The Salmon are still going very well in Port Phillip Bay at the moment with Mordialloc pier being popular, especially in an onshore wind.  Customer Joel caught fish up to 35cm using the MIH coloured Maria Duplex hardbodies, after seeing a few others catching on the same lure.  He also caught 2 Salmon from Beaumaris pier as well.

Customer Zoran has been catching plenty of Salmon out from Mornington and yet again got onto them with a few mates, and mainly getting them on 3'' plastics like Reaction Minnows and Bass Minnows.  Late in the day Zoran said the Pinkies started showing up, with fish to 44cm taking the same plastics.

Good customer Bob has also been having fun with the Salmon along the beach at Mt Martha.  He has been fishing small pieces of bluebait under a float and as a result catching Salmon up to 900g.  Bob also said that some rather large Squid followed his hooked Salmon back in.

With the increase of anglers fishing for the Southern Bluefin Tuna, different methods of catching them are becoming more popular.  Most anglers troll for these fish, but if a patch of fish is found they can be caught using a variety of casting lures also.  Floating and slow-sinking stickbaits are an excellent choice to throw at Tuna; they cast well, swim well, and look exactly like Tuna lollies!  Joe Fernand has caught them stickbaiting and wouldn't recommend it highly enough.  One of the better quality stickbaits on the market are the Shimano Ocea Pencils; these come in a range of sizes but the 150mm version is the Tuna killer.  With ultra realistic colours and quality hooks and rings fitted, give them a shot on the Tuna this season if you're looking for a new technique.

The state's southwest has been fishing well for Southern Bluefin Tuna lately, but the main attraction at the minute is the fact that the fish are being caught in relatively close.  While a lot of anglers travel out nearer the 'horseshoe' there are plenty of Tuna being caught in as shallow as 30m of water.  The cold, onshore weather patterns lately have moved some colder water in and the fish have moved with it.

Good customer Michael fished with a mate out of Portland over the weekend and between them they caught 10 fish up to 15kg.  The best lures were Xrap 20's in REBA and PET colours.

Dan from Bentrods charters has also been fishing Portland and has had Bluefin up to 20kg, and also a few Striped Tuna as well.  Dan has been fishing Black Magic 'Squidjet' jet heads and Xrap 20's in RH and S colours in 40-100m of water.

Shaun Furtiere from Think Big charters has been running trips on the Tuna and over the last few days the guys have caught plenty of fish from Portland and Port Fairy.  Shaun says the areas around 40-70m have been the most consistent, especially with the presence of seabirds.  Most of the fish have been feeding on smaller baits, which is why smaller lures are more effective at the minute; Black Magic jet heads and Pakula Uzis along with Xrap 20's have been the go.  Colours such as BM, BSRD and GOSC imitate the baitfish well. 

Over the last week many more Salmon reports have come through, with a majority of them by landbased anglers fishing the Eastern Seaboard of Port Phillip Bay.  Customer Justin has been catching regularly from Mordialloc Pier.  Whitebait or Bluebait under an LED float has been his favoured method, with the occasional fish taking a metal lure or soft plastic. 

Michael came into the shop over the weekend and reported smaller numbers of Salmon but better size with his largest going 1.2kg, taking on a white/glow GIllies Baitfish lure.  He also had gar rods rigged up and managed to catch 9 Garfish on maggots in between catching Salmon.

Customer Justin also gave us the heads up on a large school of Salmon moving between Seaford and Frankston piers.  Justin said that the conditions were 'tough' with onshore winds and rain making for a wet but successful session.  Justin got over 20 fish between the two piers, with the 70mm Squidgy flickbait in 'new' Pilchard pattern - without the dots.  Most of Justin's fish were spitting up small whitebait which is why this soft plastic worked so well.

On the bayside Beaches, the Salmon have been quite good; Gunnamatta Beach is the hot spot at the minute, with most anglers catching here.  The fish are averaging about 800g with some larger fish about.  Customer Matt was lucky enough to find one of these larger fish, weighing a massive 3.9kg which is very exceptional for here.  This thumper took a whole Bluebait wrapped in 'baitsock' to stop smaller fish picking away at it, and also to prevent cast-offs.  Customer Alin went and had a spin at Gunnamatta as well, having a quiet session with just 2 smaller fish, both on the Pilchard pattern Maria Duplex.  These lures are excellent off the beaches; they are designed to cast well due to heavy weight, and have a tight swimming action at faster speed retrieves and can also be sunk down deeper under the foamy water to where the fish are holding.

