The season seems to be a month behind last year’s as the southern bluefin tuna still have not appeared. Time will tell if these monsters of the deep arrive to tangle with our eager sportfishers. On a recent trip out to the continental shelf we noticed that there is plenty of bait around which is a good sign. There were also plenty of birds, whales and dolphins.

During March the yellowtail kingfish fired up along the North Shore, much to the delight of everyone. Scott Gray of Port Fairy recently landed an excellent 18kg yellowtail on 24kg line in shallow water. The fish made him work hard for 30 minutes before he was able to boat it. Jason Widowson and Tom Gill from South Australia also caught some nice 9kg yellowtail while visiting the area. Bob McPherson, Tim Clark and myself had two balloons taken on 34kg line in 5m of water but both kingies got away. We did return home with four nice kingfish ranging between 9-12kg.

For anglers not targeting yellowtail, the North Shore has been producing snapper to 4kg, trevally, seven-gill sharks, whiting and plenty of squid. Danny Elford, Buck and Rachel Beavis bagged out on 40-50cm snapper while fishing the North Shore with the odd trevally to 50cm thrown in. James Farrar had a good day out with a bag of 25 haddock to 2kg. Good-sized whiting to 1kg have been coming in from along the North Shore and the Black Nose areas.

Anglers fishing the 60m mark have been landing morwong, coral perch, flathead, snapper and gummy shark.

The Lee Breakwall continues to produce plenty of snapper and whiting for land-based anglers. The marina in the harbour has been providing catches of trevally, whiting, snapper and squid. The trawler wharf and canal have also kept many entertained with catches of snapper, whiting, trevally and mackerel.

As we head into April southern bluefin tuna will be on everyone’s mind. If you’re thinking of coming down to this way give us a call at Portland Bait & Tackle on (03) 5523 5213. We are open 7 days a week from 7am to 7pm. Don’t forget if you wish to see all the action at the cleaning tables live just go to www.wildblue.com.au and follow the prompts.