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Estuaries run red-hot
  |  First Published: November 2011



What a cracking month it is to fish the local estuaries around Narooma! All species will be available, although mulloway and big flathead will be high on anglers’ lists.

Wagonga Inlet and the Tuross system to the north will be great.

Tuross is the go if monster flathead are your target. These bigger female models will be patrolling the lower sections of the estuary from the entrance to above the Four Ways junction.

With the prawns in full swing, prawn imitation lures will work, as will standard soft fish/shad patterns.

I like using bigger lures at this time of year, with 100mm and bigger being ideal.

If you concentrate around the weed-fringed edges in a few metres of water you should be in business.

If lure casting isn't your go, there will be plenty caught on live poddy mullet, too.

Flathead to a metre get caught every year.

I know I've said it a thousand times before but let these breeders go; take good care of them with proper handling procedures and minimise their time out of the water. That way we'll enjoy them for decades to come and besides, you will catch plenty of eaters of 40cm to 55cm.

The bream and estuary perch have fired up lately with the Tuross River the place to fish

. There will be some solid bream on the flats in coming weeks as the water warms further and it won't be long before the surface action starts. This type of fishing is great fun that anyone can do with the visual side of things bringing you back time after time.

This system is loaded with fishy-looking flats and edges. You may have to move around a bit until you find the fish but once you do, it's happy days.

INLET LOADED

Wagonga Inlet has been excellent and I expect this system to really turn it on this month.

The place is loaded with bait, along with huge schools of smaller tailor and salmon. It's the best I've seen for a long while, with all species chewing at some time.

The main basin has seen a lot of the action and some solid mulloway already have been caught.

We managed a nice one in there last week and lost another. Anglers fishing bigger soft plastics around the tailor schools will have the best chance of connecting to one of these brutes.

There should be some solid flathead around the ribbon weed edges, with the upper reaches producing bream and flathead.

In the lower channels we will see the whiting start to play, with live squirt worms and bass yabbies the gun baits.

MONSTER SALMON

Anglers fishing the rocks have had a great time lately, with the pelagic species out in force.

There have been reports of monster salmon down at Mystery Bay, with a few nudging 6kg falling to ganged pilchards.

They were part of a catch of 30-odd fish for the session. The boys also managed some solid tailor and bonito and a lone snapper of a kilo.

This type of action will be available on most deeper headlands, with the Golf Course Rocks and Dalmeny Headland both worth a look.

Those targeting blackfish have done OK, with the inside section of the southern Narooma breakwall producing a few solid fish on fresh weed and cabbage. A lot of the local creeks have good weed at present.

On the beaches, bream, whiting and mullet are on the increase with Brou and Blackfellows the most productive strips.

Some of the bream are over a kilo. Top baits have been pipis, live beach worms and, for the bream, tuna strips.

Beach fishing will only get better as the water warms further.

There are still plenty of salmon and tailor around with on most beaches with a half-decent gutter. Paternoster rigs with a bait/popper combination remain popular.

It's also time to dust off the big rods and target a mulloway. Every November some solid fish get caught, especially towards the estuary entrances.

The southern end of Blackfellows Beach would be the pick if a jewie is your quarry, with fresh tailor slabs or live beach worms the hot baits.

ISLAND KINGS

At Montague Island the kingfish have been OK, some days playing and others not. A lot has to do with current and what direction it's coming from but it should get better as November progresses.

When they have chewed, most have fallen to knife jigs around the north-western corner and Fowlhouse Reef.

The jigged fish have averaged 3kg but anglers using live baits may have more success with larger kings.

Bonito are in big numbers. These speedsters are everywhere, with a few pushing 7kg and not bad on the plate if quickly killed, bled and iced down.

They have responded to jigs and trolled minnows, with the shallower areas down south of the island holding a lot of fish.

Snapper they have thinned out considerably but there are still some nice fish to be had if you move around. There's a heap of morwong to be caught if the snapper are slow and the flatties closer to shore have been good.

Depths between 35m and 40m seem to be best at present, especially of Dalmeny.

Reads: 1939

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