By Jamie Coates
WIND and rain belted the Limestone Coast over the last week or so and made the offshore fishing difficult.
A few of the bigger boats made the journey out and found some excellent fish, as did the anglers up the river or off the beach.
Wilbur and Carn from Southerly Fishing Charters put their clients onto a mix of fish, boating some nice shark, pink ling, tuna and other species.
There are plenty of signs of big tuna out there at the moment.
The birdlife, the baitfish, whales, dolphins and seals are all in big numbers – the only thing missing is the big tuna.
They are still catching some big fish down off the Great Ocean Road at the moment, so we just need to sit tight until they turn and head back our way.
Green and Danger points have both continued to produce nice shark for the boaties in around the shallow reef areas.
School and gummy sharks are both on the chew in that 5-10 metre area.
Just look for a broken, reefy bottom with a big rise or fall and you should be right in the area.
There has been a bit of bait in the same sort of areas too, so a fresh salmon, mackerel or even a garfish is an excellent thing to catch.
Surf fishos have found some nice salmon this week.
I have heard of fish to 3kg up at the Beachport salmon hole late in the afternoons, but those nice lumpys of around 1-1.5kg are generally there most of the time.
The fish in Redrock and Lighthouse bays are not quite as big as those 3kg specimens, but fish to 2kg are caught quite often and the numbers are usually pretty good.
Lures and baits are both claiming their fair share of fish, so which ever you prefer to use should see you heading home with a feed.
Gar numbers seem to be slowly improving this week, with more of our usual hot spots productive, such as Livingstons Bay and Cape Douglas.
There have been some nice catches reported from the Petrified Forest at Port MacDonnell and Racecourse Bay.
I have heard a few people start talking tommy ruff this last week.
The size is pretty good so far and it sounds like the numbers are also on the improve.
There have been plenty of fishing trips that have been cancelled all of a sudden and we are seeing plenty of those trips moved up to the Murray River.
There is some amazing fishing to be had up that way and some beautiful spots to see.
Wayne Bromley and Sue Ayers had their Victorian trout trip cancelled by the latest Victorian outbreak but changed their plans and headed north to the river.
They trolled a handful of different lures such as stumpjumpers and oar-gees for several nice callop, some over 2kg.
If you do not have a boat, the bank fishing is just as hot.
Grab yourselves some live shrimp or a bunch of worms and you are set.
The Glenelg River has finally started to kick back into gear and there were some nice fish caught.
Anglers from the South East who have their ET number have fished in the upper sections of river this week and found some cracking estuary perch.
One crew had a session late last week and boated upwards of 50 estuary perch to 45cm, 20 bream to 38cm and a mulloway at 80cm.
They said the higher they went, the better the fishing was.
Ben Jeffrey and Craig Turner hung a bit lower and fished the Dry Creek to Donovans section with cranka crabs and found some crackers, boating around a dozen fish to 42cm.
I have not heard much news from down low in the river, but I would not be surprised if the mulloway have started to turn up in the estuary.
This time last year there were fish in the high 30-pound range caught by trollers, so hopefully they are here again this year.
As I pen this report, the forecast for the upcoming long weekend looks absolutely fabulous.
The wind and swell are both shaping up to be the best we have seen in quite a while.
Until next week, safe fishing.
