Tightlines - South & East Gippsland & more

12 May 2008

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

With the colder weather now with us, the water temperature has dropped dramatically, and many reports are saying that it has gone down to just 12 degrees. This is not all bad news though as the salmon have arrived in big numbers, much to the delight of land based anglers.

Black Rock
The sport fishing in Port Phillip over the last few years has seen a lot of anglers getting out there and targeting salmon on soft plastic lures. The Black Rock through to Ricketts Point area is a great place to start, and the next few months should see some hot fishing action. This time of year as the water cools down the salmon come out to play and provide plenty of fun on light tackle. Schools of fish can be seen busting up bait balls and it is quite a sight. 3” Bass minnows are the weapon of choice along with 3” Gulp minnows in pumpkinseed and smelt. Plenty of small pinkies and some bigger ones to 2kg are being caught on baits and lures also. Squid and pilchards are the baits of choice.

Patterson River
This popular stretch of water is fishing fairly well with good reports of salmon being caught off the rocks near the mouth. Customer Justin fished it during the week to land about 20 salmon to 35cm on soft plastics and metal slugs. The area around the floodgates is producing some solid bream to about 38cm. Best baits have been freshwater yabbies or the River2sea baby vibe lures.

Mornington
A few snapper up to 5kg have been caught out wide of Mornington in 18-21m of water on pilchards, silver whiting and squid heads. In around the shallow reefs from Frankston to Mornington there are plenty of squid on offer with a few corkers to about 2kg. Drifting over the weed beds is very productive, flicking out the new brown Harimitsu in a 2.5 is dynamite. Other good squid jigs to try are the smaller Yo Zuris in a size 2, in pink or orange.

Portsea
Jarrod, Blakey and Ben fished with Phil from Rip Charters. The boys went out from the Portsea Pier in 8 metres of water where they bagged whiting to 40cm. The funny thing was all the whiting caught were taken on the prototype Whiting Whacker rigs that are due in Paul Worsteling’s store soon and it will be very interesting to see how they perform.

Cowes
The pier has been productive with plenty of small salmon, trevally and the odd pinky on offer for those willing to brave the weather. Best baits have been squid, and pilchard fillet.

Cat Bay
There have been a few gummy sharks caught around the Cat Bay area this week with good numbers of smaller fish taken in numbers. Cranbourne angler Paul Hobb found a nice fish estimated at 13kg. Best baits have been cured eel, squid and salted tuna fillet fished along the drop offs.

Corinella
Plenty of small gummies are being caught around the Corinella area with fish up to 6kg being reported. Best baits have been squid, fresh salmon fillets, and salted tuna fillet. Nearby at Grantville, land-based anglers have been taking quite a few elephant sharks which is a bit unusual for this time of year as it is believed that they disappear after spawning, but as we all know fish quite often break the “rules” and do something different.

Stockyard Point
A few anglers over the past week have been venturing down to Stockyard Point in search of elephants and gummy sharks. The elephants have slowed down a bit as they end their spawning run, but a few good fish to about 4kgs have been caught on pilchards and squid. Some smaller gummies around the 3kg-4kg mark are also being caught on the low tide.

Warneet
Warneet has fished well this week for both the land-based anglers and the boaters. Off the pier there are plenty of mullet and small salmon around if you want to take the family down for a fish. With the amount of small fish around it wouldn’t be surprising if a couple of mulloway are taken, and the best way to target these fish is with live bait. There are still some good whiting to be caught around the channel out from Warneet and the Tooradin Channel. Best baits have been squid, pipi and mussels.

Middle Spit
The Middle Spit has been one of the hot spots with plenty of good fish on offer for the dedicated angler. Elbow slapping whiting to 45cm are being caught with plenty of smaller school sized fish to 35cm in numbers. Fishing on the edge of the spit in depths from 4m-6m of water is a good place to start with pipi or squid strips as bait.

Land-Based Gummy
The land-based brigade, which consists of staff member Mark, and mates Brad, Clint and Ash decided to have an all-nighter last Saturday on the beach at Somers. After Brad’s first cast his reel screamed off and a 12.5kg gummy shark was brought to shore. The fish was caught on a mullet fillet and was released again to fight another day. Good job Brad, great fish.

