Vic/Tas Fishing Monthly March 2017

GET READY FOR THE SBT • PIRTEK CHALLENGE

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Features Early season SBT • How-to: outboard lock • South West search for estuary perch • Common fishing mistakes • Pirtek Challenge guide •

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MARCH 2017, Vol. 12 No. 5

Contents WEST COAST West Coast

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16

16

20

29

Warrnambool 17 Apollo Bay

18

Cobden 18

CENTRAL Geelong 20 Port Phillip West

22

Port Phillip North East

24

Port Phillip North

26

Mornington Peninsula

28

Western Port North

30

Western Port South

34

Phillip Island

35

EAST COAST Gippsland Lakes

36

Marlo 36 Lakes Entrance

38

McLoughlins Beach

39

Bemm River

40

NSW SOUTH COAST Bermagui 41 Eden 42 Mallacoota 42 Narooma 44 Merimbula 45

VICTORIAN FRESHWATER Horsham 56 Robinvale 58 Mildura 58 Yarrawonga 59

From the Editor’s Desk...

GET ON THE COVER! By far the most frequent question that we are asked at shows, via email and on our social media pages is this: how do I get on the cover of Fishing Monthly?

There’s not many anglers who don’t want it. You know you do. You can show off your great catch to an audience much broader than your friends on Facebook or Instagram AND there’s a keepsake at the end of it! I’d like a dollar for every front cover that’s framed and on the wall of the pool rooms around Australia. Come to think of it, if a pool room owner bought the magazine we probably did make a dollar from it!

A decade ago at the Brisbane Boat Show, we ran a booth that did just that – put readers on a customised cover of FM for $20. It was very popular, if labour intensive.

Of course, the Fishing Monthly writers get a lion’s share of the cover shots, but

several times over the last few years we’ve run the ‘Front Cover Competition’ for all of the Fishing Monthly titles. The response has been fantastic, so we’re running it again! Email us your pics and you might just end up on the cover after all.

We’ll also send you a blockmounted cover as a trophy of your achievement, to hang on your wall.

BUT… there are a few basic things you have to get right before you enter. Here are a few hints to make sure that you get have the best chance of making it.

First, it’s got to be a portraitoriented image, i.e. taller than it is wide. That means you turn the camera on its side (don’t use your phone). This is non-negotiable. We won’t just ‘add some sky’ to make your photo the right shape. We’ll just choose someone else’s pic that’s been shot correctly. That’s how we roll!

Secondly, the fish should be fresh from the water. You won’t make the cut with a ‘back at home with the Hills Hoist in the background’ or the ‘driveway of death’ shot. Fish look best when they’re fresh from the

water. Plus, you’re normally pretty excited that you’ve caught it, so take the pic then.

Thirdly, be creative.

Regular shots of a person holding a fish are good, but a more creative shot is even better. Nail one of these and you’ll stand out from the pack.

And finally, make sure that you take the image in the highest resolution you can, and then email it to us. Sending it to us via Facebook doesn’t cut it – the resolution of the image gets torn down to bugger-all and we can’t use it. There’s a dedicated email address for the entries: frontcovercomp@ fishingmonthly.com.au And that’s about it – shoot away and send us your best shots. We’ll run them for three consecutive covers later in the year. Never assume that it’s too late to enter – we once picked a winner in the same week we went to print.

Good luck!

Wangaratta 60 Shepparton 61 Jindabyne 62 Eildon 63 Bonnie Doon

63

Central Gippsland

64

Bendigo 64 Melbourne Metro

65

West/South Gippsland

65

Crater Lakes

65

34

38

54

66

Ballarat 66

29

Dam Levels

58

Fun Page

82

Phone: (07) 3387 0800 Fax: (07) 3387 0801

Hotspot 29

Managing Editor: Steve Morgan s.morgan@fishingmonthly.com.au

Inland Fisheries Service

Editorial Manager: Jacqui Thomas

50

Spearfishing 48 Tasmanian Lake Levels

53

Tournament News

72

Sub-Editors: Bob Thornton Nicole Penfold Cordelia Adams

Track My Fish

70

Field Editor: Kelly Hunt

Trade and Services Guide

80

Victorian Tide Times

94

What’s New Fishing

76

Publishers: Steve Morgan Matthew Drinkall

What’s New Boating

84

SPECIAL FEATURES Early season SBT

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MARCH 2017

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Qld Fishing Monthly Pty Ltd ABN 72-010-542-195 All material is © copyright, and cannot be reproduced in part or in full, by any means, without written permission of the Managing Editor. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher.

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Office Manager: Marie Dykstra

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Common fishing mistakes

Victorian and Tasmanian Fishing Monthly magazine goes on sale the last week of each preceding month (latest sale date 31st of the month).

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South West search for estuary perch

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How-to: outboard lock

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Southern Bluefin Tuna

Goodness me, early season SBT! PART 1 CARRUM DOWNS

Andy Smith

March is here and that usually means anglers have the game gear rigged, the boat given a once over for offshore use and an eye on the early season tuna

kingfish. The last two years have seen a solid increase in the numbers of these early fish, usually in water less than 40m depth, which can provide sensational fishing opportunities when the fish are switched on.

Chasing these shallow water early season fish that weigh up to a genuine 30kg

can be challenging at times, with the fish pushing into the shallow reef areas close to the coast and a lower abundance of their usual food source of small deep water squid, pilchards and sauries can see these fish switch to a variety of other foods.

If you are tempted to troll skirted lures, a popular

A silver and pink colouration skirt and a black head for maximum lure presence was the undoing of this fish. reports around the West Coast of Victoria. If that’s you this season, you are late… months late!

The Victorian and Tasmanian southern bluefin tuna fishery has grown from strength to strength over the last ten years. And at the rate things are accelerating over the past couple of years, who knows where this fishery may end up! The vast majority of Victorians who chase southern bluefin head west, to ports from Apollo Bay across to Portland, and also into southeastern South Australian ports such as Port MacDonnell. Don’t discount turning focus to the east of the state later in the season, as there is a little town named Mallacoota that flies often unnoticed…

EARLY SEASON Historically, reports have seen some early fish caught around Portland and Port Fairy, often mixed with schools of yellowtail

Chris Earle taking advantage of some sensational conditions out on the blue.

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method is to downsize the usual lures into models that are under 5” in length.

These fish in shallow water can also be targeted well with cast lures.

Stickbaits, poppers with a moderate action and soft plastics can prove deadly.

Crucial to this fishing is the use of a great quality pair of polarised sunglasses and the ability to read the water and the bird life in the proximity.

Blue mirror lenses are ideal for cutting out bright glare in ocean situations. The ideal tell-tale birds in this situation are terns, feeding on the inshore coastal bait and

are renowned for following tuna. Watch for them flying erratically, looking down and bobbing into the water.

If you sight fish cruising, they can often be quite shy and scare easily, especially when in water less than 15m depth. Often, the best approach can be to move ahead of the school, cut your motor and cast a stickbait ahead of the moving school.

Ideal lures for this are Jack Fin Pelagus, Heru Wahoo, Lurenzo Don Belone, Amegari Leen, CB One Ozma and Strategic Angler Mikros. Quality lures in this situation can prove the difference on a tough bite.

Designed and prototyped for this exact style of fishing, they come into a league of their own.

MARCHING ON As the season progresses, these shallow water fish don’t draw the same attraction as the ones out wider towards the deep blue. The currents change along the coast and the cold, nutrient-rich water from deep offshore pushes towards the surface and the coastline, bringing with it the ideal food source for southern bluefin tuna. The Portland area is known for being the central hub of a deep water ocean current cycle known as the Bonney Upwelling, created by the southeasterly trade winds that blow in Victoria from November to March.

