This is it! One of the biggest months of the calendar year for all the bay anglers!

This is the month where the bay seriously comes alive with literally thousands of punters hitting the water in search of one of our favourite species- snapper!

And no doubt it is going to be another massive year, with fisheries predicting a huge number of fish between 3-5kg, based on the successful spawns of 2002-2005.

So to start with the flavour of the month, we’ve had a couple of early reports of fish taken from around 5-14m of water off Point Lonsdale. Quite a lot of local anglers hit this area around the heads to intercept fish still entering the bay, and while it is not always an easy area to fish, it has a reputation for producing quality early season reds for those who want to put in the time.

Other reports have come from wide of Mt Eliza, but mostly in ones and twos with only a couple of fish over 5kg reported. As is often the case we will probably see the best run of fish from Mt Martha start in a couple of weeks from now.

For those interested in plastics fishing, check out the new Gulp 6” Squid Vicious, a plastic squid imitation. This is sure to be a hit with snapper plastics guys whether you like fishing a static plastic under the boat or intentionally working them over the inner Port Phillip reefs!

As is the traditional annual pattern we have had good reports of silver trevally right throughout the month with local hotspots including the rock groins at Martha Cove, Blairgowrie Marina and Sorrento pier. Jules Frank even managed to nab a couple using sinking flies while fishing at Blairgowrie.

We have had an absolute ripping season on the gars, with many local anglers commenting that it is the best they can remember with fish being caught right the length of the peninsula.

Whether in a boat, on a pier or even fishing straight off the bay beach, we have had innumerable reports of cracker gars all month long.

Squid continue to be plentiful right the way along the peninsula, with the captures of the bigger models coming from Portsea between the east point and the pier as well as over at the mouth of Swan Bay.

The grounds out from the Sorrento sisters have been hit hard over the last few weeks but still continue to produce good medium and bait-sized squid.

While the back beach fishing almost comes to a standstill at this time of year we have still had good schools of salmon inside the bay, with some terrific catches coming from guys trolling lures in front of the Blairgowrie Marina.

Try running a mix of 100mm hardbodied divers and white plastic octopus skirts or 80mm flick baits – a sure fire way to find your self amongst some quality Aussie salmon.

Land-based, the Rosebud pier has had mixed schools of small and large salmon.

Finally, this goes down as unusual capture of the month - local angler Tom reported catching not one but eight elephant fish in two consecutive nights while fishing from the Rosebud Pier!

For more information feel free to drop in and see the guys at Peninsula Total Tackle at 11 Boneo Rd, Rosebud or phone them on 03 5981 1994.