The whiting season is pretty much over for another year and this year it’s been a bit hit and miss. While some fishers managed to find a few hot spots, the majority of anglers had a bit of a lean year.

There were fewer fish around this year but a lot of fishers tend to fish the same spots every year and if they don’t ‘fire up’ they go home with very little to show for their efforts. A lot of my hot spots weren’t proving fruitful this year so I started prospecting new and old areas and I found one that fished well on the run-in tide and one on the run-out. Over the season, I systematically worked both areas and have done okay. Next season it could be a whole new ballgame – with whiting, who knows? If they are not where you caught them last year, look around, try new spots and you might surprise yourself.

Williamsons and Kilcunda beaches have fished well with salmon up to 2kg reported. Whitebait has been the top bait, with fish biting right up to the top of the tide and then moving out beyond the breakers once it starts running off.

Cleelands Bight still produces some good catches of calamari and a few whiting. While outside the Entrance on the 30-40m line flathead, arrow squid, the odd mako and blue shark have been reported. If you berley a lot and drop some little artificial flies down, there are lots of slimies and yakkas to be caught, which make excellent bait.

There are still a few whiting about; the better areas have been Reef Island, Bass River, Dickies Bay, Coronet Bay and Tortoise Head Bank. There have been lots of pinkie snapper in most areas but they are mostly just undersize.

There are still some good catches of calamari reported, the most productive time has been right on sun up. Whiting are still a bit hard to locate and snook are starting to show up in better numbers.