Vic/Tas Fishing Monthly October 2018

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October 2018, Vol. 13 No. 12

Contents WEST COAST West Coast

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Portland 18 Warrnambool 20 Cobden 21 Apollo Bay

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CENTRAL Geelong 22 Port Phillip West

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Port Phillip North East

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Port Phillip East

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Mornington Peninsula

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Port Phillip Bay Offshore

33

Western Port North

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Western Port South

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Phillip Island

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EAST COAST Lakes Entrance

37

Marlo 40 Gippsland Lakes

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Corner Inlet

41

Bemm River

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NSW SOUTH COAST Bermagui 45 Mallacoota/Eden 44 Narooma 42 Merimbula 43

VICTORIAN FRESHWATER Robinvale 60 Snowy Mountains

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From the Editor’s Desk...

RAMP RAGE GAINING TRACTION In September’s editorial, we reported on a strong, new boating advocacy campaign - ‘Ramp Rage’ - that demanded that the $27 million that’s charged through boating registrations be allocated towards better boat ramp infrastructure rather than funding enforcement officers to slap you with a fine when you can’t find a park at the boat ramp.

Aptly supported by the BIA Victoria (and every boatie with common sense and crap local launching facilities), it didn’t take long for the message to gain some political traction.

Recently, the BIAV applauded the Liberal National Coalition’s policy announcement for better recreational boating for

all Victorians, as written in their Media Release.

“The announcement

by Liberal Party leader the Hon. Matthew Guy MP and Shadow Minister for Ports the Hon. David Hodgett MP, aptly delivered from Ramp 3 - Launching Way Carrum - was that a coalition government will deliver full return of the $27 million in recreational boater fees annually to a Blue Infrastructure Fund.

“The new fund would be supported by an authority with marine infrastructure expertise who would consult with recreational boaters and industry to deliver strategic public boating infrastructure improvements across the State.

“The recreational boating industry stands and applauds this announcement by the Liberal Nationals,”

said Steve Walker, CEO of the Boating Industry Association of Victoria.

“Recreational boaters in Victoria are getting a raw deal from the State’s declining boating infrastructure service levels and this is damaging our industry growth and jobs.

“68% of Victorian registered boaters who launch onto Port Phillip or Western Port bays each year see only 5.2% of the marine licence and vessel registration fees they pay reinvested into better public boating infrastructure on the bays.

“The delivery of improved service levels at public boating facilities will see an enormous economic benefit unlocked and delivered to the Victorian economy. Not just in terms of jobs and economic growth

but in liveability for the Victorian community.

“An elected Liberal Nationals Coalition government ‘Blue Infrastructure Fund’ has the potential to generate an extra 2000 FTE positions within the Victorian recreational boating industry through boosted recreational boating participation over the next decade.

“I encourage all recreational boaters and our industry members to consider the LNP policy agenda and to view it as a stamp of approval for the importance of recreational boating to the State of Victoria,” said Steve Walker.

All we need now is for the government to match the promise.

After all, last time that happened, we achieved a net free Port Phillip Bay.

Albury/Wodonga 60 Yarrawonga 60 Horsham 61 Wangaratta 63 Shepparton 64 Nagambie 65 Bendigo 67 Ballarat 66 Eildon 68

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TASMANIA WRAP

52

BOATING AND KAYAK

83

REGULAR FEATURES Back to Basics

16

Chappy’s Hotspot

39

Dam Levels

64

Fun Page

82

Inland Fisheries Service

56

Science Meets Fishing

12

Tasmanian Lake Levels

55

Testing Booth

51

Tournament News

70

Track My Fish

78

Trade and Services Guide

80

Victorian Tide Times

94

What’s new boating

84

What’s new fishing

48

SPECIAL FEATURES

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Simon Rinaldi caught this beautifully marked Port Phillip Bay snapper.

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Sub-Editors: Bob Thornton Nicole Penfold, Annie March

Production: Karen Millward Keith Hawley

OUR COVER

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The lucrative luderick

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Lake Tooliorook back from the brink

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A GPS guide to Port Phillip Bay snapper

VICTORIA FISHING MONTHLY

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Crater Lakes

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AT

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West/South Gippsland

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Snapper

A GPS guide to Port Phillip Bay snapper WESTERN PORT

Jarrod Day jarrodday@iprimus.com.au

No matter how good of an angler you are, finding snapper can sometimes be a challenge. Whether that’s because it’s early in the season and the schools of fish aren’t stacked up yet or just because it is blowing 15 knots from the north and they are scattered, it’s always good to have a few GPS marks to fall back on when the fishing is tough.

Sometimes GPS marks are passed off as the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, when in fact they are best used as a guide to a general area – that is unless the mark is over structure and then it can be fished practically with the boat positioned on top. Most marks, however, serve as an area and once the destination is reached, the area can be explored with a fish finder to find where they’re holding or feeding in

The Seaford 16 mark fires extremely well in rougher conditions, and it’s always worth sounding around early in the morning for patches of fish. close proximity. Sometimes though, you may be sounding and then locate a few fish feeding on the bottom before realising you’re a kilometre or two from the GPS co-ordinates you started from, and this is just the nature of using GPS marks, but at the end of the day

When the bite is hot and you’re fishing multiple rods, expect an epic session.

it is good to have a few marked on your sounder for when the time arises.

GPS marks can also fish differently from one another, for instance, fishing in close to shore at Mile Bridge tends to fire up when the south westerlies blow. In strong winds, the fish push in close, scavenging for whatever food they can find. Then in a northerly wind, the snapper can completely go off the bite in all areas and it might be a reef GPS mark that you might get a fish or two to bite right on first light.

Regardless of the mark, be sure to understand how and when to fish it to get the best results.

RYE WRECK The Rye Wreck is actually a good mark at the beginning of the season in September.

While it is not far from the main shipping channel, a good concentration of fish gather in this area.

ROSEBUD Rosebud is also quite a shallow area, with good patches of broken ground on the bottom. While the area is known for its captures of

prolific snapper fishing grounds in the bay. There’s an artificial reef marked by a yellow buoy, and it is at this location where the snapper really fire up throughout the season. This area is basically the edge of the shipping channel and continues to produce some very impressive snapper all season.

MORNINGTON Mornington, with its nearest point happily named Schnapper Point, has been the one of the best locations to catch snapper from throughout the season.

The Mornington Pier provides good protection from strong southerly, southwesterly and westerly winds – that is

southwesterly blow when it calms down. It is also quite a deep area to fish, averaging around 20m. A few kilometres TOP SNAPPER GPS MARKS ROSEBUD Rosebud Reef S 38 18.577 E 144 53.470 MT MARTHA Mt Martha Deep S 38 14.339 E 144 55.428 Mt Martha Artificial S 38 17.337 E 144 58.132 MORNINGTON Mornington Deep S 38 11.231 E 144 57.552 Mornington Deep S 38 13.689 E 144 57.540 MT ELIZA The paddocks S 38 09.616 E 144 58.398 Gutway S 38 09.696 E 145 04.292

When you’re chasing snapper, always ensure you’re using the best tackle for the job. whiting and calamari, snapper do frequent the area throughout the season. Most of the snapper caught come from near the hovel pile and where the main shipping channel doglegs around and heads directly north. It is where the ships make their turn that the best snapper fishing is experienced.

The channel maintains a depth of around 25m, but during a high tide, fish come up into the shallower water to graze and search for food. Anglers fishing for snapper on the inside of the channel generally do quite well.

MT MARTHA Mt Martha Point signifies the beginning of the most

until you head out, where it can be quite rough.

The Mornington area gets quite deep very quickly and you’re often not too far from shore when hooking into fish.

Still, many anglers like to head out wide to escape the crowds during the season. The bottom is quite heavy reef, which is the main reason it attracts so many fish to the area throughout the season.

MT ELIZA Fishing the Mt Eliza area is usually done when launching from either Patterson River or Mornington. The bottom is a continuation of the reef structure from Mornington and fishes very well after a strong

FRANKSTON Aircraft S 38 05.984 E 145 00.694 Aircraft S 38 06.028 E 145 00.719 Hospital S 38 10.111 E 145 02.523 SEAFORD Seaford 16 S 38 06.761 E 145 03.90 CARRUM Outer Artificial S 38 04.701 E 145 02.339 Cod Hole S 38 04.886 E 145 04.625 CHELSEA Chelsea S 38 03.377 E 145 05.483 GASSO Gasso S 38 02.487 E144 58.939 MORDIALLOC Mordi S 38 01.338 E 145 03.508 ST KILDA St Deep S 38 52.165 E 144 56.187 WILLIAMSTOWN Channel edge S 37 51.259 E 144 55.837 P2 P2 S 37 55.686 E 144 52.703

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OCTOBER 2018

ALTONA Altona S 37 55.830 E144 51.644

• Excellent for sight fishing • Everday activities • Most versatile • Cloudy days

Don’t forget to take the kids in snapper season. They might not like the early mornings but will have a blast nonetheless.

WERRIBEE Spoil grounds S38 00.902 E144 52.072

Snapper out from the shore, the area is quite barren with patches of reef, which also hold fish.

In a 10-15 knot westerly a few days after a strong blow, fishing in close to shore is very productive.

FRANKSTON An old aircraft wreck located out from Frankston is quite a popular location for snapper throughout the season.

This particular mark fishes best on first and last light. In rougher conditions, the fish hold up on the wreck and are quite prolific.

Anchoring just off the mark and fishing back onto it is the best technique providing you set a good berley trail.

SEAFORD Seaford is a great location for anglers of all levels of experience. The bottom is lined with thick cunjevoi in which snapper graze through.

Although it is a large area, the most productive depth is

If you’re fishing out deep, you can always rely on the fish biting when ships pass by. in 16m of water. There is no distinctive reef, rather the whole area holds an abundance of fish. It is best fished early in the morning when the fish push in close.

CARRUM Carrum is undoubtedly

Pre-tied rigs and pilchards go hand-in-hand.

Victoria’s premier boat launching facility, providing anglers with a direct line to arguably the best locations to catch snapper from in the Bay. Once in the bay, there are many locations you can access, with many anglers heading directly west to fish the wider grounds, although smaller boats tend to stick in close where the snapper fishing can be exceptional on first light.

The area is quite barren, with many anglers fishing on the inner and outer artificial reefs as well as heading south to Frankston or north to Chelsea, Aspendale, Sandringham and, although it is a long drive, St Kilda.

CHELSEA Chelsea’s bottom lining is similar to that of Seaford,

in that it is thick with cunge.

The best fishing in this area is in 13m of water where there is an abundance of snapper throughout the season. Fishing first and last light will see larger fish caught, while it becomes plagued with pinky snapper throughout the day. The peak time to fish is during November during a westerly or strong easterly winds.

GASSO The well-known Gasso mark signifies the gas pipeline, which runs under the bay.

While it is also marked by the P2 marker buoy off Altona, the Gasso mark is very popular with anglers fishing on the eastern side of the bay. The bottom is mainly mud substrate, with small patches of reef in the area. This area fishes best in

northwesterly winds, with the prime time being on first light in the early season and last light in December.

MORDIALLOC Mordialloc is a very productive fishing area, particularly during a westerly blow. This area fishes at its best early in the season when the fish begin to explore for food. There isn’t much structure wide off Mordialloc, so knowing your fish finder is important when fishing this area.

ST KILDA Fishing out off St Kilda provides anglers with many options, but just 2km from the

breakwall is where the fishing can be most productive. A small reef holds good numbers of fish that tend to move between the breakwall on first light and a high tide and move into the deeper water as the sun rises.

WILLIAMSTOWN Fishing off Williamstown makes you feel like you’re in the heart of the city. The buildings are a nice backdrop when you’re battling a good red. Anglers wanting to fish out from Williamstown can launch at the ‘hotties’ or ‘warmies’, as it is also known.

The area is mostly mud, and To page 10

It’s smiles all-round when you’re fishing in close off Mornington.

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Snapper appear around late August and September.

WERRIBEE Fishing out from Werribee gives good access to the

From page 9

it fishes best on both first and last light. Westerly winds are productive, but are not a major key to success. In a weird way, the fish bite best on a high tide and when the ships pass, because the ships stir up the bottom, sometimes causing a bite period.

P2 P2 is very well known by anglers, mainly due to the large amounts of fish that are taken in the area each season.

P2 is a buoy that marks the position of the gas pipeline that crosses the bay. Sounding fish and berleying in this location is very popular with anglers in season. The area fishes best from September through to the end of November.

ALTONA The boat ramp at Altona is excellent, with multiple boats able to be launched

over the spoil grounds where the bottom is quite rubbly.

GET CRACKING! There’s no better time than right now to be getting

When you’re fishing in the north of the bay there are many areas to catch quality reds. However, it always pays to sound around and find fish before dropping the pick. simultaneously. In saying that, it can be overcrowded in season when the weather conditions are excellent. The grounds around Altona become

very popular throughout the season, but fishing in the rough, when the fish bite the best, is preferable. The bottom contains a lot of rubble and

broken ground, along with mussel beds, which is why so many snapper graze this area. Each season a good run of early season fish begin to

Catching snapper during the middle of the day can be very difficult, however, if you’re fishing out deep, the bite continues on.

Left: Melbourne’s CBD is always a nice backdrop when targeting reds in the north of the bay.

Right: When you sound snapper, always stop when you find them right on the bottom.

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OCTOBER 2018

western seaboard. The fishing can be a little tough at times, but it does fish very well in an easterly wind despite the saying ‘fish bite least in the east’. Most of the action occurs

out after the snapper, so what are you waiting for?

• A special thanks goes to Simon Rinaldi, Matt Cini and Mitch Bertachini for giving up their marks for this article.

OCTOBER 2018

11

Science meets fishing

Why is Port Phillip Bay so important to snapper?

GEELONG

Ross Winstanley

We’re seeing a clearer picture of why every habitat-type in Port Phillip Bay is vital to snapper and must be protected.

Every new study of snapper in Port Phillip Bay adds to our understanding of the importance of protecting water quality and bottom habitats, from soft sediments to reefs and seagrass beds.

The Victorian Fisheries Authority’s acoustic snapper tracking study tells us a great deal about the seasonal entry and exit of adult snapper from coastal waters, and the habitat uses and preferences of juvenile and adult snapper in the Bay. Those results build on earlier tagging work, studies of what determines annual spawning success, and years of monitoring each year-class of snapper as they move through their early years of life.

What all this tells us is that the Bay offers ideal habitats for all stages of snapper’s life history and is

NE PPBay Corio Bay

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Figure 1. Lengths of snapper caught on inshore reefs from Hampton to Ricketts Point (1983-1986) and on Corio Bay spoil grounds (1996-2015). critical to maintaining the health of the entire western Victorian snapper stock which our Bay snapper fishery depends on.

THE FIRST 12 MONTHS In most years during spring, the Yarra River delivers the nutrient and salinity conditions that favour snapper larval growth and survival. It is this critical stage of

snapper’s life history that determines the ‘year-class strength’ – the potential contribution that each year’s spawning makes to the pinkie fishery 3-5 years later and the subsequent fishery for adults.

However, on its own that’s not enough. What’s also vital are the types of habitats essential to growth and survival as snapper

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transition from larvae to juveniles to mature adults.

From the peak spawning period, November, larval snapper hatch from their floating eggs in DecemberJanuary and start out as midwater plankton feeders.

That’s where the annual Yarra discharge is so important.

By March, most ‘baby’ snapper settle from the midwater and adopt the bottom feeding lifestyle that we’re familiar with.

Initially these 2-10mm months-old fish spread out over the soft sediment bottom that extends over most of the Bay floor, from Hobsons Bay to west of Dromana and into the Geelong Arm. Fixed bottom organisms such as cunjevoi (‘sea spuds’) provide adequate shelter at these small sizes. At this stage, VFA researchers can sample them using small trawl nets to get an indication of the yearclass strength and what that might mean for the future fishery.

NATURAL INSHORE REEFS Around one year of age, juvenile snapper are about 12cm long. Early in their second year, when at least 15cm long, they transition from sediment habitats to shallow reefs and seagrass beds. For the next three years or so, these habitats are critical to juveniles.

Figure 1 shows the combined sizes of 396 pinkies I hooked on the inshore reefs at depths of 3-5m between Ricketts Point and Hampton over several years during a 1970s study of the food of snapper. As the hooks used were capable of catching fish from 12cm to adult sizes, this graph illustrates the point that, by the time they exceed 35cm and are sexually mature,

most pinkies have made their next move, from reefdependency to a more wide ranging lifestyle.

The VFA’s acoustic tagging study confirmed that individual juvenile and small adult snapper have a close year-round association with natural inshore reefs.

ARTIFICIAL REEFS The VFA study also showed that, with limited availability of natural inshore reefs, many one year old snapper moving off the sediment bottom instead form close attachments to the artificial reefs in waters deeper than 10m. While these associations are particularly close during the warmer months, those juveniles become more attracted to natural reefs over winter.

Each artificial reef occupies a small fraction of what are, otherwise, large expanses of soft sediment habitat so it is not surprising that many 1+ year-old juvenile snapper make their initial transition from sediments to these structures.

Given the limited food availability on artificial reefs and the large numbers of adult snapper visiting them, it seems likely that adults use them mainly as points of reference to feeding grounds on nearby sediments.

During the peak spawning period,

November, the VFA study recorded highest detection numbers of tagged adults on artificial reefs, which suggests that artificial reefs also provide focal points for snapper spawning aggregations.

SEAGRASS AND SPOIL GROUNDS In much of Corio Bay and the Geelong Arm which lack inshore rocky reefs, the extensive shallow seagrass and algae-covered spoil grounds regularly provide habitats that attract and hold 1-4 year old snapper until they reach about 30cm.

Figure 1 shows the combined lengths of the 11,026 snapper I caught on the seagrassdominated spoil grounds in Corio Bay as part of the VFA’s Angler Diary Program, between 1996 and 2015. While lacking rocky reefs, this undulating seagrass and algae habitat in 2-5m meets the needs of juvenile snapper.

By the time they become mature and reach 30cm, aged about four years, most snapper have ceased to be dependent on this shallow habitat.

Comparison of the two size distributions in Figure 1 indicates that young adult snapper remain on inshore reefs a year or two longer than on the Corio Bay spoil grounds.

During the VFA’s acoustic tagging study, while only three sub-35cm snapper were tagged in Corio Bay they contribute to the story of juvenile habitat dependency.

Tagged in November 2011, one 26cm juvenile was detected 55 times over the following 10 months - always on the same spoil grounds. In contrast, one of the two mature 33cm fish was never detected again and the other was detected only once as it exited the Bay into coastal waters, four months after being tagged.

These results are consistent with the observations that recently-mature snapper leave the seagrass spoil ground habitat at a younger age than they do from inshore reefs.

Figure 2 may help to explain the departure timing of the small adult snapper from the spoil

KEY POINTS • The Yarra River, with the right flow at the right time, is critical to snapper spawning success and larval survival.

• In year 1, snapper depend on healthy undisturbed soft-bottom communities covering much of the Bay floor.

• In years 2-5, juveniles depend on shallow natural reefs and seagrass beds.

• From year 5, adults become more wide- ranging, mainly in depths over 10m.

• The bottom line is that the snapper stock depends on protection of all habitats in the Bay.

Science meets fishing grounds.

It shows that PORT PHILLIP the few fish longer than BAY – THE 30cm in November 2007 COMPLETE were gone by January and PACKAGE March 2008, when all that A healthy Port Phillip remained were smaller 2-4 Bay provides the conditions year olds. essential to all life history SEDIMENT HABITATS stages of the snapper stock Nov Apart from the natural that supports commercial Jan reefs and seagrass beds and recreational fishing between Wi l s o n s around the edges of the Mar Promontory and Bay, most of the bottom southeastern South habitat is made up of Australia. While anglers soft sediments.

These tend to associate snapper range from shallow sand with reefs, the evidence to fine silty clay in the points to all habitat types centre. Compared to reefs 1330 30 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 2628 28 1410 10 32 15 12 34 14 36 36 16 38 38 18 40 40 20 42 42 22 44 44 24 2426 26 10 26 26 10 28 24 12 12 30 25 14 14 32 26 16 16 34 18 1820 36 20 36 20 22 38 38 22 24 24 40 40 26 26 26 42 42 28 32 44 44 30 3332 32 34 32 34 34 34 36 36 36 38 38 38 3840 40 40 4039 42 42 4222 44 44 44 10 32 34 36 38 19 42 44 10 10 1012 12 12 1214 14 14 1416 16 16 1618 18 18 1820 20 20 2022 22 22 2224 24 24 2426 26 26 12 28 28 28 30 30 30 10 10 32 32 10 10 3212 12 12 34 16 12 12 3414 14 14 17 14 14 3616 16 16 38 16 16 38 18 18 40 40 18 18 40 20 20 20 42 20 42 42 22 22 22 22 44 44 24 24 44 24 22 26 26 10 10 23 10 28 28 12 28 12 28 12 30 30 14 30 14 30 14 32 32 16 16 32 16 34 27 18 18 34 18 20 28 20 20 3622 22 38 22 38 22 38 24 24 40 30 40 24 40 26 26 31 42 42 28 42 28 28 44 44 30 44 30 30 32 32 34 35 36 38 40 38 40 42 42 44 44 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 18 18 40 20 42 22 21 44 24 10 28 12 30 14 32 16 32 34 18 34 36 36 29 38 24 40 26 28 42 30 44 10 12 14 37 16 18 42 20 40 44 24 26 Figure 28 30 32234 36 38in40the 42 Bay 44 being vital to and seagrass, this sounds the survival and growth of uninteresting and is harder snapper as they move from to arouse public interest Figure 2. Lengths of snapper caught on Corio Bay spoil grounds spawning to adulthood. in protecting. However, in November 2007 and January and March 2008.

With commercial net as well as providing the fishing in the Bay due to critical habitat for postlarval snapper, these high productivity of these during the 19th century After decades of shellfish Bay and off Carrum. The end in 2022, many anglers ‘soft bottoms’ provide extensive sediment habitats and commercial dredging harvesting effectively program objective is to feel confident that fish the feeding grounds that and the fact that so many of scallops and mussels broke up those beds, redevelop natural oyster habitats, including ‘nursery support thousands of adult snapper only occupy from the 1960s reduced all snapper schools are now and mussel beds, along area’, will become more However, as tonnes of snapper, flathead, the Bay during the short of these beds to remnants, more mobile, dispersed with healthy and self- secure. now colonised by exotic and less predictable in their sustaining shellfish reef environmental studies have rays and other bottom- spawning season.

The VFA’s acoustic species. Old snapper occurrence. shown repeatedly, the real feeding fish. communities.

Conventional and tagging study has clearly longline fishermen and The current shellfish The combined results threats to snapper and other acoustic tagging studies and shown that, on the eastern anglers recall that, having reef restoration program in of snapper studies suggest fish come from coastal and the continued abundance side of the Bay, adult located schools of snapper the Bay (see VFM October that expanded shellfish port development and from of 10-20 year-old snapper range widely that fed on the shellfish 2017) has encouraging reefs will offer valuable the Yarra, Maribyrnong snapper indicate that the over sediment habitats beds, they could return implications for snapper. additional feeding and and other natural and artificial reefs to the same places, day Building on promising holding ground for adult man-made discharges. So, total annual catch of up and after day, and be assured results of early trials, the snapper. They may also anglers should be alert to to 500 tonnes is a small deeper than 10m.

SHELLFISH REEFS of reliable catches. These program is now progressing lead to increased survival proposals such as port and fraction of the biomass of European extensive shellfish beds to expand the placement of juvenile snapper in their channel dredging and spoil snapper present in the Bay Before during a year. Snapper settlement of the Bay were known as ‘holding of limestone rubble and critical first two years disposal, new container port alone must represent more shores, permanent oyster grounds’ for adult snapper, recycled scallop and of life as they transition facilities, re-development that they oyster shells as the reef from the plankton stage to of former salt works, and than one thousand tonnes. and mussel beds covered suggesting Two factors enable the Bay up to 50% of the Bay floor. provided highly productive foundations on the Point sediment habitats, then to beach renourishment close to inshore reefs. opportunities. Wilson Spit, in Hobsons reef and seagrass habitats. to support this stock: the Harvesting of oysters feeding

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Target the edges.

This photo shows exactly what we mean by fish the edge of the river channel!

By now you’ve all heard that GoFish Nagambie is giving away a guaranteed $500,000! And you don’t have to be the best angler in Australia to get you hands on a share of the cash.

GoFish Nagambie is a tournament for anglers of all abilities, and anyone can be a winner. In fact, the equation is pretty damn simple: Turn up, catch a fish, and go in the running to win! So easy.

Here is how the GoFish Nagambie recipe works.

Step 1: Choose your craft GoFish Nagambie is a multi-discipline event with entries available for boat, kayak and land-based fishing. However, there are a capped number of anglers allowed, and boat entries are also limited. The beauty of the Nagambie Lakes and Goulburn River is that it is suitable for all three of the angling categories on offer.

Boat entries Fishing from a boat provides anglers with the opportunity for trolling and casting in the competition.

We are constantly asked, what is the best method for Nagambie? Our answer is that you’ll want to use both techniques to give yourself the best chance of catching a winning fish!

Ideally, casting first thing in the morning and late in the afternoon have produced excellent results, using surface lures, hardbodys and spinnerbaits, cast into the shallow.

During the day while the sun is up, we’d recommend trolling the river and the deep channels in the lake to seek out the larger fish. If you’re after golden perch trolling around the standing trees is your best option.

Kayak entries Nagambie Lakes is the perfect location for kayak and canoe fishers. It is a shallow lake system with plenty of backwaters, river channels, anabranches and open sections of water, which you can explore by paddle.

In a kayak you’ll be able to head into the very shallow sections on water where a boat just can’t go! This gives you a huge advantage. Kayaks are also much quieter than larger powerboats, which this is a key part of stealth tactics when stalking monster Murray cod.

Land-based entries It’s not necessary to own a boat of any kind in order to access fantastic water at GoFish Nagambie. Murray

cod and golden perch stocking, combined with improved habitat and far better management of our waterways, has led to amazing bank fishing opportunities along Nagambie Lakes and the Goulburn River.

Nagambie Lakes certainly has top opportunities for land-based anglers. The lake is loaded with standing timber –every angler’s paradise! Murray cod and golden perch call this waterway home, and live in amongst all the heavy timber, structure and weed bed clusters that are close to the bank.

Step 2: Choose target species With four target species that can win cash and prizes at GoFish Nagambie, you need to carefully consider which species to go for in the tournament.

Redfin - There are even prizes for redfin at GoFish Nagambie. Although there aren’t huge numbers of redfin in the system if you catch the biggest you have a chance at winning heaps of prizes! Redfin can be found hanging around standing trees and around the weedy edges. They’re an aggressive fish and the best way to attract them to your lure is to use an aggressive retrieve. Hop-and-drop and burn-and-kill are the best two techniques.

Carp - Carp may be an introduced species but there is

Top Tip for Fishing Nagambie A deep river bed snakes its way through the entire Nagambie Lakes system, then either side are large expanses of shallow flats. Some of the best fishing is right on the edges of these channels. It has less than a metre of water on the flats and then it drops off into deep water.

Small baitfish and prey will move onto the flats and then make their way back into the river channel. This is where the larger predatory fish like Murray cod and golden perch will be sitting ready to ambush! Put your lure in this zone and you will find fish!

An announcement with a date for entries will be made soon. Don’t forget to sign-up to our e-news at www.gofishnagambie.com.au for all the latest announcements, event news, partner offers and more.

$500,000

nothing wrong with targeting them, particularly when there is cash and prizes up for grabs. However, unlike the other species, carp are not allowed to be released back into the water. Carp are not big strikers, often they will play with your bait or sit on top of it for a little while, so you will need to pay close attention. The benefit of carp is that they aren’t too fussy, and you’ll be able to catch them all day long.

Murray cod - The mighty Murray cod is the most prized freshwater fish in Australia, the apex predator of the rivers and lakes. Nagambie might just be the best-kept secret for targeting this beautiful sports fish. There are some absolute monsters lurking in these waters. The best way to catch them is by fishing shallow, then deep.

At first light, the best technique is to fish in the shallows, 1-2m, with large 200mm+ surface lures. As soon as the sun hits the water, go in search of deeper water, the riverbed, channels, and large structure and cast, or troll, large spinnerbaits, soft plastics or hardbodied lures.

Golden perch - Golden perch love structure, and there is structure in spades throughout the GoFish Nagambie!

With big money up for grabs, targeting the Murray cod’s sidekick, the yellas, could be your best bet. Golden perch will hang close to standing trees (especially the thinner twiggier trees), reedy edges and the spindly ends of fallen trees. In terms of gear, smaller lures are the best option when specifically target golden perch, like 1/2oz spinnerbaits, 50-70mm diving hardbodied lures and 60mm lipless crankbaits.

Step 3: Catch, measure, release At GoFish Nagambie, we are passionate about fish health and environmental health, and are using the latest in app technology to assist in increasing the survival rate and improving the catch, measure, release method.

The app, to be announced soon, will easily photograph and measure the catch, and automatically enter eligible fish into the running to win. Importantly, this process will ensure a fast release back into the water.

Step 4: Just keep fishing If you land a good fish, don’t throw the towel in. Keep fishing. You need to fish every second of the tournament and never give up. You just never know what’s happening and when the big old girls will jump on your hook.

Happy Fishing and see you in Nagambie next April!

UP FOR GRABS AT AUSTRALIA’S WEALTHIEST FRESHWATER FISHING TOURNAMENT

Starlo’s five-step plan to catch more fish NSW STH COAST

Steve Starling www.fishotopia.com

We’d all love to be able to catch more fish, so here’s a very simple recipe intended to help you do exactly that!

During the hectic ‘show season’ this past winter I made public presentations on various fishing-related topics at a range of boat and 4WD expos in the eastern states.

One of the subjects I covered was simply entitled “How To Catch More Fish”, and it seemed to strike a chord with a lot of people.

As part of this presentation, I introduced my ‘Five-Step Plan’, a bit of a tongue-in-cheek reference to the famous 12-step plan advocated by Alcoholics’ Anonymous. No, I didn’t kick off by having people stand up and say “Hi, my name is Steve

sinkers, jigheads or lures.

There’s a lot more to the essence of finesse fishing than just those three basic aspects, but they make a great starting point. Try it. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

USE THE BEST BAITS Whether you’re fishing in salt or freshwater, going to the trouble of sourcing the very best baits available (or closely imitating those natural baits with your lures or flies) invariably improves catch rates. Typically, those best baits are locally-sourced and either fresh or (better still) alive. Often, this means you’ll have to catch or gather your own bait rather than relying on buying it, but trust me, the extra effort pays off in spades.

GAIN KNOWLEDGE There’s an old saying that you never stop learning, and this is especially true in fishing. I’ve been doing it for more than half a century and

about identifying ‘edges’ and then presenting your baits, lures or flies along them.

These edges take a multitude of forms, from obvious ones like the shoreline, the surface and the seabed to the interface between the water and solid

You really can’t beat local bait presented alive and kicking — in fresh or saltwater!

I still learn something new every single time I spend a day on the water! When I was a younger bloke, a lot of this knowledge came from books, magazines, videos and later DVDs. Today, more and more of it is sourced online, via the Internet. From studying aerial imagery of locations on Google Earth to following weather and ocean currents, reading forums and blogs or watching YouTube clips, there is a wealth of knowledge out there. Social media also

You’re never too old, nor too young, to learn new tricks in fishing. Knowledge is power!

Gathering your own bait from local waterways and using it fresh or alive is one way to ensure better fishing results. and I haven’t caught a fish in my last four trips” or anything like that (although, come to think of it, that’s not a bad idea!). Instead, I attempted to distil what I see as the absolute core ingredients of consistent angling success down to just five key points. Here they are.

GO LIGHT Most people know I’m a huge fan of ‘finesse’ fishing.

No matter where you wet a line or what species of fish you chase, you can almost always improve your hook-up rate by dropping the diameter of your main line and leader, and choosing smaller, lighter

Going even a little lighter in your line, leader and sinker will generally produce more bites and hook-ups.

Having a game plan and keeping a cool head are vital keys to landing fish.

plays its part, although you do need to be a little choosy about which bits you pay attention to!

FISH THE EDGES Finding fish within specific scenarios is very often

structural elements such as snags, rocks and pylons, on to more subtle edges such as colour changes, current breaks, shadows, temperature demarcations and bubble lines. Edges are almost always

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where the action is. Work them thoroughly and you’ll hook more fish!

LAND THEM! Hooking more fish is one thing, but to actually increase catch rates, you also need to land more and lose less.

That involves being prepared, setting your drag, tying strong knots and having a game plan nutted out in your head for dealing with that whopper when it comes along. Keeping your cool and not panicking when you hook a monster is absolutely critical. So is having the right ‘landing gear’ on hand in the way of nets, gaffs, lip grippers, gloves, long-nosed pliers and so on, and knowing how to use them.

This aspect of fishing success is far too often overlooked.

IT’S SIMPLE So there you go, five relatively simple, straightforward steps that I guarantee will result in you landing more fish. Are you going to join with me in pledging to apply them every time you go fishing this season?

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Bream and perch fishing season is building WEST COAST

Brett Carson

The season has broken, and those warm spring days are motivating anglers to return to the water. So many people down here in the south leave the fishing gear in the shed for the cold of winter, but this season more than ever proved it can be the best fishing of the year!

Mulloway have been off the charts, and the bream and perch have been about in serious numbers. So now the footy is done, get amongst the fishing, because there’s plenty on offer!

The months leading up to Christmas can go either way when it comes to water clarity, and sometimes the water can stay dirty right up to December when the rains persist. That’s

Theo caught plenty of perch flicking baits into the timber snags.

OK, because you need to remember, the fish are still there. If the water has a brown top, don’t forget that the salt can still be underneath, and that wedge can move with the tides.

I’ve watched brown water flying past the boat

Rugged up and fishing the deep water, using cut pilchards to entice the bream.

hire only 2km from the river mouth, and then heard of mulloway catches at Pritchards Landing 40km upstream! The beauty of our river being 7-9m deep so far up means that the salt stays in the system and so do the fish that need it.

As a result, the mulloway have slowed in the last month, but after the stellar season, it’s fair to say its only slowed to ‘normal’.

The fish will still be laying deep and their feed periods will be the trick to work out. We all need to eat and so do they, so if you find them schooled up on the sounder, persist, because it will pay dividends. Fishing vibes or live mullet will do the trick, and if the mullet give up on you, don’t be frightened to cut them up and run strip baits down on a running sinker and have some berley flowing.

The bream fishing

When you’re sitting in your boat you can often watch the blue line work towards and past you.

It’s important to note at what part of the tide the bite happened, as you can sometimes move with the bite up or down the river.

We are in the breeding season, so numbers of bream and perch will be doing their thing, bream upriver and perch down.

Remember to only take what you need and fish for the future!

Peter and Theo Telford recently had a great couple of days camping at Dry Creek, where they caught

competition, but Peter did point out that Theo outfished his poor old dad!

Those perch are starting to school up in the lower reaches of the Glenelg en masse, as they do every year, so a good sounder will show you where best to target fish and maximize your chances.

• Good luck and feel free to come and see us at Nelson Boat Hire for the latest info. We have the local ‘live bait licence’ meaning we stock live mullet, crabs and podworms along with all the frozen bait, tackle and lures you need for the area.

We’ll do our best to give

Neil and Graeme caught a great bag of bream on the incoming tide. in the estuary has been frantic, with plenty of reports of people catching their bag. You must fish the tides when that blue water pushes up through the lower reaches in a wave.

plenty of bream out deep by fishing cut pilchards on a heavily-weighted rig. The father and son duo also pulled some estuary perch out of a timber snag in the same area. It wasn’t a

you some local knowledge and get you on the fish quicker. Remember you can hire any of our boats without a boat licence, including our very popular houseboat.

Big options on offer in Portland PORTLAND

John Johnstone

With the onset of spring, things are on the improve; the Lee Breakwater has had snapper to 8kg, school and gummy shark as well as other large toothy visitors. With the warmer weather comes the chance for a kingfish, and anglers report some schools have been sighted from the cliffs and along the north shore.

Whiting numbers are starting to pick up and some good bags have been reported. The best spots for these have been from Point Danger to the back of Pivot Beach, the Lee Breakwater and the area down to Marameo gates and along the north shore. These are a great fighting and eating fish 18

OCTOBER 2018

and are best targeted with a paternoster rig and pipis or squid for bait. Berley lightly, as too much berley attracts unwanted species such as wrasse.

Sweep are a good option from the washes, and a great area to target these is around Lawrence rocks or just inside the harbour at the corkscrew.

Best baits include prawns, pipis and squid – make sure you use a float to keep the bait off the bottom as this should reduce by-catch.

Remember that caution is paramount and conditions must be suitable.

The run of large barrel tuna continues, and catches of fish over 100kg are being landed on skirted lures, with large hardbody lures being the best tactic for these fellows. Further offshore, blue eye travella, pink ling, gemfish and blue grenadier continue to dominate bags for anglers

willing to head out that far. Using electric reels is the best way to target these species.

Not too far away in 140m of water, good catches of Tassie trumpeter, school and gummy shark, snapper and flathead have been coming in, with trumpeter to 10kg and school and gummy sharks to 25kg.

Looking to the future should see the kingfish start to fire up with the warmer weather. The best ways to target kingfish are either trolling harbodies or skirted lures. Strips of squid on a hook work as well, but drifting a live squid under a balloon is often the best tactic for catching these fish. Casting a surface lure at them if you see them can also produce some results.

Everyone will be keeping a close eye on where the ships anchor up and the back of Julia reef, to see if the summer run of

bluefin tuna will show up this year.

• Portland Bait and Tackle is family-owned and operated stoking fishing tackle, bait and marine accessories. They are open 7 days a week from 7 to 7. Portland’s one stop fishing tackle shop, we cover everything from chasing redfin and trout in freshwater to blue eye and other deep sea fish over the continental shelf. The new owner John Johnstone has extensive fishing experience for both fresh and saltwater.

He has fished most areas of Australia, from chasing trout in the high country to the jumbo tuna down the West Coast – the chances are John has done it. To get the latest advice on what’s been caught call Portland Bait and Tackle on (03) 5523 5213 or drop in and see them at 111 Bentinck.

Paul Skinner, Steve Nicolazzo and Ed Sommer with an 111kg barrel.

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Windy Warrnambool lives up to its name during October in places like Killarney, Port Fairy and Lady Bay. October is often a good month to do some surf fishing. There is still the chance of some good salmon being around while the summer species, such as pinky snapper and various shark species, have also become an option.

