Snapper going crazy for land-based fishos

Ben Rowse with a snapper. (supplied)

The land based snapper this past week has been just phenomenal, all we can say is WOW. Most land based structures and rock walls have been producing fish with Portarlington and St Leonards being the main hotspots.

Anglers launching baits like pilchards and squid have been accounting for quite a few fish. Peri Stavropoulos from Trellys Geelong has been using whole pilchards and finding fish to 3.5kg.

Ben Rowse landed a cracking fish after work during the week on half a Yakka only just past the rocks.

Anglers have also been finding plenty of smaller pinkies inside Portarlington harbour taking a liking to small soft plastics like grubs, paddle tail and, of course, the famous turtleback worm.

Out in the boats, anglers are starting to find more consistent fishing for snapper as the water starts to warm up. Most success has come from anglers fishing with baits and some with soft plastics.

Some areas that are producing are Alcoa Pier, Leopold, Point Henry, Wilson Spit, The Paddock and Portarlington.

Most fish have been ranging around the 2kg mark but there does seem to be a healthy number of fish around 4kg to 6kg.

There has also been some fantastic King George whiting on the go from what we have been hearing from multiple sources with bag limit captures about to over 40cm.

Fishing the stronger tides and ideally of an evening you should be in for a hot chance at some of the finest eating.

Offshore snapper have been a little slow but that could have a fair bit to do with the poor weather. As we get some better days we should start to see more opportunities to get out there and have a crack.

Fishing the deeper water with paternoster rigs has proved to be quite productive over time.