FISHABLE conditions have greeted us for the first few days of the new year, and I have already seen some magnificent fish have been landed.
The offshore guys have wasted no time in getting back onto the water.
Boaties fishing in the 100m line have reported some excellent catches of flathead, terakhi and even the odd shark mixed in too.
Huey Magarey managed to tag and release a nice mako shark earlier in the week, along with a nice mix of other bottom fish.
In a bit closer, the 60m line has produced some more nice fish this week, gummy and school shark have been the most prolific, but there have also been reports of nice blue morwong and nannygai.
Green and Danger Points have produced some nice fish over this past week, with a nice mix of species being reported.
Jerome Amoroso and myself fished with Chris Hoggan late last week for half a dozen snapper to 60cm, 30 or more undersized mulloway and a couple of bite offs.
Nigel Telford has been landing some beauties only a stone’s throw from the beach, with his best nudging the 70cm mark.
I have also heard of a few elephant shark being caught during the new year’s period by the boaties, so that is an awesome sign.
The surf fishos have been doing well this week, and although locally the weed has been a bit of a nuisance in spots, there are definitely plenty of fishable beaches.
The best reports so far have been from the Coorong where I know of some crews landing upwards of 15 fish in a session.
Mulloway and shark have been the hot topic, but I also know of a few nice snapper too, some being in that 6kg bracket, which is an outstanding fish off the beach.
The mulloway have been excellent size, with fish to 15kg being caught consistently.
The sharks have varied in size quite a lot, some guys will catch heaps of smaller 5-8kg fish, whereas others will only catch a handful of 12-15kg fish, so it really is luck of the draw.
Browns Beach through to Piccininni has fished reasonably well, with some decent gummy shark being caught, and one mulloway over 90cm that I know of.
It should only get better from now onwards, so those who make the most of the weather will do well.
Garfish catches have remained excellent for both the boaties and the waders, with the best reports coming from Cape Douglas and Livingstons Bay.
The numbers have been fantastic, and the size has also been good.
The Port MacDonnell breakwater has produced some nice gar as well for the guys on the jetty.
Just remember to throw out a small burley trail, and you will bring them in from miles around.
Mullet and tommy ruff numbers have been great again in the same areas and the size keeps on getting better and better.
There have been plenty of whiting caught since we last spoke, they are spread out at the moment, so it is hard to pinpoint one particular location.
Boaties have found nice fish at Southend, Carpenter Rocks, Nene Valley and the breakwater, while land based guys have been doing well off the Beachport Jetty, Blackfellows Caves and in the breakwater.
Fish up to and over 50cm have been caught, so they are absolute monsters.
The Glenelg River has been reasonable, mulloway reports have come from the estuary, right up to the caves, so having a good sounder will definitely improve your chances of finding the school.
Live mullet or cut pilchard seem to be the best bet for the mulloway at the moment, but a squid strip is always handy to have out.
The bream and perch have been good this week, guys fishing the upper reaches have done well on a mixture of surface lures and lightly weighted soft plastics.
Perch upwards of 45cm have been landed, as have bream around that 40cm mark.
The bait fishos have been doing the best on prawn or whitebait thrown unweighted into the snags, but hang on as it often does not take long to get a bite.
The weekend forecast is for a 39 degree day on Saturday, but back down to the mid 20’s by Sunday, so it will be much more pleasant.
Until next week, safe fishing.
