13 August 2012

Recommendations for deep sea charter fishing

| MMR
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Hi

Am seeking recommendations for a fishing charter provider on the coast – Bateman’s Bay area.

I intend to purchase a trip as a father’s day gift for a 40-something, and was wondering if anyone had been on one of these charters recently and could recommend one.

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mos said :

My recommendation.. instead of sending him out to kill, leave the animals alone and send him off to watch bigger fry. Try some whale watching .. http://www.eurobodalla.com.au/whale-watching/

Most game fishing these days is done on a Tag-And-Release basis.

You could make the argument that it traumatises the fish I suppose, but at least they live to fight another day…

Proboscus said :

As most of the charter fishing operations on the south coast are run by OMCG, I’d check with the local plod and go with their recommendation.

Cripes – wasn’t aware of that. It didn’t even cross mind that this could be the case.

Thanks to others for recommendations also. Much appreciated.

As most of the charter fishing operations on the south coast are run by OMCG, I’d check with the local plod and go with their recommendation.

My recommendation.. instead of sending him out to kill, leave the animals alone and send him off to watch bigger fry. Try some whale watching .. http://www.eurobodalla.com.au/whale-watching/

Don’t use The Sherrif in Narooma unless you want to hang out with rednecks all day.

If your prepared to travel a little further south to Narooma, I highly recommend Benn Boulton at Charter Fish Narooma.

http://www.charterfishnarooma.com/

Cost is $250 person for a full day, but he really knows his stuff and has a new boat and gear. Couldn’t be more helpful either, I barely had to bait a hook all day.

Dont go “deep sea” fishing, its boring. Drop a heavy sinker, wait around, reel it in, wonder if you have a fish or its just the sinker.

Go closer inland where you can actually feel the fish bite. Top Cat is excellent; well its almost impossible to get hold of them but they run a good boat with good quality gear. Bluefin is good as well, but I’m not sure if they are running fishing charters at the moment. Top Cat is a bit of a smaller boat than Bluefin, which is better because you dont have 15 people all tangling their lines up.

Most charters cost about $120 per person, give or take, includes gear, bait and lunch, for about 6hrs fishing. Seems expensive but compared to the cost of running your own boat, its very very cheap. You probably wont catch $120 worth of fish, but as all fisherfolk know, catching fish is just a by product of the activity.

Haven’t used Aspro, as recommended by Fender.

Cruising up from Batemans Bay to Durras along the coast is an extremely enjoyable thing to do; its very beautiful even if you dont catch fish. Great present for your dad.

ps: it can be surprisingly cold out on the boats; bring a windproof jacket and beanie.

What sort of fishing? As an ex-local I would recommend Aspro Charters for game and Steve Innes’ Bluefin Charters for general reef stuff.

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