The change from snapper to whiting is well under way and though the snapper reports continue to filter through, it’s the whiting that have really stepped it up a notch in the top end of Western Port.

All of the usual spots are producing fish with the better reports coming from the Warneet Channel, Gentle Annie Channel and Joes Island.

Pete Ferguson, who I mentioned earlier, took mate of his, Colin Sires, over to Joes Island and picked up a beautiful bag of whiting in 12 of water. Amongst those fish was a 45cm beast that Colin picked up on a piece of squid.

A couple of days later Peter picked up another thumping whiting that measured 45.5cm and weighed 675g. That fish fell to a squid ring with two 4/0’s in it intended for a snapper!

Amongst the snapper and whiting and calamari reports continue to improve as well. Joel Keen got his quite easily along the Quail Bank while drifting and casting artificial jigs. Number 3.0 jigs in white are doing very well.

I am struggling to think of a place in the North Arm that has not produced fish in the last month so I will try and cover as much as I can!

Gummy sharks have been the biggest surprise in the north arm this month. Some very nice 10-15kg models have been picked up by the snapper anglers. The top of the runway has been a stand out location and is an area that will continue to improve for the gummy sharks over the coming months.

Lysaghts has fired up for the snapper, Dave Malcolm and his mate Brad O’Donnell fished in 18m of water and weighed in a beastly snapper at the shop which went 8.62kg and fell to a fell presented fresh yakka fillet.

The land-based anglers have also been getting amongst it. Nhat Nguyen had a crack off the Stoney Point Pier and had a ripper of a session landing a handful of calamari at first light to 1kg.

The whiting have completely taken over the middle spit which will please the whiting specialists out there. The run-out tide seems to be the most consistent and the usual suspects are getting it done on the bait department. Team Jacmac got the job done with a cracking little session in the shallow water, landing whiting to 46cm on pipi and mussels.

There you have it, the fishing continues to get better and better well into the new year. I hope you all had a safe and happy new year and that your new years resolutions hold up for more than a few days!

Here is some information on a consistent trend that I have noticed so far throughout the early stages of this whiting season.

A lot of whiting, and big whiting at that, have been taken in deep water. Now this is nothing new but it just adds another string to our bow as anglers.

The snapper marks that we have all been fishing for the majority of the snapper season are most likely holding a few schools of whiting as well.

So far some very good reports have come from around Joes Island and Crawfish Rock. These deeper waters do not normally produce any record numbers of fish but the quality is generally a lot better than those up on the shallow banks.

Keep this in mind for future reference and don’t be afraid to drop a couple of pipis or mussels down deep, you will be surprised at the results!