Fishing Reports for Victoria, Westernport and Port Phillip Bay

There have been plenty of people out squid fishing during the week! The land based reports have been a bit on the quiet side, but with calm conditions and clear water the squid fishing has been excellent. Westernport bay has been the go for many anglers, with plenty of quality Autumn squid coming in.

Customer Lee took his young son out in Westernport where they fished along Tyabb bank. Lee's son had just purchased a new graphite rod with his birthday money and used it to good effect with a nice bag coming in. Size 3.0 and 3.5 Yamashita jigs in both UV whites and red foils were the standouts on the day.

Fishing in the same area customer Peter caught some ripper squid with some proper giants coming in at around 2kg. Pete has been a fan of the 'nemo' or broken colour patterns on the squid, with 15lb braid helping to drag these larger models out of the current easier.

Customer Alex has not long returned from a trip up north and is straight back into things with some excellent squid coming in to the boat. Alex was fishing with his father up the top end of the port to land 13 squid all up.

Customer Brendan also fished the port with a mate chasing squid, launching at Stony Point. The guys worked their way along the banks, changing their depth and drifts from 2m through to 9m of water to find a bag. The last hour of the run in tide fished best and a fair variety of jigs were used in order to find some success, with the most consistent being natural red foil/grass whiting and glow white.

Some of the boys' squid were up to 37cm long hood length, with a couple more lost at the boat along with a big cuttlefish estimated at around 2kg.

The whiting fishing in Westernport has been slower for most anglers over the last week, with many people going donuts on them. The anglers catching KGW aren't all getting their bags, but they have been noticing better average size on the ones around. The deeper marks and channels have been worth a fish as these spots are normally where you have a good chance at finding some proper 'kidney slappers'. Just remember to get yourself organized as you won't get a massive bite window on these fish once the tide starts to get going in the deep. Preparation is the key.

Mario and John however did well just days ago on this bag of fish from the top end of Westernport. The usual constant small moves and changing baits over frequently was the key to stacking a bag together.

Customers Damien and Benny also got into some nice sized fish around Tankerton just recently. The boys found the fish actively feeding in 5m of water, and fresh squid was the gun bait on them. The larger fish didn't muck about when biting either, with a couple of them gut hooked on 'C10U' style fine gauge hooks.

The whiting fishing in westernport has picked up a bit over the last week or so, with some better size fish on the go. The hot areas have been the middle spit and also the Yaringa end of quail bank. Many fish over 40cm have been around, with the average size being about 38cm. Customer Carlo got out over the weekend and got into some nice sized fish. The hot bait was fresh squid, with a few taking pipi also. The run out tide fished the best in 6m of water.

Quail bank has been producing some solid whiting like this ripper for customer Colin. Colin fished around the 4m area along the bank and got his bag of fish, with 10 of them being over 40cm. Pipi and mussel fished best during the incoming tide.

Well the story the past week on the whiting front from MOST people is that they have been fairly slow. The consistent reports of inconsistent fishing have been the word, but this should improve over the next week as we pass the moon. There have been anglers putting together bags of fish from their normal marks but the standout seems to have been the larger fish coming from the deeper water around the smaller tides. The quality of the fish coming from the deeper is generally always much better, and the bonus can come in the form of snapper and gummies, as most of the reports show.

Gawaine Blake has been getting some ripper whiting from the deep water around Cowes during the week, with genuine 50cm fish hitting the deck. The first hour of run in tide has been the most productive time, with squid strips the deadly bait.

Customers Zoran and Tony have been putting together numbers of whiting, in amongst pinkies, trevally, flathead and gummies by fishing deeper water. Generally you can get away with slightly larger hook and bait sizes in the deeper water as the whiting have less time to worry about picking at the baits as there are bigger mouths lurking around.

Customer Bart has been fishing up around Hastings for the whiting and has done ok considering the slower fishing. Bart has been working his way along the middle spit and tyabb banks to catch some nice whiting on pipi, with good numbers of squid coming from the same areas, following hooked whiting up to the boat. A fresh squid tentacle or strip has also helped bag the odd whiting too.

The King George whiting have been receiving more attention over the past month or so as many anglers put away their heavier gear and go in search of these tasty and hard fighting estuary dwelling fish. While Port Phillip has been producing fish also, Westernport bay certainly holds the trophy for being the better whiting fishery. Most of the normal haunts have been producing fish, from the top end banks and channels right through to the back beaches and exposed ocean swell points.

Many anglers are pleased with the size of the whiting coming in, with many fish over 40cm a reasonably common occurrence at the moment. There have been some bigger fish above 45cm taken from the deep channel marks also, so there are plenty of areas worth targeting at the moment.

Customer Torpy got out on the whiting during the week north of Corinella where he landed fish to 47cm in length. Run out tide over a sou'westerly wind made for hard conditions but the fish bit well. Pipi and banana prawns were the best baits. 

Staff member Don fished with mate Sam earlier in the week out from Blind Bight to land fish into the low 40cm mark amongst leatherjacket, yakkas and flathead. The run out tide fished best for them along the middle spit with pipi/squid cocktail baits along with cuttlefish doing the job.