A WARM and sunny weekend was a delight for anglers across the Limestone Coast, with plenty making the most of what could be our last nice weekend for a little while.
Lots of fishos made their way to the water to throw a line in, with plenty caught.
The offshore scene was a bit quiet until this weekend, largely due to the weather, but once it settled and allowed more boats onto the water, more and more fish were caught.
Tuna trollers have been back into the fish.
Most have found the fish reasonably easily in anywhere from 30 metres of water and beyond.
The standout lures so far have been black magic jetsetters and halco laser pro 190s, but if you have any lure in the water, you are a chance.
There has been a little bit of big fish talk this week – one fish of around 80kg was lost boat side off Port MacDonnell on Sunday afternoon after a two-hour fight and although the fish was lost, the signs are encouraging.
The bottom fishing has been nothing short of fabulous.
I have seen some excellent shark pictures so far, both gummy and school shark over 20kg, not to mention the nannygai, knifejaw, flathead and blue morwong that are mixed in with them.
Simon and Connor Hall boated some nice gummy shark on Saturday and a few other mixed species.
Surf fishos have enjoyed the conditions and some lovely fish have been caught.
Tyronne Box and Katherine Hibberd managed seven sharks from Browns Beach last week in an unforgettable four-hour session, keeping a couple for the table and letting the rest go.
There have been some nice salmon caught around Carpenter Rocks and the Canunda NP.
The Lighthouse Bay area has cleaned up with weed and it seems the fish are on the move.
Lure fishos have done well in there this week, casting 40g metals at them and bait fishos have done quite well on half pilchards.
Every year I see anglers struggling to cast the distance with their seven-foot rods and heavy lures, but having the right gear makes salmon fishing so much easier.
Nine-foot graphite rods, 10-15lb braid on a little spin reel and you will cast twice, if not three times the distance with only one-third of the effort.
Fishos have targeted mullet in the same areas this week and caught not only great numbers, but some thumping fish.
Get them going with a burley trail, then throw in a bunch of gents or some peeled prawn under a float and it should not take long to put a nice feed in the esky.
There are still the odd tommy ruff, salmon trout and even King George whiting mixed in with them in the shallows, so expect a few surprises.
The gar fishos have found some nice sized fish.
A few of the local gurus have mentioned there are thousands of maggots coming out of the rotting weed on the beach and into the water, so the garfish are fat and full of tucker making them a bit harder to catch.
The size has made up for the numbers, so if you stick it out, you should end up with a nice feed.
The Glenelg River is starting to fire more consistently.
The hot spots still seem to be from Hutchesson’s Landing down to Dry Creek, but if you are new to fishing that area, trust your sounder.
Find the baitfish on the sounder and that is where you should be fishing.
Jesse Davies landed mulloway to 68cm on Sunday morning around the Sandy Waterholes area and a boat down river managed fish to 85cm.
Ben Jeffrey has been at it again this week down there, harassing the local bream and perch population with cranka crabs and soft plastics.
He managed to land quite a few over the weekend, taking a quick snap and letting them all go again.
There has been some nice bream caught down the sandflats this week by bait fishos, with prawn and cut pilchard the most productive.
The forecast looking forward sees the wind down and the sea settling for the weekend, hopefully enough to let anglers back out to sea.
Until next week, safe fishing.
