As we head into August there are many more species of fish available in Portland as the run of SBT comes to an end.

What a season 2013 turned out to be so let’s hope 2014 will be another good season which will keep Portland on the map as a world class game fishing destination. There were many barrels landed by those lucky enough to hook them and for every barrel landed there were three times as many school-sized SBT which in turn looks like a fishery on the incline rather than as the experts claim a fishery on the decline, due to better fisheries management skills practised by all those concerned. Hopefully this fishery will be enjoyed in the years to come for the young and old alike that wish to experience the thrill of catching the fish of a lifetime.

When the weather permits there can be good catches of a variety of fish as bottom bouncing in Portland comes into its own. There have been good catches of flying gurnard, knifejaw, flathead, school shark, gummy shark, blue morwong, morwong, nannygai, snapper and the surprise catches of samson fish (possibly amberjack) in the traditional 40-100m areas. Venturing out to the continental shelf there is always the option of doing a deep drop with electric reels between 200-600m for blue eye trevalla, gemfish, blue grenadier and ling.

Anglers staying closer in and around the harbour have been catches of salmon, mullet, silver trevally, snapper, the odd whiting and calamari squid. This is a good area to avoid the cold winter winds.

Along the coast from Narrawong to the Fitzroy River mouth is well worth a try for gummy and school sharks, salmon, mulloway, whiting and snapper for land-based and boating parties.

Fishing off the Lee breakwater there has been good sized snapper coming in between 1-4kg with reports of a 6kg snapper caught along with schoolies and gummy sharks, couta, trevally, salmon, pike, as well as the odd whiting and calamari squid.

Throughout August, surf fishing can produce good catches of a variety of fish including gummy shark, school shark, silver trevally, the odd mulloway and Australian salmon. Good spots to try are Bridgewater Bay, Discovery Bay at Swan Lake, Shelley Beach, Nobles Rocks, Bishops Rocks, Crumpets Beach east of the smelter, Pivot Beach, and Nuns Beach.

Best baits for these areas are whitebait, pilchards, bluebait, pipis and squid and use lures and poppers for the salmon. Keep an eye on the latest tides and moon phases as this too will allow you to be fishing at the best times.

For those freshwater fishing the canal has been producing good sized bream along with salmon, mullet and silver trevally. The Fitzroy and Surrey rivers has seen good catches of bream, best baits for this area are blade lures, soft plastics and prawns

For all your latest fishing and weather reports give the boys at Portland Bait & Tackle a call on 0355235213, we are open 7 days a week with winter hours being 7:30 am to 6:00 pm.