By Jamie Coates
A BREEZY but fishable weekend across the Limestone Coast was taken advantage of by anglers, with plenty making their way up the river, inland or along the surf beaches while the swell was up.
The offshore guys were hounded by the bigger swells over the weekend, meaning only the bigger boats had the opportunity to fish.
Those who did venture out found excellent numbers of gummy shark and some more good fish amongst them, to around 15kg, including snapper, terakhi and nannygai.
There is no tuna news to report locally just yet but like previous weeks, the baitfish, temperature and marine life out there is exactly what we are looking for … it is just a matter of time now.
There has been plenty of mako shark news from off Portland and Bridgewater the last few weeks, so with a bit of work, I have no doubt could see a few turn up off Port MacDonnell.
The surf fishos have been stuck into the snapper again from the beach.
They are really spread out across the South East, from Deep Creek and Factory Bay, through Nene Valley and Blackfellows Caves, plus even a few from the beach in between Southend and Beachport.
A strip of squid or half a pilchard is perfect and also gives you a chance if there are any gummys or mulloway sniffing around.
While you are in those areas, throw in a smaller rig for a few whiting.
There have still been plenty around from the beach and all of those places are productive.
Craig Philp and Andrew Alnutt fished Wednesday last week and managed 18 fish between them, with the black magic KL 1/0 whiting hooks the weapons of choice.
Boaties chasing the whiting have enjoyed the stir from the last week and it looks like it has kicked the whiting into gear again.
Dave and Patty Staskevicius found some great whiting in the breakwater on Sunday arvo, the best a bit over 46cm, so some good quality fish are getting around.
The gar numbers have picked up more and more each week over the last month or so.
Fishos are back getting there 10-15 big fish each session which is a great couple of feeds.
There is no secret when it comes to the gar – small hooks, live gents and burley, that is it.
Land based or on the boat, it is the same either way.
While you are chasing the gar, you will find mullet, salmon trout and Tommy ruff mixed in and possibly even a silver trevally or two.
The Glenelg River is fishing well for bream and perch.
The bait fishos have done well just about everywhere, with prawn, whitebait and crab the best baits.
The lure guys have done well from Dry Creek down to the mouth and a mixture of cranka crabs, zman 2.5 inch grubs and gulp nemesis plastics have been the most deadly.
There have been a few Mulloway caught but the size and numbers are still both up and down.
Hopefully we see the mulloway fire up over the next few weeks and the size improves too.
The coming weekend looks like it might be windy at this stage, so up river or inland might be the best bet to wet a line.
Until next week, safe fishing.
