Victoria and Tasmania Fishing Monthly - March 2015

MASSIVE 10-PAGE SBT FEATURE INSIDE

Tried and Tested Mako G2H5 lenses • Morningstar Bay Rover • ATC Valiant SW Spinning reels • Haines Signature 650F hard top •

How To

Choosing the right trailer setup • What’s all that Chirp about?

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Following the tuna trail • Tassie broadbill bonus • Searching for silvers • Easter camping made easy • Stellar yella fishing •

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Black Magic 8lb Fluorocarbon tippet, Black Magic 4kg+ Rainbow Braid and a Black Magic BMax ‘smelt’ lure were used by Rod Shepherd to catch this nice bream while fishing in the Hopkins River and Estuary.

Anthony Dobran used a Black Magic KL 1/0 hook and Black Magic 10lb Fluorocarbon tippet to land this 14kg murray cod at Lake Eildon. Anthony released his fish after a quick photo.

Alastair Vanstan caught this impressive 33kg, 1.5 metre mulloway on a Black Magic 8/0 Gummy Snatcher rig while fishing the Far West Coast of South Australia.

These two fine snapper, weighing 3.8kg and 4kg, were landed by Steven Azzopardi in Port Philip Bay on a Black Magic KL 5/0 hook.

Black Magic 60lb Tough Trace was used by Adam Epifanis to catch this excellent cobia while fishing from Forster.

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YOUR PHOTO COULD APPEAR IN OUR ADS! If we use your photo in our advertising you will receive a FREE BLACK MAGIC CAP AND PRIZE! Include your name, address, fish weight, where you caught it and which Black Magic or Wasabi products were used. Send a high resolution image to: photos@blackmagic.co.nz

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March 2015, Vol. 12, No.3

Contents WEST COAST

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From the Editor’s Desk... next three months (March, April, May) that feature YOUR images. We’ve been running the details in the magazines for the past few months and have had plenty of great entries.

Best of all, there’s still time to get your entries in.

Make sure that it’s portrait format, crisp and sent to us at the highest resolution you can (frontcovercomp@ fishingmonthly.com.au) and you’ll be in the running. We send a block-mounted copy to each of the winners, so there’s a lasting souvenir of your superhuman fishing abilities!

GO CAMPING The Easter long weekend is a traditional time to pack up the family or mates and head out into the wilderness – or at the very least the local campground. We do it, we love it and even when it’s nasty weather we wouldn’t miss it for quids.

So we’ve compiled some ideas about how you can pimp your campsite a little and make it a little more comfortable. We hope that you find a few of the ideas and products interesting.

TAKE THE KIDS Sharing family time over Easter is also well established in Aussie culture. Most fishing kids I’ve met have been well grounded and a pleasure to be around. Someone said once that if your kids are hooked on fishing, then they won’t have any money left for any of the nastier vices.

Sounds right to me.

STAY TUNED FOR NEW PRODUCTS There’s a couple of product launches in the outboard motor world in late February – just after the deadlines for the March magazines – but make sure you stay tuned for news about the Yamaha F130

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50 VICTORIA FISHING MONTHLY

Sub-Editors: Nicole Penfold, Bob Thornton

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EAST COAST Welshpool 36 Inverloch 37 Gippsland Lakes 39 Lakes Entrance 38 McLoughlins Beach 43 Bemm River 42 Marlo 42

NSW SOUTH COAST Mallacoota 46 Eden 47 Bermagui 46 Merimbula 48 Narooma 49

VICTORIAN FRESHWATER Horsham 62 Robinvale 64 Mildura 64 Eucha 65 Shepparton 66 Yarrawonga 65 Kiewa Valley 67 Wangaratta 68 Eildon 69 Bonnie Doon 69 Central Gippsland 70 Yarra Valley 70 West/South Gippsland 71 Bendigo 71 Melbourne Metro 70 Ballarat 72 Crater Lakes 72 Jindabyne 73

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5 year old Jacob Young with a 3kg brown trout from Lake Toolondo, taken on a Nories 4” Spoontail Shad.

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Geelong 22 Port Phillip West 24 Port Phillip East 26 Port Phillip North East 28 Rosebud 30 Western Port North 32 Western Port South 34 Phillip Island 35

Back to Basics 90 Boating 94 Chappy’s Hotspot 53 Dam Levels 65 Fun Page 91 Inland Fisheries Service 50 Kayak 82 Spearfishing 88 Tasmanian Lake Levels 52 Tournament News 78 Trade and Services Guide 100 Victorian Tide Times 102 VRFish Update 75 What’s New Boating 98 What’s New Fishing 84

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HP and something from Mercury Marine that we’re in the dark about at the time we went to print. #mercuryunleashed if you’re impatient and hashtag-savvy or follow the action daily on the Fishing Monthly Magazines Facebook page – with links to all releases and videos.

BIG TURNOUT AT THE BEMM The wrap of the first Hobie BREAM event of the season just missed the print deadline for this issue, but there was a record turnout to the Bemm River and plenty of fish caught.

This east Gippsland Lake is ideal of these boats and there’s no wonder why the turnouts are so good – the black bream fishing is incredible. Keep an eye out for the full report in the April issue.

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BRING ON THE SBT! Each year our southern bluefin tuna feature seems to get bigger and bigger and we’re sure you’ll be as excited about this year’s information as you are about how fast the fishery is improving.

From the west Victorian coastline to Tasmania, we have your SBT tactics covered and maybe a few ideas about how you can catch them a little better when you’re chasing them.

Down in Tassie, ‘Hooch’ has also delved into the world of Apple Isle broadbill swordfish.

These are more common than you’d think and he’s gearing you with the information you need if you want to graduate past tuna into something a little more challenging.

BE ON THE COVER This issue’s cover pic is the first of three in the

West Coast 16 Warrnambool 18 Portland 18 Apollo Bay 20 Cobden 20

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Following the tuna trail Tassie broadbill bonus Searching for silvers Easter camping made easy Stella yella fishing Pirtek Challenge for 2015 What’s all that Chirp about?

Choosing the right trailer setup

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Southern Bluefin Tuna

SA and West Coast tuna: in the beginning Shane Lowery

the ramps the capacity to launch up to seven boats at a time and ample trailer parking. A fee of $10 now applies for parking all day, and automated ticket dispensing machines are located onsite.

Also on the pro side on a large fleet, means that there are many eyes on the water looking out for each other. The southern coastline can be a very dangerous place when the weather gets up and it’s very important to understand the capabilities

Mount Gambier

Port Macdonnell

SA

March is traditionally the start of the peak tuna fishing in the far South West and the 2015 season will be no exception.

Early signs have indicated that we are looking at great fishing to come and exciting times for those of us with the ‘tuna addiction’.

South West Victoria and just across the border at Port Macdonnell in

first build up of tuna (in this region) moves past there before arriving en masse in Victorian waters.

Early season fishing is most productive out on, or over, the shelf with plenty of southern bluefin tuna and albacore on offer. As with most of the South West, mid and late season sees the fish moving in much closer to shore. In fact, the largest barrel tuna are taken in close between 30-70m on average. School fish also push in much closer and

VIC

WEST COAST

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Heywood Tyrendarra

Portland

Portland Bay

Port Fairy

Warrnambool

Bass Strait Lady Julia Percy Island

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Serious trailer boats, like the Cruise Craft 685 Explorer HT Hunter III, are required when fishing the distant shelf out of the South West.

Adam Todd with his 116kg Port Mac barrel from the 2014 season taken shallow, like most of the big fish.

South Australia offer some of the best tuna fishing in the country. In terms of sheer numbers of school sized fish through to barrel tuna ,it’s hard to find anywhere else with the same consistency on both counts.

PORT MACDONNELL Port Mac offers great facilities for both launching and parking with a safe and well-protected harbour. The fishing in this region can be exceptional with a much shorter run to the shelf than any of the other ports in the South West. Early season tends to see many reports emanating from here as the 6

MARCH 2015

it’s not uncommon to hear reports of boats being on football field size schools in the 12-25kg size within 10 minutes of launching.

PORTLAND Portland is ‘tuna HQ’ in terms of the majority of the recreational, and indeed, the charter fleet. This can be both a pro and a con with long wait times and big line ups at the ramp to launch.

However, this has been vastly improved recently with a view to the 2015 season. Major upgrades to the launching facilities have now been concluded with two separate launching areas giving

of your vessel before attempting to fish this area.

The general pattern at Portland over the last few years has been slightly different to both Port Mac and Port Fairy with the first reports of school fish coming from very close in.

The last week of January 2015 saw fish to 18kg caught around Julia Reef within a few kilometres of shore. Around the same time in 2014 there were fish of a similar size taken around the moored ships off the north shore waiting to come into port.

If the pattern holds true then March will see the majority of the school fish caught out on the shelf with the area known as the Horseshoe being the most productive.

As the season moves on, these school fish will become more abundant and push in closer again, particularly after a blow from the west.

Late season sees fish anywhere from 40m behind Lawrence Rock, through to 1000m and everywhere in-between.

Late in the run seems to

be barrel time and again these giant fish seem to be predominantly caught in much shallower water.

From Cape Bridgewater through to Cape Grant in 50m of water are the most productive grounds with multiple barrels in excess

of 100kg coming from this area in the 2014 season.

PORT FAIRY Port Fairy very much follows the trends set by both Port Mac and Portland. The launching facilities here are also great, although a little more basic

with only a two lane ramp and very limited parking for trailers. However boats are launched directly into the Moyne River, which provides fantastic protection and an easy run out to open water.

The shelf is a much

The author with a small school fish taken while casting floating stickbaits into busting fish.

Southern Bluefin Tuna longer run from Port Fairy than any of the aforementioned ports but in general the fishing is just as hot.

The shallower water around Port Fairy has certainly delivered its fair

share of barrels with 2010 being an outstanding year producing some incredible fish. Potentially, Port Fairy can be the prime location in terms of big fish with Dan Hoey of Salty Dog Charters pulling a fish of

116kg late last season. With a lot less boats exploring this area than Portland and Port Mac, it’s certainly a far less tapped resource than other locations.

GEAR UP Gearing up to fish in the South West is no different to any other game fishing destination and well-maintained good quality gear and tackle is

a must. The fact is most fish encountered will be in the smaller school fish but every season sees some quality fish in the 70-120kg range taken, so you certainly don’t want to be ‘under gunned’ if you find yourself connected to a giant.

Trolling speeds should be kept to around 6-9 knots. A good all round

FISHING SA

choice capable of stopping fish of all classes is a 50W long range reel matched to 24kg rod. I run 37kg monofilament line with a 5m plaited double and use various skirted and hardbodied tuna lures rigged on 130lb fluorocarbon leader and joined to the double via a snap swivel.

There is also the option of casting lures at busting fish, which is a very exciting way of targeting tuna. Dedicated casting outfits are required with braided line in the 50-80lb line class with an FG knot to form the connection between braid and leader.

When fishing over the SA border remember that traditional paper navigational charts are compulsory on all boats heading offshore. Electronic navigation i.e. GPS units with mapping capability is not enough to meet the legal requirements.

This allows a good connection between lines of different diameter and is very smooth through the guides when casting.

When busting tuna are locked in on a bait profile it is very important to match that bait as best as possible with lure profile.

Both floating and sinking stickbaits are deadly and it’s hard to beat the thrill of casting into a school and hooking up.

This year is shaping up to be another great season ,so get out and enjoy the thrill of coming up tight on some tuna in the South West, who knows, it may even be a giant!

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Skipper of the Hunter III, Julian Dickeson with a great early season Port Mac school fish.

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Dan Hoey of Salty Dog Charters with the 2014 barrel caught in the shallow water around Port Fairy.

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Southern Bluefin Tuna

Central Coast: tuna tricks PORT PHILLIP EAST

Lee Rayner info@fishingfever.com.au

As the days get shorter and the air begins to cool, Victorian and many other anglers find themselves

eagerly awaiting the arrival of huge schools of southern bluefin tuna on the coast of Victoria.

Trolling multiple rods is extremely helpful in finding what the tuna want to eat, which will ultimately catch more fish.

Christian Styles with a school sized bluefin on a Bullet Lure.

From what was a pipe dream several years ago is now a flourishing fishery and a multi-million dollar business, that has seen a lot of anglers purchasing bigger boats that are capable of fishing in the often rough conditions of the west coast where the tuna love to migrate through each season.

The other great thing about the Victorian tuna fishery is the access to large schools of ‘school-sized’ tuna in the 10-25kg size, which are generally in big numbers out on the edge of the continental

ACCESSING THE TUNA People often ask what makes bluefin attracted to these areas of the west coast and the rugged southern ocean.

The answer is quite simply that the cooler waters of this part of the world are just so nutrientrich, that it creates an abundant food chain, starting with the krill, which often sends part of the ocean brown in colour, to masses of pilchards, mackerel, cowanyoung and sauries, not to mention two of the tuna’s favourite foods, the red bait and the arrow squid, both of which are in ample supply in

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This is what its all about: Lee, Kevin and Richie with a 116kg jumbo. shelf. However as an added bonus there is also the jumbo tuna that will often mix with them, or move away on their own to feed and migrate.

One of the best things about these really big tuna, which are generally in the 80-120kg size, is that they love to travel in shallow water, with the 40-60m depths being a real highway for them. This in turn enables anglers in trailer boats to be in with a genuine chance of a giant fish.

this part of the world.

Access to the bluefin is available out of several ports with the most popular being Portland on the far west coast. It boasts great launching facilities but a big protected harbour to access the edge of the shelf and big tuna aggregating areas such as the famous Horseshoe, which lies roughly 60km to the southwest. While this may seem like a long way from home, it’s a lot closer to the

shelf than in further eastern ports such as Port Fairy and Warrnambool.

No matter what or where you choose to launch from, all the towns have ample accommodation on offer and the majority of which cater for fishers and boats.

Moving to the east locations such as Apollo Bay and Cape Otway are prime locations to find some jumbo tuna and also good numbers of school fish when the currents push along the coast.

TACKLE UP When it comes to catching southern bluefin tuna for the most part it really is a lure angler’s dream with diving minnows and skirts tackling the bulk of the fish each season. While a lot of the regular anglers will have their own preferences and favourite lures to run, for the most part a spread of 5-6 lures is a prefect number.

Starting with the shortest lures – referred to the short and long corners. This spot it generally taken up with the Rapala X-Rap Magnum 20 or 30 sizes in a range of colours, but the most popular being the SB, BTO, S and SBM colours.

Other good options are the River 2 Sea Killer vibes and the Halco Laser Pro 190 or the new Williamson Speed Pro – these lures run shallower and can handle plenty of speed, which are a good option on rough days.

Next up, if you have outriggers I recommend using them as they are so effective at getting those lures into clean water and I have found nearly all my bites on big tuna have come from these positions.

As for lure choices off the outriggers, there are so many to choose from. A few choice little numbers are the Marlin Magic Chopped Bullet, Black Bart Pelagic Breakfast and the JB Micro and small Dingos.

For colours, lumo and evil are very good but I also love darker patterns such as petro, especially when the tuna are on arrow squid or yakka. I also have a great love of lures with pink in them as they tend to imitate the red bait in the area.

Southern Bluefin Tuna

Mount Richmond

Cape Bridgewater

Warrnambool

Port Fairy

Portland

Lady Julia Percy Island Port Campbell The Horseshoe

Continental Shelf Apollo Bay

GPS

Cape Otway

S38.421.792 E141.19.348

King Island

Scale 20 KM

Julian Coyne with a very solid school tuna. troll are in the 4-8” size, but try pulling some slightly larger lures in the 9-12” size.

The bigger tuna are often feeding on bigger bait such as arrow squid, cowanyoung and slimy mackerel, so have no qualms about eating a bigger lure.

EXTRA TIPS • When targeting the SBT make sure you work the tide changes as they will often be more active at these times.

• Choose lures that have UV colouring in them, as tuna are attracted to this.

• If you get a bite, continue to troll for a 100m or so and you could turn it into multiple hook ups.

EAST COAST POTENTIAL As an added bonus we now have the East Coast bluefin bite to contend with at the latter end of the season.

While the south coast of

Left: Portland ramp on a busy morning. Right: You don’t need to go far to catch some of the really big tuna.

NSW has been the place to be over the past years, we now have great ocean access on the east coast of Victoria at Mallacoota with the newly built ramp at Bastion Point.

Fingers-crossed this will enable anglers to get stuck into the 40-70kg fish, which we seem to miss out on over at the west coast.

Grab your jumper and wet weather gear and get ready because tuna season is just around the corner.

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If we are running five rods then the final piece in the puzzle is the shotgun – this is the furthest lure back in the spread and is a killer on tuna of all sizes. For many anglers they run a rod out of the rocket launcher but I prefer to have a shotgun pole. It’s 8ft high, giving great lift to the long lure but also enabling you to run the rod out of the gunnel, rather than having to get a screaming outfit from above your head with a fish hooked up.

When it comes to good shotgun lures my favourites are the Black Bart XXX and the new but very exciting Marlin Magic Tiny Blue Bullet. Both these lures have little to no action and are absolute killers in patterns such as blue and pink red bait or blue/purple such as big dog, which imitates sauries.

Most of the lures anglers’

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This is what happens when a big tuna eats your X-Rap.

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9

Southern Bluefin Tuna

Tasmania: following the trail TASMANIA

Kelly Hunt

The Southern bluefin tuna scene in Tasmania has always been popular across Australia, but it is really starting to attract some broader attention. This

is probably due to social media spreading the word and showing the nation many cracking reasons to fish Tasmania’s tuna run.

PROXIMITY FROM SHORE The more time spent fishing on the mainland offshore, the more I see how

lucky and spoilt we are in Tasmania. The grounds we can target bluefin tuna are so close to the ramps of the south east coast, mainland people I speak to barely believe it.

The coastline also lends itself to being quite safe and comfortable for all levels of

Eaglehawk Neck

Pirates Bay

Waterfall Bay Taranna

experience. There is often quite a number of ways and areas to fish should the wind and weather be a bit ordinary. This is not something you can do if you are 20nm+ offshore.

The fishing in Munroe’s Bight is so close and often protected that it must take some getting used to for some when they first experience it.

AMAZING SURROUNDINGS It is again something Tasmanians all take for granted. It can be a very long day travelling looking for tuna and if the gods are not with you, quite boring, but the next minute you can turn a corner and the views and scenery are spectacular from Fortescue Road the ocean’s perspective. If

It is best not to get caught out in nasty weather in a trailer boat. Check a reliable weather forecast and wait for a suitable window.

Hippolyte Rocks

along Munroes Bight to visual spectacle that is easy Tasman Island will have to locate. These feeds can be you entertained with the sort inshore or out to sea, so keep of geographical eye The candy Lanternsyour eyes up.

The Monument that makes calendar printers While the schoolie size swoon. This keeps you alert SBT get the anglers excited, and engaged so when that nothing fires the fishing bird feed appears or the line scene up like the first jumbo Tasmania

Yellow Bluff

Eaglehawk Neck

Red Dirt Hippolyte Rocks The Thumbs

Refer other map

Pirates Bay The Lanterns The Monument

Fortescue Bay Waterfall Bay Taranna Port Arthur

Fortescue Road

Fortescue

Tasmania The “W”

Yellow Bluff

Red Dirt The Thumbs

Refer other map Yankee Rock

Cape Pillar

Refer other map

Fortescue Bay

Port Arthur

Tumbledown

Fortescue

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you have nothing to look at but open expanse of sea ,the day can drag on forever and ever, sapping energy and concentration.

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Pirates Bay out to the Hippos and all the way

Refer other map

Tasman Island Under the Light

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FISH NUMBERS Tassie has had some fantastic seasons of late and the school size bluefin have been plentiful and quite easy to find.

School fish when feeding on bait really fire up the birds and this creates a

capture. These fish have been frequenting Tasmanian shores in numbers not seen in ages. Gone are the myths of these big fish only travelling in small groups. They have come in big numbers and feed hard. Stay as long as the bait will hold them and then power off.

Southern Bluefin Tuna THE SEASON Traditionally in Tasmania we have a 4-6 month season usually starting around the end of February and often running through to August.

I say traditionally as last season just went on and on. Leo Miller managed to catch the first reported bluefin for this season on the 28 January, so fingerscrossed he had some cobbers.

What is very interesting is that Leo caught the fish at 500m of water depth while chasing a swordfish – crazy stuff indeed!

EAGLEHAWK NECK Eaglehawk Neck has a solid reputation for producing record catches of SBT and the area holds a lot of quality bluefin. This is due to its ability to attract and hold baitfish on the many sea structures that abound the area. Depending on the time of year, the bait can vary from squid, redbait, mackerel, sauries and even mini leatherjackets.

Yes, mini leather jackets were seen last season in the bellies of many fish. Pete Bailey, who fishes with me ,was very keen to hammer a single nail on top of some of our hardbodies to replicate a leatherjacket. Thankfully we didn’t have any hammers on board.

Eaglehawk Neck is a very accessible fishing ground and

is a great place for anyone at all to come and have a crack.

Beginners and the more experienced alike can have a great time out of Pirates Bay or Fortescue Bay looking for tuna.

Overheads as well as bigger spinning reels will allow you to catch the school size fish, which are plentiful.

It’s when the jumbos come to town that the traditional overheads come into their own. These overheads have a lever drag which you can pre set and adjust as the fight goes on. Big spinning reels are harder to judge critical line drag with the precision needed when fishing a particular line class.

The following is a simple circuit of the Necks main fish holding areas. Weather permitting, traveling this route should have you come across fish or get you to parts of the seascape that a bird feed is easy to see and work over. If you do find a fish or two, make sure the skipper marks that point on the sounder and you get back over that spot after landing a fish as soon as you can.

STARTING OFF Many great captures are from literally ‘around the corner’. Waterfall Bay is approximately 1.5km from the ramp and is usually by-passed by most anglers on the way to The Rock or

Tasman Island.

Waterfall Bay has produced quite a few jumbos in the past few seasons and is always worth a look, especially if the birds are working. It’s the first port of call for us when we are out having a look about.

If we are prospecting and looking for fish we will have a 6 lure spread out and then pair back to 3 or 4 once we know what lure they seem to be favouring. Reducing the amount of lures once the fish are located allows you to turn on the GPS mark, and it also speeds up the ability to get lures back in the water.

Next stop heading south and another place renowned for holding bait is Yellow Bluff and the area to the east of called Foxies Reef. This rock step runs for around 2km seaward, and is also quite often forgotten about in the haste to get the more traditional fishing grounds.

Generally Waterfall and Yellow Bluff are usually less occupied by seals and quite often allow the angler to run a lighter line class and battle the fish for longer without being interfered with by our furry little friends.

If you are having no luck, then move further to the mouth of Fortescue Bay, as it is always worth a look and a good spot to drop the spread in about the area of

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and holds good fish as well.

This area has excellent water movement due to the meeting of current and tides. This is fantastic to fire the fish up but can also provide some funky sea conditions so be aware.

We like to run a line from inside the Pillar and out about 2km due southeast. Working this area over usually produces a fish or two.

TASMAN ISLAND The run out and back from The Pillar will give you fair indication if the prevailing weather will allow you to get to Tasman Island for a lap.

Tasman Island is a stunning bookend to the day’s fishing. The area around the island is very fishy and you can pretty well hook up on a SBT anywhere. Work the area over combining tight runs past The Monkeys and an out loop wider to deeper water and back in. Other good spots are under the light and at the Tumble Downs on the northeastern side.

Tasman Island is no place to be caught in freshening breeze and growing swell, add a tide change to the mix and it is far from pretty. Skippers need to be on the ball and keeping an eye on conditions at all times. If the weather is a bit ordinary just put this circuit into reverse and head home the way you came.

To page 12

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You will pick up tuna anywhere in and around the rock. We tend to spend a lot of time dragging lures around the southwestern side of the Hippolyte and down and around the little rock.

It is a fantastic place to start and the venue for a lot of people to catch their first ever SBT. However, there are a couple of spots to be wary.

Be sure to keep an eye on the reef off the far southeast tip of Big Hippo as it has caught out a few skippers and in a heavy swell, show caution to the reef in between the Big Hippo and Little Hippo.

When the ‘Rock is not rocking’ try dragging your lures back over to the Lanterns and down the southern side through into Munroe Bight.

There are some named locations that are worth a try, the first of these being Red Dirt. These areas have nicknames from the locals and charter operators and are always worth a try due to past captures.

The next stop heading south is ‘The W’, while not known to many it has accounted for some good jumbo sized tuna over the years.

Keep pressing south and Cape Pillar is the next hot spot and a favourite for charter boats, especially in a southerly breeze/swell as it provides good protection

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the Thumbs and drag them through to the Lanterns, especially later in the season.

Fortescue Bay is worth a mention to the smaller boat owner. There are very few areas in Australia, if any, as safe to fish for SBT than this area. The bay is sheltered from most directions and has a nice boat ramp to launch from. Given a good weather forecast, even an open dingy can have a crack at catching some bluefin.

Heading out through the mouth of Fortescue Bay with your spread already set you will get a very clear picture as to conditions. Should they be favourable, a clockwise rotation over to the Thumbs, across the open water to the Lanterns and repeat will have you on to the tuna.

Good weather and your confidence will have you reaching out further towards the Little Hippo and back into the Lanterns.

THE HIPPOLYTLE ROCKS Big Hippolyte Rock is a world-renowned southern bluefin tuna haunt and lies further east of Fortescue Bay in full view. Big and Little Hippo rocks are bait magnets and in turn attract a lot of attention from fish that like to feed heavily on the pelagic bait that hold up on the undersea bottom formations and transitions.

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11

Southern Bluefin Tuna From page 9

TOP TIPS FOR TASSIE TUNA WEATHER The first thing to do when putting a trip together to chase southern blues is make a plan. When traversing out to sea, and maybe to the shelf, it’s more about a weather window than the weekend. No one wants to be out there when it is too windy and rough. Study the weather and take some time off if needed.

If you can manage some time off for good behaviour you will avoid weekend bottlenecks at the boat ramps and when you do get on the water it won’t be a Regatta!

When looking at the weather there are a number of good sources, but most importantly don’t shop around. I see people swapping from one weather forecast app to the next just trying to find the one report they want to see or hear. Pick a site or phone app that you trust and can understand then stick to it. I like BOM for Tasmania as it’s the source relied on for all the other algorithms.

But why do weather forecasts vary depending on which app you use?

The forecast process starts with data and observations that come from weather stations around Australia and the regions that affect our weather. Satellites, radar, reports from volunteers, and weather balloons all collect information about the atmosphere and funnel it to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).

These details and measurements are fed into super-computers run by the government (BOM), which take those initial conditions and then use mathematical equations to come up with a forecast. There’s no perfect algorithm because Australia is so big that it’s impossible to have observational data for every parcel of air.

All weather applications use the same baseline of data, but the outcomes are determined by the experience of the meteorologists and the quality of the supercomputers. That’s why I stick with BOM – straight from the horse’s mouth and full of other scientific data that once understood is sensational for weather analysis.

PACK THE BOAT Pack your pride and joy early, not the night before.

When shooting for a weather window to go green on, the boat should be packed, stacked and sorted.

This also goes back to planning. If you are going to target a species on a hot bite don’t take every rod you own and every piece of tackle. This is about taking the gear you need and some spares. Five squid rods and a few flatty bashing outfits is not what you want rolling about the boat when hooked 12

MARCH 2015

up to a southern bluefin.

Make sure you have the gear packed nicely and everyone knows where it is stored.

When three reels go off on a three way hook up, the last thing you want to be doing is screaming out is ‘where’s the harness?’ ‘where’s the gaff?’.

A clean well-organised deck is crucial to fighting a fish in calm conditions and becomes paramount when things get bumpy.

KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED Bird life is only one of the significant signs you should be looking for when trying to find feeding tuna.

Surface disturbance and/ or current lines should also be investigated. Anything floating in the water may be of interest to bait fish so in turn could have some bigger predators hovering about as well. Concentration and attention to detail is most important.

By all means have fun and have a laugh, but be systematic with your sweeps of the ocean and surroundings.

It is a long way to come to miss a group of feeding tuna 1nm to your starboard.

You will get to sense when the birds you are looking at are up to something. If you see gannets climbing and looking cagey that is the time to get across to them and have a look. Don’t be in too much of a rush to leave a feed that has produced no strikes. Come at it from different angles and work the area over extensively before moving off.

Birds can spot a bait ball from a long way off.

With practice you will spot those birds.

MIX IT UP Trolling skirted lures is the traditional domain of the bluefin hunt, but if you close your mind to other ideas you will miss a lot of opportunities. There are a numerous reasons to use other tactics at your disposal.

I am a fan of the Sébile range of sub surface lures, but there are plenty of others on the market. Quality and strength is paramount, just make sure it can handle skirted trolling speeds of 5-8 knots with ease. We have run one right under the prop wash on short corner with a lot of success. To maximise the lures’ deeper running potential you can run them well back in a shotgun position, just out of the prop wash. The idea of the sub surface lure is to raise those fish within striking distance.

If the tuna are being stubborn and you feel you need to get deeper down, then use a premium deep diving lure that will run sweet to 5 knots.

Once a decision has been made to raise fish seen on the sounder, slowing down and presenting divers over skirts works well. How many times do we see bait on the sounder

and continue to have little or no luck doing the same old thing? If you are not catching fish after doing something for hours, this is the time to do something different. Get the divers back twice as long as you normally would and go half as slow. Troll over those bait schools a couple of times and this may raise those fish that have shut down.

DON’T PANIC Once you have hooked a fish the hard work has been done, so there is no need to try and rip the fish’s head off and get him to the boat in 10 seconds flat. Get a sense of the size of the fish and play

for this and have the rod out of the gimbal and tip in the water should they need. You can use a tuna’s propensity to circle at the end of a fight to your advantage. No need to lead the tuna over to you roughly, just allow the fish to circle around and as it comes into range fire a gaff shot. If you miss, stay calm and hit him on the next lap.

NEW TECHNIQUES Tuna can be super easy to catch and the very next day super frustrating. Many times we have heard the words, “Oh you should have been here yesterday, they were eating everything!” This is

Good quality fluorocarbon leader is the domain here. Fluoro is said to have the same reflective index (RI) as water and hence supposed to be next to invisible to fish – but I have never been able to talk to a fish to confirm it. What can be confirmed is the much better abrasion resistance fluorocarbon has over mono. This can be worth its weight in gold if that bigger fish turns up. Momoi and Cinnetic make some of the best leader going about, but there are heaps available.

Likewise, if the tuna are feeding on something that I

Leo Miller with the first southern bluefin tuna for the 2015 Tasmanian season. it out. Let the fish run if it wants to, it is hardly going to wrap a pylon or reef section out in deep water. Tire the fish and it will be easier to land later.

Work together with the skipper and keep the battle over the rear corners of the boat. Tuna won’t tend to fight on the surface. Once they know something is up they will fight deep and hard. The skipper will need to be on his toes to keep the fish in the best position and circle around to keep the line away from the gunnels.

If you are a crew member on a boat, always try to think where the best place for you will be. Be mindful of your positioning in the boat in regard to ballast and also the skipper’s view to the angler. If the skipper can’t see the line angle and what the angler is up to a good fish can be lost.

If you sense the fish tiring, work the tuna up closer to the boat but watch for it circling under the boat.

The angler must be ready

normally after spending 6 hours trolling for little or no return. More often than not you can see the fish surface feeding but not hook any.

These are the times to try something different.

We tend to be set in our ways and not try too much different, but we should ask ourselves why? If we can see the fish, we know they are there, but are not taking what we have on offer. Why not do something different? Read up on some different ways to approach the same problem.

Here are a few suggestions: Downsize The fish could be flighty and getting spooked in some way. This can happen on bright sunny days with very little surface chop on the water. The big heavy leaders we use just in case Mr Jumbo comes along can be enough to have the fish shy away. If you think this is the case, have some lighter leaders ready to crimp onto your lures. You can go down to 100lb to prove a point and start to get some hook ups.

am not offering, I will need to either upsize or downsize.

This can be tricky, as bluefin tuna in Tasmania can get fixated on something quite small, which makes it hard to get a hook that is strong enough yet small enough to fool the fish. Last season very late in the year we came across schools of nice fish feeding hard on 1” squid.

Tough gig…

If you can manage to find a skirted lure that gets the job done, all well and good, but if not there is another trick up your sleeve.

STICKBAITS Fish being instinctive creatures can decide to feed or strike purely due to an offering’s action through the water. This is where stickbaits and surface lures have started to find favour.

Any time you are a baitfish and you look to be in anyway wounded, you are in trouble – big trouble.

Fish are also opportunistic and if they can get an easy meal they will do so in a heartbeat. Fish that are

zoned in on tiny squid will still come at the right lure if it looks wounded enough.

You can use floaters, sinkers, pencils and poppers; get them into the back of a school of feeding fish and rip them through and try and impart as much action on them as possible and then rest them. You may even need a rest your-self as it can be hard work. Then get the lure working again and give your best wounded bait fish rendition. This is very exciting fishing when it all comes together.

Obviously casting lures into a school of tuna is not going to happen with your overhead outfits, so get into a tackle store and let them know what you want to try.

They will be able to use their experience and knowledge to fit you out with the combination and lures that have been working locally.

Soft plastics We all know how life-like and wounded a well-made soft plastic can look. There are a number of very good brands out there to try and I am sure there would not be an angler out there unfamiliar with the Berkley range. Head into any good tackle store and look at the Ripple shads in a range of sizes and of course the Gulp Nemesis are hard to beat. Pair these up with some Nitro Saltwater jigheads and you will have a strong combination ready to tempt the fussiest tuna.

CASTING Sending stickbaits or big plastics into a bait school needs a little forethought and some other style equipment.

Using any available wind and swell to drift down on to a school of finicky bluefin is the preferred method.

Spooking them is not the ideal outcome, but sneaking up on them and getting a couple of casts into them is the go.

The gear you will need to get a bait into the zone will be a little different to what you may ordinarily have on board.

A longer rod more suited to casting is preferred, teamed with a bigger spinning rod around 5000 size or larger.

If fishing outside any GFAA competition, a spool full of braid will be handy. Braid is a considerably better medium for casting in this situation and will allow for longer casts to cover more ground each attempt. If getting to the fish without spooking them is an issue, the ability to cast from a distance will help.

I hope this gives you some ideas of where to go and some tips on how to be successful in Tasmanian waters chasing bluefin. It’s a great place to spend a couple of days fishing, or a week when the jumbos are about.

The Eaglehawk Neck area has lots to do for families as well and is rich in history and many worthwhile tourist attractions.

MARCH 2015

13

Southern Bluefin Tuna

Broadbill big bonus for Tas waters TASMANIA

Kelly Hunt

If you are an offshore angler in Australia and not heard about the broadbill captures in Tasmania you may well reside on the moon. It has lit up those game fishers that know the mystique of the broadbill swordfish.

These fish are an iconic species to game anglers as they combine two things, intrigue and difficulty of capture.

Swordfish bring both these and more to the party and Tasmania has become a place of interest as we seem to have some massive specimens.

Broadbill gets its name from the bill that can be one-third the length of a mature adult fish. They will use this weapon to great effect and are quite dangerous. A sword has the physique of an American gridiron linesman and all his prerequisites.

SPEED AND POWER They have massive shoulders that maintain bulk all the way to a tail that has a thick powerful wrist. These things are mad and will attack all comers while looking for a feed; they will even take on a submersible or two if in the wrong mood. That is why over the long years of history the Xiphias gladius has been aptly named the gladiator of the sea.

Accounts dating back to the 1800s have depicted angler and broadbill battling it out for hours. Be prepared for a long battle should you hook one up and keep an eye on the forecast and weather conditions.

WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT It looks like Tasmania is becoming the place to be when targeting massive broadbill swordfish. Anglers are encountering fish in excess of 200kg and the frequency of incidence is surprising.

Recreational anglers have combined with TarFish, the GFAA and local government to instigate a satellite tagging program to get a real understanding of the local population. It is very important that the fishery is understood and some fishing parameters be formulated.

The potential of the fishery should be looked after and maintained as it has the ability

below the surface. Squid, mackerel or small tuna are the preferred baits.

This traditional method still certainly works, but there are techniques that allow you to cover more ground and also target one particular spot of interest.

Those looking to cover more ground can develop a slow troll. Slow trolling is carried out at boat idle speed

Exhausted, but elated, Leo and Simon Turner with the third swordfish for the session. to drive a charter business model similar to others around the world where the big swords frequent.

CATCH A SWORD The general methods that have been tried and tested internationally are accepted ways to hook swords. These involve drifting at night and setting a range of baits at various depths from 20-150m

using a whole squid, tuna, or a fresh belly flap. You can rig this behind a softhead skirted trolling lure and then set to swim deep using breakaway sinkers or a downrigger.

You can also use the smaller glow sticks and sew these into you bait to create a visual aspect to your offering.

This style of attack is again better used at night over peaks

and bottom structure where the swords may frequent.

DAYTIME FISHING There have been a number of incidental sightings, captures by commercial guys and people hooking swordfish while using electrics. However, there has been one group of people fishing on the vessel Choonachaser that have set the state and national fishing scene on fire by replicating captures using daytime methods.

This crew skippered by Leo Miller has lead a wave of interest and success from other anglers following their methods. I had a chance to talk to Tasmania’s ‘Lord of the Swords’ to get a feel of what they were up to.

Kelly Hooch Hunt: So what got you started in thinking the big girls might be a prospect here in Tasmania?

Leo Miller: We were seeing some people over the years get smashed on their electrics while fishing for blue eye, and after hearing some of the battle stories, they just sounded like sword fights. Long liners had managed to see a few each year and the latitudes are very similar to New Zealand so we decided to have a go at them.

Hooch: You have done well during the day, but that’s not where you started?

Leo: Yes that’s right we initially targeted them at night.

From what we had read this seemed the easiest way to find them. It is quite common knowledge that they come closer to the surface at night.

However we had no luck.

We then started working out how to deep drop baits and use break sinkers to leave

Leo Miller and his crew swim a broadbill after tagging it. a bait presented in 400-700m of water. There was some considerable trial and error, but we feel we have perfected it.

Hooch: Awesome! Now I understand you don’t want to give too much away, but can you let us in on some of the rigging you are using?

Leo: The easiest method is a thin braid, like Platypus Pre-test, you can then roll a bimini twist and cat’s paw that connects to a double on about 100m of mono top shot.

We use 300lb JEM wind ons and 400lb leader. Large hook either J or circle (12 to 18/0).

We also add a light source in somewhere – glow stick or Duralite Diamond or Electralume.

We then just pick our spot

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MARCH 2015

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Tasmania is becoming the place to be when targeting massive broadbill swordfish.

and drop the bait and wait an hour or so. Check bait and re set. Often given the depth and mono top shot, you won’t see a bite, but you will find you have a fish hooked when retrieving baits.

Hooch: If you are lucky enough to come up tight on one, what is your advice?

Leo: They swim straight to the top usually; either jump or swirl on the surface and then dive back down. This is when the battle starts in ernest. They like to fight straight up and down and under the boat so you’ll need to drive off them a lot.

You will need a flying gaff and a good secondary gaff and a winch or block and tackle to get larger ones on board.

Hooch: What are your thoughts around baits?

Leo: Baits can be big and need to be tied up well, as the broadbills first action will be to slash them up. My crew and I use squid, fish fillets, and whole fish like blue eye or small tuna. The exciting thing we have found is the by-catch.

We have caught good-sized tuna and sharks.

Hooch: Where is a good place to start setting a bait?

Leo: They tend to like some sort of structure or drop-off on the edge of the continental shelf and feed on the bottom and mid water fish. I am sure this is the same as the other species that haunt these areas.

They like the up wellings and current movement.

There is no thrill that can match hooking a massive swordfish 500m down and battling it both on the surface watching jumps and then down deep battling their non-retractable fins and double caudal tail. They fight hard and tough and can be very stubborn and hard to budge; sometimes you’ll go an hour or more without gaining line. Be prepared, practice and persevere – the rewards are worth it!

Hooch: Thank you Leo much appreciated.

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15

Muscle in on March mulloway WEST COAST

Shane Lowery

March can be an exceptional month to fish the Glenelg River with continued good weather and plenty of fish on offer.

Despite the incredible numbers of small mulloway in the system this year there has still been very few reports of bigger fish being caught. There has

been plenty in the 60-80cm range taken mostly around the middle to lower reaches of the river but there are only limited reports of fish up in the 20lb size.

Most of the legal fish have been caught after dark by bait fishers; pilchard or cut baits seem to have accounted for the majority of them. The best areas have been from the caves down with Donavans, Taylors Strait, the bridge

and the estuary itself all producing fish on their day. It’s also worth noting that Dr Lauren Veale is continuing her ongoing research project into mulloway, which involves her studying the otoliths (ear bones) extracted from the fish to determine age and growth rates as well as other important data regarding this elusive specie. Filleted mulloway frames can be bagged and

left at the Nelson Kiosk to be frozen and picked up

by Lauren.

As always bream are well spread in the river at this time of year and anglers willing to move around will certainly have no trouble finding patches of fish.

Bait fishers have had great success again with pilchard, shelled prawn and crab, which is always a great bait. Fishing the edges of weed banks with shallower mud flats adjacent early in the mornings has been very successful but it’s important to gradually work baits out a little deeper as the brightness and heat of the day increases. Lure fishing is working on the same pattern, starting by casting hard into the edges with shallow diving hardbodies or lightly weighted soft plastics early in the mornings and last thing before dark. Working deeper divers and heavier plastics out a little wider

Lawry Bradley-Brown has been having great success targeting estuary perch on lures and live baits. whitebait are perfect for the job but can be hard to find in the local area. Fishing leaders of up around the 10lb mark is advisable as you need to quickly muscle the perch away from the snags before they manage

to get back and bury themselves into the sticks.

With the holidays now over, it means less boat traffic so there’s no better time to get out on the Glenelg and enjoy some quality fishing.

Mathew Nash with an average sized legal mulloway for this season.

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during the day.

Estuary perch are on the move to higher reaches of the river and during March the most productive parts of the river seem to be from the caves right up to around Pritchards. Early mornings are providing some exciting surface fishing for lure anglers but diving hardbodies are required to extend the bite time a little once the sun gets up higher. Perch are not a fish that is easily targeted by bait fishing as they seem completely uninterested in taking dead static fished baits. However they are very keen on snapping up a live bait fished unweighted, very lightly weighted or suspended under a small bubble float and thrown in amongst the heavy snags. Small live baits like

Clint Northcott took this nice bream throwing shallow diving hardbodies at the edges right on dark.

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17

Kings out, tuna in!

WARRNAMBOOL

Mark Gercovich mgercovich@hotmail.com

March is the last month to reliably be targeting the local yellowtail kingfish population.

There have been some good captures of kingfish locally in January but weather conditions haven’t been too kind in allowing many windows of opportunity to get amongst them.

Casting soft plastic, slugs, baits or hardbodied stickbaits like the Daiwa Overthere Skipping or Zipbait SSM minnow works well when conditions are calm enough to spot surface schools.

Trolled squid strips or jigging has worked well at times when fishing has been a bit tougher.

