Fishing Port Phillip Bay With Jack Auld Dec

With Christmas only a couple of weeks away, now is the time to start planning a few fishing trips to get that mixed bag of fresh fish for the Christmas holidays. The bay is full of life and in top shape – sometimes there are too many options as to what species to target. The amount of bait around in the deeper areas is amazing. Most of the bait is pilchards but we found a big patch of slimey mackerel off Werribee South, which make great baits or tasty little treats.

Snapper have become a little hit and miss, you’re either on feeding fish or sitting on fish that just won’t feed because they have their mind on the job, so to speak. The northern end of Port Phillip has had a bumper run of snapper and is still fishing the most consistently. Area from the radar ( fawkner beacon) to P2 is worth a look. I’ve been doing most of my snapper fishing off Pt Cook and Werribee South in a range of depths from 13-22m. There are fish spread out in this area. It’s just a case of use your sounder and go looking. Best baits at the moment have been silver whiting, slimey mackerel & salaries.

Gummy sharks are definitely worth chasing if you’re over catching snapper. Gummy shark fishing is actually relaxing, as the best way to target them is to fish a whole tide. So you have plenty of time to kick back and enjoy a day out with friends. Oily baits and squid are by far the best baits in Port Philip, depending on what area you’re fishing. Adam Stan fished solo off St Leonards last weekend in his 580 breeze and landed a nice 10kg gummy. We fished off Werribee South and landed two small eating-size gummy sharks in a quick two-hour trip.

Squid are still around in really good numbers. Pt Cook is holding good numbers when the water is clear. Portarlington around to Swan Bay is still the place to look if you’re after numbers of squid. Last trip on the squid was when I was running in my new 675 offshore. We found a great patch in 4m off Indented Heads with white and green jigs working the best.

Salmon are around in good numbers off Pt Cook and Altona. The birds working them are a dead giveaway, while the salmon are feeding on small white bait. Either trawling around the school of salmon with small lures or casting at fish busting up the surface with small metal slugs are a fun method of targeting salmon. Match your lures to the size of the bait the salmon are feeding off for the best results.

Flathead and whiting are starting to fire up now the water temp has warmed up. If you get a feed of flatties or whiting, you’re in for some if not the best tasting fish going around.

I will end with a report on my new 675 Haines Hunter. It’s now fully ran in with almost 30 hours on the clock and it’s really blown me away with its performance and fish ability. The boat feels so strong, with a very soft ride – so in my eyes, it’s really the perfect all-round fishing vessel and suits my style of fishing from whiting and snapper to tuna and marlin. The hard top has added the extra bling so to speak, and is very practical with the sunroof for extra light and air flow, the moulded speakers in the hardtop and twin VHF & Marine radios all built in really just top it off from being a plain hardtop.

Until next time, happy fishing and boating.