Jamie Coates
FINE weather over the weekend was enjoyed by anglers across the Limestone Coast.
There was a bit of everything landed, from offshore and out wide, to inshore reef fishing, off the sand, up the river and everything in between.
It has been a long time coming, but I have finally seen the first tuna caught from Port MacDonnell for the season.
Simon Hall was the lucky angler and found a school in around 35m of water that were happy to eat what he had on offer.
Anglers made the trek out to the shelf while the weather allowed on Saturday and there were some lovely fish caught.
James Varcoe and crew got onto some nice blue eye trevalla, Ryan Ritchie and his crew found some big hapuka and plenty of other species such as ling, gemfish and sharks were mixed in too.
Coming in a bit closer, there were some nice bottom fish caught out of that 80m through to 120m line.
Nathan Kilsby found a nice mix of bottom fish, with nannygai, terakhi and some solid tiger flathead hitting the table.
Wilba and the Southerly Fishing Charters crew have been putting their clients onto some lovely fish recently.
Over the weekend the guys boated a nice mix gummy sharks, tassie trumpeter and a cracking little mako shark.
Inshore, there is still no shortage of snapper around – they are everywhere.
The fish have been in as close as one metre of water, through to the deeper stuff.
It has not seemed to matter where you fish, you will find them.
Green and Danger Points have been on fire, as has Orwell Rocks, so any spot you stop down that way should find you on the fish.
The surf fishing this past week has been great for most and the fishing has been spread out.
Locally we have seen some nice snapper again and they are spread from the Piccininni and Green Point area, through Brown Bay, Factory Bay, Orwell Rocks and through to Nene Valley.
There have also been a couple of gummy shark mixed in with them and the odd bronzie too, so you never know what might come along.
Andy Barton and crew headed up around Robe for a fish over the weekend and were kept pretty busy.
A handful of mulloway just under that 82cm mark and a host of other species including elephant shark helped to pass the time.
There have been a few crews fishing the Coorong I have heard from and the reports have all been very similar.
Good numbers and sized gummy shark are still kicking around and the bulk of the news has been from the 28 mile through to the Tea Tree Crossing.
Salmon are still on the chew in spots, as are the odd mulloway, so it is definitely worth a crack.
There has been some more terrific whiting fishing again this week across the South East.
The Port MacDonnell breakwater has been pretty reliable for most, with land based anglers doing well on the jetty and boat ramp, while the boaties are fishing among the cray boats.
More whiting have come from the beaches this week too, with Factory Bay, Nene Valley and Carpenter Rocks all copping a mention.
There has been a fair bit of by-catch as well week for the whiting fishos.
Mullet, salmon trout and trevally have all been caught too.
There have still been some good numbers caught up around Beachport and Southend by the boaties in the bay and that continues further along to Cape Jaffa too.
Garfish numbers have again continued to impress this week.
Anglers are finding good numbers and good size among them.
The waders have found some nice fish at Cape Douglas, Hutt Bay, Livingstons and Pelican Point, while the boaties have done well in Cape Douglas and Livingstons too.
There have been a few caught inside the Port MacDonnell breakwater, mainly as by-catch when targeting tommy ruff, so that is another land based option too.
There have been a few anglers heading to Rocklands over the last couple of weeks targeting the yellowbelly and cod and I am hearing mixed reports.
Some have found good numbers of fish around the Brodies and dam wall areas, while others are struggling to get a bite.
The trollers are doing well at the moment, with stumpjumpers, spinnerbaits and other deeper diving minnow-style lures, while those who are casting around the heavy timber have managed a few on plastics and chatterbaits.
Bait fishos from the bank have done well on yabbies or cheese and just a traditional style paternoster rig is perfect.
It gives me great pleasure to finally have mulloway news out of the Glenelg River to report.
We have seen some nice fish from the past weekend’s Glenelg River Angling Club competition, where five nice mulloway were weighed in on Sunday morning.
Fish to 15lb were caught from the Dry Creek area, right the way up to Sapling Creek over the weekend, so they are spread out and they are in very good nick at the moment.
The bream and estuary perch fishing has seemed to slow down a little, but it is still excellent.
Bream Master SA is holding a kayak only bream tournament this weekend at Nelson where over 50 of the best bream anglers from southern Australia will hit the water for two days in search of some of the big bream the Glenelg is famous for.
It is always a great atmosphere around the fishing comps, so get down and check it out.
The weekend ahead looks fabulous for most fishos.
Hopefully you get on the water.
Until next week, safe fishing.
