For those anglers keen on the bluewater billfish action, the south coast of NSW has been producing a red hot marlin bite from Jervis Bay back down to the Bermagui area. With warm currents pushing in close to the coast the marlin fishing has been excellent with many anglers reporting dozen fish days. There have been some small black marlin caught in close but most of the fish are striped marlin ranging from 80 - 120kg. The good thing about these fish is that have been caught in fairly close, as they roam the front edge of the current hunting bait. 


Customers Damien, Christian and Steve ventured up the coast for a quick weekend on the fish and they weren't disappointed. The guys shot straight to Jervis Bay and got out into the 150m area and looked for bait. The largest slimey mackerel were the best when bridled and run off the outriggers with around 3kg of tension. Very slow trolled slimies account for all their fish which ranged up to around 120kg. The larger sharks have been a problem around the marlin and bait however, as one of their fish couldn't be released after an attack from a bronze whaler. 

 

 

 

 

 


Some of our regular customers are lucky enough to be traveling about and wetting a line all across the South East of the country at present, with lots of good fish caught. Customers Izzy and Bruno have been fishing with friends down along the east coast of Tasmania and have been having a ball. The inshore fishing out from where they are staying has seen them landing plentiful numbers of nice table sized gummies and albacore tuna.


Customers Kosta and Arron are fishing along the south coast of NSW at present and have been putting a few different species in the boat. Fishing out from Bermagui the boys have been doing well inshore on the school kingfish on jigs, plastics and also baits. Most of the kingies have been around the 60cm mark with a few larger ones showing up and then disappearing again as quick.


Out a bit wider the boys have had some mixed bags with some tasty blue eye coming aboard - and the local marlin bite has been happening all around them also. In over the inshore sand the boys have found plenty of good sized tiger flathead and a nice mako in the 30kg range for their efforts also. This part of the coast will continue to fish well right through until Easter, with some of the local fishing competitions taking place along the coast shortly also.

 


The south coast of NSW is normally transformed into a bustling hype of activity around this time of year, with the tail end of school holidays and also fishing crowds alike. The bluewater scene is very popular and at present is producing some nice marlin from the NSW/VIC border up past Bermagui. Customer Filip fished the south coast just last week to land a lovely striped marlin of 120kg. 

Customer Sean also fished up along the NSW south coast with some mates in search of a marlin. Over a 3 day period the guys landed 3 striped marlin to around 120kg, with a mixture of techniques working well. Trolled skirted lures and live slimey mackerel were the best performers for the guys.

For the anglers heading up to the region there have also been good numbers of dolphinfish caught out from Tathra and Bermagui. Most of these fish have been caught either trolling small skirts or casting mini tuna stickbaits and plastics.

 


 


 

 

Just prior to Easter, the South coast of NSW experienced a hot marlin bite from Eden all the way through to just South of Sydney. Customers Anton and Justin fished the Alliance tag and release tournament at Bermagui recently - where the boys tagged some solid striped marlin. Justin caught his first marlin on a lumo Topgun skirt and 15kg. Customer Ben also fished out from Bermagui recently to land a nice striped marlin of around 80kg on a live slimey mackerel.

A bit further away customer Peter was fishing offshore from Yamba in far Northern NSW when he landed this nice cobia of around 8kg. Peter caught the fish on an unweighted pilchard on wire trace intended for mackerel, and fought it for 30min before it gave up. Customer Kevin from the Noble Park Angling Club sent in a picture of a nice Golden trevally he caught when was in Broome last. Kevin caught the 16kg fish on squid on a local charter.

A little closer to home, the Eastern estuaries are fishing well at the moment. Customers Terry and Peter recently fished around Merimbula with baits and lures. Tailor to 4lb were chopping at lures of all sorts in Merimbula lake, along with some nice silver trevally. Peter caught this thumping yellowfin bream in the lake also on a small piece of striped tuna fished around the weedbeds. Customer Andrew was down at Lakes Entrance over the Easter break and he took some time to fish the local lakes and also chase prawns as well. Andrew and a mate had a blast catching prawns, and between them they managed about 8kg of quality prawns, along with some sand crabs.