A nice calm evening on

WARRNAMBOOL

Mark Gercovich mgercovich@hotmail.com

This winter, due to a new initiative for Victorian fisheries, the full lengths of the Hopkins and Merri remained open to anglers rather than just the small designated sea run sections. This has been a godsend recently as persistent strong winds have severely curtailed many other forms of angling in the past month.

Nearly every day the wind finder app arrows have been red, and anything other than sheltering upstream chasing trout has been out of the question. Fortunately, some good rain arrived with the winds, and the flowing steams produced some great trout fishing.

Using large minnow style lures like the Daiwa TD95 and Double Clutches or paddle-tail soft plastics in the shallow runs and back eddies out of the main current has produced some well-conditioned browns up to 2kg.

At the end of August the wind finally backed

Yambuk, Fitzroy, Logans or Cutting beaches could provide some good action.

The estuary scene has been pretty quiet of late with the dirty water and strong winds. However, Yambuk Lake has produced some excellent bream captures recently as flood waters pushed big schools of bream towards

the mouth area. Anglers fishing vibe and soft plastic lures as the tide pushed in captured plenty of good quality fish to 40cm. Come October, as the waters warm, clear lure anglers in particular will be looking forward to fishing the edges as fish move out of spawning mode.

Gummy are abundant APOLLO BAY

Wayne Diffey

Tim Vincent with a 40cm plus shorebased, soft plastic eating bream. off and as soon as anglers were able to get out to sea there were excellent captures, with gummy and school shark featuring prominently. Come October these fish will still be a reliable target, as well as

The salmon have still been patchy off the beaches, with Wild Dog Creek Beach and the back beach at Marengo the best of the local spots, with some good fish caught at Johanna Beach as well. Blue bait

a good option.

Out wide there have been some good catches of gummy, schoolie, snapper and some decent sized flatties. The most productive areas are off the Cape Otway reefs in 40-50m of water, fishing the change of tides using fresh cut bait like salmon and calamari.

Michael Karlik recently

rains, and we are now seeing baitfish, smelt and galaxia moving upstream. This will get the trout and bream on the go. So it would be well worth a trip and casting a few minnow style lures, either hardbodies like Ecogear SX40 and MW62 or Rapala X-Rap 4cm. A smelt pattern seems to work well at

it being a good time to get some better sized snapper, although not in the numbers you might encounter in the bays at this time of year.

Clos er ins hore, calamari squid and whiting anglers will be active

Michael Karlik with a 10kg+ gummy.

Xavier Gercovich with an example of the quality brown trout taken recently.

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Every Saturday 4.30pm on 20

OCTOBER 2018

on a double paternoster rig with a surf popper on the top dropper seems to be the best setup if you are bait fishing.

Spinning with a Gillies Baitfish, Halco Streaker or Juro Laser lure is also

caught a nice 10kg+ gummy on a slimy mackerel, and Mark brought in a nice bag of gummies and a 27kg schoolie.

The local streams and rivers are flowing well with all of the winter

this time of year. Casting an unweighted scrubby and letting it drift along the edges downstream can also give you good results.

With the water temperature starting to To page 21

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Bait fishing is the way COBDEN

Rod Shepherd

Last month we saw the wind and rain cease and the sun finally come out.

According to the weather boffins we in the southwest, and possibly elsewhere in the state, experienced the windiest month on record for this region. I can believe that! Yes, we have had a tonne of rainfall here, but I try hard not to whinge

lot of action and are worked quite slowly. Bait fishos are using frozen packet prawn, live shrimp, brown shell and crab (if you can source it).

Reports of mulloway in the system are still coming in, with fish averaging around 70cm being caught on bream and perch outfits. Most fish are being released because at this size the fish tend to go to mush when cooked.

The Curdies River has been running hard and fast with the river water being

so they can collect shrimp and spider crab for bait.

For those who can get out on the boat there has been a bit of activity on the snapper front, with some reasonable pinkie snapper to 40cm coming onboard.

Mixed in amongst the reds are morwong, leatherjacket and rock cod. Reef or rubble-strewn bottom found offshore from Boat Bay at Peterborough has been the areas targeted.

Some huge gummy

CREATE YOUR ADVENTURES

515 Northerner Scan the QR Code to view the complete boat test After a hard day at the office on the Curdies estuary, the author was finally rewarded with a decent bream that ate a 3” Damiki D Grub. as much of this country is in drought – even parts of Victoria, including Gippsland and much of the Murray region. We will certainly appreciate that overly wet winter once we approach summer.

A few decent bream and estuary perch have been taken off the various mudflats that can be found along the Hopkins River. The fish seem to be sitting out of the direct channel current waiting for a morsel to swim by. This is because the water is flowing reasonably fast and is quite dirty.

Lure anglers are doing well, especially with lures or soft plastics that impart a

especially murky. The best bet has to be wetting a line in the lake. Boaters should concentrate their efforts in and around the channel markers at the river mouth or down towards the township of Peterborough in and around the boat ramp and pontoon. The mouth is still open and the tides are trying to push in against the dirty water wanting to exit.

Rumours of mulloway in the system are true, with a few anglers losing line at a great rate.

Bait is currently the way to go over artificials due to the lack of water clarity, and many anglers are soaking tea tree boughs along the channel

shark have also been caught drifting baits just off the bottom. Local Steve McQuinn recently ventured out with some mates and they ended up with three thumpers – the biggest weighing in at 20kg. Like many others, they launched from Warrnambool and headed west to an area off Childers Cove where they picked up the three fish in question.

The southern bluefin tuna scene is starting to wind down as most fish have moved on, however some schools of smaller fish are still being found offshore so the big boats continue to head west down highway one from Melbourne and beyond.

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From page 20

rise we will also see more and more calamari start to appear in the Apollo Bay boat harbour.

Early morning and later evening are the best times using a 2.0 or 2.5 sized squid jig, or bigger depending on the tide. Always have a few different colour patterns handy, as you never know what will work best on the day.

• If you’re coming to Apollo Bay for a fish, be sure to pop in to get all you bait and tackle needs, as well as an up to date report, or call us on (03) 5237 6426.

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Mark with a 27kg gummy.

OCTOBER 2018

21

Spring species hitting Geelong GEELONG

Neil Slater slaterbunch@optusnet.com.au

October is snapper mayhem in this region. The Bellarine Peninsula is a hot spot as the fish migrate into the area, and anglers from far and wide look forward to it. VFA have collated some interesting stats when it

comes to snapper tracking in Port Phillip Bay. Using acoustic tags, 150 snapper from 22-87cm in length were tagged and their movements monitored. The monitoring showed that most snapper moved into Port Phillip Bay when the water temperature was around 13-16°C with the peak at 16-18°C. So, if you have a temperature displayed on your sounder,

keep an eye on it. More info can be found on the VFA website.

CORIO BAY Snotty trevally made a solid appearance this year inside Corio Bay, with the popular table fish being caught from structures such as Cunningham Pier and near the Royal Geelong Yacht Club.

They can be taken on soft plastic lures but are known to

Paul caught this butterfish along Geelong’s waterfront on a Munroe’s soft plastic.

be quite fussy. Paul Mayer has caught a few using Munroe’s soft plastics and can attest to their fussy table manners.

Paul says later in the month they became harder to catch on plastics, and the best bet is unweighted pilchard fillets or raw chicken pieces.

Paul has also been catching a few butterfish using soft plastics on Jigman jigheads along the Geelong waterfront. Butterfish, also known as dusky morwong, are known weed eaters and not often caught on rod and reel. Butterfish are a popular target of spear fishers, so for Paul to land one using a soft plastic lure is quite an achievement.

Corio Bay has seen a few massive bream caught around the pier pylons for anglers using Bass yabbies for bait or single tailed soft plastic grubs worked slowly along the bottom. Paul Mayer managed to land an absolute donkey that measured in at 46cm using a soft plastic lure worked slowly beside a pier pylon. Paul says, “When the water is clear you can see them holding tight around the pylons. Working plastics or bait around structure will get you the results.”

Good numbers of garfish

Rory with his reward for the many casts he put in.

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were also kicking about Cunningham Pier and the rock walls of Limeburner’s boat ramp. Pinkie snapper may show up for land-based fishos at Cunningham and St Helen’s rock walls so keep an eye out there.

CLIFTON SPRINGS AND PORTARLINGTON Clifton Springs and Portarlington are the snapper capitals of the Bellarine. Find yourself some deep water, lob out a pilchard and hopefully you can latch onto some of the quality fish that frequent the area at this time of year.

be on. Alan Falzon fished Clifton Springs with his boys last month where they caught calamari in good numbers on purple and natural coloured jigs. Alan says it was very slow until 4pm then it was on for young and old! Alan and his lads caught 17 calamari in 1.5 hours drifting in 5.5-4.5m of water. Alan also fished the following day at first light in the same area and caught eight calamari, then nothing after 9am.

Kelsi Gull from Ballarat fished in her kayak out off Clifton Springs and also caught a few squid, but she found the flathead very hard to find.

BELLARINE PENINSULA I fished out off Indented Head with Hugh Hanson last month, where we caught about 15 calamari between us. Nothing really big and they were super fussy, often following the jig all the way to the boat without taking it.

Hugh also managed a few flathead around the 45cm mark earlier in the morning drifting in 18m of water.

SURF COAST The Barwon River estuary saw an influx of good-sized Australian salmon and silver trevally last month. David Davies reports members of the Bellarine School sharks like this ripper caught by Mick Fly Fishing Association be FM_Layout about off the Surf Coast.11:32 AM Pagehave caught some quality STA16112should Revo 499 1 19/06/2018 1 North of the shipping channel is a popular place anglers go prospecting for schools by moving about and keeping a close eye on the sounder.

Fresh pilchards, red rockets, squid, whiting heads, sauries and silver whiting will all catch snapper. It sometimes pays to send out a variety as they can be focussed on one type.

Clifton Springs has produced calamari consistently over the last month. If you draw a blank, sometimes all is needed is a change of tide and they’ll

Paul nabbed this beast of a bream on a Munroe’s soft plastic in outer Corio Bay. fish from the Barwon River, including salmon of 50cm+, silver trevally and tailor from 30-40cm. David says that the fish can be a little difficult to find some days but persistence will bring rewards. The most successful flies have been Clouser minnows in grey/ white or tan/white.

Snapper should be on the radar for anglers fishing off the Surf Coast but if you get bitten off, there could be a school shark or two under the boat. A fair few were caught in September so I’d expect a few to be lurking about for a few months yet. This month can see some quality snapper caught off the Surf Coast, so if you do get a chance to get offshore, take it.

The beaches fished very well for salmon over the last month with anglers enjoying consistent captures of 45cm fish from Jan Juc and Breamlea, with the odd fish over 50cm. I fished Jan Juc with Hugh Hanson last month where we met Nathan Wright and a few of his mates. We cast lures for 15-20 minutes and moved when we didn’t get a bite. We managed to catch plenty of salmon around the 40-45cm bracket and Hugh managed a beauty at 56cm and 1.7kg, which put up a great fight leaping clear of the water a few times.

We met young Rory Kearns with a few of his mates using small trout rods in

the surf due to the calm conditions. The lads worked very hard casting lures as far as the small rods would allow and Rory managed to catch one, which saw a bit of a cheer from our group.

FISH HARD – DIE HAPPY! Catch a few around Geelong, Bellarine Peninsula or Surf Coast to Lorne recently? Send in a report to slaterbunch@optusnet.com. au with “VFM” in the subject field or give me a call on 0408 997 348. Please include where (without giving away your secret spot!), when, what on and who caught the fish.

Pictures are always great, but please make sure they are at least 1MB (file size).

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OCTOBER 2018

23

Positive signs during the bay’s spring chills PORT PHILLIP BAY WEST

Alan Bonnici alan@fishingmad.com.au

Seasonal anglers have been hidden away throughout winter seeking shelter and warmth, but this is the time of year when boats are finally getting back on the water for their first run of the season. Warmer weather is on the way and water temperatures will start to rise, which is an encouraging sign for the start of the annual snapper run.

The footy is done and dusted for another year, and for anglers around Melbourne October signifies the time to start thinking about snapper.

This may just turn out to be our best snapper season yet – information gathered over the last couple of years suggests the snapper and pinkie numbers around Port Phillip Bay are flourishing.

Last year’s snapper season

had its ups and downs.

One month was quiet and the next crazy and it’s the unpredictable nature of snapper fishing with high risk and high reward that will see local boat ramps jam-packed in the early hours of the morning.

Like all forms of fishing, there are no guarantees when targeting snapper, however, key consistent ingredients are the recipe for success.

For snapper, this consists of early mornings, fresh bait, and a can-do attitude. It’s also wise to take a bit of extra time and ensure your gear is rigged up correctly. Stick to those principles and in due time the results will come.

For those new to snapper fishing it’s sound advice to venture out with someone experienced who can teach you how to have a successful and safe day on the water.

Mark Bonnici decided to get into the snapper action around Port Phillip Bay early this season, landing a few

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OCTOBER 2018

ripping size big reds that made the rest of us quite envious and itching to get our share of the action. Mark hit the water before sunrise, covering areas from Port Melbourne to Mornington, and spent time watching the sounder closely. Once locating signs of life Mark has been anchoring up and throwing out some trusted baits including pilchards, whiting strips and squid.

I always like to take the time to acknowledge the dedicated land-based anglers who go above and beyond to find that trophy size fish.

They are the battlers who are prepared to put in long hours, fish through tough weather conditions and even fish through the night to get their share of the action.

Last month Wissam Karim landed a trophy size landbased snapper from the rocks at Web Dock. After a tough session throughout the day that only produced a few pinkies and a flathead, he soldiered on into the night.

In the early hours of the morning his reel started screaming and after some very tense moments around very rocky structure he landed a prized 8kg snapper.

I was proud last week to feature in a campaign for Fisheries Victoria who announced an $815,000 fund that will be used to improve fishing on the Maribyrnong River between the areas of Flemington and Keilor. The details are still being released, but to date they include new ramps, improvements to the quality of the waterways and stocking of 300,000 estuary perch fingerlings. As many readers would understand I love the Nong and see this as very welcome news. There

will always be criticism of how this money is invested and hopefully measures will be taken to ensure this fund is used to its full potential, including strategies to improve the water quality and pollution. If you have any concerns, then I encourage you to raise them with Victorian Fisheries by calling 136 186, but if you’re doing so make sure your feedback contributes to the success of this great opportunity.

Hopefully, we continue to see more initiatives like this around Melbourne – a focus on more launching facilities would be very welcome.

Local young gun James has been doing remarkably well for bream on the Nong this past month. Fishing around Essendon on the

opposite side of the Anglers Hotel, James has been using live crabs as bait to great results catching many bream up to 38cm and has been kept busy especially after rainy days, which has seen the bream become more aggressive. I too have had much success walking the banks of the Nong this past month. These guys can sure pull some string when fishing with light gear, but that’s what makes the experience of bream fishing with ultra-light gear so much fun.

While the weather has been unpredictable around Melbourne the squid fishing in many locations around Port Phillip Bay has consistently been solid. I’ve managed to catch my fair share between Point Cook and Werribee. Michael Smith has had several successful sessions bagging out on squid around Altona, Campbells Cove, Werribee and even the odd trip around Avalon.

The conditions at times have been quite choppy, which has been tough going on a small tinnie, but Mick has persisted and been rewarded with many squid. Jigs in orange, pink and glow white have consistently been the stand out performers. Just remember to mix up colours if things get quiet.

That’s all from me this month, please share your recent fishing experiences around Melbourne and Port Phillip Bay so they can be added to next month’s article.

Contact me by email – alan@ fishingmad.com.au. Also check out my website www. fishingmad.com.au, and social media pages Facebook – facebook.com/fishingmad. com.au, YouTube channel – youtube.com/c/fishingmad and Instagram – instagram. com/fishingmad.com.au.

Putting in long hours can pay off.

News

Fishers to swap yabby nets for free Biggest ever trout opening Recreational fishers with opera house nets will be able to swap them for wildlife friendly open-top lift nets for free at any one of 45 tackle stores throughout Victoria.

Minister for Agriculture Jaala Pulford announced the buy-swap initiative today in Ballarat, which will help raise awareness of the impending ban on opera house nets in all waters, both public and private, from 1 July 2019.

“This is a win for our wildlife and a win for recreational fishers who get new yabby fishing gear for the summer season,” Minister Pulford said.

The program makes it easy for thousands of keen yabby fishers to swap up to three opera house nets for three free wildlife friendly open-top nets.

Open-top nets are permitted in public and private waters, so the rule

change next year will make it simpler for fishers who will be able to use the same nets regardless of location.

Opera house nets are associated with drowning wildlife such as platypus, turtles and native water rats, which can be avoided entirely if open-top nets are used instead.

Unlike opera house nets, open-top nets feature a 20 cm x 20 cm gap at their top, which enables air-breathing

animals such as turtles to escape.

“Victorian anglers respect the environment and want to do the right thing to protect our wildlife, which is why we expect the yabby net swap program to be a great success,” Minister Pulford said.

Research by the Victorian Fisheries Authority has shown open-top lift nets are very effective at catching yabbies.

The yabby net swap program is funded by the Andrews Labor Government’s Target One Million plan, which is investing a record $46 million to get more people fishing, more often.

A limited number of open-top lift nets will also be available at selected VFA regional events and handed out by Fisheries Officers on patrol in northern Victoria.

The VFA is distributing 10,000 open-top lift nets for the yabby net swap program and is encouraging people to take up the opportunity to swap their old nets before stocks run out.

Learn more, including where to find participating tackle stories, at vfa.vic.gov. au/yabbynetswap. – Victorian Fisheries Authority

What a trout opening on the Goulburn! Hundreds of people celebrated the opening of trout season in rivers by catching personal best rainbows from the Eildon Pondage down to Molesworth. Some of these fish were over 6kg and most were more than 3kg!

These fish were part of the biggest ever 24-hour fish stocking effort in the history of the Victorian Fisheries Authority.

A staggering 7 tonnes of rainbow trout released into the Goulburn River at 11 sites in the lead up to opening. And boy oh boy, did it work a treat! Social media was awash with photos of huge fish and happy anglers.

Youngsters holding fish

of a lifetime and proud parents keen to share the trophy catches with friends and family!

Local retailers along the river who provide services to anglers, reported busy trade that continued mid-week and for several weekends afterwards.

Families returned for another try and some people spent days on end casting lures and fishing bait for these ‘stonker’ bows.

The stocking was all part of the State Government’s Target One Million plan, which is investing a record $46 million including $9 million from fishing licence fees, to get more people fishing, more often. – Victorian Fisheries

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OCTOBER 2018

25

Glorious fishing during the season transition PORT PHILLIP NE

Wayne Friebe wfriebe@bigpond.net.au

After a long, cold and mostly dry winter this year, the transition into spring has been a little different from previous years. At the time of writing, we are still yet to receive any great amount of rain, but the persistent winds of winter have continued. Spring rains are often crucial to kick-starting the bay’s food chain, especially for the annual snapper

migration, so let’s hope that the predicted rains are spot on.

Many of the bay’s anglers have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the snapper season this year, and with Westernport Bay already producing some lovely fish at the top end in less than 10°C of water, the local anglers are getting very excited indeed.

Consistent snapper reports have been coming in for the past couple of months from the top end of the bay, especially around the piers and docks close to the mouth

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of the Yarra River. Anglers fishing with lures amongst the pylons and rocks have been doing particularly well.

This is a great sign for the start of the migration, as the snapper tend to head for this area of the bay first when they enter the bay from the ocean to feed.

Recent land-based snapper captures from various locations further south of the Yarra mouth, especially from Sandringham and Mordialloc have also got the local anglers excited.

It won’t be long before our local rocks and piers will be the place to be in the

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rough weather.

By the time you are reading this edition of VFM, more consistent snapper numbers will be moving along the eastern seaboard. And with some lovely resident fish already being taken in other areas of the bay, the signs look pretty good for a cracker season ahead.

The squid fishing still continues to be very consistent along the inshore reefs and also from the piers and rocks, although the windier days tend to dirty the inshore water for a day or two, which can slow things down for a short time. Mornington Pier has been by far the most reliable and consistent location for land-based anglers, and has recently produced some larger spawning models as well. Natural coloured jigs like red/brown and green have been the best, as well as UV white in the dirtier water, and black.

Garfish numbers have slowed up a little, but some good bags are still being reported with the use of berley in the quieter bays.

Silverfish and peeled prawn have been the best baits fished under a lightly weighted float, as well as maggots.

Big schools of salmon have still been harassing

the local baitfish population around Mornington, as they have done for the most of the year. Recently they have been popping up close to shore, and have been providing land-based anglers with some good sport on light line around

The Patterson Lakes system has been producing some great bream fishing of late.

This fish fell to a green Cranka Minnow.

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the rocks and jetties. Small baitfish profile lures and plastics are best, and small slugs that can be cast further are worth trying as well.

Patterson Lakes has been consistently fishing really well for bream for the past couple of months, especially throughout the canal system.

Small soft plastic grubs and hardbodies have been the most productive, fished slowly along the rock walls and around the pontoons.

While water temperatures are still low, the bream will move slowly and stay close to structure, so keep your lures in the zone.

Anglers have also reported a few nice estuary perch taken at night recently as well, mostly from the main river system. Good numbers of smaller salmon have also been taken from the mouth of the river in recent weeks, which is great timing for many anglers looking to get some prime snapper and gummy baits, and they’re pretty good fun as well. Small slugs and soft plastics cast from either point has been the best bet, and early and late in the day are the best times.

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PORT PHILLIP BAY PORT PHILLIP BAY PORT PHILLIP BAY NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION

Transit Only Zone Transit OnlyorZone No anchoring drifting Transit Only Zone No anchoring or drifting

NOT NOT TO TO BE BE USED USED FOR FOR NAVIGATION NAVIGATION

No anchoring or drifting

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No anchoring Nodrifting. anchoring Steer clear or or drifting. of ships Steer clear

Shipping Fairway

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WERRIBEE WERRIBEE WERRIBEE

Steer clear of ships of ships

PORT PHILLIP BAY PORT PORT PHILLIP PHILLIP BAY BAY PORTARLINGTON

Shipping Fairway

PORTARLINGTON PORTARLINGTON

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High hazard Fairway zone.

Shipping SteerShipping clear of Fairway ships.

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29

Fingers-crossed for great October weather snapper angler then this is the month you have been waiting for, with any good onshore winds generally producing numbers of big snapper.

While the dawn, dusk and night periods are great there are often times when some insane fishing can be had for anglers on the pier during the daylight hours when it’s rough.

As for locations, the Mordialloc Pier is famous but there are plenty of other locations to look at, such as Beaumaris Pier.

If you want to get your own piece of real estate then there are some excellent land-based snapper to be taken off the beaches off Mentone and Parkdale.

In these locations it’s worth checking the area in calmer weather to pinpoint the patches of reef and deeper gutters so you know the prime areas to fish towards when it’s rough and the water is stirred up.

Add to this by using a long distance casting rig, such as the Black Magic long distance rigs, and you will easily reach the prime areas.

PORT PHILLIP EAST

Lee Rayner info@fishingfever.com.au

I’ve got my fingers crossed for some great weather this month, as I am sure we can all agree that the past few months can well and truly go away. Lots of cold weather and one of the windiest winters on record, I think we just want to go fishing, and from the early season reports this month is looking to build up to something really good.

Snapper have been the main focus and for good reason with some solid fish being found for boat and land-based anglers.

While the snapper are the key focus for the next few months the squid fishing has also been great over the shallow reefs.

Out wider anglers are reporting that if you get a surface berley trail going while fishing for snapper there have been some good numbers of garfish to be found.

MORDIALLOC TO BLACK ROCK If you’re a land-based

If you’re in a boat ,the prime areas to look at over the coming weeks are places like the Parkdale Pinnacles and up around Ricketts Point, with big fish moving in to feed with the pinkies.

While the mornings seem to be the prime time in most areas of the bay, the afternoon and evening bites off these areas is often better as the snapper move into the shallows to feed on dark.

In the calmer conditions all the previously mentioned areas are still prime areas to find calamari in numbers.

Between Ricketts Point and Black Rock is a great place to be fishing this month, with a whole mix of pinkies and snapper being on offer as they move along the reef areas to feed.

Best of all it provides exciting fishing as one fish could be a tiny pinkie, and the next a 6kg screamer.

If you’re fishing any of these areas over the coming weeks it’s well worth fishing a few bigger baits such as silver whiting, squid heads and

whole pilchards as it will give the bigger fish a chance to get to the bait before the pinkies eat it.

If lures are your choice then now is the time to go to paddle-tail plastics in the 4-6” size or jerkbaits in the 6-7” size, as the smaller fish cannot eat them as easily – once again giving the bigger fish a better chance to find the lure.

While the shallows are good it’s also well worth looking at locations like the rubble ground that runs through the 14m area off Mordialloc and then the 14-16m area between Rickets Point and Black Rock.

That area especially is a great place to spend time doing some sounding as there are some very nice little bits of reef and structure that holds good numbers of fish at this time of the year.

They are also prime areas to be looking at early in the afternoon or later in the morning.

SANDRINGHAM TO ST KILDA No matter if you’re in the boat or land-based, the fishing in this area is great

during this month with land-based anglers finding great success off the Sandringham Breakwall, Hampton rock groynes and even off the beach, especially to the Green Point end of the beach.

Further north the landbased fishing off Brighton Breakwall has already and will continue to produce big snapper at night and during rough weather.

Out in the boats fishing out the back of the Anonyma Shoal and north from here produces some really good snapper during October, especially around dawn.

While further north from Green Point up to Brighton the shallow reef that is abundant in 4-8m of water holds plenty of pinkies and big snapper at dusk and into the night.

Squid and garfish have also been in good numbers all through this part of the world so it’s well worth putting in the effort on these for fresh bait.

ST KILDA TO PORT MELBOURNE If this month is anything like the past two seasons then this month will see some awesome

fishing up in this part of the bay, with the edge of the shipping channel around the Fawkner beacon being a prime area to be looking.

If the fish are there you will quickly know by the procession of boats anchored up in the area.

Here it’s often a case of sitting patiently until the snapper move out to feed on the flats either side of the channel, and when they do all hell breaks loose as anglers hook up all around.

Back in the shallower water close to shore the areas off St Kilda and Elwood have good reef bottom and attract big snapper at night in 3-8m of water.

This month can also mean a great area between Station Pier and the old Princess Pier, as often large schools of big snapper will move into here.

Either way it’s now definitely time to get the snapper rods out as it’s all about getting up early in search of the prized fish of Port Phillip Bay. Remember to cover up as the sun is out in force.

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Flick around for some flathead treasures MORNINGTON PENINSULA

Julian Frank

Spring has got to be one of the best times of year to be either out casting off your local jetty, taking the boat out or booking a charter for the weekend.

This month should be a cracker! The days are getting longer now, which is fantastic, and the weather will hopefully allow plenty of good days spent out on the water.

MOUNT MARTHA It’s snapper time and although last month saw quite a few fish caught from

our local waters the new season’s spawn are starting to move in. Reports of fish from Mount Martha all the way up to Mount Eliza have come into conversation, and this month should reflect even better results.

Fishing anywhere from 12-20m of water during the morning tide changes using fresh pilchards and squid will do the trick.

Plenty of fish around the 4kg mark are on offer, and there will be some bigger fish lurking out wide around the Mount Martha spoil ground and along the 20m line off Mornington.

Be sure to get the surf Kyle with a decent offshore gummy.

These Biovex Metal Scout vibes have been dynamite.

rods out and hit the rocks in search of snapper too, particularly closer towards Mornington.

If you’re looking for a good feed grab some lures and have a flick around for some flathead, we have been using a fixed sinker dropper with a diving minnow running off the end to snag some very nice size flatties out deep while slowly trolling.

DROMANA TO ROSEBUD We seem to be getting a heap of garfish reports from the land-based fishos. Safety Beach boat ramp and Rosebud Pier have been good but also Anthonys Nose would be worth checking out.

The average number of squid being caught in the last week has picked up. There have been plenty of bag out sessions reported but the sizes have dropped a bit.

Best colour jigs have been red, white and natural pilchard patterns.

RYE The word on whiting is starting to be passed around now. After all this winter the whiting fishing was fairly average, but fish were being caught around the White Lady, and out towards the top of the Pinnace Channel. Plenty of berley has been needed to draw the fish’s attention and squid strips are the best bait at the moment.

While you’re out this way certainly drop a squid prong over the side to hopefully hook up to some of the very large calamari that are about in the area.

BLAIRGOWRIE TO PORTSEA The pier has been busy both during the day and at night with people targeting squid, gars and salmon; there have been some absolute monsters swimming through. Plenty of fishers have been losing to these giants with some fish unstoppable on

light gear.

If you’re fishing out of a boat have a troll amongst the moorings to get hooked into some big sambos while they’re still about.

The weedbeds between the Sisters and the South Sands have been on and off for whiting, and squid seem to be getting a hammering.

Portsea Pier has had plenty to offer anglers this last month and there are no signs of this changing, with really good reports of big gar being caught during the late mornings and salmon schools cruising up and down out the front of the pier. From the boat has been fishing okay for whiting, and the best bait To page 33

Shane with a couple of nice squid.

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OCTOBER 2018

Here’s a nice mixed bag taken off Barwon Heads.

Plenty of gummies on offer for offshore anglers PPB OFFSHORE

Gerry Morsman

A late break in the weather this month allowed anglers to get out there and prove yet again what a fantastic offshore fishery we have for many types of species. One of the best things I have noticed

too much, but having a chat with someone experienced is a very good idea.

If you want to land yourself a decent gummy shark, there is no better time than now. Most people that are targeting them are having great success rates, and when you get something that peels drag and tastes amazing

make the finals. I’m talking about snapper. It’s that time of year and offshore is a perfect place to target them as they hang around before moving into the bays to spawn.

Another Melbourne favourite is King George whiting. Like snapper, King George whiting come into our bays in the warmer months to

Rock and over two days of fishing he landed four gummy sharks up to 15kg, which is pretty damn good by anyone’s standards. That’s not to mention the 20 odd squid he got dropping down a squid jig on a paternoster rig in the same spot he was targeting gummies. Julian didn’t use these as bait for his gummy shark, instead he used fresh parrotfish and barbers perch, also caught on the same reef he was fishing on.

Aaron Habgood and good mate Squidly were out targeting gummy sharks all day and had no luck, so they went back to the drawing board. From past experience Aaron said we need to go out at night when the moon is full as the big ones will be feeding at night, and the lads did just that and it wasn’t long before Squidly was in for an epic fight. They were fishing off Barwon Heads in around 45m of water using fresh salmon that a 30kg+ gummy took a liking to. Squidly smashed it on the rod and after around 15 minutes or so he was holding the fish of a lifetime that we all long to catch.

across a small one.

Reports say that dropping down a paternoster rig with a sinker and bobbing it over the reefs is the way to go. Even if you are anchored up you can just leave your rod in the rod holder and the action of the waves and swell is enough to entice them to have a go at your squid jig. Size 3.5 in most colours is working a treat.

SNAPPER We all love these scaley steam trains. You just know when you have one on and as an angler there isn’t much more that pumps me up than seeing that red shine swimming towards the boat.

This time of year on the reefy grounds all along the coast you have a chance of anything between 1-10kg, and having a good sounder could make the difference.

Chris Porter was fishing for gummy sharks over a reef in 35m of water near Gunnamatta and while trying to catch bait found himself with a big bag of pinkie snapper up to 2kg. This quickly changed his target species. Chris was using squid strips on a running sinker and

hook is doing the damage for Aaron. He reports that moving around after 15 minutes or so until you find the school is the key. These fish are pushing 45cm so there’s no shortage of fillets that will keep all the friends and family happy.

FLATHEAD I don’t think I’ve ever met someone that likes fish and doesn’t like flathead.

The beauty about this is that flathead would have to be the easiest table fish to target while offshore. They are there all year round and it takes nothing more than a squid strip on nearly any rig you can think of while on the drift over sandy ground. Head out in around 50m of water and put down a couple of baits and before no time you will be into some of the best tasting fish there is. If you are lucky you will come across tiger flathead which are one of the best eating fish you can find in my opinion. They are easily recognisable by their sharp teeth.

The season is only getting started and we have so much exciting stuff to look forward to. While most of the fish in the report I have written

Julian Rennie with a gummy. is that there has been a heap of recreational fishers getting offshore for the first time and having themselves a day to remember.

If you are a first timer heading offshore be sure to do your homework. Things like weather and how much fuel you might need are crucial, and make sure you have the correct safety gear required on your boat. I won’t get into that From page 32

has been squid.

OFFSHORE Reports of tuna have been circulating again; a few crew have spotted blue fin amongst

why wouldn’t you want to. It gets me pumped just writing about it. Another tasty critter with no scales that’s been hanging around in big numbers is squid, and catching them on the bottom in 30+ meters of water was definitely something different for me.

Melbourne is starting to see red, and no I don’t mean Melbournians are angry because the Bombers didn’t

do their thing, and with the water temperature not warm enough for spawning they are in good numbers offshore waiting for the right time to flood into the bays.

GUMMY SHARKS Julian Rennie had a cracking couple of days proving that he is becoming quite the gummy shark magnet. Julian anchored up in 35m of water near Seal

schools of salmon outside the heads.

Fishing the reefs will see you with a good catch of pinkies and occasionally nannygai if you’re drifting.

Use pilchard and squid

strips for the best results on a double paternoster rig.

Now is also a great time to find a good patch of structure, anchor up and set some lines for a gummy or two.

When drifting, the author likes to get his bait out the back as far as possible.

It will minimize how much the bait moves around from the rocking boat.

Flatties love lures. Trolling will help cover more ground and hopefully find bigger fish.

SQUID When fishing offshore for squid you usually come across a lot of arrowhead squid, which are a great bait for all types of species, but are not generally a desired meal like calamari. The good news is that there is a heap of calamari over the reefs at the moment.

They are in all depths up to 40m and you rarely come

reports that cubing pilchards kept them in the area long enough to land around 15 fish.

WHITING We all love a feed of fresh whiting and by all reports the bite has been hot. Aaron Habgood has been hard at it in between gummy shark bites, bagging out in no time around St Leonards. Using squid strips and pipis on a size 6 worm

will be around most of the year offshore, there are some big names still to come like kingfish. Kingfish in Victoria have started to make a name for themselves and to have them up to 20kg around the Melbourne offshore fishery is insane. Oh man I can’t wait to see anglers holding them up with huge smiles and that glimmer in their eye.

OCTOBER 2018

33

Snapper are finally here WESTERN PORT NTH

Jarrod Day jarrodday@iprimus.com.au

Finally, finally, finally, the snapper are here and although the bite throughout September was ramping up, the increased temperature over the past few weeks has really spurred the reds on.

September saw a lot of action in the top end of the port and there are still plenty of fish in this area. The two main channels (Bouchier and Boultins) have been thriving with snapper and with some real quality fish caught.

In today’s era of technology and fishing, you don’t really have to go searching far and wide on social media to find where the fish have been biting. There are many report pages and they can give you a general idea of where to head. However, you still need to get your timing right and fish the correct time of the tide to get the bite.

In recent weeks the bite in the top end has mainly been during the run-out tide. Of the reports I have been emailed, quite a few anglers report that the top of the high tide and two hours into the run-out has been the prime time. This is typical of snapper in these areas because as the tide abates they swim off the flats, where they have been feeding on the high, and drop back into the deeper

channels on the low tides.

Anglers fishing high up and anchoring on the edges of the channels have managed some nice reds up to 8kg.

If you’re up for an adventure, you can head right up to the top of Boultins where it rounds the back of French Island – but you do need to take care up here as the channels narrow and you could find yourself on the mud very quickly. Still, there are some very nice snapper to be caught in this part of the port.

If you’re not keen on traveling that far for a red, then fishing around Joes Island is a good spot to anchor the boat.

middle of the main channel and is a natural fish attractant.

Surrounding the island, the basalt rock makes a good reef and snapper are common to catch here due to the high amount of various foods they can scavenge. This area does become plagued with pinkie snapper throughout the season but is still a popular area for anglers fishing throughout the night for big reds.

Lysaght has also been producing plenty of snapper and as mentioned in September VFM, the barracouta schools have arrived and have been a welcomed by-catch as anglers have been turning them into

Pre-tied snapper rigs have been very effective in the top end of the port. be a good start to a hot fishing session.

Although the majority of anglers have snapper on their minds, at the moment the whiting have also been sensational. Not that they have stopped since last season, but with the increasing water temperature they have really spurred up over the past week. The best areas are Lyalls, Charing Cross

Flicking jigs about over the weed beds has led to some very good catches of calamari.

For those that don’t know, Joes Island is pretty much an island smack bang in the

Fresh calamari tentacles are dynamite for snapper.

fresh snapper baits with high reward.

This area does get quite crowded with anglers, as it is where the snapper have to pass to head up and down the port. Still, even if you’re in the right location, it is a good idea to sound up some fish before dropping the anchor blind.

While more and more anglers are turning to using fresh baits these days, finding suitable bait can still be a challenge.

Recently the calamari have been in abundance on the banks, and the ones that I have seen have been of exceptional size. The Tyabb Bank has seen an abundance of calamari on the top of the high tides. It is wise to set anchor along the edge of the drop and fish bait jigs

along the edge while casting squid jigs about. Of course, not everyone wants to sit at anchor to catch calamari, let alone fish for them using bait, so you can always drift throughout the area.

The Quail Bank is also fishing well but it is a little slower than Tyabb. These two banks are often like this, which is odd considering they are only separated by a 10m wide channel.

The Middle Spit and around the northern cardinal marker at the top of the Spit have also seen plenty of calamari being caught over the weed beds. They are a bit smaller than those caught at the Tyabb Bank, but do make the perfect whole bait for a snapper.

Catching 10 of these before a snapper session could

If you’re still keen on targeting whiting, the top end channels won’t let you down. and Irish Jack channels.

The water has been quite clean on the top of the high tides, and using berley can increase the chances of attracting a good school to the area. In saying that, it doesn’t matter where you’re fishing for whiting in the top end, berley always helps.

There has also been some good whiting show up

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in the eastern channel right down to the cut, but they are not thick in numbers yet so you might have to move around a little before finding a good patch. If you are going whiting hunting in the eastern channel it will also pay to flick out a squid jig, as the weeded banks harbour good numbers of calamari year round.

There is no doubting that it is a great time to

be on the water, especially now that winter has passed and the snapper have come out to play. Where possible fish fresh baits, but if it’s convenient to use frozen baits they are working okay.

It all depends on how much time you have on any given day. Try to add in the time to catch your bait before heading out in search of a red. It makes a difference.

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Be prepared as the invasion has now begun! challenging and bigger, then fishing the Western Entrance is certainly worth the effort.

