The year is certainly travelling along with the tuna fishing starting to draw to a close for another year.

We have had another reasonable season with the tuna despite weather that has made it harder this year with early rain and winds that have caused some very big swells.

The tuna season has been good, however, with an early start, then a run of barrels that got everyone excited and then back to school tuna and the odd good-sized one.

We have had a few caught on bottom drops this year, which is very exciting as you don’t expect that to happen too often and they have been big fish too.

A few other interesting fish have also come up, such as Samson fish, amberjack and some smaller Hapuka. The odd large turtle has been seen cruising around and the odd sunfish, which get very large in the deeper water.

The guys have also been getting blue eye, knife jaw, large flathead and grenadier in the deep water and closer in towards Cape Nelson and Bridgewater the fishing has been fine with flathead, gummy sharks, school sharks, snapper and the odd mako towards the lighthouse.

The bay and north shore is still fishing OK with flathead on the drift and the odd big whiting still around. We should start seeing more salmon schools around now and these are great to catch on light gear. The Breakwater has been a bit quiet but the odd shark at night and the odd pinkie and salmon keep everyone happy. The Breakwater should start fishing a bit better from now onwards.

The beaches have been hard with the weather and weed build up, especially around the north, but we should start seeing salmon and some good winter sharks.

The river systems had been fishing OK for bream and the odd perch and mulloway in the Fitzroy.

We generally see some good shark fishing from now on and the makos are always a prize target. Trumpeter fish and snapper in the deeper water should also keep anglers on their toes. Then, it’s not long before the snapper start showing up on the Breakwater again.

Let’s hope the winter months are kind to us and let the fishing continue.

• For all your weather and fishing reports, call the team at Portland Compleat Angler on (03) 5521 1844 or call in at 61 Bentinck Street next to the Gordon Hotel. We also have fishing licences, regulation books and stickers available in store.