Going to Merimbula to chase Kingies

[scott__henning]

heading up to merimbula with the boat in 2.5 weeks for a week of fish, hoping to land my first kingfish. It seems most people suggest Moworray point south of Eden as a good starting point, has anyone fished up there that can give me tips, perhaps areas around merimbula as well?

[Raulfc7]

Can't help you with the kingies Scott but I've had success chasing salmon and tailor from haycock beach located in the Ben Boyd National Park. Also you can fish the rocks at Bar beach that gives you assess to the channel entrance. You can also hire a small boat and cruise around the lake and fish that. The wharf is popular as is the the warf at Tathra I think people have chased kingies from there. Good luck and have a ball.

[scott__henning]

good to know, ill be taking the surf rod up as well incase there is some bad weather that i cant take the boat out in

[Lajon]

Be careful on the charters up there, went there last year and even though i suggested to them they should cancel it, they still went out (she'll be fine they said)..... well after 5 of the 9 paying customers were sick and the tour guide himself was struggling, they went back in. This was after spending 3/4 of the time we actually had out there just hanging in the bay 200m off shore catching nothing but undersized flatties. Then when we went in, he needed us to drive the boat and assist with stuff because there was no deckhand. No refund...... :sad:
Bit of a joke really.

Have been up to Merimbula about 20 times and its a great spot, but the land based fishing isnt all that crash hot, no doubt coz everyone who goes up there on hols is throwing a line in. Huge amount of species up there though!! Seen a few tuna caught off the piers over the years...There is a shipwreck south of Merimbula's bay on the corner, fairly rocky area out there but there is a drop off just out from the rocks ( 50-100m) to about 20m. That is known to be a good producer at times for Kingies.
HOLD ON TIGHT!!

Good Luck, and be sure to let us all know how you go.

[scott__henning]

There is a shipwreck south of Merimbula's bay on the corner, fairly rocky area out there but there is a drop off just out from the rocks ( 50-100m) to about 20m. That is known to be a good producer at times for Kingies.
HOLD ON TIGHT!!

Good Luck, and be sure to let us all know how you go.

ill be sure to give it a go then!

[Lajon]

See the pic attached. This is a known area for kingfish...... amoung other things

BEWARE!!!! There is a shipwreck on the corner that is just under the surface of the water. Not only do you need to steer well clear of this and the rocks but also watch out for scuba divers in the area as it is a popular spot.

Casting towards the rocks and bringing the slugs back out to sea, along with trolling along there both apparently bring good results.

Good Luck & make sure you let us all know how you go!!

Daz

[tr3los]

cheers Lajon great pic mate!!! funny this was where you've pointed out is exactly where i suspected it, just expected to be able to see the shipwreck of google earth for some reason lol

[scott__henning]

Thanks for the tip Lajon. ill be sure to give that area a good go! is the shipwreck marked at all? I would usually give a rocky point like that a wide berth anyway but thanks for the tip

[scott__henning]

Well just got back from my worst fishing trip ever.

Got up there just as it started to rain, (cos of that bloody cyclone in Queensland), strong winds and didn't get out for 2 days.

Finally day 3, got out on the water but had to battle 3.5m swells which was fun, but turned out to be our most productive day, we fished the reef off long point and picked up 5 pinkies and a nice 3 pound snapper. Thought to myself well this ain't so bad, I can put up with the weather if we get a feed like this every day. One real problem was the lack of slimy and yakkas, we spend an hour on the first day trying to find em, only managed to get a couple of small ones :S, that was the only day we even caught ANY!

Got out on day 4, while trying to get some live bait a big school of salmon came though for a feeding frenzy so had a bit of fun trolling for a while but tha was all we were able to catch.

Didn't get out for another 3 days due to that damn wind. We even extended our stay another 2 days in hopes of getting out more but the weather wouldn't have any of it, and even though we got out another 4 days, we didnt bag a single keeper fish

Even bottom bashing for flathead couldnt produce a single keeper.

Didn't see a single kingy for the whole trip, though not for the lack of trying, but without the livebait our options were limited.

All in all a very disappointing trip, I'm sure I can blame a lot of it on the cyclone but what can ya do.
Still hasn't put me off another go next year though, might go a bit earlier in January or later in march perhaps in search of more consistent weather!

[Raulfc7]

bad luck mate on the weather but at least you got to spend time fishing