Port Phillip

Getting ready for a great spring season ahead

PORT PHILLIP Gerry Morsman

It’s that time of year again when the majority of all anglers are starting to make their plans for what will hopefully be a very good season of fishing.

The boat covers are starting to come off and dust is being brushed away from all the rods and reels that get left in the shed over winter. It’s just an exciting time of year. The water temps are starting to slowly rise and along with that you will see the increase of captures across most species in the Melbourne area.

GUMMY SHARKS

The southern end of the bay around Rye in the south channel has been a go-to Aaron Habgood from Saltguide with a solid gummy shark off Barwon Heads.

Stuart Thornton out filming with Fishing with Fergy landed this cracking squid off Tyabb Bank in Western Port.

spot lately for gummy sharks anywhere up to 25kg and, if you are lucky, even bigger! Sitting on the edges of the channel is the go using fresh baits if you can get them. Fresh baits such as Australian salmon, yakka, squid or slimy mackerel are ideal baits.

Gummy sharks have a very good nose on them so getting a fresh bait out in tidal areas such as Rye is crucial to having a successful fishing trip. The rig of choice has been the running sinker rig with an 8/0 circle hook. Make sure to pin your baits with plenty of the hook showing allowing that ultimate hook up. As you move closer to the entrance near Portsea the same actions apply just as you would if you were fishing Rye.

Fishing the south channel will find you hooking a lot of by-catch such as banjo sharks, Port Jackson sharks and stingrays so make sure to have plenty of tackle on board as you might find yourself losing a lot of gear. Offshore out from Barwon heads in around 40m of water has been fishing very well lately but to be fair it usually does all year round. Aaron Habgood fishes this area quite often using baits such as fresh squid and and some great bait for future fishing adventures. The smaller squid have also been prolific in the Mornington and Mount Martha areas in around 3m of water casting smaller jigs. 2.5 and 1.8 size jigs are ideal in these types of areas. some smaller fish but in great numbers then you cant go past the muscle farm at Mt Martha. There is a big area of reef between the farm and the mainland that hold an abundant of food that big schools of pinkies and snapper love to feed on. If you do want to target the smaller fish id suggest downgrading your hook size from a 5/0 to a 2/0. The smaller fish don’t tend to be so picky on what bait you are using so pilchards, squid, yakka, silver whiting or any of the other typical baits a tackle shops hold will do the trick.

There are reports of snapper being caught off Frankston and Mount Eliza in around 12-14m of water. They tend to come in quite shallow in the early parts of the season and you will find they will slowly move out to around 18m. The further into the season the further they will move down the bay so it wont be long before we start to see them being caught around Mount Martha and even Safety Beach.

fresh yakkas and the photo pictured is just one of many gummy sharks he has been catching recently GARFISH

Garfish has always been popular but it feels as though it is becoming ever more so lately. So many fishos seemed to think that garfish are just a good bait and even though they are they are also a very good table fish. They are quite easy to fillet too and there is plenty of videos out there to help you along your way. If there is one tip I can give you it is to bring plenty of rags because although they are small they can leave a very big mess just from handling them.

There have been very good reports around the Mount Martha area and not only are they in big numbers they have also been quite big in size. ‘Reel Fun Lifestyle and Fishing’ has done very well lately around this area and there was one thing that have been doing different and that is their bait of choice. They have been using pieces of small prawn and silver whiting instead of your typical baits such as silver fish and maggots. It just goes to show you need to think outside the square a little sometimes. Other areas that have been popping up are Frankston Pier, Mornington Pier and Safety Beach in the boat. SOUTHERN CALAMARI

An absolute favourite for many anglers is the southern calamari as it isn’t a very difficult species to target but they have so much to offer. They are a great bait, they taste amazing and they are super fun to catch. Tyabb Bank is quite a large area but you can fish the entire bank as there is plenty of weedy structure that will hold big squid.

The reports lately show just that with cracking squid up to 3kg being caught and Don Wood is one of those lucky anglers this month to catch them to that size. Don reports he was using a baited jig under a float when a squid with a 53cm hood took the liking of his silver whiting in around 4m of water.

Stuart Thornton who was fishing with Peter from TV Show Fishing with Fergy found himself with some cracking squid fishing around the same area. They were throwing around Majorcraft squid jigs in size 3.5 and ended the day with a lovely feed SNAPPER

Squid strips and silver whiting have been the better of the baits and this is quite common this early in the season and the running sinker rig has been the way to go. Black Rock is seeing a lot of fish being pulled over the side of the boat and usually does this early in the season so this shows there must be plenty of food sticking around this area to hold the snapper up.

If you want to target

Don Wood with an exceptional southern calamari.