Rhyll Phillip Island Angling Club Competition Results 5 & 6 May
Over the weekend, the club held their 8th competition for the season. There was a total of 27 fish and 1 gummy shark weighed-in. Congratulations to all who participated. The species included were: salmon, flathead, mullet, whiting, trevally, tailor and pike.
Winners: The Heaviest Weight Male was won by John Patterson with a flathead of 1045g.
The Heaviest Weight Female was won by Jennifer Blakeney with a pike of 465g. Senior Male Points was won by John Patterson with a whiting of 560g. Senior Female Points was won by Jennifer Blakeney with a mullet of 320g. The Junior Heaviest Mixed Bag was won by James Page with 9 species weighing 2530g. Our Senior Shark was won by Gavin Preston with a gummy weighing 2775g.

Our next competition will be held on the 2 & 3 of June which will be the final competition of the season so go out and give it your all and good luck. If you have any queries, or would like to join please contact President Ken Ramsay on 5956 9096, or call into the Clubrooms at Rhyll on a Friday evening from 5.30pm onwards.

San Remo
Craig Edmonds at Jim's Bait and Tackle says that with the amount of enquiries he has had over the last couple of weeks in regard to salmon its obvious there are plenty of surf rods being dusted off. The wet weather gear is also being dragged out of the cupboards in anticipation of the arrival of the winter schools of torpedo fish, and if this continues we are in for a great season.

Craig says that of all the gear, surf reels suffer the most with wear and tear being on the beach, and a lot of the time wind has the sand finding its way into most parts, and without the correct maintenance they will wear out very quickly. Now is a good time to pull off the side covers, give it a clean out and re-lube it ready to go, just remember not to over grease these reels as it only attracts sand and will do more damage than good. If you need any help with servicing your reels, call in and see Craig and he will be only too happy to help.

Salmon have been in good numbers and size from most of the major beaches this week again, with early morning by far the best for the bigger fish. Woolamai at the surf club and Cat Bay have produced the greater number of salmon with Cemetery at Kilcunda and Baxter’s also well worth a try.

The bigger salmon have come from those fishing with larger baits like whole bluebait and whole baby squid on ganged hooks, the other bait working very well at the moment is whole pilchard and there are some good size Port Phillip Bay pilchards around at the moment that are not too big for whole baits. The back beach at San Remo was the place to be over the weekend with a school of salmon paying a visit, and the few who were fishing there bagged as many as they wanted. There have also been reports of trevally and whiting from the rocks at Kitty Miller Bay over the weekend.

Elephants are starting to slow considerably, and there have been only a few reports this week from the Corals area, as well as a couple from Rhyll and Cowes Pier at night. Whiting however are still on the go and most fishermen are able to get a reasonable bags from above and below the bridge. Flathead, offshore salmon, trevally and pike from in the bay make up the rest of the boating reports this week.

Inverloch
Land-based fishermen have been superseding the boaters to a large extent where they have been taking quite good numbers of whiting, silvers and salmon in the vicinity of the bathing boxes. The royals have been to the 36cm mark which makes them well worthwhile, and obviously no measuring is required and the salmon are to 600g which makes them great on the table, but of course they must be bled for best results.

Jesse Parkley from Healsville is a regular visitor to the area and decided to try his luck from the jetty, but could only manage one salmon around 400g, along with a few smaller ones that he returned to the water. He isn’t complaining though as he has had quite a few trips that have been very productive, and no doubt will be making a return trip to once again have a go. Even though the weather has been a bit on the cold side there are those keen anglers who have been taking quite good size whiting near the snags when the flow has not been too fast on Bass yabbies. Stevie's Gutter is still fairly productive with whiting and in the vicinity of Maher’s Landing silvers, whiting and the occasional gummy are being taken at low water on both sides of the tide.

Healsville angler Jesse Parkley at the Inverloch Jetty just after catching a salmon.

