The long weekend brought with it some fabulous weather for us fishos, and those who managed to hit the water found some great fish.

There’s heaps cover this week, so let’s dive straight in.

It’s happened! The big tuna have arrived! Over the long weekend between Port MacDonnell, Cape Bridgewater and Portland, we have heard of at least a dozen or more big tuna caught.

They have been caught from 40 metres through to 80metres and eating a variety of offerings from the trusty Bonze Exocet, Samaki Pacemaker deep diving minnows, among a selection of the other great lures that are available.

The fish have been of varying sizes so far, some fish have been in that 70kg to 80kg range, while some of the bigger models have been up over that 130kg mark, and that’s a serious lump of a fish.

It’s not all barrels though, there has been a run of bigger-than-average school fish this week.

A few boaties found tuna to 35ish kg, which is becoming more and more common for our earlier run of fish.

Skirts and divers are again the go-to for those fish, so get out there and have a go.

Bottom fishing has been red-hot again over the weekend.

I have spoken to a few crews who fished hard over the weekend and they have all said the same thing, the shark fishing off Port MacDonnell is unreal and probably the best they have seen.

It’s not uncommon for fishos to land multiple sharks in a session out there, and if you mix that with all the other tasty reef fish that are also on offer, you really are in for a cracking day.

The surf fishos over the weekend made the most of the great weather and hit the beaches far and wide.

The South East Amateur Surf Fishing Club held its annual March long weekend Coorong fishing comp over the weekend and there was some great fish caught by the members.

The overall winner for the comp was Sawmill with a nice 6.28kg mulloway, second was Graeme Ploenges with a 5.86kg gummy shark, and third was Brent Deland with a 4.66kg bronzie.

I have seen a few of the pics from the weekend and it looks like the boys all had a good weekend away and the beers were nice and cold.

Locally things have been pretty good on the beach too, Hayden Sneath has got the local snapper off the beach worked out, managing to catch and release some rippers over 60cm at the weekend, taking one of the bigger fish home for a feed.

There has also been a few nice gummy shark from the Joneses Bay area over the last week, and a couple from Piccaninnie too, so they’re nice and spread out at the moment.

There have been more whiting reports again this week, and they seem to be just as big and just as spread out as ever.

The ever reliable Port MacDonnell breakwater has been another hot spot for fishos this week.

We have seen some good catches from the land based anglers and the boaties alike, so if you have not got a boat, do not let that put you off, you’re still right in with a chance.

The size has been all over the place, some guys have caught whiting so small they did not even realise they came that little, through to a couple of absolute horses at near 50cm, which are a beast in anyone’s books.

The other land based areas worth trying are still Nene Valley, Cape Douglas and Blackfellows Caves, but definitely not limited to those spots.

If you can find an area with some nice sand holes within casting distance, then throw a bait in it, you could be surprised.

Garfishing has been great again this week with plenty of anglers making the most of that good weather.

The fish have continued to impress with both size and numbers both being great.

Our usual haunts such as Cape Douglas, Livingstons Bay and Pelican Point have been productive for boaties and waders, but I have also heard of some good fish from the Petrified Forest at Port Mac, and Racecourse Bay too.

Much like the whiting, if the conditions are right and you stumble upon an area that you think they could be, throw a bait out, give it a crack, you might just find your new favourite spot.

There were a few crews who headed inland over the weekend to Rocklands for a fish and a crack at a few murray cod or yellowbelly, and from what I’m hearing, there were a few of each caught.

Trolling lures accounted for a fair whack of them, while flicking spinners in and around the snags has also been very productive.

The soft plastic guys have been doing pretty well again while using their livescope, finding the schools of bait with fish holding them up, working the plastic to the fish and watching the whole thing unfold live on the screen in front of you.

Some will say it’s cheating, I think that’s unreal and cannot wait to try it myself.

The Glenelg River was abuzz with fishos over the weekend, I managed to get down there a bit myself over the weekend and it was so good to see so many people out enjoying the beautiful river.

First up we saw the Bream Master SA tournament held in Nelson over the Saturday and Sunday which attracted some of the best bream fishos in southern Australia.

Entrants were only allowed to fish from their kayaks and the goal was to weigh in their three heaviest fish from each day for a combined weight before releasing them all.

The fishing was pretty tough for most, but between the 50+ anglers, over 100 legal bream were caught, weighed and released.

The Glenelg River Bream Master for 2023 is Dale Baxter, with a two day total of 4.14kg.

Our highest placed local was Bodhi Pannenburg who come home in sixth position for the weekend.

Not bad for his first ever kayak fishing comp.

Upriver over the weekend saw the annual Brad Manser Memorial Fishing Competition held at Wilsons Hall.

There were plenty of families on the river for the weekend making the most of the great weather.

And although the fishing was a bit tough for most, there was still some nice bream, mulloway and mullet caught.

The champion angler for the weekend was local gun Josh Heaver who picked up a nice 80cm mulloway to lock in first place.

Josh boated that fish on Friday night, so the bar was set early and no one could catch him.

The junior section was taken out by my young fella Finn Coates with a bag of bream and mullet, all caught from Sapling Creek.

Ash Cooper fished Sunday night around the same area and boated some nice mulloway, the best around 80cm, and some nice bream to go with too.

The forecast for this weekend looks very fishable.

I have no doubt that Portland and Port Mac boat ramps will be teaming with people, so just remember to be patient, we’re all going fishing.

Until next week, safe fishing!