The fishing around the North Shore has really fired up, with the highlight being a 60kg thresher shark landed by locals Peter Ryan, George Smith and Peter Hill. Greg Rutter was also entertained with multiple hook-ups on three threshers, landing one at 48.3kg. Meanwhile Tim Clark had one estimated at 100kg alongside the boat before the fish won its freedom.

Other catches from the North Shore have included snapper, whiting, trevally, garfish and good-sized calamari, not forgetting gummy sharks and the odd mulloway.

Recently, out in front of the town lighthouse, many anglers had the pleasure of watching an 18-20kg kingfish basking itself in the cool, clear shallows for six hours. There have also been reports from anglers targeting garfish along the North Shore of large kingies cruising around. The current water temperature is around 15oC, but needs to rise up to about 19-20oC before these fish begin firing up.

All the signs are there for another good kingfish season, with good catches of garfish and squid coming in from the traditional kingfish grounds, and catches of good-sized trevally – which show up every year just before the arrival of the kings.

There have also been some great results for anglers heading around the back and fishing in 40-100m between Cape Bridgewater and Cape Nelson Lighthouse. Local Lockie Wombwell had a great outing, with catches of flathead, knifejaw, gummy shark and a 5kg snapper. Julian Dickeson from Hamilton came home with a two nice gummies, knifejaw and a good feed of flathead. Other anglers have also been coming home with a bounty of good table fish for their efforts, including coral perch, morwong and queen snapper just to name a few.

Mako sharks should start appearing around this area in December. Those seeking these magnificent fighting fish should make sure they are well equipped to handle them, as big makos can prove quite a handful for the inexperienced.

For those targeting whiting, the traditional grounds around Blacknose Point have been producing good catches of King George whiting. Mike Polly caught a nice bag of seven whiting of 650-900g. Another lucky angler came home with a horse of a whiting weighing 1.4kg amongst his bag.

There have also been good results for land-based anglers targeting snapper from the Lee Breakwater. Some successful anglers have included Danny Hicks (3.3kg snapper); Paul Buttigieig (2.5kg snapper); Clint Larkins (2.2kg snapper); Bill Vella (3.3kg snapper); Glen Blomely and Melissa Robinson (2.5kg snapper); Necmi Afacan (2.5kg snapper) and Terry Alberts (1.75kg, 2kg and 3.2kg snapper bringing his total to 11 this season). Not to mention the younger anglers Cody Davis (3.9kg snapper) and his sister Telita Davis (2.2kg snapper). The list goes on!

Other catches from the Lee have included gummy sharks, with local angler Durbo landing a 11.9kg version, along with calamari squid, whiting, barracouta and salmon.

For those fishing in and around the harbour there have been good catches of trevally to 2.2kg, whiting, pinkies, and calamari squid.

In the canal there have been catches of black bream, along with mullet and salmon.

Mick Simmonds caught 20 mullet and four good bream while fishing the Surrey River. Other anglers have also reported good catches of bream and mullet from both the Surrey and Fitzroy rivers.

For all your latest fishing information and weather reports, give the boys at Portland Bait & Tackle a call on 03 5523 5213. We are open 7 days a week from 7am until 7pm. Have a look at our website for weekly fishing updates (www.portlandbaittackle.com.au ), and don’t forget the dates of our annual fishing competition: January 17-18, 2009.