Wild Blue - South West Victoria Wild & Rugged

At last good fishing conditions on a weekend - many boats ventured out and all caught tuna. The bluefin seem to be everywhere from 80 metres of water out to the shelf and beyond. Fish sizes are variable from 8kg through to 15kg.

Sunday saw one big tuna weighed in at Port Mac - It was estimated to be 120KG, caught on the boat Hard Yakka, not sure if it was Daryl, Liam or Fletch - If you see them I am sure they will tell you all about it.

Port Mac Donnell Tuna & Sportfishing Tournament

A full week of huge seas and strongs winds made for a very difficult competition. As always PMOAC run a very professional competition with a strong emphasis on safety, fish preservation and enjoyment for all.

PMOAC has an exemption on the taking of Mako Shark for this competition - Tagging of shark is promoted.

All shark taken during this tournament - were made available for Paul Rogers for his scientific research into Mako Shark

Most Meritorious Tuna - Tim Gill 16.04KG on 4 Kg

Heaviset Tuna - Lindsay Read 21.98KG

Heaviest Tuna on 6kg Line - Roy Humphries 15.3KG

Highest Point Scoring Angler - Roger Munn

Tag & Release Trophy - Flynn McGeary - 11 Tuna

Most Meritorious Shark - Roger Munn 55.32KG on 4 KG

Heaviest Shark - James Breen 92.4KG

Most Meritourious Albacore - Merv Chesson 15.78 KG on 6 KG

Heaviest Albacore - Ozan Saban 17.82 KG

Boat CLass Awards

Class 1 - mako

Class 2 - RiffRaph

Class 3 Ultimate Dream

Boat Tag & Release

Class 1 - Red Boat

Class 2 - Couranna Jae

Class 3 Polaris

Highest Point Scoring Lady Angler - Bernadette Pedlar

Juniors

Most Meritorious Tuna - Josh Wright 11.52 KG on 4 KG

Champion Angler - Brock McKinnon

Heaviest Tuna - Brock McKinnon 14.06 KG

Tag & Release - Josh Wright

Heaviest Tuna on 6KG Line - Brock McKinnon 13.38KG

Most Meritorious Shark - Brock McKinnon 50.36KG on 8 KG

Waiting for the weather to improve.

Still waiting for conditions to improve

Two mako sharks weighed in during the Tournament

Brock McKinnon with a Mako 50.36 Kg on 8KG Line

Jaws of Brock McKinnon's Mako

Roger Munn's Mako

February 2010

Since the captures in January - many more boats have ventured to the shelf to catch Southern Bluefin.

The Port Mac boat ramp has seen local boats as well as fisherman from Adelaide & Melbourne.

So far most of the fish have been around the 25 - 30 Kg.

The fish seem equally keen to take skirts or hard bodied lures. The darker colours seem to be most success for the moment.

January 2010

23rd January - Mark Moody from Remarkable Charters hooked into the first Tuna out of Port MacDonnell for 2010. The fish landed were around the 30Kg. However they had several runs that cound not be stopped.

24th Daryl MacIntyre (jiggler) and Peter Harris (phantom) had a great day on the water, landing 2 fish about the 25kg mark.

Most of the fish were caught out wide.

November 2009

Port Mac Donnell Offshore Angling Club held their November Competition on 14th Nov 09. With great weather and flat seas, all anglers enjoyed a good day out. Bottom bouncing was very productive and numerous table fish were caught including knifejaw to 2.3Kg and flathead to 1.9Kg. Other fisherman opted for a drift with burley to bring some shark to the boat.

The competition was won by Garry Clarke. Garry caught a 40.04Kg Mako shark on 3Kg line. This is a pending South Australian record. Second place went to Shane Saunders with a Mako 38Kg on 10Kg line. Haden Sneath weighed in a 14.2Kg Gummy shark to take third place.

Thank you to Tom McKinnon for supplying information and photos.

Another Massive Tuna

Jason Fulham, the skipper from charter boat, "Jaymar Star" has again put his clients onto the tuna of a lifetime, catching a 108kg tuna.

