Phillip Island

PHILLIP ISLAND Craig Edmonds

Normally this time of year I would write about the salmon that are plaguing our beaches, how to find them and what to use, but this year is different. Keeping in line with all things strange, the local water is still plagued with tuna.

Still in big balls, the tuna are stretching from Inverloch to the Eastern Entrance in good numbers. Whilst still here, there is minimal reports of any actual catches, there is however plenty of action on the water. It appears the tuna are here to play.

I was going to say ‘normally the tuna’, but what is normal? So instead I will say, this year we seem to have gained some permanent residents to our waters. Both exciting for us and the development of our coastline, choosing to stay shows the health and the wealth of the fish in the area and screams for exciting pelagic seasons to come. Ordinarily to see this kind of action you would have to travel to Portland, those late nights, early morning drives now seem unnecessary.

The whale season is right at its peak, the waterways are busy with onlookers so a little patience might need to be executed. While tuna push excitement, they also scream ‘scaredy cat’ – the extra boat traffic has pushed them deep down to the point they are hiding below the big blue giants. Those who have been successful have managed to bring a few up cubing them and running a bright/fluoro skirt closer to shore where the whales tend not to be.

We are now at the halfway mark of yet another winter, and in my opinion one of the best times for fishing in Western Port. Whilst there is the chance you might catch a cold from the cool air, there is definitely the prospect of calm waters and decent whiting.

This time of year, the majority of the locals have opted to put the boats under the covers for a few months and grab the longer, heavy gear and head off to the landbased spots.

If you are fishing from the land, you can expect to find salmon. Over the last couple of months there have been some decent sized salmon around that 3kg mark, with plenty around that 1kg mark. Of the larger salmon being caught, the majority are coming from the rocks at Kilcunda. Unfortunately we have had a few windy periods, so the water clarity has been up and down and very weedy, but there is fish there.

A lot of people generally think of salmon when they think surf/beach fishing, but the times have brought upon it with a new breed of fishers targeting new species. Majority of what we see off the beach of late is whiting, plenty of good sized 40-50cm whiting, right off the beach.

It’s also time to head to the beaches on the moon and the four days either side to chase a gummy or two. The reports have been mixed, even in the boats with a lot of smaller ones showing up and only the odd bigger take-home model being caught.

The weather hasn’t helped over the last couple of full moons with strong winds or rain keeping people away and there has only been a very small handful fishing.

Don’t forget to try the new moon, as we usually get several reports from those who prefer that phase of the moon, and the weather is normally much better as well.

If fishing on the land or on a boat for gummies, put the time in before your planned trip and head down to your closest surf beach and try to catch a couple of fresh salmon for bait.

There has been a few nice snapper caught up in the bay, off the boats. Mainly on the run-in tide towards the end of the day, those who have braved the icy nighttime air have done the best. We have also seen a few nice trevally and mullet from near Elizabeth Island.

Calamari reports were good when the weather allowed and seem to be much bigger, and not too many exceedingly small ones. It was difficult at times with the weed and dirty water, especially for the cast and retrieve with artificial lures. Some good reports from the beach at Woolamai but only from a short period each day, a couple of hours over the high tide change. Boat reports we got were all from those casting artificial lures with a variety of colours working. We also had several reports from the jetties of the calamari swimming up to the jigs to have a look, but not taking them and it did not seem to matter what colour you were using.

There is plenty of bait fish out there, head out and grab a feed or stock up on some bait for the upcoming summer season and all will not be lost.

Don’t sell yourself short, winter fishing is all about getting a feed, not those memorable catches.

A change to restrictions will come into place for control areas in the state’s southwest, following recent detections of Abalone Viral Ganglioneuritis (AVG) in wild abalone.

Line fishing without a sinker attached will now be allowed in Control Areas. This change was made as surveillance activities continue to determine the extent of disease spread.

Victoria’s Chief Veterinary Officer, Dr Graeme Cooke, said that recent dive surveys, testing and analysis showed that the risk of spreading the disease by line fishing without sinker was very low.

