By Jamie Coates
LOVELY weather offshore over the last week or so has been awesome for the boaties heading out to the deep water and those who have been able to get out have found some excellent fish.
The bottom bouncing in 80-100m of water has been good, with some nice catches of gummy shark, flathead and knifejaw.
The fishos staying in a bit closer around the 60m zone have also found some nice shark this week.
I know of gummy shark to 15kg and some nice snapper too.
There were a few boats that went in search of tuna over the last weekend while the weather was nice but unfortunately they came back empty handed.
The signs of life were there and looked great, but they just could not manage a fish from it.
Amateurs have been getting some nice crayfish this week in craypots, drop nets and even while diving.
Calm weather and flat seas have been excellent for fishos, so let’s hope after this stir we see some more good weather so we can get back into them.
There has been plenty of anglers hitting the surf beaches this week while the weather has been nice and mixed in with all the usual rays, skates and other bycatch, there have been some nice ones caught.
Gummy shark, elephant fish, salmon and snapper have all been beached this week and a few smaller mulloway too, which is sure to spur on some of the keen guys.
The most productive areas have been Piccininni through to Browns Beach, Nene Valley and Canunda NP.
If you can get good conditions, now is a great time to head down and have a crack.
Garfish have been great again this week in most of the usual hot spots.
Livingstons, Cape Douglas and the Port MacDonnell breakwater have all fished well for both land-based and boat fishos.
A few anglers have fished Racecourse Bay for their garfish too and doing well, so that is another nice spot to try too.
There have been some big tommy ruff getting around in Livingstons Bay, which is a nice change from the swarms of smaller fish that were around in previous weeks.
Good whiting reports continue this week from right across the South East.
The best area I have heard about this week is the Port MacDonnell breakwater.
The fish coming from there might not be the biggest in the area, but they are good, consistent fish between 34cm and 40cm which is perfect plate size.
There are quite a few small fish in there too, but that is normal and a great sign for the coming years.
There are big schools of salmon trout in the breakwater at the moment, so if you like salmon for bait or for the smoker, grab the kids and the tinny and go trolling small lures around.
Even though they are not monsters, it is good fun.
The Glenelg River has been a bit slow again this week, but I do have a bit of mulloway news to report.
A few anglers have been trolling live mullet in the upper reaches of the river, around the Sapling Creek area and picking up a few fish.
The bream news has been patchy but there has been a few caught.
The best areas seem to still be Dry Creek through to Donovans, so luckily it is right in the zone where we are allowed to fish.
The Glenelg River Angling Club kicks off its 2021-22 fishing season this weekend with the first competition starting at 6pm SA time at the Donovans landing.
All are welcome and memberships are available at the sign on or pop in and see me at Spot On, Mount Gambier.
The weekend’s weather looks very average to say the least.
Wind and swell both picking up are going to make the going tough for most but the keen anglers will always manage to wet a line.
Until next week, safe fishing.
