Port Phillip

Sunny spring weather and great fishing

PORT PHILLIP

Gerry

Morsman With the warmer weather starting to settle in, the snapper and whiting are staring to come into the bay in big numbers. Although the gummies and squid hang around all year, spring is definitely a much nicer time to target these species. The warmer weather makes it very pleasant to stay out on the water for much longer. past, especially around the Mornington area.

If you want to chase the bigger models then head straight down to the southern end of the bay, where things are much more tidal. The smaller squid generally find it a bit tough in the fasterflowing waters, but the bigger ones have no problem at all. Finding structure is easy as you will generally see the bottom in anywhere from 3m to 6m of water. SNAPPER

One of Melbourne’s

Scott humbles with a nice sized gummy shark. most popular fish to target is definitely snapper, and why not when you get to target a hard-fighting and good eating species. As per usual at this time of year, there are plenty of fish being caught around Altona and Black Rock in depths spreading out between 12m to 18m. Speak to your local tackle shop to see exactly where they are, as snapper can move around quite a bit but still linger in the general area.

The water temperature is generally a little warmer north of the bay at the start of the season, and as the season progresses the fish spread out, as do the temperatures throughout the bay. Carrum is seeing a few fish being caught in around 18m of water, with silver whiting and fresh squid being the best baits at this time of year. You’ll find that the key to firing up Port Phillip Bay snapper is often chopping up pilchards into small cubes, and continually throwing them into the water a little bit at a time. It isn’t very tidal so the cubes will hang around your general area, firing the snapper up.

GUMMY SHARK

Sorrento through to Portsea has been fishing very well for gummies first thing in the morning through the south channel, using fresh fish baits like salmon or silver trevally. These are very oily baits, and with the heavy tidal flow through this area it will carry the scent a long way, allowing the gummy sharks to hunt your bait out.

When heading offshore it’s hard to know where to start with gummies, as there aren’t many places

Even for the land based fishers it’s much nicer to get out now, with snapper coming in close, giving everybody a chance at catching a good fish. All you need is a a 12ft rod with a nice, firm bait like squid or octopus. The end of Mornington Pier is a very popular location as you’re casting into about 10m of water, and Mt Martha rocks also produces good results. At this time of year from the pier there are also still plenty of garfish, squid, and decent schools of Australian salmon. SQUID

The calamari are starting to come back in big numbers, especially around the Safety Beach area and all the way through to Mount Martha. Although these aren’t usually very big in size. they are very big in numbers. Casting 2.5 sized jigs has been the better option, with the red and gold foil jigs doing most of the damage. Green is also a hard colour to go Amy with a quality snapper. There will be plenty of them around this month.

offshore where you don’t have the chance of catching one. There are so many techniques and areas to try, but by all the reports I have received the most effective are as follows.

First, Barwon Heads in around 45m of water over reef has been a huge stand-out in recent weeks. As per usual, the best technique has been anchoring up. When anchoring offshore, make sure you let plenty of rope out, especially when it is a bit choppy or there is a large, rolling swell. This will give you the best chance at holding anchor, and therefore landing more fish. The stand-out bait has been freshly-caught parrotfish during the day or freshlycaught squid during the night. The reason squid works better at night is because picker fish aren’t as much of a problem at night-time. All the little if recent reports are anything to go by. These fish love to come in close at night to hunt down their dinner, so fishing land based is a great option as well. Using a 9ft rod with a nice, sensitive tip is a great option if you are

Squid strips and pipi baits are dynamite on the whiting.

pickers such as parrotfish, Barbers perch and any other small reef fish will hide in their caves to avoid any attention from hungry predators, mainly sharks, which love to feed at night.

A few other areas that have been fishing very well for big gummy sharks have been Cape Schanck in around 30m of water, and Flinders in around the same depth. Drifting along the sandy ground out the front of Woolami has proven to be quite successful as well. WHITING

Getting in close over the sand flats around Dromana and Safety Beach at night is sure to see you getting on to a few King George whiting, looking at purchasing a new rod to target these fish.

Fishing squid strips off the beach is a much safer option than using soft baits like pipis, because a pipi can fall off on the cast and you won’t even know because it’s dark.

Getting down to places like Portsea has been quite productive also, in water depths of anything up to 8m in the sand holes.

Sorrento in between the boat moorings has been seeing a lot of reports lately also, with squid strips and pipis being the pick of the baits. Late evening or early morning will see you giving yourself the best chance of success around this area.