The fishing has eased somewhat on the Bellarine Peninsula, but die-hards are still taking fish. The snapper fishing has slowed to a crawl and very few fish have been taken inside Port Phillip Heads over the past month. Some snapper turned up off Barwon Heads but sub-legal specimens soon replaced the decent 3 to 4kg fish.

Whiting anglers have enjoyed an extended season, but bag limits are scarce. One angler took a bag of whiting off St Leonards while his mate, only 20m away, never lost a bait! So move around until you land right on a school.

Calamari have made a welcome return and the big 3kg brutes are around the Lonsdale Bight area with smaller ones in good numbers off St Leonards and Indented Head.

Clifton Springs has seen an influx of small gummy sharks between 2 and 4kg. Make sure of your size limits as gummies are not measured nose to tail like regular fish and have a bag limit of only two per angler.

Ray and Brendan from Ray Long’s Tackle report that things have been very tough for snapper anglers in Corio Bay lately. There have been a few bream taken from Lakers Cutting and they also confirm good captures of calamari near Queenscliff recently.

Brendan also says the whiting have been biting well off Torquay as well as the odd salmon to 1.5kg from the Jan Juc surf beach.

Kelby from Catch 22 confirms the good fishing at Torquay and notes that salmon have also been taken at Eastern View on the Great Ocean Road and 13th Beach near Barwon Heads.

Kelby has also had a go at the bream at Lakers Cutting and reports that the fishing can be patchy, but there are some decent fish stretching the tape to 37cm.

Jamie Behrens from Barwon Heads has taken the odd gummy shark out of Ocean Grove and says there has been a lot of small snapper about so next season looks good.

For this month, persist with the salmon. They can be in and out so don’t despair if you draw a blank, because they’re just as likely to turn up the next day. Places to try include 13th Beach and Breamlea from the surf, or trolling out from these beaches and inside The Rip.

The big calamari run should be in full swing this month, so give the Lonsdale Bight a good working over with both baited and cloth jigs. The silver trevally should show up inside the Queenscliff cut and near the submarine just outside Swan Bay. These fish love slowly worked soft plastics close to the bottom. For bait fishermen, try pilchard fillets and pipis.