The Western Entrance is a difficult location to fish due to the strength of the tidal pressure, but if you have a capable boat, preferably with an electric anchor winch, you’ll have no trouble. Ideally, you’d want

WESTERN PORT STH

Jarrod Day jarrodday@iprimus.com.au

Southern Western Port certainly is the place to be fishing if you’re looking for a fix over the next few weeks, and there are plenty of options.

Of course, snapper are certainly the highlight, and they have swarmed in, infiltrating every nook and cranny. Continuing on from last month, the Corinella area has been the top pick of locations, mainly due to the high amount of potential food items that flood down from the top end with each tide.

Caterson and their mate Rhys Withers set off down the entrance to fish near the Flinders Bank. After a few drifts the boys managed a plethora of fish, including your typical reef fish, some cracking leatherjacket, with the highlight being a monster gummy shark tipping the scales to over

Darren Hamilton-Moore and Rhys Withers both cradling a monster gummy caught while fishing the Western Entrance. Photo courtesy of Matt Caterson.

For instance, if you’re heading out from Corinella, make the run around Settlement Point to Coronet Bay and have a drift in 5m of water over the weed beds and flick a jig about for calamari. If you have no luck, run down to Reef Island and between the two locations – you’ll be sure to catch a handful, which is about as much as you’d need anyway.

Speaking of Coronet Bay, the whiting have been quite plentiful of late.

Fishing the high tides has been the prime time, with a lot of fish being caught from the mouth of the Bass River to Dickies Bay. This

A customer on a local charter with a healthy snapper caught recently. to be fishing either side of a tide change to limit the sinker weight required to get to the bottom, but there

30kg. For the number of gummies I have personally caught and reported over the past 15 years, you don’t

It’s not often you catch leatherjackets so big you could make a jacket from them! Photo courtesy of Matt Caterson.

Anglers fishing Spit Point have been pulling some nice fish, while those fishing the banks from Lang Lang to Tenby Point have also seen plenty of action.

In fact, there has been a considerable amount of fish caught in the evenings when the tide has been high and just about to abate. This area is a favourite of mine, not just for the snapper but the variety of species you can target or catch as a by-catch such as gummy, bronze whaler and seven gill sharks, as well as the highly sought-after mulloway.

Although it’s snapper season, it is nice to know that while fishing in the Corinella you are a chance for some real big fish.

Other anglers have also had some good success on snapper in the main channel out from Corinella Jetty.

During the run-out tides, snapper move through the channel and, providing you’re anchored along the edge of the channel, you should attract few, however it always pays to sound them up before dropping the anchor.

Elizabeth Island has started to show signs of some good snapper coming through. Fishing here is a little tricky due to the strength of the current, but you should be able to nail a few fish while fishing two hours either side of a tide change. The same goes for Observation Point, where it retains a depth of around 13m. This area is known for producing solid fish from

now right up until around December.

Of course, no matter where you’re targeting snapper, it always pays to use fresh bait if you can get it. I don’t mean from a local fish shop, I mean collecting it yourself along the banks of the port. There is plenty of calamari that you can catch and use, and it is only takes a solid 30 minutes to catch some.

The right bait, location and tackle equals solid snapper.

Matt Caterson with his arms full of Western Port gummy. Photo courtesy of Matt Caterson.

location is a great go-to area if you’re after a feed of calamari, though the tide can run hard at times, and a little berley in the water really spurs the fish on. The same goes for the southern side of the bridge too.

Fishing in around 5-6m of water from the bridge down to Cleeland Bight can be very productive for whiting and calamari at this time of the year.

If you are on the lookout for something a little more

are some monster fish to be caught. Although you can catch snapper, this section of the port is primarily gummy shark territory and by that, I mean from Buoy 14 down to the fairway buoy.

In the vicinity of buoy 14, 12, 11 and 5, providing you’re fishing the right stage of the tide, it is common to be catching gummy sharks over 15kg at this time of the year.

Local anglers Darren Hamilton-Moore, Matt

get to hear of many fish in this realm. It was a truly memorable catch by Rhys and a great effort by all those involved to land it.

With the onset of warmer water temperatures and calmer weather, the fishing is only really going to heat up over the next few weeks. If you haven’t dusted the cobwebs from the boat just yet, I suggest you do, because Western Port has already begun to fire and it’s only going to get better!

OCTOBER 2018

35

Blowing in the right direction PHILLIP ISLAND

Craig Edmonds

Some of the older local commercial fishermen claim it has been 25-30 years since we have gone through a period of such constant strong winds.

The weather we had over the winter months wasn’t just strong, it had a different direction.

During the winter months we normally get more of a west-south-west pattern with the odd north wind.

This means you can at least fish in the bay on the

incoming tide.

Northerly winds can be a recreational boater’s friend because it opens up the offshore areas, for bottom fishing anyway.

Traveling out further than a couple of km is a very different story and the strong winds take over and

James with a quality offshore gummy.

it gets very nasty. These are the conditions that have stopped commercial fishermen. It forced those who wanted to take the boats out to head offshore, something that isn’t normally done through the winter. For some it’s no surprise as they have been heading offshore for years through the winter, but for others it has been a pleasant surprise to learn there is a whole new fishery they didn’t know existed. Like in the bay, through that period you still get the odd rubbish cold water species but the snapper, gummy and flathead more than make up for it.

While we are now into what is traditionally the windiest time of the year, the days are longer and a little warmer, and that makes putting up with a bit of wind a bit easier. The wind is also a little variable and not as consistent out of the north, this means you can find a spot to hide and fish. Because of the winter it has been a bit of a slow start with very few able to collect their fresh bait until into the spring, or even on the run as they head out now for a fish.

Sometimes you just fall on them and get lucky.

Snapper reports have two similar patterns already this season, and some reports that belong later in the year. Fresh baits, squid, couta and salmon are winning so far as they always do this early on in the season. So, it is well worth putting in the extra time to head to Cleeland Bight and grab a calamari or two before heading to your snapper spot. While you travel down there go a bit slower and drop a lure or two in and you should pick up a couta or salmon as well.

The other pattern that is standing out from the reports is the snapper are almost playing with the baits and not hitting them hard. Many snapper are broken off early in the season because people see their rod tapping away and assume it’s a

cod or small flathead. At such times the anglers’ first instinct is to pick it up and tighten the drag before striking, only to find what they just hooked is a little bigger and trying to head away at a very fast rate.

I have seen 8kg snapper bite this way early in the season and you need to be prepared for anything.

The best reports so far have come from those areas I would call highways, edges of channels and gutters that the snapper will travel in on their way to the top end of the bay around Corinella. The channel from Tortoise Head to Elizabeth Island is one of the best areas, especially fishing the island side of the channel on the edge of the drop off.

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don’t forget to increase your leader size as they will be coming in with very sharp teeth and even 60lb can be no challenge for them. The other reports have come from

whiting grow this will no doubt change over the next few months. Most of them are being found around Reef Island and towards Maggi Shoals. The calamari are being caught everywhere.

Patterns help with picky fish LAKES ENTRANCE

Steven Pryke

Lakes Entrance and Lake Tyers have slowly awakened after a long dry winter. The Gippsland lakes have been full of surprises throughout the winter months. Who knows what is ahead as the water temperature rises?

LAKES ENTRANCE The lower section of Gippsland lakes has been unusually quiet, with the Lakes Entrance wharfs a bit hit and miss. Anglers have found some consistency fishing off the footbridge in search for King George whiting and silver trevally. Anglers have mostly targeted these fish using

a baited paternoster rig either baited with peeled prawn or fresh mussel. They are deadly baits, especially when fishing around artificial structure.

Further up the lake system, areas such as Metung and Nungerner have held good numbers of black and yellow fin bream. These highly wary fish have held tight to cover in areas like the Metung Yacht Club. These fish have been commonly targeted with either soft plastic grubs that have been cast up tight or worked out slowly with a series of hops and pauses. Over recent trips the majority of these crafty creatures have been holding deep in the cover, so blades such as Atomic Metals or Ecogear VX in natural

Tony shows that the early season can be slow but also rewarding. around Spit Point, Rhyll in the deep and a couple from the eastern entrance.

Whiting and calamari are on the improve, but still all over the place as far as consistency and size. I have had plenty of reports from those chasing whiting that there are hundreds of undersized ones in the bay but finding keepers is difficult. At the speed

Those chasing gummy sharks would have had better luck over the winter months and offshore. I am getting some reports from in the bay but lately they have been very small pups and even those that are of size are hardly worth keeping. The reports will improve once people start heading offshore again and we will start to see the 6kg+ models turn up.

Another quality blue-nose bream taken on a lightly weighted soft plastic grub.

STRAIGHT TO THE

P

Small prawn patterns are always deadly throughout the Gippsland region, even in the cooler months. baitfish patterns have been highly productive.

LAKE TYRES Lake Tyers has been testing throughout the cooler months. Locating fish has been the easier part. The schooling bream have been extremely picky and have been hard to work out a pattern for consistent success. The main lake basin has held reasonable numbers of bream while areas such as the power lines have been yielding scattered bream around the deeper margins. Small blades and heavily weighted soft plastics have been the best recently, particularly small soft plastic grubs. Further upstream the edges of the Nowa Nowa arm have begun to warm, and the

winter flathead have pushed up on to the edges in search of warmer water and an easy feed. Small soft plastic paddle tails and minnow style plastics have been the most productive. A key to repeated success has been to fish small soft plastics, as the flathead are not completely in feeding mode. Small plastics offer an easy bite-size meal for these ambush hunters.

HAVE YOU BEEN FISHING? If you have been out for a fish lately and have a great pic, please send it to stevenprykefishing@gmail. com with a short description and you could be in the next edition of Vic & Tas Fishing Monthly.

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One of Victoria’s best wild trout fisheries is the Goulburn River, and it is by far the most popular freshwater trout river we have to offer. With excellent populations of brown and rainbow trout, you can see why this waterway is a fan favourite for bait, lure and fly fishos.

Recently Fisheries have been putting huge efforts into this waterway by stocking it with brood stock rainbows up to 6kg. Although they aren’t

THE GEAR Flyfishos like to fish light, and a 3wt on smaller fish is one of the best ways to enjoy this in the skinnier sections and back waters. A standard 5-6wt outfit for flyfishers is generally the go though, as it’s quite a wide river and long casts are needed the majority of the time. Bait and spin guys like a 2-4kg spin stick with a 2500 sized reel.

THE RIG Using a dry fly as an indicator with a nymph trailing is a very effective way if it’s the long wand you choose.

Otherwise bait fishos like

flow and current of the river works wonders. Fish that are a long way downstream will smell the food coming down the river and will follow the scent until they find the source, which will be where you are fishing.

Lure fishers need to be on the move. Unlike bait fishing, it’s up to you to actively find the fish. Work an area and cast to all the likely spots, then move onto the next hole.

You’ll eventually find fish doing this.

MOTHER NATURE The river can be up and down with high flow times.

Be careful when wading the

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Weesky with a thumping rainbow caught on a soft plastic that tipped the scales at just over 10lb. This is one of those brood stock fish from Fisheries, but at this size who wouldn’t be happy! wild fish, they are massive and provide excellent fun even for the purists. I suggest getting down there and giving it a go. You won’t regret it.

PRIME TIME This year those brood stock fish went in just before the trout opening. So hopefully this is will happen every year.

The summer months provide excellent dry flyfishing with hoppers.

When summer turns to autumn and the water cools, this is one of my favourite times to get out there spinning and flyfishing.

to use light sinkers casting upstream and bouncing them along the bottom in the runs, just getting that bait to tumble back down the run while you retrieve the line back.

BAIT AND LURES Hardbodies such as Lucky Craft Flash Minnows are deadly here on trout of all sizes. Maggots fished under a float with the use of berley is almost a sure thing.

The use of berley in the flow of the river will bring the fish to you.

BEST METHOD If you’re bait fishing, berley is a must. Using the

banks as the flow can get quite fast, and the last thing you want is to go head over heels in the river with your waders filling up with water. Always wade with care.

Watch out for snakes during summer, as there will be plenty around along the banks. If you do see one, let it be and walk around it if possible.

HOT TIP Adding a bit of scent to your baits and berley is a good idea. Adding some strawberry essence to a breadcrumb mix is deadly and will improve your catch rate ten-fold.

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OCTOBER 2018

39

Other species make up for bream scarcity GIPPSLAND LAKES

Brett Geddes b.geddes@bigpond.com

At last some rain has arrived and there have now been some flows down most of the Gippy Lakes feeder streams.

A lot of the stream rises are probably snowmelt, although I noticed the Latrobe River was flowing stronger and much dirtier the other day after the hills around Mount Baw Baw got a solid drenching.

This drought is far from over, and because of

MAKE THE GIPPSLAND LAKES GREAT AGAIN I want to give a big shout to David Warren who is the President of the Gippsland Lakes Recreational Alliance.

David and his wife Jackie volunteer up to 12 hours every day of the week and they have presented numerous meetings at Lakes Entrance, Metung, Bairnsdale, Loch Sport and Sale. The recent meeting at Lakes Entrance saw a big crowd attend, with kids, families and retirees of all ages.

Travis Dowling, CEO of Fisheries Victoria, presented the latest data on the fishery.

about how a respectful and appropriately compensated exit of the remaining 10 Gippy Lakes access licences could be achieved. David also went into great detail about the environmental impact on the Gippy Lakes, including extreme drought and saltwater inundation.

David says anglers can also help and some suggestions raised by a lot of people have included: a slot limit of 28-38cm, a bag limit of five bream per angler, a boat limit of 10 bream per boat, a closed season for spawning fish until stocks recover, and a total possession limit of 10

Thousands of trevally have now moved into the Gippy Lakes, with a few around the 35-40cm mark.

Black bream are a rare catch at the moment, as they seem to have gone into hiding. This big snag-dwelling fish was the author’s only bream for a six-hour session down at Hollands Landing recently. that this month’s fishing report is not a pretty one, especially when it comes to bream captures. Before the good news about those yummy mullet and huge schools of trevally, here’s some information about our troubled lakes.

If we use the black bream as an indicator, even with a reduction in commercial fishing pressure and an increase in the number of anglers practicing catch and release, there is an obvious decline in numbers.

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And they are ripper-sized fish too, with most of them bigger than the average in recent years.

As usual, sandworm is just about all they will eat and I find cured or preserved worm works every bit as good as fresh worm. In fact, the cured worm is sometimes better because treating the bait with methylated spirits seems to make them a bit tougher, and often one baited

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hook will get you multiple captures.

I’ve once again been asked where to get good worm, so let me repeat that when you get to Bairnsdale you need to visit Matthew and Wendy at their home address of 172 Macleod Street, behind the local KFC takeaway. You will see the ‘Sandworm’ signs set up in front of their house from 7am to about 6pm, and they will also tell you where the mullet are biting with the latest hotspots.

The Paynesville jetties are still producing mullet, just look for where the locals are fishing to find the best places to start. Be patient and wait for the mobile mullet to swim through, because in all areas they can be patchy, although I have seen a few massive schools at times. When the bites finally come, you may get very busy!

TREVALLY AND TAILOR Two other species turning up in ever increasing numbers

are the tailor and trevally. I’m quite sure they have moved into the lakes now that sea water has pushed right into the whole system. A trip to Paynesville recently on a mission to find the elusive bream saw my first 10 fish all tailor up to 35cm. They were lurking around a few large schools of mullet.

Later in the day I stumbled upon a few chunky trevally that have now disappeared as delectable sashimi.

At Metung recently I fished with Steven Pryke and we caught a trevally with nearly every cast on blades, grubs and small jigs. There’s a lot of small fish in the deep water, but I landed some much bigger trevs just under 40cm closer to the town jetties.

BREAM SEARCH Although the bream reports have been sparse to say the least, there is some rare good news. Lucas Smith fished the recent Nicholson Angling Club comp, but he

had to work and couldn’t fish during daylight hours, but decided to stay up and do an all nighter. He was bait fishing from the bank in the Nicholson River and scored a good number of mullet and quite a few nice-sized bream.

My most recent look at Paynesville was much better than the last visit, when I got an absolute zero score! This time I released just over 30 bream each side of 28cm. I caught all of the bream on soft plastic grubs and they would not look at any other lure.

Steve Hume spent that same day on the water searching the Mitchell River and he scored a nice lot of bream as well using the Hurricane Sub Grubs in motor oil colour. It seems the bream are really locked into chasing soft plastics at the moment.

Also that day, Justin Dingwall searched far and wide and got just one bream in the Tambo, but at least it was a thumping 45cm beast.

Fish back on the bite MARLO

Jim McClymont mcclymont@net-tech.com.au

Not much has changed since the last report.

The dry weather is still persisting and with little rain to put more water into the rivers, the estuary is suffering from the lack of fresh water. But eventually the rain will come and the rivers will start running, and with the extra water the estuary will get a flush and the cycle will begin again.

In the meantime the keen anglers who brave the wind and cold weather are managing to get some fish for the table. Reports have come in of estuary perch being taken from the

snags and structures in the Brodribb River. Good size bream have been caught up close to the mouth of Lake Corringle using sandworm.

Local angler Haden McAlister has been catching big bream in Lake Coringle using sandworm. Haden said the bream appeared to have just come into the estuary, for they appeared bright silver in colour and had spots where they had shed sea lice from their bodies. All the fish were over 35cm in length and were males. Haden said he caught eight bream in less than an hour and would have caught his bag limit but had to leave because of the cold wind. Not one to be deterred by a little cold weather he went back the next day and this time managed to bag

out with 10 bream, one mullet and a luderick. He reported the bream must have been from another school as they weren’t as silver or as big.

With the latest information it appears fish are starting to enter the estuary, probably on their spawning run, resulting in the fishing getting better at last.

The surf beaches as usual are fishing well with plenty of salmon, tailor and flathead on the bite. Anglers have reported getting big salmon using either surf gear or spinning with light gear and using metal lures. Offshore, weather permitting, is fishing well with plenty of flathead, gurnard, barracouta, pinkie snapper and gummy shark.

Amazing run of fish thanks to warmer weather BEMM RIVER

Robyn Sturgess

Spring is well and truly here. The past month has seen improving weather and an amazing run of fish. The river has made for some awesome fishing from August and continues to be a hot spot now.

Tailor have been caught up the river within 100m of the bridge. They’re being caught on frozen prawn and sandworm. The big hole east of Dollys Garden has produced quality luderick ranging from 29-43cm, with the best bait being sandworm.

Perch have been taken around the snags on hardbodied lures and the

odd soft plastic, in addition to this there has been a fair amount of bream.

The estuary is in excellent condition as the

entrance opened in early June and was still open at the time of writing. The warmer days will no doubt entice the flathead that

Perch in this area are taking to hardbodied lures and the odd soft plastic.

come on the chew from now until the cooler weather hits again. We should also see an amazing prawn season with the entrance being open for so long.

Everyone’s favourite fishing locations should reward them as the stock levels are quite high. The surf is producing salmon, tailor, trevally and golden eye mullet (fantastic fun on bream gear in the shallows at Py-yoot Bay).

Our Bemm River Progress Association conducted another successful fundraising raffle during the winter months with the prize being a Quintrex 370 Outback Explorer with 18hp Tohatsu and trailer, congratulations to the lucky winner. Thank

Perch can be taken around the snags. you to all who supported this event.

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Snapper season is kicking off on the east Coast between 30-45m.

Inside Mcloughlin and Mann beaches there are some thumping salmon getting caught to 6lb and plenty around the 2-3lb mark. There has also been some good-sized trevally thrown in the mix too.

Soft plastics fished on

CORNER INLET

Will Thompson allwaysangling@bigpond.com

Spring is settling in and Victoria’s famous southern calamari have turned up in huge numbers right on schedule.

Corner Inlet is one of Victoria’s prime locations for chasing calamari and this month has given us some absolute cracking sessions on them. The sizes are really good with heaps around that 30cm hood mark and some absolute krakens at 40cm+ as well. Size 3.0 and 3.5 jigs are a must to get down the bottom quickly and not waste time and also to

heavy 1/4-3/8oz jigheads have been the best way to target the salmon.

We are all obviously waiting for the snapper to show up and I can guarantee you they are there but they will be hard to catch until about the second week of October.

So get ready, snapper season is only a few days away!

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A cracking calamari measuring 43cm caught by Adam Lesiw at Port Welshpool on a Yamashita Live jig.

Claudio with a good-sized early season gummy shark caught in the Port Albert entrance.

combat the fast current that is present at Corner Inlet and Port Albert.

The best colours this month have been the red foils. Prime locations have been the Lewis Channel and Toora Channel with an hour either side of the tide change being the prime time to get a bag of squid. At Port Albert the calamari are going really well in the Port Albert and Midge channels.

The water temperature is still cold but rising fast and the gummy sharks have just come on the chew out the front with Port Albert producing some ripper gummies 13-21m around the corner out the front of Mcloughlin and Mann beaches.

Out really wide there are stacks of big flathead that can be caught on the drift with snapper snatchers and pilchards.

They have been caught

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It’s time to find the flatties The local estuaries around the Narooma region are starting to fire up after a lacklustre past few months with the coldish water, but with spring well and truly here it will only get better as the weeks pass by. Wagonga Inlet and the Tuross Lake

system are the places to fish with most species having a chew, but using a variety of techniques has been the key to more consistent results.

Flathead numbers are on the increase in both systems but the Tuross River has certainly been the pick to fish. With the slightly warmer weather of late, this has warmed the land up first and in turn the water, especially

in the shallows. Water depths from 1-3ft are a few degrees warmer than the main flow through the river and this is where the flatties are. Due to the water being so clear, long casts are needed ahead of the boat or if shore-based certainly cast your offerings way ahead of you. If it’s windy all the better as the cover of the ripples in the shallows will increase your

The sort of estuary perch that you can expect in the Tuross River this spring.

chances further. Smaller soft plastics and prawn imitations are the lures of choice, with blades catching fish too.

Up towards the main basin there have been a few mulloway caught on plastics, with Jonno getting a solid double with both around 87-88cm, so solid models for this system. These fish were caught on a relatively small presentation so anglers targeting them might want to follow that lead. Later this month the surface action for bream and whiting will commence though I expect it may be harder this season as both species wise up pretty quickly to techniques. You will still get fish but a little more work will be required.

At Narooma it’s big flathead time with fish to 95cm and bigger on the cards, with bait and lure anglers getting results. The lower sections should fish better. Concentrate around water depths of 8-10m outside the points especially on the southern part of the lake and use bigger lures.

You can expect a mulloway or two, I know of an 8kg fish caught there recently by a visiting angler. This fish was caught when targeting big

It won’t be long before these bad boys start hitting surface presentations with gusto.

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NSW South Coast

Flathead and whiting and bream, oh my!

MERIMBULA

Stuart Hindson

Merimbula and its surrounds are in the transition period from the cooler water temperatures that winter brings to warmer water and air temperatures during spring. This is certainly evident in the estuaries, especially in the shallows with sunnier afternoons sometimes making the water temperatures 2-4° warmer than that of tidal channel areas.

These areas are ideal to cast smaller soft plastics and hardbodied lures for bream, flathead and to a lesser extent whiting.

These systems have extensive shallow sand flats that are full of fish at this

baits for the whiting. A few fish are nudging 42-43cm so solid models that are a whole lot of fun and great on the plate. As the water warms even further it will only get better, with anglers using surface presentations like walk-baits and poppers getting amongst the action.

In fact there’s already been some surface action, mainly from bream with the weed banks in the main basins around the margins holding plenty of bream.

In the basins of both estuaries, flathead, bream, and blackfish are chewing quite well at times with lure anglers certainly seeing the best of the action. Pambula has seen some solid salmon and trevally in the lower river section with stick-style soft plastics rigged on 2g heads the go. I’d expect

Not all mulloway have to be big to bring a smile to the face.

some jumbo-sized flatties to 80cm plus in both estuaries, with water depths of 3-8m being ideal. Casting larger plastics to the edges of the ribbon weed will produce the goods but let those breeders go. There is the chance of

mulloway too, especially if smaller tailor are present.

Many good mulloway have come from beneath tailor schools so it’s certainly worth a few casts. The main basins of both estuaries are loaded with whitebait hence

the tailor and hopefully a mulloway or two as well.

On the beaches it’s been a little hit and miss with the calmer conditions, but that will change once we get some decent swell. In saying that salmon and tailor are still being caught but not in huge numbers.

This month will see an increase in bream, whiting and mullet numbers. Every October produces some solid results for those who put in the time. Fresh baits like beachworms and pipi are ideal with North Tura and Tura main the pick of beaches to fish. You should do even better with a little berley, but don’t overdo it or the ray population will drive you nuts.

Offshore the snapper are still doing the right thing, with most boaties getting a feed without too much trouble. Anglers using berley have been getting the best results, with chook pellets and frozen bread with tuna oil doing the trick.

Anchoring up on the edge of the reef and floating baits up the shallower sides of the reef has seen snapper to

side producing school fish to 3kg. One thing to remember with the kingies is they certainly bite best when the current is pushing hard from the north. If it’s only trickling south or no current at all the kingies can be hard to entice regardless on how good your offering is. If this happens, going down a few line classes in the tackle department can pay dividends. You’ll lose a few fish to the seals but you should also hook more.

Mixed in with the kings are bonito with some of these speedsters pushing 4kg. Those are solid fish in my books and aren’t bad on the plate if prepared the right way.

Inshore the snapper have been going great guns for months now, and this should continue. The close in reef at Brou fires up at this time of year, with fresh squid the best bait. Anchoring up here and using berley will increase catch rates. You can expect a few morwong and sand flathead if you’re fishing this reef. If you’re after a feed of flatties you should have little trouble, with the grounds off Kianga and Dalmeny holding fish. Focus on water depths from 35-40m for best results.

Every day is different, so just move around until you locate a patch.

The beaches have been a little hit and miss; some days

have been good while others have been very quiet. A lot depends on how much white water and gutter formations are present. Anglers that are doing well have been using fresh bait like live beach worms and pipi, and you can get bait like this from most local beaches. A little work has to be put in, but the end result makes it worthwhile.

Bream, yellow eye mullet and whiting are making up most anglers’ bags with some of the whiting pushing 42cm. The salmon action has been unusually quiet but this will change once we get the required conditions. There have been sporadic catches of these fine sports fish, but

Chris with a couple of solid yellowfin bream prior to release.

These fish are currently abundant in local waterways. time of year as these areas are the engines of the estuaries.

The fish get up there on the flooding tide, feeding on small prawns, yabbies and worms. A few locals have done particularly well using lightly weighted worm From page 42

flatties on the ribbon weed edges, so there must be a few jew getting around. The upper reaches of the inlet have been okay for bream and this will only get better.

Casting smaller hardbodies around the oyster racks has worked as has lightly weighted plastics. Those using bait have caught a few but the artificials seem to be working better at present.

At Montague Island the kings have fired up with jigs, live bait and fresh squid on flasher rigs all catching fish at times. The north end has seen bigger fish to 8kg, with the Fowl House reef on the western

3kg caught. There are not stacks of them but enough to keep you interested. If the reds are slow there are plenty of morwong, pigfish and

no quantity to them. Fish that are being caught are averaging 2kg or better, so sizeable fish.

We can expect a few more tailor this month, with mulloway a real chance as well on those moonlit nights.

Beaches like Handkerchief, 1080, Tilba and Narooma Main are all worth a look.

On the rocks drummer, blackfish and bream will still call the suds home, but a lot will depend on conditions as to how they feed. Fishing a ledge with white water is ideal, and the rocks at Dalmeny are perfect for this, especially if the seas are calm. Fresh cabbage, cunjevoi, crabs and prawns

trevally to take home for a feed. Most reefs are holding fish, with Long Point and Lennards Island down south probably being the most consistent. There’s been a few reports of kings on the surface but I haven’t heard of any caught. Hopefully this will change by next month.

Off the stones it has been tough. Some days the pelagics are there and in good numbers, especially salmon, but you go down the next day and it’s barren.

There is certainly no pattern to it, the only thing to do is to keep going and hopefully crack the day it decides to fire. At such times, casting whole pilchards on ganged hooks has been good with metal shiners up to 60g also worth a go.

We usually start to see bonito this month, and here’s hoping they are a bit better than last year. Better ledges to try are Tura Head, Short Point and the main wharf inside Merimbula Bay where the aquarium is.

A decent white shark just off one of the local beaches, estimated at 4m. are great baits, with berley a must. Expect these species to continue to chew over coming weeks with groper on the cards as well.

For the guys who target pelagics off the stones, this month is ideal. Bonito, rat kingfish, salmon and big tailor are all possibilities, with lures and live bait the best methods. Throwing ganged pilchards a long way out and slowly retrieving them will also pay dividends. Mystery Bay to the south of Narooma would be the pick, but the rocks at the golf course are worth a look too, as is the end of the northern break wall at the entrance.

OCTOBER 2018

43

Rain, rain, come this way MALLACOOTA/EDEN

Kevin Gleed captainkev@wildernessfishingtours.com

The Mallacoota Eden area on the far south coast is in need of a good drop of rain, with only 20mm of rain recorded last month. This time of year is known for being windy, and this year is no exception with very few boats venturing offshore.

Given the water temperature, 13°C in Mallacoota and 14°C in Eden, you wouldn’t really expect to see much on the bite at the moment. This is the time of year when keen offshore anglers prepare their fishing equipment, boats and trailers for the months ahead. Once the water warms the offshore fishing will start to pick up, and that is not the time to be doing maintenance.

Due to the lack of rain the entrance at Mallacoota is still closed, and it won’t open until the drought breaks. Unfortunately this is Australia, where the droughts can often last for months, and it’s not uncommon for them to last for years.

With the lake closed the summer months could be interesting as once the

summer northeast winds start blowing they are going to deliver a steady stream of sand to the corner of Bastion Point (the boat ramp). It could mean busy times dredging the ramp trying to keep it operational over the busy tourist season.

Fishing the inshore

reefs in the Eden area has seen a few boats venture offshore with a bit of protection from the wind.

There have been catches of snapper and morwong, along with a few sand flathead. On the whole things will only improve over the coming months.

Fishing the beaches at

The odd flounder is still being caught, and as the water warms they will be a more common sight.

OCTOPUS CIRCLE

this time of year on the far south coast is all about salmon and there is no shortage of fish about. A good gutter on a rising tide and you can expect to catch fish between 40-45cm. The common size odd tailor has also been caught. As the water temperature rises it will add a bit more variety to the beach fishing with yellowfin bream, sand whiting and other species starting to feature in the catch.

Fishing the Mallacoota estuary system has seen the black bream upstream looking for suitable conditions for spawning, and with little rain the fish will find their way well upstream. If you practice catch and release let these fish go where they are caught, as the common practice of releasing your five best fish at the boat ramp has ultimately taken them away from the spawning area. This means they don’t get to spawn this run and have to wait until the following year. It is always best to return fish where they are caught (it’s common sense really).

The odd flathead and flounder are still being caught, but on the whole the fishing for these species is slow and the long-awaited warmer water will see the fishing improve.

Silver trevally and

Greg was happy with his catch. tailor are still being caught, but these fish are always on the move so you can expect them to turn up anywhere at any time. Out towards the entrance area sand whiting are being caught, with nippers and fresh worm as the best bait choice for bait.

The Eden estuary fishing has also seen the black bream well upstream looking for the right conditions for spawning.

Near the estuary mouth

you can expect to catch yellowfin bream and sand whiting, with some good blackfish also being caught.

The lack of rain often sees good growth of weed, which fish love. The tidal estuaries see good numbers of silver trevally around the weed beds near the entrance. These fish can be caught on a variety of soft plastic lures along with fresh baits like nippers and worms.

Sizes: 6, 4, 2, 1, 1/0, 2/0, 3/0, 4/0, 5/0, 6/0, 7/0, 8/0.

Available in pre packs, 25 and 50 packs

This offset circle design is the perfect deepwater bottom fishing hook with paternoster ‘dropper-style’ rigs or normal boat fishing with cut baits.

When using this hook, anglers do not strike on the bite, rather the fish is allowed to run with the bait and as the line comes tight, the hook will roll into the corner of the fish’s mouth. This is a great hook to use for ‘lazy’ rigs fished from a rod holder as fish simply hook themselves.

www.gamakatsu.com.au

The old XPS, the original soft plastic paddle-tail, still catches plenty of fish.

CHECK THE HOME PAGE FOR WEEKLY SPECIALS

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ALL THE BEST BRANDS & PRICES AUSTRALIA WIDE!!

Visit www.anglerswarehouse.com.au 44

OCTOBER 2018

GIFT

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5536 3822

NSW South Coast

Dry conditions for Wallaga BERMAGUI

Darren Redman djsxstreamfishing@bigpond.com

Quite a few years ago, following drought breaking rains I wrote about how good the fishing was in Wallaga. Sadly, due to a dry period and the area now back in drought, Wallaga is closed to the ocean where it is proving hard to fish. With no tidal influence governing when or where to fish, and with no fresh stocks of fish

entering from the ocean, it is tough angling.

It is not all bad news, as this creates different opportunities for fishing.

Sight fishing along the western side of the lake is an exciting way to encounter some large bream. Try getting out onto the bank; with a stealthy approach around the rocky outcrops, you can sight and cast to fish patrolling the edges. Here small lures worked across and in front of the fish will often bring an explosive strike. Kayaking along the

Kayaks are a great way to silently stalk the shallows.

shoreline is also another way to quietly approach your prey and is a very relaxing way to fish.

The Bermagui River is on the move, with many species available. There’s been some good flathead in the upper reaches taking a liking to lures, and over the shallower sections on a rising tide there are plenty to be caught on baits. Around the entrance, especially late in the afternoon and early evening, tailor are showing in numbers accessible from the rock wall or rocky headland, with a few good salmon mixing in with them.

These salmon are also in very good numbers along the beaches, providing hours of entertainment, and are also easily accessed from the rocks up on the main headland around the Blue Pool. This area is also still producing good numbers of drummer, the odd blue groper, plenty of luderick and a nice run of silver trevally.

Out at sea it is time to hunt tiger flathead, as October is generally one of the best months to find these tasty fish. Anglers only need to travel a few miles east of Bermagui in 40m or deeper

to acquire a decent bag. At this time of year with the northerly winds prevailing, an excellent north-south drift gives you the best opportunity not only for the flathead but for your other reef species such as snapper, morwong and perch. This drift will generally take you over small reefy patches before moving back over the muddy areas the flathead prefer. This type of structure can continue for miles with the right drift, and more often than not only one drift for the morning is all that is required.

Further afield, Montague Island is starting to see the first of the kingfish for the season, which looks like it’s going to be a good one yet again. These fish are responding well to jigs and squid baits, with the odd better fish taken on a live yakka or slimy.

Following the good winter run of tuna, there still seems to be a legacy of small striped tuna around in various areas to keep anglers entertained on light sports gear. Surface schools can be cast to with small metal lures, while trolling intermittently will pick up the odd fish not seen. Trolling is also the

There is currently no tidal influence over the flats, but there are still plenty of fish to be caught. best way to go out wide over the shelf where schools of albacore, the odd yellowfin and bluefin tuna have been encountered. A mixed array of skirted and diving lures should find anglers attached to these speedsters and remember, wherever there is tuna there is likely to be sharks of various species in the form of makos, blues or hammerheads. Berleying can become an option for anglers wanting to tangle with one of them.

Following the continuous stocking by the Far South Coast Bass Stocking Association there are plenty

of fish to be found in Brogo Dam, with annual stockings of at least 15,000 bass along with the first release of 10,000 estuary perch last December by NSW DPI Fisheries in conjunction with the association. The fishery is in good shape for the future. These fish stock are as a result of funds raised be the yearly Brogo Bass Comp (BBB) which again will be a big one, as it is the 20th anniversary this year. Anyone wishing to participate in this event can contact Jan or myself on 0427 934 857. It is a ‘dam’ good comp!

OCTOBER 2018

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Your fishing Recreational fishing licence fees have funded 16 new projects, worth more than $1.15 million, to improve fishing opportunities in Victoria.

State-wide

Central

$107,545 for Fishcare to develop a ‘Get Hooked on fishing’ app for children to learn about responsible fishing. $205,000 to study movement and postcapture mortality of gummy and shortfin mako sharks to develop best practice techniques.

$200,000 to improve the Maribyrnong River fishery by installing instream habitat, stocking up to 300,000 estuary perch and implementing a better access plan. $32,614 to provide seniors from multicultural backgrounds with educational resources that will encourage responsible fishing.

Gippsland $110,000 to improve in-stream habitat in the Snowy River for native fish populations including stocked Australian bass.

$71,400 to build a staircase and landing at Settlement Point in Corinella.

Licence fees also fund extra Fisheries Officers, fish production at Snobs Creek Hatchery, VRFish, Fishcare and the Small Grants program.

Authorised by the Victorian Government, 1 Treasury Place, Melbourne

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OCTOBER 2018

licence fees at work

Š

Rob Atkinson

These projects complement others funded by the State Government’s Target One Million plan, which is investing a record $46 million to get more people fishing, more often.

Northern $88,000 to install more instream habitat in the Mitta Mitta River between Lake Hume and Eskdale. $44,840 to install woody habitat in the lower Goulburn River at three sites. $24,500 to seed boulders and install woody habitat in the Rubicon River that will benefit trout populations. $55,500 to install a floating pontoon on the Wimmera River in Jeparit. $54,700 to install a floating pontoon at Nhill Lake. $31,520 to construct an all-abilities jetty at Lake Marma in Murtoa.

South West $56,030 to employ citizen science that will tell us more about the age structure and movements of southern bluefin tuna. $24,132 for a pilot study of striped trumpeter in western Victoria that will improve our understanding of the fishery. $34,480 to establish a southern river blackfish spawning and recruitment monitoring network in the Gellibrand River catchment. $13,761 to develop a fish habitat hotspot in the Merri River and run angler education and training.

vfa.vic.gov.au/fishinggrants OCTOBER 2018

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WHAT’S NEW FISHING BLACK MAGIC KLT HOOK

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ZMAN MIDNIGHT OIL COLOUR

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Black Magic’s new KLT hook has further strengthened their premium hook range.

Like the DX Point before it, the KLT is made in Japan from high carbon steel, and is coated with a super slip, non-stick PTFE coating, just like the coating used on nonstick frying pans).

This hook adds another option to their most popular hook pattern – the KL hook. It features the classic Black Magic KL circle hook pattern but with a non-offset point, meaning it meets IGFA recommendations, particularly for use in tournaments.

The PTFE coating means less resistance which assists penetration and prolongs the life of the hook. It also ensures they are highly corrosion resistant.

Black Magic KLT hooks are manufactured in Japan from high carbon steel ensuring superb strength. They’re available in sizes 1/0, 3/0, 4/0, 5/0, 6/0, 7/0 and 8/0, and in two pack sizes – small and economy. www.blackmagic.com

Following a heap of angler feedback and suggestions, comes one of the most exciting new colours in Z-Man’s range of plastics.

