Numbers blossom for South East anglers

WORTH THE TRIP: Dylan Pace came all the way from Warrnambool to land this gummy shark off Port MacDonnell.

AFTER spending three weeks in central Queensland and on the northern New South Wales coast, the cool weather back home has taken some getting used to, but the fishing has been red-hot.

The weather has not been all that bad over the past week or so, with plenty of boaties making the journey offshore in search of big tuna.

There has been plenty caught, with the bulk of the fish being from the 90-120m depth range.

The fish are still coming from as far east as Warrnambool and all the way through, past Carpenter Rocks and even further west.

The key seems to be finding the schools of baitfish, which is normally quite easy when they are surrounded by birds, whales and dolphins.

Plenty of anglers have been tagging and releasing big fish over the past few weeks, and it is such a good thing to see more and more of.

The bottom bouncers have still been getting some good numbers of shark over the past few days while the sea has been settled, with both gummy and school sharks being on the menu.

Deep snapper numbers have also remained quite good, with fish a bit either side of 50cm being common.

Salmon fishos have had a tough time over the past week, with weed being the biggest issue, but a few reports from locals have said the weed is starting to clear and the Lighthouse and Red Rock bays are now easily fishable.

The best fishing this week came from the Canunda beaches and right through to Oil Rig Square.

Good numbers of 2kg-plus fish have been caught and this weekend’s rough conditions should be ideal.

The salmon hole at Beachport is still producing some smaller sized school salmon, with 1kg being the average size down there.

Someone must have flicked a switch while I was away for the garfish to come on in a big way.

Big numbers of big fish have been enjoyed by anglers across the South East over the past week or two.

Fishos in the know have been regularly catching their bag limits in an hour or two, along with a few big tommies and mullet thrown in for good measure.

A few of our local gun garfish anglers have even gone as far as saying this is the best they have seen the gar in 10 or more years, so fingers crossed they hang around for a bit longer yet.

A few anglers have been chasing the whiting this week, but most only seem to be finding small fish.

The signs are encouraging though, as it is still early.

The squid are much the same at the moment, with the guys who are putting in the effort only finding the odd small one.

I would not be surprised if in the coming fortnight or so we see some good numbers.

The crater lakes around Camperdown have been on fire over the past couple of weeks, with some staggering trout around the 5kg mark being landed on a mixture of baits and lures.

Last year the run of big trout continued well into September, so if you are keen to have a crack at one of these trophy fish, now is the time.

Redfin numbers in the same lakes have been excellent – live minnow, worms or even a small soft plastic will do the trick.

The river has remained quite dirty this week, but that has not stopped the bait fishos from landing some nice bream.

Mitchell Olafsen and Chloe Wardlaw managed to catch and release 10 or so legal bream in a couple of hours just sitting on the Isle of Bags jetty on Monday afternoon.

The discoloured water has seemed to slow the mulloway down a bit, but no doubt there is still the odd school moving up and down the river, so do not pack the gear away just yet.

This weekend’s conditions will not be too inviting for the offshore guys, but no doubt the river and lake fishos will make the most of it.

Until next week, safe fishing.