VICTORIAN SURF FISHING

With Paul (Benno) Bennett
EASY FISH LAND-BASED FISHING CHARTERS

See Benno's profile here.

20 December 2007

Christmas is upon us, and you can't even have a BBQ without the flies trying to steal one of your snags, you can't even get a park at the shops. Yep it looks like it's going to be a traditional Aussie Christmas.

While visiting local tackle shops to look at the specials and the combo outfits and new releases, I was delighted to see how well the shelves and racks were stocked when salt water fishing was hitting its peak.

One of the new items released recently which I have bought and tested is a product called Snapper Snatchers. It's a pre-made Paternoster rig, and it comes in a container for safe storage after fishing.

The best way to use this product is to put a bit of squid on the hook or a hard bait if you want to cast it in the surf, or drop it over the side of the boat. The hooks have a speckled frill to the back of the hook and is bound with red binding material, and it has a luminous bead above the hook. The rig is made of 60lb leader material so yo'ure not going to lose it too quick, and they're made by Black Magic, so look out for them and remember to set the drag on the reel correctly.
 
With the thunderstorms that hit the state last week came thoughts of a documentary I saw on TV about storms and sports people that get electrocuted. Anglers are 2nd to golfers in terms of the number of people who get hit by lightning each year.
So the advice is, play it safe when there is a storm approaching and retrieve your rig and put your rod under cover and wait in your car untill the storm has passed. This advice is very important to anglers who use graphite rods.

Many years ago I got caught by a storm while rock fishing off the rocks at Barwon Heads. I was float fishing for yellow-eye mullet and these fish were as big as salmon, and on the bite they were going crazy, but I played it safe and returned to the car and sat it out and waited for the storm to pass.
 
As far as the fishing reports go, it's a great time to go fishing with the water temp just right and plenty of fish to be caught. Around Golden Beach the weed is still giving anglers hell. I did make enquiries about any favourable winds that my seperate the weed, only to be told that we have to wait for nature to do its thing.

The only other chance to fish the Ninety Mile beach is to head south towards Woodside and McLaughlins Beach. For surf anglers who like to cast soft plastics in the surf there is a good run of large flathead in the shallows at these beaches.

Around the bay the piers are fishing well, especially Monington pier for squid, salmon and gars. Frankston Pier has the gars in good numbers and if we have a south or southwest blow hit it, we'll get good size salmon.
 
Too often when I ask children if they have been fishing before they reply that it was boring.
Float fishing for gars is one of the best ways to get kids interested in fishing. You don't have to travel far, and watching a float keeps them interested. Of course garfish have there little tricks in the way that they feed, they often mouth a bait and suck at it without moving the float. You have to watch the movement of the float and if it seems to be doing somthing not right, like the float tip moving to the right againts the tide without bobbing down, just slightly draw the float towards you and tease the gar to strike the bait. Once you see how they play with there food you will understand their feeding habits and become more sucessful.

The best type of rod to use is a whiting or trout rod and use about 6lb line. If you are keen to learn about gar fishing, including what berley to use and how to prepare a garfish for cooking, drop me an email so I can set a date on the Frankston Pier and go through everything. You won't believe how much of a fight these small fish give and they taste excellent. Night fishing off the piers for gars is also great on a hot summers night.
 
After looking through the Victoria Fishing and Boating Monthly magazine, I found infomation on the surf fishing contest that is held at Golden Beach on Australia day weekend. Enty forms are available at the Golden Beach shops and you are advise to take your own water unless you like bore water. On the saturday of the competition there is a market for the family and fireworks on Saturday night. It's $10.00 per adult and $5.00 for kids, and the way in is on Sunday at 11am.
 
The other surf fishing competition I would like to enter is the Big Catch fishing comp held on the 9th and 10th of February 2008 at Apollo Bay and its ploudly supported by fishvictoria.com. This looks like a great comp to go in as Apollo Bay has so much to offer for the whole family. Details can be found on page 10 in Victoria Fishing and Boating Monthly magazine, it's a fantastic magazine and you can get it at tackle shops and newsagents, or the website for the comp is www.gosportsfestival.com.au.
 
I have had a ball writing for fishvic this year, and thank you to all the anglers who emailed me, and to the kids who I took fishing with the Salvation Army, hope you get fishing gear for Christmas. To the crew at fishvictoria.com and the writers and readers, have a great Christmas. Keep up the emails.  

Regards,

BENNO

EASY FISH LAND-BASED FISHING CHARTERS
Paul Bennett
Telephone: 0418 547 990
Email: easyfish@bigpond.com.au  

See Benno's previous report here.