As you can imagine, it’s all about the snapper at this stage of the game! The shallow water has fished extremely well and we are at the time of the year where we see these red machines school up in huge numbers in the deeper water, and cricket score catches will become more and more consistent.

All of the usual haunts in the top end are producing good fish, so it’s really just a matter of hitting some old marks from previous seasons and seeing if the fish have stacked up there again for another season.

There hasn’t really been a standout bait as of yet, and most fish are pretty willing to eat anything as long as you hit them in that bite window.

Local fisho Nick found a nice little hole recently where he bagged a 7.54kg red on the humble pilly, and it was a great way for Nick to kick off his season.

Ryan McGregor came home with the daily double after putting in a few hours up the top end. Snapper were the target species, but as he ticked that box with a quality 7kg red, he also found himself wrestling a crazy 16kg gummy that came not long after.

Shaun Furtiere is an absolute jet when it comes to this time of year. Shaun has been fishing here, there and everywhere, but has pulled some really nice fish out of the top end. In amongst the snapper, Shaun has been getting some really nice gummies that have been taking a liking to some beautiful fresh yakka chunks.

Peter Vink has spent most of his time up around Lang Lang in the shallow water, and the results have been outstanding! Pete has been saving a few of the calamari that he has been catching and preparing a few snapper baits that they just can’t resist. On a recent trip, Pete boated a 7.7kg snapper on one of those sensational bits of fresh squid.

Joes Island continues to fill the fishing reports with no shortage of fish in the area. Dave Vandenbroek and Kane have been soaking a few pilchards, and the snapper have been climbing all over them. On one of their more recent trips, the lads boated a lovely 5.6kg specimen, along with an absolute monster of a fish that tipped the scales to 9.1kg. Well played indeed boys!

Crawfish Rock is a place that we don’t hear much about until this time of year, and when the snapper move in it can become one of the hottest places in the port. Andrew Ketelaar is a local legend who continually gets it done, and this season has been no different. Andrew did the yards and got a couple of nice squid early and then converted that into a healthy 6kg snapper.

In the north arm, it’s not all about the snapper and this is where you want to be if the snapper aren’t playing the game.

There are loads of calamari up on the Tyabb Bank and Shaun Furtiere has been moving in here to get his fresh calamari baits sorted for the day’s snapper fishing. Casting a jig amongst the broken ground of weed and sand has been deadly, and there are still a few submarine size squid hovering about. The 3.0- 4.0 size jigs are working best, with no specific colour being better than the other. If I were to choose one though, the darker colours would be my pick.

The whiting have also quietly been fishing well up and down the Middle Spit, and it’s not a bad option, as the rest of Victoria slips the snapper goggles on! Cruise the edges of the spit in 2-4m of water, and once you find them, you can fill a bag quite easily. Pipi laced with a nice little fresh strip of calamari is just too good to resist! I would still be putting the berley pot on the bottom with any old pilchards left over from your last snapper trip along with some pellets and tuna oil. This will keep those whiting hanging around your boat and not another boat sitting 100m away!

I know this report has been snapper heavy, but these fish are just too good not to catch and if you haven’t had a crack yet. Do yourself a favour and make the effort to connect with a snapper, you will not be disappointed! There’s obviously other great targets during summer though, so snapper or not, you’ll be having fun!

Keep those reports coming!