By Jamie Coates
A FAIRLY fishable weekend across the Limestone Coast was enjoyed by many anglers, with plenty making the most of it.
The sea was fairly flat and the wind was not too bad, with plenty of fish boated.
The offshore guys have had another good run on the bottom with some nice shark boated.
Gummy shark to around 15kg and school shark over 20kg have been boated, with the reef fish off the bottom excellent.
Red snapper, blue morwong, flathead, knifejaw and snapper have all made an appearance this week.
Those who headed wide to the shelf have found reasonable numbers of hapuka and blue eye when the weather allowed, so there is options there too.
The tuna news from Melbourne way has still been filtering through.
I have not heard of any fish coming further west just yet, but we all have our fingers crossed.
The surf fishos have been at it again this week, with more gummy sharks landed along Browns Beach and Piccininni Ponds, with some of those pushing 8kg, which is a nice beach fish.
There are plenty of salmon in the same areas as well, along with the odd elephant shark.
We should start seeing the odd soapy mulloway turn up down that way any time now and with that comes the odd bigger fish.
There have been some reasonable fish caught along the Coorong this weekend by those who fished through the breeze.
Gummy shark, mulloway and big salmon were all beached and I have also seen a couple of nice flathead to 60cm as well.
Young Josh Virgo is as keen as they get.
He and his folks spent the weekend on the beach up there for a nice bag of gummy shark.
I would expect to see the Coorong fire up over the next couple of weeks – historically speaking, October is the month when things really kick into gear.
Garfishos this week have found some good numbers in most of our hot spots.
The boaties are doing well in Livingstons and Pelican Point, while the waders have found some nice fish at Cape Douglas, Hutt Bay and the Petrified Forrest.
The size is impressive, with some anglers telling me they are the best fish they have caught all year.
A few of the gar anglers have told me this week there is some bigger tommy ruff starting to turn up now.
They have been quite small for the past little while, but there are now some bigger table-sized fish among them.
Fishos have been stuck into some nice whiting again this week and they seem to be spreading out nicely.
The Port MacDonnell breakwater has produced some nice fish and I have spoken to a number of fishos who have managed 8-10 great fish a session.
I have seen some nice catches this week from Racecourse Bay, Carpenter Rocks and Cape Douglas by the boaties.
The size looks to be fairly good right across the board, so hopefully that trend keeps up.
Land-based whiting fishos have found some reasonable fish, but not in concentrated numbers just yet.
A few anglers at Cape Douglas, Nene Valley, Pelican Point and Carpenter Rocks have managed a few in a session, but we are yet to see any bags.
Squid chasers have been into them again this week and the numbers have been good.
Last week I mentioned the early morning session was the best bite time.
It seems that has come back to bite me, with the squid better in the afternoons, on the tide changes and just before the sun starts to set.
There has been quite a number of productive jigs this week.
The Yamashita Live series have taken their fair share of fish, while the Shimano flashboost is still arguably the stand out.
There should be a few squid starting to turn up on the local jetties now, so if you are heading down that way, grab a rod and a jig and have a flick.
The Glenelg River has been producing plenty of nice bream and perch again this week right throughout or South Australian section.
The standout lures have again been the natural coloured cranka crabs, along with natural colours in grubs or minnow style soft plastics.
The rock walls and deeper sections have held the majority of fish.
Bait fishos are also having good success on the rock walls using live crab and cut prawn.
The mulloway news from this week has all come from up river.
Sapling Creek is an area that has been mentioned a fair bit, as has the Sandy Waterholes area.
I am not sure how big the fish are or how many, but they are mulloway all the same.
The weekend is looking like it will be fishable for most people at this stage, so hopefully the weatherman has it right and we can all get back on the water.
Until next week, safe fishing.
