Your up-to-date fishing report from the team at Tackle World Moruya
Moruya River
Well early in the week saw the return of summer with temperatures around 21 and 22 degrees which got a few fishos out and about both off the banks and out in their boats. Reports of flathead, bream, tailor and salmon were the common theme this week in the river both for the bait anglers and the lure anglers. The places to be were on the flats around Garland town and the boulders around the hospital as these areas produced the better sized bream and flathead with some anglers recording flathead over 60cm from these areas. Whiting where harder to get this week but an unweighted nipper seemed to be the way to go and the run out tide was also key to get these fellas biting. In general the river was productive for most and the weather predicted also suggests the river should fish well throughout the weekend.
Tuross River and lake
The calm conditions early in the week made Tuross tough, but the guys targeting fish in structure did get the rewards with big bream coming from the oyster leases around the lakes and snags lining the river edges with some cracking estuary perch mixed in amongst the bream to keep the guys on their toes. Unweighted plastics and small crank baits like the double clutch or atomic mid getting the results. Blading in the lake produced some nice fish this week with the guys doing well highlighting the need to use their sounders to find the tightly bunched up schools of fish to get the results they noted there was lots of good fish but only in very bunched up areas and drifting over these spots was key to getting consistent hook-ups. The mouth of the system produced quality whiting and flathead over the back end of the entrance with several anglers reporting healthy bags of flathead, whiting and tailor. Baits they were using were sand worms and pipi’s and some cubed pilchards. Lures were also very productive in particular the Jackson bottom magic for the flathead they seem to love these lures!
Moruya Break wall and local beaches
The break wall has been a productive area this week with good schools of salmon and tailor cruising past regularly feeding on everything from pilchard baits to metal lures creating lots of fun for most anglers this week however there has been reports of large rock cod hanging around the break wall causing all types of havoc for some anglers getting busted off and loosing lots of line at the same time so it might not hurt to bring out the heavier gear this week if your planning to fish the break wall and one advantage to this is if there are any jew fish hanging around your in with a good shot at landing one of these estuary ghosts. Bream are still hanging around the break wall and are loving unweighted baits floated down to them so give this a try. Point of interest is there has been large luderick on the break wall this week and they are smashing the weed flies so come grab some and give them a try and I’m sure you will be surprised just how well these things work.
Reefs
King fish were active this week off Moruya in water around 15 metres deep straight out the front of the system and were chasing jigs or live baits, however live baits were a stand out this week. Snapper turned up in close as well with a few specimens coming in around 5kg. Fresh squid was the bait for these reds this week from the reports I heard but some were still landed on Gulp soft plastics in water around the 8 metre mark.
This report is proudly brought to us by Adam – our guru in the Snowies!
The long weekend has now passed which officially ends the Winter trout river season for the annual spawning season.
Being closing weekend my brother, myself and a good friend headed up into the high country camping and fishing some pristine streams, scouting new locations for next season. Well we ended the river season with some trout we will never forget, setting Pb’s and rainbows of exceptional condition and sizes. (All trout were safely released after a few quick photos)!
Gear we used: Daiwa HVF Pinster II 2-5kg 1-10gram rod running a Shimano Stradic Ci4+ 1000 reel spooled with 4lb Daiwa Tournament braid and 4lb Asari Fluro leader.
Shimano Cranx Nano series 1-3kg rod running a Shimano Stradic CI4+ 1000 reel spooled with 6lb Daiwa J-Braid and 6lb Asari fluro leader.
Shimano Nano travel series 3pc 1-3kg rod attached to a Daiwa Fuego 2500, spooled with Daiwa J-braid grand 6lb & Sunline FC Rock 6lb fluro leader.
We flicked and tested everything from my home made weighted fly’s, assorted soft plastics, 45mm JJ’s Stumpjumpers, Ecogear ZX35’s, a big range of Rapala’s right up to F-11’s, Bullet Lures plus several styles of the awesome little Jackson Lures and Celta’s which produced some very memorable moments and results over the weekends adventures. (Photos sadly do not do justice)!
Lake time: It’s now time we all target the Alpine lakes trolling big lures and peppering the bays and rocky outcrops with lures and plastics in search of those winter fish that are smashing the yabbies fattening themselves up.
Winter brings out the larger specimens and good numbers of fish can be tangled with once you locate their feeding grounds.
Clay banks are very productive areas as this is where the yabbies call home. Yabbie patterned soft plastics such as Pro Lure, Berkley and ZMan just to name a few all come into play, I use the same technique on trout as I would for bream and flatty’s and you can have some hot sessions in the below zero conditions. I do step up my leader during winter from 4lb to 6lb and occasionally 8lb if flicking amongst the heavy timbered and rocky areas.
Lake levels are as follows:
Lake Eucumbene 24% capacity and the fishing has been pretty consistent especially on the duller days.
Lake Jindabyne 71% capacity with some very nice browns and rainbows getting caught by those trolling and early morning. Covering ground and targeting the edges has seen most anglers locating fish and remember those big ex brood stock salmon are still lurking around.
Tantangara Dam is down to 19% and still fishing exceptionally well, recent snow and rain has made the road in slushy so drive with caution.
Tight lines my friends and remember “every day’s a good day for fishing … “
Team Tackle World Moruya
