I love my inside fishing and especially with soft plastics, but it’s the offshore fishing that has outdone any of the fishing inside.

There are tonnes of bait offshore and the bait schools are spread out through all of south Gippsland, bringing mega amounts of salmon and tailor, especially tailor. The tailor have spread inside most of the South Gippsland estuaries and inside McLoughlins, Manns Beach and Port Albert. The interesting thing is the schools offshore. They are moving all the way to Wilsons Promintory, so they are in even out the front of Corner Inlet and in Whale Bay.

There are salmon mixed in as well, and they are a lot bigger than the tailor. The salmon have been up to 3kg, but there have been heaps of 1.5kg fish around as well. The bigger salmon aren’t really in McLoughlins yet, but there are heaps in the Snake Channel and the entrance of Port Albert.

Metal and soft plastics are all that is needed for the salmon and tailor, but many gummy and snapper anglers are catching them on Snapper Snatchers.

Now recently something happened that we don’t normally see here and that was massive schools of striped tuna out the front of McLoughlins Beach. They spanned east towards Golden Beach and reached as far as Wilsons Promintory. This was due to extremely high water temperatures that had marlin written all over it, but a few lucky anglers were fishing at the right time to catching dozens of these stripies to 4kg. The reason I’m taking about all these fish is because they make excellent bait. This bait is the reason why there are so many other fish around and I’m talking about gummy sharks and snapper.

It has been the best gummy shark bite offshore that I can remember and it hasn’t been uncommon for boats to bag out and then release the same again in one session. There are plenty of little gummies around, but there are heaps of perfect eating size gummies as well. The bigger gummies are out a little deeper and also in whale Bay off Port Albert.

Fresh bait has been the key to getting these big gummies and that’s the reason I’m going on about the salmon and tailor, as you have a great source of fresh bait. The gummies just can’t resist. As well as gummy sharks, there are plenty of other sharks around as well, such as bronze whalers and hammerhead. The hammerheads were very prolific at one stage but have eased off a little now. Most were caught on the bottom whilst chasing gummies.

The snapper have gone pretty well with plenty of 1.5-4kg sized fish with the odd 6kg fish mixed in. A lot of the fish have been in close in around 15m of water, but plenty of anglers are fishing the usual 18m and getting numbers of fish as well.

Snapper have been inside as well, even inside McLoughlins on the tide changes, but most are only hitting 45cm, but great fish for inside and fun on light gear.

Also offshore were schools of kingfish as well and again this is due to all the bait. Basically there has been lots of mixed pelagic fish schooling up offshore stretching towards Wilsons Promontory and as far as Lakes Entrance, so anglers heading out always had a chance of nailing these fish.

With the water temperature surely about to drop, these pelagic will disappear, but we will be left with some really big gummy sharks and monster snapper to finish off the season, so hopefully I have plenty of report in the next edition. Until then get out there before winter hits.

For more information, contact Will at Allways Angling in Traralgon on 51748544. You will get expert advice and great deals on fishing bait and tackle., Turn in to Rex Hunt and Lee Rayner’s “Off the Hook” on 1242 to hear Will’s Report on what’s going on in Gippsland!