Rod Shepherd Profile

South West Victoria

With Rod Shepherd

12 May 2008

Well, it's good to be back amongst the familiar surrounds of home after spending a week at the Bemm. Sooo… when’s then next trip?  Only kidding. Better stay home for a few weeks and build up the browny points first.

Now, all seriousness aside! Yes, the fishing was tough and most bream were caught at first and last light or at night (my favourite time to fish). Very hard fishing during the day. Fishing the lake’s fringes in very shallow water worked well at these times. I managed 20 bream to 1.6 kilos on plastics and minnow lures (Rapala floating 50mm) coated in Fool A Fish.  16 were tagged and released. The mouth is closed but Sydenham Inlet is slowly filling so a bit more rain and the mouth will eventually open and the fishing will probably become more predictable and conducive.

The author holding two big, blue-nosed Bemm River bream prior to release. Both over the 1.5 kilo mark. Fish on left is a yellowfin whilst the right is a Southern Black.

I spent one afternoon over at Tamboon Inlet where the bream went mad from the first cast of a plastic, which was exciting to say the least, but most fish were a tad on the small side but that’s got to be better than no hits at all!

Get this; Tamboon Inlet lies barely 30km east of Sydenham Inlet as the crow flies, but after driving back out onto Highway One, then onto Cann River and then turning off and travelling down a windy road, that’s mostly dirt, its 95km one way.

Thinking of going there one day for a few days fishing? There’s no power and besides pit toilets, you have to bring in everything including ice and water. There are no showers in the area, so emphasize that if you are thinking of bringing your partner of the feminine gender; but the fishing is meant to be fantastic and for one afternoon, it was for me, even if they were mostly small.

I met one duo of anglers camping at Tamboon Inlet who were trolling up solid tailor to 2 kilos out of canoes, and then smoking the fillets back at camp, which smelled absolutely delicious.
 
According to a few anglers, the winter run of sea garfish have started in earnest along the southwest coastline. A run in tide and calm seas make for excellent garfishing. The use of berley is a must if you want to attract and hold a school at your feet. Bran and breadcrumbs dampened down with tuna oil dispersed from a floating berley bucket is one surefire method of attracting a school. Fish to 40cm have been caught along the coastline in recent times. They are excellent fresh bait for larger species but I feel this is a waste as they are definitely in my all time top five eating fish.

After cleaning, remove the head and tail; place belly (open cavity) side down on a chopping board and gently roll with a rolling pin. This not only butterflies the fillets but also makes it easy to remove the backbone. Roll in seasoned flour then shallow fry for about two minutes. Delicious.

Garfish can be caught off any low lying rocky ledge that has a gutter alongside with reasonably deep water. I stress again, the seas have to be dead calm. Jetties and piers make for good fishing platforms. The lower deck at the Port Campbell Jetty and at Warrnambool on the breakwater make excellent spots to chase garfish.
A bream/trout rod about 2.1 to 2.4 in length with the reel spooled with light line is all you need. A small adjustable pencil float sitting above a long shanked hook that is around a size 6 to 8 weighted down with a single split shot is best. Baits such as peeled prawn pieces, bread dough and sand fleas found under rotting kelp all make excellent baits. It pays to throw out a few pieces of the bait you are using from time to time so your offering doesn’t stand out on it’s own.
 
Access to Gibson’s Steps between Princetown and Port Campbell remains closed due to their apparent decline in recent times. More like neglect if you ask me. This is a top fishing spot for salmon, snapper and gummy shark. It is also one of the very few places accessible to land-based anglers in the Marine Park that stretches east from Port Campbell to Moonlight Head. If you do not want to lose this precious and productive spot forever, email Parks Victoria and complain because I can tell you, if not enough of us kick up some sort of stink, they will close the steps down for good as certain persons in the department see them as a possible public liability situation; and we all know that Parks Victoria is full of greenies who would like nothing better than to ban fishing in ALL national and state parks. These are the intelligent beings that wanted to poison streams in the north east to remove all introduced trout using a lethal pesticide called rotenone. Rotenone is a lethal, non discriminatory poison as it kills everything.
 
Some good schools of salmon are on the chew along our coastline at present. A rising tide and a good gutter close to shore would be a prime spot to wet a line. Some of the fish are weighing in close to 2 kilograms, which is good angling fun in my books.  Salmon are an excellent pelagic sports fish available to nearly every angler, but not so palatable on the table though some would disagree. Remember to limit your take home catch, not catch your limit. I have little else to tell you at present as the local fishing has been somewhat quiet in recent days...

Until next time, stay safe on the water,
Rod Shepherd.

See previous Shepherd report here.