From The Editor

GOTTA LOVE THOSE BLUEFIN!

Most blue water anglers in the southern half of the continent will be well aware of the resurgence of bluefin tuna and the impact they have had on our sportfishery as a whole. After many years of intermittent and unpredictable visits to Australia’s cooler ocean waters, it seems the tuna have now settled into an annual routine, particularly in SA and Victoria. The ‘season’ now appears to run from December through until Easter or beyond, and it’s noticeable that the bluefins’ time in our waters is gradually extending — which can only be good news.

I can recall chasing school tuna in locations like Port Fairy, Portland and Port MacDonnell back in the ‘90s, then seeing their numbers gradually dwindle over the ensuing decade to a point where they were no longer worth the effort. This happened over a five or six year period and coincided with a worldwide downturn in southern bluefin numbers. It was all doom and gloom for several years and we were all pretty upset about it.

Then, in 2012 a few school-sized bluefin started to show up again; just in dribs and drabs to start with, but each year from then onward the numbers began to build and their time in our waters grew longer. As I write this in late February, the recreational tuna fisheries in both SA and Victoria are back to their very best, bringing with them a tremendous level of excitement and optimism. Tackle shop sales are booming, large trailer boats are back in demand again, and it seems everyone wants to catch a southern bluefin.

This tuna season in my home state of SA has been exceptional and, for thousands of Adelaide-based anglers, it has provided an incredible bonus. Due to the massive volume of ‘black water’ flowing down the Murray River and ultimately spilling into the Southern Ocean at Goolwa, baitfish have been driven right up into St. Vincent’s Gulf — with bluefin schools hot on their tails. Anglers who normally chase whiting off Adelaide’s metro coast have suddenly found themselves surrounded by feeding tuna, occasionally in water less than 10m deep. Once this phenomenon became public knowledge (it rarely takes long for ‘secrets’ to remain ‘secrets’ on the various social media platforms), the whiting gear was soon swapped out for tuna tackle, and every angler and his dog was trolling surface lures or casting stickbaits. It truly has been an incredible turn of events!

But while the standard ‘school-size’ bluefin have made up the bulk of the summer/ autumn fishery to date, it’s the anticipation of bigger tuna to come that has the superkeen blue water brigade salivating. For the past few seasons, ‘barrel’ bluefin — fish of 100kg-plus — have also turned up in varying numbers, and we all hope the autumn of ’23 will see this trend continue. From Sydney all the way around to SA’s Limestone