Montague Island remains hot and cold, at least when it comes to the kingfish.
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John Moore from Narooma Fishing Charters reports Monday’s afternoon run on his new boat was very quiet until the tide change. Then there were kings everywhere, but the small fish were first to the lures, until young Narooma local Will Tiffen caught a nice 75cm king, with a little help from dad Greg. Will has his 8th birthday this week, so happy birthday!
On Tuesday, the kingfish action continued with Bermi Bait & Tackle boat’s fishing at Montague for some good sized kings taken on baits, jigs and livies. Arms were stretched but all in good fun for 12 clients who made the most of a bite that lasted most of the morning.
The island has been delivering good bags of mixed reef fish, including some unheard of tropical pearl perch, but more on that below.
Bermagui Bait & Tackle previously reported kingfish were in good numbers at the island over the weekend with plenty of mackerel at the White House back off Bermagui for livies too. There were a few blue eye at Bunga. Wallaga Lake fished well and young Heidi landed her PB Dusky. The bream fishing in the lake was great for some with guide Stuey Hindson’s clients landing 39 fish to 42cm.
The Narooma Ocean Hut Compleat Angler reports plenty of bait action on Wagonga Inlet and you should be looking for tailor and jewies working these bait balls.
Meanwhile down at Mouya, Tackle World team member Nathan enjoyed good catches of whiting on the new Jackson Pygmy poppers, and smashed the bass on Jackson Cicadas. Graham reports proud new dad Kyle landed himself good quality bream on VX vibes. If you’re looking for a feed of flatties, head on down to the front of the river on the high tide and fish the flats using Silver Fox Squidgies in the 70mm fish. Flatties are at Tomakin too.
In the Tuross system, Graham says jewies, jewies and more jewies are being caught around the boat shed in deep water, mainly on live poddies, however the soft plastic boys are enjoying catches using 140mm Squidgie flick baits in white lightening colour. Head up to the four ways for good catches of flathead, however if it's whiting you’re after, head down to the front of the system and once again try your luck with surface lures.
Up above the highway bridge you will find nice perch and heading further upstream you will find yourself some really nice bass using either deep diving Strada Badger lures or the Jackson Cicadas. If you feel like a nice feed of prawns or mud crabs, the area around the caravan park is not disappointing with nice prawns being scooped up.
Offshore Graham reports Team Tackle World VIP member, Spider, reports some really nice snapper, mowies, flathead and gummy sharks anywhere from 20 metres out to 70 metres of water. If you’re wanting to chase the yellowfin, reports are coming in that they are currently out around the 1000 fathom mark.
Lost pearl perch at Montague
Two very lost pearl perch showed up at Montague Island off Narooma on Friday morning much to the surprise of charter boat skipper Matt Betts. A third was landed by another charter over the weekend.
The tropical species is not normally found south of Port Macquarie on the Central Coast. Local fishing club president Dave Clark says his records indicate a pearl perch was caught at Narooma in 1982.
Matt and his clients from Jervis Bay first thing Friday morning were fishing for snapper off the northeast corner of Montague Island using a paternoster rig with fresh slimy mackerel as bait.
They were very surprised to get two pearl perch one after the other, the first being 53cm and the second 37cm – and as the size limit is 30cm, they went straight into the Esky because they are delicious eating.
“These ones weren’t going back,” he said.
He asked around his fellow skippers and deckies including Benny Boulton who have been fishing these waters for years and none had heard of a pearl perch being caught this far south. The water temperature on Friday morning was 21.4 degrees.
This is the latest tropical species to show up in Narooma in recent years. Green sea turtles, threadfin leatherjackets, pantropical spotted dolphins, amberjack are just some of the warm water species who have made appearances. Unusual sightings can be reported to Redmap – Range Extension Database & Mapping project.
Mako on soft plastic!
Charter skipper Nick Cowley had a first on Playstation on Sunday.
While fishing for kingfish with soft plastics and catching a few small rats, customer on board Kyle Furner hooked an unlikey species, a mako shark around 25kg.
The mako took a liking to a 4inch Jerk Shad Nuclear Chicken in colour, and after a few back flips from the shark, they managed to land it. All on only 40lb leader and light tackle.
Nick reckons it was very luck that the plastic was hooked right in the corner of the shark’s mouth. Great effort!
Chasing baldchin groper off WA
Young Zane Ziviani and his family of Narooma recently went on a holiday to the Abrolhos Islands off Western Australia. Here he is with his dad Nick and his a best catch – a baldchin groper.
He caught it by himself and a handline and his mum was apparently quite worried he was going to lose a finger when the fish pulled that hard. Baldchin groper or bluebone is the fish that all the island locals want because it tastes so good and it also eats the lobsters out of their traps. Well done Zane!
The baldchin groper (Choerodon rubescens) is only found in WA and is prized for its high-quality white flesh. One of the largest species of tuskfish, it has protruding tusk-like teeth in both jaws and can reach about 90cm and 7kg.
Tuross fishing club news
Tuross Head Fishing Club members were out with rod and reel to pursue the goblet fish for November. Bruce Kennedy caught the only leatherjacket but it was undersize.
Overall there were 56 fish caught for the competition weekend of November 14 -16. Still some good size fish photographed and released including a 57.5cm snapper and 57.5cm salmon both caught by Rod Federer. Tammy Paul got a 56.4cm salmon and junior Lucus Brown got a 47cm flathead.
Dalmeny Club to host seafood night
The Dalmeny Fishing Club hosts its Annual Seafood Night this Saturday, Nov. 28 at the new-look Club Dalmeny. The cost is $35 per head, which includes a delicious seafood menu and a local band “Mewstone Rock”. Tickets are limited so don't miss out on a great night. Tickets were on sale at Club Narooma reception and are now available from the newly refurbished Club Dalmeny, so check it out!
Last Sunday, Dalmeny Fishing Club held its November weigh-in. The winner for the day was Graeme Sawyer with 100 points for his .470 drummer, .088 Garfish and .204 Mullet. Pat Maher was runner up with 60 points for his .562 flathead. The Lucky Angler was Andrew Thomas .
