Jamie Coates
A BREEZY but fishable weekend across the Limestone Coast was taken advantage of by keen anglers, with plenty of fish caught right across the board.
The offshore fishing at Port MacDonnell has been busy over the last week or so, with plenty of fish coming off the bottom.
The shark fishing from 50 metres through to 100 metres has been good again and as per the last few weeks, a good mix of schoolies and gummies have been caught, with fish of both species over 20kg.
To go with the sharks, the reef fish have been great too.
We have seen some red snapper, blue morwong and flathead, along with a few nice snapper.
In trolling news, Port MacDonnell is yet to see any action from the second tuna run, but the Portland fishing has heated up.
There have been some nice fish caught over there in the last few days, from around 80 kilo, through to one caught by James Varcoe, Jason Fulham and Dylan Tincknell that was over 128kg.
The boys landed a couple of fish and both fell to a pair of Troll So Hard lures which are all hand made here in South Australia.
Over the weekend a few anglers had a crack off the beach and found some nice fish.
Young gun Connor Maidment landed his first legal beach mulloway on Saturday evening with a ripper 85cm fish caught at Browns Bay.
The guys also managed a few smaller gummy shark, which were released for another day.
The back of Beachport along the five and 10 mile beaches fished pretty well for gummy shark and salmon this weekend.
Speaking to a few of the locals from down that way, apparently the beaches from Carpenter Rocks through to Beachport were like Rundle Street.
One bloke compared it to the Kingston comp weekend, the beaches were so busy, so to catch a fish with all that going on tells me there must be plenty around at the moment.
The Coorong fishos have had much the same, gummy sharks, salmon and a few mulloway too.
The beaches seem to be getting better up there week by week, and I would expect that to be the trend from now on.
The stir up over the last week or two has been great for whiting fishos across the region.
The swell and wind whipped up a bit and gave the water back a bit of colour.
The land based fishos have had it a bit tricky with the wind and swell being a bit of a hindrance in quite a few spots, but those who are not afraid to brave the wind and rain have ended up with some nice bags full of whiting.
The areas worth a crack if you are land based are still Cape Douglas, Carpenter Rocks or the Port MacDonnell jetty.
The boaties have been doing well in similar areas, they have the ability to chase the fish around until they find them.
Gar numbers are still good, as is the size – it is just the weather that is holding us back.
The fishos in more exposed areas such as Livingstons Bay or Pelican Point have really had to pick their days, whereas areas offering a bit more protection like Cape Douglas or Hutt Bay have been a bit more accessible, even on the average days.
The by-catch is still mullet and salmon trout, but a few decent tommy ruff have been sniffing around too.
There are still a few squid when the weather allows and we are seeing some big samples too, including the odd fish over 3kg.
The Glenelg River is filthy.
The water coming down from its inland catchment areas has turned the river into a chocolate milkshake and while there are still fish there, they are playing hard to get.
The estuary area or around the Nelson township is probably the best bet for bait fishos at the moment to target a few bream.
When the tide is incoming, the flow is slowing up, so those lower sections at the moment are probably the pick.
Lure fishos have found the odd perch over the weekend, but metal vibes or quite heavily weighted soft plastics have been the go-to.
Mulloway have been tough.
I have not heard of any in the last week or so and I would expect that to be the tune until we see the flow slow a bit and the clarity start to return.
Until next week, safe fishing.
