Hi everyone it’s Stuart here from ‘Aussie Fish Estuary Adventures’ with our 3rd and final newsletter for the 2006 year and what a year it’s been. Since our last newsletter in August the fishing in the bigger systems has really picked up with numerous great captures including monster dusky flathead, mulloway, big bruiser bream and the best tailor run I have seen for awhile in almost all tidal estuaries especially Narooma, Tuross and Merimbula.

With an unusually warm September and early October the shallower estuaries along the coast certainly warmed up more quickly than the bigger tidal systems. With the heat in the land the shallows were around 3-4 degrees warmer than what’s usually expected at that time of year. With this the early flathead run particularly in the Tuross Lake system was the best I have seen in years. As some of you would know captures of 20-40 legal flathead in a half day session was the norm. Most of these fish averaged around the 45cm mark, but there were countless fish to the 70cm and a few crocs up to 95cm caught. With the flatties good bream, some reasonable sized snapper to 45cm, and whiting also made an early appearance especially on the poppers.

As we headed into October the mulloway action certainly hotted up with some great fish caught on both small and larger soft plastics. This action has continued right through November and December with fish to 13kg caught, particularly at Narooma and Tuross. The Bega River turned on some great bream action at times with black bream being caught predominately. Estuary Perch were also around with some big flatties down the front of the system.

There were some great captures caught during this time and I’d like to highlight a few that spring to mind. If I have left you out sorry about that but I hope you enjoyed your captures and enjoyed the photos I would have sent you. Some monster flathead were caught with Paul De Angelis getting a croc of 92cm at Tuross. Paul also managed a few other flats to 70cm so not a bad day. Andrew Munro and his father in-law managed a couple of good flats at Tuross also that went 86cm and 82cm. Mikes 95cm fish at Narooma was a true crocodile, whilst Peter, Steve and Peter from Goulburn managed an 80, 84, 87 and 90cm flattie for a mornings fishing, good fishing in my books. Alfs 85 and 94cm fish he caught would also be right up there. There were a lot of other fish over the 75cm caught also so I hope if you were one of those clients that managed one, you enjoyed it.

This last 3 months the mulloway fishing has been great. As you all know we mainly use soft plastics targeting them, so a few are lost with hooks pulling but that’s apart of fishing we all expect, unfortunately. We managed some ripper jewies though with the best session being 2 jewies of 11kg and 9kg caught by Simon within an hour of each other. To say we were elated is an under statement as catching one on a plastic is hard enough. But getting two is awesome. I think Simon enjoyed the morning and with the thumping 1.40kg bream he caught in the afternoon it made it a pretty good day. Other great captures that occurred were John’s beaut 8kg fish plus Janelle Beaths 8.5kg fish out of Narooma. Paul Thomas got a ripper 9kg jew at Tuross while Peter Bees 7kg fish at Narooma was also a highlight. I also managed to get out a few times when not guiding and scored a few myself with the best at just under 12kg.

Unfortunately we did lose quite a few fish due to the nature of lure fishing but the worst couple would have been Wozzas 8kg fish at the boat (just about to net it) and Matthews monster which we had on for along time in late August which is certainly the biggest one I have seen hooked in an estuary. Better luck next time boys, I’m still wiping the tears away!!!!!!!

The next month or so is silly season as we all know but there will be some good fishing still on offer. If you’re heading to the coast for a fish remember to fish lighter tackle than usual as the fish will be a little gun shy with all the increased boat traffic on the estuaries. Try and fish really early in the mornings or afternoons for best results and good luck.

On a personal note the 2007 season is really looking busy with guiding and a few DVD’s we will be doing, but more on that later when it happens. We also just finished a DVD with fishing world magazine that is on Big bream at Bega River, we get some great fish there and you can get it with the Christmas edition of the magazine.

This winter we are also going to guide at Eucumbene targeting big brown trout and Rainbows on soft plastics and hard bodied lures only. WE done a fare bit of it last September with outstanding results with stacks of fish caught. We will only be doing packages for 2, 3 and 4 days with accommodation so prices vary accordingly. All gear will be included in the prices with the accommodation at Rainbow Pines at Old Adaminaby. Really looking forward to it this year but remember the warm woolies that’s for sure.

That’s about it everyone, my family of Ann-Maree, Jessica, Sophie and I wish you all a great Christmas and New Year and prosperous 2007. Personally I would like to thank everyone who has fished with me or enquired for a fish and hopefully we may see some of you again in the 2007 season.

Tight lines all

Stuart Hindson
Aussie Fish Estuary Adventures
Ph: 02 64959902 Fax: 02 64959924
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