The summer bluefin tuna fishing locally has been good for anglers fishing offshore, and now the autumn run has started up in numbers in the west of the state. While there have been patches of fish locally and just offshore from the bays, the fishing around Portland and Port Fairy has really started to heat up. With autumn conditions normally better than winter now is an excellent time to be out in search of the bluefin. The numbers of school fish have been excellent fishing out from Port Fairy and also Warnambool, and perfect to cast smaller stickbaits and popper at. Victorian EJ Todds Representive Mitch has been out catching fish to about 30kg on stickbaits in close from Port Fairy over the past few weeks.


There has also been an outstanding number of 'barrels' caught out from the same area. Fish have been found in water from 80 - 12m out to the west of Portland. Most of the fish have been in the 90 - 120kg range and have been taken on both skirts and also hardbodies. Customer Phil and mates landed a barrel from the area last week and also heard of a few more. Skirts in the lumo and black colour have been good, and hardbodies representing sauries and red bait have been good.

Customers Vince and Carlo fished out from Portland last week and managed their bag of bluefin and also a couple of dolphinfish. These fish came from the horseshoe region.

 

 


The south coast of NSW is normally transformed into a bustling hype of activity around this time of year, with the tail end of school holidays and also fishing crowds alike. The bluewater scene is very popular and at present is producing some nice marlin from the NSW/VIC border up past Bermagui. Customer Filip fished the south coast just last week to land a lovely striped marlin of 120kg. 

Customer Sean also fished up along the NSW south coast with some mates in search of a marlin. Over a 3 day period the guys landed 3 striped marlin to around 120kg, with a mixture of techniques working well. Trolled skirted lures and live slimey mackerel were the best performers for the guys.

For the anglers heading up to the region there have also been good numbers of dolphinfish caught out from Tathra and Bermagui. Most of these fish have been caught either trolling small skirts or casting mini tuna stickbaits and plastics.

 


 


 

 

A lot of bluewater anglers have marlin on the brain at the moment. The run of fish from around Eden through to just south of Sydney has been excellent, with even a couple of reports coming from Eastern Victoria. On the marlin front, customer Jacques fished an international billfish competition in Mauritius last month when away on holiday. Jacques was the only Australian angler in the whole field, and even though it was his first time fishing for billfish, he managed to land this nice 124lb blue marlin and finish up coming 5th in the competition. Jacques also caught and released another fish the day after, along with a solid 20kg dolphinfish.

 

While the shark fishing reports are normally quiet during the winter months, there is still the odd one around to be caught. Most anglers turn their attention towards other fish species but there are still enough sharks to be caught, especially out around the tuna schools in the state's West.

Customer Paul recently sent us a photo of a chunky mako that he caught fishing out from Port Welshpool.

Paul was fishing around 20km out from the Welshpool entrance for sharks when this monster took one of his baits of fresh salmon. 

After a 2 hour fight on 15kg tackle the shark was finally restrained next to the boat. The fish measured 2.9m long and weighed 230kg. Paul said that during the fight it jumped 4 times, and another mako of around 100kg jumped a few times next to Paul's hooked fish. 

On the tuna front there have still been enough fish hanging around Portland and Port Fairy for anglers to have some fun with.

James from Unreel Fishing Charters has still been having fun with the school tuna out of Portland, with skirts doing the best job on his recent outings. James has had his cousin onboard earlier in the week, with plenty of tuna to keep everyone happy, along with a few nice dolphinfish. West of Cape Nelson has been the better area for the dolphinfish and bluefin. 

If you're going to hit the bluefin up before the season draws to a close, make sure you've got a few of these specials! Rapala's 4 brand new colours in the XRAP30 range - sailfish, hot pink, wahoo and redhead. All of these colours are UV enhanced to stand out, and come pre-rigged with single hooks straight out of the packet, ready to catch fish!  

We're also running a super special for anglers wanting a good quality tuna/shark outfit at an awesome price; a Shimano Tyrnos 50 single speed, Penn Carnage 24kg rollertip rod and 2 Pakula Mosquitos all for just $279! 

If you're in need of another tuna rod, we're also doing a crazy special on Penn Carnage 15kg RT's at just $72, and Shimano Backbone 15kg RT's for only $68! - tuna rods for the price of a snapper rod!

 

The northern NSW coastline has a variety of fish species available, with both southern species like snapper present, along with northern species such as cobia and various mackerel and trevally species. Staff member Chris is currently enjoying some mild weather up along the NSW coast in Yamba. 

Chris has experienced some mixed fishing from both the river and also offshore. Chris has caught school mulloway on small metal blades while fishing around reef structure and drop offs in the main river. On the offshore front, Chris has found a few warm water species like dolphinfish and spotted mackerel. Trolling lures and live baits have been the go offshore for him. 

 

Tuna reports from the west of the state have still been good, with fish caught from Port Mac through to Apollo Bay. There have still been school tuna caught from around 80m right out to the edge of the shelf. A few 'barrel' tuna have also been lost and landed over the last few weeks too. Customer Michael fished with a couple of good mates recently picked up a Shimano Tiagra 50 and headed off in search of that 100kg+ tuna. After his fair share of heartbreak with a few big tuna Michael needed to get the bug off his chest, and his wishes came true last week at Apollo Bay. Searching around in the 70m area out from Apollo Bay, Michael was 10 minutes into trolling around a bit of likely looking water when a big fish was spotted on the surface. Seconds later his Tiagra screamed into life and after a solid 90 minute fight Michael had his 'barrel' in the boat. The beast of a fish weighed 134.4kg and took a red/white/black skirt run at shotgun.

James from Unreel Fishing Charters has still been getting a few nice fish for customers out from Portland, with bluefin tuna to around the 20kg mark taking small skirts. James has also had some more action on the dolphinfish with a double hookup earlier during the week and one lovely fish of around 8kg landed. 

 

Reports from out towards Portland have been good over recent weeks, with lots of fish caught - ranging from school fish through to 100kg+ monsters. There have been fish caught in as shallow as 30m, right through to 1000m+ of water. Albacore reports have slowed the last few weeks, but decent reports of dolphinfish have been coming through along with the Bluefin. James from Unreel Fishing Charters was lucky enough to get onto a small patch of dolphinfish last week in amongst some good tuna fishing.

Customers have been happy with school fish and getting multiple hookups, James even said at one stage 3 or 4 rods would go off while the boat was in neutral while setting up another rod. Nothing to complain about there!

Customers Vince, Ed and Carlo went out to the shelf last week out of Portland where they managed to get their bag of tuna, along with 2 dolphinfish. Most of the tuna were around the 10kg size, with the dolphinfish around 7kg. Customers Olly and Rachael also fished out around the shelf drop off recently where they managed to pick up enough bluefin to keep them happy. The best lures were 3m running hardbodies in red head and blue colours. 

Customer Elvi took a trip to Portland just recently and although he is photographed sitting down, he assures us that he caught enough tuna to enjoy a rest. Either that or he was seasick, we're not sure. Elvi did say that the more productive area was around the 200m depth, with purples and fluoro coloured skirts run at shotgun doing the best. Customer Paul sent in a photo of his son Daniel, who fished around Portland last week. Daniel also said that purples and blues in both skirts and hardbodies have been the best for him lately.