Fishing Reports for Victoria, Westernport and Port Phillip Bay

The run of snapper continues to fire for anglers with reports coming from both bays and Welshpool too. The hot fishing should continue for the next month or so before the fish slow up a bit. Customer Donna landed a lovely fish of 7.1kg out from Sandringham over the weekend. Donna was fishing in 14m of water and using fresh squid for bait.

Staff member Chris got out during the week and had a fish around Mt Eliza in 16m of water. Chris marked good numbers of fish on the mud and set baits out. Silver whiting was the go, with multiple hook ups and nothing going on pilchard. Chris landed fish to 4.8kg on the whiting.

Young gun Frankie landed a lovely conditioned 4kg out from Chelsea in 10m of water while on the drift. Freshly filleted flathead was the bait of choice, and a good option as this area holds lots of smaller prey sized flathead.  

Out from Black Rock the snapper have been pretty good. Customer Jason fished out in 15m looking for a early morning bite. The most productive bite time was daybreak with 8 fish coming aboard and taking a mixture of pilchard and silver whiting. In the same area customer Paul threw a few plastics about and scored a good bag of fish from 1.4kg to 5.5kg. The most effective soft plastic size were 4 inch, which matches most of the snappers' forage food.

Out in Westernport customer Bill has been catching fish to around the 5kg mark over the weekend. Bill has been fishing the North Arm around Lysaughts and has been using a variety of baits. Bill has found that the smaller fish have been picking pillies, while the better fish have taken a liking to strips of fresh couta.

Further up the port past Joe's Island customer Chris and mate Ben have been landing snapper to 7kg. Fishing the start of the run in tide has been the most productive for them, with the snapper biting early in the tide. Nearing the top of the tide was a bit slow for them, but some smaller table size gummies made up for it and were a welcome addition to the bag.

Down at Welshpool the snapper have slowly started firing. Customer Justin caught some nice fish to 8kg. Justing was fishing the Singapore Deep area and found that pilchard and squid were the two most effective baits.

Squid reports have been good over the past week even with the rain that has washed into the bays. Westernport has seemed to be consistent with the squid fishing and there have been some big squid caught. Customer Justin caught some nice models around the 1kg size up along the shallower banks of the top end.

Customer Chau and his brother fished out from Hastings recently to land some thumping squid on the banks. The guys managed squid to 2kg on a mixture of jigs, with blacks and greens working - along with jigs baited with silver whiting. 

Customers Stan and Stephan fished the Sorrento and Blairgowrie area of Port Phillip recently with some big squid landed. Covering ground from 4m to 10m in depth they found some good patches of squid. Size 3.0 jigs were most effective when fished with small chin weights to get down faster, with red, UV clear and UV black the best performers.

The rocky sections of the bay's shoreline have been producing average sized squid as per normal. Ledges such as Mornington and Mt Martha have had squid in the 20cm size range caught on size 2.5 and 3.0 jigs. Some anglers fishing slow sinking 3.5 jigs have also been luring in larger squid with the extra distance on the cast, so if you haven't used a jig like this it may just land you that big one from your favourite land based location.

The run of large squid has lasted around Mornington of late, with local angler Mario landing a good bag of big squid from the area. Again size 3.0 and 3.5 jigs have been the go, covering the water more effectively and catching the attention of the bigger squid. Customer Jo also caught some nice ones at Mornington and also Beaumaris. The Beaumaris region is very shallow and rocky so size 2.5 or 3.0 shallow jigs are the go.

There have been plenty of good bream caught over the past week from anglers fishing the local creeks of the bay and also into gippslands' estuaries. The estuary water is warming and the fish are becoming more and more active, with plenty of food available. Customer Jordan has been catching some really solid fish on plastics during the week, with some thumpers to 44cm nailing small grub plastics that imitate marine worms.

Customer Paul fished the Gippsland lakes over the weekend in his kayak and found the fishing a touch slow but he still managed to catch bream to 32cm on soft plastics. Paul found feeding fish sitting along silty drop offs where they were happy to pick up a 'TPR' plastic grub off the bottom. If you're unsure of how this style of grub entices fish - simply check them out in the test tank in store!

The bream fishing around the gippsland lakes has been a touch patchy, with numbers of fish still schooled up and holding from late spawning movements. There can be a bit of time in between finding fish but when found some decent numbers can be had. Staff members Dylan, George and Chris fished regions of the lakes over the long weekend with customer Daniel and while finding the fish was patchy, around 40 fish were caught on lures. A couple of fish were taken on small hard bodies but the real winners were soft plastics.

