Most anglers would be very aware of the tuna action going on both local to Melbourne and further afield at the moment. This fishery is very accessible to anglers with reasonable sized trailer boats, provided a sound respect and understanding of fishing open oceans is met.

Fishing to surface cruising schools of tuna with stickbaits and poppers has been an excellent method of catching them over the past week. The main advantage of casting to these fish in that they are not spooked by multiple boats running through the schools and sending the fish deep.

Slowly twitching poppers in the 150mm size range has been very effective for Mitch and Joel when fishing around the many large schools off Barwon.

Customer Damien has also been getting into the tuna fishing poppers. Damien has been keeping a far from the schools as possible and slowly twitching the popper to get a reaction strike on the surface from the fish. Maria Pop Queens and Williamson Jet Poppers have been the better options, especially when retrofitted with double rings and finer gauge hooks.

The area out from Port Phillip heads has been fishing well for the tuna, with the Lonsdale Bank to Barwon region holding large schools of fish. Customers John and Thao fished offshore from Sorrento and got into the fish. Trolling small to medium skirts behind surface birds and teasers has been a very productive method of landing these fish. The main key with any trolling method is to keep clear of any other boats and minimise driving through the fish to avoid sending them deep.

Customer Trent has been doing well on the local tuna also. Trent has been fishing offshore from Western Port and has found fish in multiple areas. Working scattered bait and temperature breaks out behind Phillip Island Trent has landed fish to 30kg. Small jet head skirts and 10ft running hardbodies have been the most successful for him, especially when getting into the fish early on before excessive boat traffic pushes them down.