Jamie Coates
A BREEZY but fishable weekend for the South East saw plenty of anglers hit the water.
There was news from the offshore guys, the surf fishos and up the river, plus everything in between.
Tuna fever is still running strong for the boaties, although the bulk of the news has come from Portland and Cape Bridgewater.
The fish seem to be holding up behind the island in 30 to 50 metres of water and from almost all reports, they have been all caught on blind strikes, away from the action.
There is nothing wrong with that – boats are a bit more spread out and can cover a bit more ground.
It is still worth trolling around bait work ups, but it is not the be all and end all.
Port MacDonnell is still producing some nice fish but they are more spread out, the same as over the border.
There are also plenty of school tuna still out there for those not too interested in the jumbo-sized fish.
The size has ranged from 8kg to 15kg, although the odd bigger one could be mixed in.
Riley Haines boated a nice 15kg fish in 40 metres off Cape Douglas over the weekend in fairly average conditions while fishing with his father.
I have heard of plenty of others between 20-100m of water in all directions off Port MacDonnell, so keep an eye out for birds and bait out there.
You should not struggle too much to find them.
Bottom fishing has been excellent when the weather has allowed.
The shark and reef species have been good from 50m through to 100m and beyond, with school and gummy shark both receiving a mention.
Other deep species this week have been terakhi, snapper and nannygai, which all seem to be in decent numbers.
The surf fishing this week has been good, with some decent salmon to six pound caught.
Canunda, like recent weeks, has been the hot spot for those bigger fish but the numbers at Cape Banks and the Salmon Hole are still impressive.
The South East Amateur Surf Fishing Club held an open competition over the weekend and the boys managed some decent fish.
The winner was Aumgmoe with a 2.51kg salmon, beating Graeme Ploenges by a couple of hundred grams.
A few keen anglers have hit the Coorong over the last fortnight or so and I have had mixed reports.
Some anglers have been weeded out to the point where it is unfishable during one tide, then an hour later there is not a speck of weed on the beach.
The fishing has been good though.
I have seen mulloway from “soapies” through to legal fish, along with some cracking salmon and a handful of sharks.
Keep an eye on the conditions up there and also keep an eye on the beach – it chops and changes so much and can change dramatically even through one tide cycle.
The garfish have been on the chew over the last few weeks and this past week has been no different.
The fish though the Petrified Forest, Cape Douglas, Livingstons Bay and Pelican Point have been in great numbers and of excellent size, which is pretty typical of our South Eastern winter gar.
The waders have probably had the edge this week, while a lot of the popular boat launching areas have been inundated with piles of weed.
Those anglers who timed it right or are properly equipped to launch in the weed have still found some great numbers.
As has been the case for previous weeks, the bycatch of mullet, trevally and salmon trout have been consistent again through the same areas and I would expect that to continue.
A few anglers have had an early crack at the squid in Livingstons Bay and there has been some success.
The numbers might not be like we are used to in September and October, but fishos have been catching 3-5 squid in a session, which is a great sign for the impending season.
Hopefully we see the squid in good numbers again from the Port MacDonnell jetty.
The dredging works are just about completed now and the water clarity should bounce back quickly, so hopefully with that, the squid do too.
Fishos in the Glenelg River have found some nice bream and perch from Dry Creek and downstream.
The colour has arrived in the water now and the fishing in the upper reaches seems to have slowed up a bit.
Kristian Fennell has been into the bream and mulloway again this week, managing some lovely bream over a kilo and mulloway of varying sizes.
There have been a few reports this week of mulloway from down around Donovans and Taylors Straight, with some of those fish pushing 15 pound.
The colour we are seeing in the river now will kick things into gear, so now we are all just waiting on the news of the first big fish.
A swelly and breezy weekend is forecast now, but there could be patches of decent weather when fishos can hit the water.
Just keep an eye on the weather and make the call.
Until next week, safe fishing.
