Anglers along the south-west coast were rejoicing over the weekend as they reeled in some southern bluefin tuna close to shore.
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Port Fairy recreational angler Scott Gray said the weather conditions had been great, bringing schools of tuna close to shore as they chased bat fish, leading to some sizeable catches.
“The water quality has been very good this summer, and there has been a lot of bait around at the moment,” Mr Gray said.
“There has been really big schools of white bait, so the tuna has been honing in on those.
“It has been really exciting fishing.”
With the good summer conditions, anglers have been able to catch “good size school tuna” close to the coast, Mr Gray said.
“Usually they are five to 10 kilometres offshore, but they are within one kilometre at the moment,” he said.
“They are also spread right along the coast, from Warrnambool to Killarney, Port Fairy and Portland.”
Warrnambool angler Lucas Wilson said there were whitefish bait balls all along the coast.
“We were the only boat on our school,” he said. “But there were plenty of boats out all along the coast.”
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