Variety of species on the chew

March is arguably one of the best months of the year when it comes to being able to catch a bunch of desirable species consistently. The whiting are hard on the chew, snapper are starting to fire back up before leaving the bay, and other species like gummy sharks, has really started to get going again out wide in the shipping channel in around 20-22m of water, which is to be expected at this time of year. The majority of the reports have been coming from Mornington at first light and late in the evening. Silver whiting seems to be the pick of the baits, while fresh squid and pilchards are getting the job done also. Be sure to get your berley going before of water over the mud, but these reports are few and far between at this time of year. There are a lot of man-made reefs all the way through the bay, and while these hold a lot of small pinkies you can still get lucky and find a good school of larger feeding snapper on them. You can actually find a lot of the GPS marks for these reefs simply by using Google.

Moving down to Avalon some great reports amongst the broken ground and sand holes in around 3m of water. Pipis and mussels are the go-to baits in these areas, especially if you want your rods to just sit in the rod holders. If you don’t mind being a bit more active, using a squid strip and slowly rolling it over the sand proves to be quite effective when the whiting aren’t so fired up. squid, garfish, kingfish and tuna are still very much on the menu for many anglers.

Bird Rock at Mt Martha has been fishing really well also using the same method. The great part about Bird Rock is you can fish this area land-based also.

If you want to chase the bigger models, 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 faster-flowing waters, but the bigger ones have no problem at all. Finding structure is quite easy! You will generally see the bottom in anywhere from 3-6m, and if you can’t then it’s quite easy to just have a look at your sounder to find the ground you are looking for.

SNAPPER

The snapper fishing first light hits, so when it’s feeding time the snapper get super fired up. There are still reports off Carrum in around 16m in Corio Bay, there have been good reports of snapper being caught not only on bait but also soft plastics. Although fishing at first and last light will give you an advantage, reports say you can still catch them throughout the day. 5-7” jerk minnows have been proving to be deadly on fish up to 5kg.

KING

GEORGE WHITING

If you are fishing in areas that aren’t very tidal, it’s crucial to be fishing either in the dark or first and last light. Port Phillip Bay has a lot of great whiting fishing, but as soon as you get high up the bay starting from around Dromana, the tide really slows down, and as you get into the shallow water there is no tidal flow at all.

Mt Eliza has been seeing

Amy Day with a solid set of whiting fishing Portsea. Squid strips have been the bait of choice.

Anthonys Nose at Dromana always produces great whiting around this time of year, and it’s a very good place for land-based fishos because you can park your car and fish right there. If you are going to use pipis while land-based fishing, I strongly suggest putting a squid strip on after you put your pipi on, as this will help to keep your bait on when casting a long distance.

Portsea has been fishing really well in between the point and the pier on the run-in tide. You can fish this spot throughout the whole day. Sorrento in between the moorings has been good, and so has Blairgowrie just outside the harbour near the poles.

SOUTHERN

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 squid aren’t usually very big in size, they are very big in numbers. A 2.5 sized jig has been the better of the sizes, with the red and gold foil jigs doing most of the damage. Green is also a hard colour to go past, especially around the Mornington area.

The southern end of the bay around Rye in the south channel has been a go-to spot lately for gummy sharks anywhere up to 25kg, and if you are lucky, even bigger! Sitting on the edges of the channel is the go using fresh baits if you can get them. Fresh baits such as Australian salmon, yakka, squid or slimy mackerel are ideal baits. Gummy sharks have a very good nose on them, so getting a fresh bait out in tidal areas such as Rye is crucial to having a successful fishing trip.

The rig of choice has been a running sinker rig with an 8/0 circle hook. Make sure to pin your baits with plenty of the hook showing, allowing that ultimate hook up.

As you move closer to the entrance near Portsea, the same actions apply just as you would if you were fishing Rye.

50cm mark, but I’m getting close. Several this past month have been between 45-49cm.

Staying on the move and targeting structure has been a key to finding them. Bright coloured curl-tail and paddletail soft plastics rigged on jig spins have been standout choices.

At times I’ve also tried to match the bait source and gone with 3” minnows in natural colours. Anything that has good natural movement is good. I work them either slow rolled (painfully slow at times) or hopped off the bottom like I’m targeting bream. It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve caught many reddies and will continue to target them over the coming month.

It was a strange snapper season once again to finish 2022. We had unusual weather patterns and surrounding floods from systems like the Yarra and Maribyrnong made it quite unpredictable at times. Towards the end of March, we should start to see another small run of snapper enter the bay. This is because the water temperatures will start to decline from the current temperature of around 22 degrees back to a temperature that snapper thrive in, which is usually between 15 -18 degrees.

This pattern should continue through to April and be done before May. The fishing during this time can be exceptional, so get out as often as you can and always have your bread-andbutter species like whiting, flathead and squid in the back of your mind if the big reds aren’t playing ball. It’s a great time to be fishing, with so many different local fish species biting, so get out there and enjoy yourself!

• Until next time, good fishing everyone. Feel free to contact me directly to share your fishing experiences, photos and catches around Melbourne, Port Phillip Bay and beyond which we can feature in next month’s article. You can contact me by email at alan@fishingmad.com.au. Please consider becoming a FishingMad member at www.fishingmad.com. au/member for fishing reports, workshops, podcasts, and exciting monthly giveaways. Also, don’t forget to follow my fishing adventures on the FishingMad YouTube channel www.youtube. com/c/fishingmad and social media on Facebook page www.facebook. com/fishingmad.com. au, Instagram page www.instagram.com/ fishingmad.com.au and on Channel 31 Tuesday evenings at 9.30 pm and Saturday afternoons.