Whiting fishing as good as it gets

Josh Hevee with a feed of whiting. (supplied)

The talk among the fishing community this week is the hot King George whiting bite we have got in the bay, and by hot we’re talking as good as we have ever seen.

Anglers heading out have had no struggle whatsoever bagging out in very little time.

There is a wide variety of size fish mixed in with most around low to mid 30s with some fish getting to 45cm. They don’t seem to be fussy on tides or time of day either, they’re just here and feeding HARD.

Clifton Springs to Portarlington has been by far the most popular zone to be fishing as of late anywhere from 3 metres to 4.5 metres. Still lots of fish towards the spoils grounds closest to Clifton Springs but you can save yourself the five Litres of fuel and fish closer.

Calamari are also in good numbers off Clifton Springs and towards the mussel farm near Jack Rabbit.

Anglers have been finding large numbers of calamari casting 3.0 Squid Jigs in the shallow water, the biggest key at the moment is finding the clear water over the weed. As far as the size of them goes they are much better than your average Clifton Springs squid.

Inside the bay there has been some great fishing options for landbased, kayak and small boat fishos with the grammar school and Geelong Yacht Club all offering some good fishing. Anglers casting soft plastics have been picking up pinky snapper, King George whiting, flathead, salmon and silver trevally. All these species will typically eat the same lures and baits so it’s a great option if you are chasing a mixed bag.

Down the west coast the barrel tuna bite has continued with anglers fishing between Portland and Port MacDonnell getting amongst the great fish. Anglers have been landing fish to over 140kg on both Skirted Lures and Divers. Sticking with the bait and life is key to getting one of these big meatballs on the line.

Moorabool Reservoir has come onto the radar this week with some reports of anglers landing some decent trout from the shore casting small shallow diving hardbody lures. When fishing here and pretty much any reservoir, fishing the low light times of the day (sunrise and sunset) are the prime times so don’t be too worried about getting there too late after work or too early before work as these are the best times to fish it.