Just when we all thought that the southern bluefin tuna season was over for the year a couple of massive fish are caught.

Bruce Harris along with Tim Clark ventured out to the shelf for a spot of blue eye trevalla fishing when they spotted birds circling over a school of fish, so they cruised over with a couple of lures out behind them and bang, they were on, after a brief struggle they landed a beaut fish of 84kg, the struggle continued as they got the fish on board.

This action inspired Matt Hunt, Bob McPherson and Steve Atkinson to go and have a look the following day, they too found birds working in the same area and hooked onto a 95 kg tuna, the fight took Matt two and a half hours to land the fish.

So it just goes to show that nobody really knows the length of the SBT season and where and when the season starts and finishes, even now the trawler operators in the area are still seeing travelling schools of tuna along the shelf. The only thing stopping keen anglers from getting out to the shelf is the unpredictability of the winter weather along this part of the coast, so let’s hope that we have a long season next year just like this one.

The Lee Breakwall has become the whale watching platform for southern right whales and their calves on the migratory path, with over 17 southern right whales spotted along the cliffs and the Lee in the past month.

The traffic along the Lee and the cliffs around town have been inundated with loads of people coming to watch these mighty beasts as close as 30m off the Lee. For those fishing for snapper they have been pulling their rods out of the way before losing them to the whales.

There have also been sporadic catches of snapper from the Lee with the best catch for the month again going to Wayne Turner with his great snapper of 10lbs, along with snapper there has also been catches of good sized salmon and the odd gummy shark.

For those fishing in and around the harbour there has been good catches of grass whiting, which has been keeping the keen anglers very busy. The main area that has been producing the grass whiting is in front of the Maritime centre and the best baits have been fresh shrimp caught in the canal, along with whitebait and pipis. Fishing in the canal has seen good catches of black bream, along with good sized mullet.

Land based anglers fishing along the north shore have had good catches of gummy shark and school sharks, with the best area being either side of the Surrey River outlet at Narrawong. Fishing along Bridgewater land based anglers have also had good catches of gummy shark, along with good sized salmon.

For those boating parties going out when the weather is being kind there have been good catches of blue morwong; snapper; coral perch; gummy shark and flathead, mainly coming from between Cape Nelson lighthouse and Cape Bridgewater of depths between 40-80m.

For those targeting freshwater fish there has been some good sized bream coming from both the Surrey and Fitzroy rivers which gives you an alternative when the weather is way to ordinary to fish the ocean.

As we get into September the weather should be improving which will allow a lot more fishing to be had.

If you are thinking of heading down this way, give the boys at Portland Bait & Tackle a call for all your latest weather and fishing reports. We are open 7 days a week and can be reached on 0355235213 or alternatively have a look at Bob’s report on www.wildblue.com.au