Tathra fishing.

Well,all settled in at my new digs at Tathra. Going well really. Got a job for a couple of hours each week cleaning the amenities blocks at the caravan park i stayed in last trip. Good pay really for a couple of hours each week and more over Easter/school holidays.
I've also registered for volunteer work with the local Meals On Wheels Plus at Bega and have been to the induction and i am just waiting for the police check to come back. The 'Plus' part of the MOWs means they do different things to normal MOWs and every second Sunday they take a group of younger fellows that have disabilities fishing. I have put my hand up for that one!!
The fishing has been pretty slow but i have managed a feed and more on most days.
I have also managed to break a couple of records...


Estuary Perch 40cm


Flattie 73cm
The weather has been great for a couple of weeks and the river is starting to clear up. No luck with any bream yet but i will get there.
The flattie is swimming free but can't say the same for the EP. It's only the second one in 5 months and they are VERY nice on the plate. I will throw back most of them if i get a few but will also chew on one every now and again.

Wow Silver, you'd have to be happy with that flathead! Just bizarre to hear you talking about your job. My Pop did exactly that job in Tathra in around 1975. Both my Nan & Pop also enjoyed the bowls club for a lot of years too.

So glad to hear that your move to a small piece of paradise was a good one :ebiggrin:

Regards,

they are some thumping fish there mate!
wouldn't have the name of the soft plastics you were using by any chance?

Well there you go!!! Bet your Pop didn't get $43ph on public holidays:lol:. All up it's turning out to be a good move. Over time I will get around the area but money is a bit short until the first week in July as I am paying 2 rents at the moment because of the agreement I had with the kids when they moved to a new house on the Gold Coast. Still....that's the way it is and I just adapt my lifestyle to the circumstances...not that hard but I do miss a beer at night!!
As far as the lures go my trusty standby for flatties is a squidgy Black & Gold 70mm fish. I have used this lure everywhere, it's the one in the pic, and it has rarely, and I mean rarely, let me down. I use TT jigheads with a slightly larger hook, maybe 2/0 or 3/0 in the H version. H is for heavy. This is pretty much my standard set up with 10lb braid and 10lb Fluro leader. I'll probably drop to 8lb for both once I need new braid.
I have on standby assorted 70mm fish including Gary Glitter, Drop Bear and Mint Jelly. Also a purple and white one which I forget the name.
I tend to change a bit if the water is pretty muddy.
The one I got the EP on is the same one I got one on last year and also the exact one I got the 2 jewies on.
It's a squidgy Bloodworm wriggler and I think it is an 80mm one. It might be 80mm but it is much smaller than a 70mm fish. I don't have many left and I think they have changed the colour in this version for some reason. The jighead is very light with a chemically sharpened hook,probably about a size1. These are some my mate gave me sometime ago and I have a few left and then will go to TT jigheads.
Just checked....in the Trip Reports section under South Coast of NSW - Tathra Trip on page 4 I posted a pic of the lures and jigheads.
Just a tip...KMart or BigW sell these for $4.50 a packet and although their range is rubbish they do SOMETIMES have both these lures.
The Gary Glitter in the 70mm fish is a great standby.
Sometime I am going to move up a size in the fish just to see if the bigger flatties like bigger baits.

Scooby2 said:

Just bizarre to hear you talking about your job. My Pop did exactly that job in Tathra in around 1975.

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What a small world we live in

Great to see that you're decision is turning out to be a good one, that together with a few nice sized fish

Regards
Mr Turbo

Coupla great fish

Nice to see you helping with MOWs, I did that as a kid, very rewarding. I bet those kids will have an awesome time when you take em out fishing :biggrin:

I don't beach fish at all but yesterday i took my flick rod and put on a small metal lure, the one in the pic of the tailor, and went for a walk along the beach because it was a nice afternoon and got these,plus a few more. They are not big fish,the salmon maybe about 1.25/1.5kg and the tailor about 1kg or a touch more, but they are both the biggest i have caught and also the biggest i have caught of a beach.
I'll have to do this more often i guess.
I didn't realise that the salmon are not a very hardy type of fish and i had hooked it badly and it died. I know a lot of people say they don't eat them but i thought i would give it a go and find out for myself. To tell the truth they are not bad. I would eat them again. It is just a matter of preparing the fillet properly and if they came from a fish shop i reckon you would have no cause for complaint.





