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Customer Andrew recently purchased a new outfit from the store for tackling the SBT, consisting of a Nitro rod and Shimano Saragosa spin reel. Andrew fished last week out from Portland to land 20 SBT to 35kg using his new setup.

Customer Johnny and Petar fished around the Horseshoe area last weekend, trolling a full spread of lures, including various skirts, Xraps and Killer vibs. In a 4 hour session the boys managed 7 SBT to 35kg and 5 albacore, with the blue mackerel Xraps and purple Killer vibs doing most of the damage.

Customer Damien also fished out around the edge of the shelf on Sunday, with 20 SBT and a dozen albies taken on Xrap 30’s, Black Magic Jetsetters and Richter Lures Soft Grassys in UV blue.

Portland offshore is firing on all cylinders for southern bluefin tuna and albacore at the moment, with fish to over 100kg being caught. Most of the school fish seem to be in the 20-40kg range, with the albacore up to 30kg. Most of the fish are being caught wide, with depths of 200m+ west of Lawrence rock being the best place to start.

Customer Tony fished around the Horseshoe last weekend where he landed tuna to 20kg, using a variety of skirts and hardbodies. Green/yellow coloured skirts and white/redhead Xraps 30’s worked well.

Customer David also fished west from the rock, with his GPS telling him that the best patch was a 76km run from the harbour. David caught 15 tuna to 36kg on both skirts and Xraps 30’s. Brown squid and also blue mackerel colours worked well.

Customer Duc fished on charter last week where the guys smashed the tuna, with Xraps in purple mackerel colour doing the damage.

If you're pretty keen to land yourself a Mulloway or Jewfish, head down to the Glenelg River for a few days.  This river is a leisurely drive from Portland, and famous for it's large numbers of school Jewies, and they can be caught right through winter.  Times of heavy fresh normally keep the fish down lower in the river, where they can be caught on baits of Squid and Mullet and also on lures.  Customer Phil sent us a report from down there, where he managed 4 nice Jewies up to 82cm in one session, fishing small vibes down in the lower section of the river.  What better way of spending a cold winter's day, catching fish like this!  If you're lucky you could also hook a few Bream as well!

Port Fairy has been the pick if you're after Bluefin Tuna lately, with Portland being a touch slow.  While the fish are still being caught, the numbers are aren't massive.  Staff member Harley fished with Shaun from Think Big Charters over the weekend where they landed fish to around 16kg, with most successful lures being the Black Magic Jetsetters in 'Burple' colour.  They fished in around 60m of water and noticed plenty of smaller fish free jumping less than 5km from the ramp.

While the Southern Bluefin Tuna are running hot out from Portland there are plenty of other fish to catch.  With all the baitfish and school Tuna about, there are sure to be some bigger 'toothies' to catch in the way of Sharks like Makos.  Young gun Jacob managed to wrangle a lovely Mako of around 50kg on spin gear while trolling for Tuna around the shelf at Portland.  While this fish took a trolled Black Magic SBT skirt, fishing live and dead baits is a good way to catch yourself a Mako while they feed on the prolific Tuna.  There have been many reports of Makos following hooked Tuna up towards the boat and even some Tuna coming back with bite marks taken out of them.

 

On the Tuna front, customer Don recently came back from a trip to Portland and reports that the 100m area off the back of Lawrence Rock was good for fish up to 22kg, with Xrap 30's in S and RH working very well.

The state's southwest has been fishing well for Southern Bluefin Tuna lately, but the main attraction at the minute is the fact that the fish are being caught in relatively close.  While a lot of anglers travel out nearer the 'horseshoe' there are plenty of Tuna being caught in as shallow as 30m of water.  The cold, onshore weather patterns lately have moved some colder water in and the fish have moved with it.

Good customer Michael fished with a mate out of Portland over the weekend and between them they caught 10 fish up to 15kg.  The best lures were Xrap 20's in REBA and PET colours.

Dan from Bentrods charters has also been fishing Portland and has had Bluefin up to 20kg, and also a few Striped Tuna as well.  Dan has been fishing Black Magic 'Squidjet' jet heads and Xrap 20's in RH and S colours in 40-100m of water.

Shaun Furtiere from Think Big charters has been running trips on the Tuna and over the last few days the guys have caught plenty of fish from Portland and Port Fairy.  Shaun says the areas around 40-70m have been the most consistent, especially with the presence of seabirds.  Most of the fish have been feeding on smaller baits, which is why smaller lures are more effective at the minute; Black Magic jet heads and Pakula Uzis along with Xrap 20's have been the go.  Colours such as BM, BSRD and GOSC imitate the baitfish well.