The river has been fishing well for bream, especially down on the sand at the estuary.

I reckon it’s the most amazing all-year spot on the river for bream; not guaranteed but very consistent. It is well worth your while to discover the sand, holes, reefs and mud banks from the mouth back to and around the poles at the estuary. It has an amazing array of food for the hungry bream such as pod worm, crab, squirters, snails, muddies, whitebait, glassies and other bait fish.

Move about, try different baits and spots and a feed is usually on the cards. Heavy boat traffic seems to shut them down, so sneak your way down quietly so as not to upset the bream and local anglers.

The rest of the system has fished well for bream mainly along the banks with crab during the day and whitebait at night. I spoke to Kevin Dyson from Dartmoor who loves the river from Pritchard’s (45 km) and above to Dartmoor (75km). Kevin will probably kill me for mentioning his name and favourite part of the river.

Over the last couple of years the fishing up above Pritchard’s has been disappointing but this year with the wet winter we have had the fishing returned with a vengeance in the higher reaches. Kevin is a traditional bait angler, stating huge numbers and good sizes.

Now that’s all good news but those two hot spots are at least 75km apart.

That’s the beauty and frustration of the Glenelg; you can fish one spot and get the chocolates and another time nothing.

Over time it is worth the effort discovering the whole system and what better excuse than personal piscatorial research. Kevin has also been getting good estuary perch to 48 cm with reports of one 60cm. Now that’s a trophy fish if ever I’ve heard of one.

Whitebait and glassies his choice of bait, lures would be well worth a go up there especially in the snags that are everywhere above the Pines landing (56.5km). Try hardbodied lures such as SX40 and on dusk and after a surface popper can produce an awesome launching strike.

During March I can’t see a lot changing with the perch and bream as long as we don’t get huge rainfall. If that happens a lot of fish will be pushed back down the river from the fresh water push.

Mulloway have been mainly 50-70cm with the odd specimen to 8kg. At present the top of Taylors Straight (6km) to Donovan’s Landing (10km) has been producing a lot of fish, catches of 6-10 fish with most fish released.

Along the coast the surf fishing is still producing good gummy shark from Bung Bung beach through to Orwell’s Rocks. Whiting, mullet, small shark and salmon are still being boated at the Breakwater at Port MacDonnell and the bays of Livingston’s and Cape Douglas.

The big news for the offshore brigade is the tuna, out at the 500m line, around 1-2km kilometres off the continental shelf, due south off Port MacDonnell.

Tuna are in good numbers around 20-30 kg with reports of better fish sighted and broken off. It appears another good year ahead for the tuna brigade.

Nelson is a good spot to base yourself if you are chasing the tuna, 30min to Port MacDonnell and 50min to Portland; giving you an each-way bet on where to launch from.

Call us at the Nelson Hotel if you want the latest information on what’s happening on the river and along the coast 08 87384011. Call in and say hello if your down this way.