These winds assist in lifting the nutrient-rich water to the surface from deep offshore and push it parallel to the coastline.

This water generally holds masses of krill, providing a superb tuna food source for fish species such as pilchards, cowanyoung, mackerel and sauries and red bait. In addition to these fish species, the waters hold huge numbers of squid, from small squid only a few centimetres long, to fullygrown arrow squid. Squid are a favourite of tuna, and numerous scientific studies show that they make up the

The author with a jumbo tuna from Portland.

Tuna like this require specialised tactics. vast majority of the southern bluefin diet.

In turn, these areas are where anglers flock. At this time of year, there is a large increase of fishing effort from many anglers.

Keeping an eye out for early reports on social media and around the local club, many anglers then hit the road and head west.

The current plays a huge role on choosing the bite locations, with the past several years seeing an ideal situation of great water (with loads of food) being held in relatively close to the coastline (within 10km). The result was great fishing for numbers of tuna and some of massive sizes, with decent numbers of fish over the magical 100kg mark. We can only hope the currents are favourable again. Some key things to look for are the cold temperature edges, or ‘breaks’, along the current line. Also areas where the current slows, eddies or is held will congregate bait and help to attract tuna.

Ensure your boat is up to the offshore waters. These

areas can be ruthless and it’s no place for being under prepared. A full suite of safety gear and common sense goes a long way. If you are new to the tuna or game fishing scene, a great way to gain some valuable experience is to either head out on-board with an experienced crew or part with a few dollars to book a charter. There are plenty around and some research will point you towards a quality operation.

The quality charter skippers are legitimate professionals in their field and you will be surprised how much information they will share with you if you simply ask questions and show some interest. Don’t simply jump on-board and wait until you get to catch a fish!

GEARED TO TROLL Generally speaking, the fish that are regularly and most often caught are school sized fish from 10-25kg, and while you do not need a boat full of 24-37kg premium range game fishing outfits for these fish, you never know when a monster tuna may decide your lure is on

Multiple hook-ups can result from correct lure spreads.

Southern Bluefin Tuna the menu.

Medium-sized game outfits around the 15kg line class bracket are great all rounders for many anglers.

If you do fancy your chances on a big fish, then don’t muck around and tempt fate on lighter line classes.

There is a fraternity of game anglers out there who specifically target big fish on light line, but this takes many years of experience and dedication. A great all round leader weight for your lures is to use 150lb breaking strain monofilament leader.

Brands such as Momoi are famous for superb quality and great value.

LURED IN Tuna fishing in Victoria has a wide variety of approaches that prove effective. Many techniques have been honed and defined, while there are still others that are forging new ground in our waters. We’ll tackle some of these next month in further detail.

The traditional approach of tuna fishing is to troll skirted lures and diving minnows in a spread of up to five outfits. Many anglers have personal preferences of trolling speeds and patterns, but in general, a trolling speed of 5-7 knots is popular. A core element of game fishers that specifically target jumbo tuna will often troll slower

A typical school fish on a 6” pusher. than this. Whatever speed you are trolling, make sure it is a speed that your lures are swimming and positioned correctly in your wash.

The ideal location for a ‘swimming’ lure is on the front of the pressure wave behind the boat. This

encourages the lure to behave without water and line resistance, allowing the cup of the skirted lure to deliver its designed action.

Cupped lures are designed to break the surface, clear some air (termed ‘breathe’) and take it back below the

surface. This delivers a bubble trail and wiggle from the lure, encouraging it to swim with action.

Bullet head style skirts are also essential, usually heavy weighted and designed to track straight and below the surface. A deep diving minnow style lure run in the short corner position only 5-10m behind the boat is highly effective, often raising the first bite in a school of fish. Once you hook one fish, it is well worth continuing on for 5-10 seconds as often multiple fish will attack other lures.

The next lure back is termed ‘long corner’ and is positioned on the opposite corner to the deep diver and approximately 5-10m further behind. If you do have outriggers, they are well worth using.

Outriggers provide the ability to widen your spread of lures, allowing the outside lures to swim in clear water outside of the boat wash.

Many, many fish can’t resist a lure out here and an added benefit is you can turn in a tighter radius if required.

Once again, stagger the distance of these towed lures so your lure spread forms a grouped formation to cover as much water as possible.

The last outfit we need to position is the shotgun, straight behind the motor and

back further than all other lures in the spread. Anything over 60m is a common distance for a shotgun lure.

There are two schools of thought here, either a small lure that appears isolated and an easy snack, or run a large

lure that attracts attention after all the boat wash has settled. Experiment and see what works for you!

Lure size can be a talking point amongst many anglers, but in general, the average To page 10

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Southern Bluefin Tuna From page 9

length skirted lure trolled by most game fishers is around 6-8” (150-200mm). The use of larger 10” (250mm) and 12” (300mm) lures used to target bluefin tuna in Victoria is growing, and specialist anglers will generally always have a range of sizes in their spread.

Like all fishing tackle, quality lures are not the cheapest but they swim and perform superbly. There are many standout lures, but Jaks Zeus and Barrel Bullet, JB Lures Micro and Small Dingo, Marlin Magic Baby Hard Head, Zuker Feathers and Pakula Lures have long proved extremely productive to have in your tuna spread during the season. Ensure that you have a range of colours, but specifically have a variety of natural baitfish style colours such as evil, red bait and blue dog, along with renowned bright attraction colours such as lumo and grim to accommodate a variety of conditions.

EYES IN THE SKY Birds are the best assistance a game angler can have to find tuna. Put simply, if you find the birds and watch their behaviour, they will often point to tuna.

You don’t have to turn into David Attenborough and take off to a remote destination for a research trip, but knowing

Run a diver like this close to the boat for regular success. the main species of birds and their behaviour can be a huge help in the vast blue ocean.

Learn to identify terns, gannets and albatross along with some behaviour patterns and you are ahead in leaps and bounds. You won’t always run into a patch of tuna busting the surface and

smashing bait until all that is left is an oily slick on the water. Keep an eye out for any erratic flying behaviour, zig-zagging over one area or continually touching down onto the water. And often, one solitary tern can give the game away for the tuna.

If birds are the eyes

in the sky, then seals and dolphins are the pointers in the water. Tuna will feed with these species often. They will regularly work together and hold up a bait school for some easy pickings.

When you pair the natural environment with the latest technology, you are on a winner. Using your sounder to find bait schools, take notice of temperature breaks and searching for bottom ledges and reefs or any feature can be a great start to finding tuna. Often, you will also mark the tuna on your sounder, and there is nothing better than marking fish and then counting down until that reel screams off, or even better, you seeing the lure get eaten!

TUNE IN TO TUNA One of the greatest ways to hone techniques and learn how to catch a tuna is to get out there on the water.

Pay attention to the weather forecast, always take the wet weather gear (it is Victoria after all!) and don’t be a sheep. Following a pack of other boats only makes things more difficult, especially if they are driving over feeding schools and not around the edges of them. Remember, the aim of the game is to get the lures near the fish! The more boats that are trying to pull a fish from the one area dramatically diminishes your

chances. Trust your instincts, and by all means, use the latest reports, sea surface charts and visual cues out there to get amongst them.

Next month, I will take

a look at some alternate techniques used by anglers across different parts of the world to tackle bluefin tuna and share some of their hard-earned wisdom.

A well proven diver, with no eyes, paint missing, but still catching!

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MARCH 2017

Avoiding the ramp rage NSW STH COAST

Steve Starling www.starlofishing.com

When it comes to boat launching and recovery, prior preparation prevents poor performance!

