The fishing here has been a little quiet at the time of writing, with water temperatures still hovering around 16C. This will all change by late October and during November as everything really starts to warm up.

There have been some nice flathead landed outside the Port Albert Entrance in the 22-35m depth range, bottom bouncing and using pilchard and squid for bait. A pilchard, chook pellet and tuna oil berley delivered to the bottom gives the best results with good feeds of nice fish up to the around 2.3kg.

On the estuary front, some good catches of gars are still being made out from the co-op pier. Whiting are starting to make an appearance in small numbers around the basket beacon and Scrubby Island, with pipis proving to be the best bait.

Decent size flathead, from inside, are proving to be elusive but plenty of pan size ones are being caught around Snake Channel. Their size and numbers should improve as the temperature rises. Mick Alderson, the local publican, says the ‘skunk’ sharks are proving to be a nuisance due to the cold water temperatures and also noted that this has been an extremely quiet winter.

On the pier and river front it’s also been quiet except for some small flathead, and some smaller trevally caught by local identity ‘Boot Boot’, from the pier outside the Port Albert Hotel. This is the most popular jetty in Port Albert and as the water warms up produces a good assortment of fish including silvers, whiting, gars and some nice flathead. Last year the odd gummy shark was also caught last year, so don’t be surprised of such captures again this season. The Rutter Jetty, outside the Port Albert Caravan Park, produces some nice flathead around the 1kg mark. Fishing on the dropping tide brings the best results on all the Port Albert jetties.

We’ve just come into the start of what we hope will be a top snapper and gummy season. By early November should have already started to rise and we should be into full swing of what we are hoping will be a season of memorable offshore fishing.

Best spots to venture for snapper are on the reefs out from Manns Beach and McLoughlins Beach and for the gummies, which are already being caught in small numbers, can be had in Whale Bay or in the Kate Kearneys Entrance.

If on the inside, try around Bullock Island or down at the Blue Hole. Extreme care should be taken going out through the Port Albert Entrance and experienced boat handlers with good local knowledge should only attempt it.

For the latest fishing information, contact Chase’m Charters, (03) 5183 2267 or 0409 798 018.

CAP

Ricky Schrapel with a pair of flathead around the 2kg mark caught out from Port Albert.