Get ready for seasonal changes

PPB WEST

Alan Bonnici

alan@fishingmad.com.au

This is time of year when we start to notice some changes. The water temperature is dipping, and because of that we will see some mixed results. It will also mean our target species will start to change. We’ve had a late run of snapper but will be primarily focusing on species like King George whiting, squid and flathead.

A TRIP TO REMEMBER

I’ve spent countless hours on the water this past summer, and must admit I’ve had a little bit of a snapper and whiting hangover recently. I decided to mix things up and spent a couple of days at Portland chasing tuna. We watched the forecast like hawks leading up to the trip away. I was feeling optimistic during my 5-hour drive from Melbourne to Portland, with low swells and gentle 10 knot northerly followed by a 15 knot northerly predicted. Instead, when I arrived, the forecast had changed to 58 knot northerly and 38°C heat on the first day, followed by a downpour of 14mm on the second day. It couldn’t have been any further from the prediction, and not great for me who still occasionally suffers from sea sickness.

On day one, we started bottom bashing baits with a drift chute in 50m of water. We caught countless sea perch, nannygai and snapper. However, the swell was like a washing machine. Battling sea sickness, we came in close and fished around the harbour, trolling shallowdiving hardbody lures for countless snook, pike and barracuda. It certainly wasn’t what we had planned, but it sure was lots of fun, with double and triple hook-ups.

The following day we woke to torrential rain. It was relentless, and didn’t let up for pretty much our whole time on the water.

At stages we needed the bilge pump on just to drain out the rainwater. We stayed in close near the anchorage. Considering the conditions, we decided it was a morning to ‘go big or go home’. To that end, we trolled a spread of four rods, including two overheads rigged with medium size skirts, and two spin rods rigged with large Rapala X-Raps that dive down to 6m. We trolled them along at a speed of around 13 knots. Thankfully, it wasn’t long until we got our first bit of action – a triple hook-up of bluefin tuna. It was complete chaos. By the time we brought in the fourth rod, one of the tuna had come off, but it still meant we had a double hook-up on the go.

My good mate Russell got to work and, in a few minutes, brought on deck a beautiful 20kg bluefin.

The tuna I had on had other ideas. On its first run it peeled about 300m of line, and caused some very tense moments. After battling it for about 10 minutes, I brought in another beautiful bluefin weighing about 22kg. We were elated and drenched.

We followed the route trial marked on the sounder, trolled the same line and literally a minute later one of the rods was on again. Russ jumped onto the rod with the tuna whilst I brought the others in.

Suddenly, one of the other rods took off, and once again we battled another double hook-up of tuna. It was mental, and yet so satisfying. After 20 minutes of chaos we landed our bag limit of bluefin tuna, drenched in torrential rain. Three of the bluefin were caught on the X-Raps, and one was caught on a skirt. By this stage the swell was already getting up. As we came back into the harbour, we marked up a school of kingfish and decided to stop and throw out some stickbaits. It was a kingfish a cast, but nothing of huge size, with the biggest ones going around 60cm.

What a 48 hours! It was truly punishing in so many ways, and yet so satisfying that we managed to catch a crazy amount of fish on day one, and our target species of bluefin tuna and kingfish on day two, despite battling sea sickness and horrendous weather conditions.

THE MONTH AHEAD

As we move closer towards winter, the bigger model tuna will come in. No doubt I will be catching up with good mate Russell and heading back out to Portland for more tuna and kingfish action. If you’re looking for a change from Port Phillip Bay, I can’t recommend doing this enough.

Locally around Melbourne we should expect to see a late run of snapper. This is because the water temperature will drop back down past 18°C, which is prime snapper temperature. They will be widespread in shallow and out deep before heading back offshore for deeper waters. Bear in mind that you will have to battle the hordes of bait-stealing pinkies, which are ravenous at this time of year. They are in record numbers due to the lack of commercial netting. This big reduction in fishing pressure is fantastic, but it does mean we have a few years ahead of battling these pesky little fish.

Locally our rivers are starting to fish well again. The floods from months ago have settled and we a variety of hardbody lures, mussel vibes and Cranka Crabs, and getting stuck into some beautiful resident bream. These brutes sure do fight hard on light spinning gear, and can be really finicky at times. Fishing like this should continue to be strong this month, so get out there and have some fun.

Until next time, good fishing everyone. Feel free to contact me directly to share your fishing experiences, photos and catches around Melbourne, Port Phillip Bay and beyond which we can feature in next month’s article. You can contact me by email at alan@fishingmad.com.au. Please consider becoming a FishingMad member at www.fishingmad.com. au/member for fishing reports, workshops, podcasts, and exciting monthly giveaways. Also, don’t forget to follow my fishing adventures on the FishingMad YouTube channel www.youtube. com/c/fishingmad and social media on Facebook page www.facebook. com/fishingmad.com. au, Instagram page www. instagram.com/fishingmad. com.au and on Channel 31 Tuesday evenings at 9.00 pm and Saturday afternoons.

Length:／40mm (1-5/8in)

Weight:／5.7g (1/5oz)

Type:／Floating (Fixed weight)

Hook: #10