Apart from the everyday amateur fisho, the weekend warrior and mum dad and the children fishing we had three fishing tournaments in the area.

The Squidgy Southern Bream series was held on the Clyde River with the usual turnout with good numbers of boaters and kayakers contesting the event.

Following up from last year Liam ‘Emu’ Carruthers along with his team mate Paul Wilson took out the event with a nice bag of bream weighing 3.45kg.

Well done guys and it’s a top result in a hard tournament.

I say hard tournament because any other day of the week the Clyde can be a great bream fishery but come tournament time things change.

You have weekend boat traffic to deal with, the pre-fish princess flogging the place days before hand (giving the fish lock jaw) and then you have conditions and tides come tournament day, which are usually far from perfect.

When you take all things into consideration I think these lads did pretty well to win - so again so congrats to them.

The weekend just gone also saw the running of the Pertek Challenge fishing comp.

This is one of the largest comps and probably the most contested fishing comp in Australia.

This tournament brings an influx of fishos from out west, up north and down south to our local waters each year making it a busy weekend on the water.

I think it’s a testament to our great fisheries and climate attracting these fishos from all over the state and it also helps our local economy as they buy up on fuel, food, tackle and beer for a weekend of fishing fun.

The Shoalhaven Open was also run last weekend and although only a small fleet of boats fished there were a few marlin encountered during the tournament, giving us some indication that the marlin season hasn’t quite finished yet.

The next month or so can be an exciting time on the water for game fishos as the water begins to change. 

It’s known as the crossover period where there is still a good chance of catching a marlin and an average to good chance depending on the currents of catching a nice size tuna. 

Kingfish are also a real autumn proposition in our area although locating them can be the issue as they move around following the food source, changing their menu from slimeys to yakkas to squid.

A lot of the time the kingfish can trick the smartest of anglers. 

So why not make the most of these beautiful autumn days perfect for heading for the horizon chasing these species.

Away from the tournament scene there have been some nice catches over the past week with snapper in close south of JB are taking soft plastics.

Some tailor are roaming the Basins drop-offs, readily taking trolled lures and some nice snapper at night are being caught in the deeper water.

With the addition of a couple of 100 more artificial reefs into the Basin over the past week or so this place is only going to get better.

You can catch up with us on facebook at McCallums Tackle World Nowra or call into the shop for the latest in all things fishing.

Be good and stay safe 

Johnny out