Strong south-easterlies kept anglers off the water during the week, and few were game enough to venture out in the heat last weekend so it's only a short one this week but of course, there's still a few fish to be caught! This weekend is looking quite good especially on Sunday and Monday so we will be eager to see what gets caught.
Offshore: Young Max Kandage from the Tackle Shack has been on a roll this week. He jumped aboard Brett Gatt's boat last week where the boys headed out wide in search of sharks and deepwater fish. It didn't take long for an aggressive mako shark to make it's way into the berley trail, where it was promptly caught by the boys. Whilst many non-anglers frown on the taking of makos, they're found in quite good numbers here in southern Australia (unlike the northern hemisphere), and they never go to waste as they're absolutely delicious eating. Max, Brett and crew also caught some nice deepwater species off the bottom including blue eye trevalla and even a rays bream, not a common capture. Max then jumped aboard Peter Sedgeley's boat on the weekend with his dad Janaka and they found some nice school sized tuna, which have been present in good numbers off Port Fairy this week. Scott Gray has also been doing well on the school tuna, choosing to cast flies at surface feeding schools which always results in a bit of fun. Dan from Salty Dog Charters has also been getting good numbers of school tuna for his customers out of Port Fairy, and also finding gummy sharks on the same trip. It's always nice to come back to shore with a seafood banquet of fresh tuna, flake and snapper!
Estuary: The blue green algae situation is getting worse in both the Curdies River and over at Yambuk. The blooms seem to be restricted to the lake sections in each system but it's thick and green, not a great sign of things to come in a dry autumn. The Curdies has still been a very popular spot upstream of Boggy Creek where the river is clear of algae. Perch are biting well on the edges upstream still. The freshwater sections of the Hopkins are also well worth a go, with Tim Vincent finding some nice bream, perch and redfin up around Allansford. The Glenelg River is also producing plenty of bream and perch upstream too, and reports are that the mouth has closed over which will allow the waters to rise and excellent edge fishing will follow. It'll also keep the fish in the system, hopefully some good mulloway fishing will follow. Unfortunately the mulloway have been getting hit very hard by commercial netters in the Coorong at the Murray River mouth for the last few months. Coorong mulloway are our local breeding stock, with these fish coming back along our coastline following breeding and as juveniles so if they're being hit so hard in South Australia, it might mean low numbers of an already troubled fish for the next few years in Victoria which is very worrying. Still, there has been a few caught over at Nelson this week for those keen to have a go.