Staff member Chris took out the title with more than a dozen bream landed on small TPR grubs in motor oil colour. The most effective method that the fish were really keyed into was a bright motor oil grub fished on 1/12th jighead to help it stay right in the strike zone, which was at the base of steep rock walls.

Back around the local estuaries customer Tony has been catching some quality bream also. Tony has been fishing the Patto and landing bream to 38cm. Tony has found that fishing the river a day or so after heavy rain has been the most effective, and when the fish are biting the most aggressively. Tony has found small freshwater yabbies fished on 'C10U' or 'wacky' style hooks provide the best hook up and snag proof rate. Just remember to use as lighter weight as possible, and the larger fish are picky and will rarely eat baits with huge big sinkers attached.

Port Phillip's snapper bite has picked up over the last few weeks, and even moreso this week. The fish have been more active and bites have been occurring around first light and also in the afternoon. The northern section of the bay has been more productive with Patto - north the real better section. Customer Harry and mate Stephen fished around the reef off Black Rock in 7m during the week to land a couple of nice table fish on silver whiting. Silver whiting has picked up dramatically over the last week as a bait also.

Customer Sam got out on Thursday morning and scored a nice fish in 15m off Frankston in flat conditions. The Frankston - Seaford area has been holding smaller patches of fish but certainly not as much boat traffic as further north around Black Rock. Customer Danny has been bagging fish to 3.7kg off Black Rock himself with both pilchard and garfish working well.

Staff members George and Chris fished out from Black Rock on Sunday afternoon. With sloppy southwest conditions and a late tide change the fish were going to bite. The guys found some small reef ledges in 13m that were holding fish nearby so started berleying. After about 15 minutes a few rods went off and the guys had a decent bite for about 2 hours, with 8 fish to around 4kg coming aboard. The smaller fish were around 40cm but still happy to nail a whole silver whiting on tandem 5/0 and 6/0's.

Out from Carrum on the mud there have been fish to be caught. With a lot more moving about to find active fish and a bit of intuition as to which direction to head in, there hasn't been as many boats. The areas that seem to be holding numbers of fish seem to be around the 15m line from Carrum, 13m off Seaford and again 15m out from Mordialloc. Customer Zoran got out with his Dad a couple of times over the weekend and scored some nice fish to 4kg out in 15m from Carrum. Silver whiting and pilchard worked equally on these fish.

There have still been some quality squid on offer in the bay, especially from Frankston south. Around Mornington there have been some better than average squid about, so upsizing to bigger jigs is a very good idea. Around Sorrento and Portsea the large squid have been about, with slack water producing more for anglers the shallower water. Across at Queenscliff the big squid have still be about, as staff member George found out. George fished with mate of the store Bruce and AFL footballer Bachar Houli. The boys fished just outside Queenscliff harbour over the grass beds in 3m of water to land over 20 big squid. Hayabusa and Shimano jigs were the best performers of the session.

After cleaning up on the squid the guys targeted whiting just north of Queenscliff. Fishing the tide around last light in 3 - 6m of water some nice whiting were caught on pipi and fresh squid. With the bite a bit slower than normal changing to lighter leader and smaller hooks converted a few extra fish.

Westernport has continued to produce some quality snapper, with the bite somewhat more consistent than Port Phillip, but most anglers are aware that this is the case. With the increased tidal flow of the port, most of the fish are forced to eat on more of a schedule and once you key into their movements they can be a bit easier to consistently catch. The whole port has been producing snapper at present, from the back corner behind Joe's all the way down to Rhyll and the corals.

Captain Perri has been getting plenty of snapper selfies during the week, with more time spent on the port than at work - but who's blaming him. Customer Thao has also been catching some nice school fish from the same area, with the Hastings area really producing well. Fishing around 15m of water with fresh squid and pilchards has been the go.

The Bagge Harbour area has been holding some nice fish, with a few big patches hanging in the lee of Eagle Rock. Fishing the Bagge Harbour and further down towards Joe's customer Peter has been landing fish to 7kg. As usual, fresh squid has been the go, with other fresh baits of couta, pike and salmon claiming a few also.

Customer Tony went out for his first proper snapper trip during the week, and caught a few nice school fish to 3.8kg from the corals area. Tony was only fishing fairly shallow and using squid freshly caught that session. There have been plenty of school fish over the corals but it is also a good area to pick up the odd bigger fish or even a mulloway.

while the snapper have certainly taken the limelight for most anglers, there have been some nice gummies caught by anglers chasing them and also as bycatch. When fishing the snapper marks in the port the gummies are never far away, with main difference being that the gummies occupy the channel drops and bottom edges with more predictability. Customer Kosta was fishing fishing out from Hastings along the channel drop with fresh squid when he scored a nice fish of around 11kg. Fishing the Corinella area customer Mark has also been catching his share or table sized sharks. Mark has also been fishing fresh squid and has been landing multiple gummies to just over the metre mark.