As seems to be the case

almost each season now, the odd tuna has shown up early in the season feeding around some of the same bait schools the kings are on. As if king fishing isn’t exciting enough as it is, without having some tuna breaking the surface as you’re targeting yellowtail.

Come March the tuna should be making their presence felt much more consistently, although they will most likely be in the deeper water around the shelf region.

The same incessant wind we’ve had over January also hasn’t made targeting the local shark population very easy. This is unfortunate as there have been some excellent captures of gummy and school shark taken when conditions allow. Not many game species of shark have been taken recently but March is a great time to catch a mako

or thresher. The best mako I’ve heard of taken recently was a 180kg fish by the Richardson Marine boys on their Christmas break up. Now that takes getting into trouble with unsavoury creatures at a Christmas party to the extreme.

King George whiting have been a consistent option over the summer on the inshore grounds if it has been too windy to get out further, and March should be no exception. It’s amazing how shallow these fish can be caught in low light conditions, particularly with a good weed bed present. What the local whiting lack in numbers they make for in size with most fish being around 38-44cm.

The holiday crowds of January, and a closed mouth, slowed the excellent fishing in the Hopkins River somewhat.

When the mouth opens though, it often leads to a couple of days of exceptional fishing and

Jo Rowland with a rare January tuna, the March tuna should be more prolific. with plenty of mulloway still being present in the system it would be well worth a look if you hear the mouth has recently opened.

The annual Shipwreck Coast fishing comp is on again this March from 7-15 March. Entry is online only.

The 2014 event was a fantastic success, with almost 650 competitors and over $64,000 in prizes and giveaways. This

year promises to be bigger and better than ever with a massive number of prizes making this event the largest fishing comp in South West Victoria. Profits last year went to Peters Project. This year’s profits will be donated to the Warrnambool Coastguard, who have supported the comp tirelessly over many years.

This year will see the introduction of catch and

release options for a number of species including bream, mullet, estuary perch, trevally, mulloway, and trout. Big prizes are also on offer for snapper, whiting, morwong, Australian salmon, flathead, gummy and school sharks, kingfish, game sharks, and tuna. In addition, 2015 will also see the return of sweep and crayfish to the eligible species list. See the comp rules for full details.

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The months are fast turning around again and the talk is already out there for another big tuna season ahead. We have already seen a few caught again in the early months and shallow waters around the North Shore. Most are around the 15-20kg mark.

The tuna have appeared early for a few seasons now but generally not in big numbers.

Let’s hope it’s another good sign of things to come.

Other fishing in the area at the moment has been very good. For a good feed of blue-eye, trumpeter, sharks and other deep bottom fish, the guys have been heading towards the shelf and deep dropping. Most anglers these days are using electric reels to make life a little easier for these long hulls from the bottom.

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area has been fishing very well for makos and some in very large sizes.

Further around to Bridgwater Bay area the flathead have been in good numbers and some great sizes as well. Also mixed in with them have been school and gummy sharks, so not a bad mix and some of the best eating fish in the area.

Fish this side of Lawrences Rock and you will score some very good whiting and flathead on the drift or anchored up around Black Nose Point.

There have been great feeds of pinkie snapper from the North Shore area plus sharks, squid, whiting and the mighty kingfish. Pinkies, school shark, gummy sharks, salmon, kingfish, some good size squid and the odd large snapper have been caught off the breakwater. The harbour is also hot for kingfish.

The beach around the North Shore right up to the Fitzroy River has seen some great school sharks, mulloway plus some nice snapper.

MARCH Generally we get great fishing days from March to June and also great results of fish.

The tuna fishing is normally underway and people will start sorting out their big fishing trips to Portland. This time of year we see the guys heading to the shelf to catch tuna and hope to pick up some albacore, which seems to be a big favourite and very good eating fish.

If the weather is suitable out on the shelf, of course the deep bottom drops are worthwhile for the chance of blue-eye, ling, knife jaw and such like.

Grant with a decent school shark from the North Shore.

It is a great time to catch a mako, snapper and other varieties of good table fish in the deep waters around Cape Nelson. Further around to Cape Bridgewater you will come into some great flathead ground with gummies and schoolies mixed in. The Squid’em rigs are great for this area.

Around the bay to North Shore is generally still alive with great table fish on offer, such as whiting, flathead, sharks, squid, and snapper just to name a handful. Also the chances of a kingfish hanging around is high.

The breakwater this time of year has seen some big snapper come back through up to Easter time but with a lot of pinkies mixed in. Salmon, squid, whiting, trevally and sharks are also around the wall .

The guys that love their beach fishing also have a lot of success on school and gummy sharks and love chasing mulloway along the northern beaches and Discovery Bay. Salmon and gummies off the Bridgewater Beach is also a very good option.

Don’t forget the Fitzroy and Surrey rivers for your bream, mullet, salmon and the odd mulloway as these rivers are a great option too.

• For all your fishing and weather reports you can contact us at Portland Compleat Angler on 03 55211844 or call in at 61 bentinck street next to the Gordon hotel. We also have all your fishing gear and bait needs plus licences regulation books and stickers.

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Fluke captures become top target species APOLLO BAY

Daniel Kent apollobaysurfshop@bigpond.com

What a bumper season we are experiencing along this part of the Victorian coast.

Large schools of salmon have been patrolling the coastline and can occasionally be seen breaking the surface as they chomp into the baitfish schools. If you’re lucky enough to be out in the boat and come across a feeding frenzy then catching a fish should be as simple as casting a metal lure in amongst all the action.

This season has also seen large schools of yellowtail kingfish along the coastline and these have also been mixed in with the salmon.

The kingies have been caught trolling and casting while targeting the salmon schools off the Marengo reefs and along the back edge of the Bumbry Reef.

Some more dedicated anglers have also had great success on kingfish to 95cm jigging metal lures down off Cape Otway.

Some early rumours are starting to circle about bluefin tuna already so keep an eye on the weather charts for an early season tuna session. Whoever would have thought that Apollo Bay could be a reliable place for yellowtail kingfish and bluefin tuna? In years gone by these species were considered ‘fluke captures’ or only occasionally sighted and then gone before anyone had the chance to target them.

In recent years they just keep growing in numbers, so let’s all hope this trend continues.

King George whiting are still frequenting the inshore reef edges off Marengo, Elliot River and Blanket Bay with some fish up to 48cm being taken on recent outings. The whiting should be here for another month or so before

they slow down through the cooler months, make the most of the next few weeks if you’re keen for a feed.

Silver trevally and squid have also been taken from the whiting grounds, so make sure you have a jig ready in the tackle box.

The Aire and Barham River estuaries have been fishing extremely well for black bream, which have been biting on small hardbodied and soft plastic lures. The fish are widespread throughout the river systems, so don’t be afraid to move around until you locate good numbers of feeding fish.

These rivers fish best when the mouth of the river is open to the sea and the tide is nearing the bottom of its cycle.

As the water recedes from the reedy edges it leaves nowhere for the shrimp and baitfish to hide so the bream move up onto the edges looking for an easy feed. Needless to say

The Aire and Barham River estuaries have been reliable fishing locations for black bream. that’s where you should be casting your lure. I do quite a bit of this style of fishing

and always look forward to the spring tides in March as bigger tidal movements give

longer bite times each day, which means more fish can be caught.

Hot bites rely on weather COLAC

Rod Shepherd

Large schools of Australian salmon are holding off Apollo Bay. These can easily be caught casting or trolling metal lures.

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MARCH 2015

By late January, all of the South West was still under the spell of very late running spring-like weather. Below normal summer temperatures plus abundant rain and incessant wind put up rather an impenetrable roadblock to anglers.

Those who didn’t have January off and had to work were extremely happy (not!) as southwesterly blows seemed to fall at the start of the weekend leaving much of the working week’s weather reasonable enough to get out on the water for a fish.

Recent history regarding the weather points to a long, hot February with stable weather, so let’s hope it happens. Mind you, we could do without the 40°C days that inevitably come with this weather but as they say, you cannot have your cake and eat it too.

It’s interesting to note that by the Australia Day weekend, anglers fishing out wide had already come across schools of southern bluefin tuna. Fish from 4-12kg have been boated by anglers initially chasing school salmon, mako shark or just bottom bouncing, so the distances travelled from shore has not been great and anglers are asking the question “What’s exactly out on the continental shelf?”

Reefs lying in 40-50m depth are currently holding some excellent pinkie snapper to 48cm, school and gummy shark with the latter a tad on the smaller side plus

the odd ‘yank’ flathead to 1.5kg. Calamari squid are still about and make excellent fresh baits for the all the above fish.

Schools of yellowtail kingfish to 7kg are active around inshore reefs with fish being caught from Port Fairy to Peterborough, mainly by boaters.

Land-based anglers are putting in the hours for King George whiting to 41cm, silver trevally to 40cm and gummy shark, many barely legal, after dark. Hard baits are doing better than soft ones, so forget the pipi and concentrate on using squid.

The Curdies River and lake is quite full with the Boggy Creek boat ramp slightly wet underfoot. The

many captures coming from once very shallow areas of the lake.

The mouth is still closed and unless another 50mm or so falls in the very near future, will remain so until autumnal or winter rains force an opening.

In the meantime, bream are responding to local live shrimp and greyback minnow baits but anglers are somewhat forced to squeeze into some waders before using a dip or hauling net and only those in the know should do so as the channel drop-off in the lake can be quite dangerous.

Suddenly slipping from a 1m in depth into 3m in waders will put a bait gatherer into a critical and

A nice bag of summer Curdies bream taken by the author prior to release. river flats are currently inundated and so too are the surrounding banks of the lake, restricting access to landbased anglers. A rain event in mid January certainly put a flow back into the river and has appeared to concentrate the bream downstream with

potentially deadly situation, so please keep that in mind.

Fish to 41cm have been caught over the once shallow flats and trolling shallow diving minnow lures without encountering weed is now a viable proposition.

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Red bite in the Barwon GEELONG

Neil Slater slaterbunch@optusnet.com.au

Redfin and carp are still biting in the Barwon River! As long as the water remains relatively clear,

the lure fishing for redfin will remain a priority.

Casting anything that looks like a minnow parallel to the bankside weed growth is the best method to target these voracious predators.

Soft plastics work a treat because you can control

the depth a bit better than a bibbed minnow keeping the lure in the strike zone for maximum time. The strike zone for reddies is almost always close to the bottom, so try to keep your lures down there.

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This St Leonards gummy gave a bit of talk back to Alan Jones, which he wrestled for 40 minutes before landing the 19kg beast! thing, a bunch of worms will catch most fish but live minnow is like a party pie to a redfin – you can always fit one more in even if you’re

not hungry!

Out west, Wurdi Buloc Reservoir near Moriac is producing redfin and rainbow trout to lure anglers. Michael

Evans has been consistently producing quality fish from this location using fish arrow soft plastics bumped along the bottom.

FISHING FILL-ITS

Don’t get caught without a lifejacket If you’re going fishing in Victoria this summer, wear your lifejacket.

That’s the message from Daniel Rees, a keen fisherman who usually goes out on inland waters, such as Pykes Creek Reservoir, Cairn Curran and Lake Eildon in pursuit of Murray cod and golden perch.

He is also an ardent supporter of lifejackets and leads by example – he never goes fishing without one.

Daniel talks enthusiastically about the lifejackets he owns: “I have a Type 2 Marlin lifejacket which fits me snugly and the webbing also hugs my thin frame and fits perfectly. No sliding over the head. I also carry two Type 1 jackets as spares. I also keep packaged hand warmers and a whistle in the pockets of my Type 2 for good measure,” Daniel said.

Daniel says that too many boaters are taking unnecessary risks and attitudes need to change.

“Water is a formidable adversary and boaters constantly underestimate it and get complacent.

“People just assume that nothing can go wrong. The reality is that things can go horribly wrong on the water, and from time to time they do.

“A friend of mine, Adam, lost his life at Lake Eildon.

The circumstances that led to him being in the water are still unknown and may never be known. But the tragedy is that he did not have his lifejacket on. The end result was devastating for all his family and friends,” Daniel reflected.

Daniel is fully supportive of Maritime Safety Victoria’s (MSV) ‘Wear A Lifejacket Or Others Wear The Consequences’ campaign.

The initiative has been rolled out across the summer and had presence on billboards

Daniel with one of his successful catches – and his Marlin lifejacket, of course. at boat ramps and other key locations across the state, as well as on TV, radio, press and

A still from TSV’s lifejacket campaign.

online media.

“I think the campaign is superb. I felt like the issue was beginning to fall by the wayside once again but it popped up on Facebook at exactly the right time.

It’s a great initiative and MSV should be proud of themselves,” Daniel opined.

Daniel has one final message to boaters: “Please, wear your lifejacket. If you’re not comfortable in it, find a replacement that suits you. But please wear it,” Daniel pleaded.

For more information about lifejackets, visit MSV’s campaign website at www. wearalifejacket.vic.gov.au.

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Short-finned pike up to a 1m have made themselves known in Corio Bay and many soft plastic enthusiasts have had their lures mauled of late. Pike have an incredibly hard jaw, so hooks should be razor sharp to keep these fish connected. Trolling bibbed minnow lures close to the bottom in about 4-6m can also be successful. They have been caught at the Geelong waterfront, North Shore Rocks and Hermsley.

Snotty trevally have been going bananas at Cunningham Pier, but most of them have been fairly small at around 25cm. They are fun to catch using light tackle and are climbing all over pilchard fillets and raw chicken.

Pinkie snapper have been a prime target for soft plastic anglers seeking light tackle action with fish from legal length to 55cm being taken on Turtle Back Worms in pumpkinseed and Gulp minnows in bright colours such as nuclear chicken.

Early in the morning has been best in around the 4-5m mark, but when the sun gets up a bit, the undersized fish move in.

Work colleagues Andreas and Jake have been fishing land-based from Rippleside, where they have caught a few legal pinkie snapper and King George whiting using

pipis, salted pilchards and raw chicken.

March is traditionally a good time to look for yellowtail kingfish around the structures of Corio Bay. I had not heard of any in February, but you can bet they will be prowling this month. Live bait such as garfish are deadly and they will take fresh squid and baitfish-profiled lures.

The fishing from Portarlington to Queenscliff has been fantastic and there has been some real quality fish gracing catch bags.

Rod Ludlow from Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports calamari are still coming in from the Prince George reefs as well as Governors Reef and some of the weed beds closer to St Leonards with best times early and late in the day.

The best fishing has generally been around the high tides with plenty of nice size pinkie snapper coming in with the best spots being around the Governors Reef.

There are plenty of good sized flathead coming in at around 45cm. Rod says that fishing the shallows from Indented Head back to the Prince George Bank has been best.

King George whiting are certainly worth chasing as well in that same area using

pipis, but the tide must be moving. Rod notes that if you can get the wind in the same direction as the tide it’s well worth the effort. The fish off Indented Head are coming in a lot larger than the ones from St Leonards with some at over 40cm and the odd fish approaching 46cm!

The gummy sharks have

dropping them at the boat as some have hooked them fishing for whiting. One gummy shark was even hooked on a silver wobbler while trolling for salmon!

The gummies are feeding in fairly close to shore on the squid and whiting, so fresh squid is the bait of choice.

Alan Jones fished

in a 10kg gummy while Alan’s put up a 40-minute fight and pulled the scales down to 19kg!

There has also been plenty of Australian salmon kicking about the Bellarine Peninsula. They have not been too big at around 35cm, but make great bait and they are fun to catch! They

Michael sent in this beautiful photo of a rainbow prior to release. been biting well out in the deeper water from around 18-22m of water. Rod has had half a dozen come in one day late January but the recent anglers have been

out there with his cousin Brendan. They fished the west channel from about 6am using chunks of salmon for bait when both their rods went off. Brendan hauled

have been a little hard to locate so trolling lures about until a school is located is the best bet.

There has been some bigger salmon closer to

the Rip and some of these have exceeded the 2kg mark. Anglers using fly and lure tackle have had a ball chasing the big schools as they move about the lower reaches of Port Phillip Bay. Just make sure you give everyone plenty of room and whatever you do, don’t troll lures through the middle of the school as it only frightens them off.

Yellowtail kingfish to 65cm have been caught by anglers using deep jigging methods outside the Rip and off Collendina. Trolling around the 10m mark near Ocean Grove and around Charlemont Reef off Thirteenth Beach has also been productive.

Those with heavy tackle seeking a mako should head out to the 70m mark and with a good berley trail, you should have a few mako and blue shark around.

• 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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23

Lots of fun between king visits PORT PHILLIP WEST

Brenton Hodges blhodgey@hotmail.com

Over the past few months, the talk of the town, at least in angling circles, has undoubtedly been the incredible run of yellowtail kingfish.

Admittedly, much of the action has been in southern parts of Port Phillip Bay and just outside of the heads, but don’t be surprised if a few show up further north this month. Parts of Corio Bay, namely Point Henry and Point Wilson, as well as the shallow reef areas at Point Cook and Williamstown are known to attract the odd kingy at this time of year. The combination of light winds and warm to hot conditions, large congregations of baitfish and big schools of Australian salmon are the key elements so be sure to be on the lookout this month.

Aside from kingfish,

whiting have been congregating across the shallows reef and weed areas from Point Cook through to Avalon. Depths ranging from 3-6m are your best bet with fish to 40cm+ available on mussel, pipi, squid and cuttlefish.

Amongst the whiting, some terrific flathead to 55cm

have been moving, as well as plenty of pinkie snapper.

Southern calamari to 1.5kg continue to be taken in bag limit numbers at Point Cook and along much of the Bellarine Peninsula, particularly from Clifton Springs right through to Queenscliff.

Bream, pinkie snapper

King George whiting have been congregating across the shallow reef and weed areas from Point Cook through to Avalon of late. The action is expected to continue well into March.

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and school mulloway will be the key targets in the metropolitan rivers over the coming month with both bait and lure anglers expected to do well in the lead up to Easter.

POINT COOK TO POINT WILSON In between chasing kingfish and sharks down south, Jack Auld has been amongst the squid and whiting at Point Cook. Drifting 3.5g jigs in 4-6m of water has been highly productive on the calamari with bag limits captures achieved during most outings. Fresh mussel meat and squid or cuttlefish have been the baits of choice for whiting in just 3m of water from Duncan’s Road at Werribee South through to Campbell’s Cove.

Accompanied by his sons, Hayden and Kyle, Judd Reynolds has been putting in plenty of time off Werribee South of late where gummy sharks to 9.5kg and some serious blue spot flathead to 3kg plus have been keeping the boys entertained.

According to Judd, the best bait has been freshly caught squid heads.

YARRA RIVER Nathan Wright says bream to 1kg have been active in the lower reaches of the Yarra River at Newport and Williamstown with the rock walls, channel markers, jetty pylons and moored yachts

In between chasing kingfish and sharks down south, Jack Auld has been peppering the squid at Point Cook. the rock walls in the middle reaches of the system on a rising tide has been productive.

Likewise, those pitching small bibbed minnows, both from boats under electric power and land-based on foot, have also been doing well. Brad Hodges spent a few hours walking the banks armed with a selection of Berkley 3B Puppy Dog lures and managed a dozen bream.

Interestingly, Brad mentioned

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Keen kayak enthusiast, Joel Bramble, displays one of many bream taken on the Maribyrnong River in recent times. This one fell to a Cranka Crab smeared with Sax Scent. each producing some quality specimens on baits of live and cut crab.

MARIBYRNONG RIVER Fishing from his pedal powered kayak, Joel Bramble continues to do well on the Maribyrnong River bream.

Twitching crab imitations smeared with scent along

that the fish still seem to hold in similar areas to when he began lure fishing for bream more than a decade ago.

Hardbodies, soft plastics and surface lures are all successful at this time of year, but the key to fishing the banks is to get your lure in close. If you’re not casting

within a few feet of the bank, you’re too wide!

WERRIBEE RIVER The Werribee River bream have been somewhat hit and miss of late with some anglers coming up with the goods and others failing to raise a scale.

During the summer holiday period, many bream pushed out over the shallow flats at Werribee South seemingly to escape the dying weed. At this point the river resembled pea soup in colour, but a flush of fresh from some heavy summer rain soon had conditions on the improve.

According to Michael Felsovary from Hooked on Bait and Tackle, bream to 36cm and surprisingly, even the odd school mulloway were taken by land-based anglers at the mouth of the system following the rain. Even more surprising was that one of the mulloway fell to a piece of frozen prawn!

Nearby, flathead have been providing good sport for those casting baits from Werribee South Beach.

Likewise, drifting flesh baits and soft plastics across the adjacent sand flats from a small tinnie or kayak has also proved effective.

Further upriver, Nathan Wright went for a quick flick after work one afternoon and nailed two striking redfin in as many casts! Casting a singled-tailed grub in a section of river below the diversion weir, a third reddie of approximately 35cm was landed less than 5 minutes later to make it a hat-trick!

According to Nathan, a fairly aggressive retrieve has been working well on the local redfin population of late.

BEEN FISHING? Reports and images are most welcome and may be submitted via email to blhodgey@hotmail.com.

MARCH 2015

25

Shorter days, more fish to target!

PORT PHILLIP EAST

Lee Rayner info@fishingfever.com.au

It’s hard to believe that we are on the back end of summer and into autumn, and while the days get a bit shorter and the air begins to cool off, it’s this and the following months that can see some great fishing options for a variety of species.

Best of all, in the coming weeks it can often be the time to find some of the better sized fish as they become more active in the slightly cooler water.

MORDIALLOC TO BLACK ROCK The pier has been turning up a bit of a mixed bag over the past weeks with the calm conditions seeing anglers catching everything from squid, to salmon and even a few whiting.

The rougher weather has seen anglers fishing at the end of the pier catching a few pinkies up to 40cm in size, and as the water cools a little this month the pinkies and the squid should only increase in numbers.

A few customers have also reported that they have been getting into some decent flathead out of the kayaks between the Horse Paddock Reef off Mordialloc and up towards Beaumaris Bay, with the best depth appearing to be in the 6-10m areas with

either baits of whitebait on a paternoster rig or the most productive, being the good old soft plastic, with the 120mm Squidgy Wriggler or the Z-Man 3” minnows being hard to top.

Up in Beaumaris Bay anglers have still been getting decent catches of whiting, and while the numbers may have reduced, several customers have been reporting that the fish are definitely getting bigger in size with a lot of the fish they are finding now in the 36cm size.

Adding to the whiting, the squid are really starting

to become a focus once again, as they are in excellent numbers all through the shallow reefs up into the bay, off Beaumaris pier and around to Ricketts Point, which is great news for the upcoming cooler months.

From Ricketts Point and down towards Black Rock, the reef edge is once again filling up with pinkies in preparation for the winter months with a few anglers already reporting good catches on both lures and bait.

Out wider, if you can find a bit of structure in the 14-18m areas, it’s also worth having a look for some late

There are some solid pinkies starting to move around in March.

This month will see a lot of anglers get back into the big numbers of squid that are available locally. Mia, Finlay and Alex love their squid fishing.

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season snapper as some of the bigger fish move their way south before deciding to stay or leave the bay for winter.

SANDRINGHAM TO ST KILDA No matter if you’re in a boat or land-based, this stretch of the coastline is a top place to be this month as the large areas of broken reef and sand hold a range of species.

Even though the water is a bit cooler it’s a prime time to fish the shallows for some solid flathead that will be lurking in the sand holes between the reefs.

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It’s also a prime time to fish the hard reef for not only pinkies but the very tasty red mullet that seem to get active over the coming months. If you haven’t caught these red, whiskered critters before then a sure fire way to get into some of them is with a 2-3” grub style plastic hopped along the reefy bottom.

If bait is your thing then try small pieces of cured worm such a beach or blood worm, which a lot of tackle stores sell in tubs and call ‘Whiting Worm’.

Out wider the Anonyma Shoal is the place to be for the odd catch of really solid whiting and pinkies. But this month will also see this big

reef patch become the home for a lot of big snook that will move into hunt the baitfish that like to hold around it.

Trolling with small diving minnows or garfish rigged on gang hooks will see you getting into a few of these slippery customers.

In along the shoreline, whiting are still a option through this area this month with some great fish still being taken off Brighton pier in the 38-40cm size, not to mention one or two customers still reporting that they are getting decent numbers of whiting from Green Point and along to Brighton.

At all times, as you fish through this part of the bay it’s also a must to have a rod rigged with a plastic or metal lure in the tackle box, as there have been some solid salmon kicking around, and while they haven’t been in big schools or staying up for long, fingers-crossed that this month will see some calmer weather that will get them really fired up.

Further north, the reef edges around North Road and up towards Elwood are the place to be looking for squid, which have been in good numbers and as another option there has

also been the odd report of some garfish in the area, and while they haven’t been an every day thing, when you do get onto them they are in decent numbers.

ST KILDA TO PORT MELBOURNE This month generally sees anglers focusing on the garfish and smaller salmon that are often found in the shallows around the piers.

However, there has still been some pinkies being taken by the land-based crew and now is also the time to get a big fresh bait out off Kerford Rd, Lagoon and Station piers as for what ever the reason the onset of autumn also sees some very big mulloway getting active in this part of the bay.

The boats anglers also find they don’t need to go far at this time of the year with the rough ground in the 6-12m area from St Kilda to Port Melbourne also being a prime place to find pinkies, the odd bigger snapper and of course the very highly prized ling, which seem to love this part of the bay.

Either way, don’t let a few cooler mornings keep you off the water as the next few months often provide some of the best fishing of the year.

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Late summer an appealing possibility for locals PORT PHILLIP EAST

Wayne Friebe wfriebe@bigpond.net.au

More mild weather has continued for the past month on the bay. Although daytime temperatures have been down considerably from what we are used to for this time of year, that hasn’t seemed to stop the wind blowing.

Consistent onshore winds have made angling and boating opportunities a bit limited at times, but some longer windows and warmer days seem to be on the horizon for the near future.

In fact, recently we have just had our first string of consecutive hot days in a row for a long time. Some people I have spoken to in recent times believe that we will

have a late summer, perhaps they are right.

Snapper reports have slowed over the past month or so, as many of the bays anglers are looking further afield towards Western Port to chase the whiting, or down south of the bay to the Rip to tangle with a kingie or two (more on that later).

One of the best snapper reports I have received of late came from Colac local Dan Mcakerell, who ventured over from the western districts region to try his hand at a few snapper in the bay. Going by a general location report provided by a few mates, Dan sounded some solid fish out wide from Mornington and Mount Martha in 22m and went to work fishing 4” Atomic Prongs on Seekers jigheads slowly along the bottom, as

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Stuart from Patterson River Enthusiasts Facebook page with a nice mulloway from the river taken on a live mullet. well as using baits of fresh whiting heads on 5/0 hooks.

In awesome conditions, Dan and his mate Declan ‘Head’ Betts landed some ripper fish up to and above 6kg and had a ball of a time in the process. The wider marks out from the shipping channel are prime locations to have a look for a snapper at the moment if you’re keen, and the big key is to spend time using your sounder to locate good numbers of fish before setting your baits or lures in the zone.

Just like Dan reported, often the reds at this time of year respond well to very little movement and drift, so patience with your baits and subtle movement of your lures will often work best.

As has been the trend for the last couple of seasons,

Dan Mackerell with another quality red taken from the same school on a fresh whiting head. the mulloway have turned up at the Patterson River in a big way. It seems to me to

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Dan Mackerell with a quality red taken wide out from Mount Martha on a 4” Atomic Prong fished slow on the bottom.

be much earlier this year, but who’s complaining! Many of the mulloway landed have been taken by anglers fishing with live mullet and salmon at night, or during tide changes close to the beginning or end of the day. It’s easy to look at the glory shots of old mate holding up a mulloway for a happy snap, but often hours of preparation and effort have gone into gathering bait, waiting for your reward and hopefully success.

Shaun at Launchingway told me recently that the best part of the action has definitely been around the tide change, and also during

the early morning hours when most sane people are safely tucked away in bed.

Some anglers have also been doing pretty well chucking lures and soft plastics around the flood gate entrances on dusk as well.

The Patto has also been fishing very well for some quality bream for bait and lure anglers. Your humble author even got amongst the action recently, re-introducing himself to some of his pets in the canals. Plenty of mullet, small salmon and even the odd squid have been around the lower reaches of the river during the right tides.

While the kingfish mayhem continues in the far south of the bay, and right along the east and west coast of the state, there’s still quite a few around my part of the bay as well. The best place to find them is swimming with the enormous schools of salmon that are around at the moment, they will often be directly underneath them!

The hardest thing is getting a lure or bait to them before the salmon get it first. The use of a livebait like a small salmon or squid is a good start, or even try a massive soft plastic or surface stick bait to tempt them to bite.

I have received a few reports of smaller rat kings being landed from the Mornington Pier again this month, as well as a few monumental ‘big ones that got away’ stories that may have involved larger kingies.

Mornington Pier has also been producing plenty of gars on the calmer days, and squid during the night and early and late in the day.

While I haven’t received many reports of late and haven’t run into my regular anglers that I see along my local beaches, don’t forget that now is prime time to catch some tasty whiting from your local beach or rocks. Approaching dusk and just into dark is the best time, and fresh mussels, pipis and squid are the best baits.

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29

Return of the kings ROSEBUD

Dan Lee info@peninsulatotaltackle.com.au

The next couple of months should begin to see a change in the weather patterns with cooler, calmer days expected. Although we can have some heat early in the month by the end of March we often see a distinct movement toward classic autumn weather patterns. In short, one of my favourite periods of the year for fishing locally!

With so much still on offer and manageable weather systems playing their part, the opportunities to get out and fish are often at their best for the year.

YELLOWTAIL KINGFISH The kings started earlier this year with many of the holidaying anglers even getting to have a crack at this much-desired species.

Whatever the environmental factors that have shaped this much-discussed return of the kingfish to our local waters, it is certainly welcomed, as demonstrated by the vast numbers of boats that have been out looking for them over the last month or so.

This year we have seen kings caught on both knife jigs and live baits although livies have, at times, been harder to come by than they were at this time last year.

Squid have been a good replacement but have been favoured by those fishing at Barwon Heads and Cape Schanck, rather than those fishing around the Rip, as the fast tidal water in this area tends to kill them quickly

when used as a livie.

Many anglers have also found success using jigs between 100-200g, depending on the stage of the tide. Most of the fish caught in these areas have been between 4-7kg, however, there have certainly been some bigger fish caught but unfortunately I don’t have the photo evidence for this report!

Offshore, some of the

Gawaine Blake with a big gummy shark taken on a chunk bait. subs and small reefs outside the heads have also been productive by running a berley trail and getting the kings to come up. At these times dropping small squid baits or jigs on them has been effective, however most of the fish caught this way

Good schools of salmon have also been seen in the Rip. As is the norm, they most commonly appear on the surface on the ebb tide. It can be a lot of fun to throw small lures at these fish or simply troll around the edges of the feeding school.

Tim Dornbruch caught this nice bag of whiting while fishing in front of the Yacht Club at Sorrento.

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The author with a nice little kingfish taken while jigging outside the Rip. tend to be smaller.

The final method for those who have struggled to find fish is to run a small spread of skirts such as the Richter Jelly Babes behind a teaser and chug down the shoreline. There have again been some good schools of rats in 14-25m off Collendina using this method.

SALMON In other news we have still continued to see some great fishing off Gunnamatta back beach where there have been quality salmon often over 2kg and regularly up to 3kg. Most of this action has been on metal lures with classic patterns in blue and green mackerel accounting for many of the fish.

In the right conditions it is certainly a few laughs and a great challenge to see how light you can fish for them.

THE PIERS The piers have continued to fish well for some of the minor species such as tommy rough, some gars (although at times thin) and occasional slimy mackerel. Rosebud has been good for these float species while Blairgowrie Marina and Portsea would be the other two consistent performers.

Squid from the piers have remained pretty consistent, which is also true of the boat fishing. With that said, as is typical for this time of year, the calamari are fairly modest in size with the exception of Flinders Pier where we have still seen some pretty solid squid encountered.

LOOKING AHEAD The autumn period on the peninsula is often a significantly quieter time, which many anglers enjoy. There are still great opportunities even for late season species like makos. Gummy sharks are prevalent and there is plenty of action still to be had on kings, whiting and squid.

Truly a great period of the year to fish, whatever your preference!

Trent North caught this kingfish on a live bait while working offshore.

MARCH 2015

31

Top end whiting a winner WST PORT NTH

Adam Ring

It’s all about the King George whiting in Western Port at the moment and at the top end of the port is a whiting playground.

The great thing about this month’s report is that the fish have not been confined to any particular area, which is making the options endless for any angler regardless of where they are launching.

The whiting are spread right throughout the top end and right the way down the North Arm, so get those nibble tips ready and go and dominate one of the best eating fish in the ocean!

THE TOP END We will kick off the reports over at Tooradin where the fishing has been

insane! The whiting are insanely thick and there are some absolute stonkers amongst them as well. It is not typically known as a big fish area but it has done everything it can to try and change that trend. We have had plenty of reports of fish between 41 and 44cm with pipi and mussels being the best bait.

The depth of water hasn’t really been too crucial as there are fish right up high on the banks in as low as 1m of water to fish sitting just outside the channel in 14m of water. Another series of interesting reports has been the number of quality big flathead coming from just outside the Tooradin Channel. There is no real way to target these bigger flathead, it’s just a matter of dropping a paternoster

rig to the bottom loaded with half pilchards or squid strips and hoping for the best. This method of fishing can be rather rewarding as you never know what might come across, pinkies, small

the bank with fish to 44cm being a common capture.

The Tyabb Bank is one of my favourite places to fish for whiting as it is very active. Don’t hang around those sand patches for too

Charlie Murphy with a 44cm whiting taken in the deep water out from Tooradin.

Shaun Furtiere sent us this photo of some of the whiting his clients have been getting on to.

Gary Fox with his cracker calamari! for sale on

gummies and flathead are all a big possibility.

A rather unusual capture of a big wobbegong shark was sent through to us from Crawfish Rock. They are not a fish that we see commonly but when we do see them they are often enormous in size and, from what I hear, are really good on the table.

There are still some really nice sized calamari up on the Quail Bank for those armed with size 3.0 to 3.5 sized jigs.

As we move further across the top end, the Tyabb Bank has really started to fire up as well.

Some really big schools of whiting are holding up on a lot of the sand holes on

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long, if you don’t have a few fish in 15 to 20 minutes then wind in those baits and move to the next sand patch. It won’t be long until you find that magic hole and start filling the bucket with prime whiting for the table.

A few of the Tackle World Cranbourne boys have spent some time on the water with Paul Worsteling’s father in-law, Greg Duncan, and had some out of control sessions on the whiting.

Drummo and Kallan had a 90 whiting session recently while Dylan not only scored a handy bag of whiting but also ended up with a few calamari to round out the seafood banquet. Most whiting were taken on mussels while the calamari

were taken on white squid jigs in size 3.0.

THE NORTH ARM There are squillions of whiting in the North Arm and this is where the charter boats have been getting the majority of their whiting.

Shaun Furtiere has spent a lot of hours patrolling the Middle Spit and rarely going home without a bag for each of his clients.

Shaun reports that mussels have been his preferred bait, but has also been taking a lot of fish on pipi and fresh squid strips as well. Most fish have been between 36 and 38cm but bigger fish have been stretching the tape to 45cm.

The big difference for Shaun this month has been berley. Once picking off a couple of fish early at each spot he will drop the berley pot to the bottom and start berleying rather hard. The fish have been quick to move off making for very short and sharp bite sessions but with the addition of the berley it has made the difference in being able to keep them in your area and really extend that bite time.

Hastings continues to be the ever-reliable fishery in the top end of the Port

and a lot of anglers have cashed in on her bounty.

There are a lot of whiting schooled up in the deeper water here and often these ‘deep water’ whiting can be a good size class larger than those of the fish in the shallow water. There are also a lot of pinkies schooled up here as well and at times can be bit of a pest if you are trying to find some of those bigger whiting. The whiting have been pushing 43cm and pinkies are all around the 35-39cm mark, and 15m of water has been the magic depth.

I received a Facebook message through the shop from Neil Beckett recently to tell me about his mate Gary Fox who is only just getting into this past time that we love. They were fishing off Hastings and Gary hooked a cracker calamari in 6m of water on a silver whiting rigged under a float, well done Gary!

There we have it, another whiting stacked report! It has been, and continues to be, a crazy whiting season so there is no excuse to get out there and get a bag of these lovely fish. Good luck and keep the reports coming.

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33

Colour run riot: red, grey, brown and silver have been getting thicker and thicker and while I flick through this week’s reports, kingfish have been caught off Kilcunda Reef, Pyramid Rock and at Seal Rocks. One thing that these fish all had in common was the liking for a fresh live bait being trolled in a boat’s prop wash.

Aside from live baits, lures have also been working extremely well. Tackle World Cranbourne Staff member Luke McCredden and Aussie

WESTERN PORT STH

Jarrod Day jarrodday@iprimus.com.au

There is certainly never a dull moment on Western Port and with whiting in full swing, elephants sifting through the soft substrate, gummy sharks cruising along the edges of the long winding channels and mako sharks roaming the offshore waters, why would you want to fish anywhere else in the state.

At the end of each month I love to compile reports and read about what fellow angler’s have been catching from within and around the coastline of Western Port.

The offshore scene has seen a little shark action but nothing amazing just yet.

There have been a few makos caught around the 30kg mark out from the Western Entrance and only time will tell if larger models will show up. There have been no reports of the huge schools of arrow squid so far, which is the main reason the makos show up offshore.

What I like best about the Victorian offshore fishing scene is that every year is getting better and better. Sure

will flood in quicker than the tide and while these fish are challenging at the best of times, those heading offshore shouldn’t do so without a bait tank full of livies.

Inside the Port is an entirely different story altogether.

Although no-one has reported catching any kingfish within the Port’s boundaries, they are a possibility. As for kings inside the Port, King George whiting have been about in very healthy numbers. Most

Kingfish are the prime targeted species at the moment. If your boat is big enough, Seal Rocks is infested with them. we might have a dismal season on sharks, but what about tuna and kingfish. Our beloved power punching pelagics have returned in force over the past 5 years and plenty of anglers are getting into the action.

Although it was back on 2012 when the last reports of striped tuna were reported around the coast, since then the kings have been going nuts, so to speak. Each season, solid runs of kingfish

When targeting whiting, ensure you have fresh bait and the right hooks for the job.

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fresh squid and pipis were the best baits on the day.

Shaun Furtiere, owner/ operator of Think Big Charters has had some fantastic whiting fishing in Western Port recently. Shaun has been doing quite a bit of research and has been locating some real solid schools of whiting, so many so, that they have even been showing up as schools of fish on his sounder. Shaun has mainly been working the lower

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The author with a typical calamari from the Middle Spit on the new Yakamito Jig. cricketers Will Sheridan, James Pattinson and Cameron White headed offshore this week and caught rat kingfish on poppers and hardbody lures. Trolling the hardbodies along the edge of the reef proved to be a valuable technique.

Over the next few weeks, reports of kingfish

of the whiting action reported has been along the Middle Spit, Tankerton, Tortoise Head Bank, Coronet Bay and in the Rhyll Channel.

Jovan Pageot and his mates have been fishing the Middle Spit with good results and have landed some thumping King George whiting to 45cm. They report

north arm and has been doing exceptionally well.

I was chatting with Dylan from Compleat Angler Dandenong recently who told me that one of their customers, Johnny, headed out the Middle Spit and got stuck into a school of nice sized whiting.

Pipi/squid cocktail baits were the most effective.

Although the whiting have been in full force, the arched nemesis, elephant fish have arrived in droves. The bag limit may only be one per person but they are an inevitable catch at this time of year. Anglers wanting to target whiting, mulloway or snapper often become plagued with elephants and any scent of a berley trail and they are like Donkey Kong!

Still, there are those anglers that do like to target elephants, and why not? They are big, take a variety of baits and do fight hard on light tackle. Finding elephants is relatively easy and while they are commonly found in areas of soft mud and dirty water, Coronella, Coronet Bay and Rhyll are prime locations. To catch them, simply set anchor in the Rhyll/Coronet Bay/ Corinella area. Place a berley pot filled with fish oil-based pellets and mashed with pilchards usually does the trick. One thing to remember with elephants is that they have a small mouth, so keep baits quite small. Often a half pilchard or strip of squid threaded onto a size 3/0 circle To page 35

Search for a quality fish John Dalla-Rosa

The latest reports coming in from anglers fishing Western Port is that it’s been difficult to locate fish. My last few trips out from Hastings fishing the Middle Spit, Tyabb Bank, Yaringa and Quail Bank has resulted in 6 or 7 small whiting per trip.

And that’s making 12 to 16 From page 34

hooks is substantial.

Whiting and elephants aside, mulloway in Western Port are the most highly prized species. Why you may ask? Maybe it is

moves per trip!

Even fishing the deep water or slack water has turned up zip. The same lack of fish happened about the same time last year but this year has been worse. So I decided to do a few trips to the Flinders-Point Leo area. The results were much the same. I averaged one to fivewhiting per trip. Hopefully the fish will start turning up in bigger numbers next month as they did last year.

SURF BEACHES Salmon are still about in reasonable numbers on most beaches. Early morning and late evening fishing a rising tide is giving the best results.

There are also good schools of mullet along the beaches and the best time to fish for them is on a low tide. Target the edges of the gutters, right on the edge just behind the wave break.

Use a light rod and reel,

because they are difficult to catch or is it because they are so smart? Regardless of the reason, when you catch them, the local fishing community deserve to hear about it and, with that in mind,

a big congratulation goes to Mason Schulz.

Mason Schulz scored the fish of a lifetime while fishing the East Arm of Western Port.

He was targeting mulloway using fresh squid and at 5.30am the reel screamed and the battle begun. Fifteen minutes later Mason landed a magnificent mulloway measuring 140cm, talk about a fish never to be forgotten!

Mulloway are really the ghosts of the waterways and while they maybe in greater numbers these days than they were a decade ago, they are still just as challenging to catch. The next month is prime time and if you’re lucky enough to strike it silver, let me know, you certainly deserve the bragging rights.

Whiting might be on the chew and in big numbers but do you really need to catch your bag limit of 20? The author’s catch of 4 fish was enough to feed his family of 4, along with a side salad and chips.

Frankie Natoli with a decent flathead caught in Western Port.

SA022

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3kg line, a paternoster 2 hook (No 6) rig with small pieces of cut pipi or sand fleas as bait.

These fish are great fun to catch on light tackle. To locate a school of fish, all you need is a good pair of sunnies and walk along the beach looking into the waves as they break on the beach and you will see the fish just before the wave breaks.

Now is also a good time of year to fish for gummies after dark. Fresh mullet or salmon fillets are a great bait for gummies. You are also likely to catch skates,

eagle rays, seven gilled sharks and bronze whalers, so why not have a go?

SAN REMO AREA Below the Bridge Outside the Entrance, flathead and sand whiting, ‘couta and arrow squid are around in reasonable numbers.

Mako sharks should be around as well, however I have had no reports of them as yet. There are still some calamari and whiting coming in from the Clelland Bight area but not in big numbers.

Above the Bridge There have been good numbers of calamari being

caught off the San Remo jetty.

