For most game fishos November usually indicates what the season may produce so it is common for anglers to start to get itchy feet in anticipation of what lies ahead.

Already there are plenty of small to medium tuna on offer such as albacore, yellowfin, striped and the occasional big eye tuna.

These species are being taken on the troll with diving lures providing most success. Using diving lures in conjunction with skirted lures will often see the divers taken first, resulting in other fish from the school then reacting to the skirts.

The areas to target are from the Six Mile Reef and beyond with most fish coming from out over the Continental Shelf through to the canyons.

It helps if you can work with other boats as often one may find a school of fish and other boats coming into the area will help keep the fish up on the chew.

With water temps now increasing don’t be surprised to see the odd marlin starting to show, so when rigging lures make sure your hardware is sufficient enough to handle an early season marlin.

I’ve always stated that where there is tuna there are sharks like hammerheads, whalers and makos. The makos are out there in numbers and a well-laid berley trail of tuna should attract one to your vessel.

For the best results set your berley trail where the tuna are congregating. Otherwise the Twelve Mile Reef is a good spot to enjoy some reef fishing while you wait for the big one to come along.

Fishing on the Twelve Mile expect most of the common reef fish to be encountered with recently good captures of morwong, snapper, ocean perch and some lovely Tassie trumpeter being produced.

This is also the time of year for big tiger flathead and you won’t get them bigger than on the edge of the Twelve Mile Reef. It may be hard fishing out there but the results are worth it.

Thankfully those tigers don’t reside just around the Twelve Mile; they can be found in closer around the many reefs that surround Bermagui, in as little as 30m of water.

However most medium sized fish will be taken from water around 50m close to the reefs where you can still encounter some of those other reef fish already mentioned.

Closer to shore sand flatties will prevail out from most beaches providing tasty bags for anglers with the added bonus of a gummy shark thrown in for good measure.

There is plenty to be had on shore with the estuaries in full swing, which is mainly a result of good rains last season that left many of our lakes and rivers open to the ocean. As a result fish stocks have increased and so have the prawns.

Not only are the fish feasting on these succulent crustaceans so are us humans and there is plenty to be found in the lakes surrounding Bermagui.

The entrance to Wallaga Lake is very wide at present and some decent jewfish have been entering giving anglers chasing flathead with lures a pleasant surprise.

Both Wallaga and the Bermagui River have good stocks of blackfish at present that are hanging around these bridges, along the rock walls and around the sea grass beds over the flats in the upper reaches of the systems.

There are plenty of other estuary species around as well; salmon are prolific around the entrances, adjacent beaches and rocks. There are also some decent tailor in the mix.

Other small pelagics like bonito, kingfish or frigate mackerel should show up travelling the coast. The frigate mackerel have been in good numbers up at Montague Island over the last month.

Brogo Dam is in full swing with the ongoing stocking program of the Far South Coast Bass Stocking Association efforts providing excellent angling within the dam.

Sizes are mixed with the average being around 30cm and the odd thumper over 40cm. There are also some good size fish in the river below the dam but there is now a no fish zone for the immediate 300m below the wall.

The Bass Association will be conducting its annual bass comp the weekend of December 3-5 to raise funds to keep the stocking program releasing 20,000 fingerlings each yeah.

Those interested in attending this event should contact Darren on 0427 934 688, but get in quickly as there is a restriction on numbers attending this event.