He said he was bagging flathead, salmon, whiting and squid. He said snapper were becoming scarce but the number of southern bluefin tuna starting to show up was heartening.
Rod said most tuna were 10 to 20kg and while it took a bit of work to get them to bite, things were looking good for the next month or so.
He said the tuna were relatively close to shore.
Rod said the tuna were mainly off the mouth of the Barwon River near the bluff while squid were inside the heads between the jetty at Point Lonsdale and the ferry terminal inshore in the grass beds and on the opposite side at Point Nepean and Sorrento among the shallow grassbeds.
The same goes for whiting as far up the bay as St Leonards.
Flathead were being caught on the sandy bottom both inside the heads and off the coast in Bass Strait, then during the tide flowing out.
Using a small occy lure trolled in the rip was the way to fish for salmon. Rod said the way to fish was to look for seagulls diving on schools of baitfish and krill.
According to Rod, you can always put a feed of fish on your plate when you go fishing off Queenscliff. He said fishing off the coast out wide you could even catch blue shark, mako and couta.
Rod said the fishing off Western Port Bay was similar.
Rod said gummy shark were biting in the deep water off Phillip Island, and between the mainland and San Remo.
He said the best time was on the run-out tide, and the best bait was fresh squid or salmon fillets. Most fishing in Western Port was done during the tide changes, and the best spots were on the rubble beds along the shipping lanes.
Now back to freshwater fishing in our region.
It is pleasing to see the Goulburn River is about normal for this time of year and while I have not had many reports, I would expect it to be fishing accordingly.
Reports from the Murray are sketchy, with an occasional cod or yellowbelly being caught by anglers using bait such as chicken or cheese or more natural baits such as shrimp, yabbies, worms or grubs.
I did hear cod were being caught in the upper Murray above Lake Hume, but that is a big trip, nearly as far as Corryong.
Eildon is still fishing well, with several anglers reporting metre-long cod in the river arms, while surface lures are getting results in the Broken River below Gowangardie Weir and towards Shepparton.
If you are after a feed of redfin, by far the best spot is the Hume Weir, but they can also be caught at Waranga Basin and also at Lake Eildon. Just drop a bait, shrimp or yabby down alongside a likely tree.
If there’s no bite in 10 minutes or so, move to another tree until you locate a school of fish.
Another spot worth a try is Victoria Park Lake in Shepparton, as are the irrigation channels.
The rivers and streams in the north-east have settled down and are worth a try.
Bait casting or using lures might land you a nice pan-sized trout.
You can angle from the bank but at this time of year, wading is a pleasant option.
Just a word of warning, always keep an eye on the weather forecast, as well as bushfires. If you do go into the hills, take care.
Back to saltwater, and north across the border to Eden.
John Liddell reported good bags of reef fish along the inshore marks. He said it was still patchy off the shelf.
Further north at Narooma, Graham Cowley said it was a similar story, with good hauls of flathead from the sandy bottom between the reefs, as well as snapper and morwong and other reef fish.
Graham said when it was too rough to go across the bar, fishing inside the lake was good for big flathead and bream around the oyster leases and other structure.
From Flinders Island, James Luddington said big flathead and gummy shark were the go around Lady Barron.
Meanwhile, we had a horror weekend on the roads last weekend, so be safe and drive carefully.
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