Tightlines - South & East Gippsland & more

28 April 2008

With King George
(Alan McFayden)
Wonthaggi
Phone 0401 199 223

Even though the mercury took a bit of a plunge, there have been plenty of positive reports indicating that the good fishing should continue.

Black Rock
Paul Malov fished the Black Rock area last Wednesday in 6-10 metres of water when he had the best results during the early morning with pinkies to 45cm, salmon to 1 kilo and calamari to 2 kilos. Paul found most of the fish came on a 3” Gulp minnow soft plastic.
Paul Worsteling fished with Craig Seignior from Victorian Sport Fishing Charter on Thursday morning where salmon were breaking the surface. They caught and released about 20 fish around the 700g-1 kilo mark. They also managed snapper to 2 kilos and a nice bag of calamari ranging 500g-800g. The plumb Hayabusa coloured jig worked well for the calamari and 3” pearl watermelon bass minnow soft plastic for the salmon.

Mornington Pier
Cranbourne angler, Louis, has been fishing from the pier during the run-out tide. Using pilchards he has been catching good numbers of salmon ranging 25cm-28cm. There has also been plenty of calamari taken from around the red rocks area at Mornington. Most anglers have been bagging out, with calamari to 1 kilo not uncommon.

Blairgowie
Another Cranbourne angler John has been targeting the whiting during the week. He has caught his bag on a few occasions with fish ranging 40cm-42cm. Best baits have been pipi and mussels.

Kilcunda
Paul Worsteling says that he has received an email from Peter this week who has been fishing from the beach at Kilcunda. Using bluebait and the Tackle World Cranbourne vacuum sealed squid strips he has been catching good numbers of salmon to a kilo in weight. The high tide has been most productive. Peter said that during the low tide he caught plenty of yellow-eye mullet also on the squid. Through the week King George received a call from Don Goldberg who said that he had a great time in the vicinity of Cemetery Beach.

Corinella
Corinella is fishing well and will continue for the next few months with plenty of fish on offer. There are schools of silver trevally everywhere around Corinella at the moment and they provide excellent sport on light tackle for the entire family. Greg Patterson fished the area last week and caught a mixed bag of trevally, gummies and 2 flathead. Of course he also caught plenty of elephant fish. Best baits were pipi, pilchard and squid in 10 metres of water.

San Remo
Craig Edmonds who runs Jim's Bait and Tackle at San Remo wonders if the whiting will ever run out. He says that they are overtaking even elephant captures this week. It has been another good week for the dinner table.

It’s also good to see every now and again the advice you give works. Such was the case this week with the circle hooks for whiting, with a very seasoned local whiting fisherman reluctantly giving these hooks a go on Friday. He came back to the shop on Saturday to let Craig know how he went, saying that it was the first day for many he had bagged out on whiting and he had not dropped a single fish and only lost 1 hook to a leatherjacket. He said every fish was lip-hooked and the 10 or so he released were done so with out harm. A cocktail of squid and pipi or mussel did the trick. Although nor elaborating, he said that the fish were caught near Corinella.

Craig says that he often gets criticised for not using names in his reports but there is a very good reason for this with most of the reports coming from regular local customers who are very guarded in exactly where and when they fish and will only give a report providing their names are not mentioned.

Weekends and especially long weekends bring out the kids, and us experts could probably learn from them if we listened. They take fishing for what it is, a bit of fun, and although there are some who take it seriously, at the end of the day the one thing they all have in common is that they keep it simple. Craig says that he has had plenty of kids in the shop over the weekend showing their catches of whiting, leatherjacket and trevally from San Remo and Newhaven jetties, elephants, small gummies, whiting and flathead from the boats and some small salmon from the surf.

The whiting again this week have mainly come back from the edges of the main channel at Newhaven towards Anderson Peg, first light or last light have been by far the best times and the better fish have come from this time of the day.

There have also been reports of good whiting from Cowes not far out from the boat ramp and again the evening has been best. Elephants have slowed a bit but those who chase them are still able to get their bag. Pilchard or squid are way out in front as the baits to use. There are schools of trevally, small salmon and tailor in the bay at the moment and while waiting for something else to come along its worth throwing a lure or two. There seems to be a lot of rubbish moved into Cleeland Bight and if fishing this area you need to get well out of the channel.

It would appear offshore the sharks have started thinning out with only a couple of reports and both a 40kg mako and one of just over 100kg coming from very wide of Cape Patterson. The eastern entrance when weather permits is well worth a try with a bag of flathead not that hard to find, with most fish around the 40cm to 45cm mark. If there are no 'coutta around give your Snapper Snatchers a try and you may be surprised how well these work on the flathead.

The only other offshore report over the weekend was from the area just off the Powlett River, where a couple of anglers returned with a bag of pinkies around the 40cm mark. Another group, David Gray and Rob Dylan were fishing in the same depth (10m). Halfway through the flood tide their reel screamed off and a couple of minutes later they boated a nice little seven gill shark. The fish was taken on a mullet fillet and was weighed in at the shop at 18.5kg cleaned.

Venus Bay Angling Club Fishing Competition Results
The club held its monthly competition over 25-27 April where 23 members and visitors took part. Not a great weekend for fishing where cool, windy weather and late tide times made members work hard to land good fish. Those who had boats out on the inlet struggled to land anything decent in the main channel. There were plenty of small flathead, tailor, and salmon, but few fish of any size. Some members began to search the bank gutters for perch, and these members had good success. Phil Nebel, Aaron Sharp and Tyrone Nebel, all landed good perch from the inlet, while Leon Webb also landed a nice perch fishing the Tarwin River. John Blezard and Nathan Ray also weighed in some nice fish taken from the inlet. 

