VICTORIAN SURF FISHING

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

See Benno's profile here.

1 February 2008

Hello again for 2008. I trust everyone had a great Christmas and most of us are back to work or school. Due to limited time I only managed to go fishing a couple of times myself over the break. I went out on a fishing charter for something different with my mate Angry Anderson and his son.

Bagout Fishing Charters took us out for the day and I must say, I was very impressed with the boat and the captain. We launched from Stony Point on a day that the wind was supposed to abate, but to my disappointment, it took its time, and didn't ease until late afternoon.

Throughtout the day we fished for whiting and snapper and gummy sharks and we caught all of the of the species, and I also hooked a very large shark that eventually bit through 60lb Jinkai.

Bagout Fishing Charters will soon have a bigger boat that is now being fitted out and will be on the water soon, and I cant wait to see it or go fishing in it. Having had boats myself and fishing Western Port many a time, I was surprised at how much more I learnt about fishing this awesome body of water. I can recommend all anglers try a fishing charter like Bagout Fishing Charters, even if you have a boat there is so much more that you can learn from a pro.

SURF FISHING
On Saturday the 25th of January I travelled to Golden Beach to fish in the surf fishing contest thats held every year on the Australia Day weekend.

Anglers can start fishing on the Thursday and the final weigh-in is 11am on the Sunday
with the presentation at 2-3pm.

Thursday and Friday saw perfect weather and plenty of fish caught, then the weed hit the beach on Saturday and Sunday. My fishing efforts for that weedy Saturday resulted with 3 mullet, a small salmon, flathead, 50kg of weed, and what's a fishing trip without a toady. You can only catch what's there.

Results for the comp were: Best Salmon - 2.785kg, gummy shark - 15.909kg, shark - 57.27kg, flathead - 1.715kg. And these catches were taken from the beach.

There were 900 adults and 300 juniors who entered and well done to the anglers who caught fish  and took home a prize.

For surf anglers now is the time to target whiting from the shore, using pipi or mussels and sandworm for bait. If you are not sure what pier or where to fish for whiting, get the land-based fishing guides on Western Port and Phillip Island and Port Phillip and Cario bays.

Talking of a good read, check out this months Victorian Fishing and Boating Monthly. Its got a readers competition and fun page and the 2008 tournament calendar and heaps more.

I almost forgot to mention a report that I got today, there are BIG salmon being caught along Kilcunda Beach. Salmon to 3.5 kg, and in good numbers, so if you hook into one drop me an email.

Im starting my surf fishing lessons on Saturday the 1st of March and they're held in Melbourne and go for 1.5 hours and include everything from tying a knot to casting, how to cast an over head reel, everything. For more infomation please email me at easyfish@bigpond.com.au  

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.