Snapper reports are slowly starting to pick up with more consistent fishing and an improvement on average size.
The outer harbour is starting to produce some better fishing with snapper to 5kg starting to be landed on mainly baits with some fish also being caught on plastics.
Some of the better baits have been the humble pilchards and squid with some fish also being caught on mantis shrimp, sauries and salmon. The edge of the channel is well worth having a crack for a snapper and the spoil grounds are another fantastic spot to chase them. Wilson Spit is also worth putting some time in and you could expect a better quality fish from here too.
The Curlewis bank has continued to fish super well with some sensational fishing on offer. Large numbers of fish are still pouring in and at a great average size too. Most fish are around the mid-30s with some fish getting well over 40cm which is fantastic for inside the bay.
Squid strips are the best baits to be running closely followed by pipis. A bit of burley in the water plays a big factor to success, too.
Queenscliff has gone into overdrive with the calamari fishing this past week with the squid coming through thick and fast and some absolute crackers amongst them. Squid jigs seem to be working best in either a size #3.5 or #4.0 working best. They seem to be holding all over the bight area both shallow and deep, and can just depend on the day or two-day period on where the best fishing is. If you are after a giant then it is hard to beat a natural/real bait like a salmon, silver whiting, mullet or King George whiting on a spike.
Offshore the snapper fishing has only been getting better and better with some great numbers of fish being pulled in and of course gone fishing charters are right on the action. The crew have been getting their customers onto great numbers of what you would call perfect eating fish with some
getting upwards of 5kg. Drifting with baits like squid and salmon in 50 metres of water is a good way to chase them out here and don’t be surprised if you stumble across gummy sharks, school sharks, thresher sharks and maybe even a kingfish.