Not sure what happened there!!!! Don't know how to delete the photos from the post but will try again with the new pics.





That's better. Ignore the first two.

I thought i would try a hardbody lure that i had in my tackle box for months and months. I don't use them but i liked the look of it and thought it might work well in the shallow water where i keep seeing big flatties but they won't touch my plastics.
Well...this is what i got..a new record for me ...79cm....gradually working up the the magic 1mtr mark.
I'm planing to go to Malacoota maybe late November or early December for a few days...might get one there.



Just thought i would add....this girl is still swimming free....i don't keep this size fish....ever.

silver said:

this is what i got..a new record for me ...79cm....gradually working up the the magic 1mtr mark.

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Great flattie but a 1m lizard...they call them crocs lol

Here is a change from my flattie pics. Got this today. I don't normally fish for bream so i have not caught any huge ones but this is my new record.
39cm on a Squidgy 70mm fish..mint jelly.

Awesome Silver! Gotta be happy with that, and I bet you and your new boat setup are enjoying every second out there on the water!

Best regards,

Well i was!! I buggered my Min Kota electric trolling motor today somehow. The gears or motor that turn it left/right have siezed or something.
Don't think it will be cheap to fix. I tried fishing for a while without it but what a pain...you forget how good they are until you can't use one.
Nothing i can do but get it fixed although the water has warmed up and i have a plan of getting to some of the sandbanks and the shallower water and anchoring or beaching the boat and walk the shallows.
It will do until i am back in action properly.

That is a really nice Bream silver

Sorry to hear about the motor though mate
Not good at all.

Regards
Mr Turbo

I'm planning on going to Malacoota for a few days in early December so i just hope there are no hassels with parts if i need them.
I'm going to stay at the Foreshore Caravan Park and get a jetty so i don't have to launch the boat every day.
I WILL get a 1mtr Flattie!!!!:ebiggrin::ebiggrin::ebiggrin:.
Last time i was there the wind was rubbish but this time i am only 135klms away so just might be able to pick the weather. I want to get down there before the xmas holidays.

silver said:

I WILL get a 1mtr Flattie!!!!:ebiggrin::ebiggrin::ebiggrin:.

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Good luck, I really hope you do! Be sure to get some pics before you release her :iconwink:

Nice work on the bream! Very decent size!! I really love bream but would also love to catch some flathead, so your pictures have been making me jealous!

Nice flatty!

Got the kids on a family fishing outing to catch flattys using 'cheese Twisties' as fun hook bait.

They caught more than the adults as Twisties also make great 'hi-vis' burly, LOL!

On a sad note...a 19 year old kid drowned at the river mouth the other day. Poor bugger.
Apparently was hanging on to a log with a mate and got taken out the mouth and on to a sand bar and got hit with waves and knocked off the log.
His mate made it to the rocks and got knocked about a bit but this fellow drowned.
If he had just known the basics and used the current to take him out and then came back to the beach instead of trying to swim across the current you would tend to think he would have been ok.
Probably only about 60..80 mtrs out and under half a dozen waves, the difference between life and death.

That's so sad silver... life is precious, you have to treasure every second cos you just don't know what's around the corner. Tathra taught me a valuable life lesson - nature is constantly changing. Never swim where your feet are off the ground.

A few years back a Dad drowned off Tathra Wharf when he tried to save his two kids rolled into the ocean in a pram. Very sad time when three lives were lost.

Each time I hear of a tragedy in Tathra I feel like I've been stabbed in the heart. It is such a special place.

Best regards,

^^ & ^ What terribly sad events .

Life is precious.

And so very fragile.

The Universe has little place for those of us who make mistakes ...
Sad, but only too true.