This Weeks Fishing Report

The squid fishing around both bays has been pretty good amongst the slightly average weather conditions and inconsistent water clarity. Many anglers have been out stocking up for the up coming snapper season – and now is the time to be doing this sort of bait prep!

Over in Western Port, customer Brad has been doing well on the squid. Brad has been spending his time fishing along Tyabb and Quail banks where he has been collecting some nice sized squid. Brad has been finding natural green tones with some added UV to be the best perfromers lately.

The Mornington region of Port Phillip has been good for squid recently. Fishing either slightly north or south around the shallow weed beds and rocks in water up to 7m deep has been where most of the action has been. James from Unreel Fishing Charters has been out topping up snapper baits and including a few calamari for a fresh meal here and there. James has found that natural red foiled jigs including shrimp patterns have been the best performers.

Staff member Don has also been fishing the region around Mornington to land some squid. Don has been working the pier and rocks around the area, and has found that again red foil jigs have been the most effective especially when fished late into the afternoon.

Down around the southern end of the Bay, customer Tas has been catching some solid squid out around Blairgowrie and Rye. Tas has been finding the better ground between 5m and 8m deep. The most effective jigs have been the Flashboost models in UV white and Avocado.

Customer Rez has been catching some nice squid, along with cuttlefish while fishing from Portsea. Rez has been fishing the pier at Portsea and has been finding his best jigs have been size 3.0 Yamashita in ‘fire tiger’ patterns.

The garfish have been pretty good along the Eastern side of the bay, right down into the peninsula. The hot areas have been Beaumaris, Mordialloc, Frankston and Mornington – but they have also been caught from Rye and Blairgowrie. Fishing maggots and silverfish in small pieces under a finely tuned float has been a great way to score some, but don’t forget the berley!

Jarrod from head office got amongst the garfish during the week and ended up with a nice bag of tasty fish. Jarrod found that two different mixtures of berley worked best, which is normally the case. A wet mix added to fine powder style dry berley is generally the best for deploying into the fish – and the best for keeping the fish around without giving them anything to eat. Jarrod found that maggots and large silverfish were the best two baits.

Staff members John and Don have been out catching some garfish recently. Both of the guys have been fishing different areas with slightly different methods but they have both caught good numbers of fish. The one thing that remains the same is that the finesse involved in making sure that your float is precisely and correctly ballasted. Changing bait depth is also something that the guys have had to do, as the fish move up and down the water column with the wind and berley. Both Black Rock and Frankston have been worth a fish for Don and John.

The trout fishing has still been good locally, with many suburban lakes stocked with rainbows just recently. Devilbend reservoir has been producing a few of the smaller trout that are currently ravenous and eating most lure styles. Many of the other locally stocked lakes have also been producing fish on a variety of methods including both lures and bait.

Customer John returned from New Zealand recently where he had a blast fishing for trout and salmon. John fished with his dad and good mate targeting the larger fish moving up the canals. Some of the larger fish that were seen were 20lb+ but with limited flow and crystal clear water, they didn’t want to play ball.

Even amongst this, some large trout and salmon were caught. A mixture of techniques worked well, with fly and lure being about a 50/50 split. One of the most effective methods was fishing lightly weighted baitfish profiled soft plastics around the edges. Small paddle tails in neutral colours were the most productive in the clear water.

These same methods work well throughout the western lakes like Purrumbete and Bullen Merri, which are fishing well at the moment. Casting small finesse smelt style plastics around the weed pockets and edges is a great way to snare a few trout and salmon in these lakes.

Customer Ismail fished Karkarook Lake just recently where he caught a few fish on powerbait. Ismail found a fine grit pellet berley trail got the fish going, and once they were confined to the trail they were easy pickings. A mixture of colours of powerbait worked well, especially when fished on a small fine gauge fly style hook. Light hooks and light leader are critical here as they help the bait float up and also provide minimal resistance when the fish are mouthing the bait.

Trout season for the local rivers is getting towards the pointy end – and the fishing has been excellent. With plenty of rain this Autumn the rivers are running at great levels and the fish have been active. The Eildon region has been hard to beat, with the Goulburn and joining rivers fishing productively.

Customer Angelo fished the Goulburn with mate Tony just recently. The boys fished the river below Thornton where they landed a couple of fish. Fishing powerbait on small spring hooks in conjunction with a pellet mix berley was the key to catching.

Customer David went for a fish up around the Eildon region last week and jumped in one of the rivers to spin for trout. David waded the section of the Acheron river around Buxton where he caught a few trout. David caught both brown and rainbow trout on small sinking hardbodies, with a surprize capture of a tiger trout included in the mix also.

