T
he famous American author/
fisherman Zane Gray put
Bermagui on the map, and
for good reason. He came
here more than 80 years ago
for the fishing and found just so much
more. Thankfully, it’s still there – plus
lots more!
Tucked in behind a rocky headland
and situated well off the Princes
Highway, Bermagui has retained its
fishing village atmosphere. It is one of
the few ports on the east coast to face in
a northerly direction looking over miles
of white sandy beaches and hinterland
forests to the magnificent backdrop
of Mt Gulaga (Mt Dromedary). Hence,
Bermagui is somewhat protected from
the southerly swells of the Pacific Ocean
and offers a deep water entrance to the
harbour set on the Bermagui River. A
wharf was built in the 1870s to service
coastal trade and the remnant pylons
still jut out of the rocky cove just to the
east of the river mouth serving a distant
memory of days well past.
Bermagui is situated on the Sapphire
Coast of the Far South Coast of NSW
just 400km from Sydney, 280km from
Canberra and 680km from Melbourne.
The name Sapphire Coast reflects
the beautiful deep-blue colour of the
Pacific Ocean where the rich indigo
current brings warm water, abundant
food closely followed by the pelagic
tuna, marlin, whales and a huge variety
of marine life.
Bermagui marks the closest point
to the Continental Shelf (around 13
miles) from the east coast mainland,
and the beautiful Montague Island is
just 22km north and a few kilometres
seaward. Here the rich waters well up
with heaps of baitfish bringing in the
predators. Game fishing is big businessin Bermagui, yet gone are the days of
massive amounts of carcasses scattered
throughout the harbour with most
catches nowadays being tagged and
released. The marlin, sharks and tuna
that are captured are proudly displayed
and photographed and then stripped
to the bone with lucky onlookers often
scoring a free bag of fillets. If you are
an onlooker it is always worth having a
placky bag handy at the cleaning tables
just in case of the offer of free fish fillets,
if you don’t catch your own of course.
The Bermagui River offers a relatively
safe entrance to the harbour in all but
the most severe storms and heavy
seas. Of course, there have always
been screaming north-easterlies
raising their ugly heads particularly on
summer afternoons, and the Marine
Rescue Bermagui team is there to
advise newcomers of the local weather
conditions. The headland provides
an ideal vista to inspect the entrance
before any seaward adventure, and it’sCLOCKWISE FROM TOP All sorts gather
but game boats predominate in
Bermagui’s sheltered harbour; Flathead
are a favourite catch; The Blue Pool is a
great spot for a swim and a fish; Marlin
rising, a Bermagui game fishing staple.42 tradeaboat.com.au