I think someone forgot to tell the fish that its winter with the past month seeing some incredible action in this part of the Port Phillip.

Although the mornings are cold, if you can brave the frosts and cool breezes then the mullet fishing in the creek has been first class with not only numbers but also some very big mullet to be found on a daily basis.

The trick to catching them however is a correctly weighted float fished on either a 7-8m pole or a long soft rod that will prevent you from pulling the tiny hooks you need to use.

Baits are either small pieces of prawn, chicken breast or dough, with fine bran and tuna oil based berley to attract the fish.

On the pier the pinkies and squid are making their presence felt with the calmer conditions proving ideal for the squid, while any of the rougher weather sees the pinkies on the move in the shallow water. As an added bonus the salmon are always a chance with schools of fish moving through several times each week.

Out in the boats its the same scenario with anglers moving around Beaumaris Bay, either hunting squid and pinkies on the reefs or following the birds, which indicate where the salmon are feeding.

As an added bonus however this month should see big flathead start to move into the areas around the mussel farms. The trick to catching them is to either fish a plastic such as a 70mm Squidgy fish or a Plazo grub very slowly across the bottom with small hops.

Another good option however is also to use a paternoster rig baited with whitebait. Either way the results can see you with a bag of sand flathead in the 40-60cm size.

Beaumaris Pier is once again black with ink, and while the pier itself has been great, the rocky shoreline all around it is also fantastic, especially on a rising tide late in the afternoon. Off Ricketts Point and towards Black Rock it’s a similar story with pinkies dominating the focus for bait and lure anglers as they work along the edge of the reef. Interestingly it definitely seems the best results for numbers of fish are coming either off Rickets Point or up off the Black Rock car park. However for those anglers fishing for bigger fish then the area in between has been better.

Out wider in the 16-18m line, mid-winter produced a few 4-5kg snapper for the keen anglers, and I am sure that for those who put in a bit of time over this month there will be more good fish to be found.

This area can, does and will produce some great fishing over the coming month with the heavy cunjevoi reef in some locations providing serious feeding grounds for the pinkies and other species.

For-land based anglers the end of the Sandringham breakwall and the Hampton rock groynes are the perfect location for some serious pinkie fishing, especially in a bit of a southerly blow as it stirs up the water in this bay, which then in turn attracts some solid pinkies.

When the water is calm and clear however the surrounding patches of reef and weed are producing a few squid and some decent numbers of garfish, which should only get better as we roll through the next few months.

Out wider the Anonyma shoal has been a bit on the quiet side except from the odd report of some big garfish being taken by a couple of anglers.

I have also found that during August and September there can at times be good number of small barracouta around this reef, which can easily be caught using a small diving minnow, then they can either be packed away for snapper season or used fresh for a bit of the best pinkie bait you could ever get.

Further north, Brighton and its surrounds have been fishing well for pinkies, along with some solid flathead and big red mullet, and best of all it seems that some of the better fishing I have heard of over the past weeks has been for the land based anglers fishing off the breakwall or any small patches of rocky shoreline.

Brighton through to St Kilda has also been producing smaller numbers of squid but generally they are of a much better size. Any rain or rough weather will see them push out to deeper water, however as soon as it cleans up they are back into the shallows, with the 3-5m areas appearing to produce the best results over the past few weeks.

Up at St Kilda Marina and its surrounds I have heard of some bream anglers having some good sight fishing for bream as they move out of the marina and around the rock wall to then feed on the flats. In this situation casting small hardbodied lures such as the Cranka Crank on light line has produced some bream of well over 1kg.

It’s such a tricky place at this time of the year with the fishing often times being great if we don’t get too much rain, saying that though the rain is so important for the upcoming season.

Over the past weeks some anglers have found some good fishing for trevally and small salmon off the St Kilda Pier and around at the breakwall. Good success has been found berleying up on the inside of the wall where all the swing moorings. Best bet here is to fish small baits suspended under a float or repeatedly casting an unweighted bait out, allowing it to sink through the water column and berley.

Off the piers and in the boats its is very much the same story as last month with pinkies going ok when its rough, while the squid are slow, probably due to a bit of dirty water.

However Station Pier has produced a few salmon and as I always say its worth getting a big bait out there as this part of the bay can and does turn up some big snapper and huge mulloway at this time of the year.