Most boaties have a collection of stories detailing incidences of poor boat ramp etiquette. Sadly, many of us have also seen a few examples of ramp rage in our time. I know a few wags who’ll actually get out of bed and drive to their local

is likely to produce its share of riveting performances for the morbidly voyeuristic.

The most common misdemeanour witnessed involves those misguided folks who back their rigs down the launching ramp first, then stop to undo tie-down straps, remove trailer lights and outboard rests, fit bungs, organise ropes, tilt motors, dress their kids in life vests and even load gear from the vehicle into the boat. This is all extremely poor form, and incredibly frustrating for

Busy boat ramps can and do create stressful situations. ramp (without a boat in tow) on extra busy mornings just to watch these inevitable dramas unfold.

This caper beats reality TV shows hands down for levels of sheer human conflict. Easter Sunday, Boxing Day and Australia Day are sure bets for some good old fashioned ramp rage, but any long weekend with a good weather forecast

others waiting patiently in line to launch or recover their own boats. If the perpetrator has also managed to reverse so poorly that his or her semi-jack-knifed trailer and vehicle now occupies two or more lanes of the ramp, the crime is magnified. Words are likely to be exchanged.

Sometimes it escalates beyond words.

The obvious reasons

for increased tension over the holiday periods relate not only to a dramatic surge in traffic volume, but also to the fact that a lot more novice boaties tend to hit the water at these times. The combination of pressure, stress and inexperience leads to trouble.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that everyone has to learn the ropes. None of us are born with the necessary knowledge to do this stuff.

But the application of a little common sense and some pre-match practice goes a long way towards alleviating game day disasters.

If you’re new to boating, and particularly to backing trailers in the tight confines of boat launching areas, pick a quiet time mid-week (or on a weekend when the weather is too poor for most people to want to go out fishing), head to the ramp and practise, practise, practise! In particular, learn to rely on your internal and external mirrors when backing a trailer, rather than constantly stretching your neck and turning your head like a paranoid ostrich.

Work out a routine. Most launching ramps feature preparation bays where you can park and do all those last minute things before backing down to the water. Use this space to ensure all the fuel, safety gear, fishing tackle, spare clothing, food, water and so on that you’ll need for the day is securely stowed in the vessel, before you back down onto the ramp.

This is also the place and time to undo all those tie-downs, remove motor rests, screw in the bungs (you weren’t going to forget that, were you?) and tilt the motor up off its travelling rest.

Tournaments and competitions see lots of boats launched in very narrow time windows. Cooperation and a little patience go a long way toward alleviating stress.

Even single-handed boat launching and recovery shouldn’t be too hard, especially if you have a prior plan. Of course, a good drive-on trailer helps, too!

Naturally, don’t disconnect anything critical that might allow your boat to slide off the trailer mid-ramp!

Don’t be afraid to kick the starter over and briefly fire up the motor.

Two or three seconds of dry running won’t hurt it, and if the battery is flatter than a pancake (or you’ve inadvertently activated the kill switch), you want to know now, before you hit the water.

Make sure you have a length of rope (it’s called a “line” in nautical parlance) attached firmly to the vessel’s bow cleat.

Remember, it’s usually best to leave the winch cable and any last turnbuckles or other fastening at the bow of the vessel connected at this stage.

As mentioned, you don’t want the boat sliding off the trailer halfway down the ramp – it’s highly embarrassing and potentially expensive! Check to make sure these final points of attachment are only finger

tight and, if they’re not, loosen them now with a pair of pliers. Removing them when it’s time to push the boat off should take seconds, not minutes. Scrambling in a tool box searching for those pliers at the foot of the ramp simply isn’t a good look.

With practice, preparation and a positive plan, everything should proceed smoothly, and your time on the ramp will be minimised. But things can

Boaties milling around waiting to launch or recover their rigs naturally get annoyed when they see folks blocking up ramps for extended periods.

Even with a hire boat, you should have a plan and a pre-launch routine firmly in mind well before you hit the ramp.

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and will occasionally go wrong — for you and others.

If and when they do, don’t be afraid to ask for help, or to step in and offer it to those who are obviously in need. Remember: we were all beginners once!

Ramp rage doesn’t have to be an integral part of the boating experience, especially if we all pull together and apply a bit of that sadly uncommon quality known as common sense.

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MARCH 2017

Glenelg in excellent nick WEST COAST

Shane Lowery

March can provide some exceptional fishing in the Glenelg River, with continuing warm weather and great water clarity for this time of year.

Late January and into February saw some excellent fishing for all three key target species being mulloway, bream and estuary perch in the Glenelg River. Mulloway captures were good, although admittedly quite sporadic.

With the river mouth still open and the Glenelg remaining very tidal, fishing around those bigger tides and taking advantage of the short bite windows, usually around slack tide, were the key to giving yourself the best chance to find them interested in taking a bait or lure. Often times in the deeper holes in the estuary and right up to the caves area, mulloway are quite clearly showing up on the sounder but can be really tough to tempt. The best times seem to have been the lead up to the full moon

and then for several days after, coinciding with the best tides for the month.

Bream have been spread through the entire system, with good fish being caught everywhere from the estuary and right up to the highest

the river like The Caves, Donovans and Taylors Strait have all been producing good bags of fish. The bream have been right up on the edges in the shallows feeding along the rock walls in particular, and it’s The South West trifecta: bream, estuary perch and mulloway.

Clint Northcott with an average sized Glenelg EP taken on a surface lure.

The author with a cracking Glenelg River bream taken on an unweighted plastic.

reaches. There’s even been some reports of fish caught up around Dartmoor!

The lower and more accessible sections of

quite common to see them flanking as you move along the bank. Shallow diving hardbodies and light or even unweighted soft plastics

have been deadly, as well as the Cranka Crab, which the bream can’t seem to resist.

Estuary perch have now well and truly moved up river after the terrific spawning aggregations that were down in the estuary and lower reaches over the past couple of months.

With the improved water clarity, the perch have begun to sit higher up in the heaviest snags and those warmer nights or first light conditions of morning have seen some exceptionally hot surface action. Surface lures such as Atomic K9, Megabass Dog X Jnr, Lucky Craft Sammys and OSP Bent Minnows have been absolute standouts.

Live bait fishing has also produced some great fish with minnow fished under a bubble float running on a

2-3ft leader and tossed right into the snags also being a deadly technique.

March will undoubtedly see a continuation of the current conditions and even a little improvement if that’s even possible.

The holiday period has well and truly finished, resulting in a real drop off in boat traffic, particularly in those higher reaches, which always helps keep the edges and snags less stirred up through the day.

As always, it’s important to keep moving until you locate the pockets of fish on the Glenelg.

March is a great month to get out on the Glenelg and we may potentially see those larger mulloway turn up, so get out on the river and you’re sure to be rewarded for your effort.

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MARCH 2017

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Inshore bluefin are going nuts WARRNAMBOOL

Mark Gercovich mgercovich@hotmail.com

Once again the South West has seen an influx of southern bluefin tuna during the summer months.

With many genuine specimens over the 20kg mark, these fish have

been turning up in waters from 20-35m deep.

Many of these fish are taken by anglers casting stickbaits on heavy thread line tackle, and this makes for some superb fishing. One thing that is different about this inshore summer run of fish is that you’re not usually looking for huge bust ups and diving birds like later

in the season. Instead, you need to be on the lookout for surface ripples or disturbances caused by the school of fish. Of course, this isn’t easy and the need for flat calm weather certainly helps to locate the fish.

At this stage, the kingfish probably haven’t been as good as last summer, but the tuna have certainly made up

Big inshore stickbait-eating bluefin have been a summer highlight this season.

for it. March is probably the last good month to reliably target the local kingfish population. As for the tuna, nobody really knows. As soon as these inshore fish slow up, new schools of fish will probably be showing up along the deeper shelf regions towards the end of the month.

