Over the last month good-sized snapper have been caught and landed off the Lee with a lot more caught and lost on the rocks.

The heaviest to date has been caught by Wayne Turner weighing in at 7.04kg and with the average snapper size between 2-5kgs. Last year the heaviest snapper weighed in for the season was 11.36kg.

As we head into November the snapper fishing off the Lee will only improve with everyone attempting to land one of these prize sized snapper, remember you only need to keep what you can eat and release the rest as these are the big breeders and this will ensure that the fishery will stay in good shape for the future.

Steve Otter had a good catch of snapper weighing in at 4.5kg, Pizzle of Heywood had a snapper weighing 3.5kg, Jumbo of Stawell had a snapper weighing 4.7kg and Brock Kennett had a snapper weighing 2.2kg just to name of few, along with locals Ken Beames, Dave Noodle Man and Terry Alberts also weighing in some nice sized snapper.

These guys put in a lot of time off the Lee and the competition is on between them and quite a few other locals as well as Wayne Turner who at this stage is leading the stakes.

Other catches coming from the Lee have been gummy sharks; good-sized whiting up to 40cm, flathead, gurnard and calamari squid.

When fishing off the Lee Breakwater use a paternoster setup with bluebait and local squid and make sure you have a good gaff or net to get them up and over the rocks.

When the weather has been behaving, those heading around the back between Cape Bridgewater and Nelson Lighthouse and fishing between the 40-80m waters have had good catches of snapper, morwong, coral perch, flathead, gummy sharks and school sharks.

Also throughout October a couple of boats headed out off Port Fairy to do a spot of blue eye and hapuka fishing when they came across birds working over the top of a school of tuna. The boys weren’t setup for tuna fishing so they cast some smaller lures at them and landed 6 southern bluefin tuna weighing between 6-10kgs in depths of 180-200m. So keep your eyes peeled for that elusive tell tale sign of working birds, you never know what you will come home with, and make sure you take some tuna gear just in case.

These tuna were not expected as the normal run is generally between February and June, but it also goes to highlight yet again that nobody really knows what travels along the continental shelf all year round.

For those fishing for whiting between Point Danger and Blacknose and over along the north shore it is well worth a try. Other recent catches over along the north shore have been snapper, gummy shark, school shark, trevally and good-sized salmon. Bridgewater Bay has also been producing some good gummy sharks and salmon.

For those fishing inside the harbour and off the marina and trawler wharf have had recent catches of whiting, calamari squid, salmon, mullet and snapper.

As the water temperature and weather improves fishing in and around Portland will only get better and hopefully towards the end of November we should begin having some real fun with yellowtail kingfish.

So if your heading down Portland way, get in touch with the boys from Portland Bait & Tackle on 0355235213, we are open 7 days a week from 7 till 7. Also don’t forget our annual fishing competition which is on again in January, on the 16th and 17th.