By Jamie Coates
A WARM weekend across the South East was welcomed by locals and tourists and plenty made their way to the water to throw a rod in, with some great fish caught.
The offshore scene has been fairly busy this last week.
We have seen the weather settle enough to allow us back out deep and plenty of boaties have taken advantage.
There were some great shark caught over the weekend.
Noel Doody boated a nice gummy at 24kg, along with a couple of others in the 60-metre area.
There were some nice flathead caught out at 100m by the drifters using a mixture of baits and jigs.
We have seen mainly sand flathead, but there is the odd tiger being boated too.
Knifejaw, terakhi and latchet fish have been in good numbers around the same areas, so expect a few of those guys.
There still is not any local tuna news to report, but the Portland guys are catching some nice 30kg and bigger fish in fairly close on the north shore, with even a few solid kingfish mixed in.
It will not be long – they will turn the corner shortly.
Surf fishos are already chomping at the bit in preparation for next weekend’s Annual Kingston SE Surf Fishing Competition.
There have been some encouraging reports from up that way over the last week or so.
Shark, mulloway, salmon and even snapper and flathead has been caught.
Blokes are not saying too much as to where they are catching them at the moment being so close to the comp, but just drive until you find some reasonable water.
You only have to have a bait in the water to be a chance.
The local surf fishing has been fairly good apart from the weed.
I have heard a few reports this week that it has been particularly bad in some areas, while other spots have been virtually weed free.
There have been a few nice gummy shark caught locally, a couple bumping the 10kg mark, also a handful of mulloway, but most have been undersize.
There are still some pretty good numbers of salmon around, which has been great for those catching fresh bait.
Whiting numbers have been excellent again this week.
Most anglers have taken the opportunity when the wind has dropped to wet a line and they have found some great fish.
Cape Douglas and Red Rock Bay have been the best bet for landbased fishos, while the boaties have done well inside the Port MacDonnell breakwater, Racecourse Bay and down around Danger Point.
There has also been some thumping silver trevally caught in the same areas as the whiting which have kept anglers hands full.
There are still good numbers of garfish, squid and tommy ruff caught in Livingstons Bay of late, which is encouraging to see as we head into the warmer months.
Get the burley trails going, which should bring on the gar and tommies, then hopefully the squid will not be far behind them.
Trolling for snook in Livingstons is also great fun and something you can do all year round.
Small metal lures of soft plastics are excellent – just find three or so metres of water and you are set.
There have been some nice fish from the Glenelg River this week.
I have seen some nice mulloway and bream catches from all over the place.
The Glenelg River Angling Club had its first fishing competition of the 2021 season over the weekend and it was great to see plenty of people come and have a crack.
Paul Bingham won the men’s section with a nice mulloway of 75cm and young Aidan Minge won the juniors with a 65cm mulloway.
Plenty of bream were caught too, with most taken on prawns.
There have been some nice perch caught up river on soft plastics.
Anglers have taken advantage of the calm mornings and found some nice fish.
The week ahead looks a bit cooler than the last one and hopefully the wind and swell both back off a bit too.
We are all itching to get down and get back into the fish.
Until next week, safe fishing.