A few members fished the surf, but results were about the same as the inlet. There were fish about, but mainly small salmon. Tom and Lucy Aulsebrook, along with Ray Pederson and Peter Uren weighed in pan sized specimens from the surf, but the big salmon were not biting this weekend.

Results: Senior: 1st Tyrone Nebel, perch 1780g [1424 points]. 2nd Aron Sharp, perch, 860g [688 points]. 3rd Nathan Ray, trevally, 620g [496 points]. Junior: 1st Jessica Anstice, leatherjacket, 340g [340 points]. 2nd Lucy Aulsebrook, salmon, 420g [210 points]. Heaviest Elephant fish was caught by Rick Kinnison. The secret weight prize, [ $50 voucher compliments of “Rod Bendings”] was won by Chris Anstice. Congratulations to all the trophy & prize winners. Next competition starts at noon Friday May 16 and finishes at 3pm Sunday May 18.

Stockyard Point
The report of the week could well be when Justin Tapner was fishing with his mates George and Scott from the sand at Stockyard Point. After rigging up a live salmon and casting it out Justin hooked and landed a 10kg snapper which was weighed at Tackle World Cranbourne. The fish measured 90cm long and was caught on the low tide change. A 10kg snapper in Melbourne is a catch of a life time but to do it land-based is something else.
Balnarring

Whiting are still being caught around Balnarring with good sized fish from 40cm-45cm being caught on squid and pipi. This area seems to be a hot spot for bigger fish and it’s not uncommon to get a bag of 12 fish all over 40cm; 4m-6m of water seems to be the go but don’t discard the shallow water as this is where the fish move up under the cover of darkness.

Tyabb
Aaron and Tyler have been spending a bit of time flicking squid jigs around the Tyabb area this week. They have been doing very well catching plenty of calamari in 1.3 metres of water. They also had a session on salmon where they caught and released approximately 30 fish on assorted baits. Yo-zuri squid jigs in the 3.0 size have been best for the calamari during the low tide.

Tooradin
Gary Dangaard was fishing in 8 metres of water in the Tooradin Channel on Sunday. Fishing the run-out tide he rigged up some tuna fillet and cast it out. A short time later he hooked up to a solid fish which he battled out, eventually landing a very impressive 40lb mulloway.

Inverloch
Land-based fishermen are still doing very well in Inverloch, where Phil Jacobs and a mate paid the area near the bathing boxes a visit and in just two hours they had nine very nice whiting to the 36cm mark. Phil said that they used Bass yabbies on the royals, which were all taken on the first half of the run-in tide. Other nearby anglers were also doing very well and along with whiting there were quite good numbers of silver trevally and salmon taken. The snags is still a favourite spot for local anglers who know that when the tide is not flowing too fast, whiting are up to the 800g mark which makes them well worthwhile going after. Luderick and perch have also been taken on Bass yabbies.

Venus Bay
Although this area is always a popular spot with land-based fishermen, this time of year heralds even better conditions. The salmon are in very good numbers to the 1.5 kg mark where they are taking white bait and surf poppers. There have also been mullet and to a lesser extent flathead, but salmon are making up most of the bags.

Waratah Bay
Land-based fishermen have been taking quite good numbers of salmon to the 800g mark on a variety of presentations, with whitebait and surf poppers being the most successful. The run-in tide has been the best time to wet a line and come evening the bite is much more positive as the fish move in closer to the shoreline under cover of darkness.

Hollands Landing
Wonthaggi anglers Steve Waldron and son Jessie have just returned from a trip to Hollands Landing with Steve and Ben Wardle, where they fished from shore near the wall. They only managed a few bream on shrimp but the fish were all of quality, which is usually the case in this part of the world.

Jessie was fishing in close with a freshly caught shrimp when he hooked into and landed a PB bream which dragged the scales way down to 1.39kg. They later decided to try their luck in the Tambo River and managed a few bream to the 500g mark which made the trip worthwhile. The two Steves love taking their sons with them whenever they go fishing which is great, but it has now got to the stage where the boys are showing the dads how it’s done! King George says that there should be much more of it.

Jessie Waldron with a 1.39 kg bream caught at Hollands Landing on a freshly caught shrimp.

Port Welshpool
Before the break in the weather the jetty had been giving up quite good numbers of fish with salmon, silvers, garfish and flathead being taken off the eastern end of the structure. Barney Hapent was passing through from Dandenong on his way to Mallacoota when he decided to try his luck from the structure, and his visit coincided with a school of salmon paying the area a visit and lessened their numbers by eight, which were all about the 700g mark. Whitebait brought about their downfall. As has been the case for some time, the Lewis Channel has been the best spot to look for a whiting where they have been to the 37cm and taking pipis, squid, strips of pilchard and Bass yabbies. The entrance was, up until the break in the weather, giving up good numbers of snapper, gummies and the occasional flathead which were being taken on a variety of baits including fillets of silvers, pilchards and squid.

Golden Beach
Customer of Paul Worsteling, Matt, fished the surf at Golden Beach last weekend at high tide at 2am Friday morning. He landed a very nice one metre gummy shark and good numbers of tailor. All fish were taken on Red Rockets.

Tip of the Week
After a day out fishing it is imperative that all gear that comes in contact with salt water is sponged down with fresh water. Failure to do this will quickly shorten the life of gear, which will let you down most likely just as you are about to land that special fish.

Keep the fishing info coming to King George on amcsayte@bigpond.net.au
or call 0401 199 223.

Good Luck and TIGHTLINES.