Conditions like this could see absolutely anything happen within a couple of days. With good weather forecast for this week it is recommended that fishers get ready for tuna opportunities.

The days of wind and large swell over the last week have left an air of uncertainty, and there are only a few reports as to the status of the tuna migration.

Sources in Victoria and Tasmania confirm that the bluefin season is all but over down south, and are on their way north. The fleet of commercial tuna boats are currently steaming to an area of favourable water about 100kms east of Tathra.

Late mail!!!: John down at Portland reports today (July 25) - I would strongly dispute the tuna run is coming to an end down here in south west Victoria heaps of school fish in close to the coast in 40meters of water (1 km out ) fish around 14kg.

 There are a few websites which show the offshore water temps and other features, one worth a look is the Facebook page for ‘Bermi Bait and Tackle’.

There are also some interpretations on this site on what is happening, some are quite good – others not so much.

Weather information of all types is becoming a valuable tool in the fishers’ arsenal of knowledge.

Electrical hardware such as GPS, sounders, radar, mobile phones, etc, continue to evolve to an amazing standard of detail, it was only logical that information would be the next frontier.

When used correctly weather information can provide the basis for decisions on where to fish and what species to target. Also, fishers are now able to concentrate their efforts in particular areas, this leads to a considerable saving in time and fuel costs.

Inshore fishing opportunities are a bit varied at the moment; the recent large swell has disturbed a lot of inshore reef areas and created plenty of feeding opportunities for fish such as snapper.

The fishing secret after a large inshore swell is to use fresh fish strip baits, and to avoid squid unless it is fresh and not frozen. Fresh squid can be obtained locally from local fish retailers.

Fishing Tip: Ensure that you can identify Australian gannets (white birds with yellow neck and head) as they are one of the best indicators of schools of bait fish, and where there’s bait fish there’s big fish (hopefully)

Fishing Joke: Q: What kind of fish does your parrot sit on?  A perch!

Fishing Soap Box: Fishers are still waiting for the outcome of the review into size and bag limits. At least the fish stocks will have grown a bit since the submissions closed last year!