We have seen some fantastic fishing this past week with barrel tuna remaining on the top of most anglers’ lists with boats heading out in the hope of crossing paths with one.
Most of the action has been east of the rip towards Western Port with fish ranging in size from 80kg right through to 140kg.
Fish have seemed to have changed their diet from whitebait to pilchards by some reports which will make them much easier to catch – usually!
Cody and Jiles have been giving the barrels a bit of a touch up lately landing fish to over 100kg. Trolling skirted lures is working very well as well as dropping pilchards into the bait balls. Most fish have been holding between 25 and 50 metres.
Offshore snapper have been a bit tricky these past weeks but there are a few reports coming through. No massive size or numbers of fish yet but they are just starting to go now. Fishing the 50 metre line is usually the best depth for them this time of year.
Inside the bay has continued to see some great calamari fishing off Clifton Springs with anglers finding lots of squid holding about and some pretty impressive sized ones, too. Casting artificial jigs in a size 2.5 or 3.0 is ideal for this area.
Snapper have been pretty hit and miss but with persistence some anglers have been finding some impressive fish to over 7kg. Clifton Springs seems to be the current hot spot as of late however most of the popular spots across the bay should all start firing up soon.
Queenscliff calamari have again been hot and cold this past week, some anglers have been finding it a bit of a struggle to get into them and some are belting them. They certainly aren’t holding in one particular area at the moment, but when you find a patch make sure you work it as they could all just be holding tight together.
The Otways has been fishing very well for wild brown trout with just about every river, stream, creek fishing well. Some to mention are the Cumberland, Smythes, Kennett, Aire, and Barham. Small shallow hardbodies and soft plastics are great to use, fly fishing works well also.