While not normally an intended target in Port Phillip during Winter – there have been some nice snapper being caught in the bay. If you’re after a snapper during a break in the weather – fishing landbased from Mordialloc north has been worth a stop in. Fishing from the boat, out wide from Mornington and Mt Martha is the area to try from.

Customer Hai and mate fished from the shore up near Sandringham during the last bout of rough weather. Fishing from the rocks and using surf gear, the boys caught a couple of solid snapper. The late night tide change was when the fish came on, and the best bait was freshly caught squid.

Customer Pete fished a mate out on the mud off Mornington recently. The boys fished in 20m and spent quite some time sounding before they marked some nice fish. All fish were caught on silver whiting fished on both snelled and paternoster rigs.

Customer Steven fished landbased from the rocks up around Port Melbourne where he has been catching some solid pinkies and school snapper, along with good table sized flathead. Steve has been fishing light surf gear and baits of pilchard and squid for best results.

The run of barrel tuna continues out in the states’ West, crossing over into SA. The more productive area has been Port MacDonnell, but as the fish have been pushing East there has been a number of big fish caught out from Cape Nelson and Bridgewater from Portland. Fishing both larger skirts in the 10 inch size has been great, and livebaits such as yakka and redbait have been excellent when they can be located.

Customer Dave fished out from Port Mac over the weekend with mate Gawaine. The boys managed to find some baitballs East of the harbour. Fishing baits around the baitballs resulted in a solid fish straight off the bat for the boys, which was subdued on medium spin tackle.

Customer Jayden fished out from Port Mac late last week and found some good action. Using some freshly set up talica 25’s, Jayden picked up a solid fish from the first patch of bait that he came across.

Staff member Dylan fished out from the same area on Sunday and found very little bait, with most being krill schools. More promising grounds looked to be West of Port Mac along the 40 – 60m line, with school tuna taking a liking to small skirts in UV blue/purple and redbait patterned hardbodies.

Customers Mario, Vitally and Richard all fished out from Port Mac earlier in the week in search of barrels. The boys spent a bit of time searching for bait and when they did they concentrated their efforts around it. Two solid were landed over the trip, weighing 80kg and 124kg respectively. Most of the fish have been found out between the 40 – 60m line, and this has also been where a lot of he bait has been.

As we approach the end of Autumn the Murray cod fishing has started to improve, especially if you’re after a larger fish in any of the impoundments or the Murray river. Once previously thought of more a summer target species, Murray cod can be successfully caught on bait and lure year round – provided your fishing outside of closed season locations such as Eildon.

Customer Michael fishes the Eildon region and in particular the pondage a bit, and he was shocked during the most recent trout trip. Michael was fishing the upper pondage in search of trout with a larger spoon style lure – as he does. To his amazement a solid cod came out of the depths and followed his lure in, and the very next cast the lure was engulfed by the same fish. Michael managed to subdue the fish on his lighter trout gear, to get a decent photo and quickly return the fish to the shallows. Next time you’re around the pondage it could be worth casting a larger lure  – hopefully prompt a larger cod!

Customer Hudson fished Lake Eildon recently, where he had a great session on the cod. Hudson landed a ripper fish of 99cm, which may as well be the magic metre mark! Hudson was fishing the edges of a shallow bay with some dispersed light timber and grass, which is an ideal hunting ground for a cod looking to pick off some roach, redfin or carp fry. As we get into the cooler months of the year, the cod will actively look to ‘stock up’ on larger feed to put on condition prior to later spawning movements – so large lure options can successfully be used to trigger them.

Customer Mark has been on fire recently, and his latest trip on the cod was another success. Mark fished the Murray last week and upgraded his personal best cod to 104cm. Mark caught his fish on a surface crawler, which has recently been retired to the hall of fame. Mark did well in getting the fish out from under and amongst a series of sticks and logs that it had wrapped itself around also.

With the noticeable change of seasons here in Melbourne, some anglers have turned their attention towards chasing the silver ghost, or mulloway in the local rivers and estuaries. The start of Autumn normally brings with it some rain, and this influx of freshwater is ideal when chasing mulloway. The mix of fresh water also condenses the bait which can really help in turning the mulloway into feeding mode.

The hot areas to be starting your search in are the Maribyrnong and Patterson Rivers, especially after large rain events. Being able to collect live baits of mullet or salmon is a fairly important step in mulloway success, but freshly caught calamari can also be used.

Customers Jared and Brent got into the mulloway while fishing the Maribyrnong River last week. The boys were fishing the lower section of the river, and they landed the fish on the high tide change. Live mullet was the bait of choice.