We had it all this weekend did not we! Rain, sunshine, strong winds, no wind, it never really made its mind up.
Luckily the worst of the weather still was not too bad and fishos managed to hit the water.
There was a good number of fish boated over the weekend, so let’s get into it!
The offshore fishos on the weekend found fish from out on the shelf, through to the inshore reef systems.
Those who did venture to the shelf found some good numbers of blue eye trevalla and hapuka in the 400-450 metre depth range.
Geoff and Zac Currie boated some very nice samples of both species this weekend, including Geoff’s first hapuka.
On the way home the boys stopped for a quick drop in 150 metres and Zac picked up a ripper Tassie trumpeter just as the cherry on the cake.
Boaties from up around Beachport and Robe have been into the sharks over the last few weeks.
Wayne Walker boated a couple of beauties last Monday in the Beachport area, a schoolie over 20kg, and a beast gummy of nearly 30kg.
This time of year up that way is always great fishing for sharks in the bay there.
Schoolies and gummy shark are in good numbers and you have got the protection of the bay, so when conditions are right, it’s worth having a crack.
In a bit closer to shore off Port MacDonnell, the bottom fishing in 55 to 70 metres has remained excellent.
I have heard of snapper to 80cm, blue morwong to 70cm and nannygai over 2kg, that’s before we even mention the sharks.
Much the same to previous weeks, the shark have been awesome.
Gummies and schoolies over 20kg have been common, and some guys have been boating multiple big sharks in a session and just letting them go.
There have been whispers this week there could be tuna still sneaking about along the front, but no one has hooked up.
Speaking with a few boaties out there, one crew saw school tuna jumping in 100 metres late last week, while some cray fisherman have spotted big bait balls with birds, seals, dolphins and whales feeding on them which is exactly where the big tuna will be hanging out.
Who knows, maybe we’ll have a repeat of a few years ago and get another run of big tuna in October and November, or they could be all gone, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
The surf fishing has been good this week, and the salmon numbers are still impressive.
Guys throwing lures have found plenty in the Beachport salmon hole again this week, with a real mix of sizes coming through.
If the weather is perfect for us, it’s usually too good for the salmon, and they’ll be hanging back hard on the reef.
It’s the fisho with the perfect beach set up that can get the most distance who will catch the most fish on those sorts of days.
On days where the sea is up and the wind is blowing, they’re in the middle of the bay and just about everyone will be within casting distance.
The Canunda and Carpenter Rocks fishos have found some more nice fish this week, but it seems to be the bait anglers with the upper hand.
The concentration of fish is not like that of the salmon hole, so the beauty of the baits is the fish will come and look for the smell.
Generally, the Canunda fish are of a bigger average size, but I’m still yet to see any proper thumper 4kg fish this year.
Hopefully we do see a late run of them, or if people are catching, they’re just keeping it to themselves.
In other off-the-beach news, there’s been a few early season whiting caught this week around Cape Douglas, Nene Valley and Carpenter Rocks in the late arvos which has been great to see.
If you have never chased whiting from the sand, give it a crack, it’s bloody good fun.
While we’re still talking whiting, there were some more crackers caught this week.
The Port MacDonnell Breakwater has been on the go again this week, the boaties have had no trouble finding a nice feed of whiting, while the land based guys fishing the jetty and boat ramp in the evenings have both been finding some good fish.
Other areas for the boaties have been Green and Danger Points, Blackfellows Caves and Carpenter Rocks.
There are a few trevally around now, so get into them as well.
Garfishos have had another great week on the fish, and to echo the last probably 8 weeks now, it’s been a good even split of fish between the boaties and the waders.
The usual hotspots are all still producing well, such as Petrified Forrest, Hutt Bay and Cape Douglas, Livingstons Bay and Pelican Point, but like we all know, a sheltered bay over some ribbon weed will produce too, so we can spread out, there’s plenty to go around.
The size is still excellent and they’re showing no real sign of backing off, so get down and have a crack.
October is always a great month for the squid fishos in Livingstons Bay.
We just need a couple days of flat seas and the water clears up just nicely and is perfect for squidding.
There have been some absolute beauties caught over the last couple of weeks, one beast I know of weighing in at 3kg.
I have not heard much from the Port MacDonnell jetty from the squidders, but I did notice a few fresh ink spots on the jetty over the weekend, so they must be starting to kick into gear now.
The freshwater scene has been full of news the last few weeks, with all the trout lakes still producing some nice fish, but the biggest has been Rocklands.
There has been some very nice fish caught over there recently, with callop, murray cod, aussie bass and redfin being boated.
Dark grub style soft plastics have been the go-to for the bass and yellas, with the most successful anglers finding the fish on the sounder, then targeting them until they either get bit, or the school moves and they find something else.
I have seen a few nice yellas off the bank up there too this week, little yabbies on a paternoster fished close to the structure is a great start, but scrubworms, live minnows or even cheese are other options too.
The Glenelg River has fished well again this week for the bream and perch guys, with some beauties to 50cm being boated.
Trolling 50mm – 100mm deep diving minnows is the best bet for boaties down there, brand does not seem to matter, just make sure you get a bit of depth out of it.
Wayne Little had a red hot session early last week just before the sun went down, boating good numbers of fish to 48cm, even having a few multiple hook-ups.
The mulloway news again has been patchy and light on, but there have been some fish caught.
The estuary has been the main area for activity, and if the water starts to clean up and become nice and tidal, I think we’ll see more and bigger fish filter through.
The coming week definitely looks fishable for most anglers, as usual, keep an eye out on the swell and wind if going offshore.
Until next week, safe fishing!
