SA summer report

Summer started with a bang in SA with the opening of the snapper season after the annual month long November closure. Both Spencer Gulf and Gulf St. Vincent returned some fantastic reds once December rolled on.

Into January, there were still some top snapper being caught from both gulfs, including a 16kg fish recently taken from the Port Stanvac Barges, just off the southern Adelaide metro coastline.  The schools have thinned out a bit, but those who are waiting patiently with a berley trail have still been rewarded. Absolute Fishing Charters have been doing well on the snapper in Gulf St Vincent recently, although they have reported Tapleys Shoals and Marion Reef as being a bit quiet and a bit patchy of late.

The KG whiting have been very spasmodic during the calm, hot weather as experienced in SA lately. After each bout of rough weather the fish have turned it on for brief periods before shying away as the water clears. On the other hand, yellowfin whiting have been running well on the beaches fringing Spencer Gulf, and should continue to feed well into the coming few months.

Blue crabs have started marching in Gulf waters, but their size hasn’t been anything fantastic as yet. All the usual summer culprits have been building in numbers over the past month, with snook, garfish, tommies, trevally and slimy mackerel all in good numbers this year. Smaller sharks around the 3 to 5ft size range have been about in good numbers this summer. Predominantly bronze whalers and hammerheads, there have also been some good makos down the south east of the state, and gummy sharks along the state’s surf beaches.

The run of West Coast mulloway was sporadic this season, which has been the case over the past few years along this remote and harsh stretch of coastline. Some crews returned with several good fish for a trip, while others failed to turn a reel. A handful of 30kg-plus fish were caught during the season, with quite a few good snapper to 10kg from surf as well. The snapper are generally an early season option, with the majority of surf snapper caught from September to November.

Southern bluefin tuna have arrived on cue around the state’s western islands and reef systems. The bluefin have been smaller schooling fish of 6 to 14kg so far, but the larger 20 to 30kg fish shouldn’t be far away. Some fantastic yellowtail kingfish from 13 to 32kg have been caught over the past few weeks offshore from Coffin Bay. Our run of Samson fish shouldn’t be far away now.

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