As mentioned earlier ,whiting have been few and far between but the better results have been coming in from the Eastern side of the bay, Dickies Bay, Reef Island, Coronet Bay and Boy’s Home Channel just to name a few areas. Also some reports of reasonable gummies from Corinella and Temby Point.

FLINDERS AREA Still reasonable amounts of calamari about, the whiting are few and far between and there are also some snook around but they are on the small side.

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35

Mixed thrills in March WELSHPOOL

Alan McFayden amcsayte@bigpond.net.au

The season has had its ups and downs but when conditions have allowed there have been some very good results.

I like to visit the areas and most anglers are only too happy to share their stories, even if some are nothing much to brag about – sometimes that’s fishing.

Information from the Welshpool Boat Storage is that the Franklin Channel has been going along fairly well far as snapper are concerned. The reds have been to the 9kg mark, which puts them in the bragging range. Dave Harper was one of those lucky ones along with his crew who were also sharing the success.

One of them reckons that they deserve a mention as John ‘Rocca’ Stone said that this was his GPS mark and at the end of the day they shared the fish any way.

‘Rocca’ said that as well as the big fellow they also bagged half a dozen other snapper and a very nice gummy that made an appearance shortly before they decided they had

enough for the day and headed home.

There have been good reports as far as the whiting have been concerned, where they are being caught to the 38cm mark, which puts them just about in the kidney slapper size.

Barney Davidson and a mate decided to tie up off the long jetty, which is located on the edge of the Lewis Channel. They picked the run out tide and were son into the royals that took Bass yabbies, squid and pips. As well as whiting there were a few silvers and flathead that made up for a good bag and although they kept them they were most happy with the whiting.

The entrance known as Singapore Deep has also been very productive with best results on the run-out tide where gummies, snapper and very good size flathead are being caught.

Outside the entrance around Hunter Point there has been good numbers of gummy sharks and snapper being bagged where pilchards have been the preferred presentations.

Dan Godding said that his crew started off well with not much to show until they

decided to try outside the entrance around Hunter Point and looked like missing out again. As a last resort, Dan decided to drop his pilchard in tuna oil before casting out one more time to see what might happen. He didn’t have to wait long until there was an enquiry and after a long fight landed a very nice gummy. His mate decided to try the oil method and he too bagged a gummy shark as well as a good-sized snapper that was around the 5kg mark.

They also added a very nice fathead to the bag and were happy.

Out wide there have been positive reports

Gummies and school sharks are in good numbers at Port Welshpool.

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Pinkies like this have been caught in good numbers off the Port Albert jetty. Both anglers and pelicans seem to know this is a good place to bag a feed…

of kingfish making an appearance and although there have been some thumpers around the 15kg mark, many have been not all that big but still well worthwhile taking home.

Back inside the entrance around the jetties, there has been some very good results as far as land-based anglers are concerned. Last month there were good numbers of squid, silvers, flathead and mullet being bagged.

The best times have been on the run-in tide where a variety of natural and baits have been doing the job.

A short distance to the east is the other port in Port Albert. Rob Killury is the proprietor of the local general store and is always a good source of information, especially as far as fishing is concerned.

He also has a large variety of supplies on hand. He says that there have been very good results inside the entrance where big flathead, gars, whiting and gummies have been in very good numbers, which is pleasing.

Local legend ‘Wheelo’ can always be found out on the water and doing what he can do very well, catching fish. Rob says that just last month he managed a very big gummy shark and although he doesn’t really worry about bragging rights, as that novelty has worn off a long time ago, he’ll still always be out looking for a quality fish.

The jetties are really firing and there has been a very good variety of fish being caught that includes flathead, mullet, squid and eels. Although there haven’t been any reports, no doubt there will be whiting hanging around a short distance out from the jetty.

Around the area known as the Blue Hole in around 20m of water there have been good numbers of big gummies, flathead and snapper being bagged. A variety of baits that include pilchards, squid and fresh fish fillets have been the best of the presentations for these species.

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MARCH 2015

Quality fish such as the ones in this mixed bag are being caught by boaters at Port Albert inside the entrance.

Mixed bags and toothy terrors INVERLOCH

Alan McFayden amcsayte@bigpond.net.au

Everyone has been asking where has summer gone, especially after all the dire predictions of a long hot season, but not a great deal has happened.

Wonthaggi angler Steve Poole and son Bailey don’t really mind though, as they are out and about all year round and will always come home with something to show for their efforts. Shortly before this report, they decided to try their luck and targeted bream.

This proved to be a good choice and after pumping bait, headed to a favourite estuary where they bagged some very impressive bream that were well over the 1.5kg mark.

Steve said that they lost count of what they caught, only keeping what they needed and threw the rest back to swim and fight another day.

I have received many other reports of estuary fish being bagged, mainly by landbased anglers where baits such as worms, bass and freshwater yabbies as well as a variety of lures, which include soft plastics have been successful.

Of course, at times there

can be a fair wait between enquiries but this is the case in all forms of fishing. If we were to be successful all the time it could be too predictable.

Even though the fishing conditions have not been all that great there have been very good results both inside and outside the entrance. Out wide there have been very good numbers of gummies being

as can most toothies. These are particularly dangerous and will circle a boat. Being on average around the 3.1m mark and weighing around the 135kg mark, this has the effect of making occupants a bit on the nervous side! Having said that, they have a pink flesh, which turns white on being cooked and has a delicious flavour.

Still outside, there are

Paul Olden with a very nice size school shark caught out from Inverloch. taken with squid and pilchards.

In the same area there are quality snapper also being bagged and they have been with schools of salmon, which are making the effort well worthwhile.

There has been a few makos turning up but these are fish that can be very dangerous,

very good numbers of whiting being caught where locals such as Dino Tiziani seldom misses out as he has been fishing the area for many years. Dino likes to collect his own bait, which means that it is also fresh and is a huge advantage.

As well as whiting in the same area, there are also very

good size flathead and silvers as well as garfish that will take baits such as pipis and gents.

Paul Olden and crew decided to try their luck out from Inverloch and managed some very nice size gummies as well as school sharks on pilchards. There have been other positive reports from this area and no doubt the good news will continue when conditions permit.

Inside, the entrance boaters and land-based anglers are happy with their returns but there have been plenty of those awful easterly winds, which have been making things a bit on the difficult side. Having said all that, there have been positive results with good size whiting to the 36cm mark being caught near the entrance by boaters at low water on both sides of the tide. On calm days, some boats have been crossing the bar to get outside where there have been positive reports but this can be dangerous, even for those with experiences. I keep on harping on about safety but make no apology, as safety on the water cannot be over-emphasized.

The biggest bag of fish is not worth putting yours or anyone else’s safety in danger.

A bit further up the inlet near Pensioners Corner, the

Wonthaggi angler Steve Poole with a decent estuary bream caught in a local estuary. fishing has also been very productive. I have visited the area on a regular basis at low water and come across a variety of land-based fishers trying their luck. Gavin Hardy had a few spare hours on a Sunday evening and decided to wet a line and as it turned out, so too did quite a few others as the conditions were perfect on a warm and balmy evening. It seems that they had all picked the right time and place as just about everyone was catching whiting that were all around the 34cm mark on just about any sort of bait. I watched for about half an hour and spoke to quite a few of those present. They were all visitors and amazed at the quantity and quality of fish, especially the whiting even though there was a sprinkling of fish such

as mullet and reasonable size silvers. I explained that this was great to see them doing so well and wished them all the best.

All the way up the inlet as far as the Double Islands, the fishing has been productive when conditions have allowed. There has been the usual variety of bags, which is encouraging and it seems that according to the fisheries officers, most people have been doing the right thing.

They say that for those who want to cheat, the penalties are severe and include heavy fines plus confiscation of gear, boats and vehicles. This could mean a long walk home, which makes a severe penalty for those who want to take the risk keeping undersize fish or similar breaches of regulations.

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Fishing still hot despite weather fluctuations LAKES ENTRANCE

FMG

It has been an unusual year so far this year as the weather has been all over the place. There hasn’t been the usual run of warm weather, however it doesn’t seem to have effected the fishing too badly.

estuaries will be luderick, bream, whiting and there are generally some stonking flathead around as well. There are a few key areas to target luderick; the many jetties around Lakes are hotspots as well as Bullock Island and the rock walls at Kalimna.

Bream can be targeted in the same areas and fresh local baits are always the best.

weed edges and drop offs in the main channel and around the footbridge. These are also great places to pick up the odd flathead, so be prepared.

A good option when targeting these bread and butter species is to set up a berley trail. Chicken pellets mixed with a bit of tuna oil, pilchard pieces and any fish scraps you may have can

the gun baits.

The offshore fishing has continued to improve, with snapper numbers improving and the size of the fish have ensured a nice feed for the angler.

Gummy shark are also out and about and can be a nice by-catch when targeting the snapper. West of the pipeline on the shallow reefs is always worth a try and the best baits will be whole pilchards, squid and salmon strips. These areas are also great to drop a soft plastic for snapper. It gives you the option to use lighter gear and can again result in a nice feed.

It pays to be prepared, as the odd kingfish can be found at this time of the year, so have a heavier rod rigged with a stickbait or a popper ready to go if these bruisers turn up.

The Lakes Entrance Flathead Classic is on again this year. It runs over the long weekend in March and is a great fishing event. It has something for the serious angler or the family just wanting to go out and have a fish. For details contact the Gippsland Lakes Fishing Club.

Hopefully some quality snapper like this one caught on Lakes Entrance Offshore Charters will be around during March.

Photo Courtesy of Lakes Entrance Offshore Charters.

FISHING FILL-ITS Gummy shark are always a welcome catch.

Photo Courtesy of Lakes Entrance Offshore Charters.

March is recognised as a great month in the estuaries.

The peak holiday period has passed, reducing traffic on the water and extending the bite periods for those keen anglers getting out on the water.

Key target species in the

Shrimp, prawns, live Bass yabbies and sand worm will all produce the goods.

Whiting have been a little harder to find, as they tend to be in the areas that receive the most boat traffic. Try around the tide changes, fishing the

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make the difference between a quiet session and taking home a feed. A bonus with a berley trail is that you are almost guaranteed to attract garfish to your areas and these can be a great feed in themselves and great fun to catch, especially if you have kids on board.

As mentioned last month, the prawn run is at its best now and should continue through March, so take advantage of any warm balmy nights and give it a try.

The beaches will continue to fire throughout March.

There are plenty of target options as well and there should be plenty of big salmon around plus gummy shark with the odd bronze whaler.

Fresh strip baits and squid are

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MARCH 2015

Undersize snapper doesn’t pay A call to the 13 FISH offence reporting line recently helped Fisheries Victoria officers detect two Melbourne men aged 24 and 27 allegedly with undersize snapper at St Helens, north of Geelong.

Director of Enforcement and Education with Fisheries Victoria Ian Parks said the Officers stopped the men’s car at approximately 8:30pm on January 14.

“They allegedly located 55 snapper in their boot,

of which only one met the legal minimum size of 28 centimetres,” Mr Parks said.

He said the fish were seized by Officers and the two men are expected to be charged on summons under the Fisheries Act. “They will be charged with four separate offences, including taking or possessing fish less than the minimum size and taking or possessing more than the catch limit,” Mr Parks said.

“Each offence can attract a fine of $443.

“This case is particularly serious and disappointing due to the excessive number of fish taken and that nearly all were under the legal size.”

Mr Parks said members of the public are reminded that size and bag limits apply to many fish species across Victoria.

“The minimum size for snapper is 28 centimetres, and the daily bag limit is 10, of which only three snapper may be larger than 40 centimetres,” he said.

For more information about fishing regulations go to www.depi.vic.gov.au/ fisheries or download the free Vic Fishing app for smartphones.

Anybody who sees or suspects illegal fishing activity is urged to call the 24-hour fisheries offence reporting line 13FISH (13 3474).

Search and explore to score GIPPSLAND LAKES

Brett Geddes b.geddes@bigpond.com

The best way to describe the fishing right now is challenging and tricky. The longer you are on the water the better your rewards because at the moment there are not many areas where fish are stacked in big numbers. The key words here are search and explore.

The good news however is that variety is the order of the day, making up for the lack of numbers. For instance I’ve just come home from a trip to Metung where I caught the following species all on lure – tailor, flathead, bream, pinkie snapper, toadies, gurnard, trevally and a sole. As you can imagine I put together a nice bag of fillets from some of those fish and the next night I scored a bag of mussels and a kilo of prawns.

Life’s good!

PRAWNS AND PINKIES First of all I’ve got to talk about prawns because right now it’s peak season and these tasty critters have not let us down. A lot of people are now turning into night owls and putting in the big hours even into the dark of morning chasing prawns.

You can hunt for prawns in the shallows on foot or anchor

up your boat closer to Lakes Entrance.

Nearly everyone is getting at least a couple of kilograms each night. Make sure you plan your trips around the new moon, as the darker the night the more you will see.

Another feature right now is the incredible number of pinkies. Most are barely 25cm but boy, are they thick! Every so often I find a school with bigger sizes of 28-32cm models. They

make a nice change to the menu at my household.

The little snapper have no trouble eating small wriggle-tail plastics and any blade dropped down to them. I watched my mate Mark Ramsay pull them in on his homemade crab lures, which certainly raised my eyebrow as they were all the biggest fish landed for the day.

The best places to look for pinkies, prawns and the odd flounder over the next month

Hardbody lures worked in very shallow water is a fun way to trick bream right now.

will be anywhere from Kalimna to Metung and right up towards the mouth of the Tambo River.

I have also seen big numbers of garfish while prawning at night and, with a load of berley, I’m sure those of you interested could bag a big score.

LAKE VICTORIA AND HOLLANDS LANDING Don’t be put off by the murky water at Hollands Landing because I’m hearing the odd flathead and bream are taking bait at the moment.

It’s still a few months away from cleaning up for any sort of lure fishing but further down into Lake Victoria is a different situation.

The water is cleaner the further you head east and plenty of small flathead are in the shallows and a lot of nice bream cruising the sand flats as well. A small soft plastic will sort out both species and the prime areas right now are from Wattle Point and Loch Sport down to Raymond Island. The best time to work that area is when you get a little chop on the water and the fish are less spooky. During the middle of the day, search in much deeper water as the fish retreat to safety and often you find bigger flathead around 50cm hiding there as well.

Bigger pinkie snapper are attacking crab lures.

LURE ACTION Sight fishing for bream when the weather permits is very exciting at the moment and suspending hardbodies or bent minnows are your best options. I’m now starting to hook a lot more bream with my favourite surface lures but it’s fair to say I also have to search far and wide for this action. So far I’m only tricking a handful of bream at first light on surface but I can just tell it’s only weeks away now, when the bream will really start to rise up smack surface lures all day long. If it’s only half as good as the action we had last year then we are all in for a real treat. Stay tuned because as soon as the bream start smashing bent minnows, I will let you know.

No doubt a few lure

anglers will be out trying their own surface techniques and they will be searching the lower Nicholson and Mitchell rivers, right along the Silt Jetties, Bancroft Bay and the upper Tambo and Mitchell rivers, which can also fire early with a surprise perch boofing down lures.

WHITING Finally, quite a few whiting are also turning up in their usual haunts but the word is they are not very big. Land-based anglers are scoring plenty of them up in the Cunningham Arm and the Hopetoun Channel proving hit and miss for those boating.

It seems this year is another very quiet whiting season and those in the know believe the lack of seagrass in the estuary is to blame.

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Your fishing licence

Lake Glenmaggie

Record Gippsland bass stocking Fishing licence fees have helped stock a record 120,000 Australian bass into Gippsland waters to improve freshwater fishing opportunities for anglers: • Blue Rock Lake – 25,000 • Lake Glenmaggie – 10,000 • Lake Narracan – 10,000 • Mitchell River – 10,000 • Tambo River – 10,000 • Nicholson River – 10,000

Since 2002, more than 573,000 bass have been released throughout Gippsland.

Reports from anglers suggest these stockings have been very successful with regular catches of bass from Blue Rock Lake, Lake Glenmaggie and the Avon and Macalister rivers.

Fisheries managers expect these stocked bass fisheries to keep improving as more of the stocked bass reach catchable size.

• Macalister River – 9,000 • Wonnangatta River – 8,000 • Thomson River – 5,000 • Avon River – 5,000 • Tyers River – 5,000 • Valencia Creek – 4,000 • Traralgon Creek – 3,000 • Cowwarr Weir – 2,000 • Rainbow Creek – 2,000 • Lake Guthridge – 1,000 • Freestone Creek - 1,000

Since 2002, Lake Glenmaggie has been stocked with nearly 130,000 Australian bass fingerlings.

fees at work

Devilbend Reservoir

Expanding estuary perch horizons More than 100,000 estuary perch fingerlings have been stocked into seven waters, including three new ones never before stocked with the species: • Melton Reservoir - 20,000 • Werribee River - 32,000 • Karkarook Lake - 5,000 Other stocked waters this summer were: • Devilbend Reservoir – 25,000 • Lake Hamilton – 10,000 • Albert Park Lake – 10,000

Three new waters have shared in 57,000 estuary perch fingerlings.

• Struan Lake – 5,000 Estuary perch are an increasingly popular target species in coastal estuaries so are ideal for developing new fisheries south of the Great Dividing Range.

The 1 cm fingerlings were bred at a private hatchery in Narooma using broodfish collected by volunteer anglers from the Glenelg and Hopkins rivers.

Since 2012, Fisheries Victoria has stocked nearly 225,000 estuary perch fingerlings into nine waters.

Fisheries Victoria stocked the Werribee River with estuary perch for the first time this summer.

Fantastic weather equals fantastic fishing MARLO

Jim McClymont mcclymont@net-tech.com.au

The fishing at this time of year in the Snowy and Brodribb River estuary systems is excellent, the prawns are still running and are most likely to do so until Easter. The best thing about the prawns is they grow bigger every month, making them more sort after than the fish that have arrived

here for their annual feast.

By all reports coming in, the fishing couldn’t be better.

Bream can be taken from the entrance up around the islands up to Lake Corringle, up the Brodribb River to Lake Curlip and up the Snowy River to the highway bridge at Orbost.

Huge schools of yellow-eye mullet can be found in almost the same area as they move up the rivers with the bream.

Schools of luderick can be found amassing along the

rock groins and mud banks that surround the riverbanks and islands in the system.

Estuary perch in the system can be found on most snags and structures up both rivers.

Trusty old flathead are still in big numbers in the shallows along the sand flats from the Marlo jetty all the way down to Frenchs Narrows.

Trevally can be found from the entrance all the way up to Lake Corringle. Salmon and tailor seem to be hanging

Flathead are suckers for a hardbody lure. There are plenty of flats around Marlo, so go and give it a try.

Nice bag of yellow eye mullet caught by Lyn Joyce.

around in the same areas as the trevally and go up as far as the top of the islands.

The surf beaches are fishing well, salmon and tailor are plentiful, flathead and mullet are in good numbers and gummy shark are being taken in the late afternoon and early evening.

Anglers have reported having good results either using blue bait, white bait, pilchards, pipis and squid

always accompanied with a popper. Other anglers prefer using light fishing gear and spinning with metal lures.

Gummies galore is the main focus, with most anglers being able to get their bag of two on most outings.

Gummy sharks may be plentiful but there are also plenty of flathead, gurnard, pinkie snapper, squid, barracouta, morwong, leatherjacket for the bottom

bashers fishing for the table.

For the anglers looking for more action, yellowtail kingfish are being taken from Tamboon Reef and every other bit of reef down to Marlo Reef.

With the kings are plenty of snook, barracouta, salmon and mako shark on the go and it won’t be long before the stripy tuna are here in big numbers, then maybe even the marlin will begin to appear!

Open entrance will open options for anglers in the waterways, which does disrupt the fishing at times.

I also want to make readers aware that when the entrance is open, anything from the ocean has access to enter the channel and inlet. A couple of years ago, a whale carcass floated up the channel and was there for sometime. As the food chain goes, this decomposing carcass provided food for a lot of fish species, birds and animals.

Recently, an 8ft bronze whaler shark entered the channel and was caught by one of our

BEMM RIVER

Robyn Sturgess

As usual, the fishing is firing on all cylinders in The Bemm River. With the entrance still open last month, anglers have been catching plenty of quality bream, trevally and flathead. Luderick have also been on the bite in the channel not far from the Refuge Hut. Bait anglers have had success with frozen banana prawn. The lure anglers have also enjoyed success with their soft plastics and hardbodied lures.

Due to the entrance being open for some time, we were deprived of a prawn season again this year. I must make you aware that there have been a couple of seals

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boats from getting there.

Riverbank fishing has been great, fishing from the first platform right up along the river bank up to the bridge.

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Matt Burkett of Camperdown nailed this cracker of a bream in the Bemm River.

MARLO

MARCH 2015

local anglers. It does pay to be mindful that species from the ocean can enter this area whilst open, so take care.

The surf has been quiet over the past months, but now as the warm waters are prevalent, the salmon, tailor and gummy shark are definitely there. This should produce great surf fishing during the next few months while the weather is still warm.

Fishing in the river has picked up but with the water level low, it restricts the bigger

Jake Strom, 6yo, caught and landed a 57cm brown trout from the shores of Anglers Reach, Lake Eucumbene on a live grasshopper that he caught and baited himself.

Best flathead season we’ve had for a long time MCLOUGHLINS

Will Thompson allwaysangling@bigpond.com

I know it’s a big call, but if you had seen the quantity and average size of the flatties that are being caught down this neck of the woods, you would be saying the same thing.

INSIDE MCLOUGHLINS It’s been such good fishing inside that there is nearly no reason to talk about the offshore fishing.

The lure fishing for the big southern blue spot flathead has been amazing.

We have seen some seriously big fish this month and fish in excess of 80cm haven’t been uncommon. These fish are big and fight hard in the shallow water, especially on light soft plastics style gear.

Both McLoughlins, Manns and Robertsons beaches are all producing flatties and especially on the channel edges and sand flats on the run-out tide.

Bigger plastics will catch bigger flatties, but the smaller plastics will get you numbers. Jighead sizes are important and if it’s windy like it has been, use heavier sizes such as 1/4oz to fight

the wind and current and get to the bottom.

If you’re not a lure chucker, don’t worry, the bait anglers are catching just as many. Simply use a running sinker rig or a light paternoster and you will catch plenty as well. Use Blue bait, prawns and pipis at the moment and there will be plenty to catch.

Anglers using pipis are catching some good whiting as well, we just aren’t hearing of any anglers catching their bag. This month saw some whoppers back at the boat ramp and a couple of the whiting anglers had were over 45cm, yet I had customers who fished in similar locations and could only catch undersized ones.

This is pretty weird for this time of the year.

INSIDE PORT ALBERT You will certainly get a mixed bag inside the port, but the biggest problem is the pinkies. They are everywhere, and yes, it would be good if they were all big but the sad truth is that 90% of them are undersized. However, if you persist, there are really good fish amongst them and don’t be surprised if you catch half a dozen to 45cm over in the shallow waters where you chase whiting.

In the Snake Channel, the snapper are bigger and there are still anglers catching their bag of moderate sized snapper to 65cm as well as those perfect plate sized ones as well. Bigger baits are essential at the moment to stop the small pickers from getting your bait off and by using larger hooks such as a 6/0 you will stop those annoying undersized pinkies from getting hooked and they’ll leave your bait for the larger ones.

There are plenty of trevally around as well and they make the best bait, so if you catch one I would suggest putting a fillet on for a snapper, gummy and big flathead. The flathead are going as well as they are at McLoughlins and it’s probably a good time to remind everyone that these large flathead are all female and are inside the inlet to lay their eggs. This time of year is good to limit the amount of large flathead you keep as I can guarantee you every single of them will be chockers full of eggs. The flathead 45cm and under are better ones to keep this time of year as they are male fish and don’t have eggs.

OFFSHORE It’s been so tough to get outside due to the wind and I think everyone will agree it’s been the windiest summer in a long time. Those who are managing to get out are being rewarded.

In close around Whale Bay and Bentley Harbour there are loads of good-sized

gummies and it hasn’t been uncommon for boats to get up to 4 a trip to 1.2m in length.

Further east, the pinkies are going well out on the reefs and out wide around the islands; there are plenty of schools of 40cm pinkies around as well as tonnes of perfect sized flathead between 35-50cm.

• For more information, contact Will at Allways Angling in Traralgon on 5174 8544. You will get expert advice and great deals on fishing bait and tackle. Tune into Rex Hunt and Lee Rayner’s Off the Hook on 1242 to hear Will’s report on what’s going on in Gippsland!

Josh Ward nailed this 15kg and 122cm mulloway from the beach on a whole squid that he caught himself squid around 8:30pm.

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Searching for silvers WESTERN PORT STH

Jarrod Day jarrodday@iprimus.com.au

Regardless of where they reside, every species of trevally is brutal. From giant trevally busting up the heaviest of fishing

tackle to the petite silver trevally busting up a bream angler’s light tackle, this particular species never gives up and battles it out right to the end.

Unfortunately, in Victorian waters, we don’t get to experience the extreme battle from a GT, but we do

get to go toe to toe with silver trevally. From one extreme to the other, silvers might not sound that appealing when put up next to a GT, but when caught while flicking 4lb braid, 5lb leader and a small hardbodied lure over the shallow flats of an estuary, silver trevally surely stack up.

When silvers are on, they are on!

Top Left: The humble pipi, you can’t get a more productive bait. Top Right: When it comes to whiting and silver trevally, Black Magic’s 1/0 KL can’t be matched.

Middle: Bait selection can be hard on the day; I just take one of everything to cover all bases. Above: You can use anything for berley, but fish-based pellets and pilchards are deadly.

44

MARCH 2015

Silver trevally might be a schooling fish, but they are a species that is rarely targeted specifically throughout the state.

Silvers, as they are more commonly known are caught as a by-catch when flicking lures in estuaries or while fishing for whiting in bays and inlets. Regardless, when trevally are hooked anglers are often caught unaware and the battle can be intense, even for a small model.

Trevally have two body features that anglers should be aware of when going to land a silver in a boat or on a pier. Firstly, when hooked, trevally lay on their side.

Along with their tail beats, the weight of bringing a fish in sidewards can cause tackle to break. Secondly, they have soft lips, so if you go too hard you’ll tear the hook out. There is no easy way to tackle trevally, but if you can find a happy medium, you’ll be satisfied with the ones you do land.

LOCATION, LOCATION Silver trevally are a species that would have to one of the most difficult to locate due to their pelagic nature, as they are always on the move. In saying that, in some instances, they will school under piers and jetties, but rarely can you head out and find them busting on the surface or sound them up holding on a reef.

Finding trevally often comes down to luck but while fishing for other species such as Australian salmon or King George whiting, silver trevally can be attracted with the use of berley. Before being successful on silvers, you still need to be in a likely location where they are bound to be hanging about.

Like whiting, trevally do like rifling through weed beds and over soft sandy areas searching out potential food items, which is why they are encountered by anglers when fishing for whiting.

In Western Port, trevally can be caught right throughout, but tend to be

in better numbers where the water is cleaner and clearer.

Specific locations include Joes Island, Crawfish and Eagle Rocks on the flood tides, the Middle Spit, North Arm, Stony Point Pier, Tankerton, Tortoise Head Bank, Cowes, McHaffies Reef and Cat Bay. Those fishing from piers or jetties tend to also do quite well on silvers, mainly due to the fish schooling up around the pier’s pylons. Although this could occur at any pier at any time, September seems to be the prime month this occurs and Stony Point, Flinders and Cowes piers are good places to start.

TACKLE CHOICES In Victoria and in particular Western Port, silver trevally don’t grow into big beasts, rather a 30-40cm model is more of a common catch. Of course there are those exceptions when someone strikes it rich and hooks onto a 50cm model and then the fun really starts. Knowing that trevally are a tough species to battle, tackle that is too light could possible be met with a bust-off or a hook straightening, while too heavy tackle won’t allow you to have any fun, as you’ll just be cranking them in.

In a perfect world,

Although silver trevally might be hard to catch, they are a schooling fish and you can expect to catch them in numbers.

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using the right outfits for different species makes all the difference but we can’t always afford to have 20 rods and reels to cover every species we target.

When it comes to trevally, there are two main outfits used. One is for when targeting them with lures, in which case a 7’ 2-4kg soft

plastic rod with 2500 series reel will match up perfectly.

On that, spool at least 125m

of 8lb braid with 10lb leader and you won’t go wrong.

Outfit number two will

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cover all your bait fishing needs and will double up for whiting and salmon fishing.

In this case, a 7’ 2-4kg slow action rod so the hook is set with the load up of the rod rather than striking and possibly tearing the hook out of their soft lips. Catching trevally using baits still requires a finesse technique, but more so in the rigging department. A paternoster rig tied from 15lb fluorocarbon leader containing two 1/0 Black Magic KL circle hooks will be the best setup.

BAITS AND LURES Trevally don’t tend to be too selective in the bait department as they are constantly on the move and eat whatever passes them by.

When attracting them to an area, I prefer to use berley, which consists of chook pellets soaked in tuna oil mixed with mashed pilchards. This is put into a berley pot and placed on the sea floor next to the pier or under the boat. Even then, just a few pilchard, mashed up or left whole will emit enough small to bring them on. The current or waters pressure will cause the berley and fish scent to flow out of the pot and bring the fish to the source of the smell.

Small pieces of pilchard, calamari, blue bait, white bait and pipi are the top baits for silvers, while any small

Circle hooks make all the difference.

Let it load and let it buckle. baitfish profiled lure will do the trick.

Specifically targeting trevally is a lot of fun and very few anglers actually choose to go out and do so. For a bread and butter

species, they certainly stack up in the light tackle battle department and if you’re in for some rod bending, line peeling action, then grab the berley and get silver searchin’!

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45

20/11/2014 5:35 pm

Inshore or offshore - take your pick MALLACOOTA

Kevin Gleed captainkev@wildernessfishingtours.com

Mallacoota remains busy, with plenty of visitors to the area enjoying the summer weather, swimming and fishing. The water temperature is 20ºC on the beach, and the fishing has been excellent both offshore and in the lake.

As is usual at this time of year, you have to pick your days, as the wind can make fishing near impossible. Up early and back before the breeze hits is the go.

Those heading offshore

have really enjoyed launching their boats at the new boat ramp at Bastion Point. With no ocean swell over the holiday period, the ramp has been basically incident free. The fishing for kingies has been great, with plenty caught over the past month. Fish around the 75cm mark have been common, with the bigger ones around a metre in length. The fish have initially been caught trolling, and once located jigged metal lures have produced most of the action.

Best spot has been out around the Aerials. Plenty of baitfish schools are about, and if they hang around, then

so will the kingies.

There’s been good fishing for flatties, with sandies and tigers being caught, along with some nice gummy sharks. Unfortunately, in the last week the leatherjackets have arrived in plague proportions, making it near impossible to drop anything in the water and expect to get it back.

Those wetting a line on the local beaches have been getting a few salmon, along with yellowfin bream.

Fishing from the breakwall has been good, with plenty of sizeable blackfish moving along the rocks. The lake was great

over the Christmas period with quality yellowfin bream around the front and at Goodwin Sands.

The black bream are spread throughout the system. Fish are being caught, but it’s not easy. The flathead fishing has been better though. I have been guiding in the Mallacoota system for 20 years, and I’ve seen the fishing come and go, but this season my clients have enjoyed catching plenty of fish, with numbers over 50cm regularly released.

With all the rivers and creeks still flowing, it’s looking good for the months ahead.

Bastion Point ramp has opened up the kingie grounds like never before.

A bumper season for billfish BERMAGUI

Darren Redman djsxstreamfishing@bigpond.com

Finally, after many years of ordinary billfishing, the marlin have been back with vengeance and still they continue, hopefully for many more weeks to come.

Marlin are in their best numbers in March, concentrating around the Twelve Mile Reef area. All species can be encountered at this time of the year, feeding on the vast baitfish schools that congregate

over the reefs. Also feeding on the baitfish, anglers may encounter shortbill spearfish, mako and other sharks, mahimahi and usually plenty of schools of small to mid-range yellowfin tuna.

Preferred method at this time of year is to troll live slimy mackerel, or my favourite, a live or skipped frigate mackerel. Frigates can often be acquired by trolling a small fly a long way out the back while trolling live slimies for the big predators.

Another popular method is switch baiting with lures and teasers without hooks,

attracting the marlin to the boat where the lure is replaced with a live bait. This is a very spectacular way in which to catch a marlin.

Kingfish around Montague Island are in good numbers at present, averaging 6-7kg, with some fish up to 15kg being encountered.

Most have been taken the traditional way using jigs, squid and live bait, however, don’t be frightened to troll bibbed and bibless lures over the western reefs, as this will also produce fish.

The start of autumn usually sees good numbers of larger snapper frequenting

The marlin have been flying high all season and the bite is continuing.

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the coastline. The reefs south of Bermagui such as The Brothers, Lobster Patch and Goalen Head area attracting good numbers of reds. Most anglers prefer to drift with conventional paternoster rigs using squid and cut fish bait, however, more and more are anchoring and berleying using large drift baits such as whole and half slimy mackerel, which produces fish in the 7-8kg bracket.

Other reef fish are also very plentiful, with morwong (both blue and jackass), tiger flathead, ocean perch, pigfish and leatherjackets also featuring in regular bags.

Fishing the deep water off the Twelve Mile Reef will produce most reef fish in good numbers, and if you feed a live bait out under a balloon, you may be pleasantly surprised with a billfish hookup.

Large schools of southern yellowfin bream are frequenting most estuaries around Bermagui at present. Fish up to 46cm are not uncommon, with most averaging around the 40cm mark. Berleying with striped tuna at the start of an incoming tide will account for a lot of these beautiful chrome-plated fish. Using baits like nippers, prawns or worms is producing their fair share of fish as the tide creeps over the flats. Lures, both hard and soft, will also take fish, however, not as effectively as fresh bait.

Large flathead are also being encountered, especially in the Bermagui River, on lures, live bait, and in berley trails while fishing for bream. Good size trevally are getting into the act, along with some very large mullet.

Luderick are plentiful around the bridge boat ramp and rock walls towards the harbour. Cabbage and green weed are producing most fish on the last of the run-out tide and the first of

Not everything you catch on a line has fins! the run-in. Also, reasonable numbers of luderick are still being taken on nippers further up the estuary around the weed beds. Some very nice whiting are making their presence felt in the shallow water over the nipper flats.

Calmer conditions are allowing anglers to fish the rocks more often, which is producing some excellent catches. Fishing of an evening as the shadows of the cliffs move over the water, berleying with bread, and then using cunjevoi as bait has produced some excellent catches of black drummer.

Fish around the 2kg mark have been the average, with some top bream and trevally featuring as well.

Spinning off the rocks with large metal lures has produced salmon and tailor, with an odd kingfish making a pleasant surprise. Small frigate mackerel have also been a regular catch using lighter line and small metal lures retrieved at a fast rate.

Bream that have not yet moved into the estuaries have been encountered regularly on most beaches adjacent to the rocks. Again,

berleying these areas with striped tuna will produce more fish, however, using more traditional baits like beachworms and pipis will turn up both bream and nice size whiting. Salmon and tailor fishing is also excellent at present along most beaches, with some very nice gummy sharks being captured on the full moon.

Black cricket numbers have exploded in the Brogo area, allowing the bass a regular food source.

Anglers using them on light line are experiencing some fantastic fishing in Brogo Dam at present. Cricket imitations in both flies and lures are therefore having their fair share of success.

Surface lures, especially of an evening, are producing exciting topwater fishing.

During daylight hours, anglers are having limited success using deeper lures such as spinnerbaits around the weed beds.

The Brogo River is still producing good fish below the dam wall, with most popular techniques being effective.

NSW South Coast

The fishing improves post holiday season EDEN

Kevin Gleed captainkev@wildernessfishingtours.com

estuaries are at their best.

The past month has seen some good catches coming in from the inshore

Matthew with a surface caught bream.

The lure is a Bent Minnow.

With the town a lot quieter after the busy Christmas holiday period, the coming months really sees all forms of fishing fire up. The game fishing, the beach, and the

reefs and flathead grounds.

Once again, an early start has been necessary to avoid the wind. Some good-sized sand flathead have been caught (58cm), and that’s a

big sandie. Out wider, good numbers of tiger flathead are available too. Snapper, morwong and leatherjackets are being landed from the inshore reefs, and wherever you find baitfish is the spot to drop.

The fishing for kingies has been pretty ordinary this year, with rats to just legal size making up the bulk of the catch. The bigger fish seem to have travelled by, but hopefully will turn up again in a couple of months.

Fishing the local beaches has been good. The water temperature is around 20ºC, with sand whiting and yellowfin bream being caught. Fresh worms and prawns are the best choice of bait. The odd salmon has been beached, with bigger numbers of fish expected when the water cools in the winter months.

Keen anglers chasing mulloway from now through until Easter know it is well worth putting in the time, particularly around the new and full moon. The beaches inside Twofold Bay are a known spot for fish.

The next few months are when you can expect the prawns to start running, and everyone loves a feed of

prawns — especially if they are fresh. The local estuaries have been fishing well, with plenty of dusky flathead caught. Anglers fishing soft plastics have had a ball, but the fish are taking a variety of lures.

Whiting have been on the go for anglers in the know. They’re getting amongst the fish with surface lures, but those using bait have had best success on live nippers or worms. Some good blackfish are also in the

local estuaries, with anglers fishing with weed under a float getting amongst them.

The recent rain has kept everything flowing, which has been great for those heading upstream chasing bass.

Ivan with a black bream caught on a soft plastic.

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47

Fast and furious is the name of the game MERIMBULA

Stuart Hindson stuart@ausfishing.com.au

Dave McKenzie - Gamakatsu Pro Angler

Anglers fishing offshore from Merimbula are having an awesome time of it lately, especially those after marlin and other game species. The action has been fast and furious on the billfish front, with almost all crews getting multiple shots per day.

Striped marlin are the predominant species being caught, with most fish around the 80-100kg mark. There’s been the odd better fish to 130kg as well, with reports of black marlin being caught no more than a few kilometres offshore. That’s pretty exciting stuff for the smaller boats, because they can get amongst the big stuff as well.

The 70-fathom line has been the most productive and consistent recently, so the extra journey to the shelf hasn’t been needed on a lot of occasions.

This could change though, depending on bait, current and water temperature, as every day is different. Over the next few weeks, more black and blue marlin should turn up, as both these species are being caught north of Merimbula and in good numbers.

A cracking black bream caught on the flats by skipping plastics — great fun in a foot of water!

Trolling skirted pushers has been the most productive method for the marlin, though switch-baiting live baits will also work. I know of a few locals who are having great success trolling skip baits, especially when a bait ball is located. Skipping striped tuna or bonito would be the go here.

There’s also been yellowfin tuna to 20kg, mahimahi to 24kg, plus a few shortbill spearfish in between marlin bites, so the action is widespread.

Closer to shore, the kings have been pretty good off Long Point, but they can be hard to entice at times. Having the freshest of live baits is the secret, with a few models

around 6kg falling victim to deeper trolled minnows closer to shore.

Those after bread and butter species are doing extremely well, with sand flathead in big numbers. These tasty table fish can be found from 30-40m, with The Sticks down near Pambula a great place to start.

You can expect a few gummy sharks when targeting flatties, with the odd snapper as well.

The beaches continue to fish well for all the usual species, with salmon in solid numbers. Any beach with a deep gutter is holding fish, with Haycock, Tura and North Tura the pick of them. Some sambos are pushing 3kg, with

metal slices, surf poppers and pilchards on paternoster rigs all working well. There’s good bream chewing too, with the rockier corners of the beaches the place to fish on a flooding tide. The northern end of North Tura near Bournda Island is a hotspot that’s been fishing particularly well of late.

Using pipis or beach worms in conjunction with berley has proven a dynamite way to catch them. Expect a few whiting while targeting the bream, with fish to 40cm plus on the cards.

Those anglers fishing the stones for the pelagics have also had some fun. Using whole ganged pilchards cast out and slowly retrieved has seen kingfish, bonito, and some huge salmon to 4kg landed. Throwing chromed sliced metals up to 50g has also worked, with most headlands producing the goods. The better ones have been Tura Head, Merimbula Wharf, and both Short and Long Point.

Tura Head is the pick of them all, but it’s a decent walk in from Headland Drive to the rock platform below. You can expect this action to last for a few months yet. For anglers targeting bread and butter species like blackfish and drummer, Short Point is

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MARCH 2015

and squirtworms if you can get them.

At Pambula there’s some nice flatties in the main basin, with water depths of 3-5m the go. Casting smaller soft plastics and blades has worked well, with the flats producing a few bream and whiting on surface lures. The channel towards the entrance is hard to fish at the moment, with red algae in full bloom. It makes fishing almost impossible with foul-ups, but

The author with a nice mulloway. This day involved a solid bite that saw 4 mulloway tagged and released.

A few locals are getting some solid bream and whiting in the channel towards the entrance.

It’s quite shallow there, so late afternoons are better when boat traffic is at a minimum. Better baits include live bass yabbies,

once the water cools again it will go away. If you persist, the rewards are flathead, trevally, whiting and bream. You would be better off using bait here, with nippers, striped tuna cubes and worms all working.

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Considering it’s on our doorstep, it’s seriously under-rated, but if no one wants to fish there, well no complaints from us!

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There’s more than marlin to get excited about NAROOMA

Stuart Hindson stuart@ausfishing.com.au

Marlin, marlin, marlin!

That’s the word of all the game fishers’ lips.

Now’s the time to get out and tangle with a billed behemoth.

OFFSHORE Offshore it’s the best marlin season seen for a very long time with striped marlin in excellent numbers. Some crews are getting 8-10 shots a day, which is world class action.

The recent Tollgate Classic out of Batemans Bay just north of Tuross saw 106 marlin tagged and released in 2 days, now that’s a lot of beakies in anyone’s language!

Then at Bermagui at their comp they to tagged in excess of 100 marlin – another ridiculous haul! If you work out how many more were lost and then raised, it gives you an idea of how many there are at present, it’s awesome.

The better fishing has been wide with the shelf to the second drop being the hot spot, though every day is a little different with current and water temperature. The fish have responded well to trolled pushers, with darker purple coloured skirts being a consistent colour to troll.

Quite a few crews are switch baiting with live slimy mackerel after teasing them up. This method is dynamite with better catch rates, though you do require an organised

Mitch Bloomquist with his first mulloway at 83cm caught in Wagonga Inlet and released. seamounts is 26°C, that’s hot and ideal for blues.

With the beakies there’s been plenty of big mahimahi upwards of 20kg, which are solid fish.

The colours of these fish is something to see, with their eating qualities just as great.

There’s been a few short-billed spearfish plus smaller yellowfin tuna to 30kg caught, especially when trolling. With the water being so warm at a consistent 24°C, this red-hot action will definitely continue and I for one can’t wait to get out there and give it a crack.

Closer to shore at Montague Island the kings

This is the quality of whiting that can be found in Tuross at this time of year. deck for best results.

