The southern bluefin tuna season off Portland in Victoria's far south-west has fired up in 2026, and the fish are the kind anglers travel for: barrels, the big-shouldered tuna that test tackle and forearms in equal measure. In a session filmed by the Fishing Adventures channel, a small-boat crew ran into a feeding zone so frantic the skipper barely knew where to point the bow.
The crew had come out so a mate, Mark, could land his first barrel. They found tuna everywhere — bait balls boiling on the surface, gannets folding their wings and diving, dolphins and even a whale working the same school. "Look at the big tuna busting up there. How can we not get in here?" the skipper called as the water erupted around the boat.
From there it was close to non-stop. The crew hooked up almost the moment lures hit the edge of the bait ball, with one angler, Joey, taking charge on the rod while the skipper jockeyed the boat to keep the line clear. "It's only just started, boys," the skipper said early on. "We're going to get three or four today, hopefully."
The fish were no tiddlers. Tuna landed the day before had gone around 60 kilograms, and several fish in this session looked the same or bigger — one estimate put a fish at 95kg, another crew member reckoning it was a clean 100. With the bait ball holding under the boat, the action peaked in a tangle of multiple hookups, the spreader bar going off as two and then three rods loaded up at once.
Through the chaos the crew kept their heads, gaffing fish cleanly and bleeding them on the deck before moving back onto the school. Whales, dolphins and seals worked the bait around them the whole time — the kind of marine spectacle that makes a southern winter on the water worth the cold.
By the time the wind started to build, the boat had its fish and the skipper was reflecting on a purple patch that has put Portland firmly back on the bluefin map. "What a tuna season it's been in Portland this year, 2026," he said. For a crew of mates squeezed onto one small boat, it was as good a day as the southern bluefin grounds can offer.
Portland has earned a reputation as one of the country's premier southern bluefin tuna ports, its position near the edge of the continental shelf putting big fish within reach of trailer boats through the cooler months. "Barrels" — the term for southern bluefin from roughly 60 kilograms up — demand heavy game tackle, stand-up harnesses and a skipper who can keep the boat on a moving school. Hooking several in a single session, as this crew did, is the kind of result that draws anglers from interstate to the south-west coast each winter.
