Jamie Coates
THE past week has been good for most anglers on the Limestone Coast.
The winds have settled, the sea has backed off and the fish have been on the chew.
There have been plenty of fish from offshore over the last week, with all sorts boated.
The anglers fishing over the shelf have found some cracking fish in the deep water.
A nice mix of hapuka, pink ling and blue eye have been reported, along with grenadier and gemfish mixed in too.
In a little closer there have been whispers of school tuna caught off Port MacDonnell, but no specifics have been reported just yet.
There has been plenty on the go for bottom bouncers chasing sharks, with both gummy and school shark on the menu.
Fish of both breeds to 20kg were boated in all depths from 55m and beyond, along with a decent mix of reef species too.
Those fishing for snapper have had another good run, with several fish in the 60cm range boated and plenty slightly smaller.
They are still well spread out across the South East with most of the usual hot spots producing.
Reports are coming in thick from Danger and Green Point and Orwell Rocks to the east of Port MacDonnell, while from the west, Cape Douglas, Nene Valley and Carpenter Rocks are all worth a look.
Land based there are some good fish being caught too.
Paradise has produced fish to 66cm, along with some smaller gummy shark, elephant fish and salmon.
Surf anglers have been making the most of the decent weather with plenty hitting the water.
The South East Amateur Surf Fishing Club had a cracking competition on the weekend which resulted in good fish weighed in.
The winner for the weekend was Hayden McPherson with a nice mulloway and a gummy shark which combined for a total weight of just over 11kg.
There was a good variety of fish caught and weighed in during the competition, with shark, snapper, salmon and even a crayfish hitting the scales.
In other surf news, it has been snapper dominating the news reports lately.
From Piccininni and Browns Beach, through to Nene Valley, Carpenter Rocks and Canunda, it is snapper central.
There have been some nice fish in the mid-to-high 50cm range landed which is encouraging to see.
There have been smaller gummy shark to 5kg landed and still a handful of smaller mulloway, so hopefully there are some bigger fish in there too.
The stellar whiting season continues with that mid-week stir we had last week being just what the whiting needed.
The size and numbers remain impressive and they are still nicely spread out.
Land-based anglers have found success at the Port MacDonnell jetty, Cape Douglas, Pelican Point and Carpenter Rocks, while those on the water have found good numbers in Racecourse Bay, the Port MacDonnell breakwater, Hutt Bay and Blackfellows Caves.
There have been a few nice squid boated by the whiting anglers too, so chuck a jig out the back under a float and you can not go too far wrong.
There have been a few nice bags full of garfish caught this week by the waders along the coast.
The typical spots like Livingstons, Cape Douglas and Petrified Forrest have been productive and those on boats have found good fish in Cape Douglas and Pelican Point.
Some anglers have reported the fish to be quite finicky and tricky to catch, while others have had no trouble.
Stick with it and you should manage a feed.
Plenty of anglers have had a field day catching bream down the river.
Excellent numbers and impressive size has greeted those using both lure and bait right along the river.
The bream have been spread right along the river and I heard of fish from up as high as Saunders Landing over the weekend on bait and down to the sand flats of the estuary.
The mulloway were up and about over the weekend too, with fish to 90cm boated by trollers on Sunday.
They are spread out like the bream, but the bigger fish still seem to be from Donovans and down.
There are still good numbers of perch around too and trollers using galaxia minnows or similar 9-10 foot divers are finding some crackers.
I have had a few anglers mention the river seemed quite still and wondered about the mouth, but as I put pen to paper it is still open and flowing.
The forecast for the coming weekend looks good at the moment and I have no doubt we will see plenty of anglers hit the water and make the most of what could be our last ripper weekend for a while.
