The following report was compiled by Rodney Stokman while Anthony was on holidays. Anthony will be resuming his reports next month.

This season’s marlin fishing was a bit hit-and-miss up until a few weeks ago, where it took off with good reports of marlin out on the shelf and inside.

With multiple hook-ups being the norm, congratulations have to go to Dave Hammond fishing on the boat Tug-O-War after breaking his drought and scoring his first marlin. It was a 99kg striped marlin caught in 60 fathoms of water near the Batemans Bay FAD.

There have also been good numbers of mahi mahi (dolphinfish) out there this season. It has been one of the best years on mahi mahi around this area I can remember for a long time. People have been catching them on skirts trolling for marlin, and most of the bigger fish have been caught this way. However, lion’s share of dollies have been caught around the FAD. They are not massive fish around the FAD but there have been plenty of them.

Kingfish have been hot and cold lately, and when you do manage to get among them there have been a lot of rats. Still, I have seen a few photos of some big fish of late. Most people have been heading south to Narooma as the king fishing has seemed to kick off in recent weeks.

Snapper fishing has been reasonable with most of the better fish being caught in close. I know of some guys having a good session last week in only 5m of water.

Salmon fishing is a little on the slow side at the moment, but the real treat on the northern rocks of Batemans Bay is the tailor, with most fish around 2kg.

Snapper fishing off the rocks has been excellent as well. There have been a lot of good size pan fish of 1-2kg, and fish of 4kg or more are not uncommon either, so it’s worth setting out a snapper bait as you spin a metal lure for the tailor. A small squid or octopus tentacle set on a paternoster rig cast over the rock drop-off is all you need to catch one of these nice snapper. Alternatively you can float an unweighted pilchard, which often does the trick for me. However, that is hands-on fishing and you can’t cast a lure at the tailor like you can with the paternoster rig.

Beaches around the river mouth have been fishing better since the rain, as the fresh pushed a lot of prawns and bait fish out the front.

With the big push of fresh water after the rain we have had, there is a real mixed bag of fish around the entrance of the Clyde river. I have even heard of estuary perch being caught at the first lot of racks near Bud Island. There have been plenty of trevally from Mogo Creek to the entrance, flathead in deeper water due to the fresh and bream around the oyster racks as well. However, my choice would be to fish the rock bars at the entrance of the river, as that is where most of the bream are held up.

For more up-to-the-minute information on what’s biting where, drop into Compleat Angler Batemans Bay and have a chat to Anthony or one of the other friendly staff. They’re located at 65A Orient St, Batemans Bay (02 4472 2559).