While many anglers have packed away the snapper gear, this time of year is known to consistently produce some quality fish. Regular store customer Stan or “Pedro” has still encountered some great fishing early in the mornings off Frankston.

Stan landed two fish at 5.5kg this week on Wednesday morning and another a touch over 4kg on Tuesday morning. Red Devils have been Stan’s prime bait and while you may think that he is only landing one or two fish each trip, he has only been fishing on average two hours each morning! Stan also mentioned there have been plenty of big garfish out and about too, all willing to come to the back of the boat up the berley trail.

Big gummies have still been encountered in both bays. Regular Malki has continued landing great fish from the south channel at Rye. Fresh trevally was the hot bait this week; Malki had his best ever gummy boat side, estimated at a massive 25kg. The big girl ended up breaking the trace and swimming to freedom.

The lower reaches of Westernport have produced plenty of big gummies too. Graham Stevens landed some awesome fish last week up to 25kg on pilchard. The last of the run out tide has been most productive. Graham also proved there are still plenty of Snapper around, landing red beasts up to 4kg.

Westernport is still producing some awesome whiting fishing, with anglers fishing high up the bay doing well. Fish seem to be spread far and wide, with 5 to 7mt a consistent productive depth to fish. Without doubt, the squid/pippie cocktail bait has produced the largest fish. Don’t be afraid to use a relatively large squid strip, up to 10cm long, cut thin. Fish these with a pippie as a sweetener on a size 4 long shank and you’ll be in business quick smart!

Local charter operator Matt Cini from Reel Time has continued his awesome run. Matt has been averaging over 50 fish a trip, and on the rare occasion he hasn’t managed to get huge numbers, the fish have still been great size, 44 to 49 cm in length.

The Patterson River is still fishing well. Lure guru Matt Butcher had a cracker session this week. In quick time, Matt landed 6 bream up to 38cm in length on Lucky Craft Tangos and 6 inch Gulp Camo worms. The run out tide produced the goods. Other anglers have done well using Bassday Sugar Minnows in MB-10 colour, Tiemco stick minnows and paddle-tail soft plastics. Good areas to fish have been along the rock walls inside the floodgates and also around the top end of the system. Bait anglers continue to do well with Scrubworms and freshwater yabbies.

Daniel Knapp dropped into the store yesterday and grabbed a few new squid jigs. Daniel and his mate then headed to Mornington with their kayaks and smashed the calamari. They finished with 18 and lost half a dozen, fishing towards Fisherman’s Beach. The hot jig in their session was natural coloured Daiwa jigs in 2.5, these jigs contain a tungsten rattle and it helps to attract an aggressive bite from the calamari. Regular Gary Housley also had a good session on the calamari, landing plenty of great bait sized models. Don’t dismiss these smaller versions, they taste sensational stuffed and baked in the oven!

We must apologise to local game fisherman Simon Graske for the little slip up in last week’s report that we missed putting in. Fishing the Rhyll Game Fishing Tournament two weeks ago, Simon managed to land a 76.1kg Bronze Whaler Shark on 10kg line class. The fish is a pending Victorian Record and thoroughly deserved.

After a little mishap, the gaff man (also known for his anchor pulling exploits), ended up with the butt end of a flying gaff pole meeting with the top of his head. The lack of hair wasn’t an asset, and the gaff man finished with a nasty gash and a quick trip to the local medical facility. Simon managed most meritorious capture, and 17 sharks were tagged during the event.

Cheers,

Tom, Zola, Andy, Don, Shaun, Jamie, Trevor, Brad, Jack & Danny

The Gone Fishin Team