The winter fishing around the Geelong area is really starting to fire, with a wide range of species making their presence felt. Whether it is chasing whiting in the calm water of the bay or facing up to the elements for some surf based salmon, June delivers some great fishing opportunities.

The whiting have been pumping inside Corio Bay. Ross Winstanley has been getting near bag limit captures in an hours fishing close to the grass beds near Point Henry. Other anglers have enjoyed similar success fishing off Avalon and over the Curlewis bank. The fish have been from around 30-40cm and biting best at first and last light. Winter can see some trevally schools show up around Corio Bay inner harbour. Cunningham Pier and the yacht club piers have been productive in the past. Try and pin a high tide running off at first light and hopefully you can grab a few.

There has been a few small to medium calamari about the shallows which is a handy bait shop right on the edge of the snapper possies. The larger snapper have slowed to a trickle, but those prepared to sit out in the cold have latched onto an odd fish on the outgoing tide after dark. Whiting have also been biting well here with first and last light again being the best time.

Wayne Trewin from Portarlington Seaside Resort says anglers are still returning with the odd snapper, but average size has diminished somewhat. The odd larger fish to 5kg are still about, but most are under 2kg. Calamari and whiting have been biting with reasonable consistency around Grassy Point. Calamari should continue through June, but I’d expect the whiting to slow down a bit.

The whiting have been all over the place here with schools being a little hard to nail down. Most are fairly close to the shore and a few moves within 1km of the beach can land on a hungry school. Hit water deeper than 5m during the day and fish in shallower during first and last light. Some fat gummies have been taken out in 15-20m of water on the run-out tide. Cured eel has been best, but fresh squid and pilchards have both taken fish. Calamari are available over the shallow reef areas near the cardinal markers. Nothing big, but the numbers are there.

Bob from Swan Bay Boat Hire reports the whiting, salmon and trevally have been a bit slow in Swan Bay with the extra low tides but he expects it to be better than ever over the next month. Garfish and leatherjacket are everywhere inside Swan Bay and are of good size. Bob has also spotted a few gummies cruising about the shallows during the day that is a rare sight indeed. Swan Bay could be well worth a night session over June for these tasty sharks.

On the east side of Duck Island around the weedy area there are good calamari squid available. Drifting has been best and they have been up to 2kg. The same spot has been delivering good size King George up to 43cm. Brad from Leopold fished out front of Swan Bay and had a bag limit of whiting to 40cm by 7am so there seems to be plenty about.

Salmon schools have been sporadic in the Rip with Point Nepean being the most consistent. Most fish are from 600g to 1.3kg with the odd fish around the 2kg mark. Salmon peak in the Rip is normally over summer so I’d expect these to thin out over June. Dylan Pace from Torquay visited the Point Lonsdale Pier where he saw frantic anglers throwing metal lures in all directions as the salmon were boiling! Unfortunately, by the time he got set up, the school had moved on.

Ken Stevens from Barwon Heads Angling Club says the river has been fishing well for whiting either side of legal length. Elephantfish were about in the estuary over May, but have slowed down a bit now. Offshore, there have been a few small snapper in close at first light and some whopping whiting available in the shallows from the Rip to Torquay.

Matt McDonnell nabbed a few quality seven gill and gummy sharks on the drift off Barwon Heads. Matt’s mate Ross Lucas also caught a 78kg thresher shark not so long ago.

John Albrecht from Torquay Angling Club says the fishing off Torquay has been great when the weather lets you out. Club members have been bagging some King George whiting to 600g as well as some silver trevally to 1.5kg. The gummies are also on the go for those that are patient enough to fish through the tide. Pinkie snapper and yakkas (yellow tailed scad) have been a bit of a nuisance though. There is still the odd snapper around the 1kg mark falling victim to soft plastics in minnow patterns fished in a berley trail. There are still some schools of salmon up to 1.5kg smashing baitfish on the surface but you have to get lucky in spotting the school as the birds don’t always give them away.

Anglesea River has been a great source of entertainment for kids with the large population of small but willing bream available. Adam Skurka took his kids down there and they had a ball catching and releasing plenty of bream. Lorne Pier has been pumping out some ripping captures of salmon and silver trevally of late. Dylan Pace from Torquay visited the pier recently and saw some lucky anglers tearing into salmon from 1.2-3kg, trevally to 50cm and some of the biggest garfish he has ever seen.

Dave Dunn and his family from Grovedale hit the soft plastic jackpot at Lorne Pier recently. Jackie Dunn landed the biggest fish at 49cm, and they lost some real thumpers trying to lift them out of the water on 6lb leader. They took home a good feed and put back about 30 all on soft plastic lures. They were taking any colour or type of soft plastic they were throwing at them.

Catch a few around Geelong, Bellarine Peninsula or Surf Coast to Lorne recently? Send in a report to --e-mail address hidden-- with VFM in the subject field or give me a call on 0408 997348. Please include where (without giving away your secret spot!), when, what on and who caught the fish. Pictures are always great, but please make sure they are at least 300kb (1mb preferred).

1.

Summer Skurka with one of the many bream she caught and released from the Anglesea River.

2.

Jackie Dunn took out longest trevally with this 49cm ripper fishing with her family at Lorne recently.