Yes, you heard right! Snapper in winter in Port Phillip! The fish have been quite good through the last few months, and are still there for anglers to catch. Fishing out wide from anywhere along the peninsula is the shot, depths of 20-22m are the go.

Customer Mark has been smashing them, and he got a few more nice fish last week. Sitting in 21m off Mornington with baits of pilchard and squid, Mark bagged fish from 4.5 - 6.5kg. Mark also got a few small Gummies in the same area on the same baits.

The Gummies have been pretty good in Westernport lately; with quite a few anglers targeting the larger models that frequent the entrance channels.  Most of these fish are over 12-13kg and are breeding females and should be released promptly.  Staff member Harley caught Gummies to about 9kg, along with large Sevengill Sharks and Pinkies along the channel edge from Vetnor. 

Customer Jacob caught a few smaller Gummies around Newhaven on Wednesday afternoon, with all of them taking Trevally fillets as bait.

Around Stony Point, customer Marek and his son caught fish to 7kg fishing with their new Shimano Saragosa reels.  The Gummies came from a channel ledge in around 10m of water.
 

Customer Casey and mate Tyson made the most of the weather and went out from Corinella to try for a Gummy or Elephant fish.  While the Gummies they caught were only small, the Elephant fish made up for this, being quite prolific.  Fresh Squid and Bluebait worked on both.

When the conditions are allowing, anglers are venturing out offshore from Westernport chasing the Sharks.  February is typically a good month for sharking, as water temperatures are just about perfect, and there are normally large amounts of bait schools around. 

Many customers are reporting acres of Salmon, Yakkas and Slimeys, which are all top class baits for many fish, including Sharks.  Lots of bait schools are moving about near Stony Point, Tortoise Head and Cowes, along with West Head off Flinders and throughout both entrances. 

Good customer Joe and his mates have been hitting these bait schools early on and then fishing some of their deep marks through Western entrance, to catch some quality Gummies.  In this deep, tidal water these big Gummies go like rockets, slugging it out against the current; fishing slightly heavier than normal to compensate for larger sinkers is a good option.

If Sharks with teeth are your interest, then offshore is where you should be.  Plenty of Makos averaging 25-50kg are around, but there are also more large Sharks around than average.  Makos estimated at up to 180kg have been hooked and lost next to the boat by anglers targeting smaller, table-sized Sharks.  Earlier this week, we received some photos of a large Bronze Whaler caught by customers out fishing for Makos.  The beast was hooked up on a live Slimey, and slugged it out for over 4 hours on 15kg tackle.  Eventually beaten and boated, the huge Bronzie was estimated at over 120kg and 7 feet long, and caught out along the 70m line behind Phillip Island.

Inverloch:

Jacob has been staying down at Inverloch and fishing Andersons Inlet over last week, and reports plenty of school sized whiting taking pipi and squid from the entrance right up to Mahers Landing.  Most of the fish are around 35cm, which is about average for this system.  Silver Trevally and Salmon to 500g are taking the same baits further around the entrance and Pensioners Point.  After dark, gummies up to 7kg are being caught on fresh baits as they scour for food throughout the inlet.

Welshpool:

Port Welshpool has been fishing well in the Franklin Channel for snapper and Whiting with a few rat Kingies around the jetties.  Customer Chris reports that some days they are slamming every lure to hit the water, and others only one or two types of lure will get a hit.

Lake Tyers:

Customer Mitch fished around the Entrance Channel, taking Tailor up to 70cm, bream up to 45cm and loads of flathead up to 50cm.  Most of the Bream where taken on hardbodies along the flats.  Berkley ripple shads caused quite a commotion amongst the local Flathead, with the average size about 40cm.

Amongst other reports received from Lake Tyers, good customer Daniel landed flathead to 74cm and bream to 39cm, mainly soft plastic flickbaits, worked hard against the edges.

Surf Beaches:

Kilcunda and Venus Bay appear to be the most consistent and successful surf beaches over the past week.  Customer Ted landed 2 Salmon both around the 1.5kg mark on bluebait on an afternoon high tide. 

Anton also fished around the Bass beaches last week, with 7 Salmon up to 2.5kg coming from Kilcunda.  Bluebait and pipi has been the best bait for him, with high water around low light times again being more productive in the close gutters.

Matthew fished wide off Frankston late afternoon on friday, to pick up 1 nice gummy in 24m of water, and then again in 16m, where he picked up his bag of reds in 20min just before dark. The smallest fish weighed in at 3.5kg.