There were a couple of massive makos taken locally recently and March is often one of the best months to get out and target a mako or two.

The Hopkins River has fished well this summer.

After the last big flood event in 2011, it seemed to take the bream a little while to fire up. Despite the heavy flood waters last year, the bream population seems to be quite active and prolific.

Holidaymakers casting lightly-weighted baits off the bank and piers in the river have been accounting for not only good numbers, but some decent fish around 40cm as well.

There have also been some good mulloway around the 70-80cm mark being taken recently by both anglers specifically targeting them with fresh baits, and as incidental captures by lure anglers using soft plastics.

March is a great time to target tasty King George whiting.

King George whiting have been steady all summer and March is still a great time to target them on a calm, warm evening.

Fishing shallow waters in the 2-3m depth range around Killarney, Lady Bay and Port Fairy can produce some

excellent fish in the 40cm plus range.

After a slowish start to the season, the pinkie snapper have certainly fired up recently with good bags of fish being taken and some quality 40-50cm fish showing up amongst them.

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17

Fishable weather is heart-warming for March APOLLO BAY

Wayne Diffey

The weather has been pretty good with plenty of fishable days for both land-based and boat fishers. Salmon off the beaches, bait fishing or spinning, has been pretty reasonable with reports of some good catches

up to 2kg and Wild Dog Creek Beach is still a favourite spot.

Out wide, gummies, snapper and some big flatties have still been about in good numbers. Bald Hill, Blanket Bay and Cape Paton reefs have been very productive for the gummies in 40-50m of water. There were some thumping big flatties to 60cm+ caught

out wide off Skenes Creek in 60-70m of water.

The kingfish are still being caught off Cape Otway with fish from 60-80cm+. They still don’t seem fussy about what they go for with fish caught on knife jigs, stickbaits, live baits and big soft plastics.

Unfortunately, along with the kingfish, there have been big schools of

Cape Otway kingfish are a hit this month.

couta about. A lot of tackle has been bitten off and gone to the bottom.

The schools of southern bluefin tuna are still about off Cape Otway as well.

Most of those caught have been in the 20-25kg range with one report of a 41kg fish. Casting lures into the schools has been very productive. The beginning of the year saw a lot of excited people at the Apollo Bay Harbour with a school of five tuna to 20kg cruising around the harbour for several hours. They weren’t interested in any of the lures thrown at them.

The local rivers and streams seem to be fishing pretty well with reports of plenty of bream being caught, mostly on unweighted prawn or scrubbies. There have also been a few good trout caught high up, again on scrubbies or small hardbody lures.

• If you’re coming to Apollo Bay for a fish, be sure to pop in to get all your bait and tackle needs, as well as an up-to-date report, or call us on (03) 5237 6426 and check out our website: www.surf-n-fish.com.au.

Some beaut Cape Otway bluefin tuna. The area has seen 20kg beasts swimming around lately.

Bigger fish are there and waiting for action COBDEN

Rod Shepherd

The offshore fishing scene has been nothing but superb for those who have been getting out on the briny. Some solid gummy sharks have been taken out in depths around 40m bottom bouncing baits.

Whole baby squid or large individual squid tentacles are the pick to use. The odd flathead to 1.3kg has also been picked up in around similar depths.

Concentrate your efforts

over reefy patches. Pinkie snapper to 40cm have taken similar baits.

Some excellent yellowtail kingfish to 14kg have been taken offshore by simply locating surface or sub-surface schools feeding on baitfish. Surface poppers approaching 200mm in length whipped across the surface will kick up a fair bit of spray and entice strikes as well as hook-ups.

Squid are quite active close inshore and plenty of anglers are getting stuck into them. The inner core makes excellent calamari. The outer core and wings make for one tough bait that will withstand

pickers for quite some time while soaking.

Mako shark are also out and about in a big way and will be for some time. This pelagic shark will stick around until the ocean temperatures start to drop and that won’t occur until around April. Plenty are being hooked and lost or caught. Large, floating baits suspended just under the water with a party balloon work.

Small, school-size bluefin tuna are being taken offshore from Port Fairy with fish averaging around 8kg. These fish have been located feeding in schools

on baitfish balled up and forced to the surface. Small, skirted octopus lures trolled and cast just outside the schools are attracting bites.

White, yellow and silver are working here.

The Hopkins is firing for bream and estuary perch. Use soft plastics slow rolled across the surface or shallow diving minnow lures twitched on or near the surface. The shallow mud flats have been the places to concentrate on, especially before the sun fully hits the water.

There are plenty of smaller ones about and you might end up catching quite a few before a bigger one takes the lure but. Patience and perseverance will eventually pay off, as it did for one angler recently who boated a bream that weighed in at over 1.5kg.

The Curdies River and lake has been fishing well for bream up to 39cm.

The bream are well and truly spread out through the system. Local bream specialist Jim Murfitt from my hometown ventured out recently and had no trouble

catching his bag of fish in a single session using baits like local greyback minnow and shrimp. Soft plastics have done well right throughout the system in grub and shrimp patterns.

Now that the holidays have well and truly finished, the months leading into winter (excluding the Easter break) will be less crowded out on the water.

Many locals say this is the best time of the year to fish our local estuaries or launch (and find a park) along our coastline.

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It’s a king’s March GEELONG

Neil Slater slaterbunch@optusnet.com.au

If you haven’t heard of yellowtail kingfish by now, you’re about to. They can be one of the fussiest fish I have ever encountered, but one of the hardest fighting and they do alright on the plate as well.

This has been possibly the best kingfish season we’ve seen in the region that I can remember. I’ve heard the stories of how it used to be, but never thought I’d see the kingfish resurrection in my lifetime. Anglers have been ripping into the kingfish from Apollo Bay to the Rip and they have shown up along the eastern side of Port Phillip Bay.

Smart fishos should remember that they were once caught inside Corio Bay, so we should be prospecting any areas where there is artificial or natural structure. They will show up there one day; it’s just a matter of time.

The best fish by far has been caught by Michael Moore of Trelly’s Tackle World in Geelong. Michael

Michael heaves one of the biggest kings the author has ever seen from Bass Strait at nearly 22kg.

Hunter and Harvey showing dad how it’s done at Queenscliff.

was fishing in 30m of water out off Barwon Heads where he saw a stack of slimy mackerel on the sounder.

Wasting no time grabbing a few for bait, he hooked one up live and sent it down. He hooked into the giant, and after 40-minute fight, a donkey of a kingfish weighing in at a staggering 21.8kg was lying on the deck! That’s a whopper in anyone’s language.

Most of the kingfish caught by anglers fishing either side of The Rip have been caught on knife jigs, fresh or live squid or any other live bait such as salmon, garfish and anything

else they can fit in their mouths. The best bet has been to hit The Rip during slack water where there is no tidal flow. This varies heaps and you should check the tidal streams before heading out. Downrigging live baits such as squid, garfish and salmon has also been very effective for kingfish ranging from legal length to 95cm and close to 10kg.

The Barwon River in Geelong has seen a few redfin on the bite. They are not that big, but a bit of fun for those throwing soft plastics parallel to the bankside weed beds.

I took my eight-year-old son Max down the Barwon

near breakwater where we lobbed a live gudgeon out and caught a small redfin after flipping a few snags on a BBQ and just doing some dad and son stuff – highly recommended!

The Barwon River estuary has seen quality silver trevally up to 40cm caught on pipis on the incoming tide, while whiting have been biting down at the mouth of the outgoing tide.

