It’s been a great summer and we have seen some fantastic fishing.

The beauty of the summer period is that we get reports on almost all available species! If it swims, someone is probably out there chasing it!

We had a late run of calamari this year with some genuinely big squid caught over the last month. It was slightly unusual in that we would usually expect to see these calamari between August and October but for whatever reason they made a showing through the early stages of summer. Point Franklin at Portsea produced good fish while the sub at Queenscliff also had some congregations of these inky beasts. The stand out jig over the last year has without doubt been the Shimano Sephia and it was again hot property as the squid came on.

Hot weather seems to flag ‘whiting time’ for many of the holidaying masses staying on the peninsula. We had great reports from far and wide this month, but as usual spots such as the Pinnacle Channel produced plenty of good fish. A handy trick that is often employed in South Australia, and something we have been talking about in the shop, is where you attach a squid jig to your main line above your whiting rig. This combination saw a number of our customers producing ‘double headers’ which they were pretty pleased about.

It took a long time for them to come on but eventually the snapper found their way down the bay and started to fire off Mt Martha. Good fish came from very wide at 23m, and conversely in pretty shallow in 14m. The fish continue to go well and we should see some particularly big models caught as we enter into February.

Our good friends at RIP Charters had a great run of small thresher sharks earlier this month. The guys were catching these fiery, long tailed sharks while doing their drifts for flathead off Portsea and Sorrento. They were a welcome and exciting catch for the anglers on board! The reports of these fish have continued on and off throughout the month indicating that they are still there in some numbers!

Gunnamatta Back Beach has fished exceptionally well for Australian salmon over the Christmas period. Large, visible schools have been seen right through the tides, with lows fishing as well as highs. Spinning really seems to have taken root with the locals down here and plenty of our customers now do not even consider bait fishing for these fish. There is no doubt that when you come across a hungry school of salmon hitting them with lures will see more fish on the beach than those fishing baits.

In other land-based reports, gars, tommy ruff and slimy mackerel have been plentiful in the evenings from Rosebud Pier and Portsea Pier. While Anthonys Nose has turned it on again for those fishing at night on the King George whiting.

Looking ahead, I am sure the coming month will see some good numbers of yellowtail kingfish being caught in and around the heads. There are plenty of anglers out there who are pretty keen to get their hands on a Victorian kingy, so we look forward to bring you a few reports next month.

For more information feel free to drop in and see the boys at Peninsula Total Tackle, 11 Boneo Road in Rosebud or phone: 03 5981 1994.