Portland’s north shore snapper fired up in January with anglers reporting good catches.

Frankie and Joel bagged out on snapper with one at 3kg and another at 2.5kg, from their early morning run whilst local Ricky Briggs and Noel Woodford from Darwin caught 16 snapper to 51cm and a 5ft schoolie shark. Ray Pryor from Melbourne had a great catch with a 7.5kg snapper amongst his bag.

Fishing the north shore also produced quality catches of whiting and mulloway in January. Locals Les Ackerly and David Fredericks landed 39 whiting on a recent trip. Frank Satangeld from Melbourne caught 37 whiting between 38 and 45cm.

The number of King George whiting in the Portland Bay area has had many anglers smiling from ear to ear. With large schools cruising around, catches of up to 40 whiting have been appearing at the cleaning tables.

Whiting have been taken on pipis, squid and pilchards. Use a size 4 to 6 long shank hook with a running sinker to get the best results. These whiting have been between 700g and 1.5kg and have been giving anglers a lot of fun.

Inside the harbour, the marina is also fishing well. Local Mark Rundell landed six whiting to 50cm. Trevally and mullet have also been taken from this area.

At Snapper Point, land-based Hopetoun publican Jerome Brown caught a great 9kg mulloway while fishing with his three boys.

The canal and trawler wharf have been producing snapper, whiting, trevally and bream.

Moving out to Lawrence Rock, the flathead grounds are still fishing well. Around the 50 to 60m mark off Cape Nelson Lighthouse there have been gummy shark, snapper, blue morwong and coral perch caught. Yellowtail kingfish were also around but have proved a bit elusive so far this summer.

Other notable catches include local Darren Dyson’s 29 whiting whilst fishing around the Nunns Beach area and Graham and Noi Shearer’s ten whiting, five trevally and five snapper caught from the Lee Breakwall.

With lots of people fishing the Lee Breakwater at this time of year, please remember to take your rubbish home with you or use the bins provided. Otherwise the Portland Harbour Trust will close this popular fishing spot and we will lose one of the best land-based fishing locations in Victoria.

For up-to-date information on locations and techniques give the boys at Portland Bait & Tackle a ring on (03) 5523 5213 or (03) 5523 1225. We’re open 7 days a week from 7am to 7pm.