The Anglesea River has made a bit of a comeback with a few bream biting.

Hudson Eales, who is eight years old, lobbed out a chunk of blue bait out recently and was rewarded with a ripping

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bream of 35cm, so it is well worth a look.

The Bellarine Peninsula has been producing some quality whiting either side of 40cm.

Rod Ludlow from Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports the whiting are slower where the tides don’t flow as hard. Rod says anglers should keep an eye out for bigger tides. There have been a few reasonable catches along the edge of the deep water from Governors Reef back towards the Prince George Light.

Rod has had quite a few good size pinkies and

even some snapper to about 4kg out around the Prince George Bank with the best time being high tide.

Squid are still around in numbers, but be prepared to move around to find them.

Governors Reef has been the best. Rod notes that the ever-reliable flathead are in good numbers, but are fishing much better on the flood tides.

Danny Skene has been doing well on the snapper out off Clifton Springs. Danny has been catching quality fish around 5kg on and after dark using silver whiting for

bait. Danny has set up a Facebook page called Danny Skene Fishing for those who are interested in catching a few snapper in and around the Bellarine Peninsula.

Adam Skurka camped down and Princetown with his family where they fished from the surf beach and caught plenty of Australian salmon around the 1kg mark.

If things are too rough for offshore stuff, don’t forget the Queenscliff boat harbour. It can be very productive for silver trevally, salmon, whiting, squid and the odd pinkie snapper. Dean McDonald took his sons Hunter and Harvey out off Queenscliff recently where they caught squid and cuttlefish near Swan Bay and a few cracking trevally fishing

Danny has been catching plenty of snapper off Clifton Springs.

Max loves catching reddies in the Barwon.

Australian salmon can be tough to work out, but they have been terrorising baitfish around Point Henry in Corio Bay. Matt Bruce took to his kayak and dragged a few surface lures about and caught a salmon around 35cm, which seems about average size for this time of year in Corio Bay.

with pilchard fillets inside the Queenscliff boat harbour.

March can see an increase of whiting inside Corio Bay, so hit the water early as they bite well in the shallows near the Point Henry sand spit.

Kingfish should be high in the agenda, however expect them to taper off

Hudson caught this ripper bream from the Anglesea River. around the end of the month if the water cools. King George whiting should be on the bite around Queenscliff to Grassy Point on the Bellarine with St Leonards being the hotspot. Get on it!

• 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.

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21

It doesn’t have to be all about tuna this month PORT PHILLIP WEST

Andy Smith andy@ebbtidetackle.com

While many anglers have flocked to the southern end of Port Phillip Bay over the past month chasing yellowtail kingfish and

southern bluefin tuna, the western and northern end of the bay continue to fish well. A huge plus to this time of year is the diverse variety that is on offer.

Continuing a similar fishing practice to last month of fishing shallow will certainly improve the

odds of catching a fish or two. The mainstays that you encounter may not have the line-burning pull of a pelagic fish, but they are certainly plenty of fun and great to gather a feed of fresh fish.

BELLARINE PENINSULA The western areas of the

One of many evening bream for Corey Gallagher.

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bay around St Leonards and Portarlington have continued to produce good size King George whiting around the change of tide and last light.

The most productive baits have been mussel and pipi, but squid strips and cuttlefish is also a great option.

Shallow reef and weed bed areas throughout the western flank of the bay have continually produced great catches of calamari. From day to day, anglers have had to move around to locate numbers of calamari, but once located the fishing has been rapid. A good tactic is to explore depths, not just drifting the same depth area.

As well as this, as soon as one angler hooks into one calamari, another angler should cast a jig in behind the hooked one. More often than not, a double hook up results quickly!

Fishing fast sinking artificial jigs and getting them right down close to the heavier reef bottom has seen some consistent catches of cuttlefish. Initially, it may feel like you have hooked the reef, as these guys are extremely strong in comparison to a calamari.

Keep the jig in the strike zone close to the bottom to maximise your chances at catching a cuttle. Just remember that cuttlefish, calamari and arrow squid all account as one in your bag limit.

POINT WILSON TO POINT COOK The shallow areas have seen large numbers of small snapper move in.

These fish annually move into the shallow areas and will actively take a bait, especially with the addition of a little berley.

Mixed catches of flathead and pinkies have been around the reef areas of Point Wilson, with a few calamari around as well. If the fish are really small, try moving into slightly deeper water into about 5-9m and focus some effort here.

This is a great area to come across some solid sized sand flathead and also a gummy shark to top off the catch for the trip.

Evening is a great time to focus in these areas. Whiting are still around, with most fish generally 30-34cm in length. The last half an hour before sunset has proved to be the best feeding time, but making a few moves to find the fish has been critical.

Moving towards the Werribee River, the mouth area has provided good catches of flathead around the sand flats. Bluebait is a stand out bait, but you can also try some squid strips.

The ever-reliable Berkley Gulp Nemesis is hard to beat for anything in this area as far as lures go.

Point Cook, as always, is one of the most reliable areas to spend some time.

The shallow reefs have been fishing extremely well for great bag limit catches of calamari. The Yamashita Live Search series of jigs with a specific sound frequency rattle has been producing sensational catches in the area. Areas

of 2-4m in depth have been the most consistent, and early morning and the evenings have produced the best catches.

Anglers are also taking great mixed bag catches around Point Cook. Good sized flathead up to 40cm are taking squid and bluebait, with plenty of pinkie snapper as well. Similar to the Point Wilson area, many of the snapper are small and may see you having to move to get away from them and find some of the 35-45cm fish that are around.

ALTONA TO PORT MELBOURNE Altona reefs all the way to Williamstown are loaded with pinkies and a few flathead mixed around the edges of the reefs. Salmon schools of small fish up to 700g have been on the deeper edges of the reefs, but they have been moving around quite fast. A small metal slug or soft plastic minnow cast ahead of the school is a good option to tempt them.

Moving deeper, isolated catches of quality sized snapper up to 7kg have been taken. Areas in 10-14m have seen these fish. Be prepared to work hard to berley them up at this time of year. The reward is worth it!

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AKS Angler and Kayak Hotspot writer Corey Gallagher with a sensational Hobson Bay bream on Cranka Crab.

angler Corey Gallagher enjoyed some time recently in the moored boats of Hobson Bay. Using quality Polaroid sunglasses to spot the bream holding under the boat hulls, Cory reported that a great technique was to cast a Cranka Crab in spotted crab colour up tight to the shady side of the moored boat. Making use of the current, Corey allowed the crab to drift down under the hulls and this bought a good

number of bream undone, with the biggest of them around 40cm.

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Yamashita Live Search jigs producing great catches around Point Cook and St Leonards.

FISHING FILL-ITS

One very happy V&TFM subscriber winner Recently, our lucky subscriber draw winner Barry Bajada picked up his prize of an Aquayak Snapper Pro from Paul Varasdi at Aquayak in Campbellfield, Victoria.

He was said it was a great prize and he was absolutely thrilled when he received he letter from our lovely staff member Kym advising him of the win.

Every month, one lucky Fishing Monthly subscriber is randomly drawn to win a prize, usually worth $300.

The Aquayak prize was a special exception and all the more fun to collect for Barry.

Through Kym, he contacted Paul to arrange a pick-up time and date and set out from Bendigo swiftly – a round trip of about 290km.

That’s a long trip and by the sounds of it, well worth it!

“I arrived at the Aquayak manufacturing premises and met Paul and his business partner Darren, both qualified engineers. Paul immediately made us feel welcome and offered to show us through the manufacturing process, which we did not expect, but eagerly accepted.