There’s been a few decent sized black marlin to 150kg caught on skip baits with striped tuna and bonito the preferred baits to use.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few blue marlin captured in coming weeks to. The water wide of the

have been a little sporadic, which is surprising considering the current and water quality there. There’s plenty of kings around the 60cm mark, but getting the legal sized models has been difficult. Those who have done OK are trolling bigger deep diving minnows around the shallower

southern reef sections, this method has worked on fish to 90cm so it’s worth a go for sure.

The reefs are still holding snapper but can be hard to find in any numbers.

Moving around until you locate them is the go, but once you do a quality feed will be had. The southwest corner of Montague would be a good starting point.

RIVERS Over the last month or so the Narooma/Tuross region has received in excess of 400mm of rain, which has made the fishing a little tough, especially in the Tuross River system.

The river flooded with the peak height at over 11m at Eurobodalla, which is the biggest I’ve seen for a very long time. This fresh has given the system the flush it needed, it’s gouged out the entrance to be at a depth around 2-3m at high tide, which is awesome to see.

The tidal difference is around 1m between high and low, which hasn’t been seen here for a long time.

This has made the fishing a little more difficult in the lower sections, especially around the peak moon periods with strong tidal movements. But in saying this, the mulloway have entered the system in good numbers and are hungry.

Catching multiple fish in a session is occurring regularly with one of our guiding days yielding 3 mulloway and a couple of others lost. These fish fell to larger soft plastics and soft vibes with fishers trolling deep diving minnows also getting results.

The fish are averaging 65-75cm, so not monsters but there’s still the odd meter job being caught.

If the bait continues to

hold there, I can’t see any reason why this action won’t continue for a few months yet.

If the mulloway are quiet, there’s plenty of flatties to be caught with the majority of fish around the 40cm mark. You will get the odd better fish but

you do have to work for them at present. Those die-hards who love to throw surface presentations like walk-baits and poppers are getting fantastic results.

There’s plenty of bream and whiting throughout the system with the main basin being excellent. The bream numbers are the best I’ve seen for many years with some great fish to 42cm being captured.

These bream are clean fish, so I expect with the deeper entrance that new populations are entering the system on the flooding tides. It’s the same with the whiting, they too have been good with captures throughout the system.

Further upstream the bass have really fired up after the flood with switched on anglers getting plenty on surface walkers and spinnerbaits.

Small running deep diving hardbodies have also been deadly with bait soakers doing well on scrub worms.

At Wagonga, it’s surprisingly tough – I’m not sure why! The baitfish and tailor are there but the bigger fish like mulloway and flathead are on holidays it seems. This will

hopefully change in coming weeks as the 6th Flathead Classic starts soon, so we want to see all anglers getting amongst the fish and have a great time.

Though the big fish are hard, the channels have plenty of whiting, bream and trevally to keep you interested. Casting smaller plastics will work, though anglers fishing bait like worms and nippers will do well too.

BEACHES The beaches have been excellent for bream and whiting with Coila, Blackfellows and Tilba Main beaches the ones to fish. Casting lightly weighted baits like worms and pipi just past the shore dump will see plenty of fish caught. Look for those deeper gutters close to shore with the rockier corner at the southern end of Coila a good place to start.

There’s been a few salmon and tailor caught with the odd mulloway and gummy shark but they have been a little tougher of late. I’d be concentrating at Tilba if targeting the bigger fish, there’s a cracking deep gutter around 8ft deep there currently.

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49

Time to brave the high seas TASMANIA

Kelly Hunt

March is a period of happiness and sadness for Tasmanian anglers.

Happiness for the anglers who rely on warm currents or warm weather, but sadness for those anglers who love their daylight savings. March has the days noticeably shorter working to April when we play with the clocks.

Do not despair, as there is still lots and lots to enjoy angling wise.

KINGFISH Kingies are still about and the angler who found them early will be honing their skills to perfection.

While being a species of fish that feeds hard when hungry, they can also frustrate anglers when sighted by not nailing any of our offerings.

The shore-based angler must look for some points or areas that promise some reef and broken ground.

Look for some water movement in those times you try your luck and be prepared to up your retrieve to incite a bite. I am not sure if it’s the speed news travels nowadays, but it would seem there are more kings being caught and

this year they look to be of better size. Traditionally they have always been found travelling with the schools of upsized salmon, but they are really making Tasmania home of late and you expect to catch them well into March.

Locating a pocket of kings is best done with lures and soft plastics.

Offerings that will take a bit of pace as you wind them in swiftly. Soft plastics that are elongated will work well.

The numbers of fish reported in early February Upsized salmon and kingies like this will be available even to land-based fishers this month! and the varied and different locations they were caught suggest a session in the boat would be a great deal of fun. Lures that you would use for salmon are fine and so are the rods and reels. Be warned though, an upsized specimen of 10kg will take you to task quickly on such gear and will be a lot of fun.

If you are trying to target the bigger fish that have been about this year, I’d opt for a deeper diving lure with a badly wounded fish action. Slow trolling squid tentacles and small live baits on downriggers is a proven way to catch

Mako sharks are fantastic sport and many Tasmanian offshore fishers look forward to chasing them all year.

big the it’s that

yellowtail kingfish on mainland, so maybe time we gear up for in March…

YELLOWFIN March is the time of year serious offshore game fishers huddle around rocking backwards and forwards mumbling about fish with a tinge of yellow in the fins. The mighty Thunnus albcares or yellowfin tuna is on everyone’s minds. It’s a fish that is very much sought after and a prize trophy.

Pound for pound, these babies are the fastest and the most agile of all the tuna we

INLAND FISHERIES SERVICE

Carp are on the move throughout Lake Sorell IFS

Tim Farrell

The relatively cool and mild start to summer meant that during December and January targeting carp has been difficult, with the majority of carp dispersed around the deeper rocky sections of the lake.

Although the carp management team is putting in an immense amount of fishing effort on a daily basis, the catch per unit effort has been low.

In January 2015 the combination of light winds and hot temperatures finally warmed the waters enough to spur the carp into moving, with some good catches being made as small groups of fish pushed into the shallows to feed.

The increase in activity was first observed in the numerous transmitter fish swimming in the lake, where after being seen to sit in one section of the lake for weeks at a time, they were finally detected in new areas. These shallow water aggregations make the carp vulnerable to capture by both electrofishing and gill netting.

Hopefully there is more to come of this weather for the remainder of the summer and autumn, so that a real impact can be made on the remaining carp population.

FUTURE LOOKING BRIGHT FOR TASMANIAN ESTUARY PERCH Estuary perch (Percalates 50

MARCH 2015

Bryan Van Wyk with an estuary perch captured during his study on the species at Arthur River. colonorum) is a fish endemic to South East Australia where it is widely targeted by light tackle sporting anglers.

Estuary perch were believed to be distributed along the north and east coasts of Tasmania in the early 1900s with confirmed reports in Ansons and Arthur rivers and unconfirmed reports in Pipers River, Scamander River and Georges River.

Unfortunately their distribution is now limited and there appears to be one remaining strong hold left in the Arthur River. This has led to an uncertainty regarding estuary perch sustainability in Tasmania and the IFS have

brought in regulations that require all estuary perch to be released if caught.

The cause of their disappearance is undocumented, however, it’s believed to be a combination of factors such as commercial and recreational gillnetting in the past and the development of man-made weirs and culverts which interfere with spawning migrations.

Because of estuary perch’s restricted distribution and interest in using it to develop further inland recreational fishing opportunities there has arisen a need for more information to be gathered about this species

in Tasmania. This year, University of Tasmania honours student Bryan Van Wyk, alongside IMAS lecturer Dr. James Haddy aims to develop background knowledge of the Arthur River stock. Part of the study involves a tagging program, which is used to build an understanding of the population size and its movements. It is important to note that if a tagged estuary perch is caught it must still be released, as would any untagged specimen.

Due to the nature of this project, a dead tagged perch can’t contribute any more information to the study. This is what to do if you catch a tagged estuary perch: • Record the fork length.

• Record the two tag numbers of the fish.

• Take note of the location (how far upstream from the mouth, what sort of habitat etc.).

• Notify Bryan Van Wyk (0437 103 176) or Inland Fisheries Service.

CETHANA POWER STATION REFURBISHMENT Between January and October 2015 Hydro Tasmania will undertake a major refurbishment at Cethana Power Station.

During this time construction activity will result in increased traffic in the area. This may cause intermittent traffic delays at certain times on Claude Road (C136) from Lake Cethana to Sheffield, Sheffield Road, Railton Road, the Bass Highway and the Midland Highway. Warnings and

notifications will be issued at appropriate times.

The power station will be shut down for an extended period to allow the works to occur.

The resultant increase in water flows over the Lake Cethana spillway may result in an increase in debris downstream, including floating branches and partially submerged logs in Lake Barrington. Users of Lake Barrington should take appropriate safety precautions when using the lake for recreational activities.

We apologise for any inconvenience this work may cause. For more information please contact Hydro Tasmania on (03) 6230 5580.

The carp team using the electrofishing boat to assist in carp removal at Lake Sorell.

face here in Tasmania. To land a good-sized yellow is an angling feat not a whole heap of Tasmania’s can lay claim to. When they do you can often tell, as they have their chests puffed out so far

looked after. It is actually a fact that after a big battle tuna species can suffer what is known as ‘burnt tuna syndrome’. This is where the fish has over heated in the battle and continues to

won’t hurt to make sure you have some ice. Don’t be one of those people who complain about the bad taste after leaving the guts in the fish all day on the deck of your boat.

There’s more marlin in our waters than people give us credit for. Fish like this are available to Tasmanian offshore fishers, you just need to get out and give it a red-hot crack! they can over balance and fall over…

In all seriousness, the yellowfin is a true athlete of the ocean and is also fantastic eating when

do so while on the deck after capture. This can leave the flesh tasting muddy and not very appealing. If you go to the trouble of catching it, a little more trouble

Yellowfin love a temperature break and current line. If you find some water that is dramatically hotter (4-6°C) than where you just came from and

work up and down that area until you can get a sense of where that temperature break is and where it runs.

You can use the sounder to plot marks and instead of naming them just log the temperature readings.

You will soon get a picture of what might be going on around you. While traveling and plotting, keep an eye open for bait schools as well. If you start to have a temperature break and some bait, you have found an area that is worth working over.

Come over the ground from all angles working the bait from the warmer water to the colder and vice versa.

Yellowfin are also a species of fish that don’t mind traversing the shallow ground to get to where they want to go. Many spots along the East Coast of Tasmania have held and had yellowfin feed in water as shallow as 50m.

Don’t get hung up on any special lure needed to target yellowfin in Tasmania. If you have a good spread of lures that mimic the Tasmanian pelagic bait you are on the money. A couple of brown and light orange skirts will keep you in good stead as they will replicate the squid we start to see offshore and around in March.

To page 52

Few Tasmanian anglers can lay claim to a yellowfin of this size, but these are the ones we’ll be looking for in March.

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51

club members but also caters for the anglers who just want to come along and have a go.

March should have the waters of Triabunna and offshore of Maria Island teeming with life. The anglers last year all hit the shelf and many did quite well. The weather was perfect and this allowed traveling to the shelf with ease, but there are plenty of excellent sports fish to be found in and around Maria Island and the 100m line towards the shelf.

The offshore fishing section will be run by Tasmania’s biggest growing game fishing club. The Game Fishing Club of Northern Tasmania is enjoying a fantastic resurgence in family values and fun with some fishing mixed in. The club is affiliated with the Game Fishing Association of Australia and the I.G.F.A.

From page 51

It has been a while since we have seen a good run of ‘yellas’ in Tasmanian shores.

When we do see them they are normally good-sized fish of 50kg or better. With the water temperature and quality we had out wide in February, I am going out on a limb and suggesting we may see some this year.

Don’t let me down though, get out and drag a spread! Destinations like Bicheno and Triabunna are prime yellowfin haunts.

They are also great places to take the family while you are draggin’ lures for hours offshore.

MARLIN We have more marlin in our waters than any of us give credit. The waters wide of St Helens, Bicheno and Triabunna in March need more boats out with the right gear having a red-hot crack.

The lion’s share of the blue water anglers in Tasmania open their accounts on early season mako sharks then cool their heels until the albacore and then SBTs arrive further south.

There is a fantastic striped marlin fishery going to waste. The fish caught in close around St Helens each year are incidental catches and those willing to gear up and fish wide in the blue water on and just wide of the shelf will be rewarded.

Just imagine if we started talking about the yellowfin as marlin by-catch!

Teasers are where it is at when trolling for marlin. Mirror teasers, daisy chains, Boone Birds, Marlin Mudflaps... it doesn’t matter. As long as you have something creating a splash and surface disturbance, you are on the money.

Lures can be a mix of your skirts that have proven to match the local

bait and a couple that are a little larger than the norm.

Slipping a couple of bigger lures into the spread on short corner and short rigger won’t hurt. Make sure they are a quality lure from a decent manufacturer. They will need to work well, cup lots of water and as they go under the surface pull down bubbles to create a smoke trail.

Now’s the time to get out off St Helens and Bicheno and find a hot arvo bite!

TRIABUNNA SEAFEST Picking right up from where it left off from last year, the Seafest is shaping to be once again Tasmania’s biggest fishing competition.

In only one short year the Triabunna weekend has managed to gain the attention of many of Tasmania’s offshore fishing fraternity.

Triabunna and the Seafest format not only caters for the game fishing

Top: Albacore are one of the first game fish to arrive in Tasmania with the warm currents, followed by the yellowfin tuna.

Above: The author with a hefty mako taken early in the season.

The Club is a great place to pick up some tips and learn some tricks to help you better find fish and land them once you do. The emphasis on family fishing is evident with junior and female members holding current State, National and world records.

There is a separate section for those non-members and the prize list for this category has grown with the interest it has generated. This year will also see a fun fish for kids and a section for those that would just like to fish the bays or sheltered waters around Maria Island.

MAST will again join FishCare and TARfish to provide static displays, information and practical demonstrations.

These bodies do a magnificent job within Tasmania and Seafest is looking forward to their involvement.

There has been considerable support from local Tasmanian business to add to the very generous backing of several big national companies. The committee has worked hard once again to put on a series of events during the day that will keep the kids and relatives amused for hours. Rural Alive & Well is onsite again with their kids casting competition that was supported generously by Wilson Fishing.

This will be just one chance for those on the shore to take home a prize. Boat displays and a number of marine and fishing vendors will also be onsite. The small community of Triabunna has embraced this event and the crew of dedicated helpers ensure that Seafest 2015 will be a ripper.

Make sure that you keep the weekend of March 27-29 free and get along to Triabunna Seafest 2015!

HYDRO TASMANIA WATER STORAGE INFORMATION Water Storage Information as at 10th February 2015 Lake/Lagoon

Metres from full

Comment

Lake Augusta ...................................2.62 .......................................................Steady Arthurs Lake ....................................1.79 .......................................................Steady Great Lake .......................................15.36 .....................................................Steady Trevallyn Pond .................................1.21 ........................................................Rising Shannon Lagoon ..............................0.1 .........................................................Steady Penstock Lagoon .............................Null ................................................ Unavailable Lake Echo ........................................7.47 .......................................................Steady Dee Lagoon .....................................0.35 .......................................................Steady Bradys/Binneys/Tungatinah .............3.32 .......................................................Steady Bronte Lagoon .................................0.75 ....................................................... Falling Pine Tier Lagoon ..............................2.42 .......................................................Steady Little Pine Lagoon ............................0.74 .......................................................Steady Laughing Jack Lagoon ....................2.77 .......................................................Steady Lake St Clair ....................................1.8 .........................................................Steady Lake King William ............................5.38 .......................................................Steady Lake Liapootah ................................0.33 ........................................................Rising Wayatinah Lagoon ...........................0.5 ......................................................... Falling Lake Catagunya ...............................0.56 ....................................................... Falling

Lake Repulse ...................................0.53 ........................................................Rising Cluny Lagoon ...................................0.3 ......................................................... Falling Meadowbank Lake ..........................0.09 .......................................................Steady Lake Pedder ....................................1.42 .......................................................Steady Lake Gordon ....................................33.8 .......................................................Steady Lake Burbury ...................................1.81 .......................................................Steady Lake Plimsoll ...................................2.62 .......................................................Steady Lake Murchison ...............................14.62 .....................................................Steady Lake Mackintosh .............................3 ............................................................Steady Lake Rosebery .................................0.7 ......................................................... Falling Lake Pieman ....................................0.83 ........................................................Rising Lake Mackenzie ...............................5.95 .......................................................Steady Lake Rowallan .................................20.47 .....................................................Steady Lake Parangana ...............................1.24 ....................................................... Falling Lake Cethana ...................................4.39 .......................................................Steady Lake Barrington ...............................0.14 .......................................................Steady Lake Gairdner ..................................4 ............................................................Steady Lake Paloona ...................................0.95 ....................................................... Falling Woods Lake .....................................1.48 .......................................................Steady Whitespur Pond ...............................8.05 .......................................................Steady Lake Newton ...................................4.61 .......................................................Steady Lake Margaret .................................3.93 ..................................................................

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

52

MARCH 2015

Hot Spot

Top-notch Tambo River CRANBOURNE

Mitch Chapman

Only three hours from Melbourne and a short drive from the centre of Lakes Entrance lies the ever so legendary Tambo River. It is home to some of the best bream fishing in the country and countless people, fishing clubs and competitions are held here year round.

PRIME TIME Tambo River can be fished with great success all year round. Targeting flathead in the warmer months is best when the shallow water heats up and the fish become more active, ‘basking’ in the sun waiting for an easy meal to swim by.

Bream fishing is exceptional in the winter months when the fish start to school up pre spawn.

Cricket scores of fish can be caught during this time of the year and can make for some top-notch fishing.

THE GEAR Like most estuary fishing a light 2-4kg graphite spin rod with a 2000 size reel is best when chasing bream and flathead.

THE RIG A reel spooled up with 6lb braid and a long 4-6lb fluorocarbon leader is ideal for casting lures at bream. You might want to bump it up a little if fishing the snags as light leader doesn’t last long around barnacle-encrusted snags.

If specifically targeting flathead then 8-12lb leaders

bloodworm Wrigglers in 80 and 100mm, they are almost the first plastic to tie on and cast out. Fishing blades in the open water and along rock walls is very effective and one of the easiest ways to catch bream. Estuary perch like the same sort of lures so don’t be surprised if you pull a bream off one

Paul Malov with a solid Tambo bream taken on a hardbody lure.

Gez Hawthorne with a unit pulled deep from within the timber. are a good starting point with a 1/8oz jighead and your favourite plastic tied on the end.

BAIT AND LURES A couple of go-to softies for bream are the

snag, and then a perch off the next.

BEST METHOD When targeting bream in the cooler months, a quality sounder is essential.

Locating schooled up bream

in open water or along rock walls and casting small blades to the fish is by far one of the best methods and most enjoyable ways to spend time on the water.

MOTHER NATURE Dusky flathead rules and regulations have recently changed so please remember that the size limit for dusky flathead is now 30-55cm with a total

possession limit of 5 fish per angler.

Letting the bigger fish go will ensure stock levels of fish are maintained and the breeders are left to do their thing. Fish for the future!

HOT TIP It’s important to adjust the drag on your reel to suit the surrounding and environment that you are

fishing. When fishing for bream in snags you want to have it locked up making it easier to pull fish from the timber and not get busted off when fishing in open water for bream and flathead, having the drag backed off is best. You will not pull as many hooks from mouths of fish as you are not required to pull them from timber in a white knuckled affair.

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sales@maynesmarine.com.au www.maynesmarine.com.au MARCH 2015

53

Camping Feature

Camp in comfort and style this Easter holiday With Easter just around the corner, we know that a lot of Fishing Monthly readers will be preparing to make the most of the long weekend. And based on history, Easter will either offer up sparkling Easter weather, or unleash more rain and wind than you’d had in the previous month combined. It could go either way.

As anglers, the campsite is often not the be-all and end-all of the experience.

Often it is a base from which you hub all of your fishing and boating activities. It’s undeniable, though, that a well set-up campsite can turn a good trip into a great trip and a horrible wet weekend into a pleasant experience with your family and your mates.

In that light, this piece takes a look at some of the ways you might want to pimp your campsite. Some of the products available

are for safety, others are for convenience and some just turn heads in the campground. How many times have you seen a set-up and thought, ‘I need one of those!’

And whether you’re a swag-and-esky person or you want your site to offer a WiFi network to you and your mates, there’s usually something available to make your camping dreams a reality.

TARPAULINS

We’ve all done the basic ‘camp under a tarp’ setup and I daresay we’ve all had the ‘tarp blown away’ disaster at some stage in our camping travels, so it’s sound advice to have a quality tarp and know how to set it up.

There are products available from springloaded guide ropes through to custom-moulded tarp clamps that take the sting

out of the gusts of wind when the going gets tough.

We’re sure you’ve seen the world’s flashest tarp poles advertised in this magazine previously.

They hold up your tarp, but also have LED lighting and a USB charging socket to keep your smartphone charged. That would be useful when you’re out fishing the Pirtek fishing competition!

LIGHTING

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MARCH 2015

lighting means that you can now light your campsite for much less of a power load than you use to a decade ago. Of course, the best way to light a campsite is with a roaring campfire, but for various reasons, that’s not always legal/ possible or convenient.

Drawing a fraction of the current to run than the old incandescent bulbs (and a whole lot more durable) it seems like the LED technology was just made for camping.

Camping Feature POWER

There are camping applications that require

beer (and food) cold. Most Aussie blokes have a spread of keeping-it-cool devices on

quietly and keep your food and drinks cold. With the availability of 12v DC in your vehicle, there’s no need for the milk to go sour.

And starting the day without your Weetbix just feels wrong.

They’re compact, set up in 20 seconds and provide pretty good protection from the

been around for a couple of decades. Glinds have been making top-of-the-line hot

make up your own kit or take advantage of any of the pre-assembled bags

elements – especially in the cooler months.

If you’ve got plenty of room, a camp cot keeps you up off the ground and insulated from the heat or cold. They fold up into a stowable size and ensure that you wane up full of beans and ready to tackle more fish.

water showers that use your 4x4’s engine to heat your cold shower into hot for ages and if you need that little bit of extra comfort as a carrot to get someone out under the stars for the Easter break, it’s $500 well spent.

that you can buy at most camping stores, it’s pretty sensible to have one stashed under the seat of the car.

DRIED MEALS

If construction of the ultimate evening camping meal in a nest of camp-ovens doesn’t ring your bell, there are plenty of options that bridge the gap between 2-minute noodles and a roast dinner.

Gourmet, just-add-water dehydrated meals are super convenient and often provide an excellent accompaniment to fresh fish. And we’re sure you’ve got that side covered.

TENTS AND SWAGS

You might have a killer tarp setup, but especially if it’s hot, you’ll want some sort of protection from the elements.

And by elements, we mean biting insects. There’s an infinite range of tents available – from 100% insect screen to models that can withstand a cyclone.

At the end of the day,

HOT SHOWERS?

Not only is it possible to

FIRST AID

You probably give less thought to a first aid kit than you do the tides or

NO BOAT? CAMPER TRAILER!

If you’re not towing a boat to your Easter destination, then a super comfortable way to camp in style is with a camper trailer. With pop-up bedding, cooking facilities, on board water and often the kitchen sink, a top notch camper trailer can cost a pretty penny. But you can also rent them for those couple of times a year you really want to get away.

Both your family or your mates will thank you for it.

THE ULTIMATE CAMPING CHAIR

more power than a battery and inverter can provide. In these cases, you’ll realise that modern generators can turn petrol into electricity fairly cheaply.

The cheaper the unit, though, the more chance it will annoy your camping neighbours, so a step up from the cheap, Chinese old-school generators may be wise.

Modern generators are like modern outboards – quiet, compact, frugal and low emission. They’re also multi purpose and some have a 12v battery charging outlet as well as 240v power available.

Whack them behind a tree and you barely know that they’re running at all.

REFRIGERATION

If Aussies are good at anything, it’s keeping our

hand at any one stage. Apart from the mandatory stubby cooler, a fibreglass esky will be much better insulated and long lasting in the field than a plastic model that’s limits are getting to your mates’ BBQ in one piece and making your drinks slightly cooler than air temperature.

Use some of the hi-tech freezer blocks and wraps that are available and all of a sudden your refrigeration prowess will go to a whole new level.

If you want to up the ante, there’s a swag of electrical fridge/freezer boxes available that keep your important stuff cool for a minimum of power input. Plug these into a 12v (battery or solar) or 240v power source and the little compressors will hum away

your tent or swag becomes your little cocoon where you can get the rest you need to go out and catch them all again tomorrow. It’s a place where if all gets cyclonic, you can curl up and resign yourself to dealing with the aftermath in the morning.

There’s nothing that says ‘I like fishing more than camping’ than a swag.

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Camping Feature

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The Korr 10w Headlamp is turning heads as far as portability, convenience and power are concerned.

With its heavy-duty aluminium alloy construction, and use of the CREE XML2-US LED, this head-torch is leading the way with a distance of 150m at 1 lux.

Featuring an IP66 waterproof rating, making it perfect for use through rain, hail and shine.

The Korr 10w headlamp is powered by AA batteries.

The lamp allows owners to use high, low and strobe beams, boasting a massive 840 Lumens.

The anti-shattering ultra clear lens alongside the robust construction makes the KORR 10w Headlamp a necessity in any situation.

These torches are making friends with every angler and camper.

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Techniice have really filled a void in the market with their 200L long box with external dimensions of 60.7x134x 44.6cm (WxLxH).

It is a perfect balance of size and capacity for those of us who catch some seriously big fish or want a box to remind them what they are there for!

The ability of these boxes to keep things cold for a very long time and great value for money is no surprise, given

the pedigree that comes with any of the products with the Techniice brand.

This company has extensive experience with making products for the Department of Defence, SES, CFA and many other demanding commercial users.

You don’t have to be Einstein to appreciate the build quality of this box with thick insulated walls and lid, tough, serious hinges and fittings, and 3 big full length skids welded to the bottom of the box to prevent scratching when storing in your boat or ute.

They can even be used to wash the dog or take a hot or cold bath at the campsite!

Price: $299 (delivered) www.techniice.com

LED Flexible Light Strip

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A 1m long fully waterproof, IP67 rated, flexible LED light strip that is perfect for any application needing some bright, reliable lighting.

This flexible light strip uses 60 of the highest brightness LEDs that are fully sheathed in a protective plastic casing to protect from water, dust and damage.

Each strip features waterproof male/ female connections at each end to ensure that your power connection is protected from the elements.

At the same time it also allows multiple strips to be daisy-chained together to create a longer length (up to 5m maximum).

It is powered by 12VDC with 720 lumens. It comes in a cool white colour for added brightness.

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Every outdoor lover knows the benefits of a compressor-type refrigerator/freezer, just like the one in the kitchen. Most of the popular units on the market, while being about quarter the size of a domestic unit, cost at least as much as a full size fridge, often far more.

However, along comes the Powertech range of portable fridge/freezers at a price breakthrough. The range covers the three most popular sizes: 30L, 40L and 50L. The Road Tech Marine units feature the same German Danfoss compressor and control module as used in the leading Eurostyle units on the market today.

The RTM units also feature: digital display control panels, 3-stage battery protection, a handy internal pull-out food basket, separate dairy section and tough carry handles that double as tie-down points. They can also operate on 12 or 24V DC (0.7A) and 240V AC (very handy). The units will pull-down to -18oC. They all carry a 5 year warranty (same as the Euro models) and feature a highimpact housing. These products are available from all Road Tech Marine & Jaycar outlets and dealers.

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Glind is now manufacturing a 316 stainless steel filter so you can pump water from the sandy bed rivers and never have sand enter your pump again! You can even bury it on the beaches like Double Island or Fraser and access freshwater from the water table that lay beneath the surface. You can also pump water for the van or camper trailer’s water tanks from the numerous waterways in Australia’s top end.

This amazing little sand filter fits neatly inside a 20L drum or can be fitted down a length of pipe to make your own Sand Spear.

Individually handcrafted in Queensland from the highest quality 316 stainless steel.

Virtually indestructible, you will never have to buy another one ever again. Travel anywhere with total peace of mind. Simply clamp one of these little beauties to the end of your 1/2” suction hose. Perfect travel size, it is only 115mm long and 37mm diameter.

Price: $120 www.glind.com.au

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KORR Camp Kit 4

Over the past six years, Korr has constantly upgraded the popular Camp Kit range, by making the already impressive components stronger and brighter. Now featuring 3 different power source options, many extension leads, dimmers and high powered bars.

With a 5 year paperless warranty, the Camp Kit range can withstand even the most harshest of environments. The bars and extension leads have an IP68 Waterproof rating, making them fully submergible up to 3m. The LED bars included in the kit now have grommets on either end to reinforce the connections, and therefore preventing any fraying of the wires after years of use.

The Korr dimmers have also had magnets built in so that they are now able to be mounted to your tent poles. The entire kit comes in a sturdy, compact aluminium case, keeping everything in one place. The 4 Bar Camp Kit, Korr Lighting’s most popular product in the range, is high in demand. You really can’t afford not to make the KORR Lighting 4 Bar Camp Kit a part of your next adventure.

Price: $249 www.korrlighting.com.au MARCH 2015

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Camping Feature

Stainless Steel Fridge

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The recently released Techniice Stainless Steel Fridge is one of the most versatile units we have come across. They come in a dual zone version in 60L and 80L, and single zone in 80L. The dual zone model comes with dual lids and temperature controls that display both the fridge and freezer temperature at the same time on the fridge and the remote control. A unique feature of these dual zone fridge freezers is that either compartment can be operated as a fridge or a freezer. Both compartments have separate controls that take them from below -20ºC right up to fridge temperatures.

The 80L single zone model has one compartment and can be used as a fridge or freezer. It is particularly popular on boats that already have refrigeration but want to expand their capacity. They are ideal in a marine environment or off road. The case is stainless steel along with solid stainless steel handles and hinges. The whole range is powered by Danfoss Compressors. Techniice stainless steel fridge freezers come with a 6 year parts and labour warranty! Service is available through their large network of Techniice accredited service agents right across Australia.

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The Cape Yorker

Glind’s Cape Yorker is a truly portable, travel anywhere pressurised shower system that you can choose the flow and pressure. Pumps can be from 3.8L/min to a whopping 11L/min and the pressure can be from 35psi to a massive 50psi – you choose. This compact unit is built with top quality components including the super efficient and ultra reliable Flojet pressure pump, and it is all housed in a rugged tough case.

For general use, such as showering, Glind recommends the 3.8L/min model however if you intend on using a Glind Sand Spear Filter, you must order the 11L/min model. The 3.8L/ min model is perfectly suited to pumping from drums, buckets, jerry cans or on board water tanks, but the 11L/min model has the grunt you need if you intend on pumping from rivers or creeks or for accessing underground water or connecting the Cape Yorker to a garden hose and sprayer. With awesome flow and pressure, the Glind Cape Yorker is one of the most reliable, toughest camping, boating or 4WDing accessories you can buy.

Price: $250 www.glind.com.au

Jungle Reef Swags

When Jungle Reef Swags were first introduced to the American market last year, it really reinforced how Americans appreciate the sheer toughness and manufacturing quality that Aussies design into their outdoor products.

One of the unique features on the Jungle Reef Swags came from one of their staff of 30 years. After a lifetime of camping experience in remote regions here and abroad, he found that one of the big problems they had was that in wet humid conditions it was impossible to get a good flow of air for sleeping. So one of the first things added to the design was a foot window complete with insect mesh and handy roll up canvas cover. This enables users to adjust the air flow through the swag from zero to fully open without getting water in and ensuring a great night sleep. Jungle Reef Swags use 15oz rip stop canvas and big tooth heavy duty zips.

The Jungle Reef Swags are a 3 pole design with a thick PVC floor, which comes partially up the sides so you can even wake up in a puddle without getting wet! They have a thick mattress and a compartment in the floor to hold the poles.

Price: Single $169, XL Swag $189, Double Swag $209 www.techniice.com

Reversing your Caravan 4

Take the guesswork out of reversing your caravan or trailer with this wireless reversing camera and display. Installation is a cinch – simply mount the camera onto the rear number plate and wire to the reverse light.

Once you engage reverse gear the camera will wirelessly transmit the vision up to 50m to the 4.3” display that suction mounts to your windscreen and plugs into the cigarette lighter for power.

Main features include: 12 or 24V systems, 2.4GHz digital technology for clear transmission, screen resolution 640 x 480 pixels, camera dimensions 84(W) x 42(H) x 36(D)mm, monitor dimensions 140(W) x 87(H) x 21(D)mm.

Price: $199 www.roadtechmarine.com.au

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KT6 Torch

The newest member to KORR lighting’s range, the KT6 Torch features versatility, intense light output and reaches distances only dreamt about. In the past, the capabilities of torches have been based on their power source requirements, with this one only using alkaline batteries, and that one depending on the availability of 12v. This is what sets the KT6 ahead of the rest. The KT6 is powered by a high-quality Samsung Lithium battery, which can be charged from both 12v and USB, enabling you to use your vehicle, laptop, jumper pack and generator. And if in the case where you can’t access 12v or USB outputs, there is an included AAA battery adaptor. The KT6 is sure to light up the night, no matter where you are.

Incorporating new designs and technologies, the KT6 uses the latest T6 CREE Chip to generate a pencil beam reaching distances as far as 200m. This torch also offers the ability to transform the pencil beam to flood, so that you can have a wider view of camp. The KT6 is built of tough aircraft aluminium, making it one of the strongest torches on the market today. This lightweight torch also offers a waterproof rating of IP65, and a lifespan of over 50,000 hours.

When you consider all of the high performance components included in the KT6, as well as the many charging options available, you’re left with a versatile, strong next-generation torch. This is a must-have any fisher, camper or outdoorsman.

Price: $79.99 www.korrlighting.com.au

6.5” LED Driving Light 6

Spotties, or driving lights, are often a necessity for the serious 4WD owner, offroad enthusiast and long haul trucker, and LEDs are ideal for these applications.

LEDs are almost completely resistant to shock and vibration and use far less power for the amount of light they produce. They are very compact and turn on instantly with no ‘warm up’, and they last for over 50,000 hours.

These driving lights use 7x 10W Cree XM-L LEDs to produce over 6,000 lumens of brilliant white light, which is equivalent to about a 500W halogen lamp. Combination spot/ flood reflectors will light up the road out to a distance of 523m.

The durable light is made of diecast aluminium alloy, the lens cover made with near-unbreakable Lexan polycarbonate, and assembled with 316 grade stainless bolts.

They are completely waterproof and dustproof.

Suitable for both 12V or 24V systems.

Available from Road Tech Marine stores nationwide or from their website.

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59

Stellar yella fishing WANGARATTA

Robbie Alexander

Yellowbelly, also known as golden perch, and known in South Australia as callop are one of the most popular species of native fish in Victoria’s freshwaterways.

They are probably the second most popular species of native freshwater fish in Victoria behind the Murray cod, whose popularity overshadows all other species due to its iconic status and large size.

STOCKING In terms of fish stocking, yellowbelly blow all other species off the track. In Victoria in 2014, there were well over 2 million yellowbelly stocked into our rivers, lakes and smaller dams, as opposed to a little over 1 million Murray cod, and 600,00 introduced trout.

There are several key benefits to stocking yellowbelly en masse into Victorian waterways.

Durability The yellowbelly has a high tolerance for major fluctuations in water conditions. They can survive in water that is warmer than a lot of other fish can survive in, and they have the ability to survive in water that has much lower oxygen levels than most other species.

Sustainability Yellowbelly are much easier to breed in captivity than a lot of others, particularly vulnerable species such as Macquarie perch and trout cod, which can be quite difficult to reproduce in captivity for a variety of reasons. This makes it easy and more cost effective to produce stacks of yellowbelly

such as Lake Nillahcootie or Lake Eppalock is not going to do any damage to the fishery whatsoever as more yellowbelly will be stocked to replace them each year. That is just one of the reasons why we pay the $25 fishing licence fee.

I do not preach catch and release, however I do encourage it. I tend to put more emphasis on sustainability, and educating people on choosing where and when to keep a feed of fresh fish. Stocked yellowbelly impoundments are easily the best choice if you want a feed of freshwater fish.

Adaptation Due to the yellowbelly’s durability, they have a wonderful ability to adapt to most conditions. They have been stocked into mountainous lakes such as Lake Buffalo

may not always bite when conditions are too hot or too cold, but they will sit low and sulk for lengthy periods of time until conditions are favourable and then come out and feed.

Sport fishing From a sport fishing perspective, yellowbelly are a favourite for many anglers due to their aggressive nature and their fighting ability, particularly in the spring months. Pound for pound, yellowbelly blow Murray cod away with the way they pull drag and the resistance they put up when being reeled back into the boat.

Back in November last year, I caught my biggest ever yellowbelly at 60cm in length, and it was one of the most

A small Broken River yellowbelly caught on a bunch of worms in high water after a recent rainfall.

YELLOWBELLY FISHING TIPS 1 Y ellowbelly are attracted to moving water in the spring. If you are fishing a stocked waterway in spring when the water temperature is rising, look for places where rivers, creeks or channels are feeding into the waterway.

2 Yellowbelly love moving baits. If you are bait fishing, rather than casting your line out and leaving it there, try bouncing it up and down along the bottom, or if you are in a boat try bobbing it up and down on the bottom. Yellowbelly are much more likely to hit a moving bait than they are a stationary bait.

3 Small yabbies, freshwater shrimp and worms are the best baits of the lot for yellowbelly.

4 If lure fishing, try medium-sized hardbodied lures such as no. 2 StumpJumpers, or medium-sized spinnerbaits like the Yellaman series by Bassman, or 60mm and 70mm lipless crankbait lures like the Jackall TN70, which have loud rattles.

5 Don’t be deterred by dirty water. Yellowbelly occur naturally in the lowland reaches of rivers such as the Darling River in NSW where the water is always dirty. They have a very strong lateral line, which enables them to feel movement and feed well in even the dirtiest of water.

6 October and November are the best months of the year to fish for yellowbelly, particularly large yellowbelly, which school up to spawn in larger lakes. Even though they don’t actually spawn they still have the natural instinct to become aggressive and pair up.

7 March and April are also great times of the year to catch yellowbelly as the water begins to cool and they become increasingly active before slowing right down in May when the water starts getting too cold.

8 Although not actually a fishing tip, it is advisable to release all yellowbelly greater than 50cm as these fish are very fatty and very poor eating. Up to 50cm they are a magnificent fish, but anything over that can be quite sickening.

9 As with most native species, the twilight hours are the best times of the day to catch yellowbelly. They will bite 24 hours a day, however there is a significant increase in their movement and feeding at the low light periods, and quite possibly through the night.

10 Rocky outcrops make the best yellowbelly fishing spots in lakes, particularly in spring when the water is still quite cold. The rocky outcrops can soak in the sun and warm up, which can lead to an increase in all kinds of life in the eco system both under water and above water. In spring, look for these steep rocky sun baked outcrops and concentrate your efforts on them later in the afternoon.

Top: The author with his largest ever yellowbelly, trolled in Lake Hume last spring on a small deep diving hardbody lure. This fish was released.

Yellowbelly this size (60cm and approx. 12lb) are truly disgusting on the table. They have more fat than edible flesh and are sickening to eat. Middle: Sandy Hector with a lovely yellowbelly caught at sunset on a TT switchblade. Yellowbelly find metal lures irresistible at times.

Above Left: Brenton Richardson with a nice redfin caught in Lake Hume last spring. Redfin are a common by-catch when targeting yellowbelly as they have very similar diets and food preferences. Above Right: Brett Corker with a magnificent King River yellowbelly caught on a Bassman spinnerbait. Yellowbelly are rare in the King River and this fish gave us a real surprise. on demand. Also, it makes yellowbelly a much wiser choice to stock in areas where people like to keep a feed of fish. Taking a yellowbelly out of a heavily stocked waterway 60

MARCH 2015

in North East Victoria, right down to small dams and lakes with no inflow whatsoever in the western part of the state where water is too warm for most other species. They

memorable battles I have ever had with a fish. I was using 50lb braid (my main cod rig) and this yellowbelly was pulling drag like no Murray cod I have ever caught.

Socioeconomic value Yellowbelly, although not being held in the same high regard as Murray cod tend to pull a big crowd. A good yellowbelly bite in Lake Eildon

can draw a bigger crowd than a Carlton vs. Collingwood grand final! But seriously, when the yellowbelly are really biting well it is nothing to see large numbers of cars towing boat

trailers lined up at boat ramps in the popular yellowbelly fishing lakes such as Lake Eildon and Lake Hume.

Then there are the family friendly type waterways, the little inner suburban lakes and watercourses, which get stocked with yellowbelly so that all people have easy access to fishing. Little lakes like Lake King in Rutherglen, Lake Anderson in Chiltern, Lake Sambell in Beechworth and even Albert Park Lake in Melbourne are all stocked with yellowbelly, and are all very popular fishing spots.

There are literally dozens of these small waterways across the state that are stocked each year ranging from town water supplies, old dredge and mining holes, small weirs in seasonal creeks and any other puddle big enough to hold water all year round.

There are some reasons why yellowbelly are such a great recreational sportfish.

Probably the biggest negative to yellowbelly is that they

are not self-sustaining in Victoria. They do breed on the odd occasion, but it is not very often.

A full list of Victorian fish stocking can be found at http:// www.depi.vic.gov.au.

SPAWNING Yellowbelly are an opportunistic spawner, which means that they only spawn when conditions are favourable.

Seasonal spawning fish such as Murray cod and trout will spawn each year regardless of the water conditions. Their spawning is usually triggered by daylight hours and water temperature.

For example, trout spawn each autumn. When the days are the right length and the water has cooled to the right temperature the trout will make their way upstream and spawn. The water conditions dictate the survival of the fry once the fish have spawned.

For example, a little bit of rain during autumn can be a great thing. If we get enough rain and some of the seasonal little tributaries begin to flow, the trout can swim up them to spawn. They can also swim more freely up and down the river looking for great spawning areas known as a redds. More water leads to greater distance between the fish and a higher survival rate of trout fry.

In dry autumns, the trout

SHAD TEEZ

may not be able to swim as far upstream and may not have access to small waterways away from the main river, so all of the trout eggs will hatch and the fry will be concentrated to a small area with a lot of hungry trout that have just finished spawning, this leads to a lot of trout fry being eaten, if they’re not already eaten before they hatch. So a dry

they will spawn regardless of water conditions. If we have had a wet winter and spring and the rivers are high and dirty, the Murray cod fry will feed on tiny microscopic plankton in the water, which usually leads to a higher survival rate. In times of a dry winter or spring, conditions may not be favourable with low clear water, but the cod

spawner and will swim upstream to spawn when conditions are favourable, and in Victoria that is not very often. Thankfully fisheries put 2 million of them into our waterways each year to keep them a sustainable fishing option.

In order to spawn, yellowbelly require a warm water flood. When I say

the yellowbelly need the water to be around 7-8°C warmer.