130kg Tuna

& 98kg Tuna

Wednesday 24th June 2009

Jaymar Star has done it again - after catching the awesome 104kg fish last week they have gone out again and caught a massive 130kg Southern Bluefin Tuna. This one proved slightly more difficult for the anglers and took approx 3hours to catch. It was the day for good fish and a 98 kg tuna was also weighed in. This fish was angled and boated in less than an hour.

104kg Tuna

Jaymar Star turned some spectactular fishing on for their charter out of Port MacDonnell today. Jason took his clients due south from Port Mac in approx 70 metres of water and within the a couple of hours they had boated this massive fish - early estimates were aroung the 80kg mark - but when it came to the scales it was a whopping 104kg. The angler Greg Orchard was part of a work sponsored fishing trip and he and his mates had an awesome day. The boat easily caught there boat limit of six tuna.

June 2009

The weather and sea since the Tuna and Sportfish Tournament have been very average. Occasionally there have been days suitable to fish out wide. When these opportunities have come up those that venture out have easily caught the bqag limit of Southern Bluefin Tuna and many have tagged good numbers of fish. Most fish are weigh out between 12 and 16kg. A few fish over the 20kg have been boated recently. Late last week Noel Doody reported having a Tuna which he estimated to weigh 70kg on for several hours and lost it at the boat. Most fish are being caught in the 70 to 120 metres due south from Port Mac. Skirted lures are still the winner for successful fishing.

The annual Port Mac Donnell Tuna and Sportfishing Tournament was held in ideal conditions. From the 2nd to 9 th May 2009 the weather and the sea were perfect and enabled competitiors to fish for the full 8 days. As always the camaraderie between anglers was a highlight of the week. Good numbers of Tuna were weighed in, but a massive number were tagged and released with NSW fisheries tags in the fish. 21 Mako shark were weighed in and several Mako shark were tagged with NSW fisheries tags. Two shark were tagged with Satellite tags.

Beautiful Conditions for the start of the Tournament

The leader for Most Mertitorious Tuna on 2nd May 09

Brodie Williams a great tuna for a junior angler

Shane Saunders with his mako which weighed 56.7 kg

Tuna waiting to be bought to the scales at the weigh in

The young Mckinnon men with some nice Blue Eye Trevalla

Michael Pedlar caught this good mako on 5 May 09

Adrian caught a good mako from his boat Bertie

The most unusual capture for the Tournament was a Spotted Moonfish. These fish are extremely rare and can grow up to 1.8m.The fish was not eligible for the Tournament but certainly created a lot of interest.

Mark Milstead caught this Tuna which would be the leading Most Meritorious Tuna until it got beaten on the last day of the Tournament.

Rhys Boylan fishing on Intruder caught this 67.2Kg Mako on 4kg

Matthew Stark with his pending State & Australian Junior Record

Kerry Heinicke and her pending State, Australian and World Record

Steve Taranto weighed in the heaviest albacore

Tom Egan caught the heaviest Blue Eye Trevalla weighing in at 14.94kg.

Pino Dellorefice with the Most Meritorious Tuna for the Tournament - caught on the last day of competition

Andrew Hood caught the heaviest Mako for the Tournament which weighed in at a impressive 151.9 KG

Bernadette Pedlar with her mako 80.34kg on 15kg line.

Bernadette was the highest point scoring lady angler in the Tournament

Port MacDonnell Offshore Angling Club will be holding the 28th Tuna and Sportfish Tournament starting on 2nd May through to the 9th May 2009

Entry is open to all members of Game Fishing Association of Australia or clubs affliated with GFAA. Entry fee is $100.00

Anglers interested in the Tournament should contact: Paul 0408 847 496, Tony 0419 854 486, Tom 0439 875 903 or Darryl 0419 836 770

This is a great Tournament, there are good fish out there at the moment and the bonus of some good prizes.

Wednesday 29th April 2009

A few boats went out today - all caught Southern Bluefin.

Most fish were caught just over the shelf.

