There’s been plenty of exceptional fish caught on the Lower Eyre Peninsula this week none more than the recreational capture of a Broadbill Swordfish. The crew who caught this fish put in plenty of time and effort and lots of boat miles and it’s an outstanding effort and congratulations to Scott Gaskell and crew. Swordfish live out on the continental shelf and are an extremely hard fish to target in SA due the distance out to the shelf, but the recent stable weather has allowed that to become a reality.

It doesn’t stop there, there’s also been at least four big Tuna some over 100kg that we know about in the last week and a bit, these fish are spread out and not just in one area and it looks like they should be here for some time. There’s a lot of interest in these big fish and there will more caught this year and it’s important to remember that if you get one of these big tuna there is so much meat on one of these fish and it would be good to see if boats choose to take a fish to only take one fish. The last thing that anyone wants to see is these big fish exploited. This fishery looks to be returning to what it was decades ago and needs to be looked after.

There’s plenty of other great fishing news and here’s what has been biting around the EP.

Elliston

Offshore there’s a mixture of Nannygai, Blue Morwong, Gummy and School Sharks from here and all the way up to Ceduna on the offshore reefs. In closer you can get a good feed of big Whiting, Snook and Squid. The jetty has Tommies and some big Squid.

Salmon news has been slow this week with not many fishers have been through the shop this week that have been up there but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t on the beaches. There will be Salmon around off the Elliston beaches.

Coffin Bay

Reports have slowed down in the bays this week but there’s still some good fishing. There is Whiting, Salmon Trout, Tommies, some Flathead and Gummy Sharks. Land based fishers have done quite well off the rocks at Dutton Bay for all of the above.

Farm Beach is fishing well with plenty of Whiting out there, the incoming tide is the best time and there’s plenty of areas that are fishing well. The Sandhills has had the most of the boat traffic followed by the deeper water areas of the fence line. There’s also Squid, Tommies, Salmon Trout, Snook and also Gummy Sharks.

From the shore in this area there’s some good Flathead and getting caught on soft plastics, including Daiwa Bait Junkies and Jackso Bone Baits are working well for them. Whiting from the shore in the area has also been good casting out to sand patches with long 9 foot rods has been best.

Offshore fishing has also been good for Nannygai and Blue Morwong out from Point Sir Isaacs and Reef Head. There are some good ones out there and Vexed Bottom Meat Jigs have been working well for them. Salmon fishing has again been good with good reports from just about all the good Salmon beaches in the area. Most Salmon are good ones around 3kg and bigger.

Port Lincoln

Land-based reports have been fairly good this week with some land-based Whiting, they might not be in big numbers, but they have generally been big ones. The town jetty, main wharf, Murrays Point, Tulka, North Shore and numerous areas within the national park all have some good-sized Whiting. Squid are also available from many of the same areas and there’s been some good-sized Flathead also caught this week mostly in the national park.

Boat news has been better this week within the bays with Squid and Whiting the main target, the North Shore, Tulka, Spalding Cove and around Boston Island are just some of the main areas fishing well. Further down the coast Whiting can be found from Carcase Rocks all the way down to Memory Cove and also at Thistle Island. Vexed Mirco Meats have been getting a good work out on the Whiting by fishers wanting to try something different in this area. There’s some big Squid also in this area and you should be able to get a good feed of Squid here.

Offshore aside from the big Tuna there is also plenty of smaller Tuna still getting around in some areas in the 10-15kg range and depending on where you fish some are even smaller. Kingfish, Nannygai, Blue Morwong and Sharks can also be caught from many of the offshore reefs from the bottom of the passage to way out to the Neptunes.

Salmon fishing is still very good along the south coast with many good areas fishing well. Wanna, Millers and the Salmon Hole are very good spots to try all mostly good-sized fish.

Tumby Bay

Flathead fishing from the beaches south of Tumby continues to fish well with mixed sized fish. There’s been some excellent fish 60cm plus caught. Squid off the rocks has also been good from some of the rocky points. Boat fishers are finding Whiting and Squid easily out at the Group and there’s also plenty of other fish out there. Snook, Tommies, Red Mullet, Trevally and Gummy Sharks also can be caught. In closer you are looking at some big Squid which are going well on the Shimano Flash Boost Squid jigs. Whiting have been coming in from many of the other grounds in close.

Port Neill and Arno Bay

Whiting and Squid fishing is said to be excellent for boat fishers from both areas. Snook, Tommies and Garfish are also there to be caught. Jetty news has mostly been all Squid from both jetties but there’s a good chance Snook, Garfish and Tommies can also be caught.           

 

We have a few windy days coming up and hopefully some rain, but the weather for the weekend is looking pretty good.

TW Port Lincoln Team