Things have heated up in Port Phillip over the past week or so, with snapper reports increasing each weekend. There have been a few hot areas, with schools of fish moving about - but a constant eye on your fishfinder and keeping in touch with the reports two helpful pointers to score you some fish. Customer Steve bagged a nice fish just under 4kg out from Black Rock over the weekend. Steve was fishing in 15m and using silver whiting.

The Black Rock area has been a good place to start, with good numbers of fish moving out wide from the area. The 10 - 14m area has been holding good schools of fish to 5kg, as James from Unreel Fishing Charters has found out. James has been finding good patches of fish along this area, with many on the chew. Silver whiting and squid have been the most successful baits.

From the top end of the bay there have been patches of fish caught, with customer Phil one such lucky angler. Phil was fishing out from Altona in 10m of water when he landed a nice fish of 5kg. The most successful bait salmon fillet. Customer Bashir also fished the top end of the bay around Brighton to land fish to around 5kg. Fishing the shallow reef filled area, Bashir landed some nice conditioned fish on freshly caught garfish.

Out from Mordialloc, customers Kristian and Milos caught some nice solid fish to 6kg. Fishing in 12m of water the guys marked some nice fish after a strong onshore blow. Again fresh garfish were successful and the fish were on to them straight away.

South around Mornington there have still been patches of fish holding out wide. The 18-20m area has been the 'go-to' region with some solid fish to 6kg coming from the schools. Customers Mick and Jason fished the area over the weekend to land a couple of nice fish on pilchard. Young Jack from Mornington also fished out in 19m back towards 'Ansetts' to land a couple of nice fish also. Silver whiting and pilchard were the best baits on Sunday morning.

The squid fishing around Port Phillip has been good over the past week or so, and there has been some quality squid on offer. After presenting an information talk on squid fishing at the store, Eisuke Kawakami from Yamashita got out and did some fishing with Kosta from 'Hooked Up' magazine and Victorian Yamashita representative Mitch. Fishing the southern end of Port Phillip the guys managed some serious size squid, on a mixture of jigs and techniques. 

Some of the best action was had fishing deep in 15+ metres of water using the 'tip run' method. Many anglers would not even contemplate fishing this depth for squid but years of squid fishing knowledge led Eisuke to suggest this technique. If you missed out on the Yamashita squid talk or want to get in on some of the deep water squidding, pop in store and talk to the guys about the 'tip run' method.

Staff member Dylan got out into the bay during the week and fished around Frankston and Olivers Hill for squid. After getting some aggressive bites on smaller jigs, Dylan changed to size 3.5 and 4.0 jigs and proceeded to land some serious squid, for the area. 10 squid was no problem as the bite was aggressive in 4m of water, with many of the squid around or over 1kg in weight. A mixture of colours were successful but the Yamashita 'K' series in red mullet and DTD in the same colour pattern were the standouts.

Continuing on the theme of big squid, customer Mario has been catching some thumper squid from the Mornington area. The size of the squid along the Frankston - Mornington area has been excellent over the past week, with some of larger models topping 1.5kg which isn't common for the area. Many different coloured size 3.0 jigs have been working well, as the larger squid seem to be more aggressive.

Meanwhile the King George whiting have been going very well for anglers fishing the Portsea - Queenscliff area again this week. The Lonsdale bight through to Queenscliff has been the hot spot, with Portsea shallow producing some quality fish also. Friend of the shop Bruce fished out from Queenscliff over the weekend to land a bag of quality fish on freshly caught and pipi.

The whiting have been going well in Westernport also, with the top end starting to produce good numbers of fish. Tyabb and Quail banks have been producing fish to 40cm on pipi, and staff member Don has been getting amongst them. Don fished out from Yaringa over the weekend and found some nice fish to around the 40cm. Fresh squid was the most productive bait and the fish bit best during the top half of the run in tide.

There have been good amounts of squid about for those interested in collecting fresh snapper baits or for a tasty meal, with both bays running as clear as ever and going well.

Friend of the shop and Victorian sale rep Bruce fished with mate Bachar Houli out from Queenscliff to get stuck into some quality squid and whiting. Fishing close inshore around Queenscliff around 'Cottage by the sea' was the hot spot for all the squid and whiting, with the Lonsdale Bight being a popular area for both large squid and quality whiting.