Mark Moody on Remarkable boated 28 fish most were tagged and released. Tony Bell sent me a few photo's from a great days fishing.

Saturday 18 & Sunday 19th 2009

Dolphin Fish at Port MacDonnell

This weekend saw the capture of Dolphin fish again this year.

Several fish caught in 120 metres and some caught out in 180 metres. Most fish caught were around 7kgs.

One boat had a very big dolphin fish almost at the side of the boat when a mako came and took the fish.

Choppy seas saw the number of boats on the water, slightly lower than would be expected for this time of the SBT run.

Port Mac is the place for consistent numbers of good albacore and southern bluefin. Again this week Albacore were plentiful with several nice fish around 28kg. Southern Bluefin to 25kgs.

Most fish are from 180metres through to 1000metres.

Easter 2009

From Good Friday through to Easter Monday Port Mac Donnell turned it on. All boats caught Albacore from 4kg to 30 Kg

Southern Bluefin were a bit harder to find, but most fish caught weighed in around the 25kg.

Port MacDonnell Offshore Angling Club held a competition over the long weekend and had excellent participation by club members and all boats caught fish.

4th & 5th April

Rough seas have been predicted - it is unlikely any boats wil go.

Port Mac - 31st March and 1st April

Great weather conditions saw large numbers of boats out for a fish. Port Mac fisho's have not produced any of the big fish that have been caught out of Portland recently, but it is consistently producing large numbers of tuna and albacore.

Some of the Tuna have moved closer inshore, with the closest schools swimming in the 120 metre mark down to the west.

If you want the bigger fish and the albacore, you will need to fish the 1000 metre line due south.

Lucas Wilson and his mates had a good day catching some good tuna and a very impressive albacore.

Tuesday 24th March 2009

Tuna were due south on the 1000 metre line.

More Albacore were caught than Southern Bluefin Tuna

Fish were plentiful most boats got there limit easily and started tagging.

Thursday 19th Friday 20th & Saturday 21st March 2009

Most boats caught good numbers of fish.

More albacore were caught than last week.

Most boats caught there bag limit without any hassles.

Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th March 2009

The sea and wind were against fisherman and no boats went out.

We are all hoping for better conditions next weekend.

Thursday 12 & Friday 13th March 2009

Sea conditions were excellent, however being a week day only a few boats got out wide to have a go at the tuna. Rumour is that only three fish were caught on Thursday. On Friday the first tuna was not boated until after 12.00. Late afternoon saw more fish taken. Overall the numbers were well down on the previous few weeks.

Sunday 8th March

Conditions had deteriorated slightly from Saturday, making it slightly harder work to fight fish.

Good captures of Tuna and Albacore, with most fish caught down to the east. Jason the skipper of Jaymar Star, had a charter for the day and they caught nice sbt's up to 40Kgs.

Again several boats lost fish to mako shark. The mako's just bite the tail, to take away the motor from the tuna, then they can eat the fish at their leisure, because it can't get away.

The crew from Adrenaline had an interesting encounter with a mako. They were running a witchdoctor teaser and a mako scoffed the witchdoctor half way down it's gut. With a little effort thay got the witchdoctor back, complete with mako teeth embedded in the wood!!!

Tom Kalic from Port Phillip Boating Centre Fishing Team had a awesome hookup on a big fish playing it for about an hour, before the hook pulled. They finished the day with two good sbt and two albies. you will see them on the water soon - Roberto, Tom and Anthhony will be coming back to try a nail one of the big ones.

Saturday 7th March

The sea was a bit choppy on the way out to the shelf, but most boats enjoyed a good day's fishing. Southern Bluefin schools were off the shelf in 500-600 metres, with occasional schools of albacore to 15kg

Port Mac Donnell Offshore Angling Club had a club competition on and most members had fish to weigh in. Roger Munn had a good tuna on braid that he was hooked up to for 2 hours, with an extimated weight og 35kg.

Kerry Heinicke on Shaka Zura caught a pending South Australian, Australian and World for Southern Bluefin Tuna 28kg on 8kg line.

