By Jamie Coates
SUNSHINE and calm seas have been the story for the best part of the last week.
We have also had a few days with light winds thrown in which has really kicked the local anglers into gear.
Offshore fishos have made the most of the conditions, heading out to the deeper water and most have found good numbers of fish.
Robbie and Angelo Ferraro along with Ryan Kobes managed a nice mixed bag of gummy shark, knifejaw and flathead late last week in around 100 metres of water off Port MacDonnell.
I know of several other similar catches from roughly the same area, so when the weather allows, that is definitely a great option.
In a bit closer, the 60m line has produced some nice reefies such as snapper, red snapper and terakhi to name a few.
With our days getting longer and not so cool, plenty of fishos head out for a couple of hours after work and still have plenty of time to enjoy.
The inshore snapper fishing has kicked off fairly well this season.
I already know of a few crews who have put in several sessions in recent weeks and found some reasonable fish.
The bulk of the news is from Danger and Green points, but as far west as Orwell Rocks is worth a look.
The sea has been fairly flat for a while now, so a bit of a stir will not hurt but looking at the forecast, we may have to wait a little bit.
There has not been a lot of shark news from down that way of late, but I think there are two reasons.
Firstly being it is so flat and clear, the sharks prefer a bit of stir and second, a lot of anglers who would usually fish that area are making the most of the flat seas and heading out to deeper water.
We are not concerned though, this time of year we do see things start slowing down a little bit.
The whiting fishos have been doing well again this week.
I have seen some nice bags of fish from right across the South East from both the boaties and land-based anglers.
The Port MacDonnell breakwater has been fairly reliable, as has Cape Douglas and Carpenter Rocks.
The land-based guys are doing well in Cape Douglas and Nene Valley.
There are some big silver trevally mixed in with the whiting lately, so if you hook one of those bigger trevallys at two or more kilos, you are in for a fight.
Gar numbers have continued to impress this week again, and much like the whiting, the land-based and boaters are all sharing in the success.
The usual haunts such as Livingstons Bay, Cape Douglas and Hutt Bay have all produced some decent fish this week.
There has also been a handful of good ones caught inside the Port MacDonnell breakwater.
The breakwater is also producing a heap of small salmon trout which will no doubt swarm you if you burley too much in there, but being between 21cm and 30cm, they are great fun.
With the sea being so flat, we have seen plenty of anglers target sweep on the reef.
We do not get too many days each season to get into them, so make the most of it while you can.
I have seen several different rig set ups for the sweep, but my favourite is still a small float, just to hopefully give you a chance to stop them before they hit the reef.
The Glenelg River has been a bit slow again this week.
There has been a handful of bream caught that I know about, but we hope in the next few weeks once the border opens we will be able to find a few more fish and be able to spread out a bit.
The forecast is good looking forward, the sea and wind looks like it is going to be down for the remainder of this week and into next, which will hopefully see more anglers hitting the water.
As always, keep an eye on it and make the decision on the day.
The weatherman does not always get it right.
Until next week, safe fishing.