The whiting reports have started to go in the port, with the 'normal' banks producing fish. Quali, Tyabb and the spit have all been fishing well, with a few moves the norm, but some quality fish about. Customer Barry fished with his father over the weekend to land a nice bag of fish from the middle spit. Barry found the run in tide productive and when the fish wanted to feed, with pipi and squid cocktail baits getting the job done. Not far from the same area staff member Don also caught some nice whiting with mate Sam. The middle spit and Tyabb bank fished well in about 12ft of water for fish to 42cm on elongated strips of squid and pipi.

Not far from the same area customer Steve has been catching some nice squid. Steve has been fishing the Tyabb-Quail banks and just working different depths until the squid are found. Steve has also been trying a good number of jigs, with Yamashita UV whites a favourite, and some of the new Owner draw 4 jigs also producing well. Steve picked up on some handy hints regarding jigs cloth and foil colour from our last Yamashita info night which has been earning him a few extra in the boat!

Down at Flinders customer Angelo has been catching some good squid and plenty of grass whiting. Angelo has been copying the jigs patterns with the grass whiting and catching well, with a few other black jig patterns also working well in the mix. The size 4.0 and 3.5 'Black Opal' colour has been producing some big squid around the outgoing tide from the pier.

Snapper reports have started to really ramp up over the past week or so, with some rain and semi consistent warmer weather really helping things out a lot. With the bay temperature warming, the snapper bite is getting better and better but it still seems plenty of people are 'waiting' to hear reports rather than getting out there and doing it! There have been numbers of school fish from size to 2kg around the inshore reefs with Williamstown, Brighton, Black Rock and Mornington all holding big schools. Customer Ryan has been catching numbers of fish to about 1.5kg up the top of the bay around Williamstown on plastics. Worm style plastics on 1/6oz jigs have been good when fishing the shallower reefs in a bit of chop.

Customer Ange has also been getting into the school fish from the shore. Ange caught some nice solid pinkies from the beach around Black Rock and Sandringham during the week, with pilchard and squid doing the job. Staff member Dylan also saw some nice shore based fish caught from Brighton, St Kilda and Black Rock earlier in the week when he was in the area. Fish to around 2.5kg were caught with none smaller than about 35cm, on a mixture of baits like pilchard, squid and saury. Long casts to the surrounding reef have been the go, so 10ft - 12ft coarse 'feeder' style rods have been the most effective tools for the job.

While there aren't as many punters out in Port Phillip, Westernport bay has been solidly producing fish for the guys just getting out and having a crack. There are reasonably consistent reports coming from the Long Reef area through to channels behind Joe's, with Corinella and deep off Ryhll also producing. Many of the fish coming from the port have been quality, with the average sitting around 4kg.

Captain Perri fished out from Corinella earlier during the week with a couple of nice fish hitting the deck pretty early on. Fishing a 15m hole, fish to 5kg were caught using pillies. The bites were tentative and the fish weren't hooking themselves, so the lightest tipped rods on the boat were the go. Customer Thao also fished somewhere in the region mid week to gain his bag of fish to about 4kg. Thao found that fresh squid and pilchard were the go, with again soft bites and softer rods the go. Thao will most likely be enjoying his snapper with some mustard over the BBQ later this week, so the area is worth a look over the weekend.

The bream fishing has been good around the place! There have been some nice fish being caught both locally and also down the road in Gippsland. Locally the Patto has been fishing well for larger fish as they school up in the main river. Staff member Dylan has been sounding lots of fish around the small drop offs and sand holes in the river, with some clearly visible in the clear water!

Down the road the hot spots down in the Gippsland Lakes seem to be the Mitchell River and Lake Tyers at the moment. The Mitchell has been producing some some very large fish to 45cm as they come off the back of their spawning run, with the 'cliffs' area holding a few.

Sandworm, crab and prawn are all good baits but the bigger fish have been responding to crab and live freshwater yabbies - just be sure to rig both of these baits on the correct hooks, fine gauge 'caddis' and drop shot patterns! Young Sam caught some nice fish up to 42cm fishing from the bank of Lake Tyers past Lakes Entrance. Sam was using fresh sandworm and fishing from the shore from the Mill Point area.

Customer Jake has also been catching a few fish both locally and from the creeks out to the East. Fishing small paddle tailed plastics has gotten some nice fish over the past week for Jake, with colours like pink and pumpkinseed getting bites. Just be sure to fish these, or any plastic on the correct weight jighead. Most people will opt the heavier option, but a lot of the time this causes the plastic to sink at an unnatural speed and may cause it to spin - and many of the bigger, smarter fish won't fall for it!