Shallow Inlet
The local eyes and ears in this part of the world, Ray Mountain, says that the whiting are still being taken in good numbers to the 38cm mark mainly on Bass yabbies, pilchards and squid. Quite good numbers of silvers and salmon have arrived and should stick around over the colder months. Last week there were reports of salmon in good numbers turning up and taking lures, but the news is even better with the torpedo fish population exploding, where they are virtually taking over, being to the 1kg mark and even better on occasions.
They are spread out throughout the inlet and are taking just about anything that is thrown into the water on both sides of the tide. Mullet are also in good numbers along with silvers and it would be f air to say that a visit to the area would be well worthwhile.

Port Welshpool
Reports from this part of the world indicate that the water temperature has plummeted and there has not been a great deal of activity from inside the inlet. Outside anglers have been faring a little better with salmon being taken in reasonable numbers on lures, along with the occasional snapper, gummy shark and flathead, but it would be fair to say that there can be quite a wait between bites.

Mallacoota
Last week Paul Worsteling headed to East Gippsland with gun fisherman and good mate “Bushy”. The boys fished at Mallacoota with the IFISH Tackleworld film crew. The main targets were big black beam and they bagged some thumpers. Throughout the day they managed to land about 30 bream, both black and yellowfin, with the biggest weighing over 1.3kg along with some very impressive flathead and tailor.

They were out trying Bushy’s new prototype lure, called a Good Vibe metal lure, which will be out in the shops very soon. The crew fished in the middle of the bottom lake around no structure or snags and found the fish on the depth sounder. The technique was to hop the good vibe along the bottom until it got slammed by a hungry bream. Paul, said it was amazing fishing and can’t wait for the lures to hit the stores. They also fished Tamboon Inlet and got good captures of big bream, flatties and tailor, all on the Good Vibes, and Bushy’s Stiff Minnows and Squidgy soft plastics.

Surf
Further to Craig Edmond’s report, the salmon have started to fire and have arrived in larger numbers this week with quality fish to 2.5kg being caught from Kilcunda right through to Venus Bay. Most of the salmon are from 800g-1.5kg, with the odd bigger fish mixed in with the school. Best baits have been whitebait, bluebait and squid. Blue and red surf poppers are also a must when surf fishing.

As has been the case for the past few weeks the salmon have been taken in good numbers off Woolamai Beach in the vicinity of the Anzacs, on the last half of the run-in tide and first of the run-out flow. The torpedo fish have been mainly around the 700g mark where whitebait has been producing best results.

Venus Bay has seen beaches 3, 4 and five probably the best locations to wet a line, with salmon to 1.5kg being taken on a regular basis. Surf poppers, squid and whitebait have been most successful, and every so often a gummy shark will make an appearance.

Tarwin River
There seems to be very good numbers of silvers being taken on Bass yabbies on the last half of the run-out tide. There have also been quite a few perch being bagged but it would be fair to say there is a fair bit of water mixed in with these fish. Mullet are also in good numbers but not huge with the best being to the 34cm mark.

Eildon
Plenty of reports have been coming from Eildon this week with quality trout to 6lb being caught on trolled Tassie Devils and casting hard-bodied lures to the trees and structure.
Customer Wayne Clark fished the main arm at the Eildon Weir and landed 6 beautiful trout with the best rainbow going 49cm and the best brown going 40cm. All fish were caught on Tassie Devils.

Blue Rock Dam
Blue Rock has started to fire up with some nice trout to about 3lb being taken around the margins of the lake. Some solid redfin have been caught around the sunken timber and trees when bobbing freshwater yabbies or scrubworms straight up and down.

Bermagui
Over the last couple of days the fishing at Bermi has been really good with plenty of boats smacking the yellowfin. What they lack in size they certainly make up in numbers with heaps of fish up to the 17kg mark. From what we have heard 80% of the fish are falling victim to one lure, the Halco King Brown Laser Pro. Staff member of Paul Worsteling, Aaron, is there at the moment and he boated his first tuna that was about 15kg on what else but a Halco King Brown Laser Pro. The crew has also caught some albacore and heaps of stripeys ranging from 2kg-3kg.

Tip of the Week
When surf fishing it is vitally important not to let your reel fall into the water as this can quickly rust out the working components. If this does happen, then as soon as possible after the trip strip down the reel and lubricate everything thoroughly. Of course all gear should be sponged down with freshwater after each outing anyway.

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

Good Luck and TIGHTLINES.