Welcome back to another big year of fishing reports, whinging about the weather and other general fishing chit chat. I hope everyone has had a fabulous Christmas and New Year’s break and have managed to wet a line!
There’s been plenty of action around the Limestone Coast since I last penned a report, so let’s get straight into it!
The offshore fishing has been very hit and miss over the past month or so, with the mixture of the ice cold Bonney Upwelling, unrelenting south easterlies and some pretty unseasonal swell, offshore anglers have had a tough time. There have however been some anglers though who have managed to find some reasonable fish though the Chrissy break.
Starting out wide on the shelf, I’ve seen some really nice catches of blue eye trevalla, gem fish, blue grenadier and ocean perch, but they haven’t come easy! Moving around and changing the drift angle has been the key, and those putting in the effort have been finding some very nice fish. James Varcoe and crew found some nice blue eye, one of their bigger samples being a beauty at 17kg.
In a little closer, the water has been a bit chilly at times, but those out there having a crack are still finding a feed. The jiggers using their 80g – 150g metal jigs in the 100 metre line have found some lovely flathead of late, and a nice mixture of sandys and tigers too! The metal jigs are that good, Glenn Sparks even managed two flatties on the same jig!
There has been a few nice shark and snapper out there taken in the same sort of depths, but as I mentioned before, moving around and finding the better water is worth doing. There hasn’t been a lot of action out of that 60ish metre area from the last couple of weeks, and that’d be solely due to water temps. As soon as we see it clear and that nice cobalt blue
colour return, the hot fishing will be right behind it.
There has been plenty of surf fishing news to report this past few weeks, the amount of snapper being caught in over the last month or so has been staggering. We’re not only seeing just legal fish from the sand, there has been some real big fish, some over 80cm! That’s a cracker in anyone’s books.
It’s not only the snapper that have been keeping anglers busy over the holiday break, there has been some excellent whiting, gummy shark, elephant fish and even some big sea bream mixed in with them! It doesn’t seem to matter where you fish at the moment for the snapper, they’re very well spread out along the coast, the go-to area has been Nene Valley, but I’ve heard of some of those bigger fish coming from Piccaninnie, Deep Creek and Canunda. One crew have been walking to the mouth of the
Glenelg River and wetting a line down there and have found some nice snapper, gummy shark and they landed a 96cm mulloway too which is sure to get tongues wagging.
The whiting fishing inside the Port Mac Breakwater has been excellent for the past few weeks, and with the ever changing conditions in the open and unprotected areas, it’s always a great option. The size in there is usually pretty decent, with most legal fish being between 34cm and 40cm, though there are definitely bigger samples on offer.
There have been some more nice fish caught at Carpenter Rocks, Blackfellows Caves, Cape Douglas and Hutt Bay, so keep on the move and you’ll almost always take home a decent feed.
Whiting fishos have been finding some very nice silver trevally in their whiting areas recently, and when you hook some of these 2kg + models that are often cruising around, you’re going to know about it.
Gardies are a great summer target species here on the Limestone Coast. All of our jetties, protected bays, areas with seagrass beds and sandy patches will usually produce chunky garfish. Accessible, great fun to catch and in my opinion, one of the best table fish in the ocean mean that the local gar definitely tick a lot of boxes. The waders and boaties share in
the success most of the time with a bunch of gents under a float dong the damage, but still, dark nights are perfect for the dab netters, who not only get plenty of big gar, but mullet, tommies, squid and almost anything else you can think of.
The local jetties of an evening have been alive with anglers all out there chasing a few fish. There has been quite the selection on offer too including snapper, whiting, trevally, tommy ruff, mackerel, squid and a tonne of others that I’ve missed.
The Port MacDonnell Offshore Angling Club summer fishing competition is in full swing at the moment, and there’s been some cracking fish caught by the youngsters in the South East. It’s not too late to get involved, jump on the PMOAC Facebook page for more info, or pop into the shop and we’ll
give you a flyer with all the details.
The inland fishing around Rocklands Reservoir has been exceptional. I’m very excited for the coming years to see the place really boom and turn into a year-round big cod destination. There aren’t only cod though that are making anglers all hot and sweaty, the yellowbelly and aussie bass that call the dam home are monsters and can be found a variety of ways. Soaking a bait from the bank, flicking vibes around the timber, flicking surface lures around the shallows or dragging a big stumpjumper behind the boat are all tried and proven ways to get a fish on up there.
While we’re on the topic of natives, there’s some fabulous news from the Mt Gambier City Council in recent weeks to let us know they’ve approved the first process of stocking of native fish into the cities Valley Lake. There’s still a little way to go in the process, but the ball is rolling and that’s an excellent thing for the region.
The Glenelg River fishing has been fairly good for the most part. Bream, perch and mullet numbers are excellent and show no real signs of faltering. The mulloway on the other hand seem to have lockjaw! It seems to be a similar story from most anglers, the fish are there, we can see them on the sounder, and apart from the odd reasonable fish here and there, we just can’t seem to get them biting! Not to worry though, they’re going to have to eat eventually, and I just hope it’s sooner rather than later! The upper reaches of the river, say from Dartmoor and above have been good for the bait fishos, but the lure chuckers have had a tricky time. There’s a bit more colour in the water than we’d usually expect for this time of year, but once that settles down, we should really see those top water perch bites go bananas.
This weekend we’ll see the Coorong come alive with anglers for the Kingston SE Lions Club Annual Surf Fishing Contest. With a weather forecast that is the best we’ve seen in years, I have no doubt there’s going to be plenty of anglers on the sand.
Until next week, safe fishing!
Coatsy.
