Merimbula Fishing Report for July by Ando Badullovich

G’day folks. The winter months of June and July offer some terrific fishing opportunities along the Sapphire Coast, especially within our pristine estuary systems.

While the mornings can be crisp, the winter days are spectacular, with the mercury typically hovering around 18 degrees Celsius on average. It’s a great time of year to wet a line!

An average drummer caught on cunjevoi suspended beneath a float

Estuaries and Lakes

The entrance to Merimbula Lake has been the gateway to the seasonal Eastern Australian Salmon spawn run, and they have shown up in huge numbers this year.

Areas such as Mitchies Jetty on the Fish-pen and Bar Beach have provided the main platforms for numerous anglers as they cast their offerings to these hard-fighting and feisty Sambos!

Most anglers have found success by casting metal slugs, such as 20g Halco twists, as well as 3” to 4” soft-plastic lures. Of course, the Mariner jetty and Spencer Park offer great access to the action too!

Moving through the channel, there are still quite a few trevally on offer, with most of these little beauties falling victim to a lightly weighted soft-plastic presentation. The Bait Junkie Flicks in Lemongrass colour have been a standout, and casting towards the edges of the channel and working them back with the tidal flow will produce the best results.

Don’t be surprised to see a few good yellowfin bream thrown into the mix whilst fishing in this manner.

The Top-Lake has been heavily dominated by hoards of salmon, but you can still find a few tailor if you can get your offering past the salmon. The salmon schools are regularly moving around, following the baitfish schools, so they can potentially show up anywhere within the lake.

Look for a surface bust-up or for birds dipping into the water, and the salmon will be there in good force.

Some anglers are still finding the odd flathead whilst fishing for bream and trevally, with most coming from the edges of the ribbon weed. Soft-plastics and metal blades hopped along the bottom should see you score results.

If lure fishing is not your thing, there is no need to worry, as all these species are being caught on bait too.

Currently, peeled prawn and pilchard bait are working best.

Jesse Badullovich with a hefty salmon caught from the Fishpen area

Beach Fishing

The beach fishing has slowed down recently; however, you could be in for some fun if you’re lucky enough to come across a migrating school of salmon.

The tailor fishing has been OK, with the best results coming from fishing in the evenings into the night… Brrrrrr!

We’ve had a good run of gummy sharks lately, with most catches coming around the full and new moon phases.

This is the time of year when the larger female sharks venture in to drop their pups, so if you do hook a big gummy, perhaps consider releasing it.

 

Rocks and Wharf Fishing

The rock platforms around Tura Beach, Short Point, Long Point, and Haycock have all been producing good catches of Eastern Rock Blackfish (drummer) and Luderick. Cunjevoi and cooked prawn have been the best bait for the drummer, with cabbage and green weed for the Luderick. Tossing a little burley into your selected wash zone will only enhance your chances of scoring a tasty feed.

Other species to target are Leather Jacket, Bream, Snapper, and Trevally. Again, a good burley trail may be your best friend whilst angling from the stones.

An average drummer caught on cunjevoi suspended beneath a float

In The Bay

The flathead fishing has slowed a little within the bay; however, you can still get your bag of flatties if you push out to deeper water.

Somewhere between 50m and 60m of water should see you fare well. In these depths, you’ll encounter Tiger and Sand Flathead, as well as the odd big gurnard.

The reefs off Long Point and Haycock are producing great catches of snapper and morwong, with a few nannygai thrown in.

Currently, lure fishing seems to be producing better results and better-sized fish compared to dropping bait, although bait fishing is still a viable option.

Leaf Miller and I recently fished the local reefs and caught 16 snapper, with 14 of them succumbing to artificial offerings such as 40g metal jigs, soft plastics, and the SQUIDTREX soft vibes. So it’s definitely worth noting that.

Ando with a cracking Snapper caught on a molix fork flex soft plastic

 The Deep Blue

Deep Dropping

The deep dropping over the continental shelf of late has been great, with plenty of Blue Eye and ling featuring in most anglers' catches.

You’ll need to chance your hand in water depths between 400m and 500m to be in the ballpark for these tasty delights.

If you’re dropping bait in shallower water, there is an abundance of ocean perch to be caught.

They are pretty good on the chew, so not a bad option if you’re looking to add to the catch.

 

Tuna Fishing

I have heard solid reports of SBT (southern bluefin tuna) pushing up out wide of Green Cape. The “pro boats” have been getting into them, so here’s hoping they venture a little closer to us in the next week or two. There have been a couple of “barrels” caught up around Bermagui, with a stack of Albacore milling around as well.

There were a few nice yellowfin tuna caught during the recent Canberra Yellowfin Classic out of Bermagui, so it’s definitely worth searching the blue yonder for some gold this month.

Trolling skirted lures is a great way to search for schools of fin, but be sure to have a big stick-bait ready to go if you come across a surface feeding frenzy!

That wraps up our Boss Outdoor fishing report folks.

If you would like to know where to fish in Merimbula, feel free to call the store for more information on 02 6495 3985, or pop in and see the team as we’ll be only too happy to help.

Catch / cook / conserve.

Ando

A thumping bream caught on a metal blade on the Merimbula Lake

Adam Harris with a cracking Merimbula tailor.

Dave Parker with a lovely bream from the Bega River.