Cast your mind back to the massive December 2010 floods. Firstly, we had major floods in September, which is not unusual. The Ovens and King river where I live in Wangaratta both had major flooding, which would have assisted in the great Murray cod spawning that took

result the yellowbelly went off their heads and spawned like crazy. I read a document somewhere a few months later that stated the scientists had found evidence of yellowbelly spawning in the lower reaches of the Goulbourn River in areas that were hundreds of metres from the main river. Places like large logs on riverbanks and small trees. Conditions were

Left: Light spin gear is great for catching yellowbelly provided you are fishing in reasonably open water. This set up is rigged with 4lb Maxima Ultragreen fishing line. Ideal for open water, but a bit light in a snaggy creek or river.

Right: Bait fishing for yellowbelly in the Broken River in September. Bait fishing is the best way to target yellowbelly really early in spring when the weather is just starting to warm up and the fish are still quite inactive. autumn leads to poorer trout spawning, a wet autumn leads to better trout spawning.

With Murray cod, in the spring when the days are getting longer and approaching the right length, and the water warms to the right temperature,

will spawn anyway and the survival rate of the fry will be much lower.

Yellowbelly on the other hand, simply will not even attempt to spawn when conditions are not favourable.

They are an opportunistic

a warm water flood, I am not talking about a tropical deluge; I am just referring to a sustained period of high water that is around the 20-22°C mark. Yellowbelly require quite similar conditions to spawn as Murray cod, except

place that year. Then, just as everything was starting to settle down we had massive amounts of rainfall in early December, which led to a December flood.

Being December the water was much warmer, and as a

favourable, so they spawned.

I hope you got some good insight into the yellowbelly or golden perch from this article. They are a hugely interesting fish and a great resource for all pro and novice anglers alike.

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MARCH 2015

61

Toolondo set to bounce back HORSHAM

Trevor Holmes

As previously reported the iconic Lake Toolondo was on the ropes and staring down the barrel of disaster with receding water levels set to threaten a potentially world class trout fishery.

After a massive campaign of lobbying and public outcry the newly elected Labor Government lead by Premier Daniel Andrews not only pledged support for the lake by forming a consultation committee involving fisheries, water and agriculture ministers, but also brokered a deal to see a life saving 5000mL of water released into the lake.

lure action and fish catching capabilities.

Hardbody lures will also catch a fish or two with Ecogears, Daiwa Double Clutches, and Rapalas doing the job. Some fish have exceeded the 3kg mark but the average is around 1.8-2.4kg.

Fellow VFM columnist Shane Stevens from Ballarat has been amongst the action with his family and friends landing plenty of brown and rainbow trout. Redfin are also a great by-catch with many anglers targeting this everreliable, great tasting, fish.

With a recently announced inflow of 4000mL in Lake Fyans from nearby Lake Bellfield we can look forward to a secure future for this impressive fishery.

Arrow J Huddles and J Shads, or the Squidgy range have worked well but my tip is to match-the-hatch to gudgeons and minnows when it comes to choosing the colour. Dizzy Scent in all four flavours will make your plastics more enticing, especially on fish that are wary or hesitant to eat a lure. Not only does it kill off the manufacture smell but it also helps mask the human scent on the lure that trout can often detect. Trolling is not possible currently due to weed growth but with the water level beginning to rise itwill soon return as a viable option.

ROCKLANDS Once again redfin are the mainstay of this reservoir and many anglers have enjoyed success, catching plenty of

TAYLORS AND GREEN LAKE Taylors has produced excellent fishing for bank anglers this season with a good number of silvers and small cod being landed. The yellowbelly have been light on in numbers but the next weeks should see things start to improve. Yabbies and worms fished near structure should produce, but be prepared to sift through a few carp to catch your yellowbelly. With the controlled inflow of water into the lake now finished, water clarity will begin to improve as we move into autumn. The effectiveness of trolling should follow a similar upswing in the coming months, and is a gun

Perth visitor Tom Adams was delighted with one of his brown trout landed at Toolondo. continue to see Lake Wartook produce the trophy fish that it is well known for.

While the calibre of its fish may not be on par with Wartook’s neighbouring lakes, the fish on offer are stocky, well proportioned

targeting the steeper banks, edges and snags where fish take refuge should produce when the barometer is right.

Be prepared to persist when targeting snags as natives will often hold motionless and tight to cover until you annoy

STOCKING STATISTICS AREA BROWN TROUT RAINBOW TROUT GOLDEN PERCH MURRAY COD SILVER PERCH Lake Fyans.................. 6000........................6000...........................-..............................-.......................... Lake Toolondo............20,000 ................... 10,000 . .......................-..............................-.......................... Rocklands....................2,500 ..................... 2,500 . ........................-..............................-.......................... Taylors Lake.....................-.............................. -......................... 30,000 ...................20,000 ............... 20,000 Green Lake......................-.............................. -......................... 10,000 ........................-.......................... Lake Wartook..............5,000 ..................... 5,000 . ........................-..............................-.......................... Wimmera River................-.............................. -......................... 60,000.........................-..................... 10,000

Sydney angler Michael Winternitz with another Toolondo beast.

Pre election the lake faced certain disaster and there was no solution in sight. On January 16 Premier Andrews announced the deal on radio 3AW’s fishing program, hosted by David Kramer, who had been a staunch supporter and campaigner to save Lake Toolondo. The following day Premier Daniel Andrews, Water Minister Lisa Neville, Fisheries Minister Jaala Pulford, and Labor’s Travis Dowling travelled to Lake Toolondo to open the gates and release water into the lake following a brief ceremony.

To the delight of locals and the fishing fraternity a lifeline has been given and our heartfelt thanks goes out to all involved for their wonderful support and actions.

LAKE FYANS After some very encouraging signs and some impressive catches I’m pleased to see signs of improvement and this beautiful lake returning to its former glory. Many reports and stories filter through and Fyans is now becoming the great trout fishery that it once was. Trolling Tassie Devils has been the best method, and colour has been critical, with gold and frog pattern colours the standout. Boat speed is critical when trolling, with a trolling speed too fast or too slow compromising 62

MARCH 2015

TOOLONDO While the inflows occur I’m expecting the abundance of nutrients and feed into the lake to make the angling a little quiet for a while, but the ever reliable mudeye fished under a bubble float will always produce a nice capture. As water floods new ground, trout should forage the shallows, in turn providing fly anglers with the opportunity to sight cast to some trophy sized fish. Early morning and late afternoon are the peak times to target these feeding trout in the shallows, and a

fish on StumpJumpers and other deep diving lures. Tree lines and steeper banks have been the go-to areas but be prepared to lose a lure or two as the price to pay for getting your lure in the required strike zone. Trout are always an option here and shallow running hardbodies and Tassie Devils work well early morning and late afternoon. Carp continue to entertain light tackle anglers, and pound for pound are a great fighter.

Some smaller bass have been landed in certain areas, but mainly by anglers specifically targeting them.

Bait anglers chasing a feed of redfin have done it a bit tough so far this year for some unknown reason, but locals in the know have had reasonable returns on yabbies, gudgeons, minnows, and

Water Minister Lisa Neville, Premier Daniel Andrews and Fisheries Minister Jaala Pulford make the announcement at Toolondo. stealth approach as always is required to minimise the spooking of fish.

Soft plastics such as Nories Spoon Tail Shads, Fish

worms. Sounding up a school is the best option and lightly berleying with attractor pellets should hold the school in your area.

Pete from Melbourne landed some Toolondo terrors recently. approach for anglers looking to catch a feed.

The water level at Green Lake is slowly dropping, and combined with the increase in algae is making for challenging fishing. Prior to this plenty of smaller redfin and some big carp were caught, regretfully though if we don’t see any significant inflow and rise in water level the best days of this lake may be behind it. Hopefully a lifeline is afforded and skiers and anglers can continue to enjoy the lake.

LAKE WARTOOK With the spotlight being in nearby Lake Fyans angling pressure has eased a little on Lake Wartook, there has been good results with some solid trout and outstanding redfin being caught. As with most Wimmera lakes, early morning and late afternoon are the prime times, but don’t rule out striking a patch of fish during the day too. High water levels and an effective stocking program will

fish that are a testament to the lake’s fast growth rates and plentiful food on offer.

Some wonderful redfin have been caught on trolled deep diving lures, and while no one location seems to standout, the presence of structure seems to be crucial for success. Trophy sized redfin will come out to play as we head into autumn.

WIMMERA RIVER Many anglers have enjoyed the resurgence of the Wimmera River and through great management and stocking by DEPI the river is beginning to return to its former glory. Yellowbelly have been plentiful in many sections of the river, particularly between Horsham and Jeparit, with yabbies and worms the standout choices for bait anglers. Spinnerbaits and hardbodies are dominating for lure anglers.

Noisy, rattle type lures work very well in discoloured water, and

them enough to provoke a strike. Carp continue to entertain the youngsters and the odd redfin has been landed too.

STOCKING SCHEDULES With significant improvements in water management and greater emphasis and development in fish stocking within the Wimmera area, the future for anglers is one buoyed by positivity. A generous and well structured stocking program directed at a multitude of waterways, both big and small, is an encouraging example of our fishing licence fees at work. With over 200,000 fish destined to be stocked in the area’s waterways the fishing future looks bright for anglers.

• Victorian Inland Charters are proud to announce we have just purchased 3 Polycraft 4.1m hire/drive boats that are now available at Fyans, Bellfield, Wartook, Toolondo and Rocklands. We also have a 4.5m Polycraft in survey for hire drive or charter work based at Halls Gap. These vessels being powered by 8hp Tohatsu motors require no boat licence to operate and are available in daylight hours only. Full equipped with safety gear they are ready for you to enjoy a day or weekend, be it fishing or sightseeing on these magnificent lakes. Enquiries to Trevor on 0438 132 130 or 03 5388 1338. Catch us on Facebook: Victorian Inland Charters or check our web site: www.victorianinland charters.com.au

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63

Cod fishing heats up ROBINVALE

Rod Mackenzie codmac@bigpond.net.au

An unexpected wet spell coupled with cooler conditions set the scene for some excellent cod fishing action in our local waters this past month.

Normally I would not hit the water during the heat of summer, but the cooler conditions tempted us to target some cod and we were not disappointed with the results.

Glen Casey, the owner/ operator of Bassman Spinnerbaits, made the trip down to Mildura to join us for a few days on the water, fishing several out-of-the-way locations. Unfortunately, after day 1 we were rained in and unable to get on the water, as the banks were far too boggy to launch the boat. While many bush destinations can produce extraordinary angling opportunities, they also lack the modern conveniences like concrete boat ramps and so on. We did manage a few good fish before the rain put a stop to the action, including a couple of rippers off the top.

With the river tracks back to normal, the fishing has continued to be very good in most areas. Swan Hill on the Murray has seen anglers getting amongst good numbers of cod on both lures and bait.

Upstream of Pental Island, cod to 73cm have been landed on bait, with bardi grubs and cheese the pick. Some good golden perch have also been caught in this area on baits of river shrimp and scrubworms.

Over to the Wakool River at Kyalite, anglers have been landing good numbers of cod on bait amongst the ski boats.

Some respectable perch to 55cm have also fallen to bait, with shrimp bobbed around the snags at first and last light doing the damage.

The Murray River at Robinvale has cod to 82cm on bait and lures, also amongst a flotilla of wake and ski boats.

Rod Mackenzie with a ripper cod landed on the cast using one of the new coloured StumpJumper lures.

Dean Norbiato with a nice cod that smashed a Needle Nose lure in the Guns and Roses pattern.

Better to fish the shallow rocky sections of the Murray until the ‘look at me’ brigade packs the rooster show away.

Below the lock at Euston has continued to fish well, with several good cod landed on lures. The pick of these was a 117cm model caught on the cast using a 2m Koolabung Codzilla. Macey Evans from Underbool also trolled a couple of good fish on these lures a little further downstream of Wemen. Bait anglers have fared well, with some good fish coming in on grubs, yabbies and cheese.

Several of the smaller rivers are also fishing well; these include both the Edwards and the Darling.

Good numbers of cod have been landed at both locations on bait and lures. The new Bassman 4x4 spinnerbaits have been the pick of lures, with grubs and cheese topping off the bait list.

It seems that cheese has once again found favour as a great cod bait and is readily being used by anglers. I remember the great Internet debate on the damage that cheese does to cod. The science behind this was backed up by several keyboard experts that claimed to have seen a cod once. Put simply, Murray cod have the ability to regurgitate anything they no longer require in their stomachs, including cheese.

This fish took a new plastic Koolabung Codwalker surface lure.

They regularly spit out freshwater mussel shells, golf balls and even tortoise shells that are too large to pop out the back end. I have seen cod regurgitate all manner of food items, both fresh and quite offensive to the nose. It’s not cheese that kills these fish; it’s

the tight fistedanglers that feel the need to retrieve their 5c hook from the fish’s gut with either a stick or some medieval hook remover. A simple snip of the line and, given time, most of these hooks will be passed by the fish.

It’s been a ripper season so

Majestic Murray in Mildura MILDURA

John Menhennett goobyfish@hotmail.com

March is a fantastic time to fish for the majestical Murray cod around Sunraysia. Air and water temperatures begin to drop making it more comfortable for both fish and angler. Anglers should change their techniques with the seasons and consider casting lures around timber structure in the hope of a Murray cod over the metre mark.

Even though there have been some very nice cod caught lately, some very nice yellowbelly have also been caught all around Mildura during the warmer conditions.

Red Cliffs has been producing big yellas on lures and Wentworth has been producing good yellas on bait for most anglers. The pick of the baits have been worms and shrimp.

There have been a few shrimp around in the river of late too.

Lures doing the damage have been smaller Koolabung hardbodies and vibration lures.

A fair few reports of yellowbelly have been caught on 120 and 150mm lures, also while trolling for cod.

Biggest of the yellas of late has been around the 55cm mark, which is a great river fish. Others have been coming in at the usual 40-48cm range, typical of summer yellowbelly.

A lot of yellowbelly have been full of eggs and catch and release should be practised where possible. The yellas have been hitting the large lures very hard, which is indicative of their aggressive behaviour at this time of year.

The recent humidity has fired up the yellowbelly out of the river system in some creeks and billabongs with very good reports being made by local anglers.

Quite a few smaller Murray cod have been caught on grubs and cheese up stream of Mildura and quite a few

FIND US ON FACEBOOK! Bassman Spinnerbaits Official

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www.bassmanspinnerbaits.com.au 64

MARCH 2015

far and looks like continuing so long as water levels remain fairly constant with good clarity. It’s also refreshing to see most anglers in tune with the new slot limits, with only a few poachers pleading the “I didn’t know!” line. All up, the fishing has been excellent.

A typical Murray River cod set for release. Fish like these are common in pool waters in autumn.

55-80cm have been caught on lures.

Autumn in some ways, is the start of the casting season as fish can start to move into the shallows.

Most cod anglers have been trolling since the opening, they should now cast their minds to throwing spinnerbaits and hardbodies hard up against the timber in the hope of a good hook up.

The pick of the lures for trolling, and casting, have been the 120mm Koolabung Codzilla and new range of StumpJumper lures.

Bassman spinnerbaits are always the go-to lure when it’s time to cast the snags as they have a great hook up rate and are very durable.

Running a combination of 50lb braid and 50-60lb leader seems to be optimum for targeting big fish at this time of year. Lighter gear will also see you land the big one, but with so much cover in the river, like snags and rock, to contend with, the chances of line breakage, probably with a nice fish on the end of it, are high.

Catfish are still being caught on bait around Robinvale and Euston.

Reports from local anglers indicate that this iconic species are still around in decent numbers.

The next month should see the continuation of what has been a great season thus far. The autumn season will be welcomed by all anglers and is the start of something exciting.

Attack lures for topwater trouble ECHUCA

Ian Page

With some great weather still upon us, now is the perfect time to try some surface lures either early morning or just on dusk as his is a really exciting method of enticing some large cod to attack lures.

There are many different surface lures on the market and the best thing is to buy some quality lures and try not to lose them. When fishing them, try a couple of different types and colours and be prepared to have multiple casts in a given area, as often the fish

will strike 3 or 4 casts in a row in a similar spot. They can be harder to hook up using this method of fishing.

If you don’t have a boat, this gives you the perfect chance to walk the banks casting. Just be ready, because when they hit it is like a shotgun going off – great fun!

March is always when we seem to get our bigger cod, so if you’re trolling, be prepared to use big lures as what they say is right, the bigger the lure – the bigger the fish! Troll an area a few times, changing lures on occasion and with time put in, the results will come.

If bait fishing is your preferred method, then I like

a running sinker rig with a 4/0-5/0 circle hook loaded with a bard grub, large yabby or scrubworm and this should entice some action.

There’s been some great reports from all parts of the Murray lately from Mathoura to Torumbarry where there’s been many cod and yellowbelly caught.

The Gunbower Creek, while not as prolific as last year, still produces some good angling days and Kow Swamp has its days and in favourable circumstances sees some excellent yellows.

The Goulburn has had some environmental flows of late, which seems to turn the

fish on and if you’re lucky enough to strike one of these, you will enjoy your angling.

The Campaspe is always one of my favourites with its deep holes, some fast running water, some wide areas and some narrow parts.

There is a variety of methods that can be used by all levels of anglers, so get out and enjoy it while the weather holds up and get yourself some action.

• For the latest fishing and boating information in the Echuca/Moama region, drop into Boats and More’s Echuca store at 76 Northern Hwy or give them a call on (03) 5482 1992.

Gordon Wellington has been getting in on the surface action and took this 64cm cod before releasing it to fight another day.

A pure codaholics’ paradise YARRAWONGA

Tony Bennett codclassic@bigpond.com

With the absence of the bang and roar of the doofdoof boats marking the end of school holidays, the sound of electric motors quietly whirring, lures being cast with expectation, and excited cheers of a fish landed are far more pleasant. Don’t get me wrong, we love the tourists in town, but like a scared turtle, fishos are just starting to poke their heads out again.

Without doubt, autumn is the prime time to be targeting the mighty Murray Cod, and Mulwala continues to prove it is the number one hunting ground.

With the cod moving back into the shallower water at this time of year, casting or trolling any style of lure, be it a hardbody, crankbait or spinnerbait, will put you in with a better than average chance of encountering some rod bending action.

The prime water depths to look for range from 2-5m.

With the bardi grub hatch looming and the promise of goat moths hitting the water kamikaze fashion, any night with minimal breeze is well worth a look for those keen to get in on some surface action.

Looking back, there were plenty of cod reports throughout January, but the most common theme was that they were undersize and coming from the river, especially early in the month. Visiting anglers Ryan Krivsky, Luke Kingsmore and Danny Materio had a great day out, with the highlight being Ryan’s 82cm that was caught whilst casting an Old Mate lure from the bank.

The biggest mistake I made for the month was to

Ryan Krivsky (at left) with his mates and an 82cm cod caught on an Old Mate lure. organise a trip for 15 mates to head over to Deniliquin for a weekend’s fishing. I’m guessing it was a phone call out of spite, but to hear that 2 over 1m and another dozen or so ranging from 70-90cm were caught between the same numbers of fishos left me wondering why we had left town? From this bunch, Peter Pejkovic was rewarded with the best, a mighty fine 113cm cod. The lure that did the damage was a dark coloured Jackall Doozer. The other ‘metrey’, measuring in at a healthy 106cm, was also caught on a Doozer.

As mentioned, there was plenty of action downstream amongst the plethora of smaller cod. Trout cod, carp, silver perch and the odd golden were reported.

The secret to the bigger fish was big baits, especially a double-up of good-sized yabbies rigged back-to-back.

Getting back to basics for a bit of fun saw me have 2 great trips with a couple of friends who had seen limited cod action. Darren Scott OAM was the first.

Finding time out of his busy schedule, Darren managed to rustle up 7 cod to make for an enjoyable few hours’ fishing. Nick Taylor was next to share a seat in the boat, and managed to break his cod virgin status on his first-ever outing, much to the dismay of his wife Sophie. Sophie loves her lure fishing, but is yet to trouble the scorers. Your turn will come soon, Soph’!

With the competition season upon us, there are a couple more coming up in the near future. The next is the His & Hers Partners Classic on Feb 28, and it’s a great day for understanding couples to share time together in a boat.

To round out the comp season, there’s the Cod Nationals

from April 19-24 — 5 days of serious tournament fishing for the dedicated green fish angler. It’s guaranteed that once you have fished a Cod Nationals, you will never miss it again.

If you are visiting town, I urge you to call into Lake Mulwala Fish, Camp & Ski (opposite the post office) in Mulwala and say G’day. We are your largest Murray cod-specific shop in Yarrawonga/Mulwala and specialise in all things ‘green’!

For any information on the upcoming events or fishing reports, give us a hoy on (0357) 443 133.

• If you are visiting town, I urge you to call into Lake Mulwala Fish, Camp & Ski (opposite the post office) in Mulwala and say G’day. We are your largest Murray cod-specific shop in Yarrawonga/Mulwala and specialise in all things ‘green’! For any information on the upcoming events or fishing reports, give us a hoy on (03) 5744 3133.

Ph: (02) 6258 7515 Mob: 0400 587 515

email: info@u-make-emsoftplastics.com.au www.u-make-emsoftplastics.com.au Expressions of interest via email

DAM LEVELS Lake/Dam % Full

Dam % Full

LAKE/DAM Dec Jan Feb Cairn Curran 83 50 48 Dartmouth 86 82 80 Eildon 79 75 69 Eppalock 58 55 52 Fyans 73 74 70 Greens 64 61 58 Hepburn 87 80 63 Hume 64 54 44 Lauriston 74 78 80 Malmsbury 34 35 34 Mulwala (Yarrawonga) 96 99 91

Newlyn 86 74 64 Nillahcootie 93 86 78 Rocklands 24 24 20 Taylors 19 20 26 Tullaroop 48 45 43 Upper Coliban 92 81 74 Waranga 41 24 20 Wartook 78 78 71 William Hovell 100 93 86 All levels correct at time of going to press.

Damlevels can change at any time, so please check with local authorities to ensure safe boating and fishing.

MARCH 2015

65

Summer hit hard to produce bumper reports now think big if I want a big fish. You only have to listen to Rod Mackenzie or anyone who has fished with him to realise that’s the way fishing is heading.

As well as goodsized fish being caught on lures, bait is still accounting for some thumper fish. Gary Blum landed a metre-plus Goulburn River cod on bait earlier in the season, which saw the fish just hooked in the lip.

More and more fishers are now fishing the waters out Bunbartha and having great results doing so. The banks are not the easiest to access and you need a good 4x4 to launch a boat of decent size but if you can, you will enjoy some lovely fishing conditions.

There is a lot of private property and farm gates leading into the bush out there, which may seem easy access to the river but I would suggest on getting permission before you start opening and closing the gates.

If you’re looking for better access, the

SHEPPARTON

Nick Brown teamriverrats@hotmail.com

We waited two months until summer really hit us, and when it did it hit us hard with temps getting close to 40ºC for weeks on end. The cooler start to summer made fishing easy in late Jan and early Feb, and with this saw bumper fishing reports from all locations in and around Shepparton.

Normally in the summer months the bigger fish are harder to find but there were confirmed reports of metre-plus fish being caught in both the Broken and Goulburn rivers.

The water clarity has been a grade and this has helped out the local lure fishers land big fish. Casting large hardbody lures seems to be working well on the larger fish on all different brands of lures.

I used to believe in smaller lures to catch all types of fish but after seeing the results I have shifted my thinking and

Kaleb Oxley with his 81cm winning cod caught in the Broken River. fishing around Pyke Road has been great. There is a nice gravel ramp out

A G E M ROD & REEL CLEARANCE

there that suits most sized boats. There are some nice deep holes and some hit the 20’ mark.

KIALLA LAKES The heat has shut down the yellowbelly but has brought out the non-native carp.

I have had a few footy training sessions out there and after training throwing bait out under the willows but I have only caught small carp.

thinking how so many redfin end up in these lake systems as off the top of my head I wouldn’t think it would have ever been stocked with a non-native fish.

But who cares how they got there because they have been great fun for all who target them on the troll or cast.

SHEPPARTON LAKE With the temps reaching 40ºC during

WARANGA BASIN It continually seems to be too windy to fish the basin lately. Normally it’s too windy in the spring but this summer was the worst I have ever experienced. If you were lucky enough to get out it was not really worth it with the redfin being spread right out and the larger schools hard to find.

I have not had any other reports of cod being caught in the basin since local Darren Martin’s 90cm+ fish captured months ago. The only area that has been fishing well at the basin is the inlet channels off the bank. Casting small blades or spinners seems to be working well. Bait fishers have had success using scrub worms but there has been a lot of big carp caught while bait fishing for redfin.

RIVER RATS FAMILY FISHING CLASSIC The 2015 River Rats Family Fishing Classic was run the first weekend of Feb and it was one of the best yet.

126 entrants signed up for the 2015 event with 40% of entrants travelling over 100km to fish our local waters.

The furthest travelling angler was Dizzy Scents own Dallas Smeeth who travelled over 900km to fish the event with his son Hayden.

The weekend saw plenty of families fishing together and that was one

WINNERS Species................................. Angler.................................................... Fish Open Cod:............................. Kaleb Oxley . ......................................... 81cm Open Yellowbelly:.................. Jacob Crow / Tait Collins ...................... 49cm Open Carp:............................ Hellen Wilson ........................................ 77cm

9.

95

JNR Cod:............................... Nate Auston .......................................... 63cm JNR Yellowbelly:.................... Declan McIntosh ................................... 43cm JNR Carp:.............................. Aiden McIntosh ..................................... 61cm

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MARCH 2015

I hope the small carp doesn’t mean a fresh batch of carp to ruin the Lakes. The fisheries have done an amazing job of trying to eradicate the carp in Kialla and I hope these 20-30cm fish are not a result of fresh breading.

CRAIGMUIR LAKES Craigmuir is now Mooroopna’s number one fishing spot with thumping redfin being the species flourishing in the warmer months. I consistently get reports for local David Savige reporting big redfin are being caught more regularly than his target species, yellowbelly.

It always gets me

the past month the lake’s trout population would have struggled. I know last year when it was really hot almost 50% of trout caught went belly up. In the end, a lot of locals stopped fishing the lake on the hot days as it was just doing too much damage.

Earlier months there were some good size yellowbelly being caught mostly trolling small lures on the weed edges but bait fishing was working well too. I keep saying it but floating your bait seems to work best and if you adjust your depth of boat so it’s just sitting above the weed, you see better results.

of the main aims of the event organisers.

The event hosted a mini outdoor and fishing expo that saw over 250 walk-through the doors.

The headline act was the Rod Mackenzie and Glen Casey Big Cod talk. All who attended the fishing competition left with a prize and a smile.

Event organisers are yet to weigh up whether the event will be held in Shepparton in 2016. It was reported local council was not supporting the only Shepparton-based fishing competition and the River Rats have been approached by other councils and sporting grounds to move the event.

Paint it black in March VICTORIAN ALPINE

Robbie Alexander

At last, summer has come to an end and my favourite time of the year has arrived… autumn!

March usually sees a couple of significant changes in environmental conditions, which can affect the fishing in numerous ways. Prolonged periods of stable warm weather can lead to some of the best Murray cod fishing conditions of the year during March, and a decent autumn break of rainfall and strong cool change can really kick the trout into gear.

The Kiewa River itself is a great mixed fishery with trout being the prominent species close to Mt Beauty and Murray cod being abundant further downstream from Dederang down to the Murray River near Doctors Point. So whatever twists and turns Mother Nature hands us during March, there is bound to be some half decent fishing somewhere along the Kiewa River.

If trout fishing anywhere in this region during March, try using something black.

If you are using a bladed spinner, try using a black Celta, or a black Super Vibrax. If you are using soft plastics, try using a black Strike Tiger nymph, or black Metalhead. Just something small and black!

If you are bait fishing, definitely use crickets. It’s all about crickets during

These crickets make up a huge part of the trouts’ diet at this great time of the year.

Fly fishers should try the black Matuka, as it is a proven trout taker during March when crickets are abundant.

Worms are unlikely to be good bait for trout anywhere in Northern Victoria during March unless we get an absolute deluge of rain.

Areas to head if you want to chase a trout in the streams or rivers are the Kiewa River upstream of Tawonga, Mitta Mitta River upstream of Eskdale and the Snowy Creek upstream

before writing this article I saw a photo of a magnificent brown trout caught in the Granite Flat area estimated to be around 5lb.

The upper reaches of the Mitta Mitta River will be worth fishing during March.

The area around the Blue Duck Inn is a beautiful part of the earth and there are stacks of great camping spots. Trout numbers are not huge in that area, but there are plenty enough to warrant a camping trip into the area targeting trout.

Towards the end of March, as the water surface temperature begins to cool down, the giant Lake

A decent sized brown trout caught earlier this season in the Kiewa River in Mt Beauty. in the afternoon. Before sunrise anywhere in the lake should fish well, and late in the afternoon you should concentrate your trolling efforts on the shady gullies along the western edge of the lake in the shadows of the steep hills around Mt Benambra.

Rocky Valley Dam near Falls Creek ski resort is at the very top of the Kiewa River catchment and is a great place to fish from a boat, kayak or the bank. The dam has been stocked with Chinook salmon and is a great trout fishing option during March. to the top and start feeding on the abundant insects that usually fall into the water late in the afternoon at this time of the year.

Flat line trolling small diving minnows and winged lures such as Tassie Devils should see a few trout landed in Lake Dartmouth in March, particularly in the early morning and later

In the Kiewa River you should pay attention to the fluctuating water levels.

Try and fish the Kiewa River after the water level has remained stable for several days.

If you are camping, or fishing early in the morning anywhere in this

A small stream rainbow trout caught last year in March in a tributary of the Snowy Creek, note the black spinner. Black is my ‘go-to’ lure colour in March every year when trout fishing.

As mentioned earlier, the Murray cod fishing can be fantastic during March.

It’s all about stability during the autumn months. The lower reaches of the Kiewa River from Dederang downstream as well as the Mitta Mitta River from Eskdale downstream will be well worth your while fishing for Murray cod.

part of the state during March, just be prepared for some cold starts as March is often the time of year that sees the first frosts in some of these valleys.

April is when the frosts usually start, however in these sub alpine areas frost in late March is not uncommon, so make sure you are prepared.

A nice brown trout caught in the Nariel Creek on a 40mm Metalhead soft plastic. Like most streams the Nariel is struggling for numbers at the moment. The best trout fishing is high up in the headwaters.

March in North East Victoria. Warm March evenings can see swarms of crickets hanging around streetlights. Although they congregate around bright lights, they are also spread quite densely across the grasslands and paddocks.

of Granite Flat will be worth a look.

The latter section has been pretty slow for a while now, however there are still some trout there and with a reduction in numbers comes an increase in size. Just a few days

Dartmouth should start to fish well with anglers trolling shallow running lures closer to the water surface area.

The water at the surface will still be a bit too warm, but towards the end of the month it should have cooled enough for the trout to rise

A small brown trout caught last autumn. There are two standard ‘autumn things’ in this photo: a black lure, and a skinny, underweight trout. Trout tend to be a bit lean in autumn, particularly early autumn in small waterways where they may not have eaten a lot for a while due to warmer than preferred water temperatures.

MARCH 2015

67

Ovens heat up for trout WANGARATTA

Robbie Alexander

That’s another summer done and dusted, and what a poor excuse of a summer it was!

We experienced some awesome Murray cod fishing around Wangaratta during December, but then once the new year arrived so too did a series of rain events and cool southerly wind changes, which led to a major slowing down of the Murray cod fishing. On the flip side, the trout fishing picked up and we had some pretty good trout fishing during January, something that is not overly common in this area. It’s amazing how much Victorian freshwater fishing can be affected by the weather!

By March we should start to see some lengthy periods of stable weather, broken up by a couple of cold fronts. It is during these lengthy periods of stable weather that we are the most likely to experience good Murray cod fishing in the Ovens and King rivers.

The cod fishing can become quite fickle during March. Each year we see a similar ‘all or nothing’ trend with the cod fishing. In other words, you may catch a whole heap and you may catch none! Hardbodied lures and spinnerbaits can both be productive lures in March, and I have a personal preference for brighter colours. I am not sure why this is, but as the water begins to cool down a bit the cod seem to respond well to bright lures.

Both the Ovens and King rivers are likely to be very low during March. This is the time of year where they are usually at their lowest, and

a lot of logs and stumps lying just under the waters surface.

It’s advisable to motor slowly anywhere along this stretch of the Ovens River, even if it appears to be wide open and clear.

In these lower reaches, try trolling ultra deep diving lures.

You could never buy a lure that is too large for Murray cod, so the largest, deepest diving lure you have will be your best shot. Lures like the large 150mm JD Python, the ultra deep diving stump jumper and large AC Invaders are all good.

Around Wangaratta, which is where I do most of my fishing, number 1 StumpJumpers are ideal as they cast great, dive very steeply and are proven Murray cod lures. Upstream of Wangaratta in the clearer water, I still love the large StumpJumpers, but prefer a more natural colour in

have caught a few on surface lures, but not nearly as many as I have in recent years.

Hopefully things turn around in March. Surface lure fishing for Murray cod seems to be quite a seasonal thing. There is a clear link to using them in areas where Cicadas abound, and one of the best seasons I ever had surface fishing in Lake Mulwala was a few years back when there was a mouse plague. Hopefully this March we see some great surface fishing for Murray cod. Some things are hard to predict, so it is much easier to close our eyes and prey!

On the trout front, things may be looking up. We had the amazing 2011-2012 trout season after the flooding rains, then we had a completely dead 2012-2013 season followed by an improvement in 20132014. This season has not

Brett Corker fishing a wide section of the King River for a hungry Murray cod. creek was that overgrown with blackberries that I finished up looking like a giant pincushion by the end of the day! On a side note, it is always a welcome sight to catch a small freshwater blackfish.

the moment and may be more inclined to practice catch and release.

I am not one to push catch and release on anybody, but with very limited numbers of trout being stocked into

A typically small Murray cod caught in the King River near Wangaratta on a Bassman Yellaman series spinnerbait.

So the trout are out there in patches. I am not going to name exactly which sections of which creeks have the best populations of trout, as I believe that if anglers have to work harder to find their trout, they will appreciate how vulnerable they are at

The upper Ovens River around Harrietville is slowly bouncing back after a series of natural disasters decimated the trout stocks in there a few years ago.

Trout stocking in the second half of last year has really helped kick start this wonderful fishery. Hopefully some of those large brown trout will spawn this autumn.

January saw an improvement in the trout fishing in the upper reaches of the Ovens and King catchments. This nice small stream rainbow trout fell to a 1” Strike Tiger nymph. kayak fishing can become quite difficult, particularly in the King River, which is much smaller and narrower.

Boat fisherman will be best off heading right down into the lower reaches of the Ovens River around the North Boorhaman reserve area. This area is backed up by Lake Mulwala and is quite easy to navigate by boat. Care needs to be taken when boating in this area though, as there are 68

MARCH 2015

very few creeks and rivers right now, if we wish to have a trout fishery in the future now is the time we really need to consider looking after our streams by releasing our trout. If you

really clear water when fishing with hardbodied lures.

Spinnerbaits will work well in autumn. Last year around Wangaratta I had a lot of success on the Bassman DT spinnerbait in bright orange colour.

Surface lures can still be very effective anywhere along the Ovens and King rivers during March. This season has not been the best season for surface luring Murray cod. I

seen the trout fishing take a step backwards. If anything, it has improved slightly on last season, but only very slightly!

In Early February, I fished two creeks, one in the King River catchment and one in the Ovens River catchment.

One fished very poorly with just one trout sighted, and two small blackfish landed, and the other creek fished well with quite a lot of trout hitting my lure. The problem was the

Alexander Hector pinned this absolute ripper of a Murray cod 5 minutes from Wangaratta on a JD Superbug recently. The fish measured 81cm and was Alexander’s first ‘oversized’ Murray cod since the new slot limit of 55-75cm was introduced at the start of this season. This fish was released straight after this photo was taken.

want a feed of trout, head to the lakes where they are stocked each year. Lake Eildon and Lake Hume are great places to grab a feed of trout. The Eildon pondage is an absolute ripper, which gets stocked with very large trout on a regular basis.

These are all great places to keep a feed of trout and can sustain quite a lot of trout harvest because they are stocked.

Despite what some people may tell you, most of the creeks and rivers are not stocked and we are relying solely on the trout to spawn to re-stock themselves as our fishing license revenue no longer goes towards ensuring healthy populations of trout for us avid stream fishers.

We’re gonna need a bigger net!

BONNIE DOON

Andy McCarthy

Every now and then while on a fishing trip something very special happens and recently that’s exactly what happened when I was fishing with my mate, Webby.

We decided to go to the banks around the Brankeet Arm in Bonnie Doon to chase some yellas. We initially hit a couple of trees that I had recently pulled a couple of nice ones off and as we arrived we noticed a tinnie trolling along as we started casting. Webby said that guy was on, so I turned and noticed his rod buckled over. He picked up his net then all of a sudden put it back down, I said to Webby that he must have dropped it.

We smashed the hell out of 3 sets of trees for the next half an hour with no joy whatsoever, so it was time to move! As we were heading towards the tinnie, the bloke says he’s got a fish on again and he waved us down. We went over and

the guy asked if we could help him out because the fish he’d hooked wouldn’t fit in his net!

It was then that the fish breached and splashed

right in front of us and I realised that this was a fish of a lifetime – I guessed this Murray cod was well over the metre mark! I jumped off my boat into his and we

At 110cm and approximately 75lb, this fish was a catch of a lifetime.

managed to secure the fish with lip grips and we slowly got towed into shore.

It was at that stage we shook hands and introduced ourselves, and as he told me his name was Chris Knox, he was shaking like a paint mixer! It was great to watch him going through the emotions of such a great catch and it was then that he told us he had been on since we pulled up at the first tree!

Chris said he was only running a 10lb leader and that’s why it took so long to land the fish. That’s some serious angling right there, because the massive cod was about 110cm and 75lb, the sort of fish dreams are made of and it was our pleasure to help Chris out.

Onto reports, the yellowbelly have been a little quiet of late, so let’s hope we get a surge in March, which isn’t uncommon up here, especially since we had such a mild summer throughout January and February.

The reddies are still just teasing us with a few good catches of 20-30 fish being taken, but not the big lots

Everyone involved was truly stoked with this capture, which took over half an hour to land on a 10lb leader! we have been expecting.

It’s only a matter of time I’m sure, be patient and it will happen!

A few cracking browns

have also been caught up near the mouth of the Delatite around the 4-6lb mark, and you gotta be happy with that this time of year!

Schools in at Eildon with trout seminars aplenty EILDON

Andy McCarthy

Over the summer holiday period there were many fishing seminars held for lovers of trout fishing.

Designed for anglers of all ages they provided an excellent opportunity for anglers to develop their skills and share their love of angling with others.

Craig Foulis, Jarrod Biles, Lyndon Webb, and Brenda Galey gave up their own time to share their knowledge and love of trout fishing with anyone who wanted to attend.

Prizes, giveaways, smoked trout tastings and angling packs courtesy of Leigh and the crew at Eildon Trout Farm combined to make it a truly rewarding event for all involved. It’s fantastic to see these likeminded angling stewards looking after future anglers and educating them about our wonderful area and the lakes and rivers that abound in the Murrindindi region. There are future seminars planned, and I will keep you informed of their dates as they come to hand.

MONSTER HIGH Craig Foulis recently landed a monster rainbow trout in the pondage that tipped the scales at just under 10lb. Craig’s big

rainbow is definitely a fish of a lifetime and an insight into the quality of fish on offer in this unique fishery.

Even though the water level at the pondage has been up and down like a jack hammer it has been fishing very well with good

numbers of browns and rainbows between 2 and 4lb being caught. Craig’s monster rainbow fell to a pink coloured Tassie Devil, a perennial favourite in the area, while for bait anglers locally made dough has been the standout bait of choice.

Lake Eildon has been somewhat of a mystery of late, March however should see things start to improve with another run of yellowbelly on the cards for the next few months. The yellowbelly caught recently have been on the small side,

and has been largely due to the less than ideal weather in the area. A run of the good weather should hopefully should see the bigger fish come out to play.

The cod fishing in contrast has been good with quality fish being caught.

I’ve heard of three fish over a metre being caught, while plenty of 45-75cm models have been caught in all the usual spots on the lake. It’s rewarding to see the hardwork of Fisheries

and fish stocking coming to fruition and so many people embracing and understanding the slot limits for the longevity and sustainability of the iconic Murray cod species. Redfin once again are proving very sporadic, with reports of good catches very thin on the ground. For those keen to target them Taylor Bay still remains the best producer of fish, with worms the number one choice for catching a few.

Relax and enjoy delicious food and warm hospitality.

Open for breakfast from 6.30am everyday Coffee Light meals Pastries Cakes Bread Anglers young and old shared in the knowledge and prizes on offer at the Lake Eildon Trout Farm angler seminars.

10 Main St, Eildon Victoria 3713 03 5774 2362 0438 881 629 MARCH 2015

69

Bass going strong for autumn CTL GIPPSLAND

Will Thompson allwaysangling@bigpond.com

With summer being almost non-existent, we have had mild fishing conditions for the most part. The trout have been a little slow but the bass reports have kept coming on strong.

Before I talk about the bass, an update on the Strzelecki streams is needed.

For bass starters, Traralgon creek is still disappointing but there is a glimmer of hope as there seems to be good numbers of small baby trout in the headwaters of the western branch and high up in the

eastern branch. This is a great sign for the years to come and maybe the creek might get a little better in the next few years.

I think it would still be good to give it a prop up with a small number a bigger browns.

The other creeks around are faring better and rivers such as the Morwell River are producing moderate numbers of brown trout to 30cm in the upper reaches.

For the fly fishers, small dry flies are working well, however the humble Celta is doing pretty good too.

On the bass front, everyone now probably knows the fisheries have done some pretty hardcore bass stocking

in Gippsland and we are now hearing captures in locations that we previously weren’t.

The upper reaches of most of our stocked streams are starting to see the first glimpses of bass. This has opened up a lot of new locations to target bass, including sections of rivers that are rocky and fast flowing.

The surface lure guys are still having a ball using Siglets and other cicada style poppers.

Small walk-the-dog style stickbaits are also working well on the evenings when the weather is better. If we do get a stinking hot night, head out with the surface lures, you won’t be disappointed.

During other periods of

the day, use small hardbodies between 3-5cm and fish the deeper sections of our rivers. Places like the lower Macalister where it is snaggy and more discoloured are producing good amounts of bass using dark coloured vibes and the vibes can be particularly good on the colder days when the bass are sulking and are down deep.

Blue Rock has produced bass in the high 30cm range all summer and smaller spinnerbaits are great to cast into the snags and don’t forget about jig spinners as you can customise these and make your own spinnerbaits by attaching soft plastic lures to them.

• For more information,

Hayden Grieves caught this beautiful bass in pristine fast flowing water in Gippsland and it nearly nudged 30cm. If this is a 5 year old, they are growing fast! contact Will at Allways Angling in Traralgon on 5174 8544. You will get expert advice and great deals on fishing bait and

tackle. Tune into Rex Hunt and Lee Rayner’s Off the Hook on 1242 to hear Will’s report on what’s going on in Gippsland!

