Kingfish fever truly set in over the past week with infected anglers getting a fix in The Rip.
Knife jigs worked down deep produced fish to 10kg which gave excellent accounts of themselves among reefy structure.
Australian Salmon frequently erupting on the surface in the same area, making for fast-paced fishing when the kingfish were off the chew.
Casting small stick bait lures or soft plastics worked well on salmon to 65cm.
Kingfish were also available off Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads but in smaller numbers. Anglers drifting in 40m caught tiger flathead on baits while waiting for the kingfish and salmon to pop up.
Apollo Bay is not always on the radar of anglers targeting kingfish but Johny Nguyen took some excellent kingies while casting lures from the harbor rock wall at Apollo Bay.
With light tackle, Johny had his work cut out for him landing fish to 70cm on silver X-rap lures.
Many local anglers used the Australia Day break to visit Portland for some of the state’s hottest kingfish action in years.
Kings were taken from the rockwall and the shallow reefs dotted along the coastline.
The real surprise was bluefin tuna to 25kg taking lures intended for kingfish.
Dylan Pace and Matt Alsop made the trip to Portland, catching kingfish to 90cm on poppers and plastics. The guys noted that work was sometimes required to find feeding fish.
Closer to home, Swan Bay’s main channel produced a variety of species including pinkie snapper, flathead and pike.
The run-in tide was best due, minimising the frequency of floating weed spoiling baits.
Some anglers found the pike hard to tempt but when some of the fish boated were almost one metre.
Silver trevally were fantastic in numbers and size inside the Barwon River Estuary.
I put in a few hours on the run-in tide on Saturday morning, catching trevally to 37cm on casting soft plastics and squid strip baits.
Other anglers fishing further down the system caught King George whiting and Australian salmon on pippies.
Back down the Western District, Trent Schiller found the Hopkins River fishing well for bream. Casting soft plastics along the edges caught fish to 36cm.
Justin Burns put in a few hours last weekend fishing the Barwon River for carp, banking a 4kg fish.
Other anglers fishing the Barwon caught redfin to 800g although a thick outbreak algae was a challenge.
Ballarat’s Lake Wendouree fished well for trout around the margins, with mudeye suspended under a float working well.
Over the next week, anglers seeking kingfish should try The Rip or head west to Portland while whiting and squid at St Leonards could be a tasty alternative.
Freshwater anglers should keep persisting with redfin in the Barwon.
