It’s been a disappointing start for both snapper and whiting. Apart from a brief flurry of fish in early November, the snapper seem to have all but disappeared in Port Philip Bay and what fish are around seem to be in small pockets up in the northern sections of the bay. The southern areas have been pretty much dead.

I have done three trips recently, and have not turned a reel. Most of my fellow club members have experienced the same problem – lots of fishing trips and no fish. This time last year I was getting 2-3 fish every trip.

Western Port is faring a little better, but still down from last year. The whiting have been very patchy; you have to work hard to get a feed. This time last year I pretty much got close to my bag limit every trip. This year I have had to make lots of moves all over Western Port to pick up a few fish.

The only thing that I can put the lack of fish in both bays down to is our crazy cold weather. The water temperature in both bays at the end of November was just 17°C, so hopefully once it warms up the fish will come on.

All of the local beaches have been producing reasonable catches of salmon up to 2kg, fish from 500g-1kg being the bulk of the catch.

Yellow-eye mullet are now about in good numbers. Fishing the edges of the gutters at low tide with pipis is the best way to catch these guys.

There have also been a few nice gummies and the odd pinkie being caught just on dark.

Reasonable flathead are being caught off The Glasshouse in 30m of water.

A few calamari and whiting have been coming in from Cleelands Bight.

The most productive areas for snapper have been Silverleaves, The Corals, Elizabeth Island and Corinella.

Whiting have been difficult to locate in any numbers; it’s just a matter of moving until you find a few fish.

There are still some good calamari about, but not in big numbers. Whiting are scarce, but if you drag a few lures around there are some good-sized snook in the area.