Cracking weather over the last little while has seen fishos flock to the water and wet a line.
And be it tourists or locals, it seems like plenty of anglers are finding the fish.
We have a bit to cover this week, so let’s get straight into it.
The offshore fishing has been unreal over the past week or so.
All depths, and all sorts of species have been caught recently.
One that I covered briefly last week but did not have all the details of was the 160kg Mako shark landed by Georgia Hood.
Fishing with her old man Andrew and crew, they managed to not only hook the beast on a regular bottom bouncing rig, but also land the shark after a pretty impressive aerial display, a real credit to both angler and crew!
The bottom fishing over the shelf has been excellent, we have seen some nice catches of pink ling, gemfish and blueeye, there’s been the odd hapuka mixed in with them, but pretty few and far between.
On the Mako front, there’s been a handful of varying size Makos popping up around the boats out over the shelf, with the odd one being hooked and landed.
In a little closer we’re seeing some fabulous catches of flathead in the 90mt through to 130mt depths.
Some absolute rippers have been landed too, up near the 80cm mark.
Gummy and school shark have been red hot once again, that 100mt depth and shallower has been very reliable.
There has been a number of nannygai and snapper caught in the 50mt to 80mt depths on the jigs, which is quickly becoming the go-to way to nail a feed.
The Port MacDonnell Offshore Angling Club is holding an info night for the public on Friday night (January 10) at the clubrooms by the boatramp.
It’ll be a relaxed night with new and existing senior and junior club members and will have all the info you need if you think joining the club is for you.
Kicking off at 7pm, it’s sure to be a good night down there.
The surf fishos have been having a bit of a crack while the weather is so nice.
We have seen some nice fish coming from the sand over the last little while.
Snapper have still been the go to for surf fishos this week, with some of the better fish being up around that 60cm range.
Gummy shark are still on the table too, some reasonable fish to 8-9kg have been landed, along with the odd school shark.
Bronzies are still in pretty solid numbers, and we’re seeing plenty of them caught right along the coast.
Canunda has been the hotspot for the bronzies, so make sure you have got a bit of wire on.
The Coorong has fired up nicely in the lead up to the surf fishing comp, I have seen decent mulloway, sharks, salmon and even a few random big flathead and snapper caught, so if that’s any indication, hopefully we’re in for a good comp.
Whiting fishos this week have been making the most of the conditions.
The boaties and landbased anglers have both been getting in on the action, there has been some hefty bags caught over the last week, and some really solid fish in amongst them.
We’re seeing some cracking whiting over the 50cm mark pretty reliably now, and they’re fairly spread out.
They used to be a bit of a rarity in most areas, but now we’re seeing a whole heap more.
Along with the whiting, there has been some chunky silver trevally, a few flathead and on the real nice days, even a few nice sweep.
Garfishing has been excellent with the calm and warm weather.
The numbers, size and distribution have all been super impressive this week, and it’s great to see so many kids out having a crack for the gar.
They’re fun to catch, very accessible and as far as table fish go, one of the best you’ll find down here.
Livingstons Bay, Nene Valley, Pelican Point or Cape Douglas are generally reliable areas worth targeting and all have areas suitable for wading or launching the boat.
The Glenelg River has been extremely busy with tourists and locals alike all keen to hit the river, and although the fishing might be a bit tough in the day time, the evenings are definitely worth having a crack.
Mulloway are sniffing around down there, and although they’re not monsters by any means, there are some nice fish amongst them.
The bream and estuary perch are still fishing well and right through the length of the river.
Some of the better fish I have seen have come from the sandflats on soft plastics, such as gulp sandworms or rapala crush city grubs.
Bait fishos have done well on cut crab, pilchard and prawn.
The forecast for the remainder of the week looks absolutely unreal.
Dead flat seas, light winds and warm daytime temperatures should be a real treat for us fishos.
Let’s hope they have got it right!
Until next week, safe fishing!
