Tachle Shack: South-west anglers revel in strong hauls

Barrels are being brought in every fishable day and there are some other tasty species inland on offer.

The barrel hype has never been stronger than now with some quality fish being landed in recent weeks.

Young gun Xavier Ellul has continued his red-hot form with a 124kg barrel caught off Portland on Saturday.

Unlike some of the other fish that are landed in under an hour, this fish just dogged it out under the boat which saw the fight last 3.5 hours.

Jeremy Porter stopped into the shop the day before asking for some advice off Xavier and with a couple of new lures he was off in search of a big fish.

The very next day Jeremy headed off Portland with the lures in tow and it didn't take long for his new Bonze Exocet in Evil to scream off.

After a lengthy fight the fish was boat-side but it was here that it got real for the boys. Something decided that it wanted the tuna's tail more than Jezza did.

This particular fish weighed 100kg without its tail and is a great way to open your account on large tuna.

Another great story came from Luke Gercovich who headed out solo after work with his brand new Saltiga lever drag overhead.

Using the freshest pilchard you could find it was sent out unweighted into a school of busting fish. The line started spewing off the reel and headed to the bottom very quickly.

With the fish taken for a few minutes, the hook came free leaving Luke left with just his own hook and the long liners big circle hook still in the fish.

There have been a few hooks found in these fish lately so there's obviously been a fair few move through from up the coast.

If you find a fish with one of these hooks in it and you want to release it, take it out first before releasing as they use stainless hooks.

Another angler that ventured out on his lonesome was Luke Smith and he too got a shot at one.

Luke said he got absolutely drilled next to the boat when he sunk the gaff into it. Once his battle boat-side was over, a healthy 80kg butter ball came into the boat.

Most of these fish lately have been coming off a skirted lure with a bullet shape head in the shot gun position of the spread.

Another way of getting a bite is to have some pilchards and sink them down unweighted into the schools of fish. If you're doing this please don't be that crew that pulls up on a bait ball being worked by trolling guys, only to have a boat drive straight into their middle and set-up.

This will stuff it up for both parties so it's best to drive off and find your own fish to do this technique.

The Glenelg River saw mixed results over the weekend, with some anglers catching heaps and others like myself hardly turning a reel.

In the Warrnambool and District Angling Club's competition, live crabs cast into the wall while using the electric motor to slowly creep up the banks, proved to be pivotal for eventual winners Lewis Holland and Jessica Lane.

Using this technique Lewis caught both the heaviest bream which weighed 1.392kg and the heaviest 10-fish haul for 8.031kg.

Jessica also scored a quality fish which weighed 1.111kg to take out the ladies' section.

These better fish were caught in the section of the river from the bridge all the way up to Donovan's.

I fished up at Sapling Creek where the water was dirty due to the boat traffic and the muddy nature of the banks.

Unfortunately it was a weekend where the mulloway in the system had lock-jaw and didn't want a bar of what anyone had.

There are a lot in the system according to my Garmin fish finder but getting one to eat is another thing.

A couple of members sat out all night for no fish - even with live spew worms. This is when you know it's tough when they won't eat one of these.

The Hopkins River is still fishing well for big bream down the front-half of the system.

Live crab has also been the pick of the baits anywhere there are rocks or structure.

The water quality in the Hopkins has never been better with crystal clear water nearly past the ski run.

Hopefully we see a run of mulloway in here this year after a couple of quiet ones.

Lake Gillear has been fishing very well for redfin of all sizes by anglers trolling and casting soft plastics along the weeds.

Fergus Mahney caught some nice fish with dad Mick last week on a soft plastic. These fish were seen chasing bait schools into the weeds so they weren't hard to spot.

Codi Symons caught a cracker while fishing with his dad TJ.

With Lake Gillear not often known for its big fish, this fish certainly would change some peoples perception of that.

If you're looking to go and have a crack and get a feed you will want to inspect each fillet as there have been some with worms in them.

The easiest way to see if something isn't right, is to skin the fillet and hold it up to the light and make sure there's no creepy crawlies in it. I would advise against eating them if you find any type of worm in it.

This weekend sees some three-metre swells but with light winds expected on Sunday, that won't stop the tuna crews heading out for a chance at a jumbo.

If you're heading out stay safe and be well prepared as this is the time of year that coast guard and marine rescue crews get called out to people running out of fuel as they weren't prepared.

Extra fuel, food and water is not a stupid idea especially if you've never done this type of fishing before.

Until next week, tight lines and best of luck.