Fishing: No shortage of shark

FIRST OF MANY: Jackson Thomas and his first snapper, which was caught over the weekend.

DECENT conditions over the majority of the last week have seen plenty of anglers take advantage and head out on the water.

I have heard of some excellent numbers of fish caught from across the Limestone Coast and if this weekend’s forecast stays as good as it is currently, we should see plenty more again.

Offshore fishos have been catching some excellent fish again, with most favouring the 60m-100m line.

The shark fishing has been fantastic this season so far and we are not seeing any signs of it slowing down any time soon.

I am hearing plenty of reports of anglers catching and releasing up to six gummy and/or school shark in a session and only taking one home for a feed.

There have still been good numbers of terakhi, knife jaw and blue morwong mixed in with the sharks, so getting a nice mixed bag of bottom fish for a feed should not be too much of a struggle.

The flathead news has slowed a little and although the numbers have not been quite like we are used to in recent weeks, the size has been making up for it.

The tuna news has been excellent from Warrnambool through to Portland, but locally from Port MacDonnell back to Cape Jaffa has been a bit slower.

I do not know if there is more anglers specifically targeting tuna over the border than we have here, or the numbers just have not built up yet, but there is definitely no need to worry just yet, it is still early days.

Local surf anglers made the most of the nice weather over the weekend and headed for the coast where some reasonable fish were landed.

A few blokes made the trek to the Coorong and just the same as recent weeks, the closer to the mouth you go, the better the fishing seems to be.

That said, there was some nice shark caught in the tea tree area with gummy and bronze whaler sharks to 18kg beached.

Salmon numbers were excellent in the lower reaches, with a few of the bigger examples around the 2.5kg mark.

I heard of a few mulloway between 82cm and 90cm, but they were spread out and in no particular area.

The local surf fishos found some great salmon fishing through Canunda, 2kg fish through Whale and Channel Rocks were caught, along with several smaller 1kg fish all the way back to Lighthouse Bay.

There have still been a few snapper caught from Orwells Rocks and although most have been just around the legal length, the odd bigger fish are still sneaking around.

Snapper numbers have remained brilliant, some excellent numbers of bigger fish were caught around the kelp beds of Green and Danger Points.

Nathan and Jackson Thomas fished the weekend and managed several snapper to 70cm, including Jackson’s first snapper, a beauty at 67cm.

Nigel Telford has done a few trips into the same areas over the last week or two and has found excellent numbers of mulloway, with his best fish nudging the 110cm mark.

There have still been the odd whiting and shark poking around down the coast, so there are always plenty of other options for if the snapper are not playing the game.

Whiting fishos have had another great run of fish, with several fish over 40cm being boated.

The Port MacDonnell breakwater has been consistent again, with good numbers of fish coming from all corners of the bay.

Carpenter Rocks has produced several good fish again, there is not any real secret to catching the whiting at the Rocks, but keep on the move until you find the fish.

Salmon trout can be a bit of a pain when chasing whiting, but they will keep the kids entertained.

I have seen some beautiful gar caught over the last 10 or so days, with some anglers managing their limit in under an hour.

Most however have commented on how big the gar have been of late, often comparing the thickness of the fish to that of a beer bottle, so half a dozen fish like that is an excellent feed in anyone’s books.

I know of several mullet and tommy ruff catches in the same areas and one lucky angler also managed a couple of monster bream which took a liking to his garfish bait and they put up a massive fight on ultra-light tackle.

Fishing on the Glenelg has been fantastic again.

I know of a few mulloway caught in the estuary and a few caught in the upper reaches.

Mitch Olafsen, Kodie Robertson and Brock Wardlaw landed some nice bream and mulloway over Friday and Saturday evenings, with bream to 40cm and a few mulloway in the high 60cm range, the boys had an excellent trip.

David Moulden has continued his form again, boating seven nice mulloway over two trips and some lovely bream.

There does not seem to be a real hotspot for bream at the moment, they are nicely spread out.

Estuary perch anglers have been catching some beauties on top water lures of late and quite a few of those fish have been up in the high 40cm range.

Sapling Creek and higher seems to be the best bet, but like the bream, they are fairly spread.

As I put pen to paper, the conditions for the weekend look excellent, but as we know, it is likely to change a dozen or more times between now and then, let’s just keep our fingers crossed.

Until next week, safe fishing.