SOUTH Australia’s southern bluefin tuna season is off to a good start with school-sized fish arriving early on a number of recognised grounds offshore from SA’s Eyre Peninsula.
The fish have made a showing several weeks earlier than normal, with the first recorded captures for the season happening in mid November offshore from Coffin Bay.
We had some 8–10kg bluefin in our berley trail around the Neptune Islands in mid November as well, which is approximately two months earlier than normal for this area. Small schools of bluefin are now dispersed around Rocky and Greenly Islands, the Cabbage Patch and Neptune Islands, which is a promising sign for a strong season. A few better fish in the 20kg bracket were caught last week south of Port Lincoln.
They are only small pods of fish at present, but following schools shouldn’t be too far away so the numbers should improve over the subsequent month or two.
January to March is recognised as the peak time for SBT’s in this area, so we’re all hopeful for a bumper season.
