Newsletter No 1 2007

Hi everyone it’s Stuart here from ‘Aussie Fish Estuary Adventures’ down the South coast of NSW. This is our first newsletter for the 2007 season, a little late I know but the fishing has kept us pretty busy over the previous 6 months or so. A lot of great fishing happened in that period, with some outstanding captures being had by many clients both experienced and new to the sport of lure casting/soft plastics.

Almost all systems along the coast fired at one time or another but early on (mid December to the end of February) the Tuross Lake system was certainly a stand-out. The warmer inshore currents that we usually get at this time of year evaded us entirely and estuaries like Bateman Bays Clyde River, Narooma’s Wagonga Inlet, both Merimbula and Pambula lakes and Wonboyn a little further south experienced extremely cold water for this time of year. The water in close was a staggering 14 degrees for weeks along the coast and this in turn shut the fish down in these bigger tidal estuaries. Thank god Tuross was closed at this time and with the water in there a warm 26 degrees the fish decided to play the game big time.

As some of you would have experienced the fishing was nothing short of exceptional with big flathead, mulloway, bream, whiting and snapper succumbing to both soft plastics and poppers. Even though this system copped a flogging it still continued to produce the goods until the heavens opened up one Saturday night in late Feb. That night we received 10 inches of rain at Narooma/Tuross and the lake itself rose a staggering 1.86mtrs in 36 hours. That’s a lot of bloody water and a few days later the system opened up. It was great to see it open, even though I knew it would bugger up the fishing for awhile but it needed to. It received a great flush and will fully benefit from it over the coming months/years. I’d like to point out a few of the bigger fish we got in that 10 week period, there were a lot of trophy sized flathead and some good jewies to.

If I have left you out at all, sorry about that but I hope you enjoyed your day and captures also. A few that spring to mind are young Bens 2 nice fish of 75 & 70cm caught just before chrissie. Paul Jones got a monster croc that went 96cm just after chrissie, while Noel and Freddo managed a 90cm model with another 40 odd fish up to 70cm also. Spud got a couple of good fish that went 80 & 75cm then lost a jew after 20 minutes on 10lb braid, bad luck Spud! Reno and his daughter Alanah managed an 80cm flattie, plus a few bream and whiting also. The boys from the CFC (Canberra fishing club) got some nice fish over a few days with Andre getting a 6kg jew, while Keith got an 84cm flattie the same day. Trav and Nick from Forbes got a couple of good fish one arvo also, they went 86 & 85cm so pretty good fish to. There were numerous other fish up to 90cm also caught at Tuross with the one that stands out in my mind the most was Richards’s 90cm beast. This was one of the toughest flathead I can recall ever. It took Rich a good 15mins to land the fish on skinny braid and being new to the sport it was a superb capture by him.

By the start of March the water in the tidal estuaries was warming up significantly. We were getting 24 degree water in most estuaries with Narooma and Merimbula fishing great guns. Again the big flats and jew had a chew with some very big fish caught. Clinton from Bega got a croc of 91cm from Merimbula plus another around the 75cm mark. Mark from West Wyalong got a beaut 84cm fish while Gary Charnock also got an 84cm fish. Steve Turner and his dad booked the boat for 3 days and Wonboyn really turned it on for them. Steve managed an 85cm flattie plus numerous other flathead, bream, snapper and tailor. Jamie from Cootamundra got an 8 kg jew out of Narooma while Simon’s 10kg fish was a great capture for the middle of the day.

Josh’s 11.8kg jew and Paul’s 10.8kg fish were also highlights and all of these jew were taken at Narooma. There is 2 fish that really stand out in my mind so far this season; both absolutely awesome captures and the two boys that caught them need a pat on the back for their angling efforts. Firstly young fishing gun Justin (10 yrs old) got a 95cm flattie at Narooma. It was caught on 6lb braid in deep water and took the young fella a good 10 mins to land. His older brother Mike (14) gave him a hand at the end so a joint effort was great. After some happy snaps the young fellas were more than happy to let her go, great stuff guys. The other only happened a few weeks back and the lucky angler was Richard. He got a great looking jewie of 10kg and he caught it on 3lb crystal fireline while we were deep water breamin. To say it was an awesome capture is an under statement, well done Richard the disk is coming mate, I promise! Oh yeh Doug I won’t forget your 82cm fish either the same afternoon!

As you can see we had some pretty good fishing over the last 6 months. There were many other good fish I haven’t mentioned particularly big bream but you can ramble on only for so long so hope you understand.
Over the next few months we can expect the fishing to slow a little but bream, estuary perch and big winter flathead can be expected. The southern estuaries are the place to fish with the Bega River and Pambula the two gun spots in my books. Every winter these two systems fire up and if the early fishing is anything to go by, some good angling can be expected.

On a personal note this year has been a cracker and that’s a big thanks to you guys. Hopefully you all or most of you enjoyed your day or days out and if you enquired hopefully we can get you out in the future. Bookings for October onwards are pretty strong especially around the peak moon periods so if you’re keen for an outing give us a buzz. I also just got back from Weipa (your probably saying you lucky bastard, that’s ok) and we had a ball. A mate of mine Bill and myself booked a guide up there for 5 days. It was great fun even though it blew the preverbal and the fishing wasn’t at its best but the guys at Dave Donald Sportfishing tried there best for us. If you’re ever going up that way give the boys a call, they will certainly look after you, and Josh is the guy to contact ph: 0427 656866 or 40699064.

On another note we are in the middle of purchasing another boat (hopefully) so will have two rigs on the water. When it’s all finalized I’ll let you know the details. Anyway all hope the fishing gods are on your side and hope to see a few of you this coming 2007.

Tight lines all

Stuart Hindson
Aussie Fish Estuary Adventures