Spot On Fishing Tackle & Outdoors Mt Gambier
South East Fishing Report 24 November 2021
A bit of a breezy but fishable weekend across the Limestone Coast saw plenty of anglers hit the water to chase the fish, and I’ve had come great reports come through already, so let’s get stuck into it!
Offshore anglers had a few windows of opportunity to fish over the weekend and there were some nice fish boated. Clint and Cam on Southerly Charters put their clients onto some nice sharks on Saturday, and a nice mixed bag of other swimmers. There has been plenty of gummy and school sharks caught between the 60mt and 100mt lines again this week, along with a few nice flathead, snapper and knifejaw. I know there are plenty of anglers waiting for the weather to settle enough to get back out over the shelf and chase the blue eye and hapuka again, so hopefully in the coming days, we do see that weather calm down.
Surf fishos have been having a decent run lately. I know of some very nice fish caught over the last week along the Coorong, with mulloway, sharks and even snapper and flathead thrown in the mix. I’ve heard whispers of a 75lb mulloway caught up somewhere between Wrights Bay and the Coorong, and a few have said they’ve seen the pictures, but I’m still waiting and I hope it’s fair dinkum! Closer to home there has been plenty of gummy shark and salmon action again this week. No real hot spot has been reported, and fishos have been fairly spread out, which is not a bad thing, nothing worse than getting to your favourite spot and it’s too busy!
Garfish numbers have been a bit hot and cold this week, but the size has still been fabulous. Livingstons Bay, Hutt Bay and Cape Douglas are all fishing well, and the Petrified Forest and Breakwater have also produced. There has been some more nice squid around this week, with the Shimano ‘Flashboost’ jigs still being the standouts once again. There are a number of tommy ruff and mullet in the same spots too, so a mixed bag is definitely on the cards.
There has been some ripper whiting caught over this last week or so. The numbers and size has been excellent, and they’re nice and spread out. Cam Von Duve and Joel Davis boated their 20 fish before 11am on Sunday in Carpenter Rocks, while I do know of a few other crews who fished Hutt Bay, Pelican Point and the Port MacDonnell Breakwater and all tasted similar success. There are some absolute rippers getting around at the moment, some even over the 50cm mark. The land based whiting fishos have done quite well in Nene Valley and Cape Douglas, while the Port MacDonnell Jetty has accounted for a few too.
Anglers are getting into some nice snapper this week from right across the South East. I know of some nice fish in the 70cm range from the last week or so caught at Green and Danger Points, while further west at Blackfellows Caves and Carpenter Rocks, there have been some more nice fish. Joe Atkins and I boated a couple of nice fish on Sunday afternoon in Racecourse Bay just fishing around the kelp, so even if you’re pretty new to snapper fishing, find some rubbly bottom or a nice kelp bed, chuck some burley down and you never know what might turn up!
The Glenelg River has started to kick back into gear this week, with more and more fish being reported. Plenty of bream have been caught by both the bait and lure fishos. Cranks Crabs and 2.5inch grubs are working well, as are prawns and real crabs. The mulloway action is starting to fire up down in the estuary now, one crew throwing 5 inch soft plastics landed some crackers to 15lb late last week, so the signs are very encouraging. There are some great perch getting around at the moment down there. Gordon Jeffrey is still finding some ripper fish on the home tied flies down in the estuary area, and those heading upriver using live minnow or surface lures are also finding some nice fish.
The weekend forecast looks a bit in the air at the moment, so keep an eye on it if you plan to head out on the ocean.
Until next week, safe fishing!
Coatsy