Tuna going 'bonkers' along the region's coastline

The offshore scene for tuna is still going bonkers, with no end in sight.

Charter boats, such as Salty Dog Charters Port Fairy, Matthew Hunt Fishing Services and others, have enjoyed a red-hot start to their season. Clients of these charter vessels are hooking into some of the best school size bluefin we have seen in recent years. Fish ranging from the "jelly beans" around 6-10kg are still present, but it's the captures of the 20-40kg school fish that has everyone talking.

If we go back a few years and have a look at the average size of fish, there was a considerable size class of fish missing. These fish are the ones ranging from 40-80kg.

If you take a look at the fish that are coming into the boat ramps now, there are certainly more and more of these fish being caught along our coast.

I'm not sure if these are a different run of fish from the ones that usually frequent our waters or if it was a year class of fish, but either way, it's a great sign of a healthy fishery.

The "chicken of the sea", Albacore tuna, have also made a welcome return to our waters over the shelf.

Anglers are driving anywhere from 120km round trips just to have a shot at these little speedsters.

Most anglers that have never seen them before will just think they are a bluefin, but to tell the difference, it's pretty easy.

Albacore has a considerably bigger eye than a bluefin and also has very long pectoral fins in comparison to their much bigger cousins.

Although they are a much smaller size class of fish, they certainly make up for it in the taste department, which is why they are nicknamed chooks.

Scott Gray got stuck into them during the last weather window that allowed him to make the trek out to the shelf, where he bagged out on some tasty critters on the troll.

There have been countless barrels caught from Port Fairy, Portland and Port MacDonnell, up to 130kg, this past week.

Looking for the clean water after the green snotty looking water moved in has been the best way of finding both the bait and the tuna that feed on this.

Young gun Nate Monaghan found out that it's not just the tuna having a good old feed but also Mako Sharks.

After landing his very first mako, which weighed in at 37kg, he was stunned to notice that its stomach contents was virtually full of small bluefin tuna with heads and tails right throughout.

I wonder if these tuna were taken while these fish were hooked up or if this feisty mako attacked them free swimming?

Either way, it was a surprise to find so many tuna inside a relatively small shark's stomach.

The Hopkins River has been manually opened by the authorities and has seen some great saltwater pushing in on high tide.

Before this, on the weekend, it fished quite well for numbers of fish but it was just getting through these smaller models that proved hard work.

One angler that did get through the small fish and scored some cracking fish was Slick Pemberton, who landed the heaviest bream in the Easter Fishing Classic run by the Warrnambool and District Angling Club. Slick's bream weighed in at 1.295kg, narrowly beating David Hall, who had a 1.22kg bream.

In the ladies' section, Wendy Pemberton took out the first place with an 881g bream.

On the junior's side, it was a hotly contested contest, with some very keen young anglers whipping the river to foam in search of the winning fish. Mason Hunt took out the first place, with a 1.01kg bream, taken while fishing off the bank with his mates.

Although the real big fish didn't play the game, it was still an enjoyable weekend.

Now that the water level has dropped, we will see some completely different fishing techniques being used. Some of the areas that fish were holding are going to have little to no water on them, so that will throw a curveball in the works for most. Using your fish finder is an absolute must, especially if yours has side vu or side imaging on it, as you can cover more water in your search for the motherload. As the water begins to cool right down and becomes dirty again like other years, we will see more anglers fishing in deeper water with lures such as blades and heavy soft plastics.

One estuary that isn't going to be fishing well in the near future is the Curdies River, which is in dire condition after one of the biggest algae blooms I have seen.

Thousands of fish have now become victims of a poorly managed situation. Authorities are sitting on their hands, claiming it's a natural occurrence without even doing the proper tests etc.

Action is needed now to get an answer as to why one of our best rivers has become a steer clear zone for everyone. I think we, as anglers and water users, deserve to be given the answers and those that are to blame need to be held accountable.

It's not only the fishing community that is affected but the people that live down at Peterborough, where the fish have been washing up and rotting away.

Travellers staying at the caravan park have been left disgusted at the state of the water and have been turning some away. This is a disgraceful situation that needs to be fixed and answers given.

This weekend looks like a short window, with Saturday looking the best for swell and wind.

Tides are looking really good for the estuaries, also with a metre difference between high and low tides.

Until next week, tight lines and best of luck.