Moruya River
This week has seen a decrease in the water temps within the river system which has slowed the bite just a bit. There is still lots of tannin stained water pushing down from the mountains, which has helped with the temperature drop. This has meant that the majority of catches have been, again, been towards the front of the system. With the lower temps, the fish require a bit more tempting to bite, especially with artificial. Slow your retrieves down to keep your lures in the strike zone longer. Repeated casts in the same spot may also be required to tempt, wake up or annoy a fish into biting. Baits as always can be the undoing of a picky fish. Small pilchards or white baits rigged on small gang hooks with a small ball sinker, cast and slowly retrieved is a deadly method on both bream and flathead. Further up the system under the bridge after dark has seen a marked increase of the numbers of estuary perch hanging over the weed beds and rocky edges. Surface presentations and small soft plastics are a sure way to get into some of these fish as they start to school up.
Tuross River
Cooler waters and plenty of suspended runoff have played a big part in the slower bite in this system this week. Graham reported lots of ash debris almost coating the bottom of the upper reaches around the Bodalla bridge. Reports of this same debris have also come in from the front of the system as well, but to a lesser extent. Time is going to be the only thing that will fix this fire aftermath. Having said this reasonable numbers of bream, flathead, luderick and whiting are still being taken down the front of the system. Similar techniques for Moruya will also work here. Hopefully with last Wednesday’s full moon, and an increased tide height, the extra water in the system will help flush it out.
Rock and beach
Again, as has been the case for the last few weeks, these areas have been the standout for consistent catches. Really good salmon to 70cm have been caught on the beaches around Tuross this week, with several fish falling victim to large surface style lures. Strada Tempest 140mm Stick baits cast on medium weight rods accounted for several very healthy fish this last week. Lure casting for working schools of salmon is a great way to fish, as you are constantly moving looking for fish and covering plenty of ground. Good exercise right there!! In amongst the salmon there have also been good catches of bream, whiting and flathead in the close gutters. These have been tempted on live beach worms. Mixed in for good measure has been a healthy population for tailor also.
On the rocks, good numbers of drummer, bream and salmon have also been encountered. The squid seemed to have shown back up around Shelly beach also. Both a great feed, and great baits, now is the time to stock up on squid heads for the upcoming snapper season as the weather starts to turn cooler.
Offshore
This has been a little quiet with the strong winds that we had last weekend and the Covid restrictions that are currently in place, but for those that have got out good flathead have continued to come over the side for those fishing in about 30m of water. As the after temps drop, we can expect to see an increase in the numbers of snapper that will start to move from their deeper water summer locations into their winter home in shallower water.
We are open all this Easter long weekend as per normal. We still have a maximum customer limit of 5 people in store at any one time to maintain distancing requirements.
So, from all of us here at Tackle World Moruya, we wish you all a safe, healthy and happy Easter.
Tight lines my friends and remember “every day’s a good day for fishing … “
Team Tackle World Moruya
