Damien, Eric and Michael did some bait collecting over the Melbourne cup weekend, the fished along hastings and Tortoise Head and managed a good mixed bag of mackerel, whiting, salmon, squid and trevally.
The winning snapper in the Tee Tree completion came from this bay again. A whopping 9.88kg caught by Leigh Johnston. 883 snapper were caught in Westerport Bay during the comp.
Nigel and Tawya caught a nice 4 foot gummy and a 3kg snapper off Rhyll last night on pillies and squid
Customer Paul has been fishing around the Black Rock and Ricketts Point areas after work and has been getting his bag limit most days. His favourite bait was salmon fillet.
George, Hus and Adam fished the Black Rock area on Monday and Tuesday. The fish went nuts both days in 5 – 10 metres of water. A tip when fishing this shallow area is to use as little berley as possible as you want to avoid overfeeding the fish, and as the bottom is quite snaggy no sinker is required.
George also spotted salmon busting up and the best method they found to catch them was to troll a snapper snatcher around them in the anchovy or sunset colour
Recently our Surf fishing trip went down to Venus Bay and fished beach number 1. With 20 customers all eager to learn the ins and outs of beach fishing, and hopefully catch a few Salmon a well. With some nice holes further along the beach, plenty of berley was set out, and the fishing began. Good customer Richard managed a nice handful of fish, and most other customers found a few too. Baits of Pilchard and Bottle Squid were the most successful, and a constant supply of berley was the key. Just remember you're trying to keep the fish around you, not feed them, so the motto with berleying is; A little often, rather than a lot at once.
The local surf beaches are currently fishing well for Salmon, with Gunnamatta and St. Andrews being the beter options, but still good numbers of fish further along the Bass beaches right out to Venus Bay. Leading up to high tide has been the best time to fish, especially with sunrise/sunset coinciding. Most fish on the beaches are averaging out around 800g, but there have been plenty of much larger fish upto 4kg coming in from Gunnamatta. Customer Jai has been fishing towards the outfall pipe at Gunnamatta and has caught some crackers, mainly on baits of Squid and Pilchard. With offshore winds forecast right up until Saturday, no better time to hit the beaches in search of a few Salmon.
Mordialloc pier is still red hot for Australian Salmon at present, with lots of fish feeding amongst the dirty water. These fish are chasing small Whitebait, so lures in the 2-4inch size are perfect. Customer Zoran has been down to the pier over the last few afternoons, and has smashed the Salmon with over 100 fish being caught. The size of the fish has also ranged from 400g through to 1.6kg. Zoran has been getting the Salmon on pilly patterned flickbaits in 70mm.
The Salmon are still going very well in Port Phillip Bay at the moment with Mordialloc pier being popular, especially in an onshore wind. Customer Joel caught fish up to 35cm using the MIH coloured Maria Duplex hardbodies, after seeing a few others catching on the same lure. He also caught 2 Salmon from Beaumaris pier as well.
Customer Zoran has been catching plenty of Salmon out from Mornington and yet again got onto them with a few mates, and mainly getting them on 3'' plastics like Reaction Minnows and Bass Minnows. Late in the day Zoran said the Pinkies started showing up, with fish to 44cm taking the same plastics.
Good customer Bob has also been having fun with the Salmon along the beach at Mt Martha. He has been fishing small pieces of bluebait under a float and as a result catching Salmon up to 900g. Bob also said that some rather large Squid followed his hooked Salmon back in.
Over the last week many more Salmon reports have come through, with a majority of them by landbased anglers fishing the Eastern Seaboard of Port Phillip Bay. Customer Justin has been catching regularly from Mordialloc Pier. Whitebait or Bluebait under an LED float has been his favoured method, with the occasional fish taking a metal lure or soft plastic.
Michael came into the shop over the weekend and reported smaller numbers of Salmon but better size with his largest going 1.2kg, taking on a white/glow GIllies Baitfish lure. He also had gar rods rigged up and managed to catch 9 Garfish on maggots in between catching Salmon.
Customer Justin also gave us the heads up on a large school of Salmon moving between Seaford and Frankston piers. Justin said that the conditions were 'tough' with onshore winds and rain making for a wet but successful session. Justin got over 20 fish between the two piers, with the 70mm Squidgy flickbait in 'new' Pilchard pattern - without the dots. Most of Justin's fish were spitting up small whitebait which is why this soft plastic worked so well.
On the bayside Beaches, the Salmon have been quite good; Gunnamatta Beach is the hot spot at the minute, with most anglers catching here. The fish are averaging about 800g with some larger fish about. Customer Matt was lucky enough to find one of these larger fish, weighing a massive 3.9kg which is very exceptional for here. This thumper took a whole Bluebait wrapped in 'baitsock' to stop smaller fish picking away at it, and also to prevent cast-offs. Customer Alin went and had a spin at Gunnamatta as well, having a quiet session with just 2 smaller fish, both on the Pilchard pattern Maria Duplex. These lures are excellent off the beaches; they are designed to cast well due to heavy weight, and have a tight swimming action at faster speed retrieves and can also be sunk down deeper under the foamy water to where the fish are holding.
