Jamie Coates
A BIG weekend of fishing along the southeast was enjoyed by lots of anglers, both on the boats and land based.
The weather played the game right across the long weekend and I know of plenty of fish caught.
The offshore fishing over the weekend was arguably as good as we have seen.
It did not appear to matter if you were fishing over the shelf or in closer, the fish were on.
While the weather was near perfect, plenty of anglers made the trip to the shelf.
I have seen all the pictures and there were bigger waves in the Blue Lake and the fish certainly played the game.
I saw some nice hauls of hapuka, school shark, blue eye and a few pink ling.
The boaties who fished in a bit closer found excellent shark fishing, both gummy and school shark over 20kg, some ripper red snapper, blue morwong, flathead and snapper.
There did not seem to be any secret depth fishing better than another, but anywhere from 40 metres through to the shelf was productive.
In a bit closer along the coast we saw some lovely shark in that 5-15m zone and spread out too, from Green Point all the way through to Blackfellows Caves and Carpenter Rocks.
Graeme and Carly Ploenges managed a number of solid gummies down that way, definitely making the most of the weather.
The surf fishos made good use of their time and hit some spots that have not had much attention lately.
A big group of lads headed up to the Coorong for their first run of the year and found no shortage of gummy sharks.
I am not sure on the exact location, but it was a fair way up.
I am also not sure of how many gummies were caught, but there were a few hours worth of filleting.
There has been a bit of action locally this week, with the majority salmon news and everything from salmon trout to 2kg+ jack salmon have been reeled in.
The best areas have been the Beachport salmon hole, Canunda NP and Carpenter Rocks, although there have also been plenty through back towards the river mouth.
The size down that way is generally a bit bigger than our side of the mouth, and this weekend has proved no different.
A couple of kilo was the average from the river mouth through to Bridgewater and I also saw a couple of gummies from that way too.
If the walk over the hill does not put you off, the fishing is very good.
The garfish this week have been in great numbers again.
They are spread out, they are big and they are hungry.
I have heard of some great catches from all over the place such as Livingstons, Pelican Point, Blackfellows Caves and Cape Douglas just to name a few.
There has been a good mix of boaties and waders, so whichever is your style, it will not matter because they are both working.
As per usual there is plenty of by-catch again.
I am hearing of a lot of silver trevally and mullet, and there is even the odd gents-stealing whiting about in the shallows and they are always a welcome one.
Speaking of whiting, there have been some rippers caught.
It is only early, but how good is that first feed of whiting for the season.
There are no surprises as to why they are a favourite, their fighting ability is excellent, the distribution and fact you can catch them land based or out of the boat is a big tick and finally their table quality.
I think I am still yet to meet anyone who is not a whiting fan.
They have been spread right along the coast this week.
Good catches have come from Cape Jaffa and Beachport, right through the Limestone Coast to Carpenter Rocks, Nene Valley, Hutt Bay and inside the Port MacDonnell breakwater.
The fish I have seen this week have been perfect eaters, from 35cm through to 45cm, but the odd bigger 50cm+ are lurking around and don’t you know it when you hook one of those.
The freshwater fishing in Rocklands Reservoir is picking up nicely and in coming years, don’t be surprised when we have a monster write up in each fishing report about this place.
The stocking program that has been going on over there in the last three or four years is starting to produce some nice fish and as those fish mature, it will be a fishing destination much like Lake Eildon.
The cod are anywhere from 35cm to 70cm, the yellowbelly are up to 50cm and there are also some stonking bass, not to mention the trout, redfin and carp that call the lake home.
Boat and land-based anglers are all a good shot at landing some excellent fish, and they are getting bigger every day.
The Glenelg River, despite its very muddy and fast flowing appearance has actually been producing some top quality bream and perch.
There have been some nice bream caught up as high as Sapling Creek on whitebait and prawns and that success has flowed down as far as Sandy Waterholes.
The bulk of the news though has still been from the bridge area and down, on a mixture of baits and lures.
The baits doing the damage have been prawn, whitebait and live podworm, while the lure of choice has been the three-inch powerbait nemesis in cappuccino colour, plus the new gulp four-inch sandworms in a camo colour.
Small 35-50mm diving hardbodies have been getting the runs on the board for the perch fishos, with lots of those 35-45cm fish caught along the edges of the mud lake.
Mulloway news has been light on again, but there hvae been a few to 90cm caught over the weekend, just not in big numbers.
There is more rain forecast for this weekend, so no doubt more water to come down.
The forecast for the coming weekend is a bit iffy for the offshore guys, but it is likely it should be good enough for just about everything else.
Until next week, safe fishing.
