By Jamie Coates
THE seas settled and winds eased in the back half of last week, which made for a competitive final three days of the Port MacDonnell Tuna Tournament.
The 41st Port MacDonnell Offshore Angling Club Tuna Tournament and there were some absolute beauties caught.
Lachy Charleton claimed the champion angler award and also snared the heaviest tuna and most meritorious shark.
There were a couple of mako sharks caught along the way with the best being about 35kg and taken on a 4kg line.
A 20kg samson fish was caught by Andrew Flett.
There have been some cracking tuna caught, the most notable was landed on board Extreme Marine Charters and was a beast at 171kg, the unofficial Port MacDonnell record.
The surf fishing has been fairly productive for most anglers.
There have been some nice salmon caught from the Glenelg River, through Piccininni, Browns Beach, Nene Valley and Carpenter Rocks.
The size has ranged from just legal salmon trout, to a couple of beasts over 3kg and lures and baits are worth a crack.
There’s been a couple of mulloway beached this week, a handful of undersized 60cm to 80cm fish, and a couple of legal fish I know about, between 85 and 90cm.
Sharks are still active in the same areas, and there are some chunky schoolies around.
If you start getting the odd bite off, there’s a good chance they could be the culprit.
Shark fishing along the coast has been red-hot and the big school sharks are in hefty numbers.
Grady Janeway and Josh Whaites boated some nice fish along Factory Bay, with one around 28kg.
There have been some reasonable gummy sharks mixed in with most of them around the 8-10kg mark.
The snapper numbers have slowed down since the stir, but that is to be expected as the water temperature drops.
There have been some cracking whiting catches this week, despite the weather.
The Port MacDonnell breakwater saw more fishing than usual and the rough weather kept the tuna boys inshore.
Some nice whiting, garfish and mullet were boated by those who put the effort in.
The Glenelg River is staring to fish consistently, with some cracking bream and perch caught.
Gordy Jeffrey has been into fish of both species around Nelson this week.
Jeffrey fishes with his home-tied flies and they get the job done nicely.
Bait fishos have been successful this week, I’ve seen some nice fish from the sand down in the estuary, through the mid sections and into the upper reaches.
Whitebait, prawn and cut crab have been very productive, so if you can get hold of either of those, you’re in with a great shot.
Mulloway has been inconsistent, some anglers have found fish almost every night, while others have only caught the occasional fish.
The hot spots at the moment seem to be either around the poles or further up the river, with Reed Bed, Dry Creek and Princess Margaret Rose Caves all mentioned by fishos.
The forecast for the coming week looks very fishable, while the sea looks like it will stay calm, it is just the wind that could spoil the party.
Until next week, safe fishing.