“We spent over an hour with Paul, who is a very impressive young fellow –

obviously passionate about producing the best quality product and aftersales support for their outlets and customers. He explained the process of producing the various bare hulls and the fit-out and kindly answered all our questions. He then allowed us to choose our kayak colour and assisted us with some further options that we selected. After some quick photos, he helped me load and tie down out new

yak for the trip home.

“It was very kind of Paul to allot so much time and give us the assistance that will no doubt enhance our enjoyment of this great Australian-made product.

“I also discovered that Aquayak supply and can fit the Torqeedo Ultralight 403 Electric outboard, an option I hope to acquire in the not too distant future. An extensive range of Railblaza products were also stocked as well as

outrigger kits to suit. I was like a kid in a lolly shop!

“So thank you once again – this is truly a great prize!”

To win the next month’s subscriber prize, you only have to be a current subscriber to one of our awesome magazines.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a brand new subscriber or you’ve been friendly with us for a while – those prizes are up for grabs. – FMG

Barry Bajada collected his Snapper Pro Yak after winning the subscriber prize, likely excited for the adventures ahead of him and armed with a set of magazines to fuel his imagination.

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March on with mixed bags PORT PHILLIP NE

Wayne Friebe wfriebe@bigpond.net.au

Warm and mostly settled conditions have prevailed once again on the bay over the past month, and while we haven’t had the extended warm periods of weather we are used to at this time of year so

far, many of the fishing patterns and angler trends have been true to the norm.

For the most part, angler focus has been concentrated around the action further south and also farther afield, but there have still been plenty of anglers trying their luck in our local areas, and with good success.

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going to happen for the rest of this season on the snapper, but as it was the same last month, there has still been plenty of reports coming in, mostly from the deeper areas out from Mornington, Mount Martha and Safety Beach. Smaller school-sized fish are also still around in big numbers out from Carrum and Seaford in the usual areas.

Expect these larger groups of fish to move further south as summer ends and the water temperatures start to fall.

Larger, more solitary snapper are still around in good numbers and are well worth spending time on your sounder before fishing to locate them. First and last light closer inshore, and around reef and structure are good places to start, and during the middle of the day, deeper marks and particularly wider marks close to the main shipping channel are the key areas.

Lately, regular by-catch of gummy shark in the deeper areas has also been an extra incentive for the snapper anglers putting in the hours out wide.

The kayak anglers and boaties drift spinning with soft plastics have taken plenty of pinkies and smaller snapper around the mussel farm and the surrounding reefs. There’s been plenty of by-catch in these areas of pike, flathead, red mullet and some solid salmon as well.

Some larger schools of

salmon have been working the coastline right along from Olivers Hill to Safety beach, and are normally easy to spot due to active birds or surface disturbance.

They will often be right in close to shore as well; so don’t be shy to have a look right along the beach gutters for feeding fish. They can easily be caught from the shore as well, and will readily take a fast wound lure, soft plastic, and will also take almost any bait.

The local kingfish population still seems to be growing in numbers, and much like the big numbers of smaller fish in The Rip this year, there seems to be a strong population of kingies in the 60-80cm size range around Mornington at the moment. With so much food on offer and lots of structure to hunt around, they can still be a little hard to find, and to tempt. I slow trolled a live squid on the downrigger for a couple of hours recently around a reef where I had seen a large school a week previously for no result. Friebe 0, Kingfish 1. Stay tuned for an update on my results in next month’s report!

Big numbers of garfish have been around of late, which is one of the main reasons the kingfish are around our local reefs at the moment. Consequently, they can be a little sketchy and timid, but will respond well to berley, especially in deeper areas. Get them going closer to shore, and

Andrew ‘Joffa’ Wallace with a prime 40cm+ whiting from a recent productive session in close. it’s worth having a live one out the back, just in case the kingies show up!

Silverfish, maggots and peeled prawn are your best baits, and the gars will also take a small soft plastic or even fly.

Squid numbers have also been very consistent right along the eastern shoreline, even though they are getting a daily hammering from boat and

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Peter Mazey holds a nice pike, one of a few taken in the same session.

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land-based anglers all the way along from Frankston to Safety Beach. Lately, I have found that white UV and green jigs with a red under foil have been the most productive, and also that slightly deeper reefs in 3-5m of water have been better. This is no doubt a result of greater pressure on the shoreline areas.

The Patterson River has once again been producing some nice bream for the bait and lure anglers in the main river itself, and through the canal system. Schools of smaller salmon have also been prevalent around the mouth for anglers spinning with lures and plastics.

These are a popular target for anglers looking for fresh baits for gummies and snapper, and for those after a bit of fun as well.

Big schools of mullet are also in the river at the moment, and are keeping the pole anglers busy.

I have also had a few reports of some nice mulloway being taken in the river as well; I would expect to see this more regularly in the months to come.

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Kingfish on the side PORT PHILLIP NORTH

Lee Rayner info@fishingfever.com.au

Good weather and great fishing are what it’s all about this month. If the past weeks are anything to go by, March is going to be a winner with lots of options on hand in this part of the bay. The other great thing

about March is it’s often the month that sees anglers in a prime time to target kingfish in the shallows.

Best of all, it can be done in the same locations and at the same time as you are chasing other species.

MORDIALLOC TO BLACK ROCK Plenty has been going on in this part of the bay in past weeks. It doesn’t look like it’s

going to slow down at any time soon. The pier is fishing well for squid and pinkie snapper late in the afternoons and even the odd whiting in the sand holes on the north side of the pier.

For most people the good and exciting news has been the return of some good numbers of garfish. While they have been caught during the day it seems that of a night

Whiting continue to bite well in Western Port. Quality fish have been caught recently. A pipi and squid cocktail works best.

Mitch and Chris were out having a field day on a morning king’s session.

The boys couldn’t even keep a bait in the water without getting bit!

26

MARCH 2017

they are more than happy to turn up in good numbers with quite a few anglers reporting excellent numbers in the dark.

Maybe the reason that the gars haven’t been as good during the daylight hours has also been due to the odd schools of rat kingfish that keep making raids past the pier.

If you’re fishing the pier in the coming weeks, it would be well worth it to put a live garfish out under a float as it just might pay off with a kingfish or a big salmon.

Out in the boats there have been whiting caught all through the shallow reefs between Mordialloc and up to Beaumaris Pier. It’s been a little hit and miss. That should change this month, as looking back over the past few years, March and April have been quite good on the whiting in these parts.

Anglers have also reported the odd good pinkie and solid flathead in the area.

The best results come to those fishing soft plastics.

Up off Beaumaris Pier, squid have been around in decent numbers. Once again, at night some anglers have found good success on the garfish. Out in the boats from Ricketts Point up to Black Rock there are plenty of options for whiting and pinkies. It’s time to be putting out a live bait in search of a kingfish as they will make quick raids past you and usually don’t hang around for long. If you don’t have a bait out, you can often miss your

chance to get a bite.

This month also sees good numbers of salmon moving along this part of the bay. Over the past weeks we have seen a few reports of some very solid fish that have been in smaller schools and are usually getting caught by anglers drifting the reef edge in search of pinkies.

SANDRINGHAM TO ST KILDA Good numbers of fish have been found off the breakwall and up off the Hampton rock groynes with

anglers reporting everything from garfish to pinkies and even a few whiting. Solid flathead that have been taken seem to be the highlight.

Several anglers have found quality fish in the 45-55cm size. While most of them have been taken on baits cast out off the rocky structure, there have also been some good fish taken by anglers wading the shallows with soft plastics near the north side of the Sandringham Yacht Club.

Further north off Green Point, squid have been in

good numbers. This shallow reef area is also the prime place to set up and fish for garfish over the coming weeks, as they like to hang around this area. The shallow reef here sees the water getting very warm, which in turn holds the gars.

