Spring brings in the big catch

Fez Sepic with a big squid from Queenscliff.

Spring has hit and the fishing at the moment is fantastic with most of our tasty local fish starting to show up in great numbers.

Inside Corio Bay has still got some good pinkie snapper on the go with the odd bigger fish thrown into the mix.

Out towards the area known as the silos and north shore has been a very popular location for boaters with fish reaching upwards of 5kg.

Bait fishing at night with pilchards and squid has proved deadly with plenty of fish still getting caught on plastics.

St Leonards still remains a popular location for the angler chasing a feed, with fishing holding in good numbers and maintaining a great size.

It does pay to keep active and constantly move around until you get onto the school which has definitely been the deciding factor between boats that are slaying fish and those that aren’t.

Fez Sepic got out at the weekend in search of whiting and wasn’t disappointed – landing a good haul of fish to 42cm with Pipi being the best bait.

Fez also got down towards Queenscliff in hope to find some of the big calamari that come into the bay during spring.

Not long into the first drift his jig was attacked by a cracking squid that went 44cm (hood length). Fez also managed plenty more nice sized squid with size #3.5 jigs in white proving lethal.

The squid at Queenscliff have definitely come onto the chew this past week with plenty of boats getting amongst the action and once again finding some great specimens.

Offshore has been providing some good fishing lately, with snapper starting to show up in better numbers, along with plenty of gummy sharks too. Fishing in 30 metres of water has been a popular depth with plenty of quality fish being caught including flathead, nannygai and even whiting.

The trout fishing at Wurdi Buloc reservoir has come back onto the radar with anglers landing some solid fish. Brown trout still remain the #1 goal for most fishos with some great success – some fish reaching 60cm – along with plenty of smaller ones too.

Fishing sub surface lures such as the OSP bent minnow has proved to be a slayer this week.

There still should be plenty of redfin on the go too so your heavier spoons or soft plastics are going to be a great option to throw at those guys.