Jamie Coates
ANOTHER warm weekend in the South East was taken advantage of by anglers both offshore and on land.
With water temperatures improving and the sea in good condition, we are seeing some really good catches.
The offshore fishing has been decent for the most.
I have seen a bit of everything from gummy and school shark, flathead, tassie trumpeter, snapper, nannygai and plenty of other species too.
I am still yet to hear of any tuna landed off Port MacDonnell, but there must be some promising signs out there so far.
Anglers have reported plenty of birds, dolphins, whales, seals and baitfish out there, so all the tell-tale signs suggest they are not far off.
A few fishos have headed out wide to the shelf when the weather has allowed, but the fishing has been hit and miss.
The blue eye numbers are not too bad and some boats are finding a nice feed, whereas hapuka have been quite tricky to find.
There are still plenty of gemfish, blue grenadier and ocean perch to fill the eskies, along with the makos and other sharks we find out there.
Surf fishing this past week has been fairly good for most and I know the snapper are still in good numbers, with some solid fish among them.
Wayne Little landed his two snapper Sunday morning around Nene Valley and picked up a nice gummy shark to top the trip off.
Flynn Thomas has been catching some nice snapper this season and this week was no exception.
Fish over 60cm have not been uncommon for Thomas and he always moves around.
If they are not in one spot, he will keep moving until he locates them.
There have been a few crews fishing the Coorong while the weather has been nice and the word is there are no shortage of sharks up there, along with a handful of mulloway – some legal, most undersize.
Inshore snapper fishing has been great again this week with plenty of solid fish reported.
The average size seems to be creeping up around that 50cm range, though many are quite a bit bigger.
The fish are also well spread out now which is excellent to see.
Some anglers have been fishing in a metre or less of water and finding great numbers, while others are fishing the deeper stuff and having similar success.
Matt Burdon and crew found some rippers over the weekend, with not a single fish under 50cm.
It is not just the boaties finding the good fish either, with the landbased anglers finding both the sand and the rocks productive and the size has been just as good.
There have been a good mix of bycatch in with the snapper too, including whiting, salmon, trevally, flathead and even a couple of elephant sharks.
Speaking of whiting, they seem to have kicked into gear.
More consistent numbers and a better average size has been welcomed by fishos both from the boats and off the beach.
The fish in the Port MacDonnell breakwater have been great.
Those fishing from boats and the jetty have been finding a decent feed with sunrise and sunset still the most productive times.
Off the beach, Nene Valley, Cape Douglas and Carpenter Rocks have all fished well and I would expect them to only improve from here.
The garfishing has been excellent while the sea has settled down.
We are seeing some nice fish coming from the Cape Douglas, Hutt Bay and Livingstons areas and it is both the waders and the boaties getting in on the action.
As is always the case, a steady burley stream and some live gents under a float are the way to go.
There have been some nice tommies and trevally in the same areas as the gar, so whether you are on a bait collecting mission or fishing for a feed, you should find some nice fish.
The Glenelg River has fished well again for bream and perch and they are spread up and down the river.
Those using bait have found some nice fish in the Dry Creek to Sandy Waterhole area, with whitebait and crab the best of the baits.
Lure anglers have covered some ground and we are seeing some nice fish from those guys.
Down on the flats flicking plastics, or up in the sticks, there has been some rippers caught.
The mulloway anglers have again had a tough time finding one big enough, but we are now reliably hearing of undersize fish starting to be caught in decent numbers, so hopefully that is a sign of things starting to fire up.
The forecast for the coming weekend looks like we are in for another fishable few days, but there is a fairly substantial spike in wind and swell on Friday that will keep a few off the water.
The long-range forecast looking into next week looks decent again, so do not pack the gear away just yet.
Until next week, safe fishing.
