gundagai and Steve O’Brien.

Brou Beach had some big fish doing the rounds with one member dropping two good fish with the first near spooling him and the second just too heavy for his old body to handle. I would say either a gummy shark or horse salmon.

Next comp is December 4-5 and both charter boats are booked out so it’s on for young and old on the sea.

Charter skipper John Moore is hopeful his new boat will be ready.

Just for something different this year we will go to Apex Park for our Christmas Party and that is on Sunday, December 13 and the finer details will be announced at the next comp.

The committee will be meeting on Tuesday, November 10  at 6pm at Club Narooma.

On a closing note, the latest on the Batemans Marine Park is they had there first meeting and I feel we have been let down by the government as the members who are representing the recreational anglers, only one is a member of a fishing club and not certain about the other two.

We will be waiting for their reply before it goes to the minister as a formal complaint anyway. Tight lines and lets hope the kings start to play over the next month! – Fishfingers