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Drought hits Brogo
  |  First Published: March 2003



The drought is really starting to take control of Brogo Dam and with water levels down to around 20% at the time of writing, it’s not a pretty sight.

Four-wheel-drives are required to launch bigger boats safely, with many people carrying smaller boats to put them in the water. However, the fish don’t seem to mind with some big daily tallies recorded.

Small Sliders and Squidgies in an array of colours are working well for fishes down deep, with surface lures taking over early and later in the day.

The local estuaries just keep producing quality fish. The whiting have been around for some months now and are keeping everyone amused with some great bags of healthy fish. These fish are best caught with fresh live baits – beach worms, squirt worms or nippers. whiting will really put up a fight for their size. They are a great eating fish, but just remember, keep only what you need for a feed and let the rest go for another day.

All the other species in the Merimbula and Pambula estuaries have been firing, with flathead seeming to be the most predominant fish. Locals and visitors to these areas have reported great catches.

Live mullet and tailor have been responsible for some huge flatties but probably far more lizards are being caught on soft plastic lures with Squidgies, DOA Prawns and Juro Firetails being the pick of the bunch. Blue Water Sports in Merimbula has a huge range of plastics on offer and is well worth a look before your next fish.

There have also been some beautiful mulloway taken in Merimbula Lake this year. These fish are very elusive and are not as prolific as in other spots, so patience is the key to success. Live tailor, mullet and yellowtail seem to be the best, with fresh squid doing some damage as well.

While the mulloway are a beautiful fish and very worth the wait, my friends and I, by choice, let the majority of these great fish go.

On the beaches the salmon have been on and off a little. Haycock Beach is still the pick of the beaches for salmon, tailor and yellowfin bream, with North Tura and Bournda Island closely following.

Next time you go surf fishing, try a surf popper on one of your rigs instead of bait. They really work on salmon and will sometimes outfish the bait.

Offshore

South of Eden, around Morwarry Point, has been producing some great kingfish, with anglers seemingly catching their limit quite easily. Trolling plastic pink squid or slow-trolling livies has been the way to go for great kingies.

Some anglers have been jigging up bigger ones Squidgy soft plastics, with the 100mm Squidgy Fish in true blue colour doing the most damage.

There have been some rather large sharks spotted lately in the local area and some great catches of these toothy customers.

Probably the biggest to date has been from Adam Moulday and crew, visiting from Melbourne. They landed a 198kg mako just off Tura Head, north of Merimbula. In sloppy conditions with only a 5.3-metre boat and 15kg line, they really did well.

March is a great time for marlin, as long as the wind stops blowing. This year, so far, it has played havoc with the boats, although local charter boats have landed some beautiful marlin and a few nice yellowfin on the rare decent days we have encountered. Here’s hoping the wind dies off and the ’fin show, to make up for the disappointing past few seasons we have encountered.

The reefs have been fishing very slowly of late with only the most patient and cunning fishermen coming in with snapper and morwong. Some very nice flathead are being caught around the Tura Head area and off Middle Beach, right in town.

captions

1

Adam Moulday and crew with a 198kg mako shark caught just off Tura Head from their 5.3-metre boat on 15kg tackle. A big effort…

2

Ben Mills with the sort of surf jewfish everyone dreams about.

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