Fishing Reports for Victoria, Westernport and Port Phillip Bay

Well we're right in the thick of the beach fishing season here and many anglers are experiencing the best salmon fishing that they've seen for at least the last 2 or 3 years. Numbers of fish have been good and average size has also been good - with good sized schools of bigger fish hanging about as well. As for the hot beaches, close to home the best have been Gunnamatta and Kilcunda, with Venus Bay/Walkerville excellent and the 90 mile has been very good also.

A hot tip if you're heading out to the beach - check the conditions of your chosen location from aerial maps or satellites first if possible.

When you're looking at a satellite view of your location the giveaway of deep water 'gutters' and 'holes' is easily picked up in the above photo. Gunnamatta beach has a few nice gutters which are easily distinguished by the red stars marking them. The darker water usually means deeper water or weed and rock - but in this case you can see that it is deep clear water. From the satellite view you can see the breaking water and the direction which the gutters move along the beach - just bear in mind the satellites aren't updated every day so they are a 'guide' for you, when you get to the beach a 10 minute scout from the dunes or high vantage point will confirm deeper water for you.

Customer Mark has been putting his beach knowledge to good use down at Venus Bay this week with some great salmon landed. During his last few sessions Mark has been spinning the fish up using metal stickbaits in 40g and 60g weights. Mark has caught more than his share of fish, with some models topping 3kg on the lures. Leaving them biting and having some much bigger fish shake the trebles out, Mark will be back with a vengeance after upgrading to assist hook set ups on his lures.

Customers from the store and members of the Keysborough Angling Club fished the section of the 90 mile beach in Gippsland at Woodside beach and had some excellent results. With all members landing salmon it was an excellent trip, and the largest salmon weighed in at 1.5kg which was caught by Mark Watson. Over all just over 150 salmon were weighed in over the two days, which shows excellent numbers of fish.

Happy anglers with their salmon! The salmon along the 90 mile have really been hitting bluebait, with blue and red surf poppers also claiming lost of fish. Some anglers fishing small 'bungee grubs' on the back of their poppers have been catching just as many fish as anglers who are fishing bait. The best part about these plastics is that they're crab-proof!

The surf beaches around the region have really been producing some quality salmon of late. With some nice calm winter weather and moderate swell it has made for good beach fishing conditions, and salmon to over 1.5kg just top it off. While there have been fish along most of the beaches, Gunnamatta and St Andrews have been the pick along the peninsula, with Kilcunda and Venus Bay providing plenty of fish heading down into South Gippsland.

Staff member Don fished Gunnamatta for an afternoon during the week to land a few nice sized fish. While Don wasn't fishing for 8 hours, fish around the kilo mark were around and responded to his berley. With other anglers on the beach reporting no fish, and no berley it really is the key. Don berleyed up enough in the gutters to bring some fish in and keep them there. Bluebait and soft plastics got the bites on the paternoster rig but the key is getting the fish in to your area.

Customer Mark fished Venus Bay beach number 1 with friends over the weekend where they did really well on the salmon. Bluebait and pilchard were the best baits but again the key was to create a berley trail to bring the fish into the small holes and troughs just out from the shoreline. When making your beach berley you have to ensure that you have enough smell and consistency to create a trail for the fish to hone in on, but it also has to be fine enough to not feed the salmon and send them away full and no longer hungry. A normal beach session will see around 20 litres used so make sure you pack your gear adequately and don't cart too much heavy and unneeded gear with you. 

The Australian salmon have turned up this autumn and were quite prevalent throughout the rip and lower end of the bay over early autumn, but are now making their presence felt around the rest of the bay. Good schools of fish have been moving about and can be found around most prominent points and estuary mouths, especially during some rougher onshore winds and rain. The eastern side of the bay has seen good numbers of fish around Frankston and Mornington piers and Mt Martha rocks during westerly winds, with the average fish varying from just under a kilo to about 1.5kg.

Frogleys Offshore representative Gerry has been catching some big fat salmon down around the southern end of the bay, with larger fish to 3kg having no problems inhaling 100mm stickbaits, plastics and hardbodies. The larger fish seem to stay down the bottom end of the bay and if you're lucky they have been turning up around Blairgowrie and Portsea during the flood tide.

The salmon pier along the local piers has seemed to be more consistent around first and last light, so if you're at one of your local piers during these times, it's worth having something rigged up and ready to go. During high winds and rough water metal slugs and slow jigs have been good, but without hardware alterations you stand the chance at losing fish. Calmer conditions call for small subtle soft plastics so it pays to keep both on you.

Staff member Dylan has been catching fish to around a kilo from Morinington and Mordialloc piers, and along the rivermouth at Patterson river. During rougher conditions metal lures like the Yakamito 'angry baits' have been excellent, with small but strong assist hooks fitted to prevent shake offs. So far Dylan has not lost a single fish, so with the assist hook set up hook up rate is the very best it can be at 100%.

The beaches both locally and further afield have been producing good numbers and size salmon also. The producers at the moment have mainly been down the east coast with Gunnamatta, Kilcunda, Venus Bay and further around Lakes Entrance the pick. Customers Mark and Darren fished Venus Bay beach no.1 last week to land a swag of fish with some pushing 2kg. The boys found that once the berley got the school in they went off, with the fish biting like crazy right into the night on whole pillies.

Inverloch:

Jacob has been staying down at Inverloch and fishing Andersons Inlet over last week, and reports plenty of school sized whiting taking pipi and squid from the entrance right up to Mahers Landing.  Most of the fish are around 35cm, which is about average for this system.  Silver Trevally and Salmon to 500g are taking the same baits further around the entrance and Pensioners Point.  After dark, gummies up to 7kg are being caught on fresh baits as they scour for food throughout the inlet.

Welshpool:

Port Welshpool has been fishing well in the Franklin Channel for snapper and Whiting with a few rat Kingies around the jetties.  Customer Chris reports that some days they are slamming every lure to hit the water, and others only one or two types of lure will get a hit.

Lake Tyers:

Customer Mitch fished around the Entrance Channel, taking Tailor up to 70cm, bream up to 45cm and loads of flathead up to 50cm.  Most of the Bream where taken on hardbodies along the flats.  Berkley ripple shads caused quite a commotion amongst the local Flathead, with the average size about 40cm.

Amongst other reports received from Lake Tyers, good customer Daniel landed flathead to 74cm and bream to 39cm, mainly soft plastic flickbaits, worked hard against the edges.

Surf Beaches:

Kilcunda and Venus Bay appear to be the most consistent and successful surf beaches over the past week.  Customer Ted landed 2 Salmon both around the 1.5kg mark on bluebait on an afternoon high tide. 

Anton also fished around the Bass beaches last week, with 7 Salmon up to 2.5kg coming from Kilcunda.  Bluebait and pipi has been the best bait for him, with high water around low light times again being more productive in the close gutters.