Phillip Island

Finally we’ll see more consistent fishing ahead

PHILLIP ISLAND

Craig

Edmonds Another 12 months have passed, a season has come and gone and a new one is about to start. The wind has blown over Westernport Bay in every direction possible, and even two at the same time. The four seasons in one day have come and gone many times over.

The one consistent thing throughout this year has been the fishing. Not we were excited for those living in Metro Melbourne, who for the first time were able to travel to the island for the summer and a lot were finally able to fish. In contrast, this year the lure to Westernport Bay has been year-round, with the tuna catches growing from a schoolie to a barrel. Not just one, not two but numerous large catches of tuna, with the majority over 80kg and all within a stone’s throw of our little island’s shoreline. It was truly wonderful to see the ways, and detoured in the shop from just buying hooks and sinkers to looking at lures and different skirts, and changing their fishing styles.

Another strong season for the whiting this year began during winter with those large winter whiting we expected to see. This trend did continue well into spring as the water took a very long time to come up to temperature, as the consistency of hot days to cold/rainy ones was almost non-existent.

Liam was stoked with this solid snapper.

every single trip, but the majority of anglers are finding fish all year round. The major contributors to peoples’ bags this year have been the tuna and the King George whiting. This year has definitely been one to remember, with both size and bag quantities.

This time last year joy in anglers’ faces again after it had been depleted for so long. Everyone had a real passion for fishing again, and those who weren’t normally excited or passionate about bigger gamefish all of sudden wanted to learn. People started looking at their fishing gear in different Once the water did warm up, the whiting began to drop off a bit and the average 40-50cm ones we were getting did begin to dwindle. Still, anglers are catching the odd decent sized one, mostly early in the morning and before the sun rises and the heat starts to be felt. The variety of There have been some quality snapper being caught lately.

fish caught has been good, with the majority of fishers finding a mixed bag instead of the odd toadfish.

Calamari fishing started off worse that we can remember; reports were very slow through August/ September. Even once reports started coming in it was anything but normal, with most of the calamari well over 1kg and many closer to 3kg. The usual mixed sizes just didn’t happen, and at one stage we didn’t get a report off San Remo jetty for almost a month. The best reports were coming from 40m of water offshore.

Thankfully, things have normalized a bit, and reports are now regular with good numbers and mixed sizes the norm. The jetties are a little slow still, but the beaches at Ventnor and Cleeland Bight are reasonably consistent, and anglers in boats and kayaks are having no trouble finding them.

Land-based fishing has been equal with catches when it comes to those fishing from the boats. The fish being caught out in the bay are showing up around the jetties. There have been some decent 6kg snapper off of the jetty, and the squid have been bigger and more consistent lately. Not everyone owns a boat, so it has been nice to see that those fishing from the jetty, rocks and beaches have been rewarded with some decent fish. Back in Spring there were some really nice-sized flathead coming from Rhyll jetty during the day, with a lot of smaller just legal ones in between.

Overall, a lot can be said about the health of Westernport Bay, Bass Strait and the fish in. It has been top notch this year. The fish being caught have been all round in good numbers, the size of the fish have been bigger, and the condition of the fish has been exceptional. We have even been having a lot of new species of fish or variations of fish showing up that we have never seen before. Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come in 2023.

If you are heading down our way over the school holidays or during the summer period, drop in and say hi and come check out our new store. Let us know you are reading the reports and keep an eye on our Facebook page for competitions and specials that we will have over that period. If you are new to the area, we have plenty of information sheets that will help you find a few fish while you are here.

From page 88 to see the local landbased legends catching quality size fish, often with quite basic gear but lots of willpower and determination. The variety of gear used is fascinating. For me, I like to stick with a 9ft, 6-10kg rod when using bait, and a 7ft, 2-5kg rod when flicking lures and soft plastics from the banks.

The next month will continue to fish well for land-based anglers, and we will also see the pinkies and flathead come on strong as the water temperature rises. All in all, it’s a great time for land-based fishing and to get your kids out fishing with you.

All the boats are certainly out and about now. I have had multiple sessions fishing areas such as P2 and Black Rock where boats were packed in their hundreds. All the boats are congregate here because they are known snapper grounds which fish well at this time of year. Don’t be afraid to find your own grounds away from the crowd; it’s rewarding and also less frustrating. It may mean spending a bit more time covering ground and staring at the sounder, but it’s awesome when you find a good patch of fish to yourself.

As I write this we are finding that the majority of catches are still happening towards the more shallow side. As the water temp rises the fish will start to head deeper, and areas surrounding the fishing channels will start to fish well.

All in all, it’s an exciting time so get in the action. Stay safe on the water, and I hope you catch plenty of good ones!

Until next time, good Nights are also fishing well. fishing everyone. Feel free to contact me at alan@fishingmad.com. au to share your fishing experiences, photos and catches around Melbourne, Port Phillip Bay and beyond, which we can feature in next month’s article. 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), Facebook (facebook. com/fishingmad. com.au), Instagram (www.instagram.com/ fishingmad.com.au) and on Channel 31 on Tuesday evenings at 9:30pm, and Saturday afternoons.

Adrenalin-pumping action

A happy New Year ahead

LAKES ENTRANCE Steven Pryke

The warm summer days are finally here, and Gippsland, like many places, is in need of some sun to help dry everything out. After all the recent rains, a lot of the waterways are still running dirty but they have begun to improve.