There are two colours that consistently win bream tournaments, bloodworm and motor oil, and these colours appeal to different patterns in fish behaviour.

These two colours have been combined to give that attractive and subtle translucency that shut down fish just love, and the reflective sheen that causes fish to react.

With midnight oil, an angler can give the fish the flash of the bloodworm colour, combined with the high UV of motoroil, and this colour is now available across the entire of the Z-Man soft plastics range!

If you want to get that extra edge on the fish on a tough day, make sure you stock up on this exciting new colour, and be amazed at the results. www.tackletactics.com.au

HALCO SLIDOG 150

YAMASHITA EGI OH K

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If you’re into launching a lure over the horizon and looking for that bonejarring, nerve-rattling strike as you rip it back, the all-new Halco Slidog is just the ticket.

Halco has developed an ultra tough, sinking, sliding stickbait that is sure to give you a workout from all the GTs, XOS mackerel, large tuna and many others that try to take it home to their trophy cabinet.

Featuring heavily reinforced side walls, Halco’s legendary ultra tough 7xx fish rings and Mustad 7/0 inline singles for great holding potential, the Slidog 150 comes with a bite that matches its bark.

The lure is 150mm long and weighs 85g, allowing long casts on medium/heavy weight casting outfits, avoiding the need to take a boat into areas that might have you risking life and limb.

Look for the all-new Slidog 150 at all good tackle outlets. www.halcotackle.com.au

HOBIE MANUAL INFLATABLE VEST

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The new 2019 Hobie Manual Inflatable 150 Vest (Yoke) is rated for offshore use while wearing foul weather clothing. The design is very lightweight and extremely cool. The newly designed collar folds down the back of your neck and shoulders, eliminating pressure on the neck and lower head.

The yoke is manually inflated by pulling a small cord that activates the replaceable CO2 cylinder in the side of the vest. The Velcrosecured receptacle allows for easy access to the cylinder for replacement and for servicing, or for additional manual inflation of the PFD after the manual cord has been activated.

Features include: 150 rated (40kg plus); comfortable slim multi fit (up to 5XL); mesh yoke back strap (helps prevent the collar riding up the back of your neck); easy access storage pocket (great for keys, phone etc.); whistle; water resistant headphone rubber port hole; 25mm D-ring for switch killer tether; accessory attachment straps; interior pocket; UML Pro Sensor (includes armed status indicator); self service; cylinder re-arm kit; and fishing comp key tag/key tag clip. www.hobie.com.au 48

OCTOBER 2018

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Yamashita have released a new colour range in their top-of-the-line K series of squid jigs. The K body is tuned to have the best stable sinking posture, and it excels in rough conditions where other jigs struggle to maintain a stable fall.

Features of the Egi Oh Q K include the Hydro Fin (attached at the rear of the jig for improved stability when sinking); Hydro Eyes (flat eyes with Keimura pupil and glow edge); Hydro Sinker and TIN sinker (tin sinker with tuning holes for adding or reducing weight); Warm Jacket (thermo storage cloth that transfers light into heat); Hydro Body (pentagon design for increased stability when sinking); tuned double crown hooks (the back crown of stainless steel hooks are opened wider for improved hook-ups); and G-Flash lateral line (strong tape running down each side for increased flash and appeal).

Egi Oh Q K jigs are available in 10 colours in sizes 2.5, 3.0 and 3.5, with shallow and super shallow options available in size 3.5. www.ejtodd.com.au

SUFIX X8 BRAID

PRODUCT GUIDE

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The new X8 braid from Sufix is an 8-carrier braid constructed of thin HMPE Japanese fibres. It’s a super strong, thin braided line that has high abrasion resistance and superb knot and shock strength.

This soft and silky smooth line has low friction through the rod guides, resulting in silent performance and long, accurate casts. R8 precision braiding technology with a high tension weaving process results in a round, supple and smooth braided line with consistent diameter and quality. Easy handling, X8 is designed for both casting and spinning reels. Currently available in an eye-catching hot yellow, it comes in breaking strains from 6lb to 50lb in 150yd spools and 10lb to 65lb in 300yd lengths.

Sufix X8 braid will be on sale in all leading tackle stores from September 2018. www.rapala.com.au

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visit www.tacklejunkie.fish for the latest tackle news - AS IT HAPPENS!

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PRODUCT GUIDE

WHAT’S NEW FISHING DUO HYDRA 220

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Long and lean and designed as the ultimate sinking stickbait for large predators, the new Duo Rough Trail Hydra 220 is the lure to pack for your next offshore adventure.

Slim-profiled and with a fixed weight in the tail to maximise casting performance and enhance its action, the Hydra 220 features a dynamic skipping action when worked across the surface, while a twitch and jerk retrieve will see it move from side to side to enhance strikes.

A hyper realistic garfish imitation when worked across the surface, the Hydra is ultra long (220mm) in length to reduce fishing swallowing and biting off the lure, while its tailheavy 58.2g body weight allows it for long, tangle free casting on the water.

If you’re looking to call up the predators to the surface, the new Duo Rough Trail Hydra 220 is the lure to reach for. www.daiwafishing.com.au

SHIMANO OCEA JIGGER REELS

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MCLAUGHLIN’S ADVANCED BERLEYS 10 McLaughlin’s have 77 years of bait experience, and this has been used to produce an impressive range of berleys in the newly developed Advanced Formula range.

All Advanced Formula berleys are scented with secret formula flavours before being impregnated with colour formulas, which dye the pellets in selected colours. This combination means that when you put the berley into the water it not only attracts the fish, but the colour creates a trail in the water.

This trail allows you to easily see where your berley is and the direction it’s going in, so you can fish directly in the berley trail. This then allows you to make full use of the berley and not have to guess what the tide and wind influences are doing to the berley.

The Advanced Formula range comes in a range of flavours and pellet configurations, for maximum effectiveness on different target species and locations. www.jurofishing.com

SUGARDEEP 90 FLOATING BOOST

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The new Ocea Jigger from Shimano has made an extreme make-over compared to the beloved ’11 Ocea Jigger.

This flagship of jigging reels comes with a host of exciting features such as the Infinity Drive and Micro Module gear, which results in 60% reduction of the reeling resistance compared to the old model, and a very smooth retrieve.

The newly designed handle is specially engineered to provide a firm grip, and to provide the ability to give extra power without losing grip. The combination of the Hagane body and S-Compact body results in an immensely strong and lightweight (595g) jigging reel. And due to the eight shielded A-RB ball bearings and X-Protect it is highly salt water resistant and durable. With a drag of 10kg, fighting the biggest fish is not a problem anymore.

For more information on this and other new releases from Shimano, visit their website or look them up on Facebook (facebook.com/ Shimano.Fish) or Instagram (@shimano.fish). www.shimanofish.com.au

The Sugarpen Deep 90 has the same profile as the Sugar Deep 90 Barra Tuned, but incorporates an innovative slide system to cast further and more accurately. Unlike the SugarDeep 70 and 90, it is also a floating rather than a suspending lure.

The unique weight system uses a sliding tungsten weight on a rod assembly moulded into the body of the lure. When casting, the weight moves to the back of the lure, delivering greater distance. When the lure is retrieved, the weight moves forward along the rod to weight the lure level when paused.

Like the SugarDeep 90 Barra Tuned, the SugarDeep 90 Floating Boost Shaft Glide has a tight wobble that will dive to 2.5m, making it ideal for impoundment and estuary fishing for a variety of species.

For more information on this and other new releases, visit the Bassday Australia website, or check them out on Facebook at facebook. com/BassdayAus. www.bassday.com.au

DEPS NZ CRAWLER

DAIWA BEEFSTICK

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The 134mm DEPS NZ Crawler is one of the largest Japanese surface crawlers on the market.

The lure’s jointed movement draws big predators from afar, and the distinctive sound can be adjusted via the two screws within the wings or by adjusting the wings themselves.

The NZ Crawler can paddle back on a fast retrieve, which gives an almost vertical action on the wings as it goes through its arch, or the retrieve can be slowed right down for greater time within a strike area without compromising the action. The thick resin walls can take a lot of punishment, and DEPS have upgraded the NZ Crawler – along with all models coming into Australia – with larger, sturdier hooks and rings.

This lure has been specially designed to entice predators that eat a diverse range of prey such as bats, rats, frogs, birds and lizards. The flash blade not only provides an attractant but also adds to the length of the lure. www.dogtoothdistribution.com.au

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Tradition meets contemporary looks and styling with the release of the new Daiwa Beefstick. With homage to the traditional solid tip fiberglass rods of the past, Daiwa gives the much-loved workhorse a makeover.

Featuring a matt black finish, the Beefstick has a graphite/glass butt, a carbon-wrap lower section, and a solid integrated tip, this is a series that will handle the rigors of angling, yet has the sensitive in design to deliver anglers unmatched feel for a rod of its price.

Shaped, ultra sensitive custom EVA grips blend perfectly with the Beefstick’s reel seats, while a composite cork butt cap contrasts perfectly in looks with the matt black blank, for a modern touch of class.

With 26 models available, there is a model available for nearly every conceivable scenario.

If you’re looking for a modern twist on the rod that your grandfather had when you’re a child, the new Daiwa Beefstick is the range for you. www.daiwafishing.com.au

Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au OCTOBER 2018

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WHAT’S NEW FISHING ZEREK STREAM X

BASSDAY 13 SUGAPEN 58F

The Zerek Stream X is a beautifully crafted minnow lure that swims with an exaggerated beat to attract predators.

At 6.5cm long, the Stream X is an easy casting 8g and sinks at rest, allowing anglers to work this minnow in tight country where trout, redfin and bass reside.

But don’t think this lure is only suitable the freshwater rivers and lakes; the Stream X is built with high impact resistant ABS plastic and componentry that make it more than suitable for saltwater fishing. Species such as flathead, bream, tailor and salmon will find the small baitfish profile an easy to swallow meal.

There are 13 proven colours in the range, from bright attractor patterns to the most realistic minnow colours you could ever want, giving this little gem of a lure a place in any smallwater tackle kit. www.wilsonfishing.com

SUFIX X8 BRAID

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The new X8 braid from Sufix is an 8-carrier braid constructed of thin HMPE Japanese fibres. It’s a super strong, thin braided line that has high abrasion resistance and superb knot and shock strength.

This soft and silky smooth line has low friction through the rod guides, resulting in silent performance and long, accurate casts. R8 precision braiding technology with a high tension weaving process results in a round, supple and smooth braided line with consistent diameter and quality. Easy handling, X8 is designed for both casting and spinning reels. Currently available in an eye-catching hot yellow, it comes in breaking strains from 6lb to 50lb in 150yd spools and 10lb to 65lb in 300yd lengths.

Sufix X8 braid will be on sale in all leading tackle stores from September 2018. www.rapala.com.au

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OCTOBER 2018

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The Sugapen is synonymous with topwater fishing, with its iconic forward-facing cup and slender profile that perfectly mimics a fleeing prawn. Bassday has now increased the Sugapen range to include a 58mm length model. This new smaller size brings the range to a total of four lengths, all the way up to 120mm.

The 58 casts perfectly due to its slimline profile which produces little wind resistance. The action is the same as the larger sizes but this has a more subtle presence. The lure can be wound flat out or with a pause and wind technique.

The new model comes in all the current Sugapen colours and two completely new ones. A red tiger-striped clear and gold tiger-striped clear with a pink head.

Check out the Bassday Facebook page (www.facebook.com/BassdayAus) for more information on new releases, catch photos and prize giveaways. www.bassday.com.au

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WILSON GRAPHWRAP RODS 17 The Wilson Graphwrap is a series of rods designed to be durable and go the distance.

Designed on a graphite composite core with a solid glass tip, the Graphwrap series leaps beyond normal expectations with its custom designed, power-giving graphite outer spiral wrap. This unique spiral wrap gives these rods incredible strength, which adds to the durability of these tough, ocean thug busting rods.

Designed in Australia to meet the demands of our harsh fishing environment, the Wilson Graphwrap series brings toughness, durability and user friendliness together in the one package.

For more information on this and other new releases from Wilson Fishing, head to their website or like them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LWilsonAndCo. www.wilsonfishing.com

WORK SHARP KNIFE 15 SHIMANO SHARPENERS How do you get the sharpest tool in the SLX

shed, to stay sharp when out fishing on your boat? Easy, just team up the Electric Knife and Tool Sharpener from Work Sharp with their Guided Field Sharpener and you have the perfect solution anywhere you go.

The Electric Sharpener is a 240V powered sharpener that uses flexible abrasive belts just like the professionals.

The easily replaceable grit belts give a perfect convex edge to any knife blade. Designed to cope with a heavyduty workload while delivering precision sharpening that won’t burn or damage blade steel.

But how do you transfer that precision sharpening when out on the water or on a camping trip? The Guided Field Sharpener has two diamond plates, two ceramic rods, a leather strap, and the all-important sharpening guides for fast, easy and consistent sharpening. The fixed guides create a constant repetitive angle to ensure the smoothest, sharpest blade possible.

Price: SRP $199 (electric), $67 (field sharpener) www.worksharptools.com.au

PRODUCT GUIDE

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New for 2018, the SLX series is the latest addition to the ever-growing Shimano baitcaster range.

This is a compact and highly versatile reel, suited to catching anything from bass through to barra. It features an aluminium Hagane Body, the same body size as the Curado 70, but offering the line capacity of a conventional 150 sized reel.

Inside the SLX’s Hagane Body, durable brass gearing delivers reliable cranking power and three SUS bearings and one roller bearing means everything turns smoothly. Casting is made effortless with the adjustable 6-pin VBS brake system, making it ideal for a range of different fishing styles and casting preferences.

A longer 45mm Throw Handle working in conjunction with two model options featuring gear ratios of 6.3:1 and 7.2:1 means that the slow and methodical lure worker and the angler who likes a bit of speed are well covered by the new SLX series. On top of this, max drag settings of between 5-5.5kg provides plenty of stopping power should it be needed. www.shimanofish.com.au

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18 visit www.tacklejunkie.fish for the latest tackle news - AS IT HAPPENS!

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PRODUCT GUIDE

WHAT’S NEW FISHING

All hyped up by the Team Daiwa Hyper rod range Although I simply love fishing, I have to admit that I have become a little obsessed by the humble flathead.

I blame the team here at Fishing Monthly when I arrived. They caught a lot of them and it was pretty tough not to get involved when most trips involved being connected to lots of fish in the 50cm+ category. My arsenal of rods to target them has gone from a single outfit to at least six, with a few failed outfits in between.

I have been striving to find what I consider to be the perfect flathead outfit.

The key features being: it must be a minimum of 7” long, have a rating in the 2-4kg or 2-5kg range and be a fast or medium fast taper (at worst it must be powerful enough to get that hook through the top jaw of a flathead).

Cost in many ways is also a factor.

There are plenty of top end rods that would be amazing to use, but flathead are a bread and butter species, and I don’t believe a $1000 outfit is required.

Additionally, money saved on a rod means more can be put into a reel, which makes more sense to me. I have come close on several occasions, rods have been 85% there, but in the end the taper or power to bend ratio for me has not been right.

Too stiff and the hook set is great, but the finesse at the end of the fight is lacking and fish are lost. Too slow a taper and

TESTED Final thoughts Have I found the perfect flathead rod?

I am not prepared to say that as yet, but I am happy to say that I am closer than ever. It will definitely get plenty of use over the next few months, as it is prime flathead time here in South East Queensland.

Aside from what I have already said, the one thing that the TD Hyper rod has changed my thinking on is Nano Technology based rods. You cannot question the additional strength, power and resilience Nano resins add to any blank, however in most cases this is at the expense of the taper of a rod.

Certainly not the case with the TD Hyper rods and definitely something I prefer and look for in rods.

Too see the full range of TD Hyper rods go to www.daiwafishing.com.au and check them out in your local Daiwa retailer. – Peter Jung

The author chose the TD Hyper 701LXS rod when looking for a rod to target flathead.

He matched it with a Daiwa TD Sol III LT reel and is very happy with it so far.

This also translates into the casting ability of the rod. Size 3.0 squid jigs and 3/8oz jigheads have been cast easily.

One tip however is to ensure the hook keeper is kept facing downwards when you are casting. I have had the line loop and catch onto it when I haven’t, which can result in lost tackle. I love the fact that the keeper is there, but just have it facing down when you’re not using it.

Value for money If how light the TD Hyper rods are is impressive then their value for money is exceptional. In my travels and during the obligatory visit to the local tackle store, I have consistently seen the TD Hyper rods selling for $129.99. This is not the price point I would expect to see the quality of this rod in.

There is also a reasonable range of options within the TD Hyper range. There are 11 spin and 3 baitcast options covering the majority of your fishing needs.

The combination of HVF Nanoplus graphite and X45 blank technology create a dynamic blank with a taper that the author prefers.

Although purchased to target flathead, the TD Hyper’s first outing was out chasing squid. the hook set power diminishes and fish are lost (on larger fish) with the hooks not finding enough purchase.

This is where the Team Daiwa Hyper rods come in. I am always on the look out for a distinctive looking rod with the above attributes and the TD Hyper series of rods caught my eye. A quick call to Grayson Fong (a Daiwa pro angler who is using them) to get the good oil on them convinced me that they were worth looking at. I decided on the 701LXS model and matched it with one of the new Daiwa Sol III LT reels.

The first time I used the outfit wasn’t chasing flathead. I teamed up with Grayson and headed to the islands in southern Moreton Bay chasing tiger squid. Far from what I had purchased the outfit for, but the beauty of a 2-4kg outfit is that it translates to throwing lures for bass or jigs for squid. The rod

was christened on a stonker squid and has since done battle on a number of flathead.

First impressions The TD Hyper rods seriously feel as light as a feather. I don’t have another rod in my gaggle of rods that gets close to the weight of the TD Hyper. Matched with the Sol III LT reel (also a lightweight design) and you have something that is pleasure to use all day every day.

Power so far has not been an issue, with several solid flathead putting it through its paces. I am not quite so sure how to express this into words, but the power seems almost effortless.

Much of the marketing around this rod range has been about the HVF Nanoplus graphite and X45 blank technology. The combination of the two technologies creating a lighter and more dynamic blank for the rods to be built from.

The castability of the 701LXS is exceptional. It comfortably casts a 3.0 squid jig or a 3/8oz jighead.

OCTOBER 2018

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Go Behind the Scenery

Tasmania

Contingency plans pay off this October TASMANIA

Kelly Hunt

Yes, it’s here. Yes, you know what I am talking about. Daylight savings.

All my avid readers know that I love this time of

year. Sunday 7 October is the day we change the clock forward, which in turn gives us more time to fish after work!

The sun is making its presence known a great deal more and we have the use of so much more of it. Not

only is the weather really starting to improve but so is the water quality around the state. It’s on the greater part due to seasonal conditions, but the ever-improving outfall from industry is also helping. The reduction of water pollution along the

squid have massive eyes so some big rod tip movements will attract them and then just let the jig free fall. This is when they will reach out and strike.

Starting off in a spot you will want to work the bottom over and raise the squid from their hiding spots. I like to count the jig down, and when the jig hits the bottom I have a number to work with. I will then subtract that number from my next cast and drop.

Then I have a constant starting point each cast. From here I like to give some big

good calamari off there in September and I am sure there will be heaps more when the ban lifts at the end of this month. These areas are also great spots to try for snapper as well. The areas to have a crack at a good sized snapper are plentiful in and around the Tamar. There were a few really nice fish taken in September and this looks to continue. The Tamar has been a cracker spot for big snapper and Damon Sheriff has a few amazing trophies on the wall to prove it. So get out and make sure you do a few things to give yourself a fighting chance.

NORTH COAST The blue green water of an incoming tide – I love it at this time of year and there is a lot of it. The sun gets over it and it just looks exciting and fishy. I drive around for work and I see it as I cross the Leven River in Ulverstone or as I come over Don Heads and I see it across Bass Strait. It’s exciting because it’s salty, it’s clear and it’s full of fish.

The dirty topsoil-filled outflows full of freshwater have abated from the rivers.

Reduction in rain means

northwest coast is clearly evident and the fishing is that much better for it.

This time of year is also when high tide fishes very well. The green/ blue saltwater flows into river systems and estuaries and so do the

fish. The freshwater flow from feeder creeks and rivers really slows and the estuaries come alive with some great fish.

We have some great examples of this really coming on this month. Port Sorrel and the area all along

to the mouth of the Tamar River in the north, Anson’s Bay and the amazing Georges Bay on the east coast and as we move south the Swanport and massive lower Derwent system. A lot to talk about this month, so let’s get started.

It’s still cold in the highlands, but fish don’t mind as Bryce found out.

The sun came out and Bryce Purton and Jake Morris found some squid in the clear water. less of both and the water starts to really clear up.

Saltwater species love this.

Squid in particular really revel in it and are a great species to target in October around the state, but sadly not on the northwest coast of Tasmania. I say sadly as there is a blanket ban on the catching and carrying of squid as bait in these waters.

Around the rest of the state the squid are fair game and you can find them in good numbers.

Spots to look for are weed beds or a sea bottom that provides a bit of cover for them. They love to hide out in some seaweed or a rocky crag and ambush some unsuspecting bait. You just have to put your squid jig in that spot. As you all know 52

OCTOBER 2018

rod tip rips and wait. If there are any squid in the area then you should know in a few casts. If you have a drift on you can work along until you find them. If you don’t have a drift and aren’t finding fish, move a short distance and try again. Once you find a squid there are normally several.

So getting a mate to cast over the back of where you’re hooked up will often have them hooking one as well.

You can do this a number of times and will often work the squid up off the bottom to where you can see them.

Low Head and the areas to the east are sensational squid fishing grounds.

The bottom and weed are conducive to good breeding grounds and the squid really are thick at times. Paul Hicks found some really

Be stealthy – don’t roar up to your spot revving your outboard and causing a lot of hull slap. These fish are flighty and will often spook early. Just slowly drive up and around your chosen starting point with your boat just in gear and minimal throttle on.

Sound the bottom and look for something of interest.

If you see something, set a waypoint and continue to trundle, often approaching from a few angles.

If you are really happy with a spot it’s time to work out your wind direction and current for an anchor drop.

When dropping anchor make sure you do it as quietly as possible. The noise of chain clanking over the nose of the boat travels for miles under water. Lift the anchor chain clear of the gunwale and lower it hand over hand until

the chain is clear. Even then lower the anchor slowly and don’t have it spear down and hit the bottom with a thud. If you spot fish on the sounder it is best to keep them in a good undisturbed mood.

Once you have your position settled and you are laying back on the anchor nicely, you can start your berley trail. The finer the berley trail the better when you’re fishing along the northwest coast. There are a lot of pesky by-catch species that will cause you some small amounts of grief. Too heavy or chunky a berley trail and you will attract the bottom feeders very quickly.

The skates and Port Jackson sharks are but two of many bottom feeders that will be a real pain. Their attention is inevitable, but by keeping your berley very fine you

Sam Ziesel has mastered the art of finding red gold.

will be keeping the scent and particles higher up in the water table for longer.

This works in two ways, it spreads and increases your area covered and also holds off the bottom feeders for long enough to attract the small baitfish. The attention of the small fish and mackerel are of great advantage. They provide a visual cue to bigger fish that something is happening, and the noise they make will attract others in for a feed. The bottom feeders will arrive at some time, but hopefully there is a big gummy or some solid flathead in the mix by then.

Now that you have your berley out and going strong, it’s time to grab the rod and reel combo you have chosen to have a go at the orange rascals that create so much attention. A snapper rod does not have to be anything special and the same goes for the reel. I use a 7ft Abu Garcia Veritas in the 6-10kg range. This rod is bomb proof and is tough as nails while still having a sweet modern blank. The tip is supple enough to self-hook on load up and the blank loads well into the reel seat when you come across that bigger by-catch. It is important to lift and bring a big slate of draught board shark to the boat quickly and get them up out of your trail with minimal fuss.

I like to use a 35004500 sized reel, and for the last 12 months I have been giving the ALX series

by ABU some curry. They have stood up to everything To page 53

Go Behind the Scenery

Tasmania

From page 52

and have proven to be a very good reel and are a great fit for the Veritas’ rod range. Braided line is a must and I have been using 30lb main line with leaders in the 20-50lb range. We have been using the FG knot to join the braid and leader and then terminating with a strayline rig at the very end. This is just a fancy

people may like to snell both hooks, but that comes down to personal choice.

The last point to mention is the sinker and how much weight to use. The weight will be dependent on what depth you are fishing in and how you want to have your baits present. I use bean sinkers and you put them onto your leader before you

Callan Jones made use of the bright day and clear water to get some calamari before the closure this month. name for a hook sliding on its eye up and down the leader with another tied onto the end of the leader. This allows for the use of varied size whole baits to be used, as the rear hook is a slider and then can be half hitched around the pilchard’s tail. Some

place hooks on. We vary our sinker weight to either fish the bottom or slowly sink down through the water and berley. You can even fish an unweighted bait if you prefer.

You can also bring a live baiting technique into your arsenal very simply, just use a ball sinker instead of a bean

and tie a single circle hook on at the end of your leader. I like a very fine wire ultra-sharp hook here, and Owner make some of the best around.

The live bait rig can get you up off the bottom when the bottom pickers are giving you a hard time. The sinker on your rig will slide all the way down to the hook and that is where it will be as you deploy your live bait. If you have been careful with the handling and pinning of your live bait they will still be in good nick and fighting fit.

When you lower them down you will feel the sinker hit the bottom, now you need to leave the bail arm open and grab the braid between your thumb and forefinger.

You should be able to feel the little fella down there.

Just let the tension on your fingers go enough to let them pull some line through your fingers. Continue to do this until you have 2-3m of braid pay out through your fingers.

Now when you pinch the line again they will be a way off the bottom and still tethered by the sinker still on the bottom. The line will have ran through the hole in your sinker and allowed the live baitfish to get up off the bottom and be in full view of the snapper you are trying to target. The livies will not be behaving normally, as they are swimming around in circles trying to escape, and hopefully the snapper will pick up on this and nail them.

While you are there with bail arm dropped and the line pinched between your fingers you will feel the bait swimming as its every movement is telegraphed up the braid. They will get sick of fighting and settle down a little. When I have been doing this myself I have often felt the bait get a little excited and go into overdrive. This is just before they get nailed, and is very

Sam Nichols found a hungry bluefin. exciting. When you feel your bait start to get agitated and pulling erratically on the line get ready to feel a bite and then let the line go. The snapper should then swim off eating the bait. Let the line pay out for a little while and then trip the bail arm and slowly wind up the slack. Circle hooks are designed to self-hook and you do not need to strike vigorously like with a J hook.

The great news is this outfit and technique will work for just about anywhere and at most depths. Of course the deeper you venture the bigger the lead to hit the bottom. Remember you are at anchor – this means the boat won’t be drifting so you don’t need heaps of lead to hold bottom, the anchor is doing that for you. You just have to think how slowly you want to present your bait to the bottom. Some anglers are allowing baits to slowly drop

and then very slowly rolling them back up and repeating.

This has your baits in the go zone for longer and negates the pesky by-catch.

The whole state is open for business for snapper fishing as the season opens right up.

The beginning of daylight savings means that anywhere in the state, a snapper session is on. These fish love a light transition period and some tide so get out your diaries and start planning a session with some mates now.

Sam Ziesel from the north has had some great success of late and has a few bits of advice.

“I have been pretty lucky, as there seems to be plenty of snapper out there. We have done six trips this autumn and winter out of Port Sorell and managed to catch snapper every trip. I find it is just a matter of finding the right bottom, and the time we take

to do so here is well spent.

I haven’t tried all over yet but I believe there is plenty of good bottom between the mouth of the Tamar all the way through to Ulverstone.

We have got them between depths of 28-64m, but I believe off Lillico Straight and places similar they will be in close to the 5-8m mark. The last trip we had the water temperatures were 11.8°C. I am using a Penn 650 Slammer with 9kg line and the small 250 Penn with 3.5kg line. We use strip baits of fresh salmon on small circle hooks and we sometimes use the whiting and snapper rigs (the feathered type). We are fishing with a light as possible sinker. Snapper fight well and they are good fun on light gear. Getting them up from 60m they go pretty hard until they are in the net!”

HYDRO TASMANIA WATER STORAGE INFORMATION Water Storage Information as at 12th September 2018 Lake/Lagoon

Metres from full

Comment

Trevallyn Pond..................................1.22...................................................................

Lake Mackenzie................................0.00.......................................................Spilling Lake Rowallan..................................0.00.......................................................Spilling Lake Parangana................................0.00.......................................................Spilling Lake Cethana....................................1.52...................................................................

Lake Barrington................................1.24...................................................................

Lake Gairdner...................................3.34...................................................................

Lake Paloona....................................1.38...................................................................

Lake Augusta....................................0.74...................................................................

Arthurs Lake.....................................0.90...................................................................

Great Lake........................................12.18.................................................................

Little Pine Lagoon.............................0.21...................................................................

Shannon Lagoon...............................0.01...................................................................

Penstock Lagoon..............................0.00.......................................................Spilling Woods Lake......................................0.43...................................................................

Lake St Clair.....................................1.33...................................................................

Lake King William.............................0.12...................................................................

Lake Echo.........................................4.45...................................................................

Dee Lagoon.......................................0.00.......................................................Spilling Pine Tier Lagoon...............................0.84...................................................................

Bronte Lagoon..................................0.88...................................................................

Bradys/Binneys/Tungatinah..............1.57...................................................................

Laughing Jack Lagoon.....................0.34...................................................................

Lake Liapootah.................................0.58...................................................................

Wayatinah Lagoon............................0.20...................................................................

Lake Catagunya................................0.53...................................................................

Lake Repulse....................................0.00.......................................................Spilling Cluny Lagoon....................................0.80...................................................................

Meadowbank Lake...........................0.61...................................................................

Lake Burbury....................................3.17...................................................................

Lake Margaret..................................0.44...................................................................

Whitespur Pond................................7.19...................................................................

Lake Newton.....................................4.73...................................................................

Lake Plimsoll....................................4.40...................................................................

Lake Murchison................................11.18.................................................................

Lake Mackintosh..............................1.81...................................................................

Lake Rosebery..................................1.45...................................................................

Lake Pieman.....................................3.38...................................................................

Lake Pedder......................................0.51...................................................................

Lake Gordon.....................................22.47.................................................................

These levels are provided for an indication of lake level only and can vary from day to day. For more up-to-date lake level information please visit www.hydro.com.au/home/Tourism+and+Recreation/Lake+Levels.htm OCTOBER 2018

53

Go Behind the Scenery

Tasmania SOUTH COAST SPRING SHELF Eagle Hawk Neck has been fishing very well during early spring and as we head into October we can expect more of the same. The water temperature has not yet started to climb – just as the water temperature is slow to drop it is slow to rise. The season and sun can be out but it takes a bit longer for the water temperatures to rise and for the east Australian current to have any influence on our offshore water.

This does not mean that it is not worth venturing out offshore and having a crack.

Sometimes you need to be the leader of the pack and not just follow what you have heard or seen on Facebook.

If you see a good weather window and can organise a trip at this time of year it’s best to just pull the trigger and have a go. Jonah Yick and his crew headed out in his vessel Mustang Sally and had a great day. They thought they would try and target some of the cooler temperate offshore water species. Butterfly mackerel or porbeagle shark were deemed to be the options.

They had not heard about too many gamefish being caught in the area, but they had noticed far less boat traffic off the fishing grounds.

They studied the weather and it looked pretty good on the forecast, but once they were out there it was not as

ideal as they had seen. This is how Jonah described the day: “The conditions once hitting the shelf were average despite the forecast, with 15 knots of northwest winds continuing through until midday. Luckily a patch of bluefin made for a good start to the day, with fish averaging 15-25kg. The 6” Brown Prowler in the shotgun was the standout, as it has been almost every trip this season on the spring shelf. Despite the sloppy conditions a berley trail was set, with one deep and one shallow bait deployed. A few ooglies were pulled up from the depths, while the blue sharks moved in as the trail started working. Late in the afternoon the deep bait was taken in 610m of water and young Sammy

Keeping a keen eye out is a must for success when offshore.

EAST COAST GEORGES BAY I mentioned in the intro that our estuaries come alive here in Tasmania during October.

They have had a good

flush out, the water flows are slowing and they fill with heavily laden salt water on the incoming tides. This triggers fish to spawn or finish spawning and there

Sam with another snapper that is destined for the oven.

54

OCTOBER 2018

are post-spawning fish and pre-spawning fish, all in different stages of hunger and school sizes. It’s a great time to get down there and try your hand at all the great fishing the place has to offer, and the many and various species you can encounter there. The accommodation is as varied as the fishing as well in St Helens, and at this time of year it’s very well priced as well. This whole area caters for shore-based anglers as well as those who have access to a boat.

Beach fishing at this time of year is a great way to pass the time and kids love it as well. They get to play in the sand and check out all the wonders a tidal sand line has to offer, and if a fish is caught well that is just a bonus. The well-known spots at Swimcart and Beerbarrel beaches are always worth drowning some bait at for a few hours. I like the area off Swimcart close to Old Man Rock. Matter of fact I have had some good days casting with a 9’ rod and a 4500 reel pegging metal slices off there as a 20 year old. It would be a sensational spot nowadays to throw stickbaits and poppers.

The trout fishing just down the road at Scamander River is a good option should

Michael Haley caught a few nice bream on a Zerek Tango Shad.

Nichols was loaded up. After a 20-minute fight with a couple of cracking runs, the hooks pulled. Bait returned relatively unscathed apart from being ripped down a few centimetres, with the bait leader and 450lb JEM Wind-on sustaining abrasion marks totalling 2m in length. This is what keeps us going back.”

That is a great example of how to do it. Look at the forecast and pack the boat for plan A, but also have some gear as a contingency plan. October is the month when you should have some tuna gear and some deep drop electric gear on board, and maybe even a sword outfit.

If the weather cuts up a little

you can troll some lures with everyone keeping a sharp eye out for bait or birds. If the wind drops out and you get a chance to hit the bottom with the electrics, then having the gear on board to do so is a great advantage. If it really glasses out it would be a shame if you couldn’t take advantage of it because you didn’t have a sword outfit on board. The new series of Penn 50 Inters make great all-rounders. They have a sensational bearing set that allows for effortless drops without issue. Loading them with 80lb braid whiplash and then top shotting them with 70m of 37kg makes them an option for swords, but also for tuna of any size. It’s

also a great outfit to have tucked away should a mako shark pop up and say hello at any stage in your fishing adventures.

The closing thought here is to have your boat packed neat and tidy with a section or area set aside for each activity that you like to do once on the water. Everyone will learn where things are stored and where they go back to when finished. No point looking around for the blue eye rigs or the crimpers when you know they were on the boat last time you were out. Odds are they will be on the bench in the shed or in that bag of stuff in the car back at the ramp. Save yourself this disappointment.

Sam found a blue eye trevalla. the weather come in a bit windy. There are some spots on the river to get out of it and try all your normal trout catching tricks. Some of the slower retrieves with a pause and twitch will find some great bream as well.

Hardbody lures that suspend are a good option here. You can stalk along quietly, cast

long, retrieve slow and pause for bream and trout but then cover the same ground with a faster retrieve for those trout that need a good bit of lure action to chase and bite.

St Helens and back in the bay the species list is as long as your arm. Silver trevally have been getting bigger each year and those fishing

light have been having some great fun on them.

A decent sized silver on light gear is fabulous fun and takes some landing.

Australian salmon will be encountered while using soft plastics hopping and dropping for trevally, and so too will some of the estuary bream.

Go Behind the Scenery FLUFF AND FUR The advent of some daylight hours and falling light after work will bring out the fluff chuckers. Yes, with a bit of extra light to play with and some heat in the air the insects will come out to play.

It is a little early yet for the fly fishers to become too excited, but they will start to come out.

Only just last week I got a little excited and went flyfishing myself and had an absolute ball. I used to do a little loop throwing when I was younger and enjoyed it very much. I do not profess to having any great skill at the art and when I was 16 fishing the flooded areas of Hastings Bay the first fish I caught I thought was a snag.

I was flailing away with an 8’6” Intrepid and a reel my Pop had given me. The line on the reel was cracked and old but it was helping me land the black and red matuka. Then after a couple of line strips I would have straightened out the mess I had left on the surface of the water and I would be fishing. I stripped in short little actions, trying to mimic a zippy little baitfish, when the line got stuck and I thought I was snagged. So I lifted the rod tip to try and flick myself loose off whatever I had snagged and a fish broke the surface and flipped about.

After a short excited fight I had a 2lb brown trout flipping about my gumboots. I was pretty happy with myself.

Fast forward 29 years and here I was heading down a very steep washed out track heading to a remote part of the Wilmot River in behind Sprent Pines. I was travelling the steep track by way of a 4-wheel motorbike, because the easy bit was getting down, the hard part would have been walking out.

I was very happy that the fly rod I had chosen was in a fancy case and the reel came in a nice neoprene protective cover. The track was very overgrown and extensively rutted. The rod was one of Hardy’s new fibreglass offerings and was the Siruss in a 7’ 3/4oz weight. I had seen the trend the last couple of years in the retro feel of fibreglass. I was more interested in a rod that would self-load and had a good short game.

The Wilmot was smashed in the floods of 2016. The landscape has very much changed from when I used to fish it. The river has been dredged with a volume of water and its width at the usual access points has changed a great deal. The pools and deeper sections are also vastly different from

pre-flood waters.

The ride in was pretty wild and the track is steep and tricky so it was good to compose myself while putting the rod sections together and screwing on the Hardy Ultralite CADD reel. I had selected some nymphs to fish under a dry fly on a dropper set up. I rigged this up New Zealand style, which is simply to tie the nymph to the bend of the dry fly. I chose a fairly bright smaller Chernobyl Ant style dry fly. I chose a bright version as I was using it as an indicator as much as fishing it. The river was running in sections quite fast so I tied the dropper back to the nymph quite short. This gave me a lot more control. I chose to use a tungsten bead head wet fly as it sits nice and straight under the dry fly.

Once I had my kit set up and ready to go I was off stalking some little trout. It did not take long before I found quite a few. They were laying up in the shade on the other side of the river. This area was also at the end of a small set of rapids and the water slowly got deeper and slowed down.

The fish were only small but they were a great deal of fun.

I was also quite amazed at how many fish were sitting in behind the bigger rocks and would only show when my nymph would meander and swirl in the water eddy and

Tasmania

Swimcart Beach, a great fishing spot for the whole family. get within striking distance.

These fish were in very swift flowing water and it was only by accident that I caught the first two in these positions.

