The Mornington Peninsula has been fishing well for squid for land based anglers over the past week or so. Even with all the strong wind and rain that has been about the fishing is still good. There trick has been to fish the areas affected by the weather the least. The southern end of the peninsula around Sorrento and Portsea have been good for larger squid but not so much large numbers, with larger quantities taken from Rye and Mornington – with Mornington the real stand out.

Small jigs in the 1.8 – 2.5 size range are the go at Mornington while the massive numbers of small squid are about. Colour wise for jigs has not mattered as much, but as usual the use of a sinker and paternoster rig does. Many anglers adopt this technique for casting distance, but this really doesn’t let the jig work to it’s fun potential.

Customer Damien has been getting down to the pier for some bait collection and reports that 10 squid can be easily caught in most sessions without too much trouble. Small 1.8 jigs are the most effective when the fishing is a bit quieter, while 2.5’s are working when the squid are a bit more fired up.
While the pier has been busy, many anglers are getting their kids involved with the action. Young gun Marko managed his first catch at the pier recently – a nice squid, using his dad’s outfit. The prime bite time for these squid here has been the hour or around last light, with most caught during this period compared to the rest of the night or day.