Summer is almost upon us and with it comes warmer water and daylight savings – a good reason to start chasing the elusive mulloway.

Over the past six weeks or so there have been some quality mulloway coming out of both Wagonga Inlet as well as Tuross Heads. These fish have responded well to soft plastics especially when using lures over 100mm. I’ve heard of at least eight being caught over this time, the biggest being a touch over 19kg with the smallest being around 6kg. These are not bad fish, and the local lads certainly have the knowledge on catching these bruisers. It’s interesting to point out that the majority of these fish were caught in broad daylight; it just goes to show fish are where you find them! I expect a lot more mulloway captures over the summer months as more people experiment with using larger soft plastics.

Both Wagonga Inlet and Wallaga Lake have been fishing well for flatties. These bottom dwellers will become more active as the water temperatures increase. Lures and bait have both been working well, the shallower sandflats have accounted for a lot of the fish. There have been good numbers of blackfish around the Wallaga Lake bridge, weed and squirt worms have been the pick of the baits.

There has been an increase in juvenile snapper captures over recent months. I’ve caught quite a few fish well over the 1kg mark in both Wagonga Inlet and Wallaga Lake. Most of these fish have been caught on 3” Berkley soft plastics, with a few of the bigger fish being caught on fresh striped tuna fillets. These guys should be around for the duration of the summer months.

Things start to get interesting offshore in November. As the warmer water pushes down from the north, along with it come albacore, small yellowfin tuna and the occasional mako shark. This early run of surface speedsters respond best to trolled lures, both skirted and bibbed minnows. Striped tuna should be around in numbers and the rock spin hopefuls could encounter a mack tuna or two.

The bottom-bouncing brigade will get snapper and mowies on most of the inshore reefs. Places like the four-mile reef off Bermie are worth a go. There should be the odd Tassie trumpeter on the 12-mile, along with blueye and hapuka hanging close to the canyon walls to those in the know. Montague Island’s kingfish population should well and truly be on the chew, with jigs and live slimy mackerel doing the damage.

On the beaches the yellowfin bream should have entered the various estuary systems after spawning, but there are always a few left behind willing to take a bait. Fresh pipis and live beach worms should do the trick. Salmon and tailor have been abundant this season both on the beaches and rocks, and this will continue over the summer months. The beaches south of Narooma have been fishing well on a flood tide, Tilba Beach being a standout.

November’s a great month to wet a line, the shorts are on, the weather is warmer, the fish co-operate, what more can you ask for?

CAPS:

1. This 1.36kg snapper was caught in Narooma's Wagonga Inlet. Fish of this calibre can be expected over the coming months. This fish fell for a 100mm Squidgy Fish.

2. Quality black bream like this 41cm fish caught by the author abound in the upper reaches of estuaries such as Wagonga Inlet.

3. Rick Carlson caught this fantastic 19.35kg mulloway on large soft plastic shad in Wogonga Inlet at Narooma – right in the middle of the day!