Despite the cooler weather there has been no shortage of good fishing reports coming in from over here with great fishing on offer for a variety of species.

The surf fishing season for big green back Australian salmon is now at its peak with some thumpers being caught from Beachport right up to the Coorong. The offshore anglers are also grinning ear to ear with good numbers of bluefin tuna being taken off Port MacDonnell in what is shaping up to be one of the best tuna seasons we have enjoyed for several years.

The deep water areas offshore of Robe in depths from 60-150 m and beyond have been producing some great bottom bouncing when favourable sea conditions have prevailed. Great eating fish such as snapper, gummy shark, hapuku, Tassie trumpeter and ling amongst many others are all here for the taking. It’s a real lucky dip at times as you just never know what you are going to hook up to next out here.

Interestingly a few large samson fish to 20kg have also been caught off Robe over the last month or so just to spice things up a bit.

There are still schools of bluefin tuna travelling through the same area so it pays to keep a look out for any bird activity while fishing the offshore areas here and have a few game rods ready rigged just in case.

The surf fishing around Robe has been excellent for big salmon to 3kg at most beaches but the more popular spots have been Bishops Pate, Back Beach and the Boundary Hole. Simply bait fishing with pilchard, squid or surf poppers on a paternoster rig works well along here and a little bit of berley such as chook pellets soaked in tuna oil will help keep the salmon in your fishing area for longer. Casting metal lures has also been working very well. A few mulloway to 80 cm have also been taken on these beaches lately as well.

The salmon hole at Beachport has been firing for salmon on days of big swell with most fish being 1-2kg. Surfcasting metal lures along the reefy areas has been working well here as has bait fishing with pilchards.

The bream lakes at Robe fish very well this time of year with Lake Battye being the pick of them. There are some very large bream present and anglers fishing from canoes and kayaks do very well using soft plastics and small hardbodied lures. Bait fishing from the jetty very early in the morning and in the evenings with prawn, whitebait or pilchard pieces is also working well.

The bluefin tuna fishing has been very good over the last few months and still shows no sign of slowing down yet. Trolling lures in water anywhere from 30-1000m of water is producing good numbers of bluefin when good sea conditions prevail. Most of the bluefin are around 15-25kg but a number of huge fish in excess of 100kg have been taking this season.

Good numbers of albacore up to an impressive 20kg are also being taken but mostly in the deeper water out toward the shelf. Most anglers troll a mixture of divers such as Rapala X-raps or Halco Laser Pros and skirted lures such as Jinkai ‘lil jerks or Pakulas.

Bottom bouncing in water from 60-150m has been producing some very impressive table fish such as hapuku, Tassie trumpeter, knife jaw and blue eye. A few nice samson fish around 20kg have also been taken here recently as they have been off of Robe, so perhaps we have a new samson fishery to explore and figure out in these waters.

The fishing has been terrific in the Glenelg River lately with most locations from Pritchards to the mouth fishing well. A number of small to medium size mulloway have been about in the Donavans to the caves stretch and are being taken on trolled lures and baits such as pilchard and mullet. A very impressive 7kg mulloway was taken down toward Simpsons landing recently on a trolled Rebel Fastrac lure just to prove a few big fish are about.

Big estuary perch and some nice bream are being caught lure fishing along the edges around Sapling Creek up to Pritchards. Local Glenelg river guru Shane Lowery has been catching some very impressive bream and perch using hardbodied lures along the edges with a twitch retrieve back to the boat. Soft plastics and vibes are also working very well on the bream and perch along here.

Bait fishing with crab, prawn and small freshwater yabbies is also working very well on the bream particularly in the evenings.

Despite the cooler weather, a few mulloway are still about with a few being taken up to 90cm. Fresh salmon fillet has been working well on the mulloway along here and the evenings have been best. The weed has been bad along here at times particularly during the new moon periods. When weed is a problem here it is usually best to travel further down along the beach until you find a weed free area.

Plenty of elephant fish and big salmon are being caught around the 42 mile crossing and some of these salmon have been real thumpers up to 4kg. Baits such as pilchards and squid are working well as are surf poppers and lures. A few sharks such as gummy and seven-gills are also being caught along here particularly after dark.

The Ti tree crossing is now holding water again so it is best to access the beach at the 42 mile crossing. The track is often washed away in places at this time of year so take care and don’t travel along here after dark if unfamiliar with the area. It is best to travel along the beach track at low tide and to let your tyres down to 15psi or so.