The water was warm and a little bit of current was present when the fishermen spotted first few yellowfin tuna of the season inside 1000 fathoms. By the Anzac weekend the current was moving much quicker, water temps were over 23 degrees and a solid blue marlin bite prevailed on the Saturday and Sunday.
Commercial catches have produced some solid specimens with plenty of fish of 55kg or more on the line. As the Canberra Yellowfin Tournament is on mid-May and will attract more than 100 boats this year. There will be see visiting vessels start heading in to town in numbers a week before this event which should help us to gauge the tuna fishing and stay in touch with key areas holding fish.
Montague Island, Auginish Rocks and into the Step have produced good numbers of kingfish and it’s been a pleasure for many to be able to place each fish straight into the box with no second guessing on legal size. The snapper fishing around the island has been excellent in recent weeks and the fish are readily taking soft plastics at dawn and dusk.
The Three Brothers in similar depths has also produced a mixed bag, more so in recent days. To the south around Goalen Head and Bunga, the fishing has been slower. The quality bags of snapper taken in March close in have not yet been repeated but as inshore waters cool we will see this turnaround for the better. The Bermagui River and Cuttagee have produced good quality bream.
Fishing at the island for kings with live bait is a total waste of time with the bloody seals either taking your bait or if you are lucky to hook up it’s gone to a seal. The beaches were very quiet this month for salmon (maybe them mongrel beach haulers struck), but for a feed of flathead try Corunna Lake.
