I went for a late afternoon fish in Western Port recently and when I arrived the tide was running off and there was a light southerly blowing. Not long after I dropped anchor the wind picked up to 20 knots, which made fishing really difficult. Most fishos know that wind against tide in Western Port is a no-no. But I persisted and after about ten or so moves I managed a dozen whiting, including a 36cm fish with no tail.

Some predatory fish had obviously tried to make a meal of this particular fish but all it ended up with was its tail. The fish was in good condition and the bitten off area had almost healed up so it seems that some fish can survive without a tail. Now that’s a tale!

The surf beaches are all fishing reasonably well when the weather permits. Salmon have been about in good numbers with most fish in the 500g to 1kg mark.

Fishing on dusk and into the night is still producing gummies and the odd pinky snapper.

Outside the entrance, anglers are doing okay on the 40m line drifting for flathead. There are still some makos about if you want to put the time in.

There are also quite a few big arrow squid about, especially if you are berleying, but you need to weight your jig to get it down near the bottom. You need to be careful when you are handling them as they are able to rotate their heads 360º and take a chunk out of you in a matter of seconds.

There are still whiting to be had all over the bay but they are just not around in numbers like they were in the beginning of the year. You only have to look at the amount of boats on the water at the weekends to work out why. A few elephants have started showing up off Rhyll and there are lots of undersize gummies and a few pinkies at The Corals. There are also a few pinkies off Lyshardts.

There’s been a few whiting and pinkies caught in the early morning just before sunrise off Point Leo.

Cat Bay has been producing a few whiting and the deep water off Ventnor has seen the odd big gummy. Fishing the slack tide for gummies has been the most productive.