Yarra steady as ever YARRA VALLEY

Ian Loft ringwood@compleatangler.com.au

The Yarra is in quite good condition at the moment, and while the water level may be a little low, optimum water temperature has kept the fish active and biting.

With prolonged stable water levels fish will spread far and wide in the river and it’s not uncommon to hear of native fish being caught as far as Warbuton.

A local Warbuton angler was lucky enough to have caught a small Murray cod whilst fishing with worms from the bank just behind the town. As well as the odd native fish the township

also boasts some great trout fishing. From a great hatch of caddis under the suspension bridge to casting bladed spinners behind the football oval, ‘Warby’, has a lot to offer.

Drifting worms at this time of the year is very attractive for all species from trout to cod, to blackfish!

You’ll even see redfin and golden perch turn up to eat a well presented bunch of worms. The rig used to fish is so simple it’s almost idiot proof. You get your mainline, tie on a size 6 or 4 hook, then crimp a small split shot 10cm above the hook and you’re done. Be prepared to lose a few of these rigs as you’ll need to cast them into and around some pretty gnarly snags, but hey, a few hooks

and sinkers in exchange for some fish is a good deal if you ask me.

As for the middle reaches of the Yarra, Warrandyne has been playing the game, with reports of keener anglers fishing from kayaks and casting lures to structure to catch good cod and goldens.

Fishing from here down to Templestowe should see you cross paths with some cod if you play your cards right, with spinnerbaits and diving hardbodies in dark colours such as brown, black, and purple proving the most productive.

If all that seems like too much hard work and you just want to sit back and take it easy on the kayak, try drowning a worm or two. While you’ll catch the occasional cod

Warburton has some surprising little gems to uncover, like this feisty little trout. soaking a worm, carp will definitely come to the fore as they’re in full swing this time of the year and will eat almost anything you throw at them.

A bunch of worms, maggots,

corn or even good old dough will catch you plenty of these pests, and provide you with plenty of fertiliser for the veggie patch.

• For all the latest information

on how to go about fishing the Yarra River and surrounding areas, drop into Compleat Angler Ringwood or give them a call on (03) 9870 77922.

Lure them up in warmer months MELBOURNE METRO

Ian Debar iand@gottabite.com.au

Warm weather this month means good fishing in all of the local freshwater locations with pretty much all species available.

Local stocked lakes such as Rowville and Karkarook have been producing both redfin and trout for patient

anglers using baits such as maggot, and dough/Powerbait mixes. Most of the trout have been around 200g in weight and the redfin around the same. One of the key factors to increasing your chances here is to make sure you create a good berley trail and don’t just throw all your berley in at once, make sure you always have a small amount in the water to keep the fish interested. Adding

“For all your fly fishing needs” ORDER ONLINE www.adrenalinflies.com.au 70

MARCH 2015

small feeder cages to your rigs works wonders for attracting fish directly to your bait.

The ‘main lake’ in the Rowville Lakes system has been producing redfin for anglers spinning small Blue Fox jigspinners around the reeds and lake edges, while coarse anglers using a maggot/ feeder cage combo have been catching both roach and carp.

Down on the Peninsula, Devilbend Reservoir has been a little quiet lately, and while this doesn’t mean that there are no fish to be caught, reports of captures have been few and far between. If you’re thinking of heading down to the area, make sure you stock up with a few different baits and lures to increase your chances, as the rewards there can be brown trout larger than 3kg, so it pays to be prepared.

YARRA STEADY AGAIN Meanwhile Melbourne’s Yarra River has still been producing most of its usual

species this month from the odd large cod down around Eltham, to some nice brown trout in the cooler waters up above Warburton. While the cod fishing is rarely red hot, when you do come across them it can make it all worthwhile. Large scrubworms and yabbies fished around slower sections with log jams and rock bars will normally get the attention of the cod, just make sure you remove the claws of the larger yabbies as they will dig their way under logs and into crevices and snag you up.

If trout fishing is more your thing, the stretch from Woori Yallock upstream has been producing the goods. You will notice a lot of lure and fly anglers the further upstream you go, and with good reason, as some of the fishing around Warburton can be excellent, and it is only an hour from the hustle and bustle of suburbia.

Small hardbody lures in the

A surface sipping Yarra brown (Photo courtesy of Morgan Taggert).

40-60mm size range are excellent trout catchers here, with lures such as Rapala’s CD5 a definite winner. Fly anglers will rejoice in the fact that this time of year can be excellent for fishing dries for surface-sipping trout. Yarra local Morgan Taggert has been tying up some of his own dries and he has had trout climbing all over them during late afternoon rises.

If you have had some angling success in these areas lately send me a photo to go into the draw for a chance to win a Compleat Angler store

voucher valued at $100. Email it to admin@fishingcamping. com.au, and don’t forget to include your name, the name of the species, and the area you were fishing.

• For up to date fishing information contact the guys at Compleat Angler in Dandenong on (03) 9794 9397 or drop in and see us at 241 – 243 Princes Hwy, Dandenong.

We are open 7 days a week.

For all our latest fishing reports and to download information sheets go to www fishingcamping.com.au.

Comfortable weather for natives BENDIGO

Roger Miles codhuntertours@bigpond.com

The productivity in the fishing throughout the summer months has generally been good in the Bendigo region, but the change in seasons brings with it changing conditions.

As a general rule, autumn is a fantastic time of the year to spend some time fishing, the more mild temperatures make for an enjoyable day on the water. Weather patterns are improving with slow moving high-pressure systems becoming the regular pattern. These patterns bring with them days with reduced wind associated with ideal temperatures, making for some great fishing opportunities.

LAKE EPPALOCK The fishing in Lake Eppalock has continued to. The redfin fishing has improved over the last month, but is still significantly lower than the previous few seasons.

At the present time redfin are being caught by bait anglers and anglers fishing with lures. Bait fishing around the trees

with yabbies and worms has been producing reasonable numbers of redfin, but anglers need to be prepared to move around a lot in order to locate a good school of fish. Trolling deep diving hardbodied lures and casting soft plastics has also produced reasonable results on the redfin.

The productivity in the golden perch fishing has also been good, with good numbers of golden perch being caught by anglers both casting and trolling lures.

Casting lipless crankbaits around the trees and rocky shoreline has been productive. Trolling deep diving hard body lures around the rocky shorelines have also produced reasonable numbers. The average size golden perch being caught has been between 40-48cm, making them great fun on light tackle.

The numbers of Murray cod being caught has been low. With the water temperatures starting to cool we should see a small increase in the numbers of Murray cod being caught in the next couple of months.

CAMPASE RIVER The fishing in the Campaspe River has been

spasmodic over the last month. The general trend is seeing greater numbers of golden perch being caught in the deeper sections of the river at Elmore and Rochester.

The most productive lures on the golden perch have been spinnerbaits and lipless crankbaits.

The higher catch rates of Murray cod are currently being experienced by those anglers who are walking the banks and are fishing the shallower sections of the river casting spinnerbaits and hardbodied lures. There has also been some quality cod being caught by those anglers fishing with surface lures. There is currently a good amount of food present on the surface with cicadas being quite prolific, so the productivity in the surface fishing should remain good for the next couple of months.

CAIRN CURRAN The fishing has only been average over the last month, with water levels are continuing to decline.

Locating a decent school of redfin has been difficult for the majority of anglers and they need to be prepared to move around a lot in trying to find a concentration of redfin.

Bait fishing around the trees has been okay and trolling deep diving hardbodied lures has also produced some reasonable redfin captures on certain days. Unfortunately the majority of redfin being caught are currently small, we should hopefully see some increased captures of larger redfin in the next couple of months.

There continues to be some average numbers of golden perch being caught and trolling small and medium profile lures around the edges of the lake in 6-10m of water has been a productive technique.

Casting both the timber structure and the shoreline with lipless crankbaits has also produced some quality golden perch.

LODDON RIVER Water clarity remains good at most locations along the Loddon River system.

The productivity in the fishing has continued to be good as well, with the majority of fish being caught in the first two hours or the last two hours of light. The fishing has often been tough during the middle of the day.

Golden perch are making up the majority of captures

Hugh Lethlean caught this magnificent 97cm Murray cod while fishing the Loddon River on a Custom Crafted Jaws surface lure. in the deeper sections of the Loddon River and casting lipless crankbaits continues to be the most productive method for catching them, but casting spinnerbaits and hardbodies have also been good options.

The highest catch rates on the Murray cod continue to be by those anglers who are walking the banks and fishing the shallower sections of the river. Anglers should always do the right thing and gain permission before accessing the river

through private property.

There have been some very large Murray cod, which have been caught in the Loddon River recently by those anglers fishing with surface lures. The best report I received was from a local angler, Hugh Lethlean, from Bendigo. Hugh managed to catch a beautiful 97cm Murray cod on a Custom Crafted Jaws Surface lure. The productivity in the surface fishing should remain good for the next couple of months.

March on the Blue Rock bass bandwagon WST/STH GIPPSLAND

Steve Haughton steve@habitatcreations.com.au

March is set to be an exciting month for anglers chasing bass at Blue Rock Lake. The cool and windy start to summer didn’t deter anglers from getting amongst the bass action and with the weather likely to be a little more stable over the coming months, surface fishing for bass will be a lot of fun on mirror calm water.

Bass are quickly gaining the reputation as an exciting sport fish in the region with more and more anglers getting on the bass bandwagon.

Early mornings or late afternoons seem to be the most productive time for actively feeding bass in the dark waters of Blue Rock.

Daylight savings ends on April 5 so there’ll still be plenty of time after work to sneak out for some action.

Lure anglers have been having a lot of fun with surface lures cast right at the bank and retrieved back towards the boat or kayak. Surface lures are best fished in the calm waters of protected coves so that you can watch the lure as you retrieve it. The split second

Adam Neville with a beautiful bass caught and released up the Tanjil Arm on an Ecogear 60mm hardbody popper. Fishing the calm waters in the coves allows you to get the boat closer to the action. wake under the lure followed by a surface bust up then sudden chaos as the lure is smashed really gets the heart pounding. This style of fishing becomes very addictive.

Poppers have no doubt been the most attractive surface lure but other styles like bent un-bibbed minnows,

skippers or walkers and paddlers are worth playing with. Don’t be scared going big either with the poppers; 7cm poppers may look too big but that hasn’t deterred bass from engulfing them.

Other lures that have been working well include spinner blades, bibbed minnows and

soft plastics. The lures used for Australian bass fishing are very similar to the styles of lures created and adopted for bass fishing in America.

And with more and more lures being thought up, designed and tested every day to suit our conditions, there’s an abundance of lures on the market to play with, meaning we’ll never get bored of lure shopping!

Bait anglers are having a lot of fun too using worms, crickets and grasshoppers fished under a float against structure or close to the bank.

Bait tends to attract the smaller fish but don’t underestimate the fight of a small bass. And if it’s bragging rights to gloat how many bass you caught, size doesn’t matter.

It’s great to see most anglers respect the bass, choosing to catch and release.

Fish have been ranging from 20cm right up to 40cm+, clearly showing the differences in stocking years. Unlike the western lakes in Victoria, Blue Rock doesn’t have a natural minnow population nor does it have a lot of aquatic and semiaquatic vegetation, which has traditionally allowed stocked fish to grow rapidly. In Blue Rock, the evidence I have on their feeding habits have been from regurgitated stomach contents containing shrimp and small redfin. There’s no

doubt they’d also be feeding on small carp, trout and other aquatic invertebrate. Each bass photo I see and the evidence I have from catching them shows that they are really healthy fish and, with plenty of feed in the lake, they’ve been able to easily reach that trophy 40cm+ size. Let’s just hope they keep on stocking them so that this lake becomes the ultimate freshwater

sports fishing destination in Victoria.

A decent redfin or trout can still be a nice by-catch for anglers targeting bass.

If you’ve had any success with bass on fly, I’d be very interested to get your report and/or photo too.

Please send me any reports or photos from your stream fishing or Blue Rock Lake trip. Happy fishing!

TARGET

Australia’s largest freshwater fish “The Mighty Murray Cod”

Join Roger on a guided fishing tour and learn how to catch our premier freshwater fish.

FISHING LOCATIONS: • The Loddon River System • Lake Eildon • Campaspe River System • Murray River (Lake Mulwala) • Many More!

P:Roger: 0427 483 286

E:codhuntertours@bigpond.com

www.codhunter.com.au MARCH 2015

71

Black crickets are back BALLARAT

Shane Stevens

What is this you ask? A lot of anglers in and around the Ballarat district will know it’s time for the return of the black cricket an insect that comes out of the cracks in the ground during the middle of our summer and yes, you guessed it, they are

a good idea and make sure you’re checking your rigs as the crickets sometime crawl across the surface and come and sit on the bubble float.

It’s pretty unlikely the trout will eat a bubble float but a free-swimming black cricket is nearly irresistible to a hungry trout.

For the fly fishers, the set up for this is pretty easy. Use a long leader of between 8-10ft

and a Norrie’s Shad Tail has been the best soft plastic.

Mudeye fished from jetties, the shore or out of a boat has been very a very productive method of catching both trout and redfin. Early morning and evening have proved to be the best times and for the fly fishers. Night time is the right time to be using mudeye fly pattern.

Cricket patterns as

Trev Crawford with a hefty Lake Wendouree redfin caught fly fishing for trout.

Photo courtesy of Trev Crawford.

The good anglers have been finding the pockets of clear water in amongst the weed beds and catching some quality brown and rainbow trout. Tom Kulczynski a very good lure angler has been nailing some magnificent

rainbow trout casting Tassie Devil lures. Tom mentioned it’s just a matter of finding the clearer holes and fishing them, and it the fish are not in one area, then move to another clear patch.

I fished out at Hepburn

The author nailed this Lake Wendouree brown trout caught casting a Norrie’s soft plastics. on the trouts’ menu!

The lakes and streams around Central Victoria are renowned hot spots for the black cricket and us anglers need to adapt to the conditions and what the trout and redfin are feeding on in our Lakes and streams. We need to make the best of what is normally a pretty trying time fishing in the district. We’ll start to use them as baits or use imitations that represent the cricket. On evening and after dark are the best times to fish with natural or artificial baits.

The bait anglers need to use a bubble float or foam with a greased leader of approximately 3ft long to the hook with the natural bait. Fishing with the wind behind your back keep is

long and greased, and tie your Muddler Minnow pattern or Black Cricket imitation on and cast out onto the lake or stream.

A very slow ‘figure 8’ retrieve or slow strip will ensure you cover plenty of water in close to the shore and out deeper.

One little tip I always use when fishing Muddler patterns is to grease the head of the Muddler with Musilin.

LAKE WENDOUREE Lake Wendouree still seems to be the hot spot around the district with all angling methods producing the goods. I have had a couple of good sessions in the middle of the day.

On overcast days casting soft plastics out of a drifting boat the main rowing channel has produced the best results

mentioned above have been successful and Trev Crawford who seems to be a Wendouree specialist has been catching some quality trout fly fishing but also some cracking redfin on mud eye imitations just on dark. Trev thought he had hooked up to some cracking sized trout and they have turned out to be big redfin, which fight really well and eat even better, so it just goes to show as long as you have your bait, fly or lure in the water you just never know what you are going to catch.

HEPBURN LAGOON Hepburn Lagoon is still producing the goods, although it’s getting harder to fish and will even get tougher in the coming months as this water is used for irrigation for potatoes.

The author with another brown trout caught with the famous mudeye under a bubble float trick.

recently with no luck but I did speak to another angler using power bait and he had nailed a couple of nice rainbow trout.

The fly-fishing after dark using the same methods as mentioned earlier should produce some excellent results as Hepburn fishes really feed well on dark and into the night and I’m sure with the black crickets moving about they will be on the chew.

COGROVES RESERVOIR Cosgroves Reservoir close to Ballarat is a small shorebased fishery, which holds some quality trout and redfin and usually fishes very well at this time of the year. Casting soft plastics will provide the anglers with a lot of fun catching some small redfin with the odd bigger one mixed in. With the schools of fish it’s just a matter of getting the bigger ones to bite before the little ones. A good tip is to use a larger soft plastic or lure, and this should get you into some bigger reddies.

The bait anglers should use the humble old garden worm or a small yabby fished on a running sinker rig and the fly fishers should get into it early morning and on evening. The trout like to feed on midge and caddis moth, so imitations of these should catch you few fish.

Downpour has helped maintain water levels CRATER LAKES

Rod Shepherd

Most of January saw milder than normal weather, which has kept the trout active, and a major downpour in excess of 2” certainly helped maintain water levels in our shallower lakes. In saying that, Lake Elingamite near Cobden had barely 100mm depth at the boat ramp so most craft, except kayaks, are now 72

MARCH 2015

off limits until the winter rains arrive.

Lake Purrumbete has seen some lovely brown trout taken in recent times.

Fish from 1.4kg to well over 2kg have responded to either mudeye suspended under a float and fished near the weed beds or by flatline trolling Loftys Cobra style lures in the same areas. So too is the cast and retrieval of a wide variety of minnow lures such as Pontoon 21 Greedy Guts, Gagagoon and CrackJack medium

divers. Early mornings and late evenings have been the time to wet a line as during the day the fish go deeper and can only be reached using downriggers to a depth of 10m.

Lake Bullen Merri is still conducive for Chinook salmon with some approaching 3kg in weight responding to blue bait and pilchard either filleted or cut.

Bank anglers are still catching as many as boaters who are static fishing in depths approaching 10m in

depth. The use of berley certainly increases the catch rate, and canned cat food of the seafood variety is still the best and cheapest form to use. Forming this mixture into small balls and either throwing from the bank or dropping overboard at regular intervals certainly attracts the fish.

Wear gloves otherwise risk having ‘fishy’ hands for up to a week. Not a good smell for others to endure.

The larger pools that occur regularly along the Mount Emu Creek’s length

are holding some excellent brown trout to 700g plus some thumping redfin to 1.4kg. Although there is minimal flow, fishing the top and bottom areas has seen some feisty fish taken.

The trout are responding to Celta style spinners fished from top to mid water and shallow diving minnow lures fished close to either the bank or any structure or snag.

Summer is blackfish time and the Gellibrand River in and around Chapplevale has seen some

thumpers to 1.5kg being caught. Scrub worm and small yabbies have been the gun baits to use and fished unweighted on the bottom is the way to go.

Dusk is the prime time to catch a blacky or two, with midnight being the next best time these fish appear to switch into a feeding mode.

As most of this river exists in a bush setting please be aware of snakes.

The area is swamped with tiger, brown and To page 73

Water and fish abound, even rainbows shine JINDABYNE

Steve Williamson swtrout@airlan.com.au

Well what a summer it was! A lot wetter and cooler than we have seen for many years, and it’s not often we complain that we cannot fish the rivers because there is too much water!

On Jindabyne, the water level remained high. Snowy Hydro released water down the lower Snowy River, only to have more rain and storms push the level up once again.

We have as much water now as we did after the snow melt last spring.

The lake water temperatures remained lower than normal, making it perfect for trout fishing. Every time we had a few hot days, the surface water temperature would rise. Then the storms and wind would arrive and mix up the water layers, so the surface temperature would drop again.

Of course, from now on the nights are going to get cooler, so the water temperature is sure to drop and the trout will be seen feeding closer around the edges of the lake. This makes the shore-based anglers very happy.

Once again, it was good to see so many rainbow trout caught over the last season — really big ones as well. I would hope that the so-called experts that caused the Snowy Mountains so much trouble with their negativity and reports about ‘disappearing rainbows’ are now hanging their heads in shame after destroying their credibility by hastily putting crap on the fishery without taking time to

This freshly minted rainbow was caught on a Willy’s Special number 111 Tasmanian Devil. research the problem before opening their mouths or putting pen to paper.

Anyhow, the great news is that due to the cooler and wetter summer this year, the rainbows were more active and plenty were caught. All is looking good for autumn in the Snowy Mountains.

The rivers will be a little more fishable over the coming month, with lure anglers getting a chance to fish the alpine streams where the fishing has been good.

Plenty of small fish are being caught. Remember, there is no stocking of trout high up, so these fish are natural recruits in the system, which looks fantastic.

Some of the lures to try will be small 3-5cm Rapalas

in natural colours, as well as Celtas, other small spinners like Gillies Bendbacks and Feathertails, the Vibrax Blue Fox, Blue Fox Super Minnows, and you can even try some smaller soft plastics for the smaller runs.

On the lake, working the same sort of lures around the edges of the shallow bays in about 4m of water will be the best way to pick up a bigger fish, but it must be early morning or else wait until dark.

If it is windy, and windy days are quite often good days in summer, try some of the heavier Tasmanian Devils in green and gold, or even yellow.

Throw them out into the wind in deeper water and retrieve slowly. The best colours for the lake have been brown

go to 45’ by mid morning for the best fishing.

On cloudy or rainy days you can surface fish until about 9.00am before going deeper.

The Tasmanian Devil number 111 Willy’s Special, or Steve Williamson’s Lime Green Yellow Wing are the best deep lures at the moment, with Tasmanian Devil number 36 Yellow Wing doing okay on the surface and off lead core lines early.

Some of the better trolling areas this month will be deep water off Lion and Cub islands, or the deeper water at Hatchery and Hayshed Bay. Sid’s Bay through to Rushes Bay will fish well early in the day for big brown trout, but the first hour of light is the time to be there.

For lake fly anglers, at the moment the best fishing has been early morning, and there have been a few wind lanes about. If you see the ducks

still looking good and plenty of small fish are being caught on dry fly. Fly selection is not too critical, but placement certainly is, otherwise you just scare off all the fish. Try a small ’hopper pattern, Royal Wulff or a Royal Humpy. A caddis moth fly is not a bad option either.

Well worth a look is the lower Mowamba near the weir on the Dalgety Road.

Over this month, the best lake bait fishing will be early and late in the day. Mudeyes under a bubble float are the best bait, before changing to scrubworms off the bottom teamed up with some artificial bait as the sun gets higher.

Worms under a float is an alternative if you can’t get any mudeyes, which are becoming harder to collect due to the dry weather. Best bait fishing areas are Creel Bay, Hatchery Bay, and Curiosity Rocks in the deeper water.

MARCH ROUNDUP — THE BEST OF THE BEST! Best method:..................... Lake trolling leadlines early, then downriggers at 35’.

Best depth:........................ 6’ early, to 35’.

Best lake lure: Tasmanian Devil Yellow Wing, Freddo or Steve

Williamson’s Lime Green Yellow Wing.

Best lake area:.................. Deep water off Lion and Cub islands.

Best fly method:................ Dry fly, ’hopper patterns and Yellow Humpies.

Best river:.......................... Thredbo. and rainbow trout patterns, and gold.

Bays like Creel, Hatchery and the Snowy Arm all fish well. As the sun rises, change to a Tassie and cast further out over dropoffs, letting the lure sink before retrieving with a slow wind.

For boat fishos, the best way to start off a day’s trolling this month will be by trying surface lines with lures to about 2m at first light, maybe with a lead core line at 3 colours to take the lures to 4-5m down as a backup.

If you have been out a while and there are no bites, don’t persist; get out the downriggers and, starting at 35’ with a lure dropback of 4m, you should start to see some fish. As the day brightens further, then maybe

and seagulls on the water, this is a telltale sign that they are eating insects on the surface.

Some of the best lake fly fishing occurs during the coming months. As the water cools, and this year with so much weed around the edges of the lake, we should see some big fish caught. Try any of the streamer patterns, such as black Woolly Buggers and Williamson’s Gold Fish. Olive green nymphs and shrimp patterns are also worth a try.

The South Arm, Creel Bay, and especially Sid’s Bay are all great.

On the rivers, the best fly fishing is in the evenings, and there should still be plenty of evening rises and fantastic dry fly fishing for a few weeks yet.

The alpine streams are

LATEST NEWS If you want to know more about the latest fishing conditions, check out our reports on Facebook at https:// www.facebook.com/LJTFA, or visit my web site at www. swtroutfishing.com.au • If you would like some personal guiding, I will be available over the coming months for fly-fishing tuition and lake trolling trips. Lessons can be booked from 2 hours’ duration, and trolling trips from 3 hours to a full day.

If you want to know more about the latest in fishing conditions, just give me a call on (0264) 561 551 or check out my website at www.swtroutfishing.com.au.

You can also see our daily Facebook updates at https:// www.facebook.com/LJTFA.

A 50cm golden perch taken over summer from a southwestern lake on a Pontoon 21 Greedy Guts minnow lure.

From page 72

black snakes and on a warm night they regularly crawl after dark, so make plenty of noise as you move about.

One stout rod is all an angler needs and blackfish are fun to catch but certainly lack in taste so think about releasing after a photo or two. The Gellibrand River

is considered the last stronghold of this native fish left in the state so I urge you to keep that in mind and let the fish go to breed again.

Matthew Smith with a tidy rainbow caught on a beautiful alpine summer’s day.

MARCH 2015

73

74

MARCH 2015

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VR Fish Update

Your rec fishing peak body VR FISH

Dallas D’Silva

We provide a voice to, and advocate on behalf of, Victoria’s recreational fishing community and those with a passion for sustainable and vibrant recreational fisheries.

Whether it be fish stocking, habitat improvement, research, enforcement and education, improving infrastructure and access, VRFish wants to hear from you. We all need to work together to make sure Victoria’s recreational fishing experience continues to be a safe, sustainable and family friendly activity.

VRFish is underpinned

by State Council, comprised of members from inland and marine fishing clubs and associations, grassroots fishers and kindred interest groups from across Victoria.

Our membership base, which is ever evolving to include fishers from diverse cultural backgrounds, has broad knowledge and expertise together with limitless enthusiasm, ensuring VRFish

leads the way in advocating for better recreational fisheries in Victoria. Fishers can contact us via Facebook or our website, www. vrfish.com.au.

THE ANSWER IS BLOWING IN THE WIND King George whiting are one of the most sought after marine species in Victoria but do you know what determines a good or bad season?

They have a complex life cycle and the success of the fishery is determined by a combination of factors, including spawning off Kangaroo Island in South Australia, the extent of westerly wind patterns that help carry larvae hundreds of kilometres and the health of seagrass beds in bays and inlets, which are a vital nursery habitat.

By monitoring the number of small fish that settle in seagrass beds each spring, and knowing how fast they grow, scientists can predict future changes in abundance and catches.

The latest forecast for King George whiting in Port Phillip Bay is to start trending upwards again

this season. The fishery is expected to peak in the following two years due to one of the highest counts of small fish in many years from 12 months ago, which also coincided with a high number of westerly winds.

It is important to remember whiting leave the bay by about 4 years of age, and then spend the rest of their lives in ocean waters. This means the fishery is highly variable and peaks and troughs in abundance generally only last a few years.

Over the last 3 years and with the support of the State Government, Victorian recreational fishers have invested more than $2 million into fisheries research and monitoring alone. This is in addition to the $2 million of recreational fishing licence fees that are spent on education and enforcement by Fisheries Officers each year.

Recreational fishing in Port Phillip Bay, Western Port and other coastal locations from Portland to Mallacoota contribute substantially to Victoria’s economy each year.

FISHING FILL-ITS

Abalone thieves to be charged An anonymous tip-off to the fisheries offence reporting line 13 FISH earlier this month has led to three people allegedly being caught with more than 50 times the daily catch limit for abalone near Mount Eliza.

The group was intercepted by Fisheries Officers at Daveys Bay, between Frankston and Mount Eliza, on 8 January after the 13 FISH caller reported seeing them taking a large quantity of abalone and attempting to sell them on the beach.

The Fisheries Officers observed the group leaving the beach, and intercepted their vehicle on Old Mornington Road where they allegedly found 273 abalone in plastic bags, of which all but 14 were undersize.

The daily catch for abalone in all Victorian waters is five, and the minimum legal length for abalone taken from Port Phillip Bay is 10cm.

The three people allegedly caught with the illegal haul were a 36-year old man from Cranbourne, a 24-year-old man from Frankston and a 22-year-old woman from Frankston.

Fisheries Victoria Officer Chris Thompson said all three people would be charged on summons with a variety of abalone offences.

“The abalone fishery in Port Phillip Bay is placed

under a great deal of pressure by these sorts of actions, and Fisheries Victoria rigorously enforces size and catch limits to help preserve local reefs that support abalone,” Mr Thompson said.

“The penalties for taking and possessing commercial quantities of abalone are significant, including jail

terms, substantial fines and forfeiture of vehicles and equipment. Offenders can also face lengthy prohibitions on fishing.”

Anybody who sees or suspects illegal fishing activity is urged to call the 24-hour fisheries offence reporting line 13 FISH (13 3474).

MARCH 2015

75

Australia’s BIGGEST fishing competition!

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Australia’s BIGGEST fishing competition! just $ just just

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Stacer 449 Outlaw Tiller Steer powered

by Outlaw EvinrudeTiller E-tec 60hp Stacer 449 Steer

Pirtek Challenge 2015 The Pirtek Challenge is on again and the team at Fishing Monthly thought we’d give you all a bit of a heads up on how to go about catching one of the species involved in the competition.

This competition donates a lot of money to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and that is worth getting behind.

You can win part of the $169,000 in prizes and even have the opportunity to fish with Guesty and ET. But apart from all of that, this competition gives you the opportunity to hit the water with friends and family and have a great day in the outdoors doing what we all love the best - fishing!

So let’s check out some tactics to help you win and get you organised to make the most of the 2015 Pirtek Challenge, Australia’s biggest fishing competition..

COMP TACTICS • Get to know your target species and make sure you have them worked out before the competition starts • Your angler number will be emailed to you after 6pm the night before the competition starts • Fish as early as you can to make the most of the limited fishing time (6am till 6pm) • Always look after yourself by wearing the right clothes,

plus trailer valued atE-tec $25000 powered

by Evinrude 60hp

Stacer 449 Outlaw Steer plus trailer valued atTiller $25000 powered by Evinrude E-tec 60hp plus trailer valued at $25000

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drinking and eating the right foods and being careful of the sun while fishing • You are only allowed to measure in one fish per angler so choose carefully. Most measure in the largest of a given species • Remember there are mystery length prizes so even a relatively small fish can win you a great prize • Photograph your fish correctly after you have numbered your competition brag mat with your angler number. Make sure that your camera is charged!

GET OUT THERE So sign up, join in and have a great day on the water

Historical Winning Lengths Year

Species

Length cm

2013

Bream (Vic)

45.6

2014

Flathead (Vic)

87

2013

Flathead (Tas)

60.3

2014

Brown Trout (Tas)

61

2014

Carp

82.3

2014

Golden Perch

63.6

2014

Redfin

47.2

VIC

Fishing Pack

To enter, log onto To enter, log onto To enter, log onto

pirtekfishingchallenge.com.au pirtekfishingchallenge.com.au Proudly Supporting Prostate Cancer Foundation pirtekfishingchallenge.com.au of Australia and Peter Duncan Neuroscience Proudly Supporting Prostate Cancer Foundation Research UnitPeter of St Duncan Vincent’s Hospital. of Australia and Neuroscience Proudly Supporting Prostate Cancer Foundation Research Unit of St Vincent’s Hospital. of Australia and Peter Duncan Neuroscience Research Unit of St Vincent’s Hospital.

VICTORIA

This map gives you a rough guide

Bream

on where you can

Flathead

find the target species. They are all abundant and

TAS

found in many

For full terms, conditions and licensing log on to pirtekfishingchallenge.com.au. Permit Nos: ACT Permit Nos TP 14/04455; NSW Permit No LTPS/14/10073; SA Permit No T14/2381; VIC Permit No 14/6070.

For full terms, conditions and licensing log on to pirtekfishingchallenge.com.au. Permit Nos: ACT Permit Nos TP 14/04455; NSW Permit No LTPS/14/10073; SA Permit No T14/2381; VIC Permit No 14/6070.

For full terms, conditions and licensing log on to pirtekfishingchallenge.com.au. Permit Nos: ACT Permit Nos TP 14/04455; NSW Permit No LTPS/14/10073; SA Permit No T14/2381; VIC Permit No 14/6070.

MARCH 2015

TASMANIA Flathead Brown trout

areas throughout the state.

76

knowing you’re helping a great cause, all with the chance to win some great prizes.

Murray Darling Basin

To enter the Pirtek Challenge on 22 March 2015 visit pirtekfishingchallenge.com.au.

Cost is $20 and pre-entry is mandatory.

SALT WATER & FRESHWATER

BREAM

FLATHEAD

Size range: up to 1.1m, commonly 30-65cm Tactics: Flathead are classic ambush predators that us camouflage to their advantage. Drop offs, weed edges, hard rock and mud edges are all favourites haunts of flathead. Lures, flies and baits all work equally well on flathead.

Lures such as soft plastics, vibes, lipless crankabits and hard bodies all take flathead and the variety of baits that work on the species is endless – they really will take most things. Cast towards structure with baits and lures, drift over the same areas with bait or troll over these areas with lures to take advantage of these ambush predators.

Rigs Bait: Running sinker rig 6lb braided main line with 15lb leader Lures: 6lb braided main line with 15lb leader, attach lures with a loop knot where possible.

Size range: up to 50cm, commonly 25 to 35cm.

Tactics: Bream can be found in every saltwater river, creek and lake in the state. Bream love structure - especially rock - and if you find crud-encrusted rocks in the intertidal zone, you can be sure that bream hang around it at some time of the day. Keep the gear light when bream fishing as they can be spooked by heavy weights and lines. If you want to catch a bream on a lure, make sure that it’s small - smaller than your middle finger. They’ll eat nearly every bait you can find or buy - including white bread, which is an under-utilised favourite.

Rigs: Bait: Running sinker onto a #1 or 1/0 hook. Keep the weight as light as possible and let the bream eat the bait before setting the hook.

Lures: Small hardbodied divers cast around rocky shores with a slow, steady retrieve are hard to beat.

BROWN TROUT

Size range: up to 80cm, commonly 20-50cm Tactics: Brown trout are found in all freshwater environments and occasionally in the salt where they are called searun trout. They are active predators that will eat anything that presents itself to them. This makes brown trout easy to target with bait, lure or fly.

Lures such as minnows, winged-style and soft plastics are deadly on brown trout, while an unlimited variety of flies will work if brown trout are your target. Baits from artificial trout baits through to worms, grasshoppers and crickets are all excellent takers of brown trout.

Rigs Bait: Running sinker rig, Float rig, Drift rig 4-6lb mono mainline and leader Lures: 4-6lb mono mainline and leader

CARP

MURRAY DARLING BASIN Size range: up to 1m, commonly 30-60cm.

Tactics: Carp feed by smell and taste and are therefore attracted to smelly baits. This makes all sorts of baits and surprisingly, occasionally lures, very effective on carp.

Baits as varied as scrubworms, corn, bread, dough, shrimp and grubs are all attractive to carp and the use of berley will increase your success rate dramatically.

Look for slow flowing areas in rivers, such as back eddies and deeper bends and in lakes look to weedy shallows for the best results.

Rigs Running sinker rig, Paternoster rig, Float rig 6-20lb main line, 10-20lb leader, lighter in clear water free of snags.

REDFIN

GOLDEN PERCH

Size range: up to 75cm, commonly 25-50cm.

Tactics: Golden perch are predators that like a moving target. This makes lures and live baits popular, however they also love to hunt down worms and grubs set on the bottom. Lures like Australian-made hardbodies, spinnerbaits and lipless crankbaits cast around fallen timber in rivers and standing timber in lakes are all successful, especially around first and last light.

Bait fished on a running sinker rig or paternoster-style rig are favourites. If you can impart some movement to the bait, your success rate will increase. Cast baits towards and into structure for the best results.

Rigs Bait: Running sinker rig, Paternoster rig 20lb braided main line to 20lb leader Lures: 20lb braided main line to 20lb leader, attach lures with loop know where possible.

Size range: up to 60cm, commonly 10-40cm.

Tactics: Redfin are an aggressive predator that will attack anything alive that the fish thinks it will fit inside its mouth. They love to hang around structure such as timber and rocks, however schools of fish can also be found in relatively clear water, suspended mid-water with no structure nearby. Lures such as diving minnows, winged lures, soft plastics, ice jigs, lipless crankbaits and flies work very well on redfin. Cast towards located schools of fish, redfin will happily accept just about any lure offering you can think of.

Baits fished around structure like steep rock walls and standing timber are best. If you can move the bait, all the better as the inquisitive and aggressive redfin loves movement.

Rigs Bait: Running sinker rig, Paternoster rig, 10lb braided main line to 15lb leader Lures: 10lb braided main line to 15lb leader, attach lures with a loop knot where possible.

$169,000

in cash and prizes MARCH 2015

77

Albury/Wodonga River Classic The South West Anglers Association, after many years of conducting successful closed competitions for club members, have now decided to attempt a public fishing competition.

With little happening on the mighty Murray River at Albury/Wodonga, the river from Lake Hume, downstream to the junction of the Murray R and the Wodonga Creek will host the South West Anglers Albury/Wodonga River Classic on Saturday 7 March 2015.

THE FAMILY FRIENDLY FISHING COMPETITION The focus of the

competition will be very much on the family involvement and the kids will be well looked after. The cost of entry is very affordable and the family concession will mean the family group can participate without the usual high entry fees that many competitions require. The competition is both boat and bank-based.

A wide range of prizes will be on offer and sponsors have been generous in their support. Financial support from Carlton Mid, Garmin sounders made available by TBS Marine and the major lucky entrant will win an indoor wood heater valued

at $1,000 from Wise Living Products.

All juniors will receive a show bag packed with a range of goodies. A large range of other prizes will include life jacket packages, cameras, iceboxes, worm farms and also a family holiday package.

All fish awards will be by secret length as well as a huge number of lucky draws, raffles and spot prizes at the presentation on the Saturday evening. Any fish can win a prize and any entrant is in with an excellent chance of going home with some goodies.

A registration point will be set up for the early birds

on the Friday afternoon and will again be manned from 5am on the Saturday. All of that will be at St Ives on the Causeway and evening meals will available at St Ives at an affordable cost.

In conjunction with the competition there will be a raffle of 2 nights’ accommodation and a seat on a 2-day Barramundi Safari sponsored by Darwin’s Barra Base valued at $1,665.

This raffle is limited to 100 tickets only and at only $25.00 per ticket provides great odds. (Tickets are limited, phone 0427 123 078) – Terry Maloney

ABT Member of the Month ABT members prepared to be tackled in 2015 with ABT’s Member of the Month program. Each month one lucky winners name will be drawn from the ABT’s database of active members and receive a prize pack of sponsor’s product.

With a stable of sponsors including Berkley, Toray, Ecogear, Spotters, Sunline, Lucky Craft, OSP, Jackall, Damiki, Rapala, Austackle, 13

Fishing, and Ventafish, ABT members are in for some great rewards in 2015!

“We’ll have different sponsor prizes each month. It all kicks off in February with the Sunline/Maria Member of the Month. With lures, line, reels, and sunglasses on offer throughout the year, simply being a current ABT member is all you need to be in the running to win,” said ABT’s Simon Goldsmith.

To join the ABT simply fill out a membership form (downloadable from www. abt.org.au) and post or fax it back to ABT – it’s that simple! Once the form has been processed you are in the running for these great prizes.

With eleven prize packs to be won in 2015 there are multiple opportunities to get your hands on these great prizes.

The benefits don’t stop there with your ABT membership opening up a host of tournament fishing opportunities. ABT Member of the Month will be drawn on the 20th of each month.

Interested in following the tournament circuit? Watch the

webstream of ABT tournament weigh-ins live online with a rolling scoreboard. Want to hear about all the latest tackle releases from sponsors?

Check out press releases on the ABT homepage. Want to know how the best anglers in Australia find and catch their tournament quarry? Look no further than the Tournament Angler Guide (TAG) to

fast track your angling development.

Whether your passion is bream, bass or barramundi the Member of the Month prize pack is another benefit of being part of Australia’s largest tournament fishing organisation. So sign up today to the ABT and prepare to be tackled in 2015. – ABT

TOURNAMENT CALENDAR

MAR

2015 DATE DETAILS

CONTACTS

Mar 7 Albury Wodonga River Classic

Albury Wodonga

South West Angling Assoc.

Terry Maloney 02 6029 3217

Mar 7-15

Shipwreck Coast Fishing Classic WOLGFC Warrnambool / www.facebook.com/shipwreckcoastfishingclassic

Mar 7-8

Austackle Flathead Fishing Classic Lakes Entrance

www.gippslfc.blogspot 0455 022 965

APR

18-19 Apr R6 BREAM Kayak National Qualifier Paynesville

Hobie Fishing hobiefishing.com.au

JUN

14-15 Mar R3 Hobie Fishing Worlds 2015 Qualifier #1 Hobie Fishing Mallacoota hobiefishing.com.au

6-7 Jun

ABT www.abt.org.au

Mercury BREAM Qualifier #3 Gippsland Lakes

For listings please email jthomas@fishingmonthly.com.au 78

MARCH 2015

S O U T H W E S T A N G L E R S A S S O C I A T I O N // T H E F A M I L Y F R I E N D L Y F I S H I N G C O M P E T I T I O N

Albury Wodonga River Classic 2015 Fishing

S A T U R D AY M A R C H 7 T H // M U R R AY R I V E R

Registration

From Lake Hume wall to the junction of Wodonga Creek and Murray River 6am-5pm

Prizes

St Ives on the causeway

Any fish can win a prize!

✹ Friday 6th 2-8pm

Both bank and boat based fishing.

✹ Saturday 7th 5am onwards

Presentation

Entry

Sponsors

ADULT $25 JUNIOR $10 FAMILY $50

6pm at St Ives

✹ Optional catch and release ✹ Secret lengths ✹ Draws ✹ Raffles ✹ Give aways & heaps more!

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www.quintrex.com.au MARCH 2015

79

Ever Hopeful make history VIC BREAM CLASSIC

Bill Hartshorne

The first round of the 2015 Atomic Vic Bream Classic Series had everyone excited because it was the introduction of a new tournament arena never before used in the Vic Bream Classic Series.

The Maria Lures Sunline Bream Classic brought 48 teams of 2 anglers to the beautiful Marlo. With nearly the entire field only having fished Marlo a handful of times it was going to be anyone’s tournament to win. For Team Ever Hopefuls Daryl Baird and Jason Sellings the decisions they would make would give them a very well deserved first up victory.

Everyone could have been mistaken for thinking that the Marlo round 1 was being run in the middle of winter and not on the last weekend in January.

The wind and rain made it much lower than normal temperatures adding an extra challenge for the anglers on this new mysterious location. The only thing that all the anglers in the field were sure of was that Marlo held some of the largest bream anywhere in Australia and landing them would be a victory in itself.

For Team Ever Hopeful the decision was made that rain, hail or shine they would head up into Lake Karingal and try their luck on the flats. This

proved to be the best decision, as armed with Miller and G.Loomis rods, Shimano Ci4 and Daiwa reels spooled with 4lb and 3lb Berkley Nanofil and 4lb Berkley Vanish fluorocarbon leaders, the boys starting searching the flats for their first bream.

