By Jamie Coates
A REASONABLE weekend weather-wise greeted anglers along the Limestone Coast, with plenty of fish on the bite.
The offshore guys made the most of the easing seas and winds to get back out and chase a few tuna.
There was not a lot to report off the bay here at home but the guys over the border fishing Portland, Port Fairy and through to the Great Ocean Road did manage to find, catch and even release some cracking fish to 100kg and better.
The classic bonze Exocet in Paris colour has the runs on the board and the weekend proved no different.
The bottom bouncers chasing shark have had another great weekend on the water.
Gummy shark to 20kg and school shark around that 25kg mark were both boated in depths from 70 metres and beyond.
There were also some good numbers of other species, such as red snapper, blue morwong and terakhi mixed in.
The Port MacDonnell Fishing Charters crew have put their clients onto some ripper fish over the last few weeks, with hapuka, shark, reef fish and tuna.
On the sand we have seen some great salmon fishing.
While our local beaches have been productive, the salmon hole has been going bananas.
The fish have been all reasonable, with some of the bigger samples ticking over 2kg.
Flicking your metal lures is the best bet to get into them and with a nice nine-foot graphite rod, a 4000 sized reel and 10-15lb braid, you will cast a 40g slug all day and it will not feel like your arms are about to drop off.
Back through Canunda and into Cape Banks is still producing some nice fish, although they are not as concentrated as they are up at Beachport.
There has been a school of salmon inside the breakwater now for a week or so and the local youngsters at Port MacDonnell have been hooking in.
Flicking a three-inch soft plastic off the boat ramp and into the school, nine out of 10 casts has been a fish.
Garfishos have again been into them, with more reports this week coming through.
Size and numbers are both continuing to impress anglers, as has the widespread availability.
Plenty of kayakers were into them over the weekend.
Daniel Cole and crew ended up with a nice feed from Cape Douglas area on Saturday morning and a handful of cracking mullet to go with them.
But for the kayakers, there are plenty of productive spots such as Racecourse Bay, Port MacDonnell breakwater and Livingstons that are easily accessible even in a two-wheel drive vehicle and they are quite safe and protected.
The waders have reported some nice fish from Pelican Point, Cape Douglas and Petrified Forrest, though like the kayakers and boaties, any of the protected bays right along the coast that you can safely walk to are always worth a shot.
A few fishos have still been targeting reddies out in the fresh water in recent weeks and there have been some absolute beauties caught.
Mill Swamp is always worth a crack – there are lots of smaller fish in there which are always fun to catch but there are also some beasts too, some well over the 40cm mark.
Andy Barton has been boating some nice fish in the 40cm range, all taken on trolled lures which is excellent to see, even more so since winter is typically the quieter period.
Trout have continued in the Ess down at Casterton and the stocking crew is coming back this week to put some stonkers in there.
Fish over 3kg are to be released in there, so if you fancy yourself as a bit of a trout whisperer, head on down and have a crack.
The Glenelg River has been tricky to get a handle on this week.
Some anglers have found fish without too much hassle, while others have struggled.
Kobi Rothall and Kristian Fennell fished the front on Thursday for some nice bream on a mix of plastics and hard bodies.
Matt and Alex Bell got stuck into them on Saturday, boating some excellent bream and perch from the poles area.
The water is roaring out at the moment and making the electric motors work overtime, but the fish are there.
The mulloway fishing has been tricky and we know they are there, but they are hard to get a bite out of.
The coloured water pushing down has made the trolling hard work, so those getting a bite have been doing so predominately on anchor.
Getting mullet has also been a bit tricky and even if you do, keeping them alive is another battle.
Classic dirty water baits such as squid strips and spew worms will all start working well from now on.
Hopefully the water slows down a bit and makes the fishing easier for us.
The forecast for the weekend does not look bad at this stage, so I think we will see plenty of anglers make their way onto the water and hopefully next week we will have another jam-packed report.
Until next week, safe fishing.