Friday 6th March 09

The crew of Adrenaline caught come good tuna, with one weighing in at 38Kg. Most boats got their boat limit.

Sunday 1st March

A lot of boats on the water today, with a mixed result.

Some boats taking their limit very quickly, while others struggled to find fish.

The fish seem to be well to the west and along the 1000m line.

Lucas Wilson fishing from "Cassius Cray" a custom built boat from Richards Marine in Warrnambool had a good day out, boating some nice tuna. But his brother Jacko probably had the most painful "hook up" for the day. (check out the photo)

Matt G and crew are making Port Mac D there second home - three weekends in a row - we will have to make them South Ausssie's next weekend. If you want to catch mako', follow these blokes. Two mako's on lures in two weekends and had another mako tormenting the tuna while they were hooked. Thanks Matt for the photo's and info.

Check out the lure - "gunna get me one of those"

Matt was on this fish when a mako came and bit the tail off.

Saturday 28th February

Saturday saw only a few boats out on the water.

It was a case of being in the right place at the right time, several boats did well, just finding a school and working that area. As soon as multile boats were there the fish would go deep and stay there. Most tuna were in the 20 - 25 kg weight range.

Adam with a tagged tuna ready to go back

One boat got on to a school of big albacore with most fish well over the 20kg mark

Thursday 26th February 2009

Several boats went out on the water today, conditions were great and most boats had no trouble getting fish.

Dave Malcolm and the crew of Big Fella had a good day out, boating 4 fish and tagging 9.

20th & 21st February 2009

Saturday the sea was uncomfortable, but most boats got the bag limit of southern bluefin tuna.

Most fish were over 25kg with numerous fish weighing in above 30kgs. I have heard reports of one tuna weighing in at over 50kgs.

Again mako's are mixed up in the tuna schools and a 112kg mako was caught late Saturday afternoon.

On Sunday you had to be early to get a front row car park. About 120 - 150 boat trailers in the car park by 8.30am.The weather and sea had improved, but fish were hard to catch than on saturday

Still good numbers of fish were caught, most about 25kgs.

Two mako's about 40kgs also took lures and mixed the game up a bit for the fisho's involved.

Matt, Rob and Joe had a good day on Sunday catching three tuna and a mako took a lure, causing mayhem for a while (nearly busting up a custom outfit in the process)

Thanks to Matt for sending me the photo of the Mako and Joe with a nice sbt.

Grechy and crew had a good couple of days, with 19 tuna - taking a few and tagging the rest. Most tuna weighed in around 30kg

19th February 2009

112kG Southern Bluefin Tuna

Three blokes from Woolongong nail a massive tuna at Port MacDonnell.

Jack Cronin and mates had a great day, they were hooked up to two massive tuna for most of the day. Catching one fish after four hours and loosing the other fish after seven hours on the rod.

14th February 2009

Albacore Albacore Albacore !!!!

A great day out on the water today and for the boats that ventured south from Port MacDonnell out to the shelf all were rewarded with good catches of albacore. Most boats got two or three. David Walters and the crew of Couranna Jai had a good day catching albies, keeping a few and tagging and releasing 6 fish. One of the fish had the tail bitten off by a mako. However, with some quick thinking they had the remainder of the fish back in the water with a shark hook and caught the mako, then tagged and released it. Shaka Zura also had a good day catching 14 Albacore and 2 Southern Bluefin, most were tagged.

The albacore seem to be feeding on saury bait fish. Any lures that are this shape or colour are working very well.

10th February 2009

Two Southern Bluefin Tuna where caught off of Port MacDonnell last week on skirted lures and they weighed approximately 20+ kgs.

Rumors are running hot at the moment that large schools have been sighted at Robe and Beachport. The fact the fish have been caught at Port MacDonnell and Portland, indicates that at least some schools are travelling in the area.

We all hope that we get schools of the bigger Southern Bluefin Tuna again this year, as seen in the previous two years.

Good numbers of Mako shark have been caught or hooked and lost since mid January.

Josh Wright a junior has a pending state record for a 90+kg mako on 10Kg line. This is a great capture.