Narooma reef

[Edd]

Hi been fishing Montague island recently and there is so much sand around it any help for reef spots would be appreciated, I know where anguish reef is and fowl house but even close to island seem s to be sand have been getting kings there but most of time they are over the sand 

 

Tks ed 

[frankS]

Anguish rock is a great hot spot reef, then further south straight out from Mystery bay there is Broken reef which fishes very well for Snapper, Morwong and other reefy species. Then north of Monty you have Tuross reef which also fishes very well, and the Seals don't Hassell you as much.

I can PM you GPS marks of all reefs in area if you wish ?.

Frank

[noelm]

The local tackle shop will probably have some "starter marks" or even a google search will turn up lots.

[JonD]

Theres plenty of reef around the island, are you sure you've turned your sounder on!!!!

This should give you an idea where to look, the areas close to the island blanked out weren't surveyed but are also all reef.

If you weren't aware, the southern sanctuary has been removed meaning you can now fish the southern and east bottom part of the island. The same restrictions apply around the nurses sanctuary (these haven't been removed).

Edited March 1, 2021 by JonD

[Edd]

On 2/28/2021 at 5:23 PM, frankS said:

Anguish rock is a great hot spot reef, then further south straight out from Mystery bay there is Broken reef which fishes very well for Snapper, Morwong and other reefy species. Then north of Monty you have Tuross reef which also fishes very well, and the Seals don't Hassell you as much.

I can PM you GPS marks of all reefs in area if you wish ?.

Frank

Any gps marks would be good Tks 

[Edd]

Thanks everyone for your comments Tks Jon d I didn’t know about the southern marine park not being in force anymore. 

[JonD]

34 minutes ago, Edd said:

Thanks everyone for your comments Tks Jon d I didn’t know about the southern marine park not being in force anymore. 

There are a few zones that have been removed but not all of them. The zone south of Glass house rocks is still a no fish zone. 

[JonD]

1 hour ago, Edd said:

Any gps marks would be good Tks 

If you are chasing kings simply go where the boats are. If the tide is pushing up from the south the kings tend to be around the southern end of the island and when pushing south they are often at the north of the island. Big kings of 120cm have been smashing the surface chasing bait but refusing to take lures.

The last few days the kings have been a little hard to catch without any current running. The fish are there but very picky, dropping down to 20lb or lower leaders has kept us on them with Zman plastics. The light wind and no current has meant we could use jig heads under 1/4oz and watching how the kings react to each lure on the panoptics soon gives us an idea what works and what doesn't. Yesterday they would rush my white soft plastics but then leave it and go for my mates green and brown instead. 

The early birds have had more keepers but I head out after the rush of all the boats and tend to often be the last back in.

I wouldn't head to any particular mark at the island as I search around for fish and rarely find things like snapper in the exact same spot. If you look at that scan I posted and search for snapper where the reef joins the sand you should find some fish if you use your sounder.

The island gets fished heavily so don't expect miracles, I haven't brought a legal snapper or kingfish home from the last 4 trips but have caught and released well over 100 fish in those 4 days. Dont risk bringing any fish that might only go 64cm but 65 with a squeeze of the tail or you will cop it from fisheries.

Seals have been getting worse for stealing fish, even out at the shelf.

[Edd]

On 3/1/2021 at 9:21 PM, JonD said:

If you are chasing kings simply go where the boats are. If the tide is pushing up from the south the kings tend to be around the southern end of the island and when pushing south they are often at the north of the island. Big kings of 120cm have been smashing the surface chasing bait but refusing to take lures.

The last few days the kings have been a little hard to catch without any current running. The fish are there but very picky, dropping down to 20lb or lower leaders has kept us on them with Zman plastics. The light wind and no current has meant we could use jig heads under 1/4oz and watching how the kings react to each lure on the panoptics soon gives us an idea what works and what doesn't. Yesterday they would rush my white soft plastics but then leave it and go for my mates green and brown instead. 

The early birds have had more keepers but I head out after the rush of all the boats and tend to often be the last back in.

I wouldn't head to any particular mark at the island as I search around for fish and rarely find things like snapper in the exact same spot. If you look at that scan I posted and search for snapper where the reef joins the sand you should find some fish if you use your sounder.

The island gets fished heavily so don't expect miracles, I haven't brought a legal snapper or kingfish home from the last 4 trips but have caught and released well over 100 fish in those 4 days. Dont risk bringing any fish that might only go 64cm but 65 with a squeeze of the tail or you will cop it from fisheries.

Seals have been getting worse for stealing fish, even out at the shelf.

Thanks mate have been getting a lot of kings but only 3 legal so far have been getting a few snapper and moies but we catch more flat ties than anything we aren’t even trying to catch them we thinks it’s reef but it s sand at batemansbay it’s easy to c when u on reef just learning down there at the moment 

[JonD]

37 minutes ago, Edd said:

Thanks mate have been getting a lot of kings but only 3 legal so far have been getting a few snapper and moies but we catch more flat ties than anything we aren’t even trying to catch them we thinks it’s reef but it s sand at batemansbay it’s easy to c when u on reef just learning down there at the moment 

What sonar are you using ?

 

[Edd]

On 3/3/2021 at 5:52 PM, JonD said:

What sonar are you using ?

 

Lowrance 2007 model 

[JonD]

3 hours ago, Edd said:

Lowrance 2007 model 

Yes that's getting on a bit, is it plotter sonar or just sonar ? I believe some of the sonars were greyscale (black and white). If its colour and set so it picks up bottom well you should be able to pick the difference between reef and sand. Newer units have several different colour options from the sonar menu, some really help in telling reef better than others. By any chance were you in a white boat, three onboard all with shirts off last week ? Reason I asked was a boat came and fished close to us that seemed to be looking for spots.

Are you planning on fishing the are a lot in the future ? there were good kings today around 95cm and in very good fat condition. 

[JonD]

I have sent you a PM, unfortunately twice!!!!!

[Edd]

9 hours ago, JonD said:

I have sent you a PM, unfortunately twice!!!!!

Thanks mate will help a lot hoping to get there on Saturday if weather holds