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Lakes should fire up
  |  First Published: October 2008



Merimbula and Pambula lakes are fishing consistently without being red-hot but that will change this month as the water warms.

Merimbula would be my pick with bream, trevally and some nice flatties caught in the channels and up in the top lake.

A few of the duskies have been up to 80cm long and most have been caught on bigger soft plastics. Concentrate your efforts around the shallower margins with the southern side of the lake a good starting point.

Tailor up to 2kg are on the chew early in the mornings. These fish have been here all Winter, so this month and next expect some mulloway to be hanging around.

Using live tailor for the mulloway makes sense but remember, the tailor still have to be the legal 30cm even if used for bait.

I like throwing large soft plastics for the mulloway; you lose a few tails to the tailor but you also get to cover a lot of ground and fish an area pretty quickly.

Generally I only have a dozen or so casts at a tailor school. If no bumps, I head to the next school and do the same.

If the mulloway are there feeding you might be lucky. It can become a bit monotonous throwing larger plastics around but if it all comes together, you won’t wipe the smile of you’re dial for weeks.

BEACHES PRODUCE

The beaches have fished very well for months and I can’t see that changing.

Salmon have been the main targets with some of the sambos pushing 3kg. At that size they are great sport even on heavier tackle, but if you downsize to lighter spin tackle you’re in for some serious fun.

Quite often I’ll take only a handful of 20g to 30g shiners plus a 7’ estuary combo with 6lb braid down to my local beach. With the lighter outfits you can cast those small shiners a mile and cover a lot of ground.

If you’re after a feed and not too fussed about the sport, expect some solid yellowfin bream and whiting this month.

They will be congregating on the beaches waiting to enter the estuaries and this is a great time to target them.

We should also be seeing bigger numbers of yellow-eye mullet. These fellas will be found very close to shore, with a short cast past the shore dump all that’s needed. Live beachworms or pipis are perfect baits on productive beaches like Haycock, Tura and North Tura.

OFFSHORE

Offshore, the snapper have slowed up somewhat but some good fish are still around if you put in the hard yards. Morwong, pigfish and sand and tiger flathead will all be available this month with the reefs south of Merimbula being the pick places.

Horseshoe, The Sticks and Lennards Island are all worth a look.

I have heard of some quality gummy sharks being caught out the front of Lennards Island by the guys fishing for snapper. Some of these have nudged 12kg with the odd bigger fish. At that size they’re pretty good sport and not bad on the plate either. Fresh squid has definitely been the gun bait.

Out wider, the game season has been non-existent but if last year’s diary is anything to go by, that will change.

Smaller yellowfin tuna to 30kg and some big albacore are on the cards but a lot will have to do with prevailing currents, bait activity and water temperature.

If the tuna are there, trolling will be the way to go with skirted and bibbed minnows bringing results.

Anglers fishing the stones have had mixed fortunes. Some days the salmon are prolific and on others, it’s been like a desert. The only thing to do is keep going and hopefully you get a good day.

The fish that have been caught are responding to ganged pilchards fished slowly on a constant retrieve. A few snapper have fallen to the same technique so it’s still worth a go.

The place to fish is definitely Tura Head; it’s a deep headland and this region’s LBG hot spot. It’s a decent walk in from Headland Drive but totally worth it, especially when the fish are on.

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