LAKES ENTRANCE

With the wet winter blues behind us and the water quality improving, anglers have got plenty of options to explore.

King George whiting are a species that Lakes Entrance has become known for over recent years, and this location continues to produce. More recently, larger whiting have been a little harder to locate, but the mid-35cm fish have been relatively easy to locate around the many weed beds scattered around Rigby and Fraser Island.

Recently a big key to good success is to work the run-in tide. The dirty water flowing down the lakes has affected the bite so making the most of the clear high tide has been working the best. Good tidal flow matched to a strong berley trail has been recipe for success. Add some fresh mussel and pipi and you’ve put everything you can in your favour for success.

Australian salmon continue to be thick throughout the lower lakes, making for some great fun for anglers, especially when they eagerly climb all over your lure and smash it. Areas such as North Arm bridge and Nungurner have been very popular, with large schools of salmon frequenting these areas. Whitebait pattern soft plastics have been the go, with Gulp Minnows, Squidgy Flickbait being deadly offerings.

Our local surf beaches have begun to get very busy. The big game shark season is here, and it’s common to see anglers waiting on the beach with 50 and 80 wide game reels in search of big sharks. Bronze whalers are a common catch with these anglers, but each year other species like hammerheads and the odd white shark make an unexpected appearance. This is typical of game fishing – hours of boredom then minutes of shear panic and adrenalinpumping action. LAKE TYERS

The lake has risen rapidly due to recent rains, and has been on the edge of opening recently. It won’t be long until Lake Tyers will be open to the sea once more.

The bream fishing in the lake has been very consistent this year. With a slightly warmer winter we didn’t see the monster schools of bream in the deep as much as we would have expected. Instead we saw large schools on the flats where they’ve been eager to climb over a well worked hardbody lure twitched across the flats. Lures such as the Atomic Shiner and Daiwa Double Clutch have been solid producers.

These same lures have held their own lately on the estuary perch, with anglers having good success fishing the many snags and log piles throughout the system. Perch were once a fish you rarely heard about in the lake, but after Fisheries stocking they’ve begun to make the presence known. HAVE YOU

BEEN FISHING?

If you have been out for fish lately and have a great pic please send to stevenprykefishing@ gmail.com with short description and you could be featured in the edition of Fishing Monthly.The author’s first bronzie for the season – definitely a great way to kick it off.

GIPPSLAND LAKES Brett Geddes

b.geddes@bigpond.com Merry Christmas everyone and a fishy New Year. Thanks to all the readers making contact with me and sharing reports and pics. I really appreciate and enjoy it.

Since I last reported in we’ve had a lot more rain, and sadly I think Gippsland has nearly caught up with the northern Victoria floods. So once again we’ve had some very testing times, but keen anglers always find a way to beat the odds. Let’s hope all the rains are behind us, and now delve into where the best options are for the holidays.

MITCHELL RIVER

The beauty of this river is that it clears quickly and is accessible for land-based anglers for the entire section from Bairnsdale to the river mouth. The lower reaches of the Mitchell River along the silt jetties to the mouth has been holding good numbers of bream from 30-38cm. Often the sounder fills with schooling bream, and the odd big fish will fall to a bait or lure, but most of us are finding them a real challenge to catch. The best lures in this area at the moment are black blades and soft plastic grubs, both worked extra slow with long pauses.

Bait anglers have been doing quite well with frozen prawn and shrimp, and these baits will be your best options during the holidays. Concentrate in the area downstream of Two Bells near the bends of the river where the water has a few deeper holes.

In town around the highway bridges you may find a massive school of little estuary perch that have been in the area for months now. They move around from the butter factory jetty up towards the mouth of Clifton Creek. If they bite freely you could get a fish with every cast on small blades or 2” soft plastic grubs. They are in water around 3-4m, so use heavier jigheads and long casts out into the middle of the river. Every now and then a big bream may surprise you so I suggest you still use 8lb leaders or better.

PAYNESVILLE AND

METUNG JETTIES

Local anglers have caught some terrific bream in these parts for a while now, and these areas are must-fish spots for your holiday visit. One hotspot is Lake Victoria and Duck Arm, where impressive bream (mostly from 35-46cm) are close to the jetty pylons and even the shallow areas.

This year some thumping dusky flathead have returned to these lake areas that have been missing over the last few years. Once again Justin and Brayden Kohte have found the biggest flatties, mostly 50-80cm, and in good numbers. No wonder I call them the B-Double brothers, because they always pull trucks! They mainly use soft plastics and also Cranka Crabs.

The structure at Paynesville and Raymond Island is also worth a try, especially in 2m or more. Quite often the bream will sit right up under the boat hulls so it pays to run a floating hardbody or a lightly weighted soft plastic along the side of moored boats. In the deeper areas I jig blades and soft plastics right next to the pylons while walking the jetties.

Newlands Arm is holding fair numbers of bream, and yellow-eye mullet will be there too, but they may be patchy. It’s best to use sandworm to chase them.

SPAWNING BREAM

As we all know, it’s been the wettest three years in Gippsland on record, Nikki Bryant with a cracking Gippy Lakes bream caught on her favourite Hurricane Sprat 85 soft plastic.

Solid luderick have been starting to reappear. This one was taken on fly.

This big 46cm truck Gippy bream took a liking to a little 2” grub in the snags.