See Paul's profile here.

31 January 2008

With Paul Pingiaro from:
Mornington Boat Hire, and
Track Air Adventures

I'm off to Flinders Island this week so stay tuned, I should return with pictures of massive gummies and schoolies, flathead with heads the size of shovels and maybe even a tuna or two... So what's getting caught?

Port Phillip
Stand up and be counted. With fish everywhere, and boating becoming more popular every week, it is a joke that those to be are still looking at dredging our wonderful bay. A one billion dollar project that will yeild 2 billion dollars over 30 years is a joke. Is this the real reason that Bracks and Thwaites "Jumped Ship"? I would love to see what return 1 billion dollars spent on the bay would return in 5 years... New ramps, better access, more Fisheries Officers, cleaner streams and creeks. Tourism would go through the roof!!!

If scallop dredging was such a stuff up what on earth do they think this will do? Grow a brain, and Peter Garrett grow some balls and act on what you believe, or are you just a puppet?

Now to the Fishing!!!

They bay is having its first typical season in a long time. The snapper have gone quiet, but they will come back on the bite in the next few weeks. I recently sounded off Mornington and I have never seen so many fish. The schools are massive, but they are breeding, so they are not very interested in food. This will all change soon though as when they stop they will feed like crazy!

There have been some great catches of King George whiting, bag limit catches have been regular. Best baits have been pipis and mussels.

"Cuppie" fished out of Schnapper Point Boat Hire and managed 10 good whiting, garfish and silver trevally, all on mussels.

There are plenty of pinky snapper about the shallow reefs, best times have been early morning and on the tide change. These fish have been up to 4lb so they are great on light gear.

Kingfish are getting caught off Williamstown and Mt Eliza, these fish are up to 8kg and are best caught trawling.

There are large schools of Australian salmon off Mornington and they are feeding in the afternoon, the best method is to trawl with a piece of McDonalds straw and a 4/0 hook.

The garfish are thick off Mornington Pier, the best bait is silverfish, also the odd Kingfish is about as well so try a live gar and hang on!

Schnapper Point Boat Hire (03 5975 5479), reoprts good catches of King George whiting, squid, silver trevally, garfish, flathead, snapper and the occasional gummy shark.

Western Port Bay
Whiting here, there, everywhere. The whiting have been thick in Western Port. Many anglers are getting thier bag without a problem. Mixed in with the whiting are some nice pinkies. The best spots have been the Tyabb Bank and Stony Point.

TrackAir Customers Doug and John fished Western Port last weekend and put in a blinder. Not only did they get thier bag of whiting, but they got some good sized pinkies, a five foot gummy, and then to top it all off they headed offshore and bagged 30 flatties over 40cm and a 5 foot mako. Top effort guys!

For those heading offshore, the makos are in about 70m, the best advice I can give is to keep the berley going and be patient. Maximise your time by doing some bottom bouncing while you wait. Make sure you use a 2 hook dropper rig tied with at least 80lb mono.

Tight Lines and Blue Skies,

Paul

www.fishingmornington.com - Mornington Boat Hire, Bait and Tackle
www.trackairadventures.com -Depart on your ultimate adventure
Mobile: 0417 551 373

See previous Pingiaro report here.