Batemans Bay

[Guest Big-Banana]

Hello Fishraiders.

After spending 2 weeks in Batemans Bay Iam back. We left at 4 am on Boxing Day trying to beat the traffic. After 4.5 hrs we arrived at our rented house and settled in. We checked out the bar and it looked relatively easy and watched it for around 20 mins with not much looking to threatening. Things looked promising until I saw the forecast for the week. Gale force winds were forecasted and fishing opportunities looked limited. We decided to target the estuarys land based fishing with live baits. We spoke to a bloke who gave us a hand getting bait. He showed us what to look for and how to extract Crabs and Nippers. We were stocked and took enough for the next morning.

I woke up at around 5am and fished the breakwall with live crabs for around 5 legal bream to around 28cm and then lost some much bigger fish in the rocks. I still had a ball and with the wind still puffing I knew Bream would have to do. Didnt score any flathead on lures on the flats.

We were lucky enough to sneak out on the 2nd of January to Tollgate Island to have a fish. The wind was low and a bit of swell was pushing through. Scored some nice Leatherjackets and lost a much bigger fish. Didnt get a look but took a livey fished on 24kg. Went in and out the bar without incident.

Again we went out early and launched the boat at around 5:30am. Was looking forward to the day as the fishing in the estuary had been a bit slow. We were going through the bar casually when a 3.5 meter wave popped up out of no where. I suspect the NE wind was the cause. All I heard was HOLD ON! Luckily we hit it straight on and everything was ok. But the power of the wave was unbelievable. Continued on a bit shaken as I havent gone through a bar before. We went to Tollgate again and fished the bottom which was very slow going for the first 3 hrs. We moved a few times until we continued a drift through a good patch of reef. We scored some pan sized snapper which Dad and I were very happy with. Havent seen a descent Snapper on board all last year so it was good to start the year with a couple good fish. The fish werent biting crazily but we were getting consistant bites on the light gear. Dad was fishing 12kg and I was fishing 4kg. He landed all his fish but one. It totally frayed his leader and was a descent sized snapper. I lost some very good fish as well but got a lot more bites and was happy just to get a few. Dad also got a nice Squid which ate very well. Left at around 10am when the wind began to pick up. We were crossing the bar when a largish wave rose behind the boat. Dad gunned it and we made it through. They are a bit scary . Arrived at a packed ramp. It was unbelievable with blokes jumping off their boats and swimming instead of using the pontoon. The coastal patrol were aiding the retrieval of vessels which helped us heaps. A lot of once a year boaters who had no idea caused a few incidents with others.

Fished the beaches for some nice pan sized flatties with the biggest around 45cm.

All in all a good trip which I enjoyed. I cant wait to get back to work. Here are some photos from the trip.

[Andy_from_the_CJ]

Sorry to hear that BB. I guess with the windy weather a lot of fisho holidays were spoiled. You didn't miss much up here, the dolphin fish have been very quiet. Cheers, Andrew

[Guest Big-Banana]

Hope they liven up soon. . Ive heard of a few descent fish being caught so its promising.