With the arrival of the southern bluefin tuna and albacore, it is looking good for a long tuna season.

On a recent trip out to the Continental Shelf with Bob and Bruce McPherson, we caught bluefin weighing up to 21kg. All the signs were already there, with several hundred dolphins feeding in the area. The water temperature is right and the sea is thick with krill and bait. As more anglers venture out to this area, the cleaning tables will again be swamped with tuna and albacore. There will be many keen anglers all hoping for their chance to land a 100kg plus tuna and have their name entered into the record books for their efforts.

Most tuna techniques and lures are well known to those that have fished for these beauties before, but for those of you on your first endeavour, call in to the shop. The boys will look after you in regards to what techniques are working, GPS locations, etc.

Yellowtail kingfish are still in the area over towards the North Shore, but the cooling water tends to deactivate these mighty fighting fish. For those still targeting kingfish, keep a good eye on the water temperature and make sure the water is clean. This should get the kingies going again until the end of the month.

The North Shore is also producing good catches of snapper up to 3kg, along with whiting, trevally, calamari squid and sharks.

For those targeting King George whiting, between Blacknose and Danger Point is the best stretch, with fish of up to 1kg. Plenty of anglers are returning with a nice fresh feed of whiting. Lockie Wombwell and crew had a good catch of flathead up to 60cm, which they caught in 80m off Bridgewater. This area has abundant table fish for those keen to target them. Gerard Malseed had no trouble obtaining a feed of snook at Lawrence Rock, and there are some large barracouta to be had in most of the fishing spots.

With the long awaited and much anticipated reopening of the Lee Breakwall, and the departure of the eyesore Ocean Patriot oilrig, it wasn’t long before one happy angler caught a nice 3.9kg snapper. Other anglers have also been enjoying catches of snapper, whiting, calamari squid, kingfish up to 3kg, and the odd gummy shark.

Fishing inside the harbour, the trawler wharf and the marina have seen catches of whiting, pinkies, bream and calamari squid.

In the Fitzroy River area there have been mulloway and good catches of bream.

If you’re heading down this way, give the boys at Portland Bait & Tackle a call on 03 5523 5213 for all the latest weather reports and fishing information. We are open 7 days a week from 7am to 7pm.