While a lot of anglers wouldn't think it, many 'swamps' in and around the outer metro suburbs can produce an array of fish, if you know how to look for them. In any given system you can catch redfin, rainbow trout, brown trout, carp, roach, tench, eels, blackfish, silver perch, yellowbelly and murray cod. Not all locations hold these fish, but some most certainly do. The main culprits you'll come across are of course carp, redfin and eels - especially if you're bait fishing.

In a local wetland customer Daniel has been throwing the newest Aussie colour 'bent minnows' to attract the attention of some XL redfin. Daniel has been catching some chunky fish, with 40cm+ the norm in some systems. Because of the reeds and shallow weed Daniel has been fishing the shallow surface lures and spending less time fouled up and more time hooked up!


A typical series of 'wetland' or swamp lakes is somewhere like Berwick Springs. Now anyone can simply open up their default mapping app on phone, or a melways if you're old school and find these sort of locations. Many are overlooked because of their proximity to housing estates or 'un-glamorous' look, but virtually all of them will hold freshwater fish of some sort. With many interconnected lakes and drains, Berwick Springs is a large habitat for these fish to move around in, and plenty of vegetation to support food for these fish. With carp to over 10kg in here, some of these systems can hold some serious fish!


Speaking of carp, customer Jordan has been catching school sized fish on the fly rod in these sorts of lakes. Jordan knows that there carp in almost all of them, and they are a very good fish to hone your lure and fly fishing skills on. Jordan has found plenty of carp sunning themselves and cruising just under the surface in search of food, and a well executed cast and presentation of fly has gotten the interest of a few. If you're more a bait fisherman then these fish will still test your skills - but you certainly need to rig and gear up for them accordingly. No 4/0 snapper hooks and heavy lines here, most of the time fishing without any finesse will see you go home without a bite. If you're interested in fine tuning your fishing on these readily available species talk to the guys in the shop to make sure you're gearing up correctly, and giving yourself a good chance at catching something.

 

Port Phillip Bay has really hit it's straps over the last few weeks on the snapper front. The temperature of the bay has risen to the hover around the same as bass strait and this is the trigger that really sets the snapper off. Over the last few weeks there have been fish caught all over the bay, from 10m through to 21m. At present the more consistent areas seem to be the 17 - 20m ground out from Mornington - Mordialloc, with the deeper parts out towards P2 in the north of the bay producing fish as well.

Baits of all sorts have been working with scad, whiting, saucy, cuttlefish, gar, salmon, couta, pilchard and squid all producing fish  - but that being said it is very wise to take a selection and definitely make sure there are some pillies and squid in that mix, along with pilchard and squid scented berley pellets. There have been too many fish caught to list each and every one, so from here on we will let the pictures do the talking. 



 

Port Phillip bay is starting to produce a few nice snapper. While water temperatures are still down the fish are starting to switch on and give anglers opportunities or bite 'windows' Generally early in the season the most productive time is first light through to about 8am. Getting out earlier rather than later and locating fish, berleying and baiting up is the go as most anglers who locate feeding fish will be back at the ramp by 8:30am. A few nice fish have been taking plastics and lures as well. Customer Luke fished out in the shallows over on the western side of the bay from his kayak recently to land fish to land a nice fish of around 5kg. Luke was fishing a Gulp Jerkshad on a 1/4oz head, in around 7m of water.

James from Unreel Fishing Charters has also been getting a few early season snapper while out on the bay. James hasn't really started full blown snapper trips but he is noticing that they are becoming more and more active every week. James was out with customers early in the week fishing some shallow ground on the eastern side of the bay where he landed a couple of nice fish up to 78cm in length. Pilchards and squid strips have been his favourite baits at the moment.

 

The squid fishing in Port Phillip has been fairly consistent of recent, however the current rain and rough water will slow things down for a few days. Reports from during the week have been good around most areas, with customer Angelo getting his bag quickly out from Point Cook on the weekend. Haramtisu AK in 2.5 did the trick for him.

Customer Steve also sent in a report from his son in law Indra who is visiting from Bali who recently had a session on the squid out on Port Phillip. Indra managed his first Southern Calamari at 3.4kg, which is not a bad way to open the squid account. Indra was fishing out from Queenscliff, and caught this ripper on a baited jig with a fresh silver whiting.