Phillip Island

Prepared for anything

PHILLIP ISLAND

Craig

Edmonds Another season down, and it was a season like no other, with the fishing and weather very different from the year before. Now we get to take a breath before hitting the catalogues over the next few months and stocking up on tackle to do it all over again.

Customers often ask us where the fish are biting. It’s a question we expect, and which we are happy to respond to, but people

We have some customers that are very successful often, and always seem to find fish when others can’t, which tends to frustrate many anglers. These successful anglers use similar gear, the same baits, go out on the same days but fish fewer hours for more reward. While it might seem this happens all the time, they too have days where they can’t find a fish. What they do have on their side is experience, and probably hours and hours more than you have on the water. They have learnt the habits of the fish they are chasing, the best times, best tides, best months, the best places to fish on certain winds or barometer position, and the best rigs. And these guys could probably share all of this with you and you will still not catch as many fish as they do. Perseverance and experience, neither of which you can buy, will lead to more success in the future, so don’t be discouraged. If you don’t think too hard about it, your time will come eventually.

It’s been another season of differences, with kingfish being caught off the Corinella jetty and randomly in the bay. There have been huge schools of salmon and baitfish in the bay, with dozens of reports of tailor being caught amongst the salmon. There are tuna about offshore, and quality kingfish being caught on the deeper reefs as well.

Then there are all the odd species we don’t see too many of caught on rod and reel. Flounder have been in good numbers (a couple even caught on the rod and reel), the very big sea gars were back and even a couple of stargazers caught – and for the second year in a row we have a couple of reports of John Dory being caught offshore.

One thing we have learnt over the 16 years in the shop is that nothing is a surprise anymore. We have had another run of 5kg snapper which happened about five years ago. They turned up late March and are a different fish than we get in November. These are bright silver and have a more slender body; it’s very noticeable when you hold the two types together.

Coming into winter there will some very good fishing on offer. The bay has cooled a lot and the bigger gummies are showing up, with a couple of 10kg ones caught off Elizabeth island and slightly smaller ones towards Gardners Channel. There are some very good flathead around in the bay now and they seem to be getting bigger and bigger each year. Winter time is an excellent time to chase these fish. Try using soft plastics drifting across the corals on the change of tides. This is possible through the winter because of the lack of boats on the water. Try the same thing in Cleeland Bight while you are chasing the bigger calamari.

Another place that’s very successful for flathead with plastics is drifting across the sand bar on the San Remo side of the Bight. It takes a bit of homework to get it right; the tides and weather conditions must be almost perfect. However, the rewards can be well worth it. If you do get it slightly wrong, don’t panic – the tide will come back in and re-float you.

Offshore the flathead have been and will continue to be good in numbers and sizes, and the snapper are out on the deeper reefs as well. Gummies and even a few school shark are starting to show up in the reports from offshore, now that everyone has had enough tuna. Don’t forget to have a couple of lures to chase tuna. The beaches will start to get busier again as people put boats into layup insurance and are looking for something to do on those perfect winter days that are to come. Surf will be number one, followed closely by those chasing calamari for bait for the new season, targeting the back beaches and jetties. Don’t forget about the winter whiting and flathead that can also be caught off the beaches through the winter.

Salmon were big this year. This one went just under 3kg.

forget that fish have tails and swim – so the answer can be different from day to day. True, there are areas that produce better than others, but in Westernport Bay you must be prepared to always have options and try different things a lot of the time because of the weather and the tides. The most successful anglers always go out with several ideas in mind, and are prepared to try them all as needed. Other anglers will either luck out on the spot they chose or go home empty-handed.

We do give out GPS marks and many customers get them from mates, but you should think of marks as a general area and not the exact location of the fish. While the GPS is important in locating areas, your sounder is far more important, not just for locating fish but for locating the best areas the fish might be. and a bigger rod with you just in case those barrels show up early.

Land-based has been a little like the forgotten child this season, because everyone with access to a boat has been heading out Maybe pick a couple of nights over the full moon to do the trip up around Temby or Stockyard Point for a land-based gummy or resident snapper, don’t forget the winter coat as the nights will get a little chilly.

Joel had tried several times for a tuna, and when he finally caught his first, the smile says it all.

Good-size tailor have been a regular catch.