 

 

A lot of bluewater anglers have marlin on the brain at the moment. The run of fish from around Eden through to just south of Sydney has been excellent, with even a couple of reports coming from Eastern Victoria. On the marlin front, customer Jacques fished an international billfish competition in Mauritius last month when away on holiday. Jacques was the only Australian angler in the whole field, and even though it was his first time fishing for billfish, he managed to land this nice 124lb blue marlin and finish up coming 5th in the competition. Jacques also caught and released another fish the day after, along with a solid 20kg dolphinfish.

 

 

While there are plenty of kingfish being caught in local waters, reports one end of the state to the other have been of yellow-tailed missiles along inshore headlands and reef systems. Customer Tony did a quick trip down West with a couple of mates in search of a few inshore kingies on baits and artificials. Tony managed to catch a few around some of the shallow bay structure mixed in with couta and pinkies. Out a little bit deeper from Portland there have also been patches of Southern Bluefin Tuna hanging around large bait schools, with most of the fish being quality school fish in the 15 - 22kg mark. These fish have responded to jigs, poppers, stickbaits and also the odd trolled lure.

Customer Romelo spent a few days up along the southern coastline of NSW at Eden with some mates. The guys fished wide where they experienced a marlin bite but didn't manage to land them, then went back in close to target kingies around the headlands and points. Romelo managed to catch a few school sized fish in amongst a thick school of pinkies, with most of the kingies around the 70cm mark. It was Romelo's first tangle with a kingfish and he is now hooked on fishing for them!

 

 

For anglers hot on the game fishing scene, the Summer run of striped marlin along the south coast of NSW has been good again this year. The fish seem to be good from around Eden/Merimbula north to Bateman's Bay. Customers Andrew and Steve fished out from Bermagui just last week in search of these fish and they weren't disappointed. In a short 2 day trip the boys hooked up to 2 marlin, one which was lost after a 45 minute fight and estimated 100kg+ and another one boated at around 50kg. A few more fish were raised on lures but no more strikes, but during their stay they heard of over 20 fish tagged and released. The marlin fishing in the area has been exceptional, with fish seen free swimming and also herding baitballs around as well.

Staff member Dylan spent the weekend just north of Sydney last week, and although not a fishing trip some fishing was still done, surprise surprise.....Dylan took some mates out collecting prawns near the entrance and plenty of small prawns in the 4 inch size were caught. In a short hour session fishing a small entrance channel Dylan caught dusky flathead to 68cm, along with yellowfin bream and also tarwhine. The new Squidgy 'paddle prawn' pattern was dynamite when worked along the channel edges and drop offs.

 

 

Customer Stuart has been holidaying down at Mallacoota in Eastern Gippsland where he has been having some fun chasing the bream and other estuary species around. Stuart has been catching plenty of good fish on both hard and soft baits. A lot of the bream have been coming from secondary drop offs in the system, with small metal vibes accounting for a lot of fish, with UV green colours being the real killer. Stu has been using scent on all of his lures, to give the fish extra time to eat the lure before striking.

Customer Chez fished offshore from Bermagui with some mates over the Christmas period with marlin the target. The boys managed 2 fish, 80kg and 85kg. Both fish were caught on small skirts in slimey mackerel and small tuna colour combinations. 

 

For the game anglers that frequent the southern coast of NSW, the marlin action around Bermagui has been good recently. Anglers fishing out towards the kink have been reporting some good success on the striped marlin in the area. 

Customer Chris called in and gave us a recent report from the area where he fished on the marlin with some mates. Chris and mates landed 4 marlin during their stay, ranging from 70 - 100kg and mainly on lures. The guys fished around the bait hole and also the kink to find their fish, with 8 inch Pakula skirts taking the fish in colours like evil angel and the old faithful lumo. 

 

Customer Hiepp recently towed his boat up to the Gold Coast where he stayed for a holiday. Being a keen fisherman he got out offshore from the Gold Coast and fished near one of the most productive reef patches.

Hiepp spent most of the time trolling skirted lures around with spanish mackerel to about 6kg taking the lures, along with a small black marlin which ate one of his skirts too. After a tense battle, Hiepp landed this marlin which weighed around 40kg on his 40-80lb Terez and Saragosa 18000F spooled with 80lb frog braid.