It wasn’t long before their Jackall Chubbies in ayu and their Atomic Shad 40 in muddy prawn where being

The JML Anglers Alliance Big Bream after day one sat with Team MPW’s Peter Marshal and Will Reinlt, which was a cracking fish weighing 1.64kg.

Day two saw weather conditions starting to improve and the field was in high spirits that the bream would fire even more than Saturday and some quality bags would be landed.

This meant a top 10 charge

from further down the leader board could pose a real threat to the lead teams.

Following on from their day one success Team Ever Hopeful headed back to the same Lake Karginal flats and as had happened the day before it proved a great decision.

“We started off by throwing muddy prawn and ayu Chubbies on both days in around 2.5’ of water with just

Darryl Baird and Jason Sellings from Team Ever Hopeful celebrate the victory a slow roll across the bottom, adding a slight pause every now and again,” said Darryl.

The boys again had their bag by 8.30am and then spent the next two hours upgrading countless times. “Both days were quite windy, the water was murky but we still managed to upgraded many times. However by 10.30am the fish had shut down, so we still persevered in the same area but could only manage to land smaller fish,” said Darryl.

It wouldn’t matter that

smashed by quality bream and, with their bag before 8.30am, their spirits where high that they were in with a real chance to press for the lead.

As the boys headed to the weigh-in they were up against a lead bag from Team Wirth Rods, which went 4.46kg.

When their bag hit the scales they fell just short of leading after day one with 5/5 bream for 4.44kg.

RESULTS PLACE TEAM TOTAL FISH TOTAL WEIGHT 1...................... Ever Hopeful............................ 10/10........................... 8.77 2...................... Wirth Rods............................... 10/10........................... 8.48 3...................... Lowrance HDS......................... 10/10........................... 7.78 4...................... Edge Bite................................. 9/10............................. 6.82 5...................... Team Doma.............................. 10/10........................... 6.26 6...................... Colac Tackle - Major Craft....... 10/10........................... 6.25 7...................... Webbcon Marine...................... 10/10........................... 6.10 8...................... In Depth Angler.com.au........... 10/10........................... 5.88 9...................... Beastie Boys............................ 10/10........................... 5.83 10.................... MPW........................................ 9/10............................. 5.76

80

MARCH 2015

Top: The top three teams: 3rd Team Lowrance HDS (Paul Malov and Alex Franchuk), 2nd Team Wirth Rods (Hugh Wirth and Stuart Duncan) and the Champions 1st Place Team Ever Hopeful (Darryl Baird and Jason Sellings) pose for the crowd.

Above Left: Mark Hayes from Team Barflies with a couple of bream from his team’s 4.24kg day two bag that moved them 29 spots up the leaderboard taking out the Hurricane Lures Monster Movers prize. Above Right: David Harding and Stuart Carruthers from Team Edge Bite with a sample of the bream from Maria Lures Best Bag of 4.76kg

only small fish came after 10.30am as all the hard work had already been done with 5/5 bream weighing 4.33kg.

They took the lead and with 10/10 bream weighing 8.77kg and secured the Maria Lures Sunline Bream Classic win.

There were a number of teams producing some excellent captures on day 2 and subsequently the JML Anglers Alliance Big Bream and the Maria Lures Best Bag were both crushed on day 2.

Paul Malov and Alex Franchuk from Team Lowrance HDS took out the JML Anglers Alliance Big Bream with a horse of a fish weighing 1.67kg assisting them to move from 12th to 3rd position. The Maria Lures Best Bag was also smashed

by David Harding and Stuart Carruthers from Team Edge Bite with 5/5 bream for 4.76kg rocketing them from 19th to 4th position, but the stars of the show where still Team Ever Hopefuls Darryl Baird and Jason Sellings who go down in history as the first team to ever win a Vic Bream Classic Tournament at Marlo.

Next round the 2015 Atomic Vic Bream Classic Series head to Metung for the 2015 Club Marine East Gippsland Bream Classic.

For all the details and entry forms head to www. vicbreamclassics.com.au or call Bill Hartshorne on mobile 0409 823 070.

FIND THE

VMC LOGO

COMPETITION There are 15 VMC Logos hidden throughout the pages of Fishing Monthly.

Find the VMC logo and page number, fill in the entry form and go in the draw to win! The first 40 correct entries drawn at the end of the month will win a packet of VMC hooks. All entries will go into the major prize draw.

(Drawn May 31st 2015)

MONTHLY PRIZE VMC Wide Gape Worm Hook Pack Made in France Value $7.95

MAJOR PRIZES PAGE NO: 1

600 2

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$ ST PLACE

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V&TFM Find the VMC Logo Competition, PO BOX 3172, Loganholme QLD 4129 Entries must be received by 31 MARCH 2015 Original entries only. No photocopies. Images for illustration purposes only.

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MARCH 2015

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81

Lights, camera, action!

BRISBANE

Justin Wilmer Find me on Facebook at Yaks On

Kayak anglers are renowned for personalising and customising their craft to suit their individual needs and fishing style.

The purpose of this modification or fit-out is often to address a problem or need that the kayak angler has, be it making their vessel safer, faster, more stable, visible or comfortable, or creating more effective storage solutions.

NEED/PROBLEM It was a need that recently switched my brain into fit-out mode and that

and find it easy to lay a single rod down in front of me, but as soon as I add a couple more to the equation, graphite rods and pedal drives can catastrophically collide. Without the inbuilt side rod storage found in the Hobie PAs, I needed to develop a storage solution behind my seat for a couple of rods, ensuring that they were secure and the reels were up away from the water.

SOLUTION Before mounting anything on your kayak it’s important to ensure that you can access and operate it from your usual seated or standing position, as you would while travelling and fishing. If my neighbour had looked over the fence

In the past I have used Railblaza mounts and accessories for varied fit out solutions. Their StarPort mounts are quick and easy to attach to the kayak; two holes drilled, two nuts and bolts tightened and you’re ready to attach any of their practical, quality accessories. With this in mind I used a few Railblaza components that I already had and sought out a few others. My rear rod holder set up had evolved, as many projects do and it would now hold two rods, a Railblaza CameraBoom 600 for mounting my still camera or sports camera and a Railblaza TelePole 1000 to attach an LED Navilight for night fishing or hi-vis flag for daylight hours.

The basis of the system, two StarPort mounts in place.

Note the marker pen for positioning. need was rear rod storage.

There are many advantages to pedal kayaks, including hands free fishing and the ability to use larger muscle groups for propulsion and thus travel longer distances, however the downside is that you sacrifice cockpit space due to the pedal drive system. I often carry 3 rods, rigged with different lures,

and seen me sitting in my kayak on the grass, reaching behind me to grab an imaginary rod or open an invisible icebox to access a drink, he would probably have shaken his head. Better that than me out on the water shaking my head… and probably fists, when I can’t access what I need I have only myself to blame.

The basis of my rod holder would be a Railblaza TracPort Dash 500, mounted to two StarPort mounts. The TracPort Dash comes fitted with four StarPorts, allowing the attachment of four accessories, and the whole assembly can be removed quickly and easily by simply unlocking the two StarPort

It’s a good feeling when a fit-out comes together. mounts that are fitted to the kayak. This leaves a minimum of exposed mounts and fittings when storing or transporting the kayak, or when using it for other applications such as camping or touring.

Attach the StarPort mounts to the TracPort Dash and position it where it is to be fitted, marking the position of the StarPort mounts with a marker pen. Remove the StarPort mounts from the TracPort Dash, position them, mark the bolt holes, remove the mounts, drill and then you can go ahead and bolt the mounts into place. StarPort mounts really are a breeze to fit and in minutes I had the two mounts in place and the TracPort Dash inserted and locked into the two StarPort mounts. It’s important to remember that old catch phrase, ‘measure twice, cut or drill once’.

With the TracPort Dash mounted you now have 4 StarPort mounts to use as you wish. I opted for a Railblaza Rod Holder II in each of the outside mounts, as the rods would be accessed more frequently than either the light or camera. The Rod Holder

Fishing Packages from $699

The Rod Holder II allows you to lock additional rods securely in place.

Quality Australian-made kayaks

NEW

season fishing kayaks in store NOW!

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MARCH 2015

• Profish Reload • Profish 400 • Profish GT

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Left: The LED Navisafe Light ensures you are visible when travelling or fishing at night.

Right: The TracPort Dash 500 allows you to attach and adjust the position of four accessories.

Back home and it’s just a matter of unlocking two StarPort mounts and the whole assembly is removed.

II features a rotating collar that ensures that once the rod is locked in place, it cannot be removed without sliding the collar open.

This avoids the problem of lost rods due to reels being lifted up while paddling or the rod catching on something and being pulled from the holder.

These are stories that are surprisingly common.

The two middle mounts are then free to add the CameraBoom and TelePole.

The CameraBoom 600 features a universal thread to attach a standard camera or sports camera and it has a wide degree of adjustments, allowing you to set it up to capture

the angle you’re after. By utilising this camera for a view from behind the angler and a camera toward the front of the kayak looking back at the angler, you can capture all of the action and create more exciting and interesting videos than those created from a single viewpoint.

A hi-vis flag is a great way of adding to the visibility of the kayak, especially when fishing offshore, where the kayak rises and falls with the swell, its low profile disappearing regularly from view. For night fishing, a light is an essential means of alerting boats and other vessels to your presence.

The TelePole 100 is ideal for attaching a light or flag and it extends from 0.6-1m as required, locking into place with a simple twist of the pole. It is designed to lock into a StarPort at the base and accepts Railblaza accessories in the top, including the Navilight.

The Navisafe Navilight is a brilliant light for kayak anglers for a number of reasons. The light is durable, bright – 2NM US Coast Guard approved (visible up to 5NM in the dark), floats the right way up, is waterproof up to 20m and it runs on 3 AAA batteries, making it easy to have spares in your kit. Run time is

approximately 85 hours in flashing mode, with other modes available and it is available in a 360° white light or a Port/Starboard/ Stern light option.

It was then time to hit the water and put the new additions to the test. The whole setup was sturdy, the rods easy to access, lock and unlock, and by turning side on in the seat I could raise, lower and switch on the light and adjust the CameraBoom or camera as required. I even managed to catch a few bream and through this fit-out had successfully added lights, camera and the rods were ready for action. See you on the water!

n o e b o t t Wan f o r e v o C the ? y l h t n o M Fishing

WIN A POWER-POLE MICRO ANCHOR FROM

24 PAGE Melbourne Boat Show feature

Do you love your monthly issue of Fishing Monthly?

Do you think it’s about time you were on the cover of it?

Well, we think that too and are offering readers the chance to do just that. The March, April and May issues of Queensland, NSW and Victoria/Tasmania FMs will all feature readers’ pics on the front covers.

And there’s no reason why it can’t be you...

Techniques Make mine a mullet Baiting river blackfish • Blue Rock bassin’ • DIY kayak wheels

WIN

•

See pages 22 · 27

•

iPads

Tried and Tested Ecogearaqua Bream Prawn Streaker 5700 Commander • Sea Jay 6.8 Pursuit • Larson FX1750 SC •

Features

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June, 2014

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NEW COMP! Fishing Monthly G R O U P

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FIND THE SPECIALTYFISHING.COM.AU .COM.AUU LOGO COMPETITION ITION

Entry is simple. Email us your cover-worthy pic. Remember, though, that it needs to be the right composition and resolution to work. After that, it just needs to get through the Grumpy Old Man committee (Steve Morgan) and then BOOM, you’re the latest cover model.

Be creative - we like images that aren’t just ‘person holding fish’.

• • • • • • •

Other parameters of which you need to take note: Portrait format (turn camera on its side).

Leave enough room for a magazine masthead at the top of the image.

Shoot in the highest resolution your camera can take.

Use fill-in flash to help remove any shadows under caps or biminis.

Live fish look way better than dead ones.

Any fish must be legally captured (within season/size limits). iPhone pics aren’t going to cut it!

Head not too high in the shot to allow for Masthead Portrait format showing focus area

And then email your image to: frontcovercomp@fishingmonthly.com.au with a description of the what/when/where/how of the capture.

Be sure to include your details, too, because we’ll post out a mounted copy of the winning covers to the entrant.

THAT will be going straight to the Pool Room, we bet.

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83

What’s New FISHING

1

DAMIKI SUPLEX 100G AND BACK DROP 80G

Since its release last year, the Damiki Suplex and Back Drop jigs have been making a big impact on the jigging scene.

These deep water jigs have a shaped head that allows for an erratic action when jigged through the water column, and when rigged with Damiki Trust Jigger hooks, they are an unbeatable combination.

Following calls from clients for smaller models to be made available, Searing Tackle, the exclusive agents for Damiki have released an 80g Back Drop jig and a 100g Suplex jig.

The Backdrop range is now made up of 80g, 100g, 130g, 160g and 200g models whilst the Suplex range now covers 100g, 130g, 160g, 200g and 250g sizes, meaning there is now jigs in both the Suplex and Back Drop range to cover any jigging situation.

Both the Suplex and Back Drop jigs come in 5 attractive colours.

Price: Too New www.searingtackle.com.au

2

DAIWA SALTIGA 2015

Daiwa has continued their long tradition of innovation with the introduction of “Magsealed bearings” into the new Saltiga range.

Given the popularity of saltwater fishing, sealing a reel is a major goal. No leakage means no corrosion, longer life and better performance. If saltwater penetrates a reel and dries, it crystallizes, and then erodes gears and bearings.

Daiwa found the solution – a membrane of magnetic oil, which shuts out saltwater.

By using magnetized oil in conjunction with magnets, the oil attaches itself to the metal surfaces to form a seal.

Magseal technology was originally used in the rotor/anti-reverse system, to make water and dust intrusion a thing of the past.

However, not content with just Magsealing the rotor/anti-reverse system, the new 2015 series introduces an all-new revolution in ultra smooth rotation and water sealing.

The Saltiga has a near bulletproof gearbox and line roller system to complement the other design innovations making the best heavy-duty reel even better!

Price: Too new! www.daiwafishing.com.au

3

THE ROD RULER

Never be caught out again when needing to measure your catch. Whether you’re fishing off the beach, rocks, tinny or kayak, The Rod Ruler will always be there!

This product is simple and easy to use – It’s perfect for a quick catch and release, bragging rights, or just to measure some catches for the dinner table. The Rod Ruler is 8mm wide and 1m long (you cut the sticker to suit your rod). Plus, it’s UV and water resistant, so it’s guaranteed to last.

Designed to fit on a variety of fishing rods from your small trout rods through to the longer and larger surf rig. It can also be fitted to your boat or kayak when space is tight.

The Rod Ruler was produced with tournament anglers and recreational anglers in mind. No more wasting time looking for a brag mat or ruler!

Price: RRP $6.95 www.therodruler.com.au

4

EUMER SPINTUBE NATURAL

MARCH 2015

1

Winner of Best New Terminal Tackle in Efttex 2013, SpinTube NATURAL is a newly launched product for trout, perch and bass.

The SpinTube NATURAL is named after the natural colours used in its construction.

This lure is particularly suitable for still and fast water fishing. In fast waters, you can fish it near the bottom matching the motion of a sunk fly. In still waters, it can be fished wish a jig fishing technique.

When using the NATURAL, the hook is turned pointing upwards and thus snagging the bottom can be avoided. The NATURAL is sinking, lead free design, the weight is achieved by using a brass body. The handmade NATURAL is finished with 3D eyes giving the product even a more lifelike and natural look.

Despite being made to mimic a fly, the NATURAL is easy to cast, is very lifelike and is fast sinking. It is currently available in 10cm/10g size.

Price: RRP $14.99 www.jml.net.au

5

You couldn’t wish for more. Mustad’s new Wish Braid leaps into the top end of the braid market.

Its diameter for breaking strain is excellent giving users a number of benefits. Being a true 8-strand braid, Mustad Wish Braid is built with 100% Honeywell Spectra Fibre.

This makes Wish exceptionally durable under load and this is where thin braids can come undone.

The braiding process used by Mustad produces a rounder and smoother braid that handles exceptionally well and ties knots superbly completing the picture.

Mustad’s Wish 18lb 8-strand braid is as thin as most 6lb 4-strand braids giving users the benefit of fewer wind knots and an improved user experience. Abrasion resistance, thin and of the highest quality – that’s what Wish brings to the table. Available in 110 yard (18lb-36lb) and 250 yard (18lb70lb) spools, Mustad Wish Braid makes your dreams come true.

Price: RRP from $50 (110 yard), $100 (250 yard) www.wilsonfishing.com.au

6

2

MUSTAD WISH BRAID

3

4

FISH ARROW FLASH J 2 INCH

Following on from our successful introduction of the 3 inch Flash J Shad, Searing Tackle, the exclusive importers of Fish Arrow have now released a smaller 2 inch version to expand the range of realistic soft plastics lures.

Its major characteristic is the swimming shad tail, which when combined with the realistic looks and action of the J Shad, makes it irresistible to bass, bream, trout, redfin and other light-tackle predatory sportfish.

The aluminium foil insert acts as a backbone in the plastic and helps to produce baitfish-imitating flashes and attracts aggressive strikes.

It can be rigged either on a weedless hook or with a jighead, to ensure you’re ready for whatever conditions are thrown at you.

The Flash J Shad 2 inch model is available in 7 great colours, is 2 inches long and you get 8 in a pack.

Price: RRP $16 www.searingtackle.com.au

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

84

FISHING PRODUCT GUIDE

POWERED BY

5

6

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

SCAN THE QR CODE!

What’s New FISHING

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FISHING PRODUCT GUIDE

7

MIMIX SHOCKWAVE

8

DAIWA FREAMS 2015

The Mimix Shockwave buzzbait is the first product designed and produced under the ‘Pro Series’, designed and tested to suit the need for a big bait!

The Mimix Shockwave’s shape is uniquely designed to create maximum water splash and a loud buzzing sound. When it’s retrieved, the front part of the Shockwave will be slightly tilted up and the lower end of the body will be slightly lower, this design aims to maximize the water splash created from the front of the mouth and with the lower end of the body being lower, the idea is that this will increase the hooks up rate!

The Shockwave can be used with both lower and higher retrieve speeds. It’s the answer for big predatory native fish like the aggressive Murray cod.

The Mimix Shockwave comes in one size, 80mm in length and a weight of 32.5g with a size 2/0 hook.

Price: RRP $24.95 www.jml.net.au

8

9

Steeped in a culture of technical innovation, 2015 sees Daiwa release one of its most value-packed light spin reels with Magseal Technology and the new, intelligent Automatic Tournament Drag (ATD).

Freams utilizes many Daiwa’s performancedelivering technology like Digigear II, Air Rotor, Air Bail and Twist Buster II. With all this technology packed in, Freams is as light as air, as strong as steel, delivering balance, weightlessness and strength like never seen before for ultimate reel performance.

New to Freams is ATD or Automatic Tournament Drag. This is a new introduction into Daiwa spinning reels. A major drawback with many drag systems is that they are not smooth at the beginning of the drag and do not adjust to suit line distance or a fish slowing down. ATD rectifies this issue.

Cutting edge design and performance is all part of the package with the all-new Daiwa Freams. We’ve delivered a great valued reel with enhanced looks, design and performance.

Price: Too new! www.daiwafish.com.au

10

9

4 FLAVOURS OF TONIC YOURANIUM

11

12 Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au

Tonic Polarised Eyewear, the new leader in high quality fishing sunglasses, is proud to announce the new YouRanium style is now available in all 4 of Tonic Eyewear’s glass lens varieties: PhotoChromic Copper, Super Clear Grey, Low Light Neon and High Def Blue Mirror.

Developed with Brendan Wing of YouFishTV and named by the YouFishTV fan base, the YouRanium features Tonic Eyewear’s custom designed adjustable nose bridge that is fully integrated into the frame. While the frame is a standard fit, the adjustable nose bridge can be used to suit people with broken, low or wide nose bridges. No more slipping.

Tonic’s scratch resistant glass lenses are just 1.8 mm thick, making them 30% lighter than regular glass and feature boutique polarising filter systems and anti-reflective coatings.

Tonic Polarised Eyewear comes in eight wraparound styles and a variety of lens types to suit different situations.

Price: From $279.99 www.toniceyewear.com.au.

10

ATOMIC HARDZ NEW COLOURS

Atomic have introduced a range of new colours across the estuary lure range including surface lures.

After extensive testing by the Atomic team, these new lures have been proven in the field and include Silver Wolf and Gold Wolf patterns, which are extremely lifelike.

The Silver Wolf gives off an impossibly true blue silver colour in the water while the Gold Wolf will be perfect for estuary anglers as well as bass fishers targeting dams where fish feed on goldfish.

Tournament angler and AFC competitor Tristan Taylor has designed the other two new colours, Tristos Ramjet and Tristos Eagles.

Field-testing has also been positive on these new colours and there are 4 new colours in total.

In the Shiner range, covering 45-100mm lures a new colour, Blood Red has also been developed featuring a greenish head and bright silver sides with a tantalising red running over the back of the lure, down its flanks.

Price: From $14.95 www.frogleysoffshore.com.au

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SPIDERWIRE ULTRACAST

The most extreme SpiderWire performance will be found in Ultracast because it is the highest quality, best performing series in the SpiderWire brand.

Only the best technology and most advanced nylons, fluoropolymers and High Molecular Weight PE fibres qualify for an Ultracast fishing line. Ultimate fishing line, for ultimate performance!

An ultra smooth 8-carrier construction that outcasts and outlasts any other braid! Ultracast’s extreme strength per diameter ratio delivers an amazingly thin and sensitive line with a high pick count for roundness and extreme durability. But what does this mean for anglers? It means each line, from the smallest 10-pound test to the largest 80-pound test, is smoother, quieter and rounder, and this enables Ultracast to pack very well on reels without digging into itself while also slicing through wind, avoiding wind knots and tip wrapping. Ultracast maintains colour and the coating resists fraying even when fished over heavy structure. Available in 10, 15, 20, 30, 50 and 80lb tests and 150-300m lengths.

Price: From $39.95 www.spiderwire.com.au

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ZEREK CAVALLA

Casts like a metal, works like a minnow, the Zerek Cavalla is a truly innovative lure that allows anglers to cover every layer of the water column, whether they’re fishing from a boat or from the shore.

Super fast-sinking at 45g and designed to target predatory fish with an easy-chomping 115mm, the Cavalla is perfect for long distance casting and allowing you to reach fish other lures simply cannot get to.

With an unparalleled ability to hang in the water in rough conditions when targeting surface feeding fish, as well as the unheard of option to target those inaccessible deep fish, the Cavalla is truly a unique lure. Add to these features the 7 life-like colours that allow you to imitate the baitfish in your area and the Cavalla simply is the full package.

Indestructible, innovative and unique in a world of impersonators, Zerek Innovations’ Cavalla delivers where others fail.

Price: RRP $22 www.wilsonfishing.com.au

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85

What’s New FISHING

13

NEW ZMAN 4” SWIMMERZ

16

FISHING PRODUCT GUIDE

POWERED BY

2015 PFLUEGER SALT SPIN

The ZMan 4” SwimmerZ developed a passionate following among anglers chasing mangrove jack, barramundi, mulloway, flathead and more, thanks to its realistic mullet profile, 10X Tough ElaZtech construction and super-soft and flexible, realistic feel that creates an incredible life-like swimming action, even at dead slow retrieve speeds.

When ZMan US decided to discontinue their painted plastics the outcry from Australian anglers ensured that the 4” and 6” SwimmerZ would be reborn. New moulds were developed allowing the production of more realistic laminate colours, including ZMan favourites Opening Night, Houdini, Bad Shad and Sexy Mullet.

With the same great profile and action, and 13 new colours in the range, the ZMan 4” SwimmerZ look like continuing their reputation as the go-to plastic when nothing else is catching. Fish on!

The new ZMan SwimmerZ are available in 13 colours, with 4 per pack.

Price: RRP $15.95. www.ttlures.com.au

The Pflueger Salt is saltwater ready and is built from the ground up to handle Australian conditions.

The A360 full metal body, rotor and sideplate finished with corrosion resistant matt body paint eliminates body flex under load and provides a corrosion resistant housing for the Precision Cut Digital Gearing (PCDG) and stainless mainshaft, making this an incredibly tough piece of gear.

At the front end housed within the new-ported spool is the tried and tested Dynamic Carbon Drag (DCD), HD carbon washers are used for a powerful, smooth and reliable drag system. A 5 stainless steel ball bearing system with XCR sealed bearings in key locations and ‘always on’ anti reverse bearing make the Salt ready for sand, salt and big, hard-fighting fish.

Other performance features include a balanced rotor system, heavy duty bail and machined and anodized aluminium handle with soft touch knob.

Price: RRP from$159.95 www.pflueger.com.au

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17

COOL WATER CRUISE SUP

Australians love being on the water, and Stand Up Paddle Boarding is the most exciting way to do exactly that. Cool Water’s Cruise SUP is an inflatable vessel that gives you the ability to enjoy life on top, without dragging you down getting there.

This multi-purpose board offers enough stability and manoeuvrability for beginners to negotiate their way around lakes, rivers and the ocean. An elevated nose enables smooth travels across choppy water, and world-beating reinforced drop stitch technology helps stabilise and strengthen the body of the SUP. A high density reinforced PVC outer layer ensures your SUP is tough enough to handle a beating just in case you do get churned by a set, and a 10cm thick reinforced drop stitch inner chamber which makes it almost impossible for your SUP to crease.

An inflatable SUP is a fun way to experience the water. Pull it out of your backpack, unroll and inflate – you’ll be cruising in no time.

Price: RRP $1099, currently $799 from Kangaroo Tent City www.kangarootentcity.com.au

15

WESTIN SWIM

The Swim is a very popular lure of many Scandinavian pro guides due to its castability and its easy use. It cuts through the strongest wind and as soon as the reel starts turning, the unique s-shaped swimming pattern of Westin Swim will trigger fish to strike.

When you twitch or jerk it gently, it will dart side to side just below the surface, which will drive fish crazy too! Anglers can use this lure in various depths depending on retrieve techniques.

With the 120mm and 100mm model, Australian freshwater trophy fish such as barra and Murray cod will go mad on this lure.

Also, because of the weight of the lure, you can make a very long cast to target saltwater species such as coral trout, GT, and tuna.

The smaller 65mm model is a perfect size to target fish such as mangrove jack, bass, tarpon, saratoga, sooty grunter, redfin and trout.

Price: NA www.jml.net.au

MARCH 2015

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16

REALIS G87 20A

DUO – The brand known for setting the standard amongst the Japanese lure companies is again raising the bar.

Realis G87 20A’s crank development was carefully put in motion by DUO’s R&D team.

The need for a crankbait that could truly dive beyond the 20ft mark and accurately reach its target has been deeply desired by professional and recreational anglers around the world.

This lure’s superior diving ability can be attributed to the most advanced weight transfer system in deep diving cranking soon to be used on the professional bass circuits.

G87’s enlarged magnetic ballast carriage hides the casting bearing outside the body cavity, where it’s held in place by a magnet made of Neodymium, a material considerably stronger than the usual Magnesium, necessary due to the size of the bearing.

The 20A’s body is 87mm in length, weighs 35 grams and has reached depths of almost 30ft on the cast and retrieve.

Price: Too new! www.swldistributions.com.au

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

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ZEREK CHILLI PADI

Micro jigging has been reinvigorated with the arrival of the Chilli Padi, a tungsten micro jig that gets down deep quick.

Ideal for those times when the bite slows or is shut down and a smaller profile baitfish pattern is required, the Chilli Padi from Zerek Innovations has a subtle and enticing action that fish cannot resist.

During testing fish have eaten this lure on the drop, on the jig and also when used as a cast and retrieve lure for tuna, tailor and salmon.

Tungsten is the ideal material to build a micro jigfrom as it is much heavier than lead for the same size. This means the Chilli Padi is a much smaller profile than other micro jigs made from lead, simply because tungsten is such a heavy material.

Coming unrigged to give the end user all the rigging options. Available in 3 weights, 18, 28 and 36g, and 8 colours.

Price: RRP approx. $20-25 www.wilsonfishing.com

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What’s New FISHING

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TESTED: MAKO G2H5 LENSES – GT FRAME face and also hold them firmly on the top of your head when you inevitably put them there.

A pet hate of mine is when the arms of the glasses hurt the top of your ears when you are wearing a cap and these didn’t do this, so that was a big tick.

On the water Fishing a small creek for bass in the Hunter Valley was my first opportunity to test the glasses in a fishing situation. It was here that I recognised what the team from Mako meant when they were talking about the clarity and contrast of vision the G2H5 lens provides. It was only a very shallow creek I was fishing and to be able to see the subtle depth changes and into the shadows under the trees made targeting the areas the bass

You can teach an old Fox new tricks As anglers we become very set in our ways and as we get older we are less open to change. I definitely sit in this category and sunglasses for me have sat in the “I like what I have” category. That was until recently when I tried the latest G2H5 lens in a GT frame from Mako eyewear.

Being set in your ways is one thing, but generally there are good reasons for it and with my sunglasses it has been the need for a quality lens, comfort/fit, style and durability.

After speaking to the team at Mako Eyewear they suggested the new G2H5 lens in their GT frame was the way to go. I got them just before our Christmas break and was looking forward to giving them a good test.

First Impressions Comfort and fit was the first thing I noticed.

They are lightweight lens and complimented with the GT frame, they are very comfortable to wear. The small rubber pads at the end of the arms ensure the glasses sit snugly on your

might be much easier.

In total contrast to the tiny creek in the Hunter was the blue water off Wooli in Northern NSW. I was impressed with how the lenses dramatically reduced the suns glare off the water. It really helped with spotting bait schools busting up in the distance and once you snuck up on them it made it very easy to see the direction the fish were going and place a cast in the right spot to entice a bite. The

kingies never had a chance.

My favourite form of fishing is targeting flathead in the estuaries around the Gold Coast. This can be either in the deeper water around the Jumpin Pin bar, Gold Coast Seaway or in the shallow water whether it’s the sand flats, mangroves and drains throughout the system. They all rely on you being able to see changes in depth and structure as the flathead love ambushing their pray in these areas. The glasses have proven to be fantastic for doing this.

The Technology Mako Eyewear has been around for decades now and their desire to stay at the forefront of lens technology has not diminished.

They are constantly striving to enhance the end users experience when it comes to everything outdoors. I am the first to admit that my knowledge about the ins and outs of the technology is limited, however after a bit of research I found out the following. The basis of the lenses high contrast capabilities is the introduction of a new Rose lens in combination with a Green Mirror and Mako’s high definition filter. The Rose colour was chosen due to its high contrast capabilities (meaning it enhances the differences in brightness and colour, making objects clearer to the human eye). Add the HD filter for improved clarity and the glare reduction of the Green Mirror and you have a superior lens for any fishing applications.

To find you nearest stockist or to get more information on the range of Mako Eyewear go to www.makoeyewear.com.au. A set of G2H5 lenses in a GT Frame will set you back $289.95 and from my experience they are worth every cent.

– Michael Fox

TESTED: ATC VALIANT SW SPINNING REELS The fishing reel market is a highly competitive one. I still remember what my first boss said to me about selling fishing reels.

“Explain to your customer it is better to spend a little more, as the benefits in longevity and function will always outweigh any dollars saved”, he explained. Those words or words to that effect have rung in my ears for more than 30 years and has proven to be correct time and time again.

So keeping this mind, I was given a 2000 size ATC Valiant SW spin reel to try out by the team at Wilson Fishing. Retailing from $160, the ATC Valiant SW reels fit in the medium price point bracket and offer features that someone purchasing a more expensive reel may be looking for. After the customary spin of the handle and the “that feels good”, I was looking forward to seeing what they had to offer.

My first task was to spool it with braid. I normally spool all of my reels with a spooling machine, but I decided for the sake of testing that I would use the hand spooler to see how it lay the line on the spool (I have had reels lay the line in big ridges in the past which is less than ideal). The end result was a spool that looked like it had been spooled on a machine.

Time to get out on the water To me, there is no better test of a spin reel than hopping plastics for flathead. I can hear a few sniggers out there, but a day on the water whipping a 1/2oz or 3/8oz jighead and plastic will soon sort out if a reel is going to last or not.

My local haunt is the Pine River in Brisbane. The main structure in the system

8+1 S/S corrosion resistant ball bearings (hence the smooth feel and excellent line return/layering to the spool).

If it is drag you want, then there is plenty to like about the ATC Valiant SW reels. The 2000 and 3000 size reels have 8kg maximum drag and the 4000 and 5000 have a massive 11kg maximum drag. To deal with this type of drag pressure the spool, body and rotor of the reels are made of aluminium. Add to this an ergonomic handle and you have a reel that is the real deal.

Conclusion I can see a lot of people enjoying the value for money and quality the ATC Valiant SW reels offer. I can also see my old boss looking down at me and thinking ‘maybe he did listen’…

For more information or to find your nearest stockist go to www.wilsonfishing. com.au - Peter Jung Whipping a 1/2oz jighead and plastic for flathead is a good test setting for any light reel, and the ATC Valiant SW stood up to it – no wind knots! is its two bridges followed by all the flats and run offs in between.

I matched the reel up to a 2-4kg spin rod, attached a 15lb leader to the 6lb Mustad Thor braid and headed to the largest of the two bridges, to hop plastics in and around the pylons. The fish have been kind over the three trips so far, with well over 30 fish hitting the net.

A few things that have immediately impressed me are that I have not had a wind knot (a big surprise to me as this is one of the biggest pains for any angler hopping

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

plastics), the drag is very smooth (although I haven’t really given it a solid workout) and the out of the box smooth feel remains, even after minimal maintenance post fishing with the reel.

Like most anglers I tend to have a favourite outfit and it’s usually the one you start any fishing session using. My outfit with the ATC Valiant SW reel is fast becoming that outfit.

Features The ATC Valiant SW series comes in four sizes , from SW2000-SW5000) They have

visit www.tacklejunkie.fish for the latest tackle news - AS IT HAPPENS! MARCH 2015

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Crays, kings, tuna – it’s all happening this month namely Port Phillip Bay also offers the same list of species and areas like Mornington, Black Rock, Point Cook, Saint Leonards and Queenscliff are all well worth a try and offer fun and exciting diving.

Of course, we are still in the peak of the yellowtail kingfish season and there have been exceptional

WEST COAST

Shane Lowery

March can be one of the most exciting and productive months for spearfishers from right across the state with continuing warm waters and a peak in pelagic species, reef species and southern rock lobster numbers.

The shallows of the far South West through to the Far East Coast are alive with both reef species and rock lobster at this time of year. After a slow but steady start to

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MARCH 2015

It’s not unusual for school tuna to be encountered in the shallows around both Portland and Port Fairy at the very start of the season.

Amazingly, there were also reports of both kingfish and SBT schooling together around Julia Percy Island and that’s an extremely exciting prospect for the avid blue water hunter.

Nathan ‘Watto’ Watson with a couple of nice South West Coast crays.

Nathan Watson with a cracking Central Coast king. Now is the time to get out and chase this brutal fish species. the southern rock lobster season, things have really improved in terms of numbers and average size.

It seemed to be a little later than usual when the larger crays turned up on inshore reefs after migrating in from the deeper waters, but areas across the state are now producing some fantastic crays for those hunting the reef patches. Around 5m and less is generally the best depth to focus on.

South West locations such as Portland and Port Fairy provide prime waters for hunting reef species such as King George whiting, snapper, snook, sea sweep and trevally just to name a few.

Killarney, Griffith Island and the sheltered bays and lagoons are all great places to dive and find yourself a quality feed of fish.

The Melbourne region,

numbers of fish around in the usual areas so far this year. The north shore at Portland, Julia Percy Island and Killarney have all been holding fish. There has been plenty of smaller ‘rat’ kingies about, but I’ve seen fish in the 15-20kg bracket on several occasions.

On the Central Coast there have been some

Victorian State Team manager Bruce Lowenthal and Rob Torelli, the Australian Open Spearfishing Champion for the 9th time, holding the Open Trophy.

Team Rob Torelli sponsored divers displaying a great bag of crays taken on a team-training dive.

quality fish landed around Kennett River and heading further east, plenty of opportunities in the common locations.

Cape Schank, Nobbies, Pyramid Rock and the islands off Wilsons Prom are all regular hangouts for kingfish.

On the Far East Coast there has also been large numbers of good kingies and Lakes Entrance, Marlo and right to the border at Mallacoota have all been exceptional.

March is also the time of year that those experienced enough turn their minds to blue water hunting and in particular, tuna! This year is looking like a great season again with the first news of southern bluefin tuna in the Portland area coming in at the end of January.

Anglers chasing schools of salmon on the North Shore caught tuna to 20kg.

On another note, in January I was involved with the running of, and competed in the 2015 Australian Spearfishing titles, which drew the country’s best divers to compete. I was extremely happy to have finished in 10th place and I congratulate all the competitors.

Special mention goes out to good mate and champion diver Robert Torelli, and I congratulate him on winning his 9th open title, which is an amazing achievement. This clearly proved that Rob is undoubtedly one of, if not the best, competitive diver ever in the long history of the National Spearfishing Competition.

Also, a huge congratulations goes to Mac Riddle, who took out the Junior Championship and I have no doubt will go on to also become a true legend of the sport.

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E X P E R I E N C E M O R E AT E V I N R U D E . C O M MARCH 2015

89

Sticking it to whiting on top NSW STH COAST

Steve Starling www.starlofishing.com

In the concluding instalment of his two-part primer on the basics of topwater luring for yellowfin, sand or silver whiting, Starlo examines the rise of the stickbait, and also lifts the lid on some tricky twists for hooking more of these great fish.

Last month in this column, I outlined the basics of surface or topwater fishing for sand

action, with the lure bobbing, weaving and zig-zagging from side to side. Each brand and model of stick bait requires a slightly different retrieve to achieve its best action, but the basic method is to constantly crank the reel handle at a slow to medium pace while bouncing or flicking the rod tip with a regular, mechanical cadence, rather like one of those metronomes musicians use to maintain the beat.

You can either angle the rod down towards the water (best when standing on the

Assist hooks aren’t perfect. Here, the forces exerted during a torrid encounter with a stud whiting have pulled one hook free of its cord (the unconnected hook is just visible in the fish’s mouth). Luckily, the second hook held! and sucking noisily at a fleeing prawn, while stickbaits mimic the prawn itself. Poppers rely on an ‘uneducated’ or fired-up fish tracking the sound to its source and then not stopping to question why the phantom predator and its prey have suddenly

Starlo has taken to retrofitting most of his surface stickbaits with tiny, needle-sharp assist hooks when targeting whiting and bream.

This move definitely increases hook-ups!

The characteristic ‘zig-zag’ wake of a well-presented surface stickbait.

These lures do their best work in calmer conditions such as these. and yellowfin whiting, mainly using small, cup-faced poppers.

I explained that this was one of the deadliest and most exciting new forms of southern estuary fishing to come along in the last decade or so.

In that column, I also touched briefly on the use of ‘walk-the-dog’ style surface stickbaits, but promised to tell you more about them this month, as well as sharing some other advances in topwater whiting fishing.

So, here we go!

To be honest, these days I hardly ever use poppers for whiting unless the water is badly chopped up by wind. Today, I much prefer to throw floating stickbaits. In the places where I fish, bigger whiting (which are quite old fish) have now seen a lot of poppers, and I find they can be rather suspicious of them. Stickbaits are more subtle and sneaky and seem able to go on catching these more ‘educated’ whiting season after season.

The trick with surface stickbaits lies in achieving that deadly walk-the-dog 90

MARCH 2015

deck of a boat) or upwards at 45° (when wading or sitting in a kayak). You’ll need to experiment a little to get it right but when you

do, you’ll know!

My theory is that cup-faced poppers provide a sonic imitation of another whiting or bream slurping

The moment of truth as a stud whiting chases a topwater stickbait!

A typical assist hook-up. This tenuous (but successful) connection would most likely have been just another missed hit on a standard treble hook.

merged into one small dollop of plastic. However, as already mentioned, I’m increasingly finding that this particular deception is no longer as effective as it once was. By representing the prey item itself, 50-85mm stickbaits have given topwater whiting (and bream) fishing a whole new lease on life.

The other big breakthrough for me this past season has been the adoption of small, wickedly sharp ‘assist’ hooks, rigged to dangle from the tail of my stick bait. These little singles on their short droppers have significantly increased my hook-up rate, especially on more hesitant or uncommitted whiting (and bream) that might only make one quick nip at the back of the lure before fading from sight.

I began by using Ecogear’s replacement hook sets for their brilliant ZX series of metal blades.

These are superb bits of

kit, but a tad expensive, and also prone to an occasional failure when the non-eyed, flatted shank hooks pull free of their connection knot or snell.

So, I’ve begun making my own. I’m damned if I can find hooks quite as good as the ones Ecogear use in their ZX replacement kits, but I’m getting close, and definitely hooking more whiting than I did back in my treble-only days.

Like all forms of modern sport fishing, I’m sure that targeting topwater whiting will continue to evolve over coming seasons. But the one thing that won’t change is the incredible thrill of seeing a lit-up, elbow-slapper of a whiting streak up from the bottom to climb all over your dancing surface lure! If you haven’t tried it yet, you really need to, and the good news is that there’s still enough time (and warm water) left this year to have a crack!

HAWK FISHING • FIND-A-WORD COMPETITION

Goodbye Summer

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Address

P/Code Phone (day):

The first correct entry at the end of each month will win a Hawk Fishing cap, Hawk Fishing line, Hawk HB Lure, assorted Panther Martin lures and 3 packets of Youvella chemically sharpened hooks.

SEND ENTRIES TO:

VIC Hawk Tournament Competition PO box 3172, Loganholme Qld 4129 VIC MARCH 2015

FINS SCALES & TALES by A. Both

SUBSCRIBER PRIZE The subscriber prize winner for January was S Stuart of Frankston, who won a pair of Tonic YouRanium sunglasses.

All subscribers are entered in the monthly subscriber prize draws. Prize delivery takes up to 8 weeks. – VTFM

FIND THE VMC LOGO WINNERS

BARRA COUNTRY by Brett Currie

BITE ME by Trisha Mason

The Find the VMC logo prize winners for January were: N Angee of Buninyong, H Skeer of Millicent, R Barns of Euroa, L Milkins of Wonthaggi, A Burt of Ballarat, H Stapelfeldt of Nunawading, L Gruar of Portland, F Olesko of Braybrock, J Saunderson of Chelsea, G Parfett of Horsham, J Williams of Neerim South, P Gigliotti of Coburg North, B Pontt of Loxton, M Dohorm of Strathfieldsaye, R Batty of Brighton, C Kelly of Cranbourne, T Metherell of Narre Warren South, T Mathieson of Patterson Lakes, G Bell of Rosebud West, D Armstrong of Newborough, A Foster of Drouin, B Whyte of Myers Flat, J Sutherland of Trevallyn, J Randall of Torquay, R Newton of Wangaratta, L Murray of Sale, P Cobb of Berrigan, I Lovel of Bealiba, W Ji of Glen Waverley, K Morrison of Moama, R McMillan of Grovedale, D Hill of Cranbourne North, F Waugh of South Dreeite, R Meaney of Tungamah, T Hodgkinson of Kiabram, G Ball of Dennington, T Laidlaw of Portland, B Cunningham of Milduran, T Tennant of Sandhurst, J Killian of Briar Hill.

