Jamie Coates
An unseasonal blast of warm weather delighted anglers right along the south coast over the weekend and it has came at the perfect time to coincide with the remainder of the Port MacDonnell Fishing Competition.
After a few ugly days early on in the competition, the weather improved as the week progressed.
The sea laid down, the winds died off and the fishing definitely heated up.
There were some cracking tuna caught over the week and it was great to see the juniors put their names on a few of the big ones too.
Ben Virgo and Jake Walkom are a couple of young guns who both landed a ripper big tuna each, among several other species for the week.
There were also a few out of the ordinary fish boated.
A few crews managed to find some dolphin fish (mahi mahi) which are quite uncommon for our area and the cooler waters.
Jai McDougall pulled up – and released – a sunfish from 150m of water, which from what I could gather from talking to a few people is pretty rare.
There were some great sharks caught.
Victorian Marcus Pearson is a gun when it comes to big shark on light line and he managed a school shark over 20kg on 2kg line.
It is an incredible considering that is lighter than most of us fish for garfish.
Corey Edwards won the heaviest mako section with a nice 34kg fish on 8kg line, then the boys had one bite through the trace only an hour or so later that was probably double the size, so if you are thinking makos, it is a great time to go for a look.
Tag and release champion is always hotly contested and this year it went to Tyson Kain, the skipper of Want To Fish Charters.
He managed to tag and release three of his own barrels for the week, landed one that is a pending state record on 60kg line and still managed to get others onto the fish.
He also had his daughter Scarlett onboard for a few days and she not only managed to win the heaviest red snapper for the juniors, but also landed her first tuna.
Keep an eye out in the coming years – I don’t think this is the last you will hear in the report from Scarlett.
Champion angler for the competition went to Portland’s Shane Sanders, another absolute guru when it comes to big fish on light line.
This week alone they boated tuna, school and mako sharks among all their other species, plus they also picked up champion boat, heaviest mahi mahi and heaviest sweep.
Lastly, this year’s major prize of the boat, motor and trailer was won by a bloke who has fished a huge number of Port MacDonnell tuna competitions over the years and he is a genuine great fella – well done Max Barrett.
In other fishing news this week, we were starting to see salmon numbers start to build, but as soon as the sea flattened off and the weather calmed down, so did the fish.
It is alright though, they would not have gone far and rest assured there is more stirred seas and strong winds on the way.
The Canunda area was fishing well before it slowed and you will probably still catch fish down there when you try.
Whale Rock, Channel Rock and Oil Rig Square have all been noted productive areas through Canunda and the Beachport salmon hole out the other end.
Carpenter Rocks has been good in the late afternoon, with lure and bait fishos sharing the success, but the family of seals in there have been giving anglers a bit of a hard time.
Garfish numbers have been good.
After the blow late last week, things have settled nicely and we are seeing the usual haunts all producing fish.
Livingstons Bay has been good for both boaties and land-based anglers, as has Cape Douglas.
If you are just wading, Hutt Bay and Petrified Forrest are both fishing well.
The mullet and tommy ruff have been good in all those previous mentioned areas, though the size is varied.
There have been a few barracouta in the same areas coming up the burley trail, so if you are getting the odd bite off and not knowing what is happening, there is a fair chance they are your culprits.
There has been some nice whiting caught this week.
We typically do not talk whiting in the cooler months, but this week I know of some beauties.
Andrew Hood boated fish just under 50cm in the Danger Point area, while others found success in the Port MacDonnell breakwater, Nene Valley and Carpenter Rocks areas.
There are still a few nice whiting coming from the beaches too.
They might not be in the numbers we expect through the summer months, but the size usually makes up for it.
There are also a few sneaky late season snapper still cruising the same areas too, so get ready if you hook one of those on the whiting gear.
The Glenelg River is still producing some nice fish this week.
I have seen the first confirmed 20-pound mulloway for the season and it came from down the bottom on the sand.
Fishing live baits under floats to keep the weed off the hooks was the only way to get the fish and it definitely paid off.
There has been more caught up river again this week, but the size has been varied from tiny little 30cm fish, through to a couple of solid fish in the 80 and 90cm range.
Bream and perch numbers have still been good.
Some of the better fish I have seen this week have been from up river, around the Sapling Creek area.
Live minnow under floats have been the number one bait if you can find them, but fresh whitebait or live crab is a close second.
Until next week, safe fishing.