Schools of Salmon have been frequenting Beaumaris Bay, and lots of anglers are catching them from Mordialloc Pier. Customer Yassar has also been catching Pinkies up to 1kg and Salmon up to 700g off Mordialloc Pier on salted Pilchards, during a run out tide.
Customers Justin is catching fish averaging 400g during the run in tide, with baits of salted Pilchards and Whitebait working well. For the lure anglers, Sea Rocks in 7g-14g in white and dorado colours are working well.
Customer Jamie sent us a report during the week fishing in close off Black Rock where he got 2 Snapper at 6kg each, both on Black Magic Snatchers in ‘Pinky’
Robert has still been catching Pinkies and Pike while trolling Jackall Tranzams from his kayak. The Mullet and Pilchard Colours have been the best.
Customer David has been catching Flatties up to 55cm along the shores of Brighton and Sandringham lately. David has been catching all the fish on 100mm Wrigglers in lava colour.
Over the last few weeks, anglers have found the Mornington Peninsula has been fishing well with plenty on offer. Water temperatures have dropped a few degrees, with the Snapper bite still good, along with schools of salmon on the bite off Mornington through to Dromana. In close, the Squid and Whiting fishing has still been good also.
Staff member Chris has still been catching Snapper to 3kg in 18m off Mornington, with the majority of the fish taking Silver Whiting baits fished on ‘Citer Skirt’ rigs. Chris also says that there are still large numbers of Garfish and Mackerel around in the deeper water.
Customer Ahmad has also been catching lots of Pinkies, with the larger fish being around the 2kg mark. Ahmad has been fishing just off Schnapper Point.
Customer Cam went out and got on to some nice Salmon off Fisherman’s Beach recently. He found that the smaller metal slugs matched the Whitebait schools that the fish are eating. Customer Damian also fished around the same areas and found that again smaller metal lures, along with small soft plastics in natural or white patterns did the damage. The bigger fish in the schools have been close to 2kg. The boys also caught some nice Flathead up to 45cm in the shallows, on soft plastics.
Pier anglers Mark and Henry have also experienced some Salmon action. While the fish haven’t ventured close to the pier much, the guys were lucky enough on one occasion with schools of fish boiling on the surface just within casting range. Henry caught most of the fish on Bluebait fillets while Mark caught some on Squid strips.
The Squid action has heated up at Mornington, with the small pier fishing well. Lots of locals are doing well on the Squid around last light and then again later during the night. Most of the Squid are being caught on the smallest jigs available, Yamashita Naorys in sizes 1.5 and 1.8, in pinks, reds and gold/brown base colours. Larger jigs will work but when the Squid here are timid the smaller jigs work much better. Staff member Dylan caught a few from the pier during the week, all on the Breaden 2.5 ‘carrot stick’
Customer Laszlo spent a few hours on the pier and caught 5 Squid on the Yamashita Sutte-R in ‘coke bottle’
Customer Ryan has still been catching good Squid from the Rocks around Mt Martha, with the biggest being over a kilogram. Yamashita Live size 3.0’s and Yo-Zuri Ace in 2.5’s have been his best jigs, with blues and oranges working well.
When the conditions are allowing, anglers are venturing out offshore from Westernport chasing the Sharks. February is typically a good month for sharking, as water temperatures are just about perfect, and there are normally large amounts of bait schools around.
Many customers are reporting acres of Salmon, Yakkas and Slimeys, which are all top class baits for many fish, including Sharks. Lots of bait schools are moving about near Stony Point, Tortoise Head and Cowes, along with West Head off Flinders and throughout both entrances.
Good customer Joe and his mates have been hitting these bait schools early on and then fishing some of their deep marks through Western entrance, to catch some quality Gummies. In this deep, tidal water these big Gummies go like rockets, slugging it out against the current; fishing slightly heavier than normal to compensate for larger sinkers is a good option.
If Sharks with teeth are your interest, then offshore is where you should be. Plenty of Makos averaging 25-50kg are around, but there are also more large Sharks around than average. Makos estimated at up to 180kg have been hooked and lost next to the boat by anglers targeting smaller, table-sized Sharks. Earlier this week, we received some photos of a large Bronze Whaler caught by customers out fishing for Makos. The beast was hooked up on a live Slimey, and slugged it out for over 4 hours on 15kg tackle. Eventually beaten and boated, the huge Bronzie was estimated at over 120kg and 7 feet long, and caught out along the 70m line behind Phillip Island.
