Barwon heads’ tuna fishing as good as it gets

Peri Stavropoulos with a tuna caught off Barwon Heads. (Supplied) 271803_01

The long weekend is just about here and the weather is looking awesome so the fishing options are just about endless.

Corio Bay has been a popular area to fish over the past week with reports of pinky snapper in great numbers right across the area.

The Stingaree Bay spoil ground has been producing some top fishing lately with plenty of reports of fish to two kilograms being taken.

Soft plastics have been working an absolute treat as the fish seem to be quite aggressive at the moment. Bait has been working well also.

Other species have been hanging around the same are too such as flathead, whiting and snook.

St Leonards through to Queenscliff has been fishing extremely well for King George whiting over the past few weeks with reports of boats hauling in their bag of fish in no time and fish reaching over 40cm.

Fishing the faster moving tides has been ideal with baits such as pipis and squid working a treat.

The Rip continues to produce some fantastic kingfish to boats jigging in the deep.

Reports of fish up to 15kg being caught with some boats hooking ‘unstoppable’ kings just shows there are some even bigger ones in there at the moment too.

The tuna bite off Barwon Heads is simply just getting silly now, the fishing out there is seriously as good as it can get.

The fish are in huge numbers and super aggressive, eating just about any lure you throw in their face.

Trolling diving lures such as Nomad DTX Minnows have been a standout lures as of late, as well as skirted lures with the aid of a spreader bar.

Quite often the fish are seen thrashing bait on the surface and casting lures into these bust ups is a lethal way to get stuck into them.

Look for the birds working and you will find the fish, smaller profile stick baits to resemble the baitfish have been working best although they haven’t been very fussy at all.

Mako sharks still remain in great numbers offshore at the moment too, reports of boats raising up to five sharks in a drift as well as lots of blue sharks and even a few bronze whalers which have also been sighted in the tuna bust ups.

Drifting with a burley trail in 70 metres of water off Torquay has been a great area to start searching.