Someone has forgotten to tell the fish it’s winter.

With continued good snapper reports as well as whiting, squid and some great salmon fishing it really is making the usually quiet winter months seem to be flying by.

The pier continues to fish well as it usually does at this time of year, with good numbers of garfish for the anglers fishing small floats baited with silverfish or maggots. While bigger baits cast out into deeper water late in the afternoon or early morning has found many anglers getting stuck into the pinkies, with lots of 30cm fish and the odd 40cm pinkie thrown in for good measure.

Best baits for them have been pilchard tails or small strips of squid. Speaking of which, the trusty old calamari has made a resurgence over the past weeks with anglers finding success on them late in the afternoons while casting jigs over the reef that bounds on the right hand side of the pier. Best of all the squid fishing should really get better and better over the coming weeks.

In the creek the past month has seen anglers getting good numbers of yellow eye mullet and some trevally to 30cm, with best baits being dough or small pieces of peeled prawn. One angler also reported doing well using small bits of Gulp dough in the chunky cheese flavour.

Out in the boats the squid have been found in better numbers over the Parkdale pinnacles with several anglers reporting squid over a kilo to be found in the slightly deeper water surrounding the reef. Bigger squid jigs such as the 3.5 sized Yamashita’s or the 3.0deep in the Evergreen in green or red colours are producing the goods.

The shallow inshore reefs in the same area have also been fishing well for pinkies over the past weeks with lots of small fish to be found. The upcoming weeks should really see this area start to fire with numbers of better-sized pinkies moving in on the reefs.

Up in Beaumaris Bay the pier is starting to slide into squid season with a daily influx of anglers there casting jigs and catching squid. Just out from the pier the fishing has also been good with the odd school of salmon still kicking around and some solid flathead to be found around the back of the mussel farm.

Around Ricketts Point the pinkies are going well with the past weeks seeing plenty of smaller fish as well as the odd 3kg snapper among them just to keep things interesting for lure and bait anglers.

Further along the reef towards Black Rock the fishing has also been good for the pinkies, especially out off the Half Moon Bay car park on last light. This area has also been producing the odd whiting for some of our customers.

Up off Yorkies Reef, which is located between Black Rock and Sandringham breakwall there has been several reports of anglers getting some good bags of whiting, and while they haven’t been an every day occurrence, when they are around the quality of the fish is great with whiting ranging 35-40cm in length, with best baits being mussel.

Yorkies Reef has also been producing some nice squid for anglers throwing a jig around while chasing the whiting.

Up around Sandringham breakwall the end of the wall where the entrance to the Yacht club has seen good numbers of pinkies as has the groynes off Hampton. Best of all this area will only get better over the coming month.

The rock groynes through to Green Point has also seen some very good numbers of squid for anglers that are prepared to move around a bit to find the concentrations of calamari.

Out deeper the reef edges are holding plenty of pinkies and now is a great time to spend an hour or two trolling around the Anonyma shoal and back towards the shoreline with some solid snook to be found, especially when trolling the Xrap 10 Magnum in SB or GGM colours.

Along the shoreline to the north of Green Point there has been some exceptional garfish to be found for anglers both in boats and land-based, with some of the better reports coming from anglers fishing from the rocks, especially from anglers using the larger berley floats. These help you to cast further and berley the area directly where your bait is.

Brighton Breakwall really comes alive at this time of year for the land-based anglers and at this stage all is shaping up for a great winter of fishing from this notable location. Good numbers of pinkie snapper, the odd decent flathead and some good garfish have been taken from there over the past weeks. I have also heard some good reports from anglers fishing the inside of the breakwall who have been finding some nice trevally when they have been berleying hard with crushed pilchards then fishing unweighted pillie tails or fillets in the berley.

Generally the fishing reports start to slow a little at this time of the year throughout this part of the bay however of late it seems that a lot of anglers are still getting out on the piers and naturally with a bit of angling effort there are a few fish being caught.

St Kilda Breakwall and pier, through to Kerford Road and Station piers has seen good numbers of garfish on offer with each day being different, with best results coming to those anglers prepared to move around till they find the fish.

Adding to the garfish St Kilda pier has had the odd trevally, while Kerford Road and Lagoon piers have also had a good mix of squid and some mullet, which are moving through the top of the bay on their way to the Yarra River.

In closing, Station Pier is well worth fishing over the coming month with good numbers of bream and trevally moving around the pylons just waiting to take a small soft plastic or an unweighted bait of peeled prawn.