Email Daniel here or drop in and see him at 91 Great Ocean Road Apollo Bay

The fishing has been fantastic over the past few weeks and there are so many species on offer, choosing what to chase has been a difficult decision. Personally I have found it hard not to chase the King George whiting, as some amazing reports have been flying around. I have heard about bags of 17, 16 and 20 in recent days. With these sorts of numbers of fish being taken all within a short boat trip of town, the tinny has been getting a good run after work most nights. Unfortunally I haven't caught any big bags of fish, but 5 or 6 whiting over 40cm is plenty of food for me. Squid have also kept me entertained around the golf course reefs just on night fall. They can be seen chasing hooked whiting up to the boat so always keep a rod rigged with a squid jig just in case.

OFFSHORE 
Plenty of sharks out wide for the adrenalin junkies. Both blue and mako sharks have been taken from 70m of water, and there has been plenty of reports of several sharks coming up to the boat at once. Use berley to bring them around and fresh 'couta fillets for bait. Keep the baits small or they will become wary and hard to hook.

Flathead are in massive numbers around the 45m mark off Marengo. Use two hooks to double your catch rate but remember the bag limit is 30 fish with only 2 over 60cm.

Gummy sharks are being taken off the lighthouse in 45m of water on fresh squid heads. Again their numbers have been so good that I must remind everyone that there is a bag limit of 2 fish per person.

INSHORE 
King George whiting have been taken at Marengo, the Waterfall and just behind the breakwall. Pipis and octopus have been the gun baits when fished on a running sinker rig around dusk.

BREAKWALL 
Fishing from the first half of the wall has produced good numbers of small snapper and some big King George whiting. Dusk has been the best time to fish and fresh caught squid is the best bait by far.

BOAT HARBOUR 
Silver trevally have been entering the harbour around the high tide and can be taken on pipis or fillets of pilchard. Use a very small sinker or unweighted bait to get the best results.

Squid have been taken from the pier early in the morning on orange jigs. The smaller the jig the better they seem to work. Keep moving around the pier until you come across a school of squid and then concentrate your efforts in that area.

WILD DOG BEACH 
Plenty of little salmon have been taken on whitebait from the beach. The bigger fish should arrive around April.

JOHANNA BEACH 
Snapper to 1kg have been landed after dark from the deeper gutters along this beach. Fresh salmon fillet has been bringing good results with the snapper and makes gummy sharks a real possibility as well. Wait for a warm northerly wind to blow the sea flat before heading down for an after dark fish.

AIRE RIVER 
The river is currently blocked at the mouth, so the water is up high. Once the water begins to drop the bream will fire up around the camp ground area as will the brown trout around the Great Ocean Road bridge.

The Great Ocean Sports Festival 
On the 10th of February the Aussie Boat Sales "Big Catch" fishing competition will be held at Apollo Bay. Everyone is welcome to enter and the event will cater for both boat and land-based fishing. Log onto www.gosportsfestival.com.au for more details and entry forms. I hope to see you there.

Regards,
Daniel Kent

See Daniel Kent's previous report here.