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March should bing light winds and good offshore conditions
  |  First Published: March 2013



The first thing that pops into my mind when someone mentions the month of March is light winds, flat seas and excellent fishing.

This time of year is when the large schools of King George whiting are most frequent off Apollo Bay. Great whiting fishing is already taking place but instead of catching a few fish from one spot and a few from another it should now be possible to land good numbers once you locate a feeding school of fish. Not only that but some big whiting up to 50cm or more should be patrolling the reef edges at this time of year too.

Large schools of salmon have been patrolling the coastline and can occasionally be seen breaking the surface as they chomp into the baitfish schools. If you’re lucky enough to be out in the boat and come across a feeding frenzy then catching a fish should be as simple as casting a lure in amongst all the action. March is always a reliable time for the salmon to turn up in big numbers so make sure you keep an eye out for any surface activity while travelling around in the boat.

If you’re stuck on land then give Wild Dog or Marengo beaches a try towards evening. Both bait fishing and lure casting are popular option when fishing from the sandy beaches.

The Aire and Barham river estuaries have been fishing extremely well for black bream which have been biting on small hardbodied lures. The best fishing occurs when the mouth of the river is open to the sea and the tide is nearing the bottom of its cycle.

As the water recedes from the reedy edges it leaves nowhere for the shrimp and baitfish to hide so the bream will be patrolling the banks of the river looking for an easy feed. Needless to say that’s where you should be casting your lure. I do quite a bit of this style of fishing and always look forward to the spring tides in March as once the water drops below the banks it’s game on!

Other species worth targeting this month include flathead from 30m plus of water, gummy sharks from 40m off Cape Otway, squid from the boat harbour sea grass beds and mako and blue sharks from 70m of water. I’m sure the keen tuna anglers will be out for a look before this month ends so keep an ear to the ground for any early reports of bluefin tuna. Until next month make sure you stay safe on the water.

Reads: 1962

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