The Barwon River copped a bucketful of rain early December.

This resulted in a long awaited flush out and should really fire the redfin up this January. December saw anglers fishing soft plastics close to deep bank catching quality redfin to 900g. Carp to 4kg were taken on worms and corn in the slower moving stretches near the rowing course and up near the one lane car bridge at Queens Park.

Snapper have dominated reports but there has been plenty of small to medium flatties and big pike taken inside Corio Bay. Lost of nuisance flatties have been pecking off pilchards meant for snapper, but remember that the fillets of a legal length flattie make great snapper bait.

Run out tide has been the most consistent for snapper from 2-4.5kg coming from just south of the shipping channel near Stingaree Bay, Western Beach and North Shore Rocks. The odd pinkie snapper to 1.2kg have come from Cunningham Pier for those using pilchards for bait at dusk while Limeburners rock wall has produced a few whiting either side of 34cm just on dusk for those using pipi and squid for bait.

Corio Bay outer harbour has been couching up some great snapper captures up to 8kg. Straight off Mountain View Quarries on the run out tide has seen fish to 4kg taking pilchards, silver whiting and squid heads.

Ten-year old Lachlan McDowall has been fishing pretty hard down at McLeods Waterhole in Clifton Spring so when he returned home clutching am 89cm eel! St Leonards and Indented Head

Did I say going off? The St Leonards Pier doesn’t look like a likely snapper possie, but some lucky anglers have taken snapper to 4.5kg fishing here after dark with pilchards and squid. It didn’t take long for word to get out as the pier was soon packed to the rafters each night for a week or so.

Boat anglers got wind of this and it wasn’t too long before those fishing in very close also got amongst some ripper captures for such shallow water with some snapper exceeding 7kg not far from the St Leonards boat ramp.

Calamari continue to provide great snapper bait and great table fare as they attack artificial jigs over the shallow weed and rubble areas. Smaller jigs seem to be working a little better than the larger ones at the moment.

Silver trevally again are the major draw card to the Queenscliff boat harbor, with fish from 30-45cm taking single tailed grubs in motor oil and avocado colours.

Calamari up to 800g have also been taken by anglers specifically targeting them in the harbour. It pays to have a rod rigged with a jig nearby.

Over closer to the Lonsdale Bight, larger calamari up to 2kg have been swarming all over the place, but are very hard to tempt. Some very fat whiting have been caught by anglers fishing the mouth of Swan Bay and inside the Lonsdale Bight. The larger fish are around 43cm and over near the Lonsdale Bight.

Offshore, snapper are going well with fish common around the 3kg mark but captures up to 7kg have been reported. Gummy sharks have also been going fairly well and there is the odd school shark about.

Snapper are the main target here also, but anglers driving over the shallows are missing out on some great squid and whiting fishing. Matt Bruce fished from a kayak with Colin Northwood where they caught three large calamari and one whiting at 36cm.

I fished some low tides at Jan Juc in awesome conditions recently, but have not had any luck.

The Anglesea River remains the place to be to entertain the kids these school holidays. The bream here are very willing, so pack up the tribe and give this place a shot.

Remember to return any undersized fish carefully to the water!

The rock platforms along the Great Ocean Road have produced pinkies to 3kg on dusk plus salmon to 1.5kg and whiting to 44cm during the day.

The Cumberland River rocks were boiling with salmon to 45cm one visit I had down there. It was fish after fish for a few anglers who switched to casting lures after baiting up took too long.

The Cumberland was full after the heavy rains last November but the warm water was putting the fish down. I saw Dylan Pace from Torquay was down there and he’d just lost a fair 30cm fish on an olive Woolly Bugger. I had no luck using dry flies for most of the day.

The Lorne Pier was fishing well dawn and dusk for King George whiting to 40cm and salmon to 45cm for bait anglers. I took the boat out with a few mates and managed to feed plenty of undersized trevally and pinkies but that was it. I spoke to one gent at the ramp who worked very hard for only three whiting. He did see a school of salmon busting up, but did not chase them.

The Erskine River in Lorne has been fishing well for bream of late. Ali Armstrong showed up all the men with a ripper bream measuring 35cm she caught on a prawn under a bubble float.

Not to be outdone, Adam Skurka took his tribe down to the Erskine for a fish and also caught some good bream to 35cm. His daughters Summer and Amber had to ride out a downpour or two but it was worth it!

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).