Flake and garfish on the menu

Peri Stavropoulos with a mako shark. (Supplied)

Peri Stavropoulos

Some quality fishing has been on offer over the past week with the inner harbour a hot spot.

Garfish are in abundance at the moment with plenty of different locations holding plenty of fish.

Grammar School Lagoon, Western Beach, Cunningham Pier and the Geelong Yacht Club all holding tonnes of fish – Grammar School is holding the better average size.

Burley is key to get the school to where you’re fishing but it shouldn’t take too long until they show up after throwing that first handful in.

Silverfish, prawns and pipis are all fantastic baits to run, but be sure to cut them into really small pieces and suspend them under a pencil float.

King George whiting still remained a popular target along the Bellarine with plenty of boats heading out in search of a feed.

Unfortunately, the amount of boat traffic on the water has made the fishing tricky but boats who were able to find their own bit of water to fish, away from the crowds, managed to score themselves a feed.

Calamari were holding in great numbers in similar areas all the way around the Bellarine, anywhere along the coast line over a weed bed ranging between 2.5 and 4 metres of water is prime ground to start looking, with natural-coloured jigs working well.

The Oil Rig off Port Campbell has been a hot spot the past few weeks with barrel tuna going crazy out there with fish ranging between 60 – 120kg in weight.

Trolling skirted lures has been most effective with plenty of boats also getting them cubing.

Just be cautious as you must remain 500m from the rig and be sure to plan your trip as it’s a big run.

Portland has been fishing very well with the ease in weather with tuna, makos and assorted reef fish all finding their ways to the cleaning tables.

School tuna are holding in great numbers off the shelf towards the horse shoe in 350m of water.

Diving lures and skirted lures have been working very well with boats finding bulk fish.

Mako sharks are also hanging around in good numbers inside and just on the shelf, with some anglers even picking them up while chasing tuna.

Snapper, gummy sharks, nannygai and other tasty reef fish are also holding in good numbers along the west coast with drifting big strips of squid or dropping slow pitch jigs on their heads getting the bites down deep.