With the water starting to cool, it's a great time of year to start targeting Trout in both lakes and rivers before they move to spawn, Customer Paul sent us a report from Lake Eucembeme where he fished recently, to catch some lovely Trout with the biggest being a Brown of 6.5lb.  Paul says that trolling Rapala Spotted Dogs early in the morning was the best method.

Speaking of lovely Trout, Customer Jurek also sent a report in to us from a recent trip over to Ballarat fishing with his wife.  While he was outfished by the missus, he was rapt to see her land such a beautiful fish - a lovely Rainbow Trout that measured 59.5cm and weighed in around 3kg.  He said that this particular fish danced across the water like a Marlin, jumping out over 4 times.

Good customer Andrew fished the Western Lakes with his mates last week, where they tried Fyans, Bolac and Bullen Merri.  Lake Bolac was very slow, but Fyans was good. They caught plenty of Trout to 2lb running Rapala F9 Spotted Dogs at around 2.5m.  Bullen Merri was also slow, with just a few fish caught downrigging FLC coloured Tassies around the edge of the lake.

Over the last week, we've had a few good reports from customer catching Murray Cod around the place, so seems like a good time to target them! Good customer Mario fished up at Mulwala recently, and did well on some lovely Cod in dirty water.  He said trolling the edge of the riverbed worked the best, with black/purple Stumpjumpers and Codgers the favourites.

Customer Mijo has also been fishing around Mulwala with some mates, and has caught Cod up to 70cm on Bardi's and the occasional one on lure.  Around the Bundalong section of the lake they have also caught a few Yellowbelly up to 40cm on Shrimp.

Customer Nick sent us a report from the Ovens River where his mate David has been catching Cod since Easter.  David has been using Bardi's in the river and has caught some great fish, including Yellowbelly to 6lb, along with Cod up to 40lb!  David says that most of the Cod have been biting better around the full moon.

Schools of Salmon have been frequenting Beaumaris Bay, and lots of anglers are catching them from Mordialloc Pier.  Customer Yassar has also been catching Pinkies up to 1kg and Salmon up to 700g off Mordialloc Pier on salted Pilchards, during a run out tide.

Customers Justin is catching fish averaging 400g during the run in tide, with baits of salted Pilchards and Whitebait working well.  For the lure anglers, Sea Rocks in 7g-14g in white and dorado colours are working well.

Customer Jamie sent us a report during the week fishing in close off Black Rock where he got 2 Snapper at 6kg each, both on Black Magic Snatchers in ‘Pinky’

Robert has still been catching Pinkies and Pike while trolling Jackall Tranzams from his kayak.  The Mullet and Pilchard Colours have been the best.

Customer David has been catching Flatties up to 55cm along the shores of Brighton and Sandringham lately.  David has been catching all the fish on 100mm Wrigglers in lava colour. 

On the Squid and Whiting scene, southern Port Phillip has been reasonably good over the last week.  Bill and John went out and smashed the Squid off Woolies Reef just north of Mornington, with both of them fighting over a size 2.5 Q-Live in colour NSBG.

Customers Tran and Ryan have caught Squid at Mornington Pier, with size 2.5 Q-Lives in RDRA colour being a standout.  Ryan also caught 3 larger Squid from the rocks along Mt Martha, with all 3 taking a size 3.0 Haramitsu in EWC colour.

Customer Eddy has been catching lots larger Garfish from the rocks at Mt Martha.  Eddy has caught Garfish up to 42cm using Silverfish here.

Staff member Dylan caught a few smaller Squid from the Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron over the weekend, all on Yamashita Naory jigs.  The Squid here seemed to bite better just after the top of the tide.  The same session yielded some nice size Whiting 34-37cm from the shore at McCrae, on fresh Squid during the run out tide.

Customer Phillip says that Rye Pier has also been good for Squid lately.  Most of the Squid are getting caught here at night, and on full glow jigs like Yamashita RWF.

Port Phillip Bay from Black Rock south has fished well for Snapper over the last 10 days, with plenty of good size fish coming in.  Customer Slav pulled 5 fish in 14m of water off Frankston around daybreak, with all fish between 4.5kg- 6kg and all on Pilchard.

Good customer Lee has also caught some lovely Snapper off Mt Martha recently, with all fish taking Pilchard and biting from 4am through to 9am.  Lee’s caught and released 9 fish between 4.6kg-5.2kg.

Daniel went out over the weekend and fished for Pinkies around Mornington using soft plastics and within 2 hours he and a mate boated an estimated 50 fish, with plenty of size fish and some larger 2kg+ fish as well.