By Jamie Coates
WINTERY conditions over the weekend made the fishing a little tougher than we would have liked, but it was not too bad for most activities.
The offshore fishos had plenty happening over the weekend at Port MacDonnell, with barrel-sized tuna in full swing.
Trolling lures has been the most popular method at the moment, although a few jumbos were caught on live baits.
South Australian made Troll So Hard lures have been popular this past week, with “Pink Bitz” and “Kandy Kain” colours both getting plenty of bites.
Spreader bars and daisy chain teasers are improving anglers’ chances of getting the bites, so if you do not have one or two in your spread, definitely give it some thought.
Our Local charter boats have all had a good run back on the fish again this week, managing some lovely fish for the table and letting plenty go too.
The bait fishos have done well scooping up livies.
They are quite small at the moment, but they are still getting the fish.
The bottom bouncing takes a bit of a backseat when the big boys arrive, but not all are keen on tuna.
The shark fishing is still excellent when the weather allows, and you will almost always take home a few other mixed reef species while you are out there too.
The most reliable spots recently seem to be around that 50m through to 100m zone – just find the bottom features and you will generally do well.
There have been some lovely fish caught off the inshore reefs this past week.
Plenty of snapper are still being boated, although now the weather has chilled off quickly, I would get into them sooner rather than later.
There is shark caught in more consistent numbers now and anglers are also reporting a few bigger specimens amongst them.
They were generally up to 10-ish kilos in recent weeks, but now we are seeing fish at that 15kg mark and the odd bigger one too.
There are schools of salmon, trevally and garfish popping up down the coast which are all excellent fresh baits, or tasty bycatch to put on the table.
Surf fishos have landed some more nice snapper this week off the sand.
The South East Amateur Surf Fishing Club held a competition over the weekend and Flynn Thomas took out the top honour once again with a lovely 3.5kg snapper, followed by Gaz Lawes with some nice salmon.
The crew fished everywhere from Piccininni through to Canunda and although some areas were hotter than others, I think most still managed fish.
There were some very nice whiting beached in the last week or so by surf fishos in both Nene Valley and Cape Douglas, which is excellent to see this far into the season.
Garfish numbers have still been good this week, as the protected bays have produced well for the boaties and waders.
Early signs for the winter gar are good.
A few of the keen fishos have told me there are plenty of big fish mixed in with the schools – you just have to fish through the smaller ones.
Mullet and small tommy ruff might drive you mad after a while, but be persistent, the gar will still be there.
Jetty fishing inside the Port MacDonnell breakwater has been excellent this past few weeks and I can not see it changing before the school holidays.
There have been heaps of silver trevally, salmon trout, tommy ruff, mackerel, whiting and mullet to keep the kids entertained and of an evening you are a chance at a snapper or shark.
The Glenelg River is fishing very well for bream and perch this week and the water level has just about claimed its last landing.
If you are headed to the river, pack your wellies and be careful on the landings because they are quite slippery.
There was a kayak comp held down the river over the weekend where some of the best bream fishos in Australia converged on Nelson to battle it out and they were not disappointed.
There were some cracking fish weighed in over the course of the weekend, a number of those over that magical 1kg mark.
Fishing with only lures, anglers found fish from the flats to the upper stretches and a variety of soft plastics, hard bodies and cranka crabs got the job done.
The mulloway news has been a bit slow, although there are still a few nice fish being boated.
Trolling livies is a popular and productive way to get amongst them, but dead baiting can be equally as effective.
There is a good window of weather coming late in the week and across the weekend, so I have no doubt we will see plenty of boats out on the water, both offshore or up the river.
Until next week, safe fishing.