Each time I would get to a new spot I would fish the rocks first as the bigger fish seemed to be in the faster water. It was simply a matter of making a ham fisted cast upstream and then mending a bit of line on the water in front of my feet and through trial and error have the fly

go past the big rocks at the right angle. The slower bank was even easier, I just had to get my flies upstream and hard into the bank and the fly would travel down in front of the fish as they laid in under the shaded banks. I really had one of the most enjoyable afternoons for quite some time and the fish would have been lucky to be a pound.

This was a real eye opening experience for me and now I can think of heaps

of places where I have been camping and racing that I now want to go back to and throw a fly. There are heaps that you go past and don’t even think twice. Last year I was up at Mathinna for a gravel rally and noticed the river there. I will definitely be going back with the kids and getting the little fly rod out on that. So if a ham fisted salt-water guy can get some real laughs and giggles out of the fly wand it could be for you as well.

DROP IN TO YOUR LOCAL QUINTREX DEALER! TASMANIA Lewis Marine

273 Kennedy Drive, Cambridge TAS p 03.624 8222 www.lewismarine.com.au

BENDIGO

Bendigo Marine & Outdoors 160 Midland Highway, Epsom VIC p 03.5448 3988 www.bendigomarine.com.au

GEELONG

Geelong Boating Centre 88 Barwon Heads Rd, Belmont VIC p 03·5241 6966 www.geelongboatingcentre.com.au

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JV Marine World 878 Springvale Rd, Braeside VIC p 03·9798 8883 www.jvmarine.com.au

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BAYSWATER Streaker Marine

461 Mountain Hwy, Bayswater VIC p 03·9729 8288 www.streakermarine.com.au OCTOBER 2018

55

Inland Fisheries Service

Bag and size limits IFS

485

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Our inland fisheries are amongst the best trout fisheries available in the world.

Over the first couple of months of this season, we have become aware that some anglers are not following size and bag limits. Of particular concern is: • taking undersized fish • exceeding bag limit, and • exceeding the number of fish permitted over 500mm.

The Inland Fishing Code supplied each year with your licence is a great pocket reference to keep in your tackle box. The regulations are readily available on our website, the InFish App and on signage at major angling waters around the state.

If our Fisheries Officers discover anglers not following these regulations, it will result in an infringement notice and fine of $163. We may also seize the fish.

It is your responsibility to know the correct way to measure your catch and to know the size and bag limits for where you fish.

You should keep something with you to measure your catch when fishing. If in doubt, we recommend that you put the fish back.

The correct way of measuring trout is fork length. This means in a straight line from the tip of the snout to the end of the centre of the tail fin. This is different from bream and other estuarine/marine fish that are measured from the tip of the snout to the tip of the tail.

Be very careful with how you handle fish before

release. We often hear “I kept the fish because it was gut hooked and it wasn’t going to survive.” Our regulations clearly state that you cannot be in possession of any undersized trout at our waters.

Undersized fish MUST be released, even if they do not survive. We cannot be any clearer about this – you must not possess them.

If the hook is a long way down the fish’s throat, the best way is to simply cut the line and leave the hook. Fish in this instance will generally survive if handled gently and released. Never touch the gills of a fish that you intend to release as it greatly decreases their chances of survival.

We manage our fisheries in line with objectives in the Tasmanian Inland Recreational Fishery Management Plan 20182028. We tailor our management to the individual needs of each fishery. Bag and size limits manage the total harvest and protect the breeding stock. Please follow the regulations and do your part in protecting our fishery for everyone to enjoy well into the future.

LARGEST EVER FINE FOR POACHING GIANT FRESHWATER CRAYFISH On Monday 20 August 2018, the Magistrates Court convicted a northwest man of offences relating to giant freshwater crayfish.

Magistrate McKee heard Mr Bakes illegally hunted, caught and ate the highly protected and threatened species from November 2013 to November 2017. This is the most serious case about giant freshwater crayfish ever dealt with by the Inland Fisheries Service.

Paul Charles Bakes was convicted of: • six counts of taking protected fish; • nine counts of possessing freshwater crayfish; and • one count of taking trout without a licence.

He was fined a sum of $8550 and $66.36 in court costs.

Information from the public resulted in a joint operation between IFS Fisheries Officers and Marine Police at Stanley. Mr Bakes admitted the offences and was charged.

Mr Todd Walsh is a local expert with 15 years’ experience in giant freshwater crayfish. Mr Walsh said it was pleasing to see the courts taking the issue of poaching the species seriously.

“I know of the hard work continually done by the Inland Fisheries Service in protecting our native species, so it was pleasing to see the Magistrate give a large enough fine to not only stop the defendant from putting the species at risk, but also serve as a big warning to anyone else that might think about doing the same thing.”

Our Section Manager, Chris Wisniewski said, “Before the banning of fishing for giant freshwater crayfish in Tasmania in January 1998, records show a wide scale decline in the population, especially in the number of large, reproductive adults. This decline was directly linked to those fishers targeting larger specimens.”

Anyone with information relating to the illegal taking of protected species can call the IFS on 0438 338 530, or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

CALL YOUR LOCAL DEALER TODAY Boating Scene

9 Edison Drive, Golden Grove, SA, 5125 Ph: (08) 8251 5225 boatingscene@adam.com.au

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Deniliquin Yamaha

252 Canning Hwy 167 Napier St Como, WA, 6152 Deniliquin, NSW 2710 Ph: (08) 9367 6555 Ph: (03) 5881 1461 david@dinghyworld.com.au

For more information visit www.stessl.com.au 56

OCTOBER 2018

The giant freshwater crayfish (Astacopsis gouldi) – a listed threatened species.

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57

Lake Tooliorook is heading back from the brink buried in wet mud and they too hatched in their millions, providing a ready made food source for the trout and redfin – not to mention an available bait for anglers to simply net.

Currently redfin captures remain a much

CRATER LAKES

Rod Shepherd

Thanks to a very long and wet winter, many of the lakes in the southwest have received a much needed top-up and as far as I’m concerned, no more so than Lake Tooliorook.

For those not in the know, Lake Tooliorook (or Ettrick for those old timers) can be found on the outskirts of the township of Lismore, which lies in southwestern Victoria.

The town of Lismore is located just 95km west of Geelong on the Hamilton Highway (B140), and the lake itself can be found just 4km south on the Camperdown Road.

When full, Tooliorook is 40 hectares in size and

The lake looking west with Mount Elephant in the background.

A deep diving Pontoon 21 Greedy Guts worked well on this brown. has a capacity of 14600 megalitres. The lake in somewhat circular in shape and the bottom is made up primarily of sand and aquatic weed. The lake is almost entirely surrounded by farmland.

In recent history, Lake Tooliorook saw uncertain times, and when the locals

stated that it would take several years for the lake to fill from the last drought in 2004, one winter’s rain in 2010 filled the lake in a little over three months. In late November of that year Fisheries Victoria stocked the lake with 10,000 yearling rainbow trout as part of their drought

recovery program. By Easter break the following year the fish were already approaching 40cm in length – now that’s an exceptional growth rate for such a short period of time.

Prior to that, annual stocking took place until 2004 when below average winter rainfall over several years made the lake unviable for any future stocking of salmonoids. After 2010, when applicable, Fisheries would restock salmonoids in late spring.

Soon after, many anglers fishing from boats or casting a line from the bank began trying their luck. The trout were a tad on the small side but the lake was literally swarming with small redfin that quickly grew. It seems that the eggs survived in the wet but exposed muddy bottom during the previous year’s drought, and once the rains came, the eggs hatched and the reddies were in plague proportions.

This didn’t affect the stocked trout’s growth rate one little bit, and all species seemed to thrive.

This included the lake’s population of native gudgeon. Their eggs also survived the bad years

Shady picnic tables and a playground to keep non-anglers entertained. debated subject.

The previous low levels must have had an effect on the population but some

Thanks to the Corangamite Shire and many volunteers, the Lake Tooliorook reserve is well set up for a basic campground. Unpowered camping is available on a first come, first serve basis and costs $10 per night. Either ring one of the numbers on the sign that can be found on the toilet/shower block, or pay the ranger who pops in most mornings to collect fees.

Campfires are allowed in designated areas.

There is a decent toilet/shower block, and the water is solar heated. There is also a playground plus seating and tables within the reserve. A sheltered fish cleaning facility can be found close by the single lane concrete boat launching ramp and jetties.

Just a few kilometres away is the tiny township of Lismore, which has basic facilities for those spending a day or three at the reserve and who require some basic supplies. Approximately 30km south lies the larger town of Camperdown, where nearly all the facilities you could possibly need can be found, including banks, two large supermarkets, chemists and pubs.

OCTOBER 2018

will breed en masse again.

So my first trip in some time occurred in late October 2017 on a

Tooliorook’s information board and map.

LAKE TOOLIOROOK CAMPING FACILITIES

58

anglers state that they have caught some while others say that the reddies have disappeared. I’m sure this subject will be sorted by the end of this year. I’m personally betting that some of these tough little buggers are still around and

The concrete boat ramp and jetties. There are plenty of places to tie up the boat or have a fish from.

(then) all too rare warm and sunny day. Except for waters less than 2m in depth, which occurs mostly around the lake’s fringes, the remaining bottom has abundant aquatic weed growth. The reason that the shallower waters are mostly weed free is because the lake stayed at about 50% full for some months before a very wet September topped the lake up close to full. Aquatic weed simply had no time to establish itself here, so this will benefit fly anglers and lure casters working from the bank.

In depths exceeding 2.5m the weed is there and quite thick but growing close to the bottom. The deepest part of the lake is currently 4.9m according to my sounder, and the

weed is rather erratic in growth. It can quickly rise up over 2m from the bottom before dropping right away again, but the highest my sounder showed for weed growth still left 2-3m of weed-free water.

Even though the warmer weather is approaching this weed growth should die off further, as this lake is often turbid due to windy

and soft plastics at home, unless you plan to slow roll them close to the surface.

Fishing initially with Loftys Cobra lures in white I managed to land three rainbows that had been recently released but already surpassed the legal length of 30cm, which is a great sign that plenty of food is on offer for all fish species. The bonus

An angler trying his luck from one of the two jetties.

A trio of rainbows taken on a Loftys Cobra prior to release. weather, so not a great deal of sunlight can penetrate the depths even in this shallow lake.

Until this happens, leave the sinking fly line, deep diving minnow lures

was casting a Pontoon 21 Greedy Guts deep diver around the fringes of the deeper, northern shoreline; despite picking up the occasional clump of weed I managed to attract a 2.3kg

brown that was boated after a lengthy tussle.

I run two sounders in my boat – one aft and one forward with the transducer attached to the bow-mounted electric – and both sounders displayed confirmation that there were plenty of fish present in the lake.

The lake is certainly very fisher friendly for all anglers, whether or not you have a boat. Bank-anglers have a plethora of lakeside frontage to wet a line from.

It just depends how far you want to walk. This suits flyfishers down to a T. Otherwise, many choose to wet a line from the jetties at the boat ramp.

Boat anglers can cast

or troll lures as well as static baitfish. Fishing soft plastics is also the go; just expect to collect the odd bit of weed off the bottom every so often.

The best baits to use are the local minnow that can be collected in the shallows using a dip net and waders. Otherwise soak a collapsible minnow trap baited with cat food off the jetties. PowerBait also works at times, and scrub worm and mudeye should also be a serious consideration.

Fishing bait suspended a metre or

so under a bubble float or close to unweighted on the bottom are the methods to employ.

After a long, wet winter I hope we don’t follow up with a long hot summer followed by a dry autumn, otherwise this lake could be in trouble again.

As long as a decent amount of rain falls occasionally, especially next autumn, I cannot see why all anglers cannot reap the benefits of Tooliorook’s fish right through into next winter.

Here’s hoping!

The author caught this 2.3kg brown along the north shore.

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59

Springtime gold in the rivers ROBINVALE

Rod Mackenzie codmac@bigpond.net.au

As the weather continues to warm we can expect the spring bite to hit its peak, especially below the weirs

and regulators.

The golden perch have remained a regular catch and keep anglers interested

Pip Clement with a solid golden perch. These fish should continue to bite well as the weather warms up.

amongst the carp. Around Swan Hill the regulators at Kangaroo Lake, Reidy Lake and Cow Swamp all fish well as the water starts to warm up. Lure or bait makes little difference when the perch are on the chew.

Along the Murray River, Boundary Bend right through to Robinvale fishes well for golden perch on bait as the weather warms. Bobbing shrimp or small yabbies seems to be very effective in the pool water where it’s a little deeper.

Wemen on the Murray River has always fished well for golden perch on the edges of the eddies and backwaters close to the snags. The Wemen area is a regular bank fishing haunt for me should I crave a fresh feed of perch.

Below the weir at

Clinton Hann with a nice size Murray cod caught from the Darling River on a StumpJumper lure before the close.

Wentworth generally has a good run of perch during spring, with good mates easily bagging out on lures or bait on most sessions.

It’s a similar story as you head downstream along the Murray, as almost every

weir fishes well for perch once the waters starts to warm. Let’s hope it rains soon and our native fish have a good breeding season and the break they deserve.

To page 61

The final siren has blown for Murray cod YARRAWONGA

Tony Bennett codclassic@bigpond.com

With the footy sirens echoing in the distance to signal the end to another season, stumps have also been pulled on the 2017-18 Murray cod fishing season. The best we can do this time of year is pray for some magic autumn days to bring on the yella early.

Traditionally, in Lake Mulwala and adjoining rivers above, around 20th October is the fire up date.

With minimal fishing activity at present, it gives us a chance to look back over the past cod

season. The season opened on a weekend that had the weather bureau predicting worlds end! Dire forecasts with 10+ inches of rain for the northeast put a bit of a dampener on things.

Ultimately, localised predictions were that far wrong it was laughable and most anglers managed to wet a line.

Early season saw plenty of smaller cod captured, but as the weather warmed so did the fishing. The abundant amount of weed in the lake helped concentrate the cod and produced an incredible amount of meterys. Surface lures, wakebaits and swimbaits were all the rage.

It seemed the bigger the lure the better the cod. Cod to 126cm were reported on a

regular basis.

Mid May the plug was pulled on the lake in an effort to control the weed with

prolonged exposure to frosts.

During the dropping and eventual filling of the lake capture rates were exceptional,

Matt Pejkovic with an 83cm late season cod!

but in between pickings were slim due to limited access.

Those putting in kayaks had some fun but the boating brigade was left high and dry without any usable ramp.

Once full the final weeks of the season petered out with only the odd cod being caught by lure fishos. On the other hand, the bait fishing brigade were landing cricket score numbers with plenty of quality amongst them.

It’s going to be interesting to see how the new breed of social media fishos adjust to a lake with no weed. “Casting structure, what’s that?” you say. It may not be as easy as cast it out, wind it in.

A general reminder to all that as of the 1 September through to 30 November inclusive, the

targeting of Murray cod is not permitted, and the cray are off limits until next June. Fishing below the Yarrawonga Weir in the Murray River, through Cobram downstream to the traffic bridge at Tocumwal is completely closed to all forms of fishing.

Competition season is drawing closer by the day. If you are keen to get your name added to the Cod Classic, Golden Dollars, Dash 4 Cash, His and Hers Partners Classic or Cod Nationals mailing lists shoot me an e-mail at codclassic@bigpond.com.

For any info on upcoming events or fishing reports give us a call on 03 5744 3133.

We are yelling for the yellas ALBURY/WODONGA

Connor Heir

The past month has seen rather slow results across the board, but luckily a few fish still made an appearance for me, which is always better than getting donuts every trip!

They say that our native species are fish of a 1000 casts, and if we are talking about recent results than I would strongly agree. But, that’s cod and yella fishing, you have to be prepared to work hard for results.

The areas I usually fish are the Albury and Wodonga regions, but as I said they have been quite 60

OCTOBER 2018

slow. The Murray River is now flowing a lot more compared to when it was low in recent months. With plenty of structure exposed there are less areas for the fish to hide.

To better entice a hungry fish I’ve been trying to replicate natural presentations and bigger lures. Doing this usually makes the fish use their precious energy to feed on something worth eating.

I’ve spent plenty of time casting, being cold and sometimes wet. Before closure, I caught a greedy yella on a swimbait.

I think next cod season will see plenty of yella by-catches, but hopefully a few more cod!

I’ve given trout fishing a bit of a crack lately. The Hume Weir spillway has been fishing okay, but not quite as well as it can fish.

A few fishos have been getting some decent trout down there from what I’ve seen and heard, but I haven’t managed to hook onto one there just yet. I also managed to fish the Khancoban Pondage, I only fished it using lures but other anglers using bait such as worms and mudeyes did much better than me. Early mornings and late afternoons were the best times to be out, which is usual for trout.

The Hume Weir has still been quite hard work from what I am told, there

has apparently been the odd trout pop up for the people that are putting hours in, but it still hasn’t kicked into gear. I am planning to hit it up in search of some golden perch.

The end of cod season always means it’s time to put the cod lures away and get the trout and yella gear out.

At the end of September we had the Kuttafurra Challenge. I had the opportunity to fish Lake Eildon for three days with a couple of mates. It was great to fish for cod during the closed season, as at Lake Eildon you can chase cod all year round.

It’s time to find a few trout and yellas!

A greedy yellowbelly that couldn’t resist a swimbait.

Reddies are on the chew HORSHAM

James Perry Instagram: @James_Perry_Outdoors

Longer days and warming waters are hinting at what’s to come. October

outcrops, continue to move from structure to structure until you find a school. If you don’t get any interest within a few casts, move to the next target. This is a big lake and the key to success is to keep moving.

For lure choice look to start with a small soft plastic like the ZMan Curl Tail Grub; motor oil colour is always a winner. This is a great finding lure as it’s reasonably snag resistant and easy on the pocket if

Jason Meehan proving yet again you don’t need a boat to find the fish. is a fantastic time to fish the Wimmera region.

Redfin are schooled up and on the chew in the lakes and yellowbelly are starting to become active in the river. The biggest problem an angler will face at this time of year is knowing what waterway to fish.

Rocklands Reservoir is hard to go past for a weekend way – free camping and redfin galore make it a great location.

Targeting water in the 2-3m range should put you onto a school of reddies.

Finding the bigger models is the challenge. Work sunken timber and rocky From page 60

COD SEASON WRAP UP Well that’s another Murray cod season done and dusted and the threemonth closure should provide these iconic fish the respite required to propagate the next generation. The effects of the current drought might throw a hand brake on the breeding cycle, as there looks to be little chance of good rains and the follow up flows required to promote good recruitment. To look back on this past season in many of our local waters is to see a fishery that continues to feel the effects of the past two Blackwater events.

Fishing for Murray cod this season from just

you do snag up. Once you find a feeding school you’re best to swap over to a small vibe or blade, as you will be able to vertically jig and hop it around with more success.

If trolling is more your style, it’s hard to go past the old favourite Stump Jumper. Whites and silvers have become go to colours here, I can only assume these people don’t own a pink or purple stumpy.

The Wimmera River is well worth a flick if the sun is out. From here on in the yellowbelly fishing will pick up as the temperature does. First and last light will be the best times to target them, however they can be caught all day long. Keep an eye on the weather systems and aim to fish the quick rises of the barometer.

Spinnerbaits are the most economical way to fish the river and I have found the Spinwright twin spins to get the job done while being very snag resistant.

Due to the dirty water, gold or black blades are preferred over silver or

Be sure to pack a wide variety of lures. above Boundary Bend back up though Swan Hill was been very good.

Good numbers of Murray cod up too and over the metre mark were landed in these waters on both bait and lures. Once you get downstream Of Boundary Bend, cod captures quickly dropped away and those landed were small. This trend continued downstream along the Murray River through Belsar Island, Tol Tol and Robinvale. From there, Euston, Wemen, Hattah and Redcliffs was a similar story, with virtually no big fish captured the past two seasons.

It’s not until we got just above the Darling River Junction at Wentworth that we saw the odd sizable fish start to show. These have no doubt filtered back

down from further up the Darling into the Murray River at Wentworth and are slowly making their way back upstream. Very few large Murray cod have been caught in the next few locks down and its not until you venture into South Australia do you start to see large fish again.

The Darling River produced some very good cod on bait and lures this season, but without rain its days look numbered.

The flow has stopped and a long hot summer will see it fall back to holes where the last time this happened the fish started dying. It was sheer luck that the rains came when they did last time, but what’s the odds of that happening again?

Luke Preston with a healthy redfin. fluoro, and darker coloured skirts and plastics are a better option too. Purple, black or blue are always a smart choice when chasing yellas. If you’re out for a worm drowning afternoon, keep your bait close to the shore as most fish that are picked up are normally in tight to the bank where the root mass is. The best sections of river would have to be Big Water and Horseshoe Bend.

While not much info has been coming in from Lake Lonsdale recently, I think this is the lake to watch. It has had good volumes of water for some time now and the redfin that call it home should be of a good table size by now. Make sure you take your yabby pots too. This

is the pick of the lakes to snare a feed.

October can be extremely variable, so whichever lake or river you decide to fish, be sure to pack a mixed bag of tricks and change up you fishing style regularly until you crack the code. At this time of year it can be all too easy to get stuck in a slow roll retrieve mode while enjoying the sun.

Work the surface at sunrise and plan to run deeper as the sun gets higher. Mix it up with hardbodies, vibes, spinnerbaits and chatterbaits. Don’t get lazy, be sure to add some well timed twitches and pauses to your retrieve. It’s well worth packing your yabby nets as I’m sure they are out and about by now.

Expect to run into the odd redfin like this monster that Will Stevens caught at Toolondo.

OCTOBER 2018

61

Great trout fishing in a rising Tantangara SNOWY LAKES

Rod Allen

The lack of rain and need for power generation had the three main storages of Eucumbene, Jindabyne and Tantangara dropping in level over winter, but with a record snow season, things are beginning to change. Eucumbene and Jindabyne have both steadied, while Tantangara has been slowly rising into the meadows and tussocks as the snowmelt makes its way into the lake.

TANTANGARA Tantangara has been a joy to fish and a great alternative to the muddy shorelines of Eucumbene.

This rise in water is providing a smorgasbord of different food items to the trout. Tangy’s fish are keen to enter into these new areas to take advantage of the easy pickings. Shorebased anglers who walk high off the edge, looking for movements or nervous water in the grassed margins have done well by placing an unweighted worm, fly or small lure into the zone.

Casting soft plastics and working them with a slow roll or twitch and pause retrieve in amongst the grass has also been great sport.

Fly fishing the old faithful Woolly Bugger or pheasant tail nymph retrieved over likely soaks and drop offs or to sighted fish is as effective as ever. Boat anglers can

launch with relative ease at the earth ramp near the dam wall and can cover a lot more area and more remote banks.

Trolling straight up along the steep edge adjacent to the boat ramp and on towards the Murrumbidgee arm with Tassie Devils, Cobras and Bullets is producing some great catches for the boaties.

EUCUMBENE Lake Eucumbene is still fishing very well, with well-conditioned trout being taken on all methods. Bait

Flat line trolling with Tassie Devils, Cobras and wobblers has been excellent in general, but on those rare still glassy days, it will pay to troll a bit deeper with deep diving lures, or use a down rigger. Trolling at 8m around the dam wall with ford fenders, cow bells and a trailing scrubworm is a bit of a forgotten tactic, but has pulled some rippers out of late.

Flyfishing Eucumbene has been excellent all

Sam Watts with a stunning Tantangara brown.

The author took this healthy brown from Tantangara. anglers continue to take the cruising browns on the lake’s edge with scrubworms, grubs and PowerBait. Windy days on muddy banks are definitely the most productive, as the fish confidently patrol very close to the bank in the cover of murky water.

Soft plastics are a gun lure at the moment, especially when fished around the boulders and wave-pounded yabby beds.

winter and that trend looks to continue into and beyond spring. Tactics have been a little bit ‘horses for courses’, but the dull overcast days with a bit of surface ripple are perfect to confidentially search blindly with wets in

fishy looking areas, knowing its only a matter of time before a trout intercepts your fly. You can also take a more subtle approach of polaroiding the margins and flats on the still days.

Eucumbene’s trout are on the hunt, and rarely does a fish not put all its efforts into making sure prey item doesn’t get away from being its next meal. Large-profiled wets like Buggers, Simpsons, yetis and Fuzzy Wuzzies are the usual first choices. We are starting to see a bit of spasmodic surface activity, but not quite enough to dedicate the day to dry fly, but it won’t be long before

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A typical Tantangara ‘soak’.

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Launching of boats is restricted to old Adaminiby and the dam wall.

Buckenderra Holiday Park has put in a lovely new 130m long ramp that will cater to launching boats down to lake levels of 30%.

JINDABYNE Jindabyne is one of my favourite places to fish, and with great cafes and bakeries nearby it makes for an easy and convenient destination.

Huge Atlantic salmon to 7.5kg and feisty brook trout to 4kg are on offer and are the target of a lot of anglers.

The majority of the monsters are taking large

flashy lures such as Rapalas, wobblers and Tassie Devils either trolled or cast from the bank. Flat line trolling is accounting for great angling, with many achieving the Snowies grand slam of Atlantic salmon and brook, rainbow and brown trout in the one day. Salmon and brook trout hotspots are from Widows Creek to Wollondibby Inlet and from Hatchery Bay to Waste Point.

Bait fishing Wollondibby, Hatchery and Hay Shed Bays with PowerBait, scrubworms and grubs picking up good rainbows and browns.

Night or the low light periods of dawn and dusk been the best times with Jindy Buggers, Bushy’s Horrors and Matukas. Otherwise, searching the depths of east Jindy and with sink tips and intermediates through the nicer days is another a great way to connect to a fish.

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A prime example of a Jindy Atlantic salmon.

Warm water species are coming on the chew WANGARATTA

Robbie Alexander

October is one of the most exciting months on the fishing calendar here in North East Victoria. The water is still cold enough for the winter species,

before, so I believe the far upper reaches will definitely be worth a look this October.

Please be mindful of the private property up there and respect the farmer’s signs that say ‘no camping’. There are plenty of public camping sites up there along the roadside, particularly downstream

October is one of the best times to target trout in North East Victorian streams. This beauty was caught in October last year on a Strike Tiger trout minnow soft plastic. particularly trout, to be active and the increase in day temperatures and daylight hours sees the warmer water species, such as redfin and yellowbelly, starting to come on the chew.

TROUT During October the water is usually still cold enough for the trout to be active in the streams and lakes. Everywhere that holds trout will be worth fishing throughout this month.

One spot that I often recommend to people is the Ovens River upstream of Bright, which maintains a great flow for most of the year and holds a healthy population of trout of various sizes.

Another river worth trying is the Buffalo River in its upper reaches, upstream of Abbeyard. This area is a long way into the heart of Victorian high country, but is a real pleasure to visit and fish. The upper Buffalo River can be subject to low water flows during summer in drought years. I did not hear any reports of the river stopping or any fish kills last season, and it fished great the season

lower reaches this season.

Hopefully you anglers can prove me wrong.

The Buckland River is a real standout fishery and has been for a few years now. The Buckland River runs into the Ovens River at Porepunkah, just downstream of Bright, and offers excellent trout fishing.

The King River will be very much worth fishing for trout with the best fishing upstream of Lake William Hovell. The Upper King River Road, about Lake William Hovell, offers great access to the river, and further upstream there is another access point at Pineapple flat that requires 4WD access from either Mt Stirling or Wild Horse Gap Track. All access to the far upper reaches of the King River are subject to seasonal road closures

A small stream brown trout caught on a Rooster Tail spinner last spring. this month I will start with a small soft plastic, most likely a Strike Tiger Nymph in whitebait pearl, smothered in lure scent to give the redfin that little extra bit of incentive to hit my lure. Late October will be more likely to produce redfin.

YELLOWBELLY For some anglers October is the favourite month of the year to target yellowbelly.

Personally, I prefer November when things have started to warm up a bit more. However, I have caught plenty of yellowbelly over the years during October so it will certainly be worth your effort to head out and target them.

Yellowbelly absolutely love fresh running water. If

Terry Alexander with a nice yellowbelly (golden perch) caught at Lake Nillahcootie on a small live yabby last spring. closer to Lake Buffalo.

The Rose River, which is a tributary of the Buffalo River, used to be a great fishery but has declined in recent years and is seriously affected by low summer flows and warm water temperatures. It may be worth fishing in its far upper reaches, but I do not hold much hope for the

during October could see them come on the bite suddenly as well.

In North East Victoria, the best lakes to target yellowbelly are Lake Nillahcootie for the perfect table-sized fish and Hume and Eildon lakes for the big fat trophy yellowbelly.

The best river is by far the Broken River. The Ovens River did receive quite a lot of yellowbelly a couple of years back now, however, I have not heard of any being caught yet.

Hopefully this year will be the year they start to turn up on anglers’ lines.

Remember, the Murray cod season is closed, and it is very important that we leave them alone to do their thing.

that vary depending on the weather and snow conditions.

The fishing will be great up there in October, but make sure to check that the tracks are open before planning your adventure.

REDFIN The redfin fishing is usually pretty slow across North East Victoria during October as the water is still

A feisty wild rainbow trout caught last October in a small tributary of the Ovens River.

October can be a great time of year to target yellowbelly.

too cool. However, October is often the time of year when the redfin start to get active again.

I have caught redfin in lakes Sambell and Kerford at Beechworth during October, as well as Fletchers Dam at Stanley. Lake Hume can also produce a few redfin around this time.

If I do decide to head out and chase a few reddies

you’re fishing a lake like Lake Nillahcootie, and it is early in October when the water is still cool, and we get decent rain that sees a heap of water enter the lake causing it to rise sharply, you are pretty much guaranteed a yellowbelly catch.

The Broken River downstream of Benalla has some nice yellowbelly in it and a flush of freshwater

The best way to do this is to leave the lures, the cheese and the bardi grubs at home and bait fish with smaller baits such as freshwater shrimp and worms – genuine yellowbelly baits. You may still catch one or two cod by mistake, but your impact on spawning Murray cod will be much less than it would be if you drift down a river casting lures.

OCTOBER 2018

63

Yellas coming on the bite as weather warms SHEPPARTON

Nick Brown teamriverrats@hotmail.com

Picking the winning Powerball numbers is almost easier than predicting the fishing conditions in mid-spring, with some of my fishing records stating it’s been wet with flowing rivers and other years the complete opposite being dry and hot with no rise in water.

This spring will be a gamble like those, but hopefully we get some good warm days, a few thunderstorms and rain in between the warmer days. This would see a few rivers rise, which is perfect for chasing spring yellas in the Broken and Goulburn rivers.

In the lead up to writing this report the yellowbelly were slowly starting to chew, with the wattle trees in full blossom. Talk to any old timer involved in fishing and they will always say that is the perfect time to target the yellowbelly.

Those who had some early luck lure fishing have opted to downsize their lures, casting smaller types of chatterbaits, hardbodies as well as single willow spinnerbaits in greens and reds.

If Sevens Creek is flowing I would target the waters around where it enters the Goulburn River out towards Raftery Road. There are some larger sandbars out that way and there have always been good reports of fish being caught, mostly on shrimp and worms in these locations.

Bait fishers will welcome the sight of shrimp in their nets now that the water has warmed up. There is no better bait for chasing yellowbelly.

If the rivers go on a

The author with a yellowbelly caught on a Hot Bite Jets Tail Spinner in fast flowing channel water. rise I would head to the Broken River, as it always out fishes the Goulburn on a rise. The best areas along the broken are where you can find some backwater pools or some type of jam in the river, for example large logs, rock walls, sharp bends or weirs.

The go-to spots for a lot of fishers are the Casey and Gowangardie weirs, as they almost always produce good numbers of yellowbelly in the spring.

If you find these areas have a lot of fishing traffic head up a bit further towards Benalla as the water is just as good but has had a lot less fishing pressure.

KIALLA LAKES There is plenty of fishing activity going on in Kialla Lakes over the spring months with plenty of anglers fishing in all three

lakes. On a recent walk around the lakes I counted a dozen people fishing with all types of techniques including: bottom bashing baits, floating baits, casting Spinnerbaits and lipless crankbaits.

There were reports of yellowbelly, redfin and carp in these lakes. This spring Kialla Lakes is bouncing back from a few years ago when it was a ghost town for anglers.

There is now a limited range of bait tackle in the Kialla Lakes Shop, which is very handy if you run out of bait when fishing the lakes.

October and November should see the lakes continue to improve; hopefully with a few big spring dumping’s of rain firing the fish up.

LOCAL CHANNELS The start of spring was

Nagambie Fishing Tip Boat Ramps:

Shepparton...

207 Numurkah Road, Shepparton, Vic. 3630

(03) 5822 2108 64

OCTOBER 2018

Boat Ramp

dd

in

Dam............................... % Full

LAKE/DAM

LAKE/DAM July August Sept Mulwala (Yarrawonga) 0 81 94 Newlyn 50 62 87 Nillahcootie 55 55 61 Rocklands 32 33 36 Tantangara 31 36 53 Taylors 47 49 54 Tullaroop 51 51 52 Waranga 23 35 44 Wartook 47 53 67 William Hovell 101 102 101

July August Sept 52

52 55

Eildon

52 55 64

Eppalock

60 60 62

Eucumbene 23 21 19

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Echuca...

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Dartmouth 89 89 88

r ve

warmed up in late August.

Those fishing with lures have had plenty of luck casting or trolling small spinnerbaits, hardbodies as well as Ecogear Vibes.

Finding some clear water isn’t always easy but if you can get a clear troll run in your kayak it will enhance your chances at Craigmuir.

If bait fishing, try and get your hands on some small yabbies and live shrimp, they are dynamite on the fish in Craigmuir.

There has been plenty of carp caught on worms near the footbridge area with one reported over 60cm.

WARANGA BASIN October can be a very tricky time to fish the Basin and we can get caught up in the sunshine and not take note of the forecasted winds.

It can be almost impossible to fish the Basin in the wind and it can come out of nowhere so most target the hours in the morning or late afternoons if the winds down.

Trolling small Stump Jumpers or an RMG around the 12-14ft mark has been very successful for smaller fish with the bigger redfin being caught deeper around the 20ft mark, mostly bottom bashing baits, ice jigs or spoons.

Those who have caught yellowbelly have been targeting the smaller points on the Rushworth side of the basin casting both soft vibes and lipless crankbaits.

Both the inlet and out channels have produced fish so far this spring. It is a much easier option when it’s windy and you can catch a huge range of fish, regarding size and species, in these channels.

DAM LEVELS Cairn Curran

Ri

gs

Ln

rn

bu

ul

Go

Lo

A public boat launch ramp is located at McNamaras Point at the Nagambie Lakes Regatta Centre, Loddings Lane Nagambie.

There is a launching fee for use of the ramp of $12 for a day permit, annual permits are also available.

All permits are available from the Visitor Information Centre, Shop 3, 317 High St Nagambie, (03) 5794 1471 The Buckley Park boat ramp is a free access for the public as a secondary option for launching.

brought to you by

very tough going in the local channels with the water levels fluctuating and hard flowing water. These conditions made targeting structure difficult as even a perfect cast saw your lure or bait pushed away from the target quickly. When fishing in between the bridge pylons or around the drop bars you don’t have the luxury to just cast 3-4ft above your target and let the current drift your lure into the best zone.

In the next month the water will have hopefully settled down and not have as much flow, which will

make for easier fishing.

There is plenty of yellowbelly on offer in the channels around Shepparton and casting spinnerbaits or lipless crankbaits is the best way to land fish in the spring months.

Spring also brings out snakes, so take plenty of care around the channel banks as there are plenty of tiger and brown snakes near the water edges.

SHEPPARTON LAKE Bait fishers nearly always dominate fishing during October in the Shepparton Lake. In past years I have run small fishing days and comps and almost all fish have been caught on worms or shrimp.

Floating bait around the grass hill, or at the boat ramps where there are a few more areas without weed, has worked well.

Those in boats or kayaks have had some luck trolling small lures or vibes near the rowing markers or casting small plastics around the weed edges.

There is still plenty of cod in the lake, so if you do manage to land one make sure you put it back into the water as soon as possible as it’s still closed season for the Murray cod.

CRAIGMUIR LAKE The Craigmuir Lake water temps are now rising and just like last October the fishing is now starting to also heat up.

The signs of a good spring were there leading into September with numerous reports of yellowbelly and redfin around the 30-35cm mark being caught consistently after the days

Fyans

67 71 78

Hepburn

49 53 73

Hume

44 45 52

Jindabyne 63 62 64 Lauriston

79 79 92

(All levels correct at time of going to press. Dam levels can change at any time, so please check with local authorities to ensure safe boating and fishing.)

Plenty of springtime options at Nagambie NAGAMBIE

Daniel Brady

The 2018 Murray cod season has closed. We have to give the cod a break for a couple of months, so now is the time to focus on the smaller freshwater species that can be just as fun to catch!

The Goulburn is currently sitting at 9°C and has been flowing steadily for some time now. It should start to steady and as the water slowly heats up so should the fishing!

MITCHELLSTOWN. I have been fishing the Mitchellstown area a lot lately. Mornings and afternoons have been giving me a few reasonable fish.

Throwing spinnerbaits, mainly in fluoro colours like lumo and orange, has seen the best results. I have been fishing either side of the bridge and they both seem to be fishing as good as each other.

I find at this time of year the river fishes very steadily.

My best session started with taking good mate Paul Leaman out for a morning on

Murray cod are off limits at the moment, so please return any accidentally caught fish to the water quickly.

the water. We started fishing at the bridge and slowly worked our downstream fishing some deep holes.

Throwing spinnerbaits in the deep sections of the river produced the best results. Later on in the afternoon we moved down towards Mitchelton winery and landed three decent yellowbelly, this time on a diving hardbodies. It was a cracking arvo on the water that proves the more you put in, the more you get out.

KIRWINS BRIDGE The bridge has been a little slow of late. Reports came through from good mate and gun bait fisher Benny Lee who spent two days of the water and produced six redfin and a mix of other species. Ben reported the best reddies all came on worms. Depth varied between 12-18ft and the morning bite was most productive. He also reported fighting a fish for 20 minutes that took a liking to a yabby. The fish took him straight to the snag and eventually swam out only to swim into another snag, when the 40lb leader finally wore through.

He called it as the biggest fish he had hooked and

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Paul Leaman with a nice 80cm Nagambie cod before the close.

Benny has caught a couple of magic metre fish before.

LAKE NAGAMBIE The serenity! It is a favourite of mine to fish the lake at this time of year, because it’s so peaceful and quiet. Lately I have been spending quite a few hours on the lake of an arvo, just throwing small hardbodies around the lake edges. Lures such as Ecogear SX40, Cranka Cranks and Bassday Kangoku Shads have been

catching me plenty of redfin and some great yellowbelly.

