Wagonga Inlet - Australia Day

[YZ250]

After a busy festive season with far too little fishing I was itching to get out on the water for a go, and in particular to test out my new sounder.  It’s a Garmin Echomap 95SV that I recently installed on a new to me Haines Hunter V16R.  I am still setting up the boat and learning its capabilities so this trip was as much about that as it was about fishing.  When a last minute opportunity came up to hit Wagonga on Australia day I leapt at the opportunity.

 

I started by dropping into Tuross on the way down there.  This was on the 25^th and it was blowing a gale.  Coila was an absolute write off – with cresting white caps and not a boat in sight.  Tuross however was sheltered from the brutal nor-easter and had plenty of boats out so I put in for a couple of hours in the late arvo.  It was fairly quiet and my baits weren’t getting much interest in the chosen spot near the boat ramp so I decided to pull in and move elsewhere.  As I retrieved the second bait I noticed two HUGE whiting following it in, which got the heart racing.  I downsized a rig and sent it back out and put a sugapen on my casting rod.  I persisted for a while with the sugapen but the wind was too strong to use it effectively so I gave up.  I eventually caught a small bream on the baits which I released and then carried on to Narooma. 

The 26th was much better – overcast and not a breath of wind.  I started fishing Wagonga inlet around mid-morning which was high tide.  My partner was with me and she really wanted to get in the water so we motored out to a sand bar and anchored up.  We used some berley to coax the fish in and this worked very quickly.  Soon my partner was onto the bream and she landed four or five mostly small fish, including one keeper.  I was tossing lures looking for flathead but didn’t get a touch.  Eventually some rain came in which sent all the boats around us scurrying for the ramps but I wanted to fish on so we weighed anchor and moved over to a bank to keep looking for the flatties. 

I started fishing the new spot with a smaller 3 inch paddle tail that I had been using on the sandbar, but I wasn’t getting anywhere.  So I switched to a reconstituted 7 inch jerk shad in nuclear chicken (refer my other post in the general chat forum).  Before long it got belted by something on the drop.  I am only new to fishing soft plastics but had read many times that the bites often come on the drop, and this was exactly what happened here.  I had retrieved about half a cast when something grabbed the lure and had a good go at it.  I pulled in a now 3 or 4 inch jerk shad which I replaced with a freshy, but couldn’t get any further bites. 

 We moved on to some oyster leases and my partner was immediately onto the bream again.  She got heaps, essentially getting either a bite or a fish a cast, including a better one that was slightly under 30cms.  I was persisting with lures – this time using a Vibe to try and catch the bream that were obviously around.  Finally – breakthrough.  I felt the hit and cried out with joy, however the cries turned to dismay when I pulled the fish up and realised it was the world’s smallest snapper!   

It was past lunch now and the tide was rushing out.  We decided to hit up one more spot before making the trek home and pushed up the estuary a bit.  We had this arm all to ourselves but it was a bit quiet.  The baits (servo prawns) weren’t really going off so I pushed on with the vibe.  Eventually, my persistence was rewarded and I hooked up virtually immediately on a full cast.  The fish hit the lure as I was winding over the bail arm and it put up a hell of a fight.  I had no idea what it was, but my partner could tell it was a better fish as my rod was doubled over and the fish was peeling off line.  I nearly lost it twice at the boat when it bolted for cover until finally I got it up – it was a silver trevally of 38cms and it went into the Esky for dinner.  I thought it  would be bigger to be honest – I can’t believe how hard that fish went.  In any case it was absolutely delicious in a yellow curry I made the following night. 

Overall it was a bloody good day on the water.  The sounder is amazing – and was holding bottom at 30 knots.  I was getting good returns, including some enormous bait balls which were following in my Double Clutch in Tuross.  We are learning more about the boat and what modifications/additions we need to do to it which will happen over the coming months.  I cant wait to get out there again!

[noelm]

I have trolled tiny diving lures along those Oyster racks and caught plenty of Bream and keeper Snapper, plus Tailor and Trevally. I find pumping Nippers at low tide, then fishing the same spot at high tide (with live Nippers) is the best way to get decent Whiting.

[Rebel]

Great report and Super photos.

[Yowie]

Some fish to be found, which is good, better than nothing at all.

[masterfisho7]

Top report and great photos well done 

[GordoRetired]

Those Trevally go hard for their size. Good report

[Pickles]

A thorough and detailed report yz250. Thanks for sharing. Trevally are a great sport fish. I don’t know much about fishing the tropics, but I’m told our silver Trevally are the smaller cousin to GT’s and grow to many kilos up north - imagine how those big ones must fight. If you haven’t tried them, when you skin, fillet and debone them = great sushi 

[bluefin]

I want to know more about the sounder. have a mate with one and he Loves it. The mapping function interests me!

Great Report !!

[YZ250]

On 1/31/2021 at 8:11 AM, Pickles said:

A thorough and detailed report yz250. Thanks for sharing. Trevally are a great sport fish. I don’t know much about fishing the tropics, but I’m told our silver Trevally are the smaller cousin to GT’s and grow to many kilos up north - imagine how those big ones must fight. If you haven’t tried them, when you skin, fillet and debone them = great sushi 

Thanks Pickles, I haven't had them as sushi yet - i cooked this in a yellow curry.  I will definitely give it a try though!

I have seen vids of people getting into the GTs...it looks like a lot of fun and is definitely on the bucket list.

[YZ250]

18 hours ago, bluefin said:

I want to know more about the sounder. have a mate with one and he Loves it. The mapping function interests me!

Great Report !!

Hi Bluefin,

I chose this one after scouting around for a while and after coming off a Lowrance Hook2 7X.  The 7X returned great images but it was a but clunky to navigate at sea, especially entering and naming waypoints.  My sealegs can be average at times, and farting around with my head buried in the sounder is a sure fire way to make myself crook.  So I chose this one because of its touch screen abilities, and they are sensational.  Its very easy to use.

My brother in law helped me install it - we put it essentially where the old sounder on my boat was and as mentioned it will hold bottom at speed which is great.  

Im keen to get out into some deeper water to see what the sounder can do there.