This past month hasn’t seen much improvement in the weather. There’s still a lot of rain, meaning a decent run off into the ocean and some pretty dirty water in close. This is possibly the reason that salmon are still sparse.

The far end of Wild Dog Creek Beach, or ‘Pirates Cove’ as we call it, has been the best local spot to get the odd salmon or two. From all reports, spinning off the beach has had better results than bait fishing. I’ve managed to get a couple of salmon off the rocks at Skenes Creek using my favourite, the Halco Streaker, but it was hard work.

On the days where the wind and swell weren’t too bad, and boats could get out of Apollo Bay for a fish, the gummies, schoolies and big flatties have still been about in reasonable numbers. Bald Hill and Blanket Bay reefs have been very productive for the gummies and schoolies in 40-50m of water. If you want to get some flatties, try drifting straight out off Skenes Creek in approximately 40m.

Snapper have become more prolific with good catches reported from Blanket Bay to Cape Otway fishing the change of tide in the 40-50m mark. Fish up 3kg+ have been pretty regular. One recent visitor to Apollo Bay was surprised when he reeled in a 2kg snapper while fishing off the harbour breakwater.

The local streams and rivers are still flowing well, with some nice brown trout. The West Barwon Dam has also been fishing well with a few reports of decent browns, rainbows and reddies. Hardbodies like Ecogear SX40 and Rapala X-Rap 4cm, or soft plastics like the ZMan GrubZ have been working well. If you want to bait fish, a scrub worm will always tempt a trout or a bream in the local streams.

December should see an improvement in the weather and a further increase in the water temperature. This should see an increase in the numbers of calamari, whiting and flatties about. Try to fish for the whiting off the Waterfall or Marengo if you’re in a boat, or off the rocks at Marengo, Skenes or Petticoat Creek. Pipis on a running sinker rig is the preferred setup. You might also find a few luderick off the rocks at Petticoat Creek if you’re lucky.

1

An awesome catch of beaut Blanket Bay snapper.

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A lovely local brown trout caught on a Rapala Spotted Dog.