Out wider, the reef and rubble bottom that run all through here and up to Brighton in 6-12m of water is a top place to be chasing whiting and pinkies over the coming weeks. It’s also a prime area this month to troll

with small diving minnows or garfish on gang hooks for the big snook that are currently on offer.

Now is also the time to be heading to the Anonyma Shoal, as it will produce anything on the right day. The past weeks see good numbers of snook and garfish on and around the reef. It’s always a top location for pinkies and better quality whiting, and it’s without doubt a great place to find a kingfish.

ST KILDA TO PORT MELBOURNE Between North Road Boat Ramp and St Kilda Marina there are good

shallow reef areas and this month it’s a prime location to chase big flathead around its edges and also an excellent area to find really big garfish. While the numbers might not be big, the size of the gars often is.

It’s well worth the effort.

Between St Kilda Breakwall and Port Melbourne it’s a busy time of the year up in this part of the bay. If you plan your fishing in the key times then it can be very good for a range of species. Try to put your effort in the dawn and dusk periods or even in the dark, as there are

less people on the water.

With this being the case, the better quality fish tend to move straight into the shallows to feed. Anglers have reported decent whiting taken around the isolated danger marker off St Kilda Breakwall at dawn and dusk.

Solid pinkie have been found at night between Kerford Road Pier and up to Lagoon Pier in 5-8m of water. Add to this the everpresent mulloway around the old Princess Pier area and you will have plenty of fish to be chasing in the top of the bay this month.

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More fishing options than ever!

MORNINGTON PENINSULA

Luke McCredden www.thelongline.net

March and April are by far my favourite times of the year for fishing. The boat traffic has eased, the weather is settling (usually) and the fish are biting better than ever.

I guess the only real problem with this time of

year, is knowingly exactly what to do!

The Mornington Peninsula is boasting more fishing options than ever before, and when it comes to preparation, it is a case of making the decision on what to target.

KINGFISH The obvious popular choice of many anglers throughout summer has been the yellowtail kingfish, but I believe now is the best time

and right throughout this month, you will see good-sized fish from all the usual haunts offshore from the peninsula.

In my experience, March and April means bigger fish than January and February, but in some cases, fewer. For a lot of anglers, quantity is better than quality, but I am at a stage in my life where I disagree. The bite windows can be shorter, but the fish will be bigger, and that’s what I prefer!

Australian salmon like these are all along the coast at the moment.

SQUID How can we not think about squid? The southern calamari fishing this year to date has been nothing short of brilliant. It hasn’t mattered whether you have been in a boat or restricted to the land, the squid fishing has produced the goods.

Boat anglers have found fishing all the way down the peninsula from Olivers Hill the heads has been consistent. I’m still leaning toward launching at Sorrento and finding some of the thick weed beds that are out near The Sisters if you have a boat.

If I’m on foot, I’m fishing Mount Martha rocks, as it has once again showcased the amazing land-based fishing the peninsula has to offer.

From the rocks or boat, size 3.0 jigs are the first on my line and typically, it’s a deep red colour foil with pretty much any cloth. The next jig on if that fails is one with plenty of silvers and greens.

Try the Yakamito range for a great variety!

WHITING There’s so many good options for King George whiting at the moment and quite a few anglers have reported good captures around Mud Islands. It seems that making sure you have a few good baits on hand is important, as they can be a bit picky.

I would suggest a combination of pipi, mussel and squid, and even cocktailing them can be rewarding. Berley is a must, but don’t over-do it!

A small berley cage with a few pellets and pilchard mix is a great berley and should have fish around you in no time. Another tip from many whiting anglers this month is to keep moving. If it’s not happening in your area and you’ve given it 20 minutes, move on. You don’t have to go far, but making the move is a valuable tactic.

AUSTRALIAN SALMON If you are up for a bit of fun, look no further than salmon to keep you on your toes. Schools of Aussie salmon have been seen patrolling the peninsula and once located, can be fished for hours. Dan Lee from Compleat Angler Rosebud has been keeping an eye on these schools and

Dan Lee with a beautiful squid, which have been the mainstay of Peninsula fishing this month.

A couple of healthy kingfish caught

by Nick Bailey on a charter. reports that there seem to be more than he can remember for some time.

Quite a few of his customers have been having terrific fun on them using small stickbaits and poppers.

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Mitch Chapman

Only 45 minutes from Portland and five hours from Melbourne in the small peaceful town of Nelson lies the famous and almighty Glenelg River. People travel from all around the country in search of bream and estuary perch, but what really gets the hairs standing on the back of anglers’ necks is the ‘ghost of the estuary’ – the elusive mulloway.

PRIME TIME The prime time to chase

mulloway in the system is from September through to December. Big schools of fish ranging in size like to enter the estuary around the full moon and big tides and gorge themselves full of the abundant salmon and mullet that call this river home.

Bream fishing is red hot in the warmer months where they like to cruise the flats and mooch around the never-ending cliff faces that line the river. Winter can be good fishing too, as the bream school up in the middle of the river getting ready to do their thing. If the schools of fish can be found,

Dane Handreck with a big bucket mouth estuary perch caught on a surface lure in the snags.

it can make for some very memorable fishing.

THE GEAR A light graphite spin rod is best suited for this estuary and is more than capable when targeting bream, perch and mulloway. For bream, a 2-4kg spin stick is ideal. If you want to chase mulloway then something a little heavier with a bit more pulling power is needed, especially when fishing along the cliffs and rock faces.

THE RIG Use 6lb braid for bream and 10lb braid for mulloway – this is more than enough for lure fishing. Bream like light leaders so 4-8lb fluorocarbon is a must and will give you the best opportunity to improve your catch rates, unlike heavy mono leaders.

Targeting mulloway, heavier leader is best. Try 10-20lb.

There is nothing worse than hooking a fish of a lifetime only to lose it because your leader was unable to hold up.

BAIT AND LURES The most effective way to target mulloway while lure fishing is to bump vibes and blades along the bottom.

Small Ecogear ‪VX40s and 45s are go-to lures. Chasing bream, there are a wide variety of lures that work

Gun angler Dan Mackeral with a big mulloway he caught down the front. This fish was one of many caught in a hectic session on big mulloway monsters. well. Blades and plastics are deadly for fishing the deep.

When working the edges and flats down the front of the estuary, hardbodies like Lucky Craft Flash Minnows, Chinus and Pointers are all good lures to tie on and cast.

Lightly weighted plastics skip cast back into the shadows are deadly and pink grubs fished on a worm hook twitched across the surface are great.

BEST METHOD Cast parallel along the banks when working artificials and always look

to cast at some form of structure, whether it be snags, rockwalls or drop-offs. Don’t be surprised when targeting bream along the edges if a mulloway comes along and takes a liking to your little bream lolly.

MOTHER NATURE After coming off the road from Portland to Nelson, be very aware of the kangaroos along the side of the road, especially when driving at night time. These big animals can do a lot of damage to vehicles and are a great

danger to drivers who aren’t concentrating. Remember to keep your eyes open and drive with care and awareness.

HOT TIP A lot of mulloway are caught in the Glenelg by anglers who catch a few live baits and have them trailing out the back of the boat while casting lures from the front.

As much as mulloway love to eat a lure, I don’t think there is a more effective way to catch these fish than live baits. Why not cover both bases when lure fishing?

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29

Welcome to whiting city WESTERN PORT NTH

Adam Ring

It took longer than expected but the whiting have finally gone completely nuts! The weather has continued to be extremely kind, which has made a huge difference.

Amongst the whiting, some big gummies are still on the move and the reports of a few elephants have started to filter through.

