By Jamie Coates
IMPRESSIVE weather was just what the doctor ordered down here in the South East over the weekend and plenty of anglers made the most of it, with some nice fish caught.
The offshore guys had been waiting for a run of decent weather and to get it over a long weekend was just that little bit sweeter.
Crews made their way out to the shelf over the three days for a crack at the deep water and most were not disappointed.
Hapuka to almost 30kg were boated, along with plenty of blue eye, pink ling, gemfish and blue grenadier.
The 450m and beyond seemed to be the magic number, although some guys were a touch deeper.
In a bit closer we saw some lovely fish from the 60-100m marks.
Probably the most notable capture was Jamie Williams fishing with Clint, Carn and the crew on Southerly Charters who managed to boat himself a 20kg+ samson fish.
The guys also managed blue eye, snapper, shark and flathead just to top off the day.
There has been no shortage of school tuna this week out the front of Port MacDonnell, anywhere from 40m to the shelf has produced, but be willing to keep on the move until you find them.
There has been some barrel news from just over the border in Portland – a 111kg fish was boated out wide – so let’s hope they are on their way back to us.
The inshore shark fishing this weekend was excellent.
We saw gummy shark nearing the 30kg mark and schoolies in the tall 20kg range too.
Brad Kain and Sally Czerwonka landed some crackers in 10m of water off Race Course Bay and I also saw some nice fish from other boaties out there too.
Surf fishos got onto some nice fish over the weekend.
The bigger salmon have started to fire up in the Canunda NP.
The old drain, Whale Rock and Channel Rock have all fished well for bait fishos, while lure casters have done pretty well inside the Beachport Salmon Hole.
Fish to 3kg have not been uncommon this week and it is great to see those big fish back again.
There is still smaller lumpies around Cape Banks for the lure casters, but the flat seas over the long weekend made the fishing a little slower than we would have hoped for.
A bit of a stir up is forecast for this week, so I have no doubt they will fire up very soon.
Gar fishos were making the most of the calm conditions to try their luck at bagging a few.
The Cape Douglas and Livingstons areas fished fairly well and there were also some nice fish caught at the Petrified Forest at Port MacDonnell.
There have been some nice tommy ruff and mullet mixed in with the gar, so anglers are getting a nice mixed bag.
There were a few boats that targeted the sweep while the conditions allowed and there were some nice fish boated.
The sweep fishing is something we can not do all that often because of the conditions, so when it all lines up, it is great fun to get out and have a crack.
The Glenelg River has been a little quiet, but there were a few fish caught over the long weekend.
The mulloway were slow, but a few fish in the 60-70cm bracket were caught.
Even with the ET numbers for cross border members, anglers are still a bit reluctant to cross the border, so the majority of news has been from the SA section.
The Reed Bed to Dry Creek stretch was probably the most productive for both mulloway and bream, although there were some nice fish caught down at the bottom border below Donovans.
Bait fishos have done the best on prawn and crab, and the lure guys have been using natural coloured grubs and cranka crabs.
The forecast for the weekend looks pretty average, so I think the river or inland is going to be the best bet for most.
The stir will be good for the salmon at Cape Banks to fire up, so play it by ear and see what happens.
Until next week, safe fishing.
