HOT SPOTS - Docklands
(Melways Maps 42 & 43)

By Peter Jolly
See Peter's weekly report for fishvictoria.com here.

There are a huge number of places to dangle a line in the Dockland area, along with many varied types of fish to catch.

So far the types of fish I have taken here are:

• Bream
• Trevally
• Pinkies
• Yelloweye mullet
• and there are reports of snapper up to 5 kilos and mulloway in the evening.

Large amounts of undersized fish are often caught here and when you consider that a bream of 27 cms is about 8 years old it's well worth throwing some of the smaller ones back to catch another day.

North Wharf
You can access here by going down Piggot St and turning RIGHT at the Customs gates. Most of the south side of the wharf is fenced off but if you drive all the way down to the end of North Wharf Rd you can park the car and walk onto the wharf - it is not fenced off to pedestrians, only cars. There is so much area to fish along here that it's best just to go with what feels right - by that I mean look at the suroundings and try to imagine where the fish will be hiding within the structure of the pier. There is so much timber with all the pylons that everywhere is a potential fish holding site.

On the opposite side of the wharf there are qiute a few boats moored up along here and it's pretty much the same as what I have described above. The beauty of this part of the wharf is that you can drive right up to the edge and set up to fish very easily. You can drive all the way around to Berth No 8 and fish around the boats. There are times when you may be asked to move on but only when there is a function on one of the boats moored there.

Central Pier
This one is in the middle of the Docklands precinct and is most likely one of the most productive places here. You can drive out onto the pier past 9/10/11 Berths but there are businesses along here so it may pay to ask them if you can go up there first, this is accessed from Berth 8. The next access road is in between Berth 9 and 14, this is most likey the best place in the whole of the Docklands to fish. From the edge of the access road all the way around to Berth 16 there are some very good sized bream along with some excellent pinkie snapper. Also around at No.16 there have been mulloway taken at dusk.

Victoria Dock
Between Berth 17 and 21 is a good spot for some bigger flathead, some have taken them near the 50 cm mark. Fishing out from 21 there is also a real possibillity of picking up a snapper. From 17 around and past Berth 24 has a huge amout of fish holding structure but due to the fact that this spot basically meets up with the Yarra River here there is always a fair bit of floating rubbish that gets spun around by the backwash of water where the river meets the slack water.

I believe the area at the end of Berth 24 is a good spot for snapper and mulloway at times and is well worth a look around sunset. This spot is only accessed via foot and there is a collapsed part of the dock between 22 & 23 - it is fenced off but be very careful.

Rigs
At right is the rig that I use with the best effect at the docks. It consists of a VMC baitholder hook (size 2) and two small split shot pressed on the line at 30 cm intervals above the hook.

The technique that I use is to drop the bait slowly down until you feel it touch the bottom and then lift it up about 1 foot off the bottom. Doing this stops any crabs that may be lurking around from grabbing the bait first. Also here we have an introduced tube worm that feeds at night and if you have your bait on the bottom they will pull it in stopping the fish from getting to it. The fish do not eat this introduced pest.

The line I have been using is about 2 kilo. Even though I have recently caught a 1.2 kilo bream on it I think it would be best to go for about 4 kilo line strength or even have a go with braided line to reduce the bustoffs when the fish get to the poles covered in sharp mussels.

The other rig I use is just a paternoster rig with a clip-on sinker at the bottom and the dropper being 30-50 cm above the sinker.

I find that when using long shanked hooks the fish have a go from the back of the hook and when using prawns the fish suck the middle out and leave the shell. Smaller bream will tap the bait over and over until they get the bait off, bigger bream will suck on the bait and you will see a slow dip in the rod tip when this happens. As soon as they feel any resistance they drop the bait. I tend to have the bail arm open with a small cloth over the line so that when the fish moves the line goes with it with little resistance.

Baits
I have found that the best bait for big bream is the humble freshwater yabby. Using these I have been able to hook a 37 cm bream weighing in at 1.2 kilos. Yes this does seem a bit strange but it does work, it looks like the yabby will fight off the smaller fish cos they want to fight everything. They go into the water with all guns blazing.

There is a huge variety of baits that can be used here, one of the best is the sand worm. These are sometimes hard to get but if you can get some of these you won't go fishless. When all other baits are pretty well doing nothing these really can save the day/night. The only fault these worms have is that they will get a pick from even the smallest fish in the sea. Depending on what size hook you are using you will most likely catch them as well.

Another good bait is the peeled prawn. They are not as good at getting bites as the worms but they are still very good, especially due to the fact they are a bit bigger and mostly the bigger fish tend to go for them. One word of warning though, they must be fresh! Don't use ones from the day before that have been re-frozen or all you will catch is a cold.

Mussel Gut is another good bait but it's a mongrel to keep it on the hook, perhaps a baitholder type hook will work the best. Pippies also work OK but they are a poor 4th or 5th place in the bait race around here.

You tend to find that the people that catch all the fish do the right preparations in the bait area. If you roll up at the local servo and buy a pack of frozen stuff you WILL get outfished by someone that has gone to the trouble of accessing some fresh bait. I have used bass yabbies a few times now and they seem to be pretty good. One night they outfished sandworm 2-1.

In summary this is a wonderfully enjoyable place to fish, there are a large variety of fish to catch and at times they almost jump on the hook.

There are some places that you must be careful of as they have collapsed, most have been fenced off but people still insist in ignoring the danger signs and fences, and if they keep doing this perhaps we will be stopped from fishing there because after all it's not public land. Have fun, keep safe and by all means respect the wishes of the maintenance division that looks after the area and the tenants who work here.

(2 July 2001)


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