By Jamie Coates
IT was a better-than-expected weekend which met anglers across the Limestone Coast recently and other than a bit of rain about the place, the fishing conditions were fabulous.
There was plenty caught from right around the South East.
It has been a long time coming but we finally have some tuna news.
Jase Fulham from Port MacDonnell Fishing Charters found a patch of 10-15kg fish for his clients on board on Saturday, which are the first fish caught locally and a nice addition to their bag of shark, terakhi and knifejaw to take home.
They backed it up with some more fish on Sunday of around the same size, so it is safe to say now that our Port MacDonnell tuna season has kicked off.
There has been plenty of bottom fish caught this week by the boaties offshore, so between gummy and school shark, snapper, nannygai and terakhi, there has been plenty to keep them busy.
Inshore we are still seeing fabulous numbers of snapper right along the coast and the size has been mixed, which is great to see.
Some boaties have been letting go 20 or more under size snapper before they find a legal one, so that just goes to show how healthy our snapper fishery really is down here.
Some of the bigger fish I have heard of this week have nudged the 60cm mark, with plenty between 50cm and 55cm boated.
There is plenty of other species knocking around in the same spots as the snaps, such as pike, salmon, whiting, squid and a few sharks, so if you can get a bait through the snapper, you never know what might pop up next.
Speaking of whiting, we have had a dream season so far.
I know I keep banging on about how good they have been, but how good have they been?
Numbers, size, distribution – they are all excellent.
The fishing inside the Port MacDonnell breakwater has been fairly consistent for both land-based and boat anglers.
The boaties are fishing the Hammonds Drain area and to the east of the jetty, while land-based fishos are doing well off the Hammonds Drain spit and the jetty.
Other spots worth wetting a line are Carpenter Rocks, Blackfellows Caves and Racecourse Bay.
Gar have been in good supply yet again this week, with the usual haunts around Livingstons and Cape Douglas both producing nice fish.
As with the whiting, the waders and the boaties are sharing in the success and both the previously mentioned spots have great options.
Chunky gar we usually see in the cooler months are kicking around most places now, so getting a decent feed has not been too tricky at all.
As per the last few reports, there has been some good numbers of tommy ruff and mullet about in the same spots, so grab yourself a nice mixed bag of some of the best bread-and-butter fish we have on offer.
There have still been some great captures of squid this week, despite being so late in the season.
Livingstons is the pick for boaties locally, but the Port MacDonnell jetty is still holding its own for the land-based guys.
Those north of us have done well on the Cape Jaffa jetty, or off Pinks Beach in Kingston out off the boats just drifting over the weed beds.
Old faithful black and white jigs have been the standouts for those I have spoken to, but I am sure other colours will be worth a crack.
The Glenelg River is starting to produce some better mulloway and more consistently.
I have heard of a handful of nice mulloway caught down in the township of Nelson from the bridge and lower.
The trollers in the putters have managed some nice fish around the poles area, while pilchard and squid are working under the bridge for the dead bait fishos.
The bream are in good numbers it seems and they are quite well spread out.
There are plenty of fish down on the sand flats of the estuary for the boaties and land-based, and they are eating soft plastics and baits nicely.
Up the river we are seeing some nice bream and perch caught on lures around the Donovans and Dry Creek areas, with diving minnows in most brands doing the trick.
The high reaches of Dartmoor and beyond have been fishing well for those in the know.
Matty Bell fished last week and landed a fish that lots of river fishos chase their whole lives – an Aussie bass over 50cm.
There are not a lot of bass in the Glenelg and even less over that 50cm mark, so to land one, on a top water lure – that is a mean feat.
The week ahead looks very fishable for the most part, so I am expecting a big report and plenty of pictures from these next few days.
Until next week, safe fishing.