My spinning outfit consists of a 7ft 1-3kg rod, a 2500 size reel and an 8lb mainline to a 10lb leader. I like to use a slightly heavier leader and mainline just in case a bigger yellowbelly decides to take my lure. The upsizing of this line gives me a bit more power and has allowed me to land some bigger fish that I would have lost if I stayed with my

6lb setup.

A few reports have come through from the caravan park, with a number of yellowbelly being captured.

Bait has been the key here and locations coming from all around the caravan park.

The smaller natives will start to get more and more active as the water heats up. The more time you put into this waterway the more chance you have of catching some great fish.

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65

Trout charging into the shallows as lakes rise BALLARAT

Shane Stevens

Our local waters around the Ballarat region have started to produce the goods, with plenty of reports of fish biting. Now the cooler weather has gone and our spring months are here. Temperatures have started to rise, insects

anglers will certainly reap the rewards. When the fish are in this mood it gives everyone a chance to catch a fish, whether you cast a fly, cast a lure or plastic or if you like to fish a mudeye under a bubble float, it’s prime fishing time around Ballarat.

Lake Bolac continues to fish well with patience being the name of the game.

You will not get big bags of

salted white bait (glassies) and PowerBait fished on a running sinker set up. Marc Ainsworth with young son Sam and grandfather Murray have had excellent trips to Bolac recently, averaging 1-2 trout per trip.

Tullaroop Reservoir has been fishing extremely well over the winter months. I expect over the next month with continued rising water

Colby Lesko reaping the rewards of trout stockings by Victorian Fisheries Authority from Tullaroop Reservoir. Photo courtesy Colby Lesko. certainly does capitalise on every opportunity he is given. Colby has caught some magnificent rainbow and brown trout throughout the year and continues to nail them casting lures. Colby has recently bagged rainbows up to 6lb on 7cm Duo Diving Minnow Lure. Colby likes to use bigger lures than most and he is certainly rewarded for his efforts. Big bait or lures often means big fish.

As I mentioned, I expect Tullaroop to be number one fishery in the district.

Tullaroop is suitable to

fly imitation, Alan Townsend a magnificent 56cm female brown trout and Vern Barby a big Wendouree red of approximately 4lb. There was a few smaller models caught on the day as well.

All fish were caught out of drifting boats. Jason Mackley has primarily been targeting Wendouree redfin recently and has had some excellent catches at the main rowing channel and around the main weed beds casting soft plastics.

Lake Wendouree is a very versatile fishery catering

most of this opportunity.

Newlyn Reservoir has been producing some lovely brown trout over the past month. Jack Clough has nailed some lovely golden coloured browns flyfishing, with the Shrek fly pattern doing the damage. Other anglers have been catching trout on mud eyes suspended under bubble floats, while others have been casting lures with excellent results.

Newlyn will continue to fish well over the next few months, especially for the flyfishers when the mayfly

Three generations of the Ainsworth family, Murray, Marc and Sam, enjoyed catching some lovely rainbow trout from Lake Bolac. Photo courtesy Marc Ainsworth. have started to hatch, and anglers will see mayflies, dragonflies and damselflies hovering above our lakes, reservoirs and stream surfaces. We once again are seeing trout feeding freely on them.

This is the time of year that the trout and redfin in our fisheries really start to feed up big time and

rainbow trout, but what you will catch is some quality fish in magnificent condition. The rainbow trout vary in size from 1.5-4kg. They have finished their spawning run and are now in that feeding mode.

Lake Bolac has a very large population of minnows that the trout feed on with gusto.

Anglers will catch these feisty rainbows on local minnows,

levels it will be our number one fishery for the district.

The trout will follow the rising water, feeding on worms, grubs, mudeyes and midge in the shallows. The rising water brings the fish within anglers reach instead of being out in the deeper water and anglers should capitalise on this opportunity. One such angler, Colby Lesko,

Lake Wendouree produced the goods for Alan Townsend with a 56cm female brown on fly during a recent club outing. Photo courtesy Alan Townsend.

James Taylor snagged his new PB brown trout of 59cm from Lake Wendouree flyfishing on a Stick Caddis fly pattern. Photo courtesy Cam Griffin.

66

OCTOBER 2018

all forms of land-based angling methods, as there is no boating allowed on the reservoir.

Fishing in Lake Wendouree is just starting to fire up with the resident redfin, rainbow and brown trout starting to show up in numbers. As the surface food increases the fishing will only get better. On a recent club outing, members of the Ballarat Fly Fishers caught some magnificent brown trout and redfin on the fly. James Taylor nailed a Wendouree PB for him of 59cm on a Stick Caddis

for all angling methods and also boat and land-based anglers with many jetties and platforms available to fish from. The shore-based anglers should make the most of their opportunities over the coming months given that the lake weed has been cut around the shoreline to allow for land-based angling access. When the weather warms up the weed really starts to grow and areas will once again become unfishable. When the weed has been cut the fish move into those areas to feed freely, so anglers should make the

start to hatch.

Moorabool Reservoir has flown under the radar in the past, but I expect that Moorabool will fish very well over the coming months. Like Newlyn, the mayfly will start to hatch and the rainbow and brown trout will feed on them freely, especially on overcast days. Anglers who cast lures and bait, especially those who use mudeye under a bubble, will catch some lovely trout.

Those casting surface lures like bent minnow patterns will certainly be rewarded for their efforts at first light and in the evenings.

Windy weather blows away keen anglers rainbows being taken by anglers. Those bank fishing using bait or flyfishing are doing well around the boat ramp and jetties up towards the north bank.

Powerbait, minnow and mudeye suspended under a float is working well for many. Those who choose to boat are mostly trolling the open water in the northern area of the lake, otherwise concentrating their efforts closer to shore over on the southwestern shoreline where the bank is mostly rocky. It pays not to fish artificials straight after a big blow as this lake does dirty

CRATER LAKES

Rod Shepherd

The rain keeps falling and the wind keeps blowing and that certainly puts a severe dent in most fishing activities. Sooner or later the weather will fine up and we anglers can get out there and seriously wet a line.

Lake Bolac is producing the goods again with some solid rainbow trout up to 2.5kg coming on board.

Anglers are selecting a stretch of bank with the wind behind them to work from. Most are leaving the boat at home until the seasonal strong winds we are currently experiencing finally die down.

Fishing PowerBait under a float is certainly working.

The local whitebait can be hard to find. Wearing waders still doesn’t protect you from

up. Three or four calm days are needed before working the waters with soft plastics or subtle lures. Lures that give off a great deal of action are proving best at the moment.

It’s good to see further improvements occurring at Lake Bullen Merri’s south beach ramps with new concrete being poured. In the coming weeks many will appreciate all the work that has gone on here.

When the sun finally comes out and the wind drops off somewhat, every person and their dog will be back out on the water.

Fishing from the end of the Lake Tooliorook jetty paid dividends for this angler who hooked, fought then beached a large rainbow. the cold when using a dip net to this bait.

Bullen Merri and Purrumbete lakes have not

The author about to launch at Lake Tooliorook, Lismore.

seen a great deal of action from anglers of late, all due to the inclement weather.

Those who can get out on a reasonably calm day are picking up some excellent brown trout around 1kg by working the weed edges that surround the lake. Shallow and medium diving minnow lures, as well as minnow style soft plastics, worked off the bottom has resulted in quite a few captures. The by-catch has been redfin, small Chinook salmon and the odd brook trout.

The fishing at Deep Lake near Derrinallum has been quiet for rainbow trout,

but remember a fish kill happened here way back in autumn when it was overly warm and dry. There should still be some fish about, plus the Fisheries have either restocked, or are about to, with more yearling fish. I paid a visit there recently and was pleased to see that the old jetty has long gone.

It has been replaced with a new jetty that leads down to a large, floating pontoon that would make a great fishing platform for landbased anglers.

Fishing at Lake Tooliorook is finally taking off with browns and

The author with a solid Tooliorook hen rainbow that was taken trolling a Lofty’s Cobra in pink and white.

The time is coming for goldens to shine BENDIGO

Roger Miles codhuntertours@bigpond.com

Water levels are now starting to slowly increase in our local impoundments. Water clarity is still reasonable in the local impoundments but in some sections water clarity has started to reduce due to inflow.

The amount of rainfall that we receive over the next six weeks will be critical in determining what capacity our impoundments reach this season. At this stage the catchments are holding good moisture and are primed to produce some good run-off if we receive some significant rainfall.

The month of October can be a terrific time of year to go fishing. Water temperatures are increasing and producing an increase in fish activity.

LAKE EPPALOCK The productivity in the fishing at Lake Eppalock has slowed down over the last couple of weeks. Redfin have still been anglers’ primary capture. Anglers

Large golden perch like this one will be the target for many anglers during October. fishing in deep water with small yabbies have caught the majority of these fish, with some reasonable numbers of redfin also being caught by anglers casting soft plastics and jigging with ice jigs.

As the water levels slowly rising are associated with water temperatures increasing, we should start to see more redfin move into shallower water over the next few weeks. The numbers of golden perch being caught has been very low at this stage. However, by the end of October the numbers of

golden perch being caught at this locations should increase significantly. There has been some very good stocking of golden perch by Victorian fisheries in this location over the past few seasons. It is only a matter of time before we start to see an increase in the number of these species being caught.

If we do not receive large inflows into Lake Eppalock this season it is not necessarily a bad thing for the productivity of the golden perch fishing.

When the lake water levels are at medium to lower levels

there are significantly greater volumes of laydown timber, which are in good depth ranges for the golden perch to hold on and therefore help in the productivity in the golden perch fishing.

CAMPASPE RIVER The productivity in the fishing has been slow over the last month. Water clarity is still good, but can change quickly at this time of year after significant rainfall.

Anglers fishing the weed beds edges and cumbungi-lined banks are still catching small numbers of redfin.

The most productive lures for the redfin have been spinners, small hardbody lures and soft plastics. The numbers of redfin being caught has been low, but anglers are occasionally landing a quality redfin weighing over 1kg.

The number of golden perch being caught in the Campaspe River has also been very low. By the end of October we should see a significant increase in catch rates of golden perch. Over the next few weeks as the water temperature increases we will start to see the golden perch become more aggressive.

CAIRN CURRAN Water levels are slowly increasing, but water clarity is still only average. The numbers of anglers fishing here is quite low at the moment. But those that have ventured here have produced small numbers of redfin around the standing timber with worms and small yabbies.

At this stage the productivity in the golden perch fishing has been low.

Like the other local areas we should see an increase in the number of golden perch being caught by the end of October.

Casting around the edges

of the rocky shorelines with lipless crankbaits and suspending hardbody lures are good options for the golden perch. Trolling these shorelines with spinnerbaits and medium-sized hardbody lures in depth ranges around 3-4m is also a good option.

LODDON RIVER The productivity for fishing in the Loddon River has been slow.

Water clarity is currently good at the sections above Bridgewater and Serpentine. Water clarity is reduced in the sections of the Loddon River at Newbridge and below Laanecoorie. If water clarity remains good in those sections of the river we should see significant improvements in the numbers of golden perch being caught over the next few weeks. Some great lures to target the golden perch are lipless crankbaits, suspending hardbody lures and small profile spinnerbaits. We are in the closed season for Murray cod. If you do catch a cod as a by-catch it must be released as soon as possible.

OCTOBER 2018

67

Cod are getting the last laugh EILDON

Daniel Piazza

My recent trips chasing cod have ended with little to show for it. Rest assured that my hard work will pay off on my next outing.

Over the past few days at Eildon I have tried many methods: casting with the wind, into the wind, casting to banks that are windblown and ones that are protected from the wind. There are plenty of techniques that are working for different anglers

in different situations.

The pesky brown trout have been coming in from far and wide. Bonnie Doon to Goughs Bay has had actively-feeding trout from first to last light. Remember, when you find one trout there is more in the area.

Take a second to think about where you first started your troll run or near enough.

We have to remember the lake is a lot higher now than in September and with all the snowmelt that is and will be taking place over the coming months the water is going to

stay colder for longer.

The key to catching fish in Lake Eildon is to stay in tune with water levels.

I think this time of year anglers should stay in the main arm and in about 8m

always provide the fruits.

Feel free to send me a report or photo at primalspinbaits@gmail. com, particularly if you have any success stories.

Happy fishing!

The author casting lures and hoping for a cod.

Now is the time to be getting stuck into post-spawn brown trout.

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of water casting hard to the bank. The same goes for trolling for cod, but stick to 6-8m of water with your lure about 1m off the bottom.

Cod are lazy fish and we have to work to find them.

We all would like to consistently fish the lake and in reality that is the only way you’re truly going to know when the fish are on or off. I’m starting to think that there is bigger cod in the lake than the 60-70cm that there was two years ago.

I’d love to fish in the dark more often, as this helps when chasing the gun-shy monster Eildon cod.

The yellowbelly that call Lake Eildon home will start to become more frequent from now until February.

Target points are bays, inlets and if you can find any clean running water it’s worth casting plastics in black or motor oil shades. Zerek Fish Traps are a vibe that for some reason turn a hard bite into a successful trip, there is just something about them that works for me at Eildon.

The redfin have gone on holidays in recent months and I am missing the nights of home cooked fish and chips.

Remember to respect the fishery and the fishery will

Post spawn brown trout are a major draw card in the lake at the moment.

All about the trout!

BONNIE DOON

Daniel Brady

Not much has changed on this front since last month.

The low water temperatures mean trout are still on the bite. The northern end of the lake is now sitting around 10°C and is expected to hover around that mark until the snow starts to melt. The

have been producing some cracking results. Reports are coming through from many anglers that the trout have been on fire early morning and late afternoon.

Slow trolling Tassie Devils in lumo green, hot pink and white has seen the most captures.

Recently on the water I caught up with a couple of local kids who have been caching some great

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68

OCTOBER 2018

Troy Falzon with a couple of decent fish from the lake. talk on the water is all about the trout bite. So let’s get into it!

DELATITE ARM The word on the water is all about the Delatite, with trout and Murray cod the primary focus for many. The steep rock walls

fish over the last couple of weeks. Slow trolling Rapala lures in ‘brown dog’ has been catching all their fish. The lads had four rods and a brown dog on all of them. The lads also noted the best captures have been caught less than

10ft behind the boat.

FORD INLET I have reported this a couple of times but I’m still getting feedback from a couple of guys fishing right up the back of the inlet and getting some fantastic results.

With the water level on such a sudden rise, the fish are loving it.

MAIN ARM Gun angler Troy Falzon from All About Fishing Natives recently spent a couple of days on the lake. The boys hired a houseboat as their base station and fished the lake from their trailer boats. The lads fished all over the lake, with plenty of trout coming over the side! Rapala lures accounted for all the fish with colours varying but patterns remain the same.

No spot stood out as fish came from all over. Troy noted that the houseboat was an awesome way of staying on the water and he looked forward to the next trip. This is definitely a trip I plan to do in the future.

COD AND YELLOWBELLY Now the rivers are closed the cod fishing will start to heat up! Lake Eildon currently is a cod fishery all year round meaning the Victorian closed season doesn’t apply to the lake. I dare say the fishing will start to heat up with some warm weather on the way. As the warm weather starts so will the yellowbelly. We might still be a month or two off but the odd fish will start to filter through.

Get out there and have a crack! Tight lines!

Trout are about in Eildon EILDON RIVERS

Gary Constantine

The rivers have all reopened and are flowing well for the new trout season, and with Fisheries releasing around seven tonne of trout into the Goulburn River and the Eildon Pondage, angling will certainly fire up.

Some of the trout being released are ex-brood stock and could be up to the 6kg mark, which will lead into some interesting stories about the one that got away.

Most of the rivers have had a bit of debris and

been a little dirty, with the winter rain and snow melts being the cause of that.

But if anglers are getting back into it, the old tried and proven techniques of flicking small hardbodies, Celta type lures, small soft plastics in olive green, and bladed lures are all worth a shot.

PowerBait will work on the newly-released trout in the Goulburn River below the pondage, but if you’re going to try that then stick to the edges and slower moving water in order to keep your bait attached.

Scrubbies and maggots will be the choice bait in areas such as Big, Taponga,

Rubicon, and Acheron rivers plus most of the streams in the area. For the fly flickers it may be worth trying caddis, Woolly Bugger, mudeye or streamer type flies at the moment.

The Eildon Pondage is doing well at the moment with mainly small rainbows being caught. Now that water levels have started to stabilize we should see a much larger percentage of the pondage accessible.

The gold Kroc is still the go to lure at the back of the Eildon Pondage caravan park with a very nice 4.5lb rainbow being picked up there recently.

PowerBait in the sherbet,

rainbow, artificial salmon eggs, and chunky cheese have been working well along Bourke Street, Nursery Corner and near the gate at the upper end of the lower pondage. Up near cemetery point scrubbies are working of a morning, but for some reason the chunky cheese PowerBait using the running sinker rig has been working of an evening. With the new releases happening in the pondage as well give the local dough, pink Tassie Devils and the assorted PowerBait, a run. With the size of some of these fellas going in hopefully you’ll need to be prepared for a decent fight.

A welcome spring season WST/STH GIPPSLAND

Steve Haughton

Neil from the Eildon Pondage caravan park with a nice 4.5lb rainbow trout he caught on the old reliable gold Kroc lure.

steve@habitatcreations.com.au

Spring is in the air and the warmer, longer daylight hours are exciting freshwater anglers across the region. Daylight savings starts 7 October, so longer daylight hours will be welcome to the local anglers able to sneak a fish in after work.

We’ll start to see plenty of snowmelt over the coming month, which will top up the Mt Baw Baw catchment. Good flows will bring plenty of food downstream for hungry post-spawn trout and spawning blackfish.

Blue Rock Lake levels will also welcome snowmelt from Mt Baw Baw as it inches towards 100% capacity; whether it gets there before summer is another question.

The rivers of the west and south Gippsland regions are flowing relatively well, even though we had a very dry winter.

Over the next few months the stream trout action will intensify as the warmer weather brings with it more insect hatching, exciting trout and fly anglers alike.

Closer to Melbourne the Lang Lang, Bunyip and Tarago rivers will all be worth a try over the coming months, with nicesized trout getting about.

Heading out a bit further in to the Noojee Valley is the Latrobe, Loch and Toorongo rivers. All are picturesque stream trout locations that will suit those wetting a fly, lure or bait. Waders are not essential but can be handy to have, as it does allow stealthier access to some great trout feeding zones. Brown trout are most common but don’t

Relax and enjoy delicious food and warm hospitality.

Open for breakfast from 6am 7 days a week (Closed Mother’s Day)

Coffee Light meals Pastries Cakes Bread As the weather warms up, taking out the kids can be a lot of fun and a great introduction to fishing. Stanley Haughton was very happy with his first fish in the boat for the day. be surprised to catch the odd rainbow trout or even a redfin, as they pop up every now and then in odd places.

Snakes will be quite active soaking up the sun, so have your wits about you.

Blue Rock Lake bass will also fire up as the water temperature starts to warm up and insect hatchings bring the fish to the surface.

Trout on the other hand will become more difficult to catch as they begin to seek cooler waters as we approach summer. Over the last month trout have been the main target for lake anglers slowly trolling the lake shoreline or up the river arm.

Success will come to those fishing early morning or late evening, when the trout come to the surface to feed.

There’ll be plenty of redfin on offer as they are a typical by-catch for anglers chasing

bass and trout. There is also no shortage of carp and this time of year they become much more active. So, there are plenty of options to keep the family entertained.

If you haven’t been to Blue Rock Lake for a while, it’s worth a visit to see some of the changes in recent years. Blue Rock and the township of Willow Grove are very much evolving with the success of the bass stocking program and increased tourism.

Restrictions have lifted on boat size and engine size so it is now open to all vessels, but a speed limit is in place.

The Old Tanjil Road boat ramp is well set up with a floating jetty, lights at the boat ramp, toilets, picnic tables, heaps of parking and well-kept lawns for laying out the picnic rug. The Dam Wall Road boat ramp is

similarly set up.

The Old Tanjil Road boat ramp has a scenic 1.5km walking track following the shoreline to Blue Rock Road. This gravel track provides great access for land-based anglers to a number of coves along the western shores. The coves are nice places to get out of the southwesterly wind, but don’t dismiss the points, as these are often where the fish, in particular bass, like to hang out. The dam wall boat ramp also has good access to the lake and has about 500m of shoreline.

Please remember the river blackfish season is closed until the 31 December 2018.

If you have any reports, questions or photos from the opening of the stream trout season, please don’t hesitate to email me.

10 Main St, Eildon Victoria 3713 03 5774 2362 0438 881 629

• Accommodation includes cabins, powered and unpowered sites • 30 acres adjacent to Eildon Pondage • Plenty of activities • Fishing at your doorstep • Kiosk and convenience store • Net 4 Internet access • Boat and caravan storage

10 Eildon Rd, Eildon, Victoria 3713

1800 651 691 eildonpondage.com

OCTOBER 2018

69

BLACK MAGIC

MASTER CLASS

/

W I T H PA U L L E N N O N

The lucrative luderick The humble luderick is a fantastic fish to target, especially during the cooler months when they are at their most prevalent.

This time of year they can be found schooling up in protected bays along the ocean rocks or inside the estuaries along rock

rocks, a big part of how a luderick gets its food is by catching bits of weed flowing past in the tide. For this reason slack water is generally a slow bite period for luderick with the prime time being either side of a tide change when there is good water movement but not too much. Many areas

or at the base of fresh water run-off points.

Imitation weed flies are also growing in popularity and really do work, especially when the luderick are biting well. Weed flies can either be fished traditionally under a float or in the shallow water using a 6w fly rod and strike

The author with a pair of quality luderick.

This luderick was taken on a traditional float rig. walls, over weed beds and around jetties.

Their abundance makes them a very popular species amongst anglers young and old, and fish-a-cast sessions are not out of the question even during the middle of the day. On top of that they put up a great fight on light gear and aren’t bad on the plate.

Despite all their attributes many anglers shy away from chasing luderick, because the way in which they’re targeted is

perfect bait presentations, cabbage or weed. They also are the perfect hooks for tying your own weed flies on.

I use the G10S inside the estuary and G8s for off the rocks, as fish are typically lifted out of the water rather than netted like inside the estuary. The larger size also has the benefits of being strong enough to not straighten out if you hook onto a drummer,

which are a regular by-catch when fishing for luderick.

From the hook I run a short length of around 60cm of Black Magic fluorocarbon leader, using 6lb for estuary work and 10lb off the ocean rocks. This leader runs to a swivel with a short 20cm length of 20lb line attached to another swivel. The short length of line between these two swivels is where you want

less than a couple of metres deep will be too shallow to fish at low tide, but come to life around the top of the tide.

Once you have an idea of where you’re going to fish it’s time to source some bait and prepare a bit of berley.

Luderick are predominately herbivores, however they will at times eat a yabby, peeled prawn or even attack a big plastic or hardbodied lure. For consistent results, however, there are only two baits to use – green weed and sea lettuce.

Fly fishing can be a very effective technique if the fly is presented naturally.

The secret to finding luderick is finding a good source of bait. a little unique compared to other styles of fishing.

The truth is that the art of catching these fish doesn’t take a long time to master, and as long as you’re set up right in the first place you should be able to get stuck into them right away. The first thing you need to work out is when you should be fishing for them.

While they love to graze on algae-covered 70

OCTOBER 2018

Neither of these can be found in the bait freezer of your local tackle store. They need to be gathered. Both are fairly abundant, and on any given day one can work better than the other, so it pays to have both at your disposal. Sea lettuce can be gathered from the ocean rocks on a low tide when there is little swell and are also often found growing on mooring ropes and around wharfs. Green weed can be sourced around creeks, drains

indicator.

A berley mixture consisting of either weed or cabbage mixed with sand can often help turn fish on the bite; throw a scoopful around your float every five minutes.

A good little trick to prepare rather than sitting there with scissors and cutting up your weed or cabbage into small pieces is to leave it out in the sun so it gets get dry and crispy, then just crush it over your sand and mix it in.

While there is nothing complicated about rigging up for luderick it’s very important to have everything right. By far the best hooks I’ve used for luderick are the Black Magic G10 and G8s. These Japanesemade hooks are super sharp and are the ideal pattern for

to add a barrel sinker, and the size of it will depend on how big the float is.

The aim is to weight the float just enough so just the stem is sticking above the water line and the luderick feels little to no resistance when it takes the bait.

The best mainline to use is a 12-20lb floating line, which won’t sink like normal mono line. This allows any slack in the line to be removed quickly when striking a fish as it’s coming off the surface.

Attached to the mainline is a float stopper to adjust your depth. It pays to play around with it when things are quiet, as you may find them feeding better hard on the bottom or higher up in the water column.

Centre pin reels still remain popular for chasing luderick, but threadlines, especially small Baitrunner styles, will also do the trick just fine. Your rods should be around the 10ft mark for the estuary and 12ft for rock work, and need to be quite soft in the tip as luderick only have small mouths, and the shock absorption of a soft rod helps keep the hooks in there.

The essentials for chasing luderick.

FIND THE

LOGO COMPETITION

There are 15 Logos hidden throughout the pages of Fishing Monthly.

The first 40 correct entries drawn at the end of each month will win a Neck Scarf

Fill in the entry form below with the page number of each logo location and go in the draw to win!

All entries will then go into the Major Prize draw to win 1 of 3 prize packs to be drawn on [DATE].

31st October, 2018.

MAJOR $ $ $ PRIZES 1000 500 200 1st PLACE

2nd PLACE

3rd PLACE

RRP worth of DAIWA Products

RRP worth of DAIWA products

RRP worth of DAIWA products

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ADDRESS

MAILENTRIES ENTRIESTO: TO: MAIL VIC/TASFM Find DAIWA Logo Competition, NSWFM Find thethe DAIWA Logo Competition, PO 3172, Loganholme 4129 PO BOX 3172, LoganholmeQLD QLD 4129 Entries must be received by 31st OCTOBER Entries must be received by 30TH DATE 20182018 Original entries only. No photocopies.

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71

17th Annual Grabine Classic A U S T R A L I A

Margay 2017

$52,990 • 17’7” • Single axle Basscat trailer • 115 hp Mercury 4 stroke • 24v electric motor (Minn Kota or Motor Guide) • 2 x sounders (Humminbird 597cxi HD Di or Lowrance HDS 5 or Garmin 6”)

Pantera II 2017

This year was the 17th annual Grabine Freshwater Fishing Tournament. It took place over the weekend of the 24-26 August. They had 889 entries and even though it was slightly less than last year they could not have been more thrilled. Grabine Fishing generously donated $5 from every entry to the Crookwell Community Trust, a charity that helps those in financial crisis and struck by tragedy in the Upper Lachlan Shire. From this weekend alone they raised $4455.

Things started off a bit rocky for the tournament with some fuel dramas and a less than desirable weather forecast. But, the day turned around and entrants of all ages had an amazing weekend and walked away with $20,000 worth of prizes.

Grabine Classic is proud to be a catch and release

GRABINE CLASSIC RESULTS Category Junior Longest Catfish Senior Runner Up Catfish Senior Longest Catfish Junior Longest Silver Perch Junior Runner Up Golden Perch Junior Longest Golden Perch Senior Runner Up Golden Perch Senior Longest Golden Perch Junior Runner Up Carp Junior Longest Carp Senior Runner Up Carp Senior Longest Carp Junior Runner Up Cod Junior Longest Cod Senior Runner Up Cod Senior Longest Cod Mystery Length Yellow Belly Mystery Length Murray Cod

Winner Cooper Craig Peter Southwell Ryan Dowling Emily Smith Archie McDonald Paton Lewis Gary Cassidy Kim George Grace Card Cameron Constable Gary Redman Gary Death Eli Garham Josh Crossman Darren Snowden Craig Hooke Snow Woods Harry Clarke

Length (mm) 493 515 520 355 476 520 517 580 590 757 650 684 757 930 1050 1070 382 710

tournament. All entrants for the fish categories are judged based on photos taken. This allows them to have a junior category and encourage environmental consideration

(L-R) Mark Smith, Chris Clements, Ashley Smith, Geoff Nicholson, Kevin Lawler, Paul Reynolds, Nathan Charnock (winner of major prize), Kyle Betts (H2O Marine), and Mandi Smith getting ready to head out for the Grabine Classic Tournament.

$74,990

• 19’1” • Single axle Basscat trailer • 200 hp Mercury Optimax • 24v electric motor (Minn Kota or Motor Guide) • 2 x sounders (Humminbird 698cxi HD Si or Lowrance HDS 7 GEN2 or Garmin 6”)

Pantera Classic 2018 President of Grabine Freshwater Fishing Tournaments Phil Cramp with Gary Death, winner of Senior Longest Carp with a fish that measured in at 684mm.

when fishing.

Over the weekend they had many fish weighed in, including: 28 Murray cod, 138 golden perch, 8 catfish, 1 silver perch and 53 carp.

The Grabine Classic is appreciative of their sponsors: H20 Marine and RV Canberra, Stessco, Mercury Marine, Reflections Holiday Parks Grabine Lakeside,

BCF - Boating, Camping, Fishing, Tackleworld Goulburn, Ifishcomps, Gobsmacked Lures, Jolly Roger Spinnerbaits, Fabworx Welding and Fabrication, Jd’s Hardware and Rural Supplies, Studio 4 - Signs & Design and Crookwell Community Trust.

They make the event what it is and help them give back to the community. - Grabine Classic

2018 Cod Classic reigns again $65,990

• 19’6” • Single Axel Bass Cat Trailer • 150 hp Mercury Pro-XS • 24v electric motor (Minn Kota or Motor Guide) • 2 x sounders (Humminbird 597cxi HD Di or Lowrance HDS 5 or Garmin 6”)

Sabre FTD 2017

$61,990

• 18’1” • Single axle Basscat trailer • 115 hp Mercury 4 stroke • 24v electric motor (Minn Kota or Motor Guide) • 2 x sounders (Humminbird 698cxi HD Si or Lowrance HDS 7 GEN2 or Garmin 6”)

We Build Dreams...

It’s a Family Tradition

A U S T R A L I A

72

OCTOBER 2018

Phone: 0410 173 060 www.basscataustralia.com

Excitement is building in the lead up to the 19th Lake Mulwala Yamaha Cod Classic fishing competition. Off the back of a 2017 tournament that was decimated by dire weather forecasts that never eventuated, this year is going to be huge, rain, hail or shine! The Cod Classic celebrates the opening to cod season and is an iconic event on the Australian fishing calendar, not to be missed.

An estimated 3000 anglers will be looking to share in the huge prize pool that totals in excess of $200,000. There will be seven boating packages on offer, as well as a Toyota Hilux ute, the chance to spend 30 seconds in a cash grab machine, a list of major goods too long to mention, along with 1000+ minor lucky door prizes.

After the completion of this year’s event, a staggering

total of 110 boating packages will have been given away through the Cod Classic since its inception.

An enticing prize of a $60,000 Toyota Hilux ute is on offer for any competing angler who manages to catch ‘Rod the Cod’, a specially tagged Murray Cod, no strings attached! Simply catch Rod and present him to tournament officials to claim your prize, thanks to Yarrawonga/ Mulwala’s newest business – Yarrawonga Toyota.

Designed for families, with all levels of fishing skills catered for, everybody has a chance of winning one of the many great prizes on offer, whether you’re fishing from boat or bank, using either bait or lures. Most of the prizes are randomly drawn, so you don’t have to catch a fish to be a winner! Those anglers who are lucky enough to register either a legal size Murray cod or 45cm+ golden perch go

into additional draws to win extra great prizes.

The entry fee for adults is $95 pre-paid or $100 on the weekend, and the junior entry is $50. This includes four meals, souvenir stubby holder, a free ticket in major boat raffle, Wilson Slickback lure and Bassman Spinnerbait (for the kids), entry into 1000s of lucky door prize draws and the promise of a great weekend.

Being run in conjunction with the Cod Classic is the Native Watercraft Australian Canoe & Kayak Cod Fishing Championships. Entering its eighth year, this event caters for the new breed of anglers who chose to fish from either a canoe or kayak, choosing paddle and pedal over petrol and power.

The Fishing & Outdoors expo will be a main feature, with the chance to grab a great bargain. Other popular parts of the competition

include iconic entertainer Flathead Fred for the juniors; ‘Cod Talk’ with Rod ‘Codmac’ McKenzie, and the Samurai Rods Australian Pro Casting Championships.

You would be crazy to miss this iconic event held at the home of the Murray Cod – Lake Mulwala. Sharpen your hooks, pack the boat, grab your swag and batten down the hatches as the 2018 Yamaha Cod Classic is going to be HUGE! See you all in Yarrawonga/ Mulwala for the chance to catch a legend.

For more information check out www.codclassic. com.au, call into Lake Mulwala Fish Camp & Ski (now at two locations – 74 Melbourne St Mulwala and 61 Belmore St Yarrawonga) the official Cod Classic stores or call Tony Bennett on 0439 441 667. – Cod Classic

The Leigh Martin Marine Mercury Classic The Leigh Martin Marine Mercury Classic, Lake Hume is on again on 13-14 October. This year’s major prize is again a Quintrex boat with Mercury outboard package on a trailer, along with over $50,000 in prizes for the various categories. All competitors who enter the Classic will go into the draw for the boat.

Last year’s event marked our first foray into the ‘catch, photo and release’ approach to running the competition.

It was well received by the competitors and will continue for the 2018 event and into the future, in line with current best practices. Rules for the catch, photo, and release are available on the event website.

Held on the picturesque Lake Hume, the event is open to all ages. Both lure and bait are allowed. The centre for all non-fishing activities is the Lake Hume Tourist Park. The boundaries for the event are the confines of Lake Hume

from the Wymah ferry on the Murray arm and Tallangatta on the Mitta arm. At the time of writing the lake is at 46.1% and rising.

There are four categories for fish: golden perch (strictly catch and release only), trout, redfin and carp. Angler categories are for both male and female as well as adults and juniors. The Wilson Fishing Champion Team title will go to the team with the greatest combined length of golden perch only, caught by up to four members of a team over the two days. The Champion Angler category is open to all anglers and is based on the combined length of golden perch caught over the two days by an individual angler. Champion Angler is for all angler categories. Anglers may present no more than five golden perch per day for the event.

Pre-entry for the 2018 Classic is still only $65 for adults and $25 for juniors.

Entry on the day is $70 for seniors and $30 for juniors. To be a junior you must be under 15 on 13 October, 2018. Entry includes a meal on Saturday night and a sausage sizzle on Sunday at the presentation.

All junior and female entrants will receive a lure

as part of their entry. All competitors also receive a Leigh Martin Marine Mercury Classic stubby holder and an information pack. Early bird entries close last mail on 5 October, 2018. The prize for this year’s early bird entry is $500 worth of fishing and

TOURNAMENT CALENDAR

camping goods.

Registration at the event is from 4pm until 8.30pm on Friday 12 October and from 5am until 10am on Saturday 13 October, at the Lake Hume Tourist Park. A lure wall will be running as usual, simply place a lure on the wall for

a chance to win the entire wall. Lures can be new or used, but only entire packs of soft plastics please. Various raffles will be available over the weekend.

Competitors are reminded that golden perch must be 30cm or over (the minimum legal length in Victoria). Redfin and trout must be 30cm or over to be eligible for measuring.

There is no size limit on carp.

Sponsors’ draws will be held on Saturday evening commencing at approximately 8pm, and there are plenty of great prizes to be won.

Competitors simply need to present their registration card in order to collect their prize.

The main presentation will be held on the Sunday after all results are compiled, usually around 1pm.

For more information visit the website at www. lakehumeclassic.com.au or find us on Facebook at Leigh Martin Marine Mercury Classic Lake Hume. – Adrian Kent

Brought to you by

2018

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

13-14 Oct

Round 7 Hobie Kayak Bream Series

www.hobiefishing.com.au

Hopkins

13-14 Oct

ABT BREAM Series Round 9

South West Rocks

13-14 Oct

Leigh Martin Marine Mercury Classic

Lake Hume

27 Oct

CVLCSS Round 5

www.cvlcss.com

Lake Eppalock

David Nelson 0418 378 944

3-11 Nov

Peninsula Snapper Challenge

www.peninsulasnapperchallenge.com

Western Port/Port Phillip Bay

19 Nov

ABT BARRA Tour Round 1

Kinchant Dam (evening event)

20 Nov

ABT BARRA Tour Round 2

Teemburra Dam (evening event)

21 Nov

ABT BARRA Tour Round 3

Peter Faust (Night Championship)

23-24 Nov

ABT BARRA Tour Round 4

Peter Faust (evening event)

24 Nov

CVLCSS Round 6

www.cvlcss.com

Lake Eildon

David Nelson 0418 378 944

24-25 Nov

Round 9 Hobie Kayak Bream Series

www.hobiefishing.com.au

Mallacoota

30 Nov-2 Dec

ABT BREAM Series Grand Final

Marlo

abt.org.au

www.lakehumeclassic.com.au

abt.org.au

abt.org.au

abt.org.au

abt.org.au

abt.org.au

Add your tournament or competition to this list by emailing jthomas@fishingmonthly.com.au or calling 07 3387 0800 in office hours.

Just supply a date, venue, tournament name and a telephone number and contact name.

OCTOBER 2018

73

20th annual Brogo Bass Bash Some years back a group of keen anglers from the South Coast of NSW instigated a meeting at the Bermagui Country Club with the aim of stocking the nearby Brogo Dam with Australian bass and creating a recreational fishery. This is how the Far South Coast Bass Stocking Association was formed, succeeding in creating what is now a great fishery. It has been

22 years and it is still has regular stockings of bass.

Last year for the first time in NSW impoundments 10,000 estuary perch were stocked, with another 10,000 listed for 2018.

The success of the Brogo bass fishery would not have occurred if it weren’t for the hard working committee over these years, some of who have been there from the beginning. They are constantly working to raise

funds for annual stockings, combined with NSW DPI Fisheries who also contribute with stocking of bass. In

addition to this support, there is also the Dollar for Dollar Scheme coming from the funds for Recreational

FSCBSA INFORMATION • FSCBSA Established 1995 • First Bass Release 1997 • First Bass Comp 1999 • Yearly Bass stockings average 20,000 • First Estuary Perch Release 2017 10,000 •10,000 Bass 2018 continuing yearly •10,000 EP 2018 continuing yearly Fishing Licences. Combined they have now liberated over 500,000 bass.

The main fundraiser over these years has been the annual bass comp known as the Brogo Bass Bash held the first weekend in December. This year is the 20th anniversary and it is looking to be a big one.

There will be many prizes up for grabs with the usual raffles, door prizes and this year they have a Quintrex F390 Explorer Trophy boat with a 2 Stroke 30HP Suzuki motor valued at $10,500 as an ongoing raffle to be drawn Sunday 2 December at the end of this year’s event.

