South-East Melbourne’s ocean beaches have been fishing well for salmon over the past week as anglers have ventured further from home. St Andrews and Gunnamatta have been the pick of the lot, with the furthermost Eastern end of Gunnamatta holding some good schools of fish.

Spinning slimline metals with single hooks has been a great way to nab a couple, and half cut bluebait fished on the top hook of a paternoster rig has been working well for the bait anglers. When bait fishing berley is a MUST, especially if it consists of 100% pure pilchard mix. If small fish and crabs are thieving baits, fishing a TPR tear-resistant twitch bait on the bottom hook has been a great way to score a fish once the bait is gone.

There have been plenty of salmon about ranging from half a kilo to 1kg. About average from the back beaches has been around 700g, while just over the hill inside the bay schools of 300g fish have been hammering the whitebait and anchovies hanging about the harbours. Customer Mohammad and mates landed a bucket full from Mornington Pier just last week. Small plastics like the Yakamito foil shads have been deadly on this size fish.

Customer Adam also found some nice salmon hanging around the Yacht Squadron at Blairgowrie. Fishing small pieces of bluebait and anchovy-imitating soft plastics produced some solid fish for him and a mate. The salmon in the area here can be 2kg or so, and can be caught as they move back and forth between Blairgowrie and Sorrento piers.