Fishing heats up as spring arrives

Calvin Sheezon with a barrel tuna. (supplied)

Spring is here and the fishing is already starting to heat up across the region.

Pinkie snapper have been in good numbers in Corio Bay and in particular the Geelong waterfront.

Anglers have been having great success casting soft plastics around the structure with snapper to 40cm being taken as well as a variety of other species including salmon and at times in plague proportions, trevally and flathead. It’s also well worth throwing around a few bigger hard bodies around as a few snook have been holding in the area too.

Calamari have been holding between Clifton Springs and Portarlington with boats finding patches holding lots of squid. The squid haven’t been super spread out, usually catching majority of them in a close proximity so if you start catching a few in one area it’s well worth going back over the same ground and trying again for more.

Size 3.0 jigs have been the most popular sizes to run with white and pink jigs being the two main standout colours.

Queenscliff boat ramp is back open and operating. Anglers have wasted no time in getting stuck into the calamari in the bight lately with some quality squid being taken.

Size 3.5 jigs have been working very well with bright colours working best. This time of year is a great time of year to chase the big squid in the bight and should only get better as we go further into spring.

Portland is still fishing very well for barrel tuna with reports still rolling in. Cape Nelson has been a hotspot with majority of the fish coming from there on skirted lures.

There has been quite a variety of size on offer from 30kg right through to over 130kg.

The crater lakes have continued to fish exceptionally well over the past week with trout and salmon all on the chew, anglers fishing from both boat and land have been having great success on the troll.

Daiwa double clutches, Rapala F7 and Tassie Devils have been doing all the damage.

The Victorian trout season opens this weekend allowing us anglers to go back to our favourite streams and rivers for a fish.

The Victorian High Country is always a fantastic option to go for a fish especially the Goulburn River as it has been loaded with rainbow trout to 5kg. Ecogear mx48’s are a fantastic lure to throw around as well as pink T-Tail soft plastics.