They are planning to invite back as many competitors and those who have assisted

Pioneers of FSCBSA the Caves family enjoying three generations of stocking Brogo Dam, this time with estuary perch.

Brogo bass are solid and well conditioned. in making the competitions and fishery a great success.

THE DAM AND FISHNG Some of you may be wondering how have the fish survived and how is the dam fishing. Well, the survival of the fish has been formidable with the annual

data completed each year at the bass comp for fisheries showing the annual stocking yearly age and survival rates.

Sadly due to the reproductive nature of bass many fish go over the spillway (hence the annual stockings). However, To page 75

Picturesque Brogo Dam holds a lot of bass and is a great fishery.

+JUNIOR COD CLASSIC DECEMBER 1ST AND 2ND ~ LAKE MULWALA & THE MURRAY RIVER

200,000

$ TOTAL CATCH & RELEASE FOR ALL MURRAY COD & GOLDEN PERCH

+

IN PRIZES!

ENQUIRIES: TONY BENNETT 0439 441 667

www.codclassic.com.au

74

OCTOBER 2018

CHANCE TO WIN

1 7 of

BOATING PACKAGES + A HILUX UTE

Peninsula Snapper Challenge entries open Entries are now open for the 2018 Peninsula Snapper Challenge, brought to you by the Cripps Family Fish Farm, Melbourne’s most innovative and sustainable snapper fishing competition is to be held over nine days from 3 November.

Open, junior and kayak entrants can fish their favourite marks in Western Port or Port Phillip Bay for From page 74

these fish have not been lost, with anglers who fish both the Brogo and Bega River systems capturing trophy size fish, where it is not uncommon to encounter bass between 50-60cm. The dam provides exceptional angling with cricket score captures often produced in a session.

Most of these fish will average between 30-35cm with the occasional 40-50cm specimen thrown in, but who cares what size these fish are when you are visiting a truly spectacular place.

The future for the Brogo Dam fishery is destined to

nine days in their quest to be the challenge champion, but don’t worry if big red eludes you as there are over $20,000 worth of great prizes to be given away. The format of the lucky draw prize give away means that each entrant has the same chance to win a quality prize, regardless of angling success as organizers share the prize love with as many as possible to ensure an enjoyable continue with a dedicated committee working to keep the bass stocking ongoing and now fisheries are contributing with estuary perch stockings.

It is up to us anglers to take advantage of this exciting and exceptional fishery.

This year the competition will run from 30 November until 2 December. For more information regarding the Brogo Bass Bash contact Darren Redman on 0427 934 688, or Jan Redman on 0427 934 857. For information about the raffle and how to enter email fscbsa_brogobassbash@ hotmail.com. They are also seeking sponsorship for the 20th anniversary, if you can assist contact the above.

experience for all.

Technology assists in keeping the Peninsula Snapper Challenge sustainable as you enter your captured snapper using a mobile phone photo of your fish and the daily code word placed on a measuring device sent to Challenge HQ. Anglers then have the option to release the fish to fight another day and preserve fish stocks for the future.

The other advantage of this system is that you can upsize your entry at any stage of the competition by sending another photo of a longer snapper. Trophies will be then awarded at the presentation event for the longest snapper in the open, junior and kayak divisions.

Sunday 11 November will see entrants converge at the Frankston Bombers Football Netball Club in Baxter for the presentation, which is only 15 minutes from Patterson River and Hastings, Frankston, Mornington and Warneet boat ramps. The prize booty will be given away, food vans will serve great food, kids can enjoy the casting

competition and there will be plenty of parking for cars and boats.

Sponsors have been unbelievably generous meaning that entrants can win one of the awesome lucky draw prizes just for being part of the Peninsula Snapper Challenge.

Humminbird marine electronics , $2500 Tackleworld shopping spree, BLA anchor winch, spotters sunglasses by Karingal Optical, Salty Crew clothing packs, fishing trips with Fish On Charters, fish smarter with Salt Guide packs, Life Cell marine safety units, boat service vouchers from MY Marine, Lovig fishing dry apparel and a lot more will be up for grabs as we guarantee that 1 in 5 entrants will win a prize.

Mornington Auto Group will be providing an arsenal of premium Shimano prize outfits from the ultimate snapper weapon consisting of a Stella 5000sw matched with a Dialuna stick through to Tunnus, Stradic and Saragossa reels finely tuned with Revolution, Terez and Maikuro rods all specially chosen to

fish Westernport and Port Phillip Bay. The Peninsula Snapper Challenge hasn’t forgotten our junior anglers where there will be loads of fun for our little fishing friends.

Every junior entrant at the presentation will receive a Wilson rod and reel outfit and an entry voucher to the Cripps Family Fish Farm where they can tangle with the resident trout and barramundi.

The easiest way to enter the Peninsula Snapper Challenge is direct from the

website at www.peninsula snapperchallenge.com or through the Facebook page, which is also a great place to follow all competition updates.

Entry forms are available and can be completed at Launchingway Patterson River, Tackleworld Cranbourne and Mornington and Karingal Optical Frankston. Get on board for the most exciting snapper competition on Western Port and Port Phillip Bay.

9 DAYS OF COMPETITION FISHING WESTERNPORT & PORT PHILLIP BAY 3rd to 11th November, 2018

OPEN, JUNIOR & KAYAK DIVISIONS

Over $20,000 in prizes

1 in 5 entrants will win a prize Every junior entrant wins a Wilson rod & reel

Presentation event on Sunday, 11th November at the Frankston Bombers Football Club, 15 minutes from Patterson River, Frankston, Hastings, Mornington and Warneet boat ramps.

Prizes include: Humminbird Marine Electronics; $2500 Tackleworld Shopping Spree; BLA Anchor Winch; Premium Shimano Outfits & Loads More

Full details and entry at:

www.peninsulasnapperchallenge.com

Entries also available at Launchingway Patterson River, Tackleworld Cranbourne & Mornington or Karingal Optical Frankston

Follow us on Facebook for competition updates.

Frankston Bombers Sports Club Inc permit number 10491/18

OCTOBER 2018

75

Hickson takes Lake Macquarie win

STORM

Kris Hickson re-affirmed his position as Australia’s number-one ranked bream angler. It seemed like deja vu for the second last round of the Costa BREAM Series, the Daiwa Lake Macquarie qualifier.

Kris Hickson weighed two magnificent limits to take first prize and a hefty winners’ cheque.

Hickson admitted that he ‘junk fished’ all weekend.

Junk fishing is about having a dozen rods on your deck with a dozen different baits and picking up the one that you reckon will get the bite on any particular cast.

Illustrating this perfectly was in the post-winning interview, where Kris was asked to grab his winning bait – he picked up five…

Hickson rotated between a 1/6oz Tackle Tactics blade, an HWS rigged Ecogearaqua (in white), a small, black Smith Camion shallow crankbait, a clear Stick Minnow and the ubiquitous Cranka Crab.

With 11 different rods on the deck, Hickson had

Plenty of cash, bonuses and kudos comes the way of an ABT event winner.

Here Kris Hickson tastes the spoils for the second event in a row. trouble picking out his favourite, however he settled on a 7’ Daiwa rod

fitted with the Daiwa Sol LT, 8lb Daiwa J-Braid Grand and 4lb Daiwa J-Thread leader.

“The Sol LT’s have the best drag I’ve used in a Daiwa reel – I can’t recommend them highly enough for the sort of fishing we do,” Hickson said, “and the J-Braid is super thin and

a great braid, especially for the price, I’ve been using the test product for the last 12 months between 6 and 50lb and it’s just getting better and better.”

He only landed five legal fish on the second day, but two of them were real quality and the 4.02kg limit easily propelled him to the win.

Above: Each day Kris Hickson landed a couple of quality kicker fish to distance himself from the rest of the field.

Below: To the victor goes the spoils.

Here’s the Daiwa J-Braid Big Bream winner, Michal Colotourous’ 1.52kg kicker.

DAIWA J-BRAID BIG BREAM It’s rare when a Lake Macquarie Big Bream doesn’t top 1.5kg and Michael Colotourous’ 1.52kg monster fit the pattern nicely. It ate an Ecogear blade in open water and earned him an extra $500.

TOP 10 BOATERS

Visit www.abt.org.au for entry forms. For general enquiries phone ABT on (07) 3387 0888.

76

OCTOBER 2018

Scan the QR codes to hear the winners’ interviews and watch the highlights packages from each day.

Place Angler

Fish (kg) Weight Payout

1 2

10/10 10/10

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Kris Hickson Steve Morgan

7.94kg 7.45kg

$3500 + $250 Mercury $1500 + $150 Mercury + $200 Pro Russell Babekuhl 10/10 7.07kg $1250 + $100 Mercury Cam Whittam 8/10 6.19kg $1000 Jason Mayberry 10/10 5.96kg $900 Brad Hodges 8/10 4.44kg $800 Todd Riches 7/10 4.41kg $700 Scott Towner 7/10 4.13kg $600 Michael Colotourous 5/10 4.09kg $500 + $500 Big Bream Tim Vickers 7/10 4.03kg $500 For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au

Morgan sought shallow bream for second Brisbane’s Steve Morgan took the lead in the BASS Cat BREAM Angler of the Year race with a second place finish. Catching most of his fish on Cranka Crabs on shallow boats and adding a few key fish on

Scan the QR codes to hear the winners’ interviews and watch the highlights packages from each day.

shallow, black crankbaits on the flats, Morgan revelled in the gusty conditions and credited the performance to the nasty weather.

“At the start of this event, I’d have bet that this tournament was going to be won deep, but as it happened, the wind blew hard and the fish bit shallow.

All three of my kilo-plus kicker fish came in less than 5ft of water,” Morgan said.

Morgan relied on two baits for his bag, a heavy, olive Cranka Crab and a shallow, black Jackall Chubby. He fished the crankbait on 2lb Yamatoyo Spinning Fluoro and the Crab on 3lb Toray Bawo fluorocarbon spooled on a Daiwa Mebaru ‘crab rod’ and an old Gekkabijin reel.

“The more I fish the Daiwa crab rods, the more I like them,” Morgan explained,

“they’re long and soft enough to really cushion the line and those small, #14 hooks that the crabs use, and I’ve found that my accuracy casting isn’t affected at all.”

“When it’s your time to do well in events, the big fish stick. I landed the three big ones that I hooked and Kris landed four of them. Lake Macquarie is increasingly a wonderful venue to catch big yellowfin bream and a favourite stop of the Costa BREAM Tour,” he said.

There’s only two anglers left that can win the Bass Cat BREAM Angler of the Year race and that’s Morgan and Victorian Cam Whittam, and only four points separates the two. It will come down to how they finish at South West Rocks to decide the final placing.

BREAM SERIES

Steve Morgan live streamed his big fish catches – this one went 1.37kg on day 2 and shot him up into second place and into the AOY lead.

Cam Whittam’s Duffrods Big Bag was the basis for an epic day 2 comeback. He came from nowhere into 4th with a 4.63kg limit.

DUFFRODS BIG BAG Victorian Cam Whittam took the Duffrods Big Bag with a cracking 4.63kg bag of Lake Macquarie yellowfin on the second day of competition. He caught them cranking deep, brown Suji Chubbies on shallow weed and rock using a Duffrod Bream Multi Broken Bones (7’1”) with 16lb Sunline PE8 and a 3lb Bream Special FC Rock leader.

Simon Johnson claims maiden ABT BREAM win Simon Johnson was stoked to take his maiden ABT BREAM win at this event after a string of second and third places recently. It was particularly satisfying after only having fished at the venue once before.

“We fished big, open flats both days, so it was a non-boater friendly place,”

Johnson said. “With the different winds blowing over the two days, I used plastics both days, but changed between 1/16oz, 1/12oz, 1/8oz and 1/8oz depending on the conditions.”

On them he rigged an unnamed 2.5” motor oil coloured grub.

Simon fished the bait on a 7’ Kistler KLX Lite 4-10lb

rod and a Daiwa Luvias 2004 reel spooled with 10lb Daiwa Tournament Evo 8 braid and a 4lb Sunline v-Hard leader and made long casts with the wind to cover ground.

When asked what his tips were to budding non-boaters, he offered this sage advice.

“Make every cast count.

You only have a limited time to fish in these events

TOP 10 NON BOATERS Place Angler 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Fish(kg) Weight Payout

Simon Johnson 7/10 4.07kg Costas + prize pack Lindsay Pryke 7/10 5.96kg Prize Pack Stuart Walker 6/10 3.93kg Prize Pack Jeffrey Esperitu 6/10 3.7kg Prize Pack Richard Potter 7/10 3.51kg Prize Pack Mark Young 5/10 3.37kg Prize Pack Colin Wilson 5/10 3.06kg Prize Pack Grant Oliver 5/10 3.03kg Prize Pack Paul Langley 5/10 2.99kg Prize Pack Thomas McIntosh 5/10 2.76kg Prize Pack For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au

Simon Johnson was stoked to get his first ABT BREAM win at Lake Macquarie. and more time you spend sitting down and rigging rods, the less chance you have of catching fish.

Time is precious and the more casts you make the better chance you have of catching. And if you be good to your boater, they will be good to you,” he concluded.

Scan the QR codes to hear the winners’ interviews and watch the highlights packages from each day.

OCTOBER 2018

77

Making the most of sounder data SUNTAG

Stefan Sawynok

Mapping data collected via echosounders comes in volume and comes in ugly. Automation and the emphasis on end-user experience on the echo sounder mean that things such as friendly file systems and easy

into the data collected by sounders is where the real power lies.

I have explored the wiles of the fishing brain more than anyone I am aware of, and there is no doubt in my mind a data-driven fisher is very different from traditional angler in how they structure their fishing. Post fishing review is where the datadriven angler has a real edge as they can be far

out essential elements of large datasets and automate tasks like data sorting and cleaning. Be in no doubt that AI will play a huge role in the future of fishing.

Echosounders will only get smarter, and those that learn how to use them to their full potential will have a severe advantage on the water.

REVIEWING DATA The best way to approach reviewing

Figure 1 – Artificial Intelligence learning how to identify tilapia nests. around the newly installed fish hotels, and to identify the species of large schools of fish found with another echosounder, our Biosonics unit.

What is a fish hotel? In crude terms, it’s a wooden structure put in to provide shelter for fish. In practical

Figure 2 – Biosonics unit detecting a school of tilapia. to identify filenames don’t happen.

To a large degree, I can understand that – the battle on the water for the best electronics is now fierce and a constant source of innovation. I had the opportunity to see the new Garmin live viewing system at the Sydney Boat Show; it’s awe-inspiring technology. Fish will only find it harder to hide as time goes on.

That said, I think that in their rush to capture the attention of fishers on the water, the sounder companies are missing the point of what makes their

more efficient, maximising the benefits of time on the water.

My view is that data-driven fishers will dominate in the years to come, provided they have the tools to take advantage of their new skills.

I can say that post review we have adjusted our survey methods a lot and improved success accordingly. Post review the picture of the fishery becomes clearer, and the next round of data collection can be used to fill in more detail.

Artificial Intelligence also has a role to play.

the bottom. That might be something to consider in managing their numbers – reducing nesting area is more likely to be effective than catching them because they breed like crazy.

The Biosonics sounder can mark and count fish in an area. As it turns out, the

Figure 4 – Reefmaster import options cover most units and activities. sounder data is with a question. not to say that exploration of

to start That is random sidescan

terms in this instance, it’s a cubic metre of various bits of wood anchored on a concrete base. One exciting thing we discovered about the fish hotels is that tilapia don’t like them. It looks like tilapia don’t like much in the way of structure at all, they seem to prefer shallow water and soft material on

species we identified were tilapia, a pest species in Queensland.

The Biosonics is proving to be a compelling piece of technology. We get regular requests from fishers to ‘borrow’ the unit. The image in Figure 2 might not look like much, but when you get a map

with GPS marks for every fish, things seem a little different.

REEFMASTER I will focus on Reefmaster in this article, because so far it’s the best tool I have found that combines the three core needs of a data-driven fisher – data management, review, and mapping.

Reefmaster is very affordable at the $250-350 mark. There are other tools out there to do the job, and all the skills I will feature here will translate.

Nonetheless, I recommend Reefmaster as it has the complete package and is ridiculously easy to use.

For the record, I have never talked to anyone at Reefmaster, so my views on the product are based solely on real-world use.

One other thing I will note – this is a beautiful piece of software visually.

That may not seem an important detail, but as a long-term software designer and programmer, I appreciate software that feels like the people behind the software have a passion for the product they have created.

Figure 3 – Solix side scan view of the school of tilapia. systems so valuable. The real power of these devices is in the review, not on the water. On the water, there is only so much detail you can absorb in real time. No matter how good you are, there will be things missed.

Being able to dive 78

OCTOBER 2018

At Infofish, we are already using different machine learning approaches to interpret echosounder data out of necessity. If you can record tens of thousands of fish a day, making sense of that data is a gigantic task. AI can help to tease

data doesn’t have value, but in my experience, the best approach to understanding data to is to focus on a real problem.

In this survey we had two key questions – we wanted to know what types of fish are hanging

Figure 5 – Tracks named and organised.

DATA MANAGEMENT Echosounder files come in with really unhelpful names like ‘Rec00001’.

Even better, when we clear off our Solix data files from the Z-Line card, they reset the number portion of the filename, which makes working out which file goes with where a nightmare.

The second challenge after file names is to group the files from a day’s scanning into a single unit. It only takes a few days on the water before you have a mess of data files.

Reefmaster takes all the hard work out of handling all this data.

First, there is no need to worry whether you have a Humminbird, Garmin or Lowrance sounder because Reefmaster handles all of them. This feature was my initial attraction to Reefmaster as we had to combine scans from different devices into a single map – a task it handled with ease. I hate the incompatibility hijinks that go on in the tech industry, so I wasn’t keen on being tied to a specific echosounder vendor.

Fortunately, Reefmaster takes care of all that.

Copy the scan files onto the hard drive, point Reefmaster at them and it takes care of the rest.

The only option that is a little tricky is the tide

transects from different survey days together.

Now that the data is in Reefmaster, the fun begins.

REVIEWING LOGS Every survey session we record a list of objects and fish that we need to go back and have a look at post review. Reefmaster makes this process a piece of cake. Just switch on the sonar viewer and either play back like a movie or find a point in the track and zoom in.

One of the neat things that come with playback is we have solved one of the more annoying problems I have with sidescan – how

waypoints between units, especially between brands can be a real pain.

When first surveying Yeppen Lagoon, we asked for locations of the fish hotels and were given the roughest of directions that indicated where they should be. Even knowing where they should be, it took some time to locate them.

As soon as we had our first scan done we reviewed and added on waypoints and exported them for all sounder formats so that anyone else who to find the hotels can load them into their sounder.

One of the nice things

Figure 7 – Waypoints set on the fish hotels. to record a section of a survey to video. To do this, I just set up a video capture session, start the playback

about the way Reefmaster manages waypoints is the ability to group them and colour code each group.

Figure 8 – Reefmaster makes it easy to combine different tracks to create a map or mosaic. adjustment, which I won’t cover here, but requires additional data from the nearest tide station. Tidal data files are available on the BOM site.

Once the sounder transects are in Reefmaster, there is a handy edit feature that allows for changing names of tracks as well as drag and drop for organising them into folders. This data is stored within the Reefmaster data structures, so nothing is changed in the original data, which can be put back onto the sounder at any time safely. Once tracks are named, there is an option to group them in folders, which we use to keep

Figure 6 – Just press rewind to replay your scanning session.

for sidescan only and kick back and relax. On the main map, you can either show the track or the sidescan mosaic, giving you an extra view of the track.

As a good example, we had a screencap from the survey session that looked for all the world like it had recorded a snake.

The only problem I have found so far with the ability to review a session is that you can end up burning up the hours finding things missed the first time around.

WAYPOINTS Adding waypoints is pretty much a standard part of the software for sounders, but interchanging

This makes for easy switching on and off blocks of waypoints and, given we often need to mark different habitat features, it saves a lot of time locating essential details. I am also a big fan of the folder options, which allow us to group waypoints specific to a survey.

SIDESCAN MOSAIC AND BATHYMETRY MAPPING In my last article, I discussed the importance of breaking up transects by stopping and restarting the recording at the end of a run. Mapping is where that policy pays off. Reefmaster can select the different combinations

of tracks to use when creating maps. This feature enables us to use different combinations of tracks for Bathymetry maps versus Sidescan mosaics.

When creating a Bathymetry map, I combine transects that make up a hatching pattern, which significantly improves the accuracy of the contour lines. Sidescan mosaics, on the other hand, need good parallel transects, which is where the review tools come into their own. Post survey, it’s easy to compare transects and pick the best of the bunch then combine, producing the highest quality sidescan views.

Reefmaster also provides a bunch of tools to get the most out of mosaics, including a range of blending options to address conflicts where layers

overlap, noise reduction and a heap of colour and brightness controls. I tend to take the default options and tweak the blending, but there is plenty of support for the perfectionists to fine-tune the output until it’s just right.

EXPORTING DATA Would you like a super high detailed copy of your sidescan printed and used for wallpaper on your bedroom? Once you have generated a 100MB graphic of 3km of river, at the very least, you can make an excellent decal for the boat.

That is if you want to display your secret fishing spots for all the world to see.

Exchange of data is Reefmaster’s best feature.

This build adds even higher quality ouput. KML output is pretty much standard nowadays, but Google Earth tends to get in the way of the detail. The export to PNG option provides the kind of mouth-watering detail and zoom capabilities on a Mac that will make you wish you had a 4K monitor.

One of the things we wanted out of the Solix was the opportunity to train up image recognition – something you can’t do from screenshots as you need hundreds of images of the same thing. Reefmaster made this possible through the ability to save mosaic files as tiles, providing 40-50 high-resolution pictures per transect.

All up, no matter if you want to move data between units, export to mapping or just drool over gorgeous sidescan images – this is the only package you will ever need.

MAPPING IS A WINDOW INTO ANOTHER WORLD Our approach to sidescan has been to put it to use in solving realworld data problems. For example, sidescan has helped us to understand new ways we might better combat tilapia without the need for poisons or biological warfare. We have the advantage of having a high-powered sonar to flesh out the picture but nonetheless, without sidescan and bathymetric data we would be flying blind.

Recently we took the sidescan out into the saltwater. Using the combination of the Biosonics and Solix, we located over a thousand king threadfin in a couple of kilometres of water five minutes from the centre of Rockhampton that nobody fishes.

All fishers can benefit from learning more about the environment that fish use.

Every time you switch on the sounder, a massive amount of data is captured. Why not put that to good use?

Besides, watching the playback of a sounder session is way better than ‘Netflix and chill.’

How about trying out Reefmaster and chill instead.

Figure 9 – All of the mapping options in Reefmaster come with a complete set of export options.

OCTOBER 2018

79

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FUN PAGE AND COMPETITIONS SCARY SEA CREATURES

DRAGONFISH FRILLED SHARK VAMPIRE SQUID BOX JELLYFISH GREAT WHITE COFFIN FISH GIANT SQUID STARGAZER CROCODILE AMPHIPOD

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10 DIFFERENCES

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ORIGINAL

FIND-A-WORD

Congratulations to Jacquie Smith from Carranballac, who was last month’s winner of the Find-a-Word Competition!

Monthly winners receive a sponsor prize. Prize delivery can take 8 weeks. – V&TFM

SUBSCRIBER PRIZE

The subscriber prize winner for August is E Vandenhurk of Maryknoll, who won a Platypus pack valued at over $300.

All subscribers are entered in the monthly subscriber prize draws. Prize delivery takes up to 8 weeks. – V&TFM

of Sunbury, J Killian of Paynesville, J Peeters of Colac, F Weber of Corack East, J Titter of Werribee, E Gillett of Portarlington, J Voorzaat of Launching Place, N Beck of Newington, A Melis of Reservoir, G Bannister of Lorne, K Hartley of Coburg North, M De Voigt of Moe, J Albrecht of Toquay, M Stevens of Alfredton, A Pollard of Darley, P Cobb of Berrigan, J McNamara

of Goornong, P Musgrove of Casterton, R Crossman of Cunningham Downs, M Prebble of Delacombe, K Tripp of Glenroy, W Johnson of Morwell, J Laszczyk of Newborough, M Stacey of Portland, R Sanders of Koo Wee Rup, F Saunders of Rosanna, D Hill of Cranbourne North.

Prize delivery takes up to 8 weeks.

– V&TFM

LAST MONTH’S ANSWERS

FIND THE DAIWA LOGO

© A Cordelia Adams original artwork.

The answers to Find the Daiwa Logo for August were: 8, 10, 16, 20, 24, 28, 33, 38, 55, 57, 59, 62, 64, 72, 78, 83. – V&TFM

82

OCTOBER 2018

This month’s Guess the Fish Answer: Murray Cod

The Find the Daiwa Logo prize winners for August were: W Green of Northcote, E Dix of Hamilton, M Adams of Grahamvale, T Darker of Daylesford, K Scutchings of Myrtleford, G Boucher of Seymour, W Tippet of Nurrabiel, L Murray of Sale, D Parry of Stawell, N Bryant of North Albury, T Kubeil of Euroa, M Harvie of Rosebud, M Lea of Caramut, F Hutchins

GUESS THE FISH?

Answer:

boats & kayaks

In the skipper’s seat

Inside story...

Northbank Marine was established at Port Adelaide in 1996, in the historic Fletchers slipway. In 2006 they moved south of Adelaide to Lonsdale to purpose-built facilities to cater for the demand for the Northbank range of product. This 4000 square metre facility is state-of-the-art for the production of high-quality fibreglass boats.

Northbank Fibreglass Boats is a family owned and operated business that today produces some of Australia’s finest boats.

Made for...

Northbank aim to build the best boats they can at a price that is sure to satisfy the buyer’s budget without compromising safety, integrity or style.

This month...

Editor Steve Morgan catches up with Andrew Stephen from Melbourne Marine Centre to take the Northbank 550R for a spin on Port Phillip Bay. Check it out on page 90!

86 SUP progressions

Having owned his SUP for nearly a year, Justin Willmer shares some of the things he’s learnt about this type of fishing!

88 Small boat live bait tank options

Wayne Kampe looks at a few ways to fit livey tanks to smaller craft – something that is often overlooked when purchasing a boat.

92 Quintrex 530 Frontier with Yamaha F90 hp Steve Morgan takes a spin in this fantastic and innovative fishing machine from Quintrex, powered by a Yamaha F90hp 4-stroke!

OCTOBER 2018

83

WHAT’S NEW BOATING RAYMARINE AXIOM UAV APP

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Raymarine Axiom users can take to the skies with the LightHouse 3.6 OS update.

The new Axiom UAV app combines the power of Raymarine navigation with advanced aerial imaging. Compatible with the DJI Mavic Pro drone, the Axiom UAV app automates many tasks.

The Virtual Tuna Tower feature lets the Mavic scout for fish ahead of the boat. With the optional polarised lens, the 4K UHD camera can see gamefish, baitfish and structure.

The Fish-On feature launches the UAV, starts video recording, and flies the camera in an orbit around the boat. On-screen controls let you fine-tune the altitude, radius, speed and camera angle.

With the Goto command, the Mavic flies to the GPS location you selected and hovers.

You can see it on your navigation chart along with its course, altitude and more.

Axiom UAV is a free update for Axiom, Axiom Pro and Axiom XL MFDs. www.raymarine.com.au

NEW MERCURY V-8 SEAPROS

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Mercury is now offering 225hp, 250hp and 300hp V-8 SeaPro commercial outboards, expanding the commercial FourStroke range from 15-300hp.

The 225-300hp models offer higher displacement and horsepower at a lighter weight than their competitors. The new models produce plenty of torque at lower rpm levels, while the compact, lightweight design and Advanced Range Optimisation maximises fuel economy at cruise. The heavy-duty components are built to cope with the demands of commercial operation, and are validated at three times the lifespan of a recreational engines.

Also available is the new Verado V-8 300hp SeaPro equipped with Advanced MidSection (AMS) which moves the engine mounts aft and outward. It virtually eliminates all vibration from being transmitted to the boat. Models equipped with the AMS also feature electrohydraulic power steering and are compatible with Mercury’s Joystick Piloting system.

The new models are backed by a 3 Year (2+1) warranty for commercial users, which includes protection against corrosion. www.mercurymarine.com.au

HOBIE FOLD AND STOW CART

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Hobie’s Fold and Stow Cart weighs in at just over 2.5kg and is designed to make transporting your kayak easy.

The Cart functions well on a variety of solid surfaces, and breaks down to stow inside Hobie kayaks equipped with a large front cargo hatch. You simply wheel your kayak down to the water, break the cart down and stow it away, eliminating trips back and forth to the vehicle. At the end of the day, the cart reassembles in seconds.

Features include: collapsible frame with removable wheels for easy stowage; lightweight frame (complete cart assembly weighs in at just over 2.5kg); a quick release cart keeper which holds the cart into the scuppers of your kayak; retaining bungee that keeps the cart frame in the collapsed position; load rating of 80kg (suits most models’ fully rigged weight); carrying bag with shoulder strap for easy transport; and post collar clamps to help reduce direct hull load on the cart by displacing load at scuppers.

Price: SRP $250 www.hobie.com 84

OCTOBER 2018

PRODUCT GUIDE

MASTERVOLT MLI-E 4 BATTERY The new Mastervolt MLI-E 12/1200 is a fast-charging, mid-size lithium ion battery offering long life and deep-cycle discharge in a compact waterproof case.

This 12V battery offers 1200 Watt-hours of energy (90 amp-hours). By using the very safe lithium ion phosphate chemistry, the MLI-E saves up to 70% in space and weight, recharges in less than an hour and can discharge 80% of its capacity up to 5,000 times without damage – a lifespan that is ten times longer than an equivalent lead acid battery. This makes it ideal for mobile applications, and for powering small electric motors for propulsion.

Features include: integrated monitoring for reliable battery status information; quick installation and commissioning with no maintenance needed; monitoring via a Bluetooth app; and CANbus communication for automated and intelligent energy system integration.

Price: SRP $3650 www.bla.com.au

MOTORGUIDE LINKS TO MFDS

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5

MotorGuide’s Xi5 and Xi3 trolling motors can now be operated through selected Mercury VesselView and Simrad multifunction displays.

The improvement, driven by upgraded system software, means MotorGuide will be even more popular as the trolling motors can now connect with all of the ‘big three’ – VesselView, Simrad and Lowrance screens.

However, boaters with VesselView displays will benefit particularly as VesselView screens now allow drivers to monitor and control both their main engine and their trolling motor through the one multifunction display.

The software upgrade is suitable for VesselView 502/702/703/903 screens. Owners just need to download the data from the Mercury Marine website to a micro SD card, which is then used to transfer the update to the VesselView or Simrad unit. www.mercurymarine.com

RAYMARINE WIRELESS RADIOS

1

3

4

6

Raymarine’s new Ray90 and Ray91 modular VHF radios offer the convenience of two wired handsets and three optional wireless handset stations.

Both models feature a commercial-grade marine VHF radio transceiver with the latest Class-D Digital Selective Calling, as well as a built-in loudhailer and fog-signal generator with an optional hailing horn.

The 91 model also has a built-in Class B AIS receiver. Connect the 91 to your MFD and instrument network to see the position and identity of nearby AIS-equipped vessels.

The basic system comes with a blackbox transceiver module and a wired handset/ speaker kit. The transceiver hides out of sight and offers connections for an optional second wired station or wireless hub.

Wireless handsets have built-in lithium ion rechargeable batteries. To recharge, just place the handset back in its supplied dock. Each wireless handset even has a locator alarm in case you misplace it.

Both models have an onboard GPS receiver and a connection for an external GPS antenna.

The radios communicate with your other MFDs and instruments via NMEA2000 or NMEA0183. www.raymarine.com.au

5

6

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85

Stand up paddleboard fishing BRISBANE

Justin Willmer Find me on Facebook at Yaks On

It’s coming up to about nine months now that I have been fishing from my stand up paddleboard (SUP) and I’ve

operate with stealth and also have minimal impact on the environment around you. Time on the water has allowed me to refine my SUP setup and kit, while also learning more about the craft, so here’s a breakdown of my SUP setup and

constructed from corrosion resistant materials, making it low maintenance. It pulls apart so that you can store it easily, even in the hatch of some kayaks. It can be used effectively on SUPs, kayaks and canoes, and it is awesome quality. I live a short walk from

A net and lip grips make fish handling much simpler and safer. found it to be an enjoyable, simple and effective way to fish. It’s perfect for the shallow waters that I fish,

some tips I have picked up along the way.

From tail to tip, here’s a look at what I carry on my

A fish measure secured inside the raised deck. You can leash the ruler if you don’t have a raised deck. and by working the tides and picking your weather windows you can cover reasonable distances, fish from an elevated position,

SUP and why, then we’ll look at a few tips to make your experience more enjoyable.

C-TUG TROLLEY The C-Tug Trolley is

the water, so the SUP can be on the trolley the night before and ready for action. It’s also handy for setting your SUP up in the car park and then rolling it to the water, rather than doing multiple trips to and from the water.

ICEBOX The icebox on my SUP doubles as a seat, and to be honest I spend a fair bit of time sitting and relaxing while I drift with the tide. Even when seated on the icebox I am still elevated and have a great view of the structure, bait, fish and other points of interest around me. I selected a 35L Yeti Tundra cooler because it marries up perfectly with the recessed attachment points on my SUP. It features built-in slots for tying down, allowing me to leash it down with the straps from the Yeti Tie Down Kit, and the rubber feet on the icebox ensure that it doesn’t

Fishing plastics along the edge on a well-organised SUP. 86

OCTOBER 2018

budge. This was not the cheapest option out there and you can work out what works for your SUP, however I was impressed with the quality and also a few other cool features I’ll discuss in more detail.

ROD HOLDERS The first few trips out I simply laid a couple of rods on the deck and they stayed pretty dry thanks to the raised area around the deck of my SUP. Most SUPs lack this and I could see rods and reels getting pretty damp. One option would be a couple of Railblaza rod holders attached to your icebox, however I am lucky enough that Yeti have rod holders available that slot into the same slots that are used for leashing it down, secured 100% by the closed lid of the icebox. These rod holders are rock solid and allow quick and easy access to either rod as required, allowing me to have two different lures rigged so I can switch to suit the depth, environment, target species or wind.

WATER BOTTLE It’s important to stay hydrated, and after trialling a few options I have settled on a double walled, stainless steel water bottle that is rugged, functional and, due to the double wall, stays cool even when in the sun. Plastic bottles are definitely an issue

The C-Tug trolley is ideal for transporting your rigged SUP to and from the water. to float the bag, should it find its way into the water. This dry bag contains a small tackle tray loaded with jigheads and blades, a handful of soft plastics, leader, Boomerang Tool line snip, sunscreen and a snack.

also reminds me to apply it regularly.

FISH RULER A fish ruler makes it quick and easy to measure your catch, whether keeping a feed, tagging and releasing fish or keeping track of PBs.

A landing net with an accessory float, just in case it is lost over the side. in the sun and with the amount of plastic in our oceans, single-use plastic bottles are definitely off the list. This water bottle is stowed between my feet, within easy reach and on the centre line of the SUP for balance.

DRY BAG OF TACKLE When I first started SUP fishing I had everything leashed on and I found that the more items I used during the session, the more times my leashes crossed over and made a tangled mess. I no longer leash my dry bag of tackle onto the SUP, I have simply increased the size of the dry bag slightly and I roll it up with enough air sealed inside

SCENT I am a big believer in scent as a means of masking foreign odours, like fuel and sunscreen, while also attracting fish and triggering strikes. Time and time again I have added scent and found the bite more aggressive and the fish holding on longer, allowing me to set the hook. The first time I took the SUP out I stowed the scent within easy reach in the centre recessed carry handle, and this is still my preferred location. I prefer to apply a small amount of scent more frequently, every 30 or so casts, rather than one large coating every couple of hours, and this home location keeps the scent handy and

I have again done away with the leash and simply position the ruler inside the raised area of the deck to keep it secure. You may opt to leash your ruler or alternatively attach an accessory float that will float the ruler should it be knocked or dropped into the water. Measure mats are ideal for boat and land-based fishing, however I find them cumbersome on the SUP and difficult to handle in windy conditions.

LANDING NET A small landing net is handy and I carry mine on the deck in front of me, with an accessory float attached in case it is lost overboard. You

may wish to store your net in a rod holder on the icebox if you have a smaller SUP with less deck area. It’s important that you select a net that has mesh that doesn’t tangle with

efficient. There is a paddle stow point in the front deck of my SUP, along with some bungee that I could slide the paddle under, however as I often sit and fish I prefer to

SUP into enough water to float it and then stepped aboard, took a seat and paddled a short distance to start my drift. I was casting plastics toward the bank and hopping them down the channel edge and back out toward the SUP. Conditions

began my quicker drift back home. With the water rising rapidly it’s even more important to pay attention to bait flicking, fleeing and moving in the water. Fish make the most of the rising water to push up into the shallows and hunt, before

A quality paddle makes paddling and controlling the SUP much easier.

When fighting a fish, point the rod tip toward the front of the SUP and enjoy the ride. hooks as the last thing you need is your lure stuck in the net and a fish thrashing around, knocking items into the water and putting yourself and the fish at risk of injury.

LIP GRIPS One item that remains on a leash is my lip grips, as they are too heavy for an accessory float. A long leash is handy as it allows you to transfer a fish from the net onto the grips for a photo and dispatch into the icebox for easy release from either side of the SUP. Once setup with landing net, ruler and lip grips within easy reach it’s simple to land, control, handle and measure fish within a short window of time and with minimum fuss,

rest the paddle across the deck or across my lap. This allows me to make a few paddle strokes as required to adjust my position and distance from the bank or drift angle.

ON THE WATER Here’s how a typical session unfolds for me, including a few tips for fishing from the SUP. Let’s hit the water.

I was hoping to sneak out for a couple of hours on a recent Sunday afternoon, so the SUP was setup and on the trolley. I kept an eye on the weather; with wind forecast, and rain falling, I knew it could go either way, as we often get a glass-out after rain. The rain stopped, sun came out and I couldn’t

This bream was stirring up prawns in the shallows and couldn’t resist a plastic cast into the strike zone. ensuring the quick release of a well-conditioned fish, should you choose to release that fish.

PADDLE Make sure you select a decent quality paddle to go with your SUP as it makes paddling easier and more

believe how good the afternoon was becoming. To make it even better it was a dropping tide, with an hour and a half of run-out to fish, before drifting back with more current as the tide was then rising to a high tide.

I launched, moved the

This solid whiting nailed a slow rolled ZMan 2.5” Slim SwimZ in midnight oil colour. were too good and the fishing was slow, so I opted to drift right in along the edge of the drop off and cast ahead of the drift, changing to a small soft plastic craw and reducing the jighead weight. Fishing the plastic with slow hops and shakes it didn’t take long until I had a solid take and the drag screamed.

