Staff member Dylan has been doing some fishing along the NSW coast, with plenty of Sand Whiting, Bream and Flathead on topwater lures along shallow sandflats in the estuaries.
Along the same stretch of coastline, Staff member Chris has been doing some inshore fishing when the weather plays nice, with Snapper, Pearl Perch and Teraglin being the most prolific species being caught. Having lucanus-style jigs out while bottom bouncing is a very effective way to catch these reef species.
Mark went down to Phillip Island to have a look around the piers, and ended up staying at Newhaven pier to catch the Barracouta that have been around. Using vibes and heavily weighted soft plastics, Mark caught Barracouta up to 80cm long.
Mick has been fishing Frankston Pier during the week, catching plenty of Salmon on whitebait. He has noticed the fish moving around the sand ridges on the incoming tide.
Sop has been catching some nice size whiting off Stony Point pier, using pilchard fillets. Later in the afternoon has been the best time, especially with an incoming tide.
Reginald has been catching Mullet in Patterson River, down towards the entrance. Dough baits on size 16 ST-36 trebles are the way to go, with plenty of fine-grit berley a must.
Snapper Reports have started flowing through, with plenty of school sized fish around. Mohammed has been catching fish from 800g through to 3kg on half pilchard around first light off Ricketts Point.
Customer Ahmad has been fishing around Ricketts Point, and has landed Snapper to 5kg in 12m of water.
Some Snapper have starting pushing further up Westernport as well, with customer Peter landing 2 nice fish of 3.5 and 4.3kg, fishing the outgoing tide close to Crawfish Rock. Fresh Squid was the only bait to work.
The Corinella to Stockyard Point region is becoming a popular early season location and has produced plenty of Snapper over the last few weeks, with the average sized fish being about 2kg, but quite a few 5kg+ fish are coming in from this area. Fresh Squid tends to be the better bait through here, and also has the chance of tempting the Mulloway and Gummies that cruise this area.
Loc and his son have caught plenty of Snapper already in the deep water off Cowes. Silver Whiting and Squid have produced Snapper to 3.2kg in 26m of water.
Staff member Dylan fished the Goulburn River just recently, and with the rivers running quite hard, the lure fishing was a bit difficult, but there were still fish that were lure hungry. In the Alexandra region of the Goulburn, Rapala Maxraps and Strike Pro Flatz Minnows were the best lures to rip through the fast moving water, with Brown Trout to 3lb, and Redfin to 2lb responding well. Smaller crankbaits like SX40’s and Crackjack 48’s along with small mudeye pattern soft plastics proved more effective in the smaller feeder streams further south.
Customer Jacob recently got back into Trout spinning, after noticing the potential of some creeks local to him. Using various styles of lures, Jacob has caught some nice Trout in some very small creeks that many people would walk past, with his most effective lure being a number 1 celta in colour ONV.
The Western Districts lakes are firing again as we speak, with both Bullen Merri and Purrumbete producing some trophy sized Trout. Reports of fish over 6kg have been confirmed; with plenty more around the 2-3kg mark as well. All techniques are working well, with baitfishing from the shoreline, and downrigging the edges being the most popular.
Nick took a drive to Lake Eildon to check out the water level and see if he could find a few Trout. Nick and his mate caught fish working the timbered shorelines of Jew’s Creek, throwing hardbodies like Daiwa Double Clutches and Nories Laydown Minnows in and around the bankside vegetation. They hooked a few monsters that couldn’t be stopped, but landed Trout to 600g.
Jordan has been fishing around Eildon in the pondage and rivers and has caught some nice Trout, mainly using suspending hardbodies and small paddletail soft plastics
Colin fished around Bonnie Doon with some mates recently, mainly targeting the coarse species in Lake Eildon, with good results. Some Lovely Trout made up the bags, along with loads of Roach, Redfin and Carp. The guys normally fish maggot/feeder cage rigs with lots of berley on the coarse species.
The Lake at Eildon has been fishing well over the last month, and some of the fish that are coming out are crackers. Customer Geoff has caught plenty of fish averaging 2-3lb, mainly on flatlined Tassies in darker colours, and also harbodies like Galaxia Minnows run close to the boat.
During the week we received a photo of a fish from a customer that came out of Eildon, and to say it is a nice fish is an understatement. The massive Brown Trout monstered the smaller, Tassie-hooked Rainbow at the boat, and was within reach of the net. Just an example of the calibre of fish that are available at Eildon.