It’s that time of year again and the snapper have turned up in good numbers in both bays.

The whiting have fired up in Western Port and there are some big calamari on the go as well. The season started a few weeks earlier than last year and it’s going with a bang!

All of the local beaches have been fishing well with Australian salmon to 2kg being caught. Whitebait and bluebait have been the standard baits with good bags of fish coming in from all the beaches.

Below the bridge and just outside the entrance there have been some large barracouta and they are also scattered right up the bay. Cleelands Bight has been producing calamari and snapper up to 3kg.

Above the bridge at Dickies Bay, Ventnor, Tortoise Head Bank and the bottom end of the Middle Spit have seen whiting in good numbers, but in two size groups: the ‘just size’ ones (28-29cm) and ‘good average sized’ ones (37-38cm). We have had no trouble catching a bag of good fish every trip.

The snapper are on the go in most areas, like the Corals, Silverleaves, Freeman Point, Corinella, Hastings, just to name a few. Most of the fish have been in the 1.5-3kg range with a few coming in around 5kg.

The bay also has a lot of salmon and yakkas in it at the moment due to heaps of baitfish. Both of these fish make excellent snapper bait, caught fresh and cut fillets put straight onto the hook – you couldn’t ask for better baits.

Port Phillip is fishing well and a lot of snapper are being caught.

The Mount Eliza area has been a hot spot and my self and my mate have landed several fish around 7kg in this area. So it’s looking like a better season than last year.

Some good squid are being caught off Flinders and the Cat Bay area, as well as some big whiting in Cat Bay, Ventnor and Point Leo.

Heath Anderson with a 6.65kg snapper.