Kingfish at Narooma

[Benzeenees]

Drove down to Dalmeny this morning and headed out to Montague Is. The ramp is very steep and a bit slimey at its lower end. Could be a bit dicey retrieving a big boat at low tide. Caught some big yakkas just off the ramp - filled the tank very quickly.

The forecast was good but the actual weather didn't look great. A few drops of rain on the way across and big black clouds out to the east. A bit of wind too. Arrived at the northern end of the island and we were surprised that there were only 2 other boats there. Those who have never been to Montague should try to get there some time. Today there was a brisk current running at about 3 km/hr south (same as at Tuross and off Moruya Heads). As it hits the island it speeds up . There is something like a rip on the north eastern side and ditto on the south west side. Biggish standing waves that threaten to break. Quite disconcerting. There is a restricted fishing zone (no bait) just north of the island. As we wanted to try our yakkas, we started a very fast drift (4 km/hr) a few hundred metres north of the island and drifted back to the restricted zone. Lots of fish showing on the sounder. And by now the weather had cleared and more boats had arrived - eventually there were at least a dozen. The odd fish was being caught, some on jigs. No interest in our yakkas and my jigging technique was obviously not up to scratch. Had a talk to a fellow in a boat I (mistakenly) thought I recognised. He had just netted a nice king and his sons told us they were using dead squid!!!

So on with a piece of old frozen squid we had in the bait esky - and soon I was on! A nice 75cm king that put up a great fight. My mate switched his yakka for a lump of squid and I tried a chunk of cuttlefish we caught last winter. There was a little bit of interest in the cuttlefish, but then the fish disappeared as the tide changed. Just then the wind started to come up and we headed for the western side. Everyone else headed for home. As did we about 30 min too late. It was a bumpy ride back to Dalmeny.

[Nutz4Fishin]

I'm heading down Narooma next week fishing the island Friday, Saturday and Sunday! Hopefully the kings come on. Got a mate there at the moment and has said they have been a bit quiet with only the odd one caught. It's a great place.