“All other restrictions remain in place for the Control Area. The following activities are not allowed: fishing with a sinker attached, collecting abalone or shellfish, diving or snorkelling, using commercial, abalone or recreational fishing equipment, other than unweighted line fishing, or anchoring boats within the area,” he said.

A new Control Area is now in place at Cape Bridgewater after new detections of infected abalone outside the existing area at the weekend, expanding the previous territory further west. Restrictions now span from Lower Cape Bridgewater in the west around to Narrawong in the east.

There have also been recent positive detections at Murrell’s and Jones Bay reefs well within the original Control Area.

Victoria’s Chief Veterinary Officer said further detections were not unexpected as they work to understand the presence of the disease, and it shows the effectiveness of dive surveys.

“We are aware that restrictions have been disruptive, but they are crucial while we work to understand the extent of Abalone Viral Ganglioneuritis (AVG) in the state’s southwest area.

“Thank you to everyone in the community, fishers and industry who are supporting this response and doing the right thing and following the restrictions.”

The Chief Veterinary Officer extends Control Orders for seven days at a time, and Orders will be continued to be reviewed and renewed as required. These shorter Orders give Agriculture Victoria and the Victorian Fisheries Authority flexibility to make updates and scale back restrictions when appropriate, as authorities continuously review the situation and risk. Restrictions are expected to remain in place for some months to varying degrees.

Surveillance will continue both east and west, as weather permits. The Control Order will remain in place while this important work continues.

The fishing and boating community is reminded to continue to practice good hygiene when out in the water, including washing all vessels, fishing equipment and wetsuits.

Agriculture Victoria is aware that abalone disease has been detected in abalone kept in tanks at a number of metropolitan Sydney premises. Preliminary testing has identified that the virus is the same variant as identified in Victoria in the previous and current outbreaks.

“Agriculture Victoria and the Victorian Fisheries Authority are working closely with the NSW Department of Primary Industries. At present, there is no clear link to Victoria apart from the viral testing results,” he said.

For more information and the latest restrictions, visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/ abalone or call 136 186.

From page 86

a powerful fish like a big gummy shark.

During our second outing, I lost what would have been a gummy shark of a lifetime. It was a shattering moment after battling this fish for some time. It made several massive runs which almost spooled my 8000 Saragosa reel.

A fresh perspective from Stephen showed me some smart rigging tips which may have prevented losing a fish like this. He recommended running 3m of 80lb shock leader above my normal snelled rig leader and having the sinker run on its own thin diameter line attached The author with a gummy pup. the ezi rig rather than having the sinker directly connected. The logic here is that when battling a big fish in strong currents, the sinker can snap away if it has strong resistance, rather than compromising your line or fraying your mainline. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it was a great learning curve and a mistake I won’t make twice.

We fished on and caught several nice gummy sharks but nothing close to that magical 15kg mark. It’s now the first thing on my to-do list as soon as these snap lockdowns in Victoria are finished.

I was amazed at how many banjo sharks and big rays we caught during these sessions. We did our best to ensure these pests of the ocean were unhooked and released safely without harm, which can be a scary task when the barb of a massive ray is waving in close proximity. The temptation when battling pest species is to move, however it’s important to understand that they are in prime gummy shark areas and it’s often a case of getting through the pests to catch that fish of a lifetime.

Until next time, good fishing everyone. Please feel free to reach out to me directly to share your fishing experiences and catches around Melbourne, Port Phillip Bay and beyond which we can feature in next month’s article. You can contact me by email at alan@fishingmad. com.au. Also don’t forget to follow my fishing adventures through my website www.fishingmad. com.au, and subscribe to the FishingMad YouTube channel www.youtube. com/c/fishingmad. You can also follow us on social media on our Facebook page www.facebook. com/fishingmad.com. au, and Instagram page www.instagram.com/ fishingmad.com.au.