That's exactly what happened to the crew of a Narooma-based charter boat this week, as tuna madness continues to grip the South Coast.

The lost fish, a giant barrel-shaped bluefin tuna, was estimated to be over 150kg.

The good news is the crew managed to land another around the same size after a five-hour battle.

It's one of many massive bluefin being hauled in by crews working the Shelf between Batemans Bay and Merimbula.

Multiple hook-ups have been common. The same Narooma charter boat mentioned above had a five-way hook-up on much smaller fish - around 50kg - over the weekend and managed to eventually land four.

These fish are up to 60km offshore, so be prepared to travel.

The best technique is to troll lures until a school is found, then keep them around the boat with a steady trail of cubed pilchards.

Estuary fishing has really shut down as winter well and truly sets in.

If you're heading to the coast over the school holidays, your best bet is to target bread and butter species like bream, trevally and chopper tailor with a bit of bait in a berley trail.

And fish as light as you can in the gin-clear conditions - this means 2kg-3kg breaking strain line, small, fine gauge hooks and the smallest size sinker you can get away with.

Anglers kayaking the backwaters of smaller, lightly fished systems around Tuross and Narooma are tempting a few superb bream on hard bodies.

The wharves and jetties are producing trevally, chopper tailor and bream.

The big wharves, like those at Eden, Tathra and Merimbula, may even yield a kingfish or two over the holidays.

The fishing action in the Canberra region always slows to a crawl in July.

There are some mid-winter golden perch and redfin at Googong, and a few reddies in the urban lakes.