I fished the trout season opening with my grandkids in South Gippsland. The streams were running low and clear which made the fish a bit harder to catch, but we all managed to bag a couple of browns in the 400-800g bracket.

It was a perfect spring day and the kids had a ball. It’s funny how kids change. Last year my granddaughter was crying when we were putting the worms on the on the hooks…this year she was helping us.

On the snapper scene there have been reports of fish starting to come in from the deep water off Cowes and the Corals in Western Port. It should all start to happen big time in November.

There aren’t too many reports coming in from the surf beaches, as the weather conditions haven’t been too good lately. Kilcunda has had fish to 500g, Williamsons and Baxters beaches have been producing fish to 1.5kg, while Woolamai Beach fish are between 500g and 1kg. The fish have not been around in big numbers, but hopefully when the weather improves so will the fishing.

There have been no reports from below the bridge but as the water temperature picks up, the whiting will start to become active.

Above the bridge the San Remo Pier has been a good spot for calamari. Your normal squid jigs account for the smaller squid, and baited jigs are catching the bigger ones.

There’s still a few whiting being caught off Reef Island and the Tortoise Head Bank, and some medium-sized gummies coming in from off Corinella. The snapper have also started off Elizabeth Island, at The Corals and in the deep water off Cowes.

The big calamari have arrived but you have to move around a bit to find them. The most successful way to target these is with baited weighted jigs fished under a float so that they sit 50cm or so off the bottom.