Batemans Bay

Someone turn off the tap!

BATEMANS BAY

Anthony

Stokman Australia, land of extremes. Years of drought and bushfires, and now it’s raining cats and dogs. True, water is the lifeblood of the land, and it’s an amazing resource – except when it kills the prawns, and stuffs up the summer! Good on ya, rain!

So, it looks like La Niña and the rain is here to stay – at least for this summer. All we can do is hope for some balance in the weather next year, and a bumper prawn season with plenty of fish.

So, I guess that’s it then – the rest of spring and summer is stuffed, and there’s no point in a report.

Well, no, because we are anglers, one of the most resilient beings on earth! Where there is water, there are fish, and where there are fish, there are fishos. And there is plenty of water, so no problems there. Slip on your boots and throw on your rain jacket, and let’s get amongst it.

Let’s start at the dirtiest place first, upstream. At the time of reporting, it is dirty water with a touch of bushfire ash. This sounds dire, but it was looking up Georgia Poyner has been slaying the breambos!

the ocean, but things are now starting to fire up towards Nelligan and beyond. The water is clearing, the temperature is rising, the bait is pushing in and fish are showing up. We are seeing catches of estuary perch, bream, flathead and small push of clean saltwater. If you thought upstream was starting to shape up after two years of bushfire ash, dirty water and a lack of fish, you should have seen the week or two coming into spring. At that time, the prawns and bait started to push in, with schools of tailor following. Plus there were 37-40cm bream moving back in after spawning, attacking Cranka Crabs and mussel lures (e.g. The Muss), and numbers of 40-50cm flatties with the odd 60-70cm fish eating everything in their path. It was great, and you really felt that summer was coming. Time to put on your new lightweight, hooded sun protective top, and go grab the old G. Loomis 4-8lb Dropshot and 2500 Stella – we’ve got a party to attend!

It was building into what dreams are made of, then we were hit with rain, we always knew it was coming, it was predicted. But the South Coast hadn’t been getting it as bad as north and out west. It rained for a few days, but it wasn’t enough to stop the momentum built, there was some hope left, but then it rained more and now it’s in the hands of the gods.

We were given a glimmer of hope and a taste of what it could have been like: the perfect summer, kilos of prawns and an estuary full of abundance. However, now it’s looking more like next summer is going to be the one where we find some balance in the weather. Until then, we’ll be launching out the front and fishing there like the last couple of years. If the rain does back off it won’t hurt going upstream for a look as it did start to shape up, but if the rain keeps coming, then fishing from Big Island up, the lakes, the mouths etc will have the better water.

The better water is due to the tides flushing out the front of the system, bringing with it bait and nutrients. This tidal action will be fighting against all the dirty water coming out of the river system, and there will be a lot of days when the rain is too much, and the dirty water will dominate. On those days it’s better to hit up some beaches and rocks that may have some better-quality water. Alternatively, you can jump in a boat and go out for some snapper.

When it isn’t super muddy, and the front of the estuary has some potential, then smelly baits and scented soft plastics work well. Seeing as it’s spring going into summer, it’s the time of the year to tie on some of the new colours and new lures that are out. For example, Shimano have put out a sexy looking minnow called the Bantam which is a bit of an all-rounder, weighing 4-5g and measuring 59mm long. It swims a little deeper, so it’s perfect for flathead and big bream. Daiwa’s popular Double Clutch in all sizes is now available in some great new colours and for innovation you can try The Muss and the Pipi. The Muss is a realistic looking mussel, and the pipi comes in three sizes and in 12 different colours. They are both proven fish killers and will be a hit this season. Don’t forget to add a Cranka Crab and some Sugapens to the collection to be completely armed for the estuary.

If you are hunting mulloway this season and you want to do it in style, I recommend the G. Loomis NRX+842S SJR matched up with a Stella. Alternatively, if you are looking for a budget outfit that’s still nice, then the Daiwa Tatula 701MFS matched with a TD Black reel could be the go. The lures to tie on are soft vibes, soft prawns, and 4-5” paddle tails. I particularly like the pre-rigged Berkley Shimma Pro Rigs and ZMan Herculez.

November can be the best month of the year for deep water reds. So, if you are on a boat head out to 60-80m to find good snapper schooling up. The old paternoster rig will never die, but if you want to live, then tie on 40-80g micro jigs and drop them down. There’s a lot of brands out there, but Samaki does great budget ones and Sea Falcon, Palms and Nomad do great more expensive ones.

Offshore the tuna could show up (but they are likely to be elusive), and as the bait builds along the continental

Jamo on the hunt, finding some South Coast mulloway.

at the start of spring with the odd bass here and there, and the hope of improvement going forward towards summer. But then it just had to rain, and more rain is reported to come. So, unless we can get a break in the weather for a week or two, let’s look more downstream. Downstream has never looked so good coming into spring. Much of the fishing has been out the front and to mulloway, with the odd larger one moving in.

It was looking good until, yep, you guessed it: rain! But with such good signs leading up to the rain, it will only take some dry patches here and there, and a bit of effort, and you might find some good patches.

As the fresh water pushes us back towards the front, like a strategic retreat, we are blessed with the tidal shelf it won’t be too long before the marlin start to show up.

So, although it may be wet and the water a bit muddy, which could ruin the prawns, but we still have fish. Happy fishing. • For more up-to-the-

Aiden with a nice South Coast red.

minute information on what’s biting where, drop into Compleat Angler Batemans Bay and have a chat to Anthony or one of the other friendly staff. They’re located at 65A Orient St, Batemans Bay (02 4472 2559).