THE TOP END Before we get to the whiting, the top end of the port is where the gummy madness has been taking place. One local angler has been spending quite a few hours through the top end on charter and the gummy fishing has been really consistent. Although they are not massive fish, there are plenty of them. He was also boating a few whiting per trip in excess of 40cm

from the same spots as the gummies.

It just shows that it’s always worth having a heavier whiting setup handy, so you can put a couple of squid strips down in the deeper water and get a few of those channel whiting as they cruise through. Like always, load up on fresh calamari and salmon while they are around, as they are easily the best baits for the gummies!

Chris O’Connell and his handful of tasty whiting.

Natalie Powell and her beautiful Middle Spit elephant.

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THE NORTH ARM They need to officially change the name of the North Arm to the ‘Whiting Arm!’ The whiting have gone completely nuts in the last couple of weeks and it has been insane! The end of the Yaringa Channel and onto the Tyabb Bank has been great and the size of some of the whiting has been exceptional. Chris O’Connell found fish to 42cm on squid and mussels as they anchored in a nice little sand hole around Yaringa. Young Michael caught his first ever fish with his dad on a recent trip also out of Yaringa.

Michael’s first fish was a fat 42cm whiting, so my advice to him is hang up the boots on the whiting, little mate – you just dominated it on your first trip! Love it!

Ash Craven and his two boys Tom and Dean set up camp along Lysaughts and ended up with three nice gummies with the biggest topping out at 13kg! Just for good measure, they boated some quality channel whiting to round out a handy little session – top effort, lads.

THE MIDDLE SPIT Let’s just say there are whiting everywhere! The charter boats are dominating in a big way and the rec boats are doing just as well. Many PB goals have been slayed both in size and numbers over the last month. We all know the Middle Spit is the big time for whiting and it has taken it to another level. My advice is to just go and do it!

Adam and Natalie Powell had one of the more interesting reports from the spit. Not only did they slay the whiting, but Natalie also ended up with a nice little elephant fish. That’s fairly unusual for the Middle Spit, but a great capture for something a little bit different.

There has been a common theme amongst the Middle Spit reports and that’s berley hard. Pipis lined with a little strip of calamari or cuttlefish have easily out-fished every other bait.

Remember: no flow, no go.

That’s it for another insane month and here’s to the next month being just as good!

Good luck on your next adventure and keep those reports coming!

700

500

$ E R EBAT

Kallan from Tackle World Cranbourne and his mate Matt Thompson planned a gummy trip out on the top end recently and it just happened to be one of those sessions where everything went according to plan. They boys landed six gummies in total and after keeping a couple for a feed the rest went back unharmed.

Pilchards and trevally were the best baits and the boys said the action was red hot for the whole session.

Well played, fellas – gotta love that!

Ruby Fitzmaurice and her old man snuck in a few hours before our recent set of storms hit and had a lovely little session up the top end.

Ruby dominated a handful of spectacular whiting to 40cm while her old man was too busy knocking over a nice 1.5m gummy. Well done team!

For the land-based anglers, young gun Tyler took his brand new tackle rat combo down to Tooradin and put a dent in the local trevally population. Along with the trevally, Tyler cleaned up on salmon and mullet too. Well done, little mate. It’s always

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Fishing Fill-its

Curtains for carby 2-strokes In late 2015, Environment ministers endorsed the National Clean Air Agreement introducing emission standards for non-road spark ignition engines and equipment rated at 19kW and below.

The Outboard Emissions Standards timetable has now been announced. The final bill will now be passed and regulations in place by August. Importers will then have up to nine months to plan for final shipments to arrive.

“The final date for carby 2-stroke imports is 30 June 2018,” said Gary Fooks, Chair of the Blue Sky Alliance.

“Stockpiling will be actively discouraged. Importers and dealers will be able to sell non-compliant engines for 12 months after imports stop.

After 1 July 2019, any carby outboards in stock at dealers or importers must be destroyed or re-exported.”

Mr Fooks said that dealers who embrace the changes, and move buyers toward clean engines, will be better off.

“Dealers will be tempted to stockpile old technology outboards but that’s a gamble which may not work out,” Fooks said. “A handful of buyers may snap up the last 2-strokes but many more will invest in compliant engines with solid resale values and assured spare parts availability.”

Very few exceptions will be made for non-compliant engines.

“With a carby 8hp 2-stroke pushing out 59% more emissions per hour than a 150hp 4-stroke, exemptions

were never viable,” Mr Fooks explained. “To be fair, the new emissions standards will also target mowers, generators, chainsaws and brushcutters – all below 25hp. Exemptions will be granted only when no clean alternative is viable.”

A review of evaporative standards has been pushed back two years. Evap standards in the USA require low permeation fuel lines and a carbon canister on the vent line.

The Australian standards will be based on the USA EPA rules, but to make it easier for importers, outboards with certification in the USA, EU, Canadian and California (CARB) will pass.

For more information visit www.environment.gov. au/protection/air-quality. Marine Council

Join the Joseland Society The Joseland Society is a book collecting club based in Melbourne, named in honour of Howard Joseland who in 1921 penned Australia’s first fly fishing book, Angling in Australia and Elsewhere.

‘Joselands,’ as they call it, began around 20 years ago as a group of enthusiastic—you could say fanatical—fishing book collectors. In the early years they met in private homes, but as Joselands grew in number they needed more space, and moved to conducting meetings over a restaurant dinner.

Today little has changed.

Members and guests meet around three times a year and the talk is mostly of Australian and New Zealand books. They have a few members who regularly travel from interstate to attend. Meetings are a great opportunity for members to hear the occasional guest speaker, talk fishing books, and even show off the occasional new acquisition.

The format of Joselands meetings is simple. The committee looks after Society business, and the

President reports at the start of the dinner meeting—just a short ‘what’s up’ about important issues. Then it’s back to what the meeting is all about—talking books.

Usually, an auction follows dinner. The auctions are just for members and their invited friends. All members can bid—absentee bids, including by phone, are fine.

They publish a regular newsletter to keep you up-todate, with most of the articles written by members. Content varies from issue to issue, but you will often find news about recent book auctions and sales, reviews, historical articles and news of forthcoming books.

From time to time the society publishes books, just for members. The first was a new edition of Howard Joseland’s Angling in Australia and Elsewhere (40 copies), bound in leather and housed in a clamshell box. Each copy included an example of that famous Australian fly, the Bredbo.

The second was a limited edition of just 38 copies of Roy Dean’s Memories of the Shannon Rise, published for Joselands by Mike Stevens in

Launceston in 1998. This edition includes a Shannon Moth fly, tied from R. H. Wigram’s pattern by Mick Hall. Author Roy Dean and illustrator Trevor Hawkins signed each book. As you can imagine, these copies rarely come on the open market. A few years ago one came up for auction and sold for over $2,000. Not a bad investment, seeing that the original cost was $250.

The third is the bibliography, Australian Fishing Books, by Jim Findlay, produced in a signed and numbered edition of 50 copies.

MEMBERSHIP If you have a few fishing books and would like meet a few people with similar interests, think about joining the Joselands.

You might like to come along to a meeting just to get a feel for it. Ring Chris on 03 9729 8788 and she will send you some information about the Joseland Society, including a membership application and the most recent newsletter.

– Gordon Graham, Antiquarian Angler

Canadian Bay abalone theft Two men from the Mornington Peninsula have been intercepted by Fisheries Officers with a large quantity of abalone at Canadian Bay in Mount Eliza.

Acting Regional Supervising Fisheries Officer Mark Asplin said it will be alleged that the two men were apprehended with 190 abalone, of which 188 were under the legal size limit