While the weather and water temperatures in the Bay have cooled off, the fishing certainly hasn’t slowed. In fact in some areas it has got even better, with excellent numbers of fish on offer for those prepared to rug up and get out there amongst them.

The creek has seen the odd good catch of mullet for the local pole fishers using a fine berley and dough for bait, while the pier itself has seen decent numbers of small squid moving into the nearby reef areas just to the left of the pier. A quick walk on the pier will quickly show you where you need to be fishing, as the amount of ink stains indicate where the action has been.

Over the coming month there should also be some good mullet and garfish to be taken from the pier and, as usual in this area, just watch the local anglers to see where and how they are fishing.

Moving up towards the Beaumaris Yacht Squadron there have been plenty of pinkies on the Parkdale Pinnacles for both lure and bait fishers.

During the next few months, if you are crazy enough to get out in the shallows along the Mordialloc-Parkdale area at night, there are some decent flounder to be found, not to mention a bunch of tasty sand crabs.

Up around the mussel farms there have been good numbers of salmon in and around the floating buoys. At times they are moving close to shore, well within the range of land-based anglers.

For those anglers fishing in boats, great sport can be had by cutting the motor and casting flies, soft plastics and metal lures into the feeding schools. That is until some turkey comes trolling straight through the school, sending them down never to be seen again. Please, I urge anglers to watch the schools and take the opportunity to cast at them rather than troll around them. This will mean a lot more fun for you and everyone else.

Up around Ricketts Point and down towards Black Rock the pinkies have been great, with fish scattered all along the reef edges and offering a bunch of sport to anglers casting plastics or baits.

I have had a few trips after the pinkies over the past few weeks, and even in calmer conditions the fish have been biting really well from around 4pm onwards. Best of all, getting the better fish has been a simple matter of upsizing your plastic to something like a 110mm Squidgy Flick Bait, 4” Bass Minnow or Gulp Minnow.

There have also been plenty of squid scattered throughout the reefs, and drifting with a squid jig out the back usually finds a few of them. Oh and if anyone finds a Shimano Sustain 2500 and a Raider 6’8” spin rod on the bottom in about 8m of water, it’s mine! It got knocked out of the holder in the middle of a hot bite!

Out in deeper water of 14-20m, the garfish are going really well, with anglers stocking up on them for snapper baits and saving the big ones for a good feed. Best baits for them have been silverfish and prawn pieces.

There is still the odd report of whiting through the Sandringham to Brighton areas, however as usual at this time of year the pinkies can make it difficult. They invade the whiting marks and are quick to nail any baits.

Off the Groynes at Hampton the land-based anglers have been getting some very nice pinkies at night, as well as the odd squid. Over the past few weeks there have also been a few boats in the area, fishing close to shore. Although I haven’t heard any specific reports, you can bet they are into a decent amount of pinkies, and in this area they are often better quality fish.

Brighton Breakwall has also seen some good pinkie fishing of an evening, and this should only get better over the next few weeks

St Kilda Pier has been a bit slow recently as the water temperature has dropped off, although while there may not be as many flathead in the shallower water around the pier there will be some better ones on offer.

Up at Kerford Road Pier there have been garfish in good numbers. For boat anglers there have been good reports of pinkies and the odd much bigger fish through this area at night. Just anchor up in anything from 3-6m of water after finding some low-lying reef. Keep noise to a minimum and you may be surprised at the quality of fish you catch.

Fishing from Lagoon Pier has also been producing a few garfish. It would also be well worth the effort of getting some live mullet or fresh squid and fishing here or at Station Pier at night for mulloway.

The dredging has slowed the fishing in the lower river area because anglers aren’t allowed to fish in the spots they want to. This is a real bummer because it is mulloway time and the good areas are those we can’t get to.

Up in the rivers the bream fishing has been good around the bridges in the Maribyrnong for anglers using peeled prawn, and especially pod worm if you can get them. Lure fishers are also having good success working these same areas with plastics, sinking them down the pylons. I haven’t heard of any mulloway being taken in these areas yet but I am sure there are a few sneaky anglers out there that are getting fish.

Up in the Yarra the bream are starting to move around in preparation for spawning, but there are still plenty to be taken and bait anglers are doing well with baits of Bass yabbies and peeled prawn fished close to the pylons. The lure fishers are doing well on a range of lures, especially on the warmer days.

The Warmies at Newport Power Station has been producing tailor as they head into the areas to get the warmer water. Although the usual run of soapy jewfish that are often taken amongst the tailor has been nonexistent so far, this is sure to change over the coming weeks.

For the boat anglers there has been some excellent pinkie fishing on offer behind Williamstown footy oval, with both bait and lure fishers having a ball. There have also been several good fish amongst them, with reports of fish in excess of 2kg.

For the land-based anglers there have been pinkies caught around the Altona area, and again there are some very nice fish amongst them. It makes you think that as boat anglers we often fish too far offshore.

Up towards Werribee there are a few whiting on offer, but you need to move around a bit to find them. There are some nice bream starting to show in the river too, which is a good sign for the following months when the river should really fish well for bream.

Finally if you have any reports or questions for me, feel free to email me via --e-mail address hidden--