The fishing is well and truly into action here in Portland and good reports have been flooding in.

The Breakwater is fishing very well with the good size snapper up to the 10kg mark and some very fine gummy sharks mixed in with them.

There’s plenty of couta, which can be great on light gear and very good bait for the sharks and snapper.

Whiting, salmon, trevally, yakkas and squid are also on the bite of the wall. Pipis, prawns and bluebait are great baits for the salmon, whiting and squid and pilchards are great for the snapper. The squid are hooking up well under floats with bait jigs using pilchards or silver whiting to attract them.

The weather has still been a bit up and down for the boats but when it’s good, look out. The fishing has been very reasonable throughout the area. The deep water in the 300-400m area is still producing some great blue-eye and other deep feeding fish like ling, grenadier and knife jaw. Quite a few fishers are using whole calamari baits and salmon to attract these great-tasting fish.

The fishing back towards Cape Nelson to Bridgewater Bay has been great with big results of flathead, gummy and school sharks and the occassional snapper and morwong. The flathead seem to love Squid Ems with a bit of bait added. The typical big baits should be used for the sharks and snapper in this area.

The bay area to north shore is also fishing well with flathead and some great whiting being reported. The whiting are generally in big sizes in these areas and are great to catch and even better to eat. Pipis, whitebait, bluebait and squid work well on most fish in this area.

The beach fishing is firing up around the Portland area with salmon, sharks and the odd mulloway. These are the most common fish species anglers like to catch off the surf and are always great fun in good conditions.

The mighty kingfish should start to fire up again in Portland. The last couple of years were a little slow but a few nice ones were caught. Let’s hope this season the numbers will be better as they are a fantastic fish to catch and eat. Most angler use floats with fresh squid while others troll.

We also see plenty of pinkie snapper and sharks when fishing for kingies, which are a great by-catch and also good eating.

Generally, good numbers of whiting and flathead are around the bay to Lawrences Rock. People generally anchor up for their catch of whiting but I like to drift and usually up with a mixed bag. The guys that travel beyond the rock to Deepwater or towards Bridgewater Bay this time of year end up with mixed bags of big flathead, sharks, snapper, blue-eye and various others.

The beaches from the north shore to Discovery Bay is generally fishing very well this time of the year with sharks, snapper, mulloway and salmon all regular features.

The Breakwater should still be in full force with large snapper, sharks, whiting, salmon, squid, and the odd kingfish. The breakwater gets very busy this time of year with fishers and families, so please enjoy your time there but take your rubbish home or put them in the bins provided.

• For any fishing or weather reports don’t hesitate to call Portland Compleat Angler on (03) 5521 1844 and we will point you in the right direction. You can also call in any time and say g’day to the team and check out our range of products. You find us on the foreshore at 61 Bentinck Street, Portland. We’re open everyday from 8am-6pm and licences are available in store.