This weekend there were again a large number of boats flocking offshore and in the Rip to try their luck on our local pelagic species (tuna and kingfish).
The rip had more boats than the Spanish Armada all in there hoping to tangle with some kingfish – and a fair chunk of boats found success.
Dropping knife jigs, ranging between 150-250 grams, and jigging them through the water column has been very effective for boats, landing fish up to 12kg.
Live calamari and live yakkas have also been producing plenty of fish and tends to get a few more bites than jigs.
Off Barwon Heads and Ocean Grove has also had its very fair share of kingfish popping up right along the coast.
They’re eating many different lures and on a variety of different tactics including casting, jigging and bait fishing.
Along the 40-50-metre mark has been holding a good chunk of fish down deep, with fish to 80cm in good numbers.
Dropping knife jigs on their heads has been super effective.
Weather like that at the weekend made it very easy to spot them cruising on the surface and gave a good opportunity to throw some top water lures at them. Poppers and stick baits have been working a treat, in particular the Nomad Chug Norris.
Bluefin tuna remain a popular target for many anglers this week.
The fish were proving quite difficult to tempt but there was still a few fish being caught along the coast. Trolling skirted lures with the aid of either a spreader bar or dredge has definitely helped in getting those extra bites.
So too has diving hardbodies. When the fish are on the surface, casting stick baits into the schools has been accounting for plenty of bites and is a fun way to target them.
Coming back inside the bay has still had plenty of good fishing on offer with snapper and whiting chewing well!
Snapper have been going quite well off Clifton Springs with some solid reports of fish to 5kg being caught.
Whiting are still on the chew right around the peninsula with Clifton Springs right through to Queesncliff the best area to look.
Queenscliff has been holding the better quality fish and at good size tooo.
Fishing the outgoing tide, or the lead-up to the evening, has been the best time to fish.