Prize delivery takes up to 8 weeks. – VTFM

FIND THE VMC LOGO JANUARY LOCATIONS GEORGE & NEV by Michael Hardy

The Find the VMC logo prize winners for January were: 12, 16, 22, 30, 35, 41, 44, 50, 54, 61, 66, 72, 89, 91, 97. – VTFM

FIND-A-WORD WINNER Congratulations to D. Cunningham of Broadmeadows, who was last month’s winner of the Hawk Tournament Find-a-Word Competition!

Monthly winners receive Hawk Tournament Tested Bayer Perlon IGFA line, assorted Panther Martin lures, Youvella hooks and a keyring. Prize delivery can take 8 weeks. – VTFM 1

• DECEMBER 2010

MARCH 2015

91

Sounder basics: what’s all that Chirp about?

SOUTHERN BAY

Nabeel Issa

So if you have been looking at or reading about sounders in the past year or so, there is no doubt you may have come across the word Chirp.

It’s been a bit of a buzzword lately and is becoming a mainstay feature in the marine electronics world. Initially only available expensive top end sounders and often needing a big add on box, Chirp is now readily available and built into affordable, entrylevel units.

WHAT IS IT? It’s really quite simple.

A normal transducer (the part that connects to your sounder and goes into the water) will send out waves in the water at a certain frequency, commonly

these are 83kHz, 50kHz and 200kHz, depending on your sounder and the transducer you have. These waves are sent into the water and then bounce back to the transducer, which is then translated as the image on our sounder screen.

Chirp works slightly different, it too sends out waves into the water, but instead of it being at just one set frequency it sends the waves out in various frequencies at the one time. Again, depending on the transducer you have, you will have different options, but generally chirp will give you the option of ‘High’, ‘Medium’ and ‘Low’.

In Lowrance sounders, High Chirp will send out frequency waves between 160-240kHz, Medium will send waves out at 60-100kHz and Low

will send out waves at 40-60kHz. As a general rule of thumb, High Chirp is suited to shallower water that you would find in most estuaries, rivers, lakes and dams. It’s range is useful to about to about 70-80m.

In water around 100m, Medium Chirp is a better option and then in deeper water (150m+), Low Chirp is the best to use. Of course this a very general rule and it will vary with which transducer and settings you are using.

WHAT GOOD IS IT TO ME? Now you know how it works, what are the benefits of this technology? Thanks to the multiple frequencies being sent out, we are able to receive more information and in turn produce a better sonar image.

With Chirp you will instantly find that there is a

This diagram is an example of how Chirp sound waves work compared to traditional sonar.

Sonar Hub serves as a Chirp add on for Lowrance HDS Gen2 models. Most recently, Lowrance HDS Gen3 have been released and come built in with Chirp.

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reduction of clutter through the screen. The screen will appear much clearer. This is a big help when moving at high speeds.

Another benefit with Chirp and in my opinion the most important is its target separation. This is, its ability to distinguish objects that are close together and not just show them as one big cloud of colour. With standard sonar set on a single frequency, if we go over a piece of structure that has fish holding tight in close to it, it can be hard to tell if the fish are actually there. Chirp will help in this situation by giving us better definition, which will help show us pick out what’s really down there.

Another cool feature with Chirp is its crisp fish arches. Arches come

Lee Parkhouse saved this image. This was taken with a dedicated Chirp Transducer and Sonar Hub. out clean and clear and extremely easy to see. The multiple frequencies of Chirp really make things easy for anglers.

HOW DO I GET IT? As mentioned earlier, Chirp is becoming more and more available in entry level units. There was a time when Chirp was considered a top end feature and was very expensive. But as technology advances we are starting to see it move through the sounder ranges.

The Lowrance Elite range offers Chirp in its sounders in 4, 5, 7 and 9” models.

Chirp is also available as an add on ‘plug and play’ feature for Lowrance HDS Gen 2 through the Sonar Hub module. I have been using this for the past couple of months with my HDS Touch units.

can get you with a Chirp capable sounder.

TRANSDUCERS Transducers are an important part of getting great results from Chirp. In the Lowrance range, Chirp will work with the generic transducers that are supplied, (83/200kHz, 50/200kHz and HDI Transducer) and this is what I have been using on my setup. This will give a good quality Chirp image without breaking the bank.

If you want to step it up and move onto something that will make the most of your Chirp sounder, there are aftermarket specific Chirp transducers available. Some of these will allow you to select the exact frequency range you would like to cover, this lets you finetune things exactly how

Chirp dedicated and from all reports produces some great readings.

Some Chirp transducers can also offer a higher power output (600w and 1kw), which can help penetrate the depths in deep water.

Chirp sounders are here to stay and with good reason. Over the past couple of years I have mainly stuck with my favoured structure scan for my fish finding. But since using the Sonar Hub module and adding Chirp to my sounder I have found myself using it more and more to pick up on the finer details. It’s a valuable tool to have at your disposal as anglers!

For more information on Chirp check out the Lowrance website, there

This screen shot shows Chirp (Top Left) used alongside Structure Scan. Chirp shows some clear fish arches on the drop off.

Depending on your budget and what sort of set up you require there are plenty of options that

you want and can give you outstanding results.

Have a look at the Airmar TM-150 Transducer, this is

are a few videos that provide some more insight into how the sounders work, well worth a look.

What trailer setup is best for my boat?

SYDNEY

Christian Bold

One of the most common requests we get at our workshop is, “Can you make my boat easier to

launch and retrieve from the trailer?” The short answer and the one everyone loves to hear is yes. There are a number of options to make launch and retrieval a piece of cake, compared to earlier

days where no matter what type of boat you had, there was only 1 option. In this article we are going to explore the different types of trailer systems available to make life easier for you.

channels on an aluminium hull, and if the boat isn’t centred perfectly when winching it onto the trailer, wobble rollers can push the hull to one side, causing the boat to sit lop-sided. This is frustrating for the owner.

- Wobble rollers wear faster under an aluminium hull, due to the aluminium pulling on the edges of the roller.

ROLLER BUNKS Roller bunks are used on a lot of sit-on jet skis, but are also becoming more popular as a replacement for carpeted bunks on boat trailers. Roller bunks are great for sit-on jet skis, as they allow you to push the ski straight off for launch and drive straight on when retrieving.

A lot of American trailers are fitted with carpeted bunks; this means when launching the trailer you need to sink the trailer into the water to the point that the rear of the boat is floating in order to launch.

Using a roller bank as an

alternative allows you to push or drive the boat off the trailer in shallower water without damaging either. Keep in mind that this type of system does not suit all fibreglass boats, so seek expert advice before changing to this system.

KEEL ROLLERS Keel rollers are fitted in the centre of each cross member on a trailer, and can be used on both fibreglass and aluminium boats. They can be installed on single, double or triple brackets, or can be on a rail going all the way up the centre of the trailer. Most trailers with skids have keel rollers; they are added as support to the keel for both launching and retrieving. They also help with centring the boat when driving up onto the trailer.

The different types of keel rollers include: - Soft poly — used on fibreglass boats - Hard poly — used on aluminium boats - Rubber — used on fibreglass boats

ROLLERS Rollers are a great system for all boats, and as the name suggests they allow you to roll the boat off and on the trailer. There are 3 different types of roller setup you will find on a trailer, depending on the make, shape and weight of the boat.

WOBBLE ROLLERS Most commonly used on fibreglass boats, wobble rollers move (or wobble) to the shape of the boat hull, allowing the boat to easily roll off the trailer when launching, and roll up when winching it back on. By having wobble rollers, you don’t need to sink the trailer into the water as much as other systems. When set up correctly, you can also drive the boat up onto the trailer with ease.

The main reasons we don’t recommend wobble rollers for an aluminium hull are: - Wobble Rollers can put pressure on the aluminium hull, leaving dents behind.

- There are a number of

SKIDS Skids are made up of 2 primary materials — Teflon or carpet. What your boat is constructed from will determine what material your skids will be made of. One great advantage of having skids is the amount of support it gives to the boat when travelling.

TEFLON SKIDS Aluminium boats are renowned for having trailers with Teflon skids under them. The skid is made up of 50mm x 50mm galvanised tube with a Teflon strip fastened on top. The Teflon has a groove up the centre to

allow rivet heads to sit lower than the contact point of the Teflon. When set up correctly with the hull of the boat, you are able to drive the boat onto the trailer and the skids will keep the boat centred. I would not recommend using this system on a fibreglass glass boat, as the Teflon can scratch on the hull.

CARPET SKIDS/BUNKS Carpet skids or bunks are used on fibreglass boats and are usually found on American-made trailers.

They add support to the boat’s hull when travelling.

A lot of custom-made trailers

will also use them, as they allow the trailer to ‘hug’ the boat when under it. Although they can make a trailer look great with the boat on top, there are a few disadvantages to having this system.

- The wood rots over time - The carpet can tear, exposing the boat hull to wood splinters, causing damage - The boat needs to float off the trailer, which means you need to sink the trailer deeper into the water. This in turn exposes more of the trailer’s mechanical parts to salt water

OTHER SYSTEMS THAT ASSIST LAUNCHING AND RETRIEVING Two other systems that can assist in centring your boat onto the trailer are: - Centre Line: these are positioned both sides of keel rollers and help aluminium boat hulls to slide into the centre of the trailer if you were to drive or pull the boat in off-centre.

- Gliders: Used the same way as Centre Lines, Gliders are used on larger fibreglass boats, protecting the hull from the trailer frame and cross members, which could cause damage if the boat is retrieved un-centred.

The best thing to do if you are getting frustrated because your boat is not coming up straight on the trailer is to take it to a trailer specialist like Bold Trailers, as they can assess the boat’s hull and the system you have on the trailer. It could be a simple case of the trailer not being set up correctly for the shape of your boat. Boating should be relaxing and stress free, and

the last thing you want after a day out on the water is to be arguing with the person trying to centre your boat on the trailer as you’re driving it on.

• Christian Bold, also known as ‘The Trailer Guy’, is one of Australia’s leading trailer and caravan repair specialists. As the director of Bold Trailers

he is a licensed motor mechanic, auto electrician and automotive body builder.

Christian is also an AUVIS and e-safety examiner for the RMS. You can contact Christian at Bold Trailers on

CHRISTIAN BOLD Christian Bold, also known as ‘The Trailer Guy’, is one of Australia’s leading trailer and caravan repair specialists.

As the Director of Bold Trailers, he is a licensed motor mechanic, auto electrician and automotive body builder.

Christian is also an AUVIS and e-safety examiner for the RMS. You can contact Christian and the team at Bold Trailers for any information regarding trailer and caravan repairs, maintenance, modifications, legal requirements, imported trailers, parts and accessories, and new

02 8544 8114, or for more information visit www. boldtrailers.com.au.

and used trailers for sale.

Their friendly technicians are always willing to help you to make the towing experience safe and enjoyable. For more great tips go to www. boldtrailers.com.au or phone: (02) 8544 8114.

MARCH 2015

93

Morningstar Bay Rover SYDNEY SOUTH

Gary Brown gbrown1@iprimus.com.au

If you are after a boat that has plenty of grunt to pull you out of the water on skis, plenty of speed to get you to where you want to go, while at the same time giving you and the family a extremely comfortable and dry ride, then the Morningstar 4.6m Bay Rover G with a 90hp Honda is the boat for you.

PERFORMANCE The sleek and stylish Morningstar Bay Rover G really has been designed with the family in mind. Not only can you easily go fishing in this rig, you can also tow a couple of skiers or a float tube behind it. On the day of the test, the swell was coming in from the east at about 1-2m with a slight nor’ easterly blowing at around 10-12 knots. The Bay Rover G handled the conditions with ease. Not only was the ride very smooth when going into the swell as we passed the headland at Barrenjoey, but the ride was very dry.

I also found when turning the boat so it ran side-on to the wind that there was no spray coming over the side

giving us a salty shower. The combination of the 4-piece stretch formed hull and the Origrid frame deliver a boat that looks great, is light in weight, super strong, tough and robust, and rides and performs almost like a fibreglass hull.

On closer inspection, I believe that the revolutionary design of the aluminium plate formed hull with a second reversed chine is like no other. During the forming, thousands tonnes of force is applied on premium aluminium plates and the

The sleek lines of the Morningstar Bay Rover are very impressive.

The second chine has been reversed. This, combined with the flared-bow, pushes spray down, giving a stable and dry riding experience.

Top: Whether driving standing up or sitting, you can still see over the windscreen.

Above Left: The underfloor kill tank drains into the bottom of the boat, so fishos will need to remove the bung and give it a good washout after a fishing session. Above Right: There are storage pockets on both sides of the cockpit.

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material becomes a little liquid-like, evenly spreading on dedicated design dies. Flat plates then become complex shapes. This allows the single plate bottom of Morningstar Boats to incorporate reverse chines, strakes and variable deadrise, thereby eliminating an external extrusion.

The axe-like forefoot allows Morningstar Boats to cut into waves briefly, while the deeper V near the keel slices into the water, creating a stable track. When turning, particularly at high speeds, the last thing you want is your boat slipping sideways and not making the turn as you would expect. The reverse chines and strakes on the Morningstar bottom plate act like treads on your car tyres, holding the boat steady.

Additionally, side plates and gunwales can now be integrated into a streamlined shape with a second chine and flared-bow. Together, these formed plates give the hull outstanding hydraulic properties, both static and dynamic. That’s why they call it the Hydro Hull.

With two people on board, the 90hp Honda 4-stroke had the boat up on the plane in less than 3 times the length of the boat. Even though I didn’t tow any water skiers, I would say from previous experience of towing them that this outfit would do it with ease.

SAFETY When driving a boat like the Bay Rover G, I prefer to stand behind the steering wheel. This is mainly due to the fact that I am not that tall!

What I did find at the helm was that even when sitting I could easily see over the windscreen.

The boat comes complete with grab rails that are situated just inside the climbthrough windscreen, plus there is one on either side of the back of the boat for passengers sitting on the folddown seat at the rear.

The designers of the Morningstar range have applied 3D forming techniques to the production of the hull plates. This forming of non-developable surfaces stretches the hull slightly in multiple directions

SPECIFICATIONS Overall length:.................................................4.65m Overall on-trailer length:.................................. 6.3m (motor in locked position) Beam:....................................................................2m Trailer width from outside of guards:..............2.1m Weight:.............................................................388kg Max load:.........................................................755kg Max persons:..........................................................5 Max outboard:...................................................90hp Fuel tank:................ 60L underfloor, AT60 aluminium Steering system:.................................... Mechanical Bow rails:............................................... Bow and aft Bow roller:........................................................... Yes Prop size:.........................................13 1/2 x 15 alloy Variable deadrise:............................................... 19° Depth amidships:......................................... 700mm Battery type and size: ...... SeaMaster Gold MFM50 800MCA 640CCA Sealed Trailer:.................. Mackay, braked and fully rollered. and dramatically increases its strength, while at the same time adding additional strength to the hardened plates. Robots are used in most of the Morningstar welding jobs, so this gives a precise and consistent weld standard to ensure every Morningstar boat achieves its design quality.

ERGONOMICS The boat comes with a

keep and watch their smaller catches for later release.

Up front there are two comfortable padded seats that can be adjusted in height by folding over a pad situated at the front of the chair.

What I need is plenty of storage in my boat for all those bait rigs, terminal tackle, lures and soft plastics.

The Bay Rover does have a small amount of area up

The Bay Rover was very easy to drive up onto the trailer. plywood carpeted floor, a fold-down and easily stored bench seat at the rear, an underfloor drained kill tank for all those fish you are going to catch, and a 20L plumbed live bait tank for holding yellowtail, squid or poddy mullet. The bait tank is not only good at keeping bait alive and kicking, but also keeps plate size catches fresh. Its flexibility even lets it become an on-board aquarium, perfect for kids to

front, but if you talk to the guys at Enterprise Marine, I am sure they will be able to customise something to suit your requirements.

On the test boat, the instrument panel contained the following; a fuel gauge, rev counter, voltage gauge and a 12V socket. The 5 black switches from left to right are navigation lights, anchor light, bilge pump, live bait aerator and a spare.

Once again I would have

preferred to have the gauges further up on the console, but that’s just a personal thing and the guys at Enterprise Marine can customise the layout to fit in with your needs.

The boat comes with a covered anchor well, which can be accessed by climbing through the lockable hatch at the front of the cuddy cabin.

This is a great asset to have when you are driving the boat up onto the trailer or deploying the anchor.

There is plenty of room to mount a GPS/sounder combo, compass and so on up behind

the windscreen. Maybe you would also like to install a waterproof sound system to listen to those fishing updates, weather forecasts, or to get the latest cricket scores?

The two trailer hooks on the transom are just as flexible as everything else; it can keep the boat on a trailer, or it could be put to better use for towing tube or water skiers. That will definitely leave a lasting smile on the whole family.

FISHABILITY The boat I tested came with 3 plastic rod holders.

There were two on either side

at the rear of the boat and one directly in the middle at the back. Personally, I would get one of their removable selfdraining bait tables installed on the transom. This means that I could put it in when I needed it for fishing, and remove it if I was taking a couple of mates water skiing.

If you were only going to use the boat for fishing, you may like to do away with the rear fold-down bench seat and put one of those above floor combination storage/seats just up front of the underfloor kill tank.

NOISE Different from conventional pressed or plate alloy boats, Morningstar boats are constructed with fewer parts. This is done by adopting 3D-formed single plate bottoms, single plate sides incorporating gunwales, and their patented Origrid stiffener system.

This construction, along with the one section flared sides and reversed chines, not only gives the boat tremendous strength, but it also cuts down on noise when travelling at speed and

coming off a wave or wake.

The boat tested on the day had a Honda 90hp 4-stroke outboard on it, and it was so quiet you could easily have a conversation while travelling, making it a very quiet boat overall.

The Morningstar Hydro Hull comes with a five-year warranty and the boat tested also has a water safety kit, boat and trailer registration, battery box, fold-down ladder and a non-slip pad, plus all the required navigation lights.

For more information

please visit Aussie Boat Sales at 34 The Strand, Williamstown 3016 contact them on 03 9397 6977 or visit www.morningstarboat. com.au. Price is $32,970, based on an 80hp outboard. • Quoted performance figures have been supplied by the writer in good faith.

Performance of individual boat/motor/ trailer packages may differ due to variations in engine installations, propellers, hull configurations, options, hull loading and trailer specifications.

Left: The fold-down bench can be stored away or removed to free up a bit more room.

Right: As you can see from this shot, there is what could be described as a booster seat for shorties!

NEW SOUTH WALES

Enterprise Marine Penrith Marine

(02) (02)

VICTORIA

Aussie Boat Sales

(03)

9999 5558 4731 6250 9397 6977

34 The Strand Williamstown Vic. 3016

MARCH 2015

95

Haines Signature 650F Hard Top BRISBANE

Wayne Kampe wkff@aapt.net.au

As the largest of the Haines Signature F series craft, the 650F Hard Top is regarded by many fishing and boating enthusiasts as arguably the ultimate trailerable fishing boat.

The point is that this craft just has so much going for it, from the beautifully proportioned lines of the sleek fibreglass hull, neat cuddy cab and high cockpit sides, all linked to enough standard fishing features to satisfy any angler wanting to have the lot at the finger tips. And there are a lot of options! In the reviewed craft alone they stretched from outrigger poles to an auto pilot, massive Garmin unit and other goodies. And let’s not overlook the ride from the variable deadrise hull. In all, the ride was very enjoyable whether just cruising or really punching along.

The 650F offers several transom options for the buyer; the reviewed craft being equipped with a full size engine well, clear sided recirculating live well plus a locking transom door.

POWER ANCHOR WINCH THE WAY TO GO The reviewed 650F was anchor winch equipped. I feel that most owners would opt for a power winch in lieu of accessing the anchor hatch via the cabin’s front hatch.

It’s possible to go forward to

the front of the 650’s cabin making use of various hard top hand holds (which I did on the beach) but I could not see this being viable at sea.

When leaving the craft from the front, the large bow rail offered excellent security.

Within the 650 F’s cabin, I noted ample headroom, soft lining, overhead pockets plus plenty of light from windows. Excellent cushions would allow a couple to sleep in comfort and there were generously large storage lockers under the 2m+ bunks.

Entry was via a locking sliding door.

Note that an under floor compartment was located just outside the cabin door and would be handy for the skipper and first mate’s tucker or cold drinks.

With a fully enclosed hardtop on a stainless steel

frame the 650F’s helm area and forward seating were thoroughly weather protected thanks to the shelter provided by the hard top and wiper equipped curved windscreen up front, paired sliding side windows. Note that cockpit lights were set into the rear of the targa framework with some 7 rod holders up top.

DUAL INSTRUMENT AREA The craft’s full width moulded dash area incorporated a locking glove box with a grab handle under it for the first mate; a side pocket with drink holder at the elbow. The 650F’s main dash area was a split system in that Garmin GMI 20 gauges monitoring the Suzuki 250 were set up above the windscreen, within the hard top’s return, along with a VHF marine radio

and compass. In this location it would only take a glance upwards for the skipper to keep in touch.

Directly ahead of the helm seating was a very neat moulded binnacle with a padded lip providing shade over the craft’s (optional) Garmin GPS Map 8015 unit.

The craft’s 3-spoke wheel was directly below with banks of rocker switches set each side, as well as under, the wheel. Controls for the craft’s GHP auto pilot (another option) were prominent while the Suzuki 250’s forward controls, featuring Suzuki’s ultra smooth Precision Control System, were side mounted along with an ignition key plus other controls, among them being trim tab activators.

In all it was a very

The 650F’s hull requires plenty of power with the 250 Suzuki filling the bill admirably. neat dash layout, definitely highlighted by the fact that the moulded binnacle could be unlocked from the adjacent moulding and tilted back to allow access to the extremely neat wiring tucked behind it.

Without doubt this was one of the best set ups I’ve seen; a marine mechanic’s dream come true.

Forward seating was of deluxe standard with slide adjustable bolster fronted buckets (featuring double stitched upholstery) mounted on rigid stainless frames and affording both skipper and first mate highest levels of visibility and comfort.

Interestingly, padded Waeco ice boxes were strapped into place under each seat allowing a further two anglers to stay up front enjoying both shelter from the elements and ease of conversation. On longer trips, both issues are quite important!

MASSIVE SIDE POCKETS IN COCKPIT What I noticed next was the 700mm deep cockpit

accessible while under way.

At the rear of the starboard pocket, a battery isolator and other switches were within easy reach while a deck wash was snugged into the aft section of the port pocket.

Additional features included paired rod holders plus large grab rails atop gunwales as well as 1m long under floor storage compartments each side of the cockpit work area. At the full height transom, a fully plumbed clear fronted live bait tank sat to starboard, battery compartment central, with a locking boarding gate to port, boarding ladder directly aft. A moulded bait station featured a cutting board and tackle tray plus drink holders. Completing stern features were teak inlaid boarding platforms each side of the Suzuki 250.

PERFORMANCE AND FISHABILITY The 650 F’s Standard Variable Deadrise Hull – featuring a fine entry

TECHNICAL INFORMATION. Length..............................................................6.50m Beam................................................................2.50m Length on trailer................................ approx. 7.60m Height on trailer................................ approx. 2.45m Hull weight.................................................... 1250kg Deadrise........................................................... 21.3° Fuel....................................................................270L Engine ratings......................................... 150-250hp Engine fitted..............................250 Suzuki 4-stroke Persons...................................................................7 Towing......................................................Larger 4x4

Top: With almost half of the craft devoted to fishing room the Haines Signature 650F offers a lot for the dedicated offshore angler. Above Left: Here’s a feature that really sets this craft into a class of its own: fully accessible and extremely neat helm wiring. Middle Right: Deep storage compartments under bunks were just one aspect of the 650F’s features that owners could enjoy.

Above Right: Big ice boxes with seat squabs on them will keep a couple of passengers in touch with skipper and mate, plus provide plenty of cold storage capability.

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with it’s teak flooring, plus a welcome plethora of features for the angling team, 4 of whom could fish with complete ease in that big half-of-craft cockpit. Without doubt, the prominent cockpit feature was the sheer volume of the 650S’s off floor side pockets, which extended from the transom forward to the rear of the cuddy cab.

These were huge, providing plenty of room for tackle boxes, gaffs, tag poles and other large items as well as brace points for the feet under them. Each pocket also incorporated horizontal rod racks to keep rods readily

running back to a 21° ‘V’ section astern (and with some impressive under hull strakes in between) weighs in around 1250kg. The excellent design plus weight then combine to offer one of the best rides to be found in a modern fibreglass craft.

There’s no denying the fact that this 7-person rated rig needs to be well powered.

Accordingly, engine ratings are from 150-250hp, which saw the V6 250 Suzuki as top power.

Whisper quiet at idle, I noted that even at near full throttle the 3.6L V6 hardly intruded upon

cockpit conversation. The rig planed at 14.2km/h at a mere 2500rpm, 3000rpm saw 25.6km/h, 4000rpm saw 48.6km/h, 5000rpm to 62.8km/h and 6000rpm got us flying along at 75.5km/h.

Fuel consumption figures were interesting. At planing speed the big Signature was using 13.5L/h. At a fast plane of 25.6km/h, (3000rpm) fuel consumption was modest 24.3L/h but what really impressed me was fuel

Suzuki, in many respects I felt as though I was at the helm of a much smaller boat.

My review was carried out in Moreton Bay on a fairly unfriendly sort of morning with plenty of northerly pushing through yet the big hull handled things with such ease, so gentle through the chop and with a complete lack of fuss, that it was fun to execute sharp turns just to see how rapidly the hull recovered to a level attitude.

good that even 3 persons on one side could not upset the hull’s levelness at rest. This factor is important in the sorts of offshore fishing situations the 650 was designed for, as attested by the 370L fuel capacity.

SUMMING UP Given the deluxe standard of finish, that brilliant ride linked to an impressive sea keeping ability plus angling features galore, I believe the Haines Signature 650F Hard

Rod rack equipped side pockets within the 650F’s cockpit offer impressive storage capacity. consumption data at what I believe would be an ideal cruising speed in an offshore situation of around 40km/h: 28L/h at 3,500 rpm.

I found the big 21 footer was a pleasure to drive. It was so well balanced, so easily powered by the 250

Throughout it all the hull’s interior remained dry, all that nasty salt water kept well away from us.

Fishing boats need to be stable and thanks to the considerable mass of the craft plus the time proven hull design, stability was so

Suzuki carried on a dual axle Dunbier trailer would come home for a quite reasonable $78,491, including registration and safety equipment. Note that Haines Signature hulls come with a 10-year structural warranty.

To ascertain details of a local Haines Signature dealer, the Haines Group can be contacted on wwwsignatureboats.com.au or phone (07) 3271 4400.

• Quoted performance figures

Under floor compartments within the cockpit are large enough to accommodate some impressive fish.

Top: Smart design sees engine gauges and other items tucked up safely under the 650F’s hard top’s return. Above: The transom module shown here is but one of three offered to buyers of the Haines Signature 650F Hard Top.

Top is an exceptional fishing craft for the dedicated angler who is keen on all manner of bay or serious offshore work.

Common sense dictates that quality of this high standard does not come cheaply yet a basic package equipped with a 175hp

have been supplied by the writer in good faith. Performance of individual boat/motor/ trailer packages may differ due to variations in engine installations, propellers, hull configurations, options, hull loading and trailer specifications.

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97

What’s New BOATING

1

MARINE MAN WEBSITE NOW LIVE

The newly launched Marine Man website is not just another website, and is now live and off and running.

Marine Man is not just another site in china flogging all sorts of stuff, but rather is based in South East Queensland and with staff on hand with a combined 40 years boating industry experience, you can actually get answers, advise and product support with just a click of the mouse.

Marine man has great brands on board and specials aplenty too! If you email marine man they will send you a 10% off code, just for saying Hi! From Suzuki genuine parts to sounders it is all there and if you don’t see it let them know, bet they will be sure to find it.

The staff haven’t stopped since going live so they must have something right. Check it out for yourself at www.marineman.com.au - Marine Man

2

LOWRANCE ELITE-9 CHIRP

Lowrance, a world-leading brand in fishing electronics since 1957 — has announced the release of the latest and largest in a series of award-winning Elite fishfinder/chartplotter displays, the Elite-9 CHIRP. The Elite-9 CHIRP series features a 9-inch widescreen display for enhanced viewing ability especially in sunlight. The Elite CHIRP line-up now includes 4-, 5-, 7- and 9-inch fishfinder/chartplotter models, as well as standalone fishfinder displays, with all Elite CHIRP models producing and displaying multiple CHIRP sonar frequency settings from a single Lowrance Skimmer®transducer.

The Elite-9 CHIRP sonar provides improved target resolution and superior noise rejection for clearer, easy-to-see baitfish and game fish targets.

When combined with the Lowrance HDI Skimmer transducer, the Elite-9 CHIRP can also display a DownScan Imaging™ view of the area beneath the boat, for picturelike views of fish-holding structure. With TrackBackTM, anglers are able to scroll back in recorded sonar history to review structure, transitions and fish targets and mark locations with a waypoint.

– Navico

3

NEW MELBOURNE MARINE CENTRE

Get along to the newly opened Melbourne Marine Centre at 92 Hallam South Road, Hallam.

They are Melbourne’s newest Marine dealership and are stocking a huge range of boats, outboards, trailers, chandlery and boating accessories.

Some great brands Melbourne Marine Centre are stocking include Stacer Aluminium Boats, NorthBank Fibreglass Boats, mercury Outboards, Dunbier Trailers, on top of their huge range of chandlery and accessories.

They have a full service department, which promise to service all motor brands, new and old.

The friendly boat-mad staff will be able to help with all sorts of great marine advice and put you onto fantastic deals to keep you out on the water longer.

The Melbourne Marine Centre is open now, so get down and find yourself a great deal on a huge range of renowned marine brands.

For more info, like our Facebook page, or phone (03) 9703 2003. – Melbourne Marine Centre

4

NEW SEAPRO OUTBOARD RANGE

Mercury’s new 75-150hp SeaPro FourStroke engines – designed specifically for commercial applications – will soon be available in Australia.

SeaPro engines with robust high displacement and low-weight design deliver the performance required by commercial users and provide increased durability. All SeaPro engines feature higher-durometer upper mounts that help decrease lifecycle costs.

“With SeaPro we have taken our newest mid-range FourStroke outboards to the next level of engine durability and fuel efficiency, without sacrificing power, as well as included specific features for commercial users,” said Nicholas Webb, Mercury’s Director of Engine Products and Marketing.

All SeaPro models feature Mercury’s 2 year/1000 hours Commercial Warranty and are backed by the largest service network in the industry. – Mercury Marine

5

Aimed squarely at freshwater, estuary and inshore anglers, Garmin’s next-generation echoMAP™ dv/sv series combines ClearVü™ sonar technology, detailed cartography and the most accurate GPS in its class.

Comprising four models – echoMAP 45dv, echoMAP 55dv, echoMAP 75sv and echoMAP 95sv – the new sonar/chartplotter units feature bright, full-colour displays and an intuitive, keyed interface which makes them very simple to use.

All 4 models feature advanced HD-ID™ sonar and DownVü™ scanning sonar to provide incredible underwater definition in shallow and deep water. Scanning the water column for bottom structure such as reef and drop-offs, as well as identifying thermoclines, baitfish and target fish, DownVü delivers a near photographic view of what’s below the boat.

The two larger models also have builtin SideVü™ scanning sonar, which scans the water up to 150m (500ft) either side of the boat. It’s ideal for anglers casting lures in creeks and rivers, as well as those trolling the headlands or searching for baitballs offshore.

– Garmin

6

MARCH 2015

2 3

GARMIN CLEARLY ON THE MAP

4

5

QUINTREX NEW TRIDENT HARD TOP

Quintrex’s new release, theTrident HardTop, is one seriously tough offshore weapon, constructed with a sturdy underfloor rib structure and 5mm bottomsides of marine grade aluminium.

Featuring the renowned Quintex Blade Hull and Flared Bow design, the sub-frame rib structure of the Trident is constructed with latitudinal ribs to reinforce strength and create a precise hull shape.

Stability is un-matched as the Blade Hull cuts through swell and deflects spray for optimal performance.

Available in 650 and 690 models, the design means you can enjoy your boat in all weather conditions, with a laminated hardened glass windscreen, sliding side windows and a standard windscreen wiper kit, your view is never interrupted.

With the serious angler in mind, extra attention has been applied to find the ultimate offshore layout; the end result has created every angler’s dream boat.

The Quintrex Trident is available as an Instant Boating Package complete with motor, Quintrex Trailer and a 3-year limited, factory warranty.

– Telwater Marine

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

98

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This new section in VIC/TAS Fishing Monthly consolidates the trades and services in your area that are relevant to your fishing and boating. Whether you’re a local looking for more options or a travelling angler fishing around Victoria and Tasmania, this guide will direct you to reputable businesses in the area you’re searching.

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Nautical Marine (03) 5984 1666

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Hunter Marine Boat Builders (03) 5032 2320

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Marine Mechanics

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Online Tackle Products

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WANT IN? EMAIL : pjung@fishingmonthly.com.au MARCH 2015

101

Victorian Tide Times

POINT LONSDALE – VICTORIA JANUARY Time 0138 0818 TH 1424 2144

1

m 0.60 1.43 0.30 1.38

Time

Time

m

Time

m

Time

Time

m

0142 0818 SU 1419 2144

0.77 1.25 TU 1542 0.34 2325 1.34

2 0234 0917

17 0145 0819

3 0342 1026

18 0245 0929

4 0503 1136

19 0359 1053

5 0043 0619

20 0519 1215

6 0131 0718

21 0058 0634

7 0212 0804

22 0152 0736

8 0246 0843

23 0242 0830

9 0317 0917

24 0328 0921

0.73 1.32 SA 1423 0.36 2146 1.29

2 0418 1053

17 0313 0947

3 0023 0537

18 0429 1108

4 0119 0648

19 0032 0547

5 0207 0745

20 0130 0700

6 0247 0830

21 0223 0800

7 0320 0911

22 0311 0854

8 0351 0946

23 0355 0945

9 0420 1020

24 0437 1032

1

m

Local Time APRIL

0.73 1.29 0.32 1.31

0306 0946 SU 1556 2321

16

0.74 1.28 0.36 1.34

0211 0842 MO 1436 2213

0.65 1.37 0.37 1.29

0107 0738 FR 1338 2043

2015

LAT 38° 18’ LONG 144° 37’ Times and Heights of High and Low Waters FEBRUARY MARCH

16

1

0.64 1.32 0.36 1.32

0100 0725 MO 1315 2030

m

Time

Time

m

0.64 1.34 0.31 1.37

0308 1000 WE 1535 2256

0.68 1.30 TU 1406 0.35 2135 1.34

2 0426 1113

17 0239 0947

3 0543 1219

18 0357 1105

4 0043 0642

19 0510 1213

5 0126 0628

20 0019 0611

6 0104 0707

21 0112 0705

7 0140 0743

22 0200 0755

8 0215 0817

23 0245 0842

9 0251 0852

24 0327 0927

16

1

0.73 1.19 0.60 1.27

0127 0820 TH 1350 2112

16

2 0234 0915

17 0153 0824

3 0340 1018

18 0247 0918

4 0457 1122

19 0355 1022

5 0050 0610

20 0003 0511

6 0145 0713

21 0104 0624

7 0231 0804

22 0200 0727

8 0313 0849

23 0249 0822

9 0347 0930

24 0335 0914

10 0419 1008

25 0418 1003

10 0450 1054

25 0518 1118

10 0349 0951

25 0411 1008

10 0328 0925

25 0410 1010

11 0448 1044

26 0500 1052

11 0521 1126

26 0600 1203

11 0421 1024

26 0453 1054

11 0404 0958

26 0452 1050

12 0518 1118

27 0541 1139

12 0555 1157

27 0013 0642

12 0454 1056

27 0535 1137

12 0442 1032

27 0537 1130

13 0549 1152

28 0622 1225

13 0005 0629

28 0056 0728

13 0528 1127

28 0617 1219

13 0522 1110

28 0627 1210

14 0623 1226

29 0031 0705

14 0042 0706

14 0603 1159

29 0034 0702

14 0609 1153

29 0042 0725

15 0028 0659

30 0117 0753

15 0122 0749

15 0020 0641

30 0118 0752

15 0030 0707

30 0135 0832

0.69 1.37 FR 1524 0.31 2247 1.39 0.76 1.32 SA 1630 0.32 2350 1.43 0.79 1.30 SU 1735 0.31 1.47 0.76 MO 1224 1.30 1834 0.29 1.52 0.70 TU 1320 1.32 1926 0.27 1.56 0.64 WE 1410 1.34 2012 0.27 1.59 0.58 TH 1455 1.36 2054 0.28 1.59 0.52 FR 1536 1.37 2132 0.30 1.59 0.48 SA 1615 1.38 2208 0.34

1.57 0.44 SU 1653 1.37 2243 0.38

1.55 0.42 MO 1730 1.36 2316 0.44 1.52 0.40 TU 1811 1.34 2351 0.50

1.48 0.38 WE 1855 1.32 0.57 1.43 TH 1300 0.38 1945 1.30

0.79 1.27 SU 1517 0.35 2256 1.32

0.83 1.25 MO 1623 0.33 1.39 0.82 TU 1135 1.26 1734 0.29

1.47 0.74 WE 1248 1.31 1841 0.24 1.56 0.63 TH 1351 1.39 1941 0.20 1.63 0.51 FR 1448 1.47 2035 0.18

1.67 0.39 SA 1541 1.53 2126 0.20

1.69 0.29 SU 1633 1.56 2215 0.24

1.68 0.22 MO 1725 1.56 2301 0.30 1.64 0.18 TU 1819 1.52 2346 0.39

1.59 0.18 WE 1917 1.47 0.48 1.52 TH 1312 0.20 2017 1.42 0.57 1.44 FR 1400 0.26 2117 1.37

31 0207 0845

0.67 1.35 SA 1453 0.31 2219 1.34

0.78 1.24 MO 1704 0.38 1.36 0.77 TU 1159 1.23 1809 0.38 1.40 0.71 WE 1300 1.25 1905 0.36 1.45 0.64 TH 1353 1.29 1955 0.35 1.49 0.56 FR 1439 1.34 2037 0.34 1.52 0.49 SA 1521 1.38 2115 0.35 1.53 0.43 SU 1559 1.41 2149 0.37 1.54 0.38 MO 1634 1.43 2223 0.40 1.54 0.35 TU 1711 1.43 2256 0.44

1.52 0.32 WE 1748 1.42 2330 0.48 1.48 0.31 TH 1829 1.40

0.54 1.44 FR 1229 0.30 1914 1.37

0.60 1.39 SA 1303 0.30 2005 1.34

0.67 1.33 SU 1345 0.31 2104 1.31

0.76 1.26 WE 1659 0.34 1.41 0.68 TH 1229 1.32 1816 0.31

1.49 0.56 FR 1337 1.42 1924 0.28

1.57 0.42 SA 1437 1.53 2022 0.26

1.63 0.29 SU 1532 1.61 2114 0.27

1.66 0.19 MO 1625 1.65 2201 0.30 1.65 0.13 TU 1716 1.64 2246 0.34

1.63 0.11 WE 1807 1.60 2330 0.41 1.57 0.14 TH 1859 1.53

0.48 1.50 FR 1247 0.20 1952 1.45

0.56 1.41 SA 1331 0.27 2046 1.38

0.71 1.25 MO 1515 0.43 2244 1.28 0.75 1.20 TU 1624 0.49 2345 1.28 0.75 1.19 WE 1737 0.50 1.31 0.70 TH 1241 1.22 1842 0.49 1.36 0.61 FR 1336 1.29 1934 0.47 1.40 0.53 SA 1424 1.36 2017 0.45 1.45 0.45 SU 1504 1.42 2055 0.44 1.48 0.38 MO 1541 1.48 2130 0.44 1.50 0.33 TU 1616 1.51 2202 0.45

1.51 0.30 WE 1651 1.53 2236 0.47 1.50 0.28 TH 1728 1.52 2310 0.51 1.47 0.28 FR 1806 1.50 2345 0.55

1.43 0.28 SA 1848 1.46

0.59 1.39 SU 1233 0.29 1936 1.41

0.70 1.27 WE 1511 0.41 2247 1.34 0.68 1.29 TH 1630 0.44 2357 1.38 0.60 1.37 FR 1753 0.45

1.45 0.47 SA 1326 1.49 1907 0.42

1.52 0.33 SU 1427 1.61 2006 0.40

1.58 0.22 MO 1521 1.69 2058 0.40 1.62 0.14 TU 1613 1.73 2144 0.40

1.62 0.12 WE 1701 1.72 2229 0.43 1.59 0.13 TH 1748 1.67 2311 0.46 1.54 0.18 FR 1835 1.59 2353 0.51

1.47 0.25 SA 1922 1.51

0.57 1.39 SU 1300 0.34 2011 1.42

0.63 1.31 MO 1344 0.44 2103 1.35

0.72 1.20 TH 1653 0.65 2352 1.28 0.67 1.25 FR 1808 0.65 1.31 0.60 SA 1315 1.33 1906 0.63 1.35 0.51 SU 1303 1.42 1852 0.60 1.40 0.43 MO 1343 1.50 1930 0.58 1.44 0.37 TU 1420 1.57 2005 0.56 1.48 0.32 WE 1456 1.61 2040 0.55 1.49 0.30 TH 1531 1.63 2115 0.55 1.48 0.29 FR 1609 1.62 2150 0.57

1.46 0.29 SA 1647 1.60 2226 0.59

1.43 0.30 SU 1728 1.55 2302 0.61

1.40 0.33 MO 1813 1.50 2343 0.63 1.36 0.38 TU 1904 1.45

0.64 1.33 WE 1245 0.45 2004 1.41

m 0.64 1.32 0.53 1.39

0.60 1.36 FR 1507 0.59 2219 1.41

0.51 1.46 SA 1631 0.62 2322 1.45

0.40 1.58 SU 1746 0.60

1.51 0.29 MO 1313 1.69 1846 0.57 1.55 0.21 TU 1407 1.76 1938 0.55

1.58 0.17 WE 1457 1.79 2025 0.54 1.58 0.17 TH 1543 1.77 2109 0.54 1.56 0.21 FR 1627 1.72 2151 0.55

1.51 0.27 SA 1709 1.65 2232 0.57

1.45 0.35 SU 1750 1.57 2314 0.61

1.38 0.44 MO 1832 1.49 2356 0.64 1.31 0.53 TU 1916 1.42

0.68 1.26 WE 1254 0.63 2004 1.36 0.70 1.23 TH 1346 0.71 2056 1.32

31 0207 0851

0.69 1.23 TU 1433 0.53 2159 1.29

 Copyright Commonwealth of Australia 2014, Bureau of Meteorology Datum of Predictions is Lowest Astonomical Tide Times are in local standard time (UTC +10:00) or daylight savings time (UTC +11:00) when in effect Full Moon Moon Phase Symbols New Moon First Quarter

Last Quarter

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.

102

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