Angling.The APYAC angling season is about to start at 12.01 a.m. on Saturday 13th September 2025. Remember, the first Snapper caught (pic and details entered) delivers for that angler no club subscription fee for the 2026-27 year. All anglers and their friends should attend the start of season barbecue, from midday this Sunday, 31st August. Only $15 a head includes meat, salads and bread. Don’t forget to book to assist catering. Flathead study. We are still proceeding with helping Latrobe University with their Flathead study. Grab your kits in the Langdon Room, and downstairs near the sign-out book. Swabs are to be returned to the Esky in the boathouse near the sign-out desk. Again: swab as many flathead as you can, size not important, make sure you return all undersize fish to the bay. They are out there. Flathead are on the in bite 2-4 metres of water. We believe a paternoster rig, sinker at the end of your line with one or two droppers above the sinker, is best. Start with a 4/0 or 5/0 hooks. Cut pilchards, squid or fillets of any fish are great bait, they will also take soft plastic lures. Drift over sandy areas from Black Rock to Port Melbourne. Once you catch a few go back over the area as Flathead tend to school-up in waves on the bottom. Out the back of the club, 100 metres out further from the pier end can be productive. The weather has been fairly good for boaters and anglers as it has been warmer during the day, some northerlies, often light winds and smooth seas. The Bay water temperatures are on the rise at last, since the last edition (11.3 C top end of the bay, 11.3 C Mid Bay, 12.9 C in the Ocean). Snapper have pretty much left the bay, there are always resident fish in the bay, but they can be hard to find. However there have been large pinkies and snapper caught in the Williamstown area. Gem Pier Williamstown has had some nice fish caught from it. The ‘warmies’ has been producing good numbers of pinkies if you can find room to get a line in. Steam coming out of the power station means warm water and generally fish. No steam, don’t bother. There are good size Gummy Sharks at many of the deep (12-20 metres) channels near the heads. Best baits seem to be Silver Whiting, Australian Salmon Fillets, Pilchards, Garfish and Squid. Whiting have mostly been missing from the usual marks around the Club and reports are not great. There are good reports from that the very southern end of the Bay is producing good whiting. Fish grassy areas 2-5 metres deep and keep moving if you are not catching them. Best baits, Pipis, mussels and squid strips. Whiting areas are also squid areas, and they are generally plentiful in the winter months so if chasing whiting keep a few squid jigs ready it may be well worth trying for them. Try Werribee, Point Cook and Campbell’s Cove Keep an eye out for birds working as there are still very large schools of Australian Salmon up the Club end of the bay. Many good salmon caught around the red stick near Altona, a very big school reported out from Williamstown footy ground. Any smallish slivery or pilchard-looking lure dragged through or cast into the area the birds are diving-in should produce fish. Snook also have been caught up our end of the Bay. Garfish are plentiful in the Bay so if you see them, a light rod with a quill, or similar float, and a small hook with Silverfish (very small almost clear fish about 1-2 cm long), Prawn slivers, or bread dough works. They are being caught off most piers as well. Rug-up, morning and evening temperatures are below 10 degrees, check weather forecasts, keep an eye on the actual weather, do not take risks, give it a go and take care! Time to service reels, change lines if damaged, make rigs and generally prepare for next fishing season. You know when they make a fishing show on TV? They catch the fish and then let it go. They don’t want to eat the fish, they just want to make it late for something. - Mitch Hedberg John Spragg
Image: Richard Muscat's already into 'em. | 
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