By Jamie Coates
A PLEASANT weekend across the Limestone Coast saw plenty of anglers wetting a line, with some nice fish caught right across the South East.
The sea was fishable, but uncomfortable for some of the smaller trailer boats, but the bigger vessels managed to head out and find some nice fish.
The shark fishing has again been excellent.
Great numbers and big fish have greeted most anglers and the distribution has been unreal.
Gummy shark to 20kg have been boated in as close as 20 metres of water by fishos just trying new ground, through to our usual haunts in 60-100m and beyond.
The guys targeting flathead late last week have reported some nice fish and decent numbers in 90-110m south of Port MacDonnell and there has been a handful of other species boated out there too.
Some nice snapper, knifejaw and even a few silver dory have hit the deck which are all tasty on the table.
The inshore fishos have done well again with the snapper and whiting.
It is not only the boaties in on the action, the land-based guys are holding their own on both fronts.
The fish have again been so well spread out that there is not one spot better than another.
The boaties have found the fish in Danger Point, Racecourse Bay and Port MacDonnell breakwater, while the land-based guys are fishing Cape Douglas, Nene Valley, Blackfellows Caves and Carpenter Rocks.
Some of the fish caught have been up over the 50cm mark which are absolute crackers.
Snapper to 60cm have been landed off the beach by a few lucky anglers and slightly bigger models from the boats, so we are spoilt for options at the moment.
Gar anglers are smiling again after a couple of weeks of quiet fishing.
The numbers along with the size are both impressive again, so now is a great time to grab the gear and head down in search of these tasty fish.
The gar are another fish which suit both boat and beach fishos, it all depends on what you prefer.
The land-based guys will fish Cape Douglas and Livingstons Bay and do well, while the boat guys will target the same areas, just out a bit wider.
As normal, a bunch of gents under a float and a constant burley trail is all you need to take home arguably one of the tastiest things to come out of our oceans.
A few anglers from here have headed to Portland in recent weeks to have a crack off the Lee breakwater, so over the weekend Wayne Little and myself thought we would head over and have a bit of a go.
Chatting to a few of the locals while over there it seems they catch all sorts off there, from whiting, mullet and squid along the first half, to snapper, kingfish, sharks and even tuna on in the deeper water towards the end.
We ended up with a mixed bag of gummy shark, snapper, whiting, coota and a selection of throwbacks which made for a great morning on the water.
The Glenelg River has fired up quite well this week, with bream, estuary perch and smaller mulloway all making an appearance.
There has not been a hot spot as such, just keep on the move until you find where they are at.
The bait anglers are doing well on whitebait, pilchard and crab, while lure fishos have found success with cranka crabs, 2.5 inch grubs in natural colours and zman slim swims.
The bigger mulloway have been elusive so far, but a couple of anglers have hooked some nice fish on live and dead baits, so things are definitely starting to happen.
Looking forward to the weekend we should see fabulous weather, light winds and flat seas, everything we could want in the South East.
I have no doubt there will be plenty of boats on the water and hopefully plenty of fish caught.
Until next week, safe fishing.
