March can provide some exceptional fishing in the Glenelg River, with continuing warm weather and great water clarity for this time of year.

Late January and into February saw some excellent fishing for all three key target species being mulloway, bream and estuary perch in the Glenelg River. Mulloway captures were good, although admittedly quite sporadic. With the river mouth still open and the Glenelg remaining very tidal, fishing around those bigger tides and taking advantage of the short bite windows, usually around slack tide, were the key to giving yourself the best chance to find them interested in taking a bait or lure. Often times in the deeper holes in the estuary and right up to the caves area, mulloway are quite clearly showing up on the sounder but can be really tough to tempt. The best times seem to have been the lead up to the full moon and then for several days after, coinciding with the best tides for the month.

Bream have been spread through the entire system, with good fish being caught everywhere from the estuary and right up to the highest reaches. There’s even been some reports of fish caught up around Dartmoor!

The lower and more accessible sections of the river like The Caves, Donovans and Taylors Strait have all been producing good bags of fish. The bream have been right up on the edges in the shallows feeding along the rock walls in particular, and it’s quite common to see them flanking as you move along the bank. Shallow diving hardbodies and light or even unweighted soft plastics have been deadly, as well as the Cranka Crab, which the bream can’t seem to resist.

Estuary perch have now well and truly moved up river after the terrific spawning aggregations that were down in the estuary and lower reaches over the past couple of months. With the improved water clarity, the perch have begun to sit higher up in the heaviest snags and those warmer nights or first light conditions of morning have seen some exceptionally hot surface action. Surface lures such as Atomic K9, Megabass Dog X Jnr, Lucky Craft Sammys and OSP Bent Minnows have been absolute standouts. Live bait fishing has also produced some great fish with minnow fished under a bubble float running on a 2-3ft leader and tossed right into the snags also being a deadly technique.

March will undoubtedly see a continuation of the current conditions and even a little improvement if that’s even possible. The holiday period has well and truly finished, resulting in a real drop off in boat traffic, particularly in those higher reaches, which always helps keep the edges and snags less stirred up through the day. As always, it’s important to keep moving until you locate the pockets of fish on the Glenelg.

March is a great month to get out on the Glenelg and we may potentially see those larger mulloway turn up, so get out on the river and you’re sure to be rewarded for your effort.