Outer harbour the spot for snapper

Nicholas Romano with some calamari. (supplied)

Snapper are starting to fire up in the outer harbour with Clifton springs through to Portarlington producing some fantastic fish.

Along the channel near the bend has been one of the hotspots with fish to over 5kg being taken with lots of sub 2kg fish amongst them.

Bait fishing with pilchards, squid and salmon have all been lethal to run.

Fishing on the tide changes as per usual are the preferred times, an hour or two either side of the change. Portarlington rock wall has been producing some fantastic fishing for shore based anglers and with the windy and wild conditions the fish tend to come in close to the shore to feed, with addition to the small reefs out the front of the rock wall this makes for a fantastic location to fish at the moment. Launching out pilchards on a paternoster rig has been successful.

Calamari remain a hot target species this past week with anglers finding great success right across the peninsula. Clifton Springs through to Portarlington has been producing plenty, St Leonards to Swan bay a few but Queenscliff yet again being the standout location.

Anglers have been landing bag limit numbers of squid and some hoods to over 50cm. Size 3.5 Jigs are definitely the way to go when fishing out here.

King George whiting also remain on the chew across the Bellarine Peninsula with St Leonards through to Queenscliff holding the best fishing. Fishing the tides has been very productive with fish to over 40cm being taken.

Gone Fishing Charters have been putting their customers on some fantastic fish lately.

Snapper and gummy sharks off Barwon Heads continue to hold in good numbers with reports of boats landing snapper to 5kg and gummy sharks to 15kg. Fresh salmon and squid baits have been most productive.

The foul grounds in 40 metres has been a very popular area to fish lately with some great reports coming through.

The Otway streams and rivers have responded very well from the heavy rain with some great fishing being reported on with brown trout thriving and chewing.

Casting small hardbody lures and soft plastics have been accounting for plenty of fish. When the rivers are dirty like this it can really turn the fish on as they’re super aggressive.