A quality flathead had grabbed the little craw and screamed off in the shallows.

I swung the rod tip toward the nose of the SUP to ensure that it tracked after the fish and stayed stable, rather than turning sideways and becoming unbalanced.

Take your time when you’re fighting fish from a SUP as rushing things can see fish lost. As a quality flatty came into view, I made note that it was hooked securely, taking time to use the rod angle to steer it into the net.

Once in the net, the rod can be stowed in the holder, lip grips attached to the fish and then it’s easy to measure, photograph and then stow or release.

I stood up as I drifted the edge, making the most of the elevated position and making note of the structure that I was fishing. There was a defined weed edge, dropping away to a mud, sand and rubble bottom, so I switched to my go-to 2.5” paddle tail plastic. I opted to roll the plastic along the weed edge as experience has shown me that fish love to patrol the weed edge and pounce on anything that ventures outside of this weedy curtain.

This produced a couple more flathead and a solid whiting.

The tide turned and I

there is too much water and the bait has escaped into the mangroves and other structure. The next two fish

fell to casts made to bait flicking on the edge, firstly a bream and then another quality flathead. I made the call to put that fish in the icebox and head for home, leaving time to clean up and fillet the fish before gearing up for another week of work.

It had been another fun and productive SUP fishing session. I had again heard a few comments from passing boats and people on the shore about fishing from

the SUP: “why”, “how”, “is that a surfboard”, “that’s strange” and so on. Pretty much the same conversations I had heard 20-plus years ago when launching and fishing from my fitted out kayak. The SUP is definitely a viable option as a fishing craft and there are plenty of places that hire them out, should you want to give them a try yourself.

All the best with the fishing. See you on the water.

kle c a t h c u Is too m gh? u o n e y l r not neajunkie.fish for daily updgatetasckolen,

Visit tackle t and greatest fishin ories. ccess the lates ear and a boating g

for • Sign up s! update

• New products • Reviews • Videos www.tacklejunkie.fish Fishing Monthly Magazines

OCTOBER 2018

87

Small boat live bait tank options BRISBANE

Wayne Kampe wkff@aapt.net.au

We rarely see much fishing media coverage of live bait usage. There’s the odd

account and the tank might be a beauty, likely having a clear top or front, and maybe even an LED light. There’s nothing like some mood lighting for your livies!

When we survey rigs between $15,000 and

aren’t made from glass) to a small icebox with a 12V portable aerator rigged up to keep the bubbles coming.

Even a bucket with an aerator in it will work as long as you follow a few simple rules.

from collapsible metal mesh that was fine enough to keep really small baitfish in check.

The floating push-down style lid was big enough to accommodate a big, fat luderick, and to allow me to extract livies when required.

Collapsible wire fish keepers of this style are a bit hard to come by, but they are still being made by Sure Catch (Wilson Fishing), Seahorse and Jarvis Walker, so it just comes down to finding a tackle outlet that stocks them. Wire keepers aren’t expensive, and if you wash them after each use they will give you years of handy service.

Rough but ready While on the subject of external livey tanks, there’s nothing wrong with

Young Amelia McEntee having fun. One of the great things about bait tanks is that they entertain kids, who love to watch the activity. take out a livey whenever you need one.

I’ve seen a couple of really good DIY units made

The trick is to construct a squarish tank using stainless screws and waterproof glue, and drill as many small holes

Now that’s a live well! With a clear lid and plumbing, this tank is the bee’s knees. mention of ‘livies’ here and there, but any mention of that essential item – a bait tank that actually works – is as scarce as scales on a squid.

$25,000, however, there’s no guarantee of a bait tank – and for boats under $15,000 the only tank fitted is probably one the owner has installed.

The good news is that

This bait well is on a $35,000 boat. It comes with plumbing, as you’d expect for a boat of that price.

Spend upwards of $25,000 on a boat and there might be a bait tank of some form or other. Over $40,000 from the

a DIY bait tank set-up is actually not that hard; there are many small boat owners using live bait to very good effect, and who have all sorts of interesting methods of keeping everything from yabbies to yakkas alive.

I’ve seen livies in everything from an adapted aquarium (the best ones

A collapsible wire fish keeper, like this one from Jarvis Walker, is a cheap and easy way to store livies.

88

OCTOBER 2018

CLEAN WATER IS THE KEY Whether you’re using live worms, yabbies, prawns or small fish, you need to provide a flow of clean water and keep it oxygenated to keep your livies in good condition.

A flow of water doesn’t necessarily mean that a hose has to be running, but it’s vital that the water is kept clean. I’ve kept fish going strongly for hours in livewells in various boats – even really big livies with a high demand for clean oxygenated water – simply by using a bucket to take water out and pour fresh water in. The splashing from the incoming water traps a lot of oxygen.

Another thing to consider is to not overcrowd your livebaits if you want to keep them in good condition. You don’t want too many small fish competing for limited space and oxygen.

EXTERNAL TANKS Small boat owners have the choice of an internal livey tank or an external one.

That’s right, an external unit.

They certainly do work as they keep the bait totally immersed within its own environment, and they need next to no cleaning out to prevent pong, unlike other styles of tanks.

Collapsible fish keepers A few years ago I bought several external live fish keepers that were quite suited to storing and keeping alive anything from bream or luderick right down to hardiheads, gar or herring.

Tethered alongside the boat and totally immersed except for the lid, these ball-shaped keepers were constructed

There’s scope for some DIY installation here with this comprehensive set-up. constructing a DIY unit. The main requirements are that it should have a really free water flow, plus a lid that floats to keep the tank on the surface. The lid should also be large enough to let you

from marine ply. It sounds primitive, but they work just fine. The idea is to make the tank large enough to hold a few fish at a time. Pike, gar, yakkas – the system is ideal for all of these fish.

This system is a little rough around the edges, but it works well simply because the water is bucketed in and out. It’s enough to keep the water fresh and aerated.

in the sides, top and bottom as possible. These holes will keep the water flowing while the keeper is tied up and floating beside the boat.

The lid should have some floatant material (such as closed cell foam attached with Sikaflex) to keep it on the surface. As far as hinges for the lid go, a strip of heavy truck inner tube works a treat. It’s smart to make the lid large enough for you to use a little mesh net to extract the livies.

I have used one of these wooden wonders which was 450mm long and 400 deep.

It kept small fish alive for hours, simply because water could flow freely from start to finish. At the end of the day it could be washed out and left to dry until the next use.

The baitfish seemed to settle down within it very quickly, and sat quietly swimming into the current coming through the holes.

When moving to another location, I simply lifted the keeper out and put it in a plastic box with water in it to keep them going.

You do the same thing with the collapsible wire mesh keepers.

STOREBOUGHT OPTIONS Internal bait tanks can take many forms. Most can be snugged into a suitable spot without too much trouble, but you need to be careful about overdoing things. An overly large tank brings issues, mostly weight. Remember, 1L of water weighs 1kg.

Your tank will need

a lid to stop both water slopping out and the livies jumping out. Also, the lid must be large enough to accommodate a small dip net when it’s time to grab a fresh livey, to make life easier. The funny thing about live baits is that none of them want to be next!

Whitworths, Boating and RV plus many other boat accessory outlets usually offer

several bait tanks of different sizes. These units come complete with a lid, and have plumbing as well, if required.

I found a 30L Florite unit at Boating and RV which looks to be ideal for fitting into a small boat, and it would be ideal for manual filling, given the size of its lid. As a bucket fill unit, I’d also set up an outflow pipe to handle any

External aeration for a live well can be as simple as slipping a Rapala aerator into the mix. If the aerator can keep bass alive it will certainly do an excellent job with live bait.

There’s something for everyone in this selection from a marine chandlery outlet.

excess water, and have an aerator close by to keep the air flow going.

That aside, anglers who enjoy DIY projects could just as easily set it up with a pump as well as the outflow and aerator.

And if there’s a need to attach any gear to the outside of the bait tank or close by, simply use Sikaflex.

This marine sealant sets like rubbery concrete. From my experience, anything glued in place with Sikaflex usually stays there. If you accidentally get some in the wrong spot, use metho while the Sikaflex is still nice and fluid.

KEEP THOSE LIVEYS ALIVE! Whether your chosen bait tank is a store-bought item or a DIY Sunday morning masterpiece, there are just a few things to remember when keeping livies for bait.

Firstly, it’s important that only the best bait items should go in the tank. If you’re catching small fish with a bait jig, hold the jig over the tank inlet and try to flick or wriggle the fish off without touching them.

If you’re catching small fish or prawns with a cast net, try not to handle them

excessively; just shake them gently into the tank without excessive trauma.

As soon as one critter throws in the towel the whole lot are likely to do so, which means it’s important to quickly remove any that are dying or dead.

Changing the water and keeping plenty of air in the system is also vital for their performance.

Finally, remember that while a bait tank is pretty important, spending lots of money on one is not always necessary. Besides, there’s a lot of satisfaction in DIY projects!

Drop in to see your local Dealer!

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There aren’t a lot of rivers, creeks, lakes or bays we haven’t seen.

And there’s not a lot of fish we haven’t hooked. With our Ultra Lift Hull designed to get you there fast and dry and the tough plate sides on the 385 and up, we can handle just about anything. At a price that makes our competitors blush. Be Prepared. Get Savage.

Find out more at savageboats.com.au

OCTOBER 2018

89

Northbank 550R with Mercury 115HP FourStroke - SC

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RRM.....Speed.(km/h)............Economy.(km/L) Idle ....................... 2.0 ................................. 1.5 1000 ...................... 6.5 ................................. 2.8 2000.................... 11.0 ................................. 2.0 3000.................... 19.5 ................................. 1.9 4000.................... 38.5 ................................. 2.3 5000....................... 58 ................................. 2.1

s.morgan@fishingmonthly.com.au

Fairly early on in the purchase process, you’ll need to make some big decisions when it comes to buying a boat – and in particular, a fishing boat.

You’ll need to decide if you want an open boat, a centre console, a runabout (with minimal cabin), a cuddy cabin or a cruiser. Generally, the more comfortable you get, the less fishing room and functionality you have in return.

And the perennial compromise is between family comforts and fishability.

The ‘runabout’ layout skews a long way towards the angler. There are no bunks up front but there’s miles of cockpit space. No lockable space, but heaps of options to tote a lot of gear around. A runabout is a real angler’s boat.

Northbank make a SPECIFICATIONS Length............... 5.50m Beam................. 2.34m Capacity ..... 7 persons Fuel ..................... 100L Max.hp .................. 150 Deadrise ................21° Hull.weight ....... 750kg Tow.weight ..... 1450kg 90

OCTOBER 2018

extra level of waterproofing, and we’re always a sucker for a dash that allows for flush mounting of electronics.

But we know you’ll be able to catch fish from this rig. The question is: will

you get the rest of the family across the line?

Andrew Stephen and the team from Melbourne Marine Centre may be able to help you with that. Visit their dealership or online at www. melbournemarine.com.au.

Main: Northbank’s 550R runabout powered by the Mercury 115 CT 4-stroke is a smaller boat with a mile of cockpit space.

Additionally, it gets great economy, with 2.3km/L at 4000rpm.

Above: As tested, the Northbank 550R package will cost you around $60,000. great 5.5m runabout in their 550R, which combines their build quality with a simple, practical design. When paired with a double axle trailer and a 115HP Mercury 4-stroke with the CT (Command Thrust) gear box, it gives any angler the tool they’ll need to get out and about in semi open and open waters.

Importantly, this rig weighs in at around the $60K mark, which is right in the hitting zone of plenty of anglers who want to take that step up from an open tinny. Also, you can tow it behind virtually any SUV or twin cab 4WD. Melbourne Marine

Centre’s Andrew Stephen was excited about the capabilities of this rig, and explained that it’s much more flexible in use than you’d think at first.

“Some families would write this off as a fishingonly boat, but that Mercury with the CT gearbox will easily throw the kids around on a tube,” Andrew said, “and there’s still plenty of shade with the soft top to have a great day out on either the fresh or the salt.”

Mercury’s Andrew Small added, “With a 6-year warranty and the CT gearbox, this 115 offers the boater a wide range of prop selection,

with the ability to turn blades that offer greater thrust.”

The test rig ran a 17” stainless steel Vengance prop on the 2.38:1 box.

Performance-wise, the rig sat most economically at 4000rpm, delivering 2.3km for each litre burned, and cruising at just under 40km/h.

We loved the build quality and simplicity of the Northbank. And the space.

There’s as much space in this boat as any in this size class. Serious anglers will love it – especially with the seats swivelled around and a spread of baits out the back.

What would we add?

Clears for one, to add that

The Mercury CT gearbox spun a 17” propeller and gave great hole shot.

Twenty-one degrees of deadrise will make for a comfortable ride home in sloppy conditions.

Supplied on a twin axle Mackay trailer, the 550R sits wonderfully on the road and trails true.

The storage up front is simple and nowhere near as comfortable or complicated as a bunked, cabin boat. This suits plenty of anglers.

Long side pockets – and we mean LONG – will swallow up a lot of your everyday gear.

There’s easily enough room for half a dozen rods in the rocket launcher.

Mercury’s 2.1L 115hp with the CT (Command Thrust) gearbox is designed for lots of torque. Spinning a 17” Vengance stainless steel propeller, it jumped out of the hole.

You step through the windscreen to deploy the anchor in this rig, and there’s plenty to hold onto and tie onto.

That’s why you buy a runabout – for the mountains of deck space. The layout of the 550R is simple and effective. The folding rear lounge provides additional passenger seating while travelling.

The helm is simple and comfortable. You can turn the seats around to fish from if you’re soaking baits.

It’s not the fanciest bait board in history but it will definitely get the job done, and keeps a low profile.

Thinking of a serious fishing boat that’s a step up from the tinny but isn’t a stretch to operate and keep clean? The runabout format may be for you.

OCTOBER 2018

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Quintrex 530 Frontier with Yamaha F90hp 4-stroke

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on board and no gear apart from safety kits. Filling the livewells, there was no noticeable decrease in performance.

The test boat was also fitted with an enclosed rod locker in the port gunwale.

I’m not a fan of using these for anything but locking rods away at the end of the session. Anything designed where gravity can help the lid fall on your tackle will eventually do so.

I’m also a long-time critic of the underfloor storage being not more resistant to inundation.

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It’s no secret that when I first tested one of the new Quintrex Apex hulls last year (we went for a run in the 590 Frontier on the Gold Coast), I said that it was the greatest improvement in hull design by the company since they first stretchformed a flared bow all those years ago.

I still stand by those comments and it seems as though the major shift in design and looks of these boats have had nearly universal acceptance by dealers and customers alike. They’re soft riding,

Main: Admittedly the test day was glamorous, but the hole shot, stability and ease of use of this Quintrex/Yamaha package were impressive.

Above: The Apex hull doesn’t bank into turns like other aluminium hulls, retaining a flat attitude throughout the manoeuvre.

SPECIFICATIONS Hull Length...............................................5.26m Beam.........................................................2.07m Depth........................................................ 1.10m Bottom and sides......................................3mm Weight (boat only).................................... 506kg Min hp.........................................................75hp Max hp...................................................... 130hp Hole Shot...................................... 4.27 seconds Number of people............................................6 beamy, deep and perform well, even with outboards well under the maximum allowable.

Recently, we got to test a Frontier 530 powered by the new Yamaha F90 – a 90hp 4-stroke 1.8L outboard released a little over a year ago, thanks to 92

OCTOBER 2018

will get wet. For anglers with a pile of expensive tackle, this is sometimes an expensive problem.

These minor points aside, I’m in love with the package as a whole. It’s easy to launch and retrieve, ridiculously economical and easy to drive. Its high gunwales make it safer for kids and it’s customisable to a level where a serious fisher can add the electronics necessary to maximise their time on the water.

For more information or a test drive of this rig, call Streaker Marine or visit www.streakermarine.com.au.

Sean Savage of Streaker Marine. Importantly, the outboard was 40 horses less than the maximum allowable on this hull.

Replacing the older Top Enders, the Frontiers have several advantages over their predecessors. They’re beamier (and carry their

beam more forward than the older rigs), have more freeboard, are softer riding and are more stable than the older designs.

The ‘pickle fork’ bow shape is a few years old now, but is a distinguishing feature of the new generation Quintrex rigs.

I really liked the ease of access to this boat when it’s on the trailer, with a fold down ladder and an inviting transom door.

Supplied by Streaker Marine on a Quintrex aluminium I-beam trailer with their Catch-n-Release launch system, the package is both easy to manoeuvre and will tow behind virtually any vehicle, weighing in at

just over 1000kg. Being a single axle, it’ll make it easier to fit into smaller, modern garages.

The Catch-n-Release system allows you to launch and retrieve this boat very easily by yourself, making solo trips not just possible, but easy.

Although fuel metering wasn’t available on the test boat, the same motor on a smaller Frontier hull delivered 3.28km/L, meaning that this rig would easily get you over 3km/L at the most economical cruising speed.

Flat out, the test boat travelled 57km/h at 5600rpm and jumped onto the plane easily with two

Although the F90 was 40hp under the maximum, the 530 jumped onto the plane with ease, two-up.

Single-handed launch and retrieval is easy with the Quintrex Catch-n-Release system.

Access to this high-sided boat is through the folding ladder and transom door at the stern.

Synthetic decking material on the bow sheets make it a practical place to fish from (and to store anchors underneath).

Left and right: The new Frontier design boasts acres of room inside and the ability to add features like the enclosed rod locker.

Quintrex rotomolds all of their console shrouds in house. Yay for the ability to flush mount large electronics choices into the helm.

With the seats in this position, three anglers can make long runs in comfort.

Above top: The front livewell has clever baffles that help to stop slop.

Above lower: While not 100% dry storage, there’s still lots of room under the high casting decks to store your gear.

Clear fronted bait tanks are very much in fashion at the moment and with good reason – it takes just a glance to know your livies are in A1 condition.

Now that’s a casting deck. We challenge you to find a beamier casting area in any rig on the water of this length.

The high sides make the Frontier a rig that’s nearly as comfortable in the open water as it is in rivers and estuaries.

There’s not much to say about Yamaha’s 1.8L 90hp.

It’s very unlikely to let you down and has been a hit with customers since it was released last year.

OCTOBER 2018

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Victorian Tide Times

2018 2018 Local Time

POINT LONSDALE – VICTORIA POINT LONSDALE – 144° VICTORIA LAT 38° 18’ LONG 37’

LATHeights 38° 18’ of High LONG 144° 37’ Times and and Low Waters Times and Heights of High and Low Waters MARCH JANUARY FEBRUARY NOVEMBER Time m Time Time m Time m Time OCTOBER m Time mSEPTEMBER 0416 1046 MO 1645 SA

1 1 2 0022 0534 2

TU 1157 SU 1757

3 0124 0645 3

WE 1304 MO 1902

4 0220 0746 4

Time 0.81 0332 1.32 0916 0.26 1547 2141 1.51 0412 0.79 0954 1.35 1621 0.20 2215 1.61 0454 0.73 1032 1.40 1656 0.14 2252 1.69 0540 0.64 1113 1.46 1733 0.10 2331 1.74 0631 0.55 1156 1.50 1817 0.11

m

Time m 0033 1.38 05450436 0.831.63 11521001 1.220.49 1813 0.381.55 SU 1627 2228 0.26 0123 1.43 06490520 0.791.56 12461041 1.240.55 MO 1703 1904 0.341.48 2307 0.31 0206 1.48 07420604 0.721.48 13361119 1.270.61 TU 1742 1949 0.311.41 2345 0.37 0244 1.53 08250650 0.661.41 14221200 1.310.68 WE 1822 2030 0.301.33

Time m 0102 1.52 03560.72 1.63 0621 09371.37 0.52 TH 1246 15550.20 1.50 1849 MO 2148 0.24 0201 1.59 04370.62 1.60 0730 10161.44 0.56 FR 1352 16320.18 1.46 TU 1952 2228 0.25 0255 1.65 05220.50 1.55 0830 10571.50 0.60 SA 1451 17130.18 1.42 WE 2046 2310 0.27 0343 1.69 06120.40 1.49 0923 11401.54 0.65 SU 1546 18000.21 1.37 TH 2137 2357 0.32 0318 1.57 0427 1.69 07100.32 1.42 09050026 0.590.43 1013 12291.55 0.69 15050741 1.351.34 MO 1639 18580.27 1.33 TH 1244 FR 2107 0.300.74 2223 1911 1.27 0352 1.59 0508 1.66 0112 0.49 0051 0.39 0942 0.54 1059 0.27 0836 1.29 0818 1.37 15451335 1.380.80 TU 1730 1.53 1329 0.71 FR SA 21412008 0.311.21 2305 20130.34 1.29 04260208 1.600.55 0545 1.61 0300 0.45 10170935 0.491.27 1142 10300.25 1.37 16261443 1.400.83 WE 1820 15471.49 0.69 SA SU 22142116 0.341.19 2345 22410.42 1.32 04590321 1.590.58 0622 1.54 0425 0.49 10511034 0.441.28 1222 11360.26 1.39 1705 1.40 1911 TH 1607 0.80 0.60 SU MO 17131.43 22472228 0.381.21

Time 0131 0545 0715 1115 FR 1311 1729 TU1927 2330 0213 0621 0802 1152 SA 1402 1806 WE2011

16 16

17 17

22

17 17

18 18

33

0250 1.50 0008 0.56 0.37 18 180843 0700 1.37 1.44 SU 1448

1.54 0.52 WE 1.55 0.35

1.53 0.57 TH 1.51 0.33

1230 TH2048 1846 0326 0045 0919 0745 MO 1531 1311 FR2124 1933 0400 0127 0954 0835 TU 1613 1359 SA2159 2031 0434 0215 1028 0933 1653 WE 1457 SU2236 2143 0508 0316 1102 1033 1734 TH 1612 MO2314 2259

19 19

20 20

55

20 20

1.75 0.33 6 0401 0934 0.47 21 6 0016 0732 1.42 21

66

21 21

7 7

0.35 1.40 MO 0.80 1.34

22 22

77

22 22

8 8

0.38 1.41 TU 0.80 1.34

23 23

88

0542 0438 23 1138 23 1131 FR 1817

FR 1500 WE 2056

1.52 SA 1554 TH 1245 2147 0.15 1911 0447 0109 1.73 1026 0842 0.40 1.51 SU 1646 1344 FR 0.22 2236 2017 0531 0215 1.69 1115 0956 0.35 MO 1740 1500 SA 1.48 2322 2140 0.31

0138 0043 3 3 0715 1345 SA 0751

11

44

5 0313 0842 5

Time 0440 0608 1118 1718 TH 1143 TH 1759 2354 0038 0656 0604 1237 FR 1228 FR 1851 1838

16 16

1.53 0.48 TU 1.57 0.38

19 19

TH 1405 TU 2001

m 1.38 1.60 0.73 0.54 1.23 1.42 0.39 0.30 1.44 1.52 0.65 0.59 1.30 1.36 0.37

1.50 0.64 FR 1.46 0.32 1.46 0.70 SA 1.42

SU 0.76 1.37

TU 1733 2354

0.63 0.36 1.29 1.54 0.44 0.48 1.37 1.43 0.68 0.36 1.23 1.57 0.51 0.41 1.31 1.47 0.72 0.37 1.18 1.57 0.58 0.34 1.27 1.50 0.74 0.40 1.16

1.56 0.65 0.29 1.25 1.51 0.72 0.45 1.20 1.53 0.68 0.26 1.27 1.50 0.64 0.50

1.570.58 0618 1.63 0.39 05320441 0025 0338 0007 1.49 1.28 00000.51 1.40 24 24 9 0614 11241129 0.401.32 9 9 1216 1202 0.33 1.45 0659 9 24 1104 0602 0.24 0.67 05491.47 0.4924 TU 1837 1.43 WE 1746 1.40 FR 1300 0.29 SA 1905 1.47 SU 1623 0.73 MO 1721 0.72 0.431.27 2301 1.39 23252331

TU 1236 1.44 2000 18241.38 0.48

WE 1223 1.31 1830 0.54

11

22

SA 1319 1942 1955 0230 0138 0815 1445 SU 0855 SU 1421 2036 2118 0317 0245 0906 1001 1538 MO 1539 MO 2123 2243 0400 0406 0952 1104 1628 TU 1658 TU 2206 2355 0437 0529 1033 1203 1714 WE 1803 WE 2245

44 55 66 77

Local Time APRIL DECEMBER Time Time m

m Time m Time m m 0521 0.80 0109 1.47 0.75 0622 06440559 1.57 0.49 1.60 11391.49 1.18 1.30 1204 12211238 0.49 1.50 0.57 17500.60 0.55 0.34 FR SU 1.37 0.49 1.40 FR 1816 1.28 SA 18481828 SU 0.27 0101 1.52 1.44 0045 1.32 00330654 0.39 0.39 0010 1.52 0.67 06380.44 0.72 07341335 1.50 1.59 0701 0.58 1.36 SA 12461.43 1.24 MO 0.48 0.48 1.35 MO 0.33 SA 1244 18570.62 0.53 SU 13151919 1959 1.33 1902 1.23 0146 1.55 1.51 0132 1.39 0047 01270740 0.51 0.31 0.36 0.55 07300.52 0.62 0745 0830 1.43 1.66 1.45 1.45 SU 13431.37 1.34 TU 1426 0.47 0.48 0.60 TU 0.31 SU 1326 19450.64 0.50 MO 14152004 1.30 1958 1.19 2121 1.32 0227 1.56 1.57 0215 1.45 02280822 0.62 0.26 0131 0.45 0.43 08100.60 0.52 09291511 1.38 1.68 0834 1.39 1.53 MO 14311.32 1.44 WE 0.44 0.49 0.60 WE 0.30 MO 1415 20250.64 0.47 TU 15222045 2106 1.18 1.29 2235 1.36 0303 1.55 1.61 0253 1.50 03380901 0.71 0.25 0225 0.55 0.33 08460.69 0.42 10281550 1.35 1.67 0930 1.36 1.59 TU 15161.28 1.53 TH 0.39 0.52 0.56 TH 0.32 TU 1513 21030.62 0.46 WE 16322121 2342 1.43 2222 1.21 1.33 0337 1.52 1.62 0330 1.54 0330 0.76 0456 0.75 0.62 0939 0.26 0.26 0922 0.33 1027 1.27 1127 1.34 1.37 1627 1.64 1.61 WE 1559 1.59 FR 1620 0.56 1735 0.34 FR 0.48 WE TH 2157 0.55 0.36 2141 0.46 2332 1.30 1.43 1.60 04070.78 1.55 0451 0.63 00430411 1.52 1.48 0.23 09591.28 0.27 1125 1.39 06091015 0.74 0.29 1701 1.60 TH 16400.47 1.63 SA 1726 0.38 1222 1.35 1.59 SA 0.41 TH 2220 0.47 FR 18302232 0.28 0.58

m m 0540 0.59 0629 1219 1.49 1.42 1219 0.55 0.66 MO 1807 1837 1.26 Time

16 16

11

16 16

17 17

22

0030 17 0015 0624 17 0706 0.51 1.43

18 18

33

18 18

19 19

44

19 19

20 20

55

20 20

21 21

66

21 21

22 22

77

22 22

1.43 0.47 TU 1311 1.54 1257 1854 0.54 0.63 1928 1.23 0115 1.48 0057 0705 0.60 0.37 0748 1.38 1.65 WE 1358 1338 1937 0.52 0.60 2030 1.23 0157 1.52 0145 0746 0.69 0.29 0835 1.33 1.72 TH 1443 1425 2019 0.50 0.58 2139 1.25 0238 1.54 0243 0829 0.77 0.23 0928 1526 1.29 1.75 FR 1520 2100 0.46 0.58 2249 1.32 0317 1.54 0352 0.83 0912 0.21 1026 1.28 1.74 SA 1609 1623 0.39 2143 2356 1.42 0.58 0509 0359 0.84 1.53 1129 0956 1.29 0.22 SU 1653 1728 0.31 1.70 2226 0.60

0513 1.54 1.56 04431.42 1.54 01370445 1.60 1.44 0057 0441 1.52 8 0059 230033 8 1049 23 1113 0.62 0.2223 10370.76 0.22 8 0708 8 23 0638 0609 0.71 0.33 0621 1040 0.81 TH 1756 1.56 FR 1721 1.63 SU 1736 1.53 MO 1739

1.50 0.26 1.63 1257 1.42 1220 1.32 1313 1.37 1231 1.32 TH FR SA SU 2322 0.28 0.47 23000.36 0.50 1857 1819 19172309 0.24 0.63 1829 2310 0.23 0.62 05191.54 1.52 0546 1.63 1.51 02250521 1.65 1.38 0151 0528 1.62 240126 9 0154 9 1124 24 11160.72 0.21 9 0755 1149 0.59 0.2524 9 24 0732 0705 0.66 0.38 0719 1126 0.74 MO 1814 1.46 TU 1830 FR 1837 1.50 SA 1804 1.60

1.45 0.33 FR 1345 1.45 SA 1313 1.36 SU 1359 1.38 MO 1330 1.37 1.56 23410.26 0.54 2359 0.22 0.53 1944 1906 20012346 0.22 0.68 1924 2358 0.16 0.65

0104 0036 0620 1.70 1.45 0.41 0.37 06060543 1.530.55 05581.65 1.49 03060600 1.68 1.32 0242 0623 01070.60 1.51 1.70 0500 0103 0.57 1.39 25 10 0006 25 25 10 0243 250215 0735 0658 1225 0.56 0.2925 0655 1.56 1.52 11591215 0.361.3810 11570.67 0.221010 25 10 10 25 08371200 0.63 0.45 06561.39 0.4725 0818 0751 0811 1215 0.66 1205 0659 1.44 0.64 10 1857 1.40 1930 1340 0.34 1257 0.24 1917 1.44 1248 0.33 1831 1.39 1851 1.55 WE

TH TU 1812 0.62 SAWE 1330 1.50 SU MO 1737 0.61 TH 1310 1.37 2052 2000 1938 1.38 19201.32 0.35 1910 1.43 0.43

SA 1429 1.47 SA 2026 0.19

1401 1.41 SU SU 1951 0.19

1.39 TU MO 1440 2042 0.22

1.40 0.42 WE 1.43 1.49 TU 1425 2016 0.12

0.52 1.48 00050026 0.501.36 0036 1.73 0.59 00221.72 0.59 03430026 1.67 0.73 0330 0051 1.74 02060.68 1.61 0152 0.65 1.51 11 0050 26 26 11 0327 260300 26 26 11 0012 110147 260121 0816 0744 0737 1.48 0.35 06420630 1.490.5211 0656 0.55 1.3826 06400.62 1.441111 0859 0835 09160645 0.59 1.26 0900 0732 0.58 07501.31 0.4526 0742 1.39 0.60 11 0608 1423 0.38 1344 0.26 1238 0.51 1312 1333 0.35 1236 0.32 1300 0.34 1240 0.25 TH

FR WE 1255 1.43 SU TH 1417 1.54 MO FR 1353 1.42 TU 1300 1.58 2039 1839 1.34 0.48 19231851 1.380.52 2146 2104 20091.29 0.26 1947 1.39 0.33

0.67 1.35 1447 1.45 1519 1.39 WE 1516 TH 1.47 0.52 SU 1509 1.47 MO MO SU TU WE 2000 0.19 1.37 19430.14 1.49 2106 2036 21211947 0.24 1.34 2107 2033 0.11 1.44

04160112 1.65 0.77 0416 0200 02590.76 1.69 0405 0345 1.74 0236 0.72 1.61 0.62 1.58 00490114 0.581.45 0115 1.72 0.66 01071.76 0.65 120237 27 27 12 0114 27 270213 12 0134 27 12 27 09540741 0.57 1.22 08371.24 0.4527 0937 0918 0948 0857 0.51 0704 0820 1.33 0.57 12 0820 1.39 0.34 0734 0.54 1.3127 0904 0841 07220709 1.440.5012 07300.58 1.391212 1558 1.38 1500 1.56 1545 1.45 1532 1.47 1606 1.49 1347 1.63 1332 1.48 1434 1.46

1515 0.43 TU 0.30 WE 0.37 TH SA1441 0.29 MO FR FR 1420 SA 1317 20531.27 0.20 2025 1.37 0.25 2138 1932 1.32 0.36 20221927 1.370.43 2245 2217

0.67 1.34 MO TH FR 1421 0.61 MO 1339 0.40 TUTU 1327 0.31 WE TH 1325 0.59 21582045 0.27 1.31 2158 2137 2145 2122 0.15 1.42 2048 0.21 1.32 20450.13 1.43

04480208 1.62 0.79 0501 0319 0440 0429 1.72 03450.82 1.72 0319 0.76 1.68 0.72 1.65 01380156 0159 1.68 0.73 0.661.53 01591.75 0.70 28 28 130337 280318 13 0210 28 13 0224 13 28 28 10310849 0.56 1.19 1014 1002 1036 1015 0.45 0754 09191.19 0.4628 0900 1.30 0.55 13 1001 0953 0907 1.32 0.35 0819 0.54 1.2428 08090745 1.390.4813 08300.54 1.331313 1635 1.36 1622 1.42 1616 1.47 1656 1.48 1431 1.65 1408 1.52 1540 1.55 1515 1.48

1618 0.45 WE 0.28 TH 0.40 SU 1406 FR SU1553 0.33 TU SA SA 1513 21351.28 0.18 2103 1.39 0.20 2345 2331 2237 2020 1.31 0.28 21302000 1.370.35

0.63 1.38 TU FR SA 1543 0.67 TU 1422 0.46 WE WE 1423 0.39 TH FR 1423 0.65 22332148 0.32 1.30 2246 2239 2222 2208 0.21 1.43 2144 0.25 1.27 21550.15 1.39

04290.84 1.71 0400 0.80 1.68 02340237 0.741.60 140452 14 0301 29 09591.17 0.48 29 0939 0839 14 0322 29 0959 1.26 0.39 1107 09040821 1.340.4814 SU 1616 1.52 MO 1554 FR 1512 1.64 SA 1444 1.53

05210319 1.58 0.77 0545 0433 0514 0513 1.67 0250 1.62 0.79 03041.70 0.72 14 29 29 11071007 0.55 1.22 1051 1046 1126 1125 0.40 14 29 0915 0.55 1.1929 09500.52 1.301414 FR 1713 1.33 SA 1749 1.46 WE 1659 1.38 TH 1702 1.45

05081.32 1.66 0442 0.84 1.67 03430316 0.801.63 15 0350 30 150042 10370.81 0.51 30 1019 0921 15 0432 30 0611 1055 1.22 0.43 10120859 1.310.4915 MO 1652 1.48 TU 1633 SA 1550 1.60 SU 1519 1.52

0547 0557 05540440 1.54 0.69 0629 0535 1.61 0357 1.56 0.82 04281.64 0.69 15 30 30 1128 1132 11431118 0.55 1.30 1215 1228 0.36 15 30 1025 0.57 1.1630 11160.50 1.321515 TH 1736 1.34 FR 1752 1.41 SA 1753 1.30 SU 1849 1.41

SU 1611 0.41 MO 1504 0.27 WE 1730 0.45 2215 0.20 2336 2105 1.34 0.24 22442034 1.390.30

TH 1212 1.19 MO 1714 0.41 TU 1615 0.27 22530.43 0.24 2147 0.23 23572111 1834 1.440.26

31 0502 1130

0.79 1.32 WE 1735 0.24

1.72 0.53 1.48 2144 0.17

1.71 0.54 1.47 2225 0.18

31 0524 1100

1.67 0.55 WE 1715 1.44 2308 0.21

WE 1516 0.51 2259 2245 0.31 1.26

TH 1627 0.55 2334 2348 0.37 1.28

TH 1536 0.46 2255 23050.21 1.38

FR 1703 0.50 2344 0.29

31 0011 0551

1.42 0.61 SA 1231 1.40 1823 0.50

0.55 1.46 SA 1537 0.69 SU 1701 0.69 23072248 0.37 1.33 2335 2335 0.30 1.45

SU 1702 0.69 23402343 0.44 1.37

0.46 1.56 MO 1806 0.68

31 0024 0714

0.41 1.54 MO 1306 0.35 1959 1.38

 Copyright Commonwealth of Australia2016, 2016,Bureau Bureau of of Meteorology Meteorology  Copyright Commonwealth of Australia Datum of Predictions is Lowest Astronomical Tide Datum of Predictions is Lowest Astronomical Tide are in local standard time (UTC +10:00)orordaylight daylight savings savings time when in effect TimesTimes are in local standard time (UTC +10:00) time(UTC (UTC+11:00) +11:00) when in effect New Moon First Quarter LastLast Quarter Moon Phase Symbols Full Moon New Moon First Quarter Quarter Moon Phase Symbols Full Moon Tide predictions for Port Phillip Heads have been formatted by the National Tidal Centre, Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Copyright reserved. All material is supplied in good faith and is believed to be correct. It is supplied on the condition that no warranty is given in relation thereto, that no responsibility or liability for errors or omissions is, or will be, accepted and that the recipient will hold MHL and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology Australia free from all such responsibility or liability and from all loss or damage incurred as a consequence of any error or omission. Predictions should not be used for navigational purposes. Use of these tide predictions will be deemed to include acceptance of the above conditions.

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OCTOBER 2018

Cruise, Ski, Fish, Live ...

NEW 2080 BMT PACKAGES from

69,990 *

$

Why is the NEW Release Whittley 2080 such great value?

Because we tick all the boxes, as standard!

3 Australian Made Boat and Trailer q 3 Full Camper Covers q 3 Toughened Glass Windscreen q 3 Pressurized Shower and Sink q 3 Full Length Bunks and Chemical Toilet q

3 Fresh Water Cooled Volvo Engine q 3 Premium Cabin Headlining q 3 Fusion Stereo and Garmin VHF q 3 Garmin GPS/FF q 3 Privacy Cabin Divider q

ALL NEW 2080

For the full range of exciting new Whittley Boats, log on to our website

www.whittley.com.au

Available At Two Convenient Locations, Patterson Lakes (03) 9776 1662 and Somerton (03) 8339 1800

MAKING MEMORIES SINCE 1953 *Manufacturers Recommended Retail Price (MRRP). MRRP is a from price, with all standard inclusions and includes GST. Excludes freight charges, pre-delivery charges, safety equipment and registrations. Boats shown are for demonstration purposes only and may show equipment that is not standard. Contact your local Whittley dealer or log onto the website for more information, www.whittley.com.au.

OCTOBER 2018

95

- JOIN THE FOURSTROKE –

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HURRY OFFER ENDS NOVEMBER 23RD 2018. mercurymarine.com.au