Mount Gambier

A warm and pleasant weekend across the Limestone Coast saw plenty of fishos heading to the water. There was plenty caught on the weekend and we’ve got a bit to get through with the wrap up of the Port MacDonnell Offshore Angling Club’s Tuna and Sportsfish Tournament, and the hottest story in town at the moment, the stocking of murray cod into the Valley Lake.  Lets get into it!

The 2025 Port MacDonnell Offshore Angling Clubs Tuna and Sportsfish Tournament has been run and won for another year and despite the lack of tuna numbers, it was an exceptional competition. Over 130 competitors from SA, Vic and NSW converged on Port Mac for the week long tournament which is looked forward to by so many. Although the tuna numbers weren’t as big as some previous years, we did still see one cracking fish by Zac Currie, a 83kg gilled and gutted tuna, which ultimately won him the most meritorious tuna for the tournament. Makos are usually a hotly contested category but this year with a number of bad weather unfishable days, we saw only one weighed in. Marcus Pearson landed a beautiful 47kg fish on 2kg line, which just complimented his 18kg schoolie on 1kg line earlier in the week. Marcus and his skipper Kevin have got the light line shark fishing down to a fine art, and for a taste of how they do it, jump onto “Surfcoast Anglers” on youtube and check out just how they do it, it’s a great watch! I’ve also been told there was an albatross out there eating something that made Marcus a bit crook in the guts, so if ya know the boys, ask them about that!  There was plenty of bottom fish caught in the competition, a lovely mix of snapper, flathead, nannygai, knifejaw and terakhi came from the bottom bouncers, while inside the breakwater we saw whiting, salmon and garfish all hit the scales. The major prize is now a lucky draw, and this year was won by Mark Ewens from Victor Harbour, a very worthy winner who has fished the comp for the last 19 years! The president of the club Liam McKinnon and all his committee put on an excellent tournament and we’re already looking forward to next year.

Off the sand we’re seeing some nice shark again this week. Flynn Thomas had landed a couple of nice gummy shark earlier in the week from the Nene Valley area, and there are also quite a few salmon cruising around down there too. There has been snapper caught this week too, though we are starting to see numbers taper off a bit now as they’ll move out deeper. Salmon numbers through the Canunda NP and Carpenter Rocks have been steadily improving each week, with some crews finding some solid fish this last week during the bad weather, the better fish being up to around 2kg. the Beachport salmon hole has produced good numbers of salmon this week, with dawn and dusk still being the pick of the times. 40g metal lures are getting the bites, and when flicked out on nice light graphite 9 foot rod, you’ll spend more time in the strike zone.

Chasing garfish has been high on the agenda for plenty of fishos this week. We’ve seen some big fish in the Port Mac Breakwater, Hutt Bay, Cape Douglas and Livingstons Bay when the weather has allowed. Boaties and waders are finding the fish, so it’s a great time to give them a crack. Mullett, salmon trout and tommies are in the same areas in good numbers too and shouldn’t be too difficult to catch.

There are still some nice whiting about the place this week, one boat I know of managed to catch their 20 down at Green Point, so don’t put the gear away just yet! Inside the breakwater, Hutt Bay and Cape Douglas are all worth a crack and have produced some lovely fish. Landbased we’re still seeing a few from the Port Mac Jetty, along with the rocks at Blackfellows Caves, so get down and have a bit of a crack.

Moving onto the biggest and most exciting thing to come to recreational fishos in the mount for a long time, the murray cod stocking into the Valley Lake. I went for a drive through the Valley Lake precinct a couple of times over the weekend and seeing the place alive again and teeming with families lining the banks, out on boats and kayaks all wetting a line gives me a real warm fuzzy feeling! Another really encouraging thing to see is anglers (for the most part) doing the right thing. From putting our rubbish or old discarded fishing lines in the bins, to crushing the barbs on our hooks to look after the fish, or practising safe handling of the cod to ensure they swim off happily after a quick picture is all so great to see. Lure fishing is recommended down there as they’re just a lot better for the fish and there’s much less of a chance of the fish swallowing the hooks and getting them stuck down in their guts. A lip hooked fish is simple to release and they have a much lower mortality rate after capture, hopefully everyone keeps doing the right thing and we see our fish get bigger and bigger!

The Glenelg River is filling up now! Over the weekend I went for a spin and she’s chockablock! Most landings and shacks are now underwater, but the boats can still be launched where there are floating pontoons. Simpsons Ramp is a good one when the river is in flood, but just be careful on the other ramps as they’re very slippery. The fishing is good, plenty of bream and perch still in the river at the moment. Some of the better have been up around 40cm, while some of the perch are in the high 40cm range. Walking the sticks above Dartmoor has been fishing very well recently for Bjorn Mair and a few mates. They’ve been flicking get bent baits micro spinners and shudder baits and getting some excellent perch from the skinny water. These chunky perch put on a real fight in the -  Mulloway are still tricky to find, the boaties are seeing them on the sounder in pretty hefty numbers, but we’re still yet to hear of any big catches yet.

The forecast for the coming weekend looks like we’re getting a taste of the winter weather that’s on the way. Cool temperatures, swell and wind will make a return and slow down all but the keenest of fishos.

Until next week, safe fishing!

Coatsy.