WINDY conditions over the last weekend made the going a bit tough for most fishos, but the dedicated few who fished the small opportunities of calm weather found some fantastic fishing.
There were only a few short chances to get offshore last week, but a handful of boats did venture out and brought home some lovely table fish.
The 60m-80m line produced more nice sharks this week, with gummy and school sharks to 15kg being landed.
There are also plenty of snapper and knife jaw coming from those depths, so the variety is good.
The 100-metre area has continued to fish well for flathead, with both sand and tigers to 2.5kg being boated.
It has been a while since we have talked tuna, but this warm weather has stirred up plenty around the Portland area.
Fish to 30kg and bigger have been caught on a mixture of diving minnows and trolled skirts, with some only being a couple of kilometres from shore.
There are reports of excellent numbers of fish around Kangaroo Island and off Victor Harbour at the moment, so I do not think they will be all that far away.
The kingfish in Portland have been good this week.
Fish to 12kg have been taken on trolled squid strips around the North Shore, so that is another excellent option.
Snapper fishos have been having a ball recently.
Excellent numbers of big fish have been caught along most kelp beds between Orwell Rocks and Green Point.
Brad Benson managed some lovely fish on Tuesday, with snapper in the 50cm range, and a nice mulloway that measured over one metre in length.
There have been a few smaller shark caught in the same areas over the last week or so, but no monsters as yet.
There are still reports of plenty of baitfish in the area, so the signs are still good.
The whiting fishing has been brilliant yet again, fish have come from far and wide this week, and the average size seems to be holding around the 40cm range.
The Port MacDonnell Breakwater again has been consistent, and although there are a few undersized fish mixed in, the legal fish have been beauties.
Green Point, Carpenter Rocks and Beachport have all been fishing well this week, and cockles or fresh squid are doing the bulk of the damage.
Garfishing has been good this week, with Livingstons Bay and Cape Douglas being the two hot spots in the region.
Waders and boaties have been doing as well as each other, though the boaties have better access to the squid which are still hanging around in good numbers also.
Mullet and tommy ruff numbers have been good too, so there are plenty of options if the gars are a little bit slow.
Yabbies have been going well this past week, and with the heat we are copping, it should only fire them up more.
Lakes and swamps across Western Victoria have been producing plenty of big yabbies and it is great to hear of fishos doing the right thing and taking only what they need for a feed and releasing all berried females.
The Glenelg River has been fishing well this week, plenty of mulloway news from the estuary – fish to 80cm have been boated – and some bigger fish have been lost boat-side.
Cathy and Grantly Mills boated several on Tuesday night to 75cm and also a dozen or more nice bream, all on cut pilchard.
Up river, the guys fishing around the Dry Creek to Princess Margaret Rose Caves area have done well, but bream, perch and mulloway all being mentioned.
Increased boat traffic over the next few weeks can shut fish down during the day, but the morning and evenings sessions usually make up for it.
The next week’s forecast looks very reasonable for most fishos, so no doubt we will hear of plenty more caught in the next few days.
Have a safe and happy new year, and we will catch you next week.
