Abloomin’ shocker across the Limestone Coast made the fishing a bit tricky over the weekend, but as we always see with our keen anglers here in the South East, we cannot help ourselves but to wet a line, and those who did found some lovely fish.


The offshore scene here over the long weekend was non existent. 


The swell, wind and overall weather conditions kept even the keenest of anglers on terra firma.


Prior to the weekend we did see a few flat calm days which allowed the crews out. 


Trollers saw plenty of signs of life and found some good numbers of school fish to 14kg, and the bottom bouncers did well on the gummy and school shark, along with the nannygai, flathead and snapper from 60mt and beyond.


Inshore anglers have found some nice fish before that poor weather hit the coast.


There has been a few gummies and schoolies boated along the coast, along with a few salmon, snapper and even a few late season whiting too.


My favourite story of the week is young Charlie McDougall who boated a pending state and Australian record school shark while fishing with his old man Jai McDougall. 


The fellas were fishing down along the coast around the Danger Point area and the young fella boated a beauty. 


It’s really awesome to see so many kids getting into their competitive offshore fishing, and if you have ever considered joining a game fishing club, the Port MacDonnell Offshore Angling Club is a ripper.


When the weather turns foul, plenty of anglers turn their attention to the humble Aussie salmon, and this week has been no exception. 


Fish to 2kg and even a little bit bigger have been boated in the Cape Banks area this week, and it does not seem to matter if you’re a metal flicker or bait is your thing, the success has been shared.


Canunda NP is still producing some serious fish this week, but a few of the reports from anglers heading along the track in there have all said the same thing and that is the track is tough going.


Big whoops, a few deep waterholes, some tricky hills, but if you’re well prepared, it’s good fun too!


Chasing gar has been on the radar of plenty prior to the long weekend, and some real nice fish have filtered through. 


Hutt Bay, Cape Douglas, Nene Valley and Pelican Point have all been areas that have produced, and it does not seem to matter if you’re putting the boat in or going for a walk, you should still find yourself taking home some of (in my opinion) our best eating fish from our local area.


With the big seas of winter stirring up plenty of weed, we see the swell dump plenty of that kelp and sea grass on the beaches around the Limestone Coast. 


While it might be pretty ugly and smell a bit, as fishos it’s a pretty big asset. 


Once the seas dump the weed on the beach, it’ll start to rot and breakdown, attracting flies and all sorts of insect larvae which you’ll find throughout the weed. 


As the tide comes up and hits the weed, the receding water sucks out the weed and insect larvae, essentially ringing the dinner bell for all the mullet, garfish, salmon trout and tommies that might be in the area.


The freshwater scene has been a bit of a saviour in this poor weather with plenty of anglers heading somewhere inland. 


Rocklands is always a popular spot over the long weekend and despite the weather, I still heard of plenty of campers up that way. 


The fishing has been a little slower than perhaps the last few weeks, but that said I did also see some ripper yellas, reddies and a couple of nice chunky cod too.


Locally our Murray cod seem to be settling into the Valley Lake just nicely and we saw a couple of really nice fish caught this weekend. 


Alex Augustatious landed a ripper from his kayak, and young gun Leni Clifford boated a solid one trolling a stump jumper from his new boat.


The Glenelg River has not wasted anytime getting back to its absolute best, with the fishing never even showing signs of slowing up. 


Bait fishos have probably had the upper hand this week, with plenty of lively bream and perch being landed on whitebait and prawn flicked in along the banks, but the lure guys are definitely holding their own using 2.5 inch natural coloured minnows and deep diving small crank baits.


The mulloway news is frustratingly quiet again this week, but I really do not blame the fishos for not wanting to sit out overnight the last few days. 


Hopefully we start to see a few turn up down there in the coming weeks, there’s good amounts of bait in the river, so it’s only a matter of time.


The forecast for the coming week looks like we’re in for a fairly calm but possibly wet week ahead, which I’m sure not too many of us will grizzle about, but the weekend does look like we’re gonna see that wind start to puff again, so just keep an eye on that.


Until next week, safe fishing!