While normally slipping under the radar amongst all the other fishing to be done over the summer months, there have been some ripper gars about. While a lot of anglers overlook them as a target, the beauty of them is they can be caught land based or boat. Most of the shallow inshore areas of both bays and all of our other estuaries will hold gars, it's just a matter of getting numbers of them to hang around. A bit of berley normally gets them going and they are a brilliant eating fish to add to the day's bag.

Pier fishing for gars in the bay has been good around Brighton, Sandringham, Beaumaris, Frankston and Dromana, along with Stony point pier in Westernport. Gawaine Blake has been catching some real gars around Stony Point while out near the whiting grounds.


Don't be fooled, gars CAN be very tricky to catch consistently and the correct tackle and technique will soon separate the full buckets from the empty ones. Delicately balanced and weighted floats with mid length shank hooks are some of the tackle 'must-haves' but matching hook to bait selection and the correct consistency berley mixture is also vital. 


Customer Tim has been getting some good gars from Frankston pier recently. Tim used both maggots and silverfish in conjunction with his berley mix to secure a bag.


 


Flinders has been the go for squid lately, with plenty of anglers having success both boat and pier based. With cold oceanic swell constantly coming into Flinders bight, the large squid are generally always about. Customer Evan got a nice squid from the pier just recently using a Yamshita Egi Oh K jig.


Customer Steve has also been getting some cracker squid from the area. Steve has been fishing a few different jigs, with the size 4.0 Clicks 'black opal' having good success. The darker coloured jigs can imitate small shrimp and wrasse around the thick kelpbeds here so it is a good idea to always carry a couple of darker colours in case your regulars aren't working.

Steve Rabel has also been getting some nice squid earlier this week. Fishing the run in tide, and using again a dark/black jig from Gancraft Steve has caught some rippers from the pier. 

 

 

The squid fishing in Westernport Bay has been good recently, whether it's boat or shore based. While there haven't been any real leviathan sized squid around, numbers have been pretty good. Some of the piers that have been good have been Flinders, Stony Point and Hastings. Staff member Kozi fished from Flinders pier during the week to land a few smaller squid. Size 3.0 jigs were effective in landing a few of the smaller squid, with dark red foils and blacks most productive.

Customer Tony fished from the pier also and did well using his favoured jigs. Using his Gancraft 3.5 he was the only person to catch on this particular day, with squid to around a kilo.

Customers Jarrad and Michael went out and fished for the squid in Westernport prior to a snapper session recently. Using a mixture or baited and worked jigs, squid to 40cm hood length were caught - with the largest taking a baited jig. The better areas were nearby to Stony Point along the edges where the grassbeds drop off.

 

Westernport Bay has been worth a trip if you're after a bag of squid - be it for bait or to cook up. The fishing from some of the piers has been worth a look, along with drifting over the grass beds in the boat. Areas that have been producing lately have been Tyabb, Stony Point and further south around Flinders. 

Customer Zach loves his Westernport fishing and just this week he decided to get out and have a crack at a few big ones. Zach went and fished down around the Flinders/McHaffies area where he got a few ok squid. Zach also managed a cracker on one of his baited jigs which weighed 3.1kg

Customer Michael fished from Hastings and Stony Point piers during the week in search of a few squid for gummy baits, he said that Hastings was very quiet but Stony Point wasn't too bad - with 8 squid to his name his was happy. Michael said that the slack stage of the tide was the most productive, around this time he got 5 of his squid. His best performing jigs were Yamashita size 3.0 in grass whiting pattern, along with a few other colours. 

 

Most of the piers and harbours around the area have been holding good numbers of fish and squid for those who want to either collect baits for snapper and gummies or just take the family down to have a bit of fun. Piers worth a look at the moment are; Mornington, Blairgowrie, Warneet, Stony Point and Flinders. Salmon, trevally, whiting, pike and squid are common targets, along with some nice pinkies at times.

Customer Daniel fished from Hastings pier over the weekend using small pieces of pilchard on a running sinker rig to catch silver trevally up to 40cm which he said fought super hard on the light gear he was using.

Customer Yuk fished from the pier at Warneet on Monday where he caught 7 legal size King George whiting on pippies. Yuk fished around the top of the tide and said that small circle hooks were the key.

 

This week there have been some nice squid caught in Westernport Bay leading up to the full moon. The period right on the moon is normally a bit quieter but they should fire up again during the next week. There have still been a heap around on the banks in the Port, with Tyabb and Quail producing some nice specimens along with a few here and there South from Tankerton to Tortoise Head. Darker coloured jigs in greens and blacks have been the go at the minute.

The piers at Stony Point and Flinders have also produced some really good quality squid over the last week for angler prepared to stick it out and possibly lose a couple of jigs for the cause. Squid guru Rui has been getting amongst some thumpers over the last few weeks like he usually does - with Megabass and Haramitsu jigs doing the damage.

Customer Andrew fished the pier over the weekend to land some quality squid on baited jigs suspended under a float. Andrew found that silver whiting fished about a metre under the float was the go. Staff member Dylan had a look around Flinders and Stony Point during the week but with a high moon and stained water the fishing was difficult.

 

Sorrento pier has also been good for Squid, especially during the slack tide periods.  Frank went and fished it and caught 9 Squid, all around 300g, on small baited jigs suspended with a paternoster and float rig.  The sinker holds the bait still in the current, while the float is the strike indicator.  Staff member Dylan also fished Sorrento for a few hours during the week and caught 6 smaller Squid on Breaden and Yamashita jigs.

The Squid have been good around Flinders lately as well, with some large models being caught at night off the Pier.  Slow sinking jigs such as Yamashita ‘Shallow’ type are very effective.  Customer Jordan caught some lovely Squid one night over the weekend and also managed a few nice size Snook as well.


Bill has been catching lots of Whiting from Mornington North over the last 2 weeks, with plenty of fish 33-38cm.  All fish are being caught on pipi and mussel. The biggest fish have been 42cm and not as common lately.

Customer Fred tried for Whiting off Stony Point pier and got 7 fish all between 30-36cm, and all on a beachworm/pipi mix during the run-in tide on Monday.

Angelo and a mate fished for Whiting off Werribee and while they only managed 3 Whiting they did still manage a Seafood basket, with the Whiting, Garfish, Flathead and Snapper all taken fishing the same 7m ground.  They said that nearby boats all did similar with large Garfish all around the boat.

Staff member Dylan fished around San Remo during the week and caught a nice bag of Whiting, with all fish 35-42cm.  All of the fish took fresh Squid fished on small circle hooks.

Customer Zoran has been catching good numbers of large Whiting off the beach in Port Phillip, but is yet to reveal his ‘secret’ spot, all we know is that most of his fish are 40cm+ and have a liking for pipi and Squid fished in shallow water.

 

Squid reports have been good over the last few weeks, especially during the periods of low rain.  Most regular piers and locations fishing well.  Cowes local, Joe, gave us a report that San Remo pier was fishing well for Squid around slack water during the week.  His best jig was a size Pink 2.5 Yakamito.

Customer David took his kids down to Sorrento over the weekend and had a fish off the pier for Squid.  He caught 5 Squid all on his ‘go-to’ jig, his Harimitsu 2.5 in VE22-EBR.

Staff member Harley fished Flinders pier targeting Squid and did well, with Squid just over a kilo hitting the planks of the pier.  Yamashita Live shallow 3.5 in RDBRAR and basic 3.0 in NSBG were the jigs that caught all his Squid.

Customers Ky and Ryan fished from the rocks along Mt Martha to catch Squid, early in the morning being best.  Yamashita jigs in natural colours fished well along the rocks.

Staff member Dylan fished with a mate around Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron after work to catch 7 nice Squid up to 500g.  Yamashita Naory 1.8B was the best jigs for the smaller Squid, while size 3.0 BLGKO caught the other Squid. 

Tran fished from the little pier at Mornington well into the night after the summer crowds died off, and that is when he caught his Squid.  He ended up with 8 Squid in 2hours.  The only jig that worked was his Sutte-R Yamashita in the Grass Whiting pattern.

Staff member Dylan had an afternoon fish around Mornington chasing Squid and Flatties for a feed.  The Squid around Mornington north are in good numbers but in such shallow water, they can be a bit cautious.  Longer leaders and small, natural jig presentations will catch more over these clear weedbeeds.  Ecogear Flashmax in F10CG worked well during the afternoon sun.

 

Mark went down to Phillip Island to have a look around the piers, and ended up staying at Newhaven pier to catch the Barracouta that have been around.  Using vibes and heavily weighted soft plastics, Mark caught Barracouta up to 80cm long.

Mick has been fishing Frankston Pier during the week, catching plenty of Salmon on whitebait.  He has noticed the fish moving around the sand ridges on the incoming tide.

Sop has been catching some nice size whiting off Stony Point pier, using pilchard fillets. Later in the afternoon has been the best time, especially with an incoming tide.

Reginald has been catching Mullet in Patterson River, down towards the entrance.  Dough baits on size 16 ST-36 trebles are the way to go, with plenty of fine-grit berley a must.