Fishing Report 11/10/2019
Saltwater
Garfish ……. big “sea gars” are available throughout the channel and SE areas at the moment.
Calamari have arrived in force for the year throughout the SE … anglers have been able to target these fish in the Derwent estuary particularly around Blackman’s Bay rocks.
Seasonal Calamari closures are about occur … from 15th October to 14th November in the south - from the northern end of Marion Bay Beach to Lemon Rock and Wineglass Bay.
And in the north closures are already in place from 1 October – 31 October from Cape Grim to Cape Naturaliste 2019.
Calamari Closure Map:
Calamari closures in place now …..
Bream are thick around creek and river mouths for the time being and are in spawn mode - bream when spawning can be hard to catch like at present. Try the larger estuary systems for bream that have either spawned or not interested in spawning.
Sea trout are still not firing well …. the good news of last week has slowed a little, anglers citing the low concentrations of bait as the main reason. A second run of whitebait should be close at hand and we are all hopeful of increased fish activity as a result.
Australian Salmon are now as high in the Derwent River as New Norfolk (as too are juvenile barracouta), and lower downstream to Sth Arm… in fact these fish are available at nearly every known spot for this specie on the East and South East coasts. Good captures were made last weekend in around Hope Beach and North Clifton areas. Fish to 1.5kg are common.
Sand Flathead bit well again last weekend ,with Saturday being a great day for boating and being outdoors in general, drifting squid baits and Berkley Nemisis soft plastics, the method of choice by many. Great captures from the beach were made too …. See picture below for keen young fisher Taylor who ‘surf fished’ with her dad last Saturday evening.
No reports of Tiger Flathead this week.
A Blue shark was encountered by a crew who were keen to try and burley for an early Mako last weekend, these guys fishing wide and toward the Shelf.
Couta are tiny in size and hungry for lures at the moment with many anglers considering them to be a pest as these fish are not big enough to be eaten. True to form Couta called the “razor gang “, have been nipping off many lures and proving to be costly to anglers casting for other things such as salmon and flathead.
Tip: Change all shiny components such as swivels, snap clips, and trace to equivalents that are black in colour - this lessens the chance of a Couta mistaking these tiny pieces of tackle for small silver baitfish and then nipping off lures in the process. A black permanent marker makes for a temporary change whereas a complete refit of gear is the better option.
Southern Bluefin Tuna …… non existent at present but worth a trip as October has earnt a reputation as being the “jumbo“, month on the Peninsula. School sized fish were seen out wide late last week.
Striped Trumpeter closure is still in place for the next few weeks - 1st September to 31st October 2019.
Freshwater
Dry fly activity ramped up a little last week. Reports of small beetle falls and fish taking “shaving brush emergers” from many waters.
The River Derwent has fished well in its freshwater reaches around Bushy Park. Small bibbed lures and red and gold Celta styled lures working well.
Arthurs Lake is regaining some of its old reputation in recent weeks, this water showed promise last year with the odd good fish being caught - this year fish size seems to be on the up along with fish captures per outing. Last week saw nice fish of around 1 - 1.5kg landed on both lure and fly.
Lake Echo fishing well to trolled lures especially around the “cattle hill” area of the lake. Anglers who did the best spun and trolled lures along the front of submerged timber lines.
Keen young fisher Taylor with a surf caught sand flathead last weekend ………