There has been a decent winter run of snapper in Westernport Bay since Melbourne had some proper rough winter weather a few weeks back. Not long had this weather started and snapper were being caught from a few land based spots as well as by anglers in boats. The fish have also been fairly well spread out, with reports coming from the top end of the port, right down to the fast eastern sections. Customers Chez and Adrian got out on the port recently and did well catching some nice winter fish to 7kg. The boys were fishing over in the eastern arm and using fresh squid to tempt these reds.

 

Customers Andrew and Ben have also had some success on the good sized winter fish in the port as well. Andrew was fishing towards Corinella when he landed fish between 5kg and 8kg. Squid heads and strips were the most effective baits. Customer Ben fished the shallows of the top end of the port during the night recently to land snapper to 7kg. Ben found that fresh squid was the gun bait.

 

On the squid scene, reports have been good during slightly calmer weather. The shallow areas along Tyabb, Quail and Stony banks fished well during low wind and low light times. Rough, churned up banks have forced the squid a bit deeper off the edges, and they can still be caught in depths of 5 - 7m. Customer Jarrad fished the Tyabb area between 2 - 5m of water to catch some good squid on the drift. Early morning produced some on baited jigs, and once the sun got up red foil size 3.5 Yamashita jigs did well. The biggest hood length measured 40cm which took the Yamashita jig. Customer Ben also fished in the Tyabb area for a good bag of squid taken on size 3.5 jigs during the week.

Whiting reports have slowed right down, with the odd angler catching some respectable fish but definitely not in the summer numbers. James from Unreel Fishing Charters has been putting together some nice bags of fish for customers, with whiting averaging the 38cm size taking fresh squid and pipi. Along some of the deeper, more reefy sections that James has been fishing he has also pulled up the odd nice size cray.

Within around an hour's drive from Melbourne there is some good trout fishing. To the north there is the Yarra River and surrounding tributaries, while heading into southwest Gippsland there are plenty of smaller streams out towards Noojee and the surrounding area. Customer Jordan went for a drive towards Noojee over the weekend in search of a few trout on fly. Jordan fished a few of the small rivers and streams in the area using a few different tactics, and he eventually found a few fish. 

In one particular stretch of water he found that small dark coloured bead headed nymphs were the best, landing both browns and rainbows from these areas. Fishing the small nymphs under a strike indicator he was able to tell when the fish ate the fly. In another more snaggy and overgrown section of water Jordan could see a few fish rising to the surface, so a quick change to a dry fly produced the results. Small parachute adams and similar deer hair surface flies got some interest from the small fish. Jordan also found the odd spiny cray in some of the deeper pools, which he had a look at then let go again. 

 

With all the hype about Yellowtail kingfish at the moment, there have been a few anglers out trying their luck on these hard fighting brutes. While they can be caught locally, some of the better fishing is done East towards Eden in NSW, or in the Western part of the state.

Customers Jordan and Harry went West recently in search of a few kingies and other goodies, and they made the most of some decent conditions. Finding the kingies was the hardest part, with lots of water covered to locate the schools - and even once they were found it didn't mean that they would eat. The guys managed to get into a few fish, with fish like this 6kg model about the average. A mixture of techniques were used on them, with livebaits, jigs and surface offerings tried, along with lightly weighted soft plastics.

The other marine goodies that have been on the go out in the state's West are the crayfish. Jordan and Harry managed to have a dive around the ledges where they found themselves a couple of nice crays that made it back to the dinner table. Customer Josef is also a keen diver and out near Portland recently he caught himself a few kilos worth of crayfish as well. Seafood basket on the go!

The cooler months of the year can yield good catches of spiny freshwater crayfish for anglers using hoop nets in local freshwater rivers.Just be mindful when collecting freshwater crays, as the closed season for them runs from the 1st of September through to the 30th of April - this is for waters north of the Great Dividing Range. These waters include catchments like the Goulburn etc.

Customer Travis caught a few spiny freshwater crayfish recently in a creek about an hour east of Melbourne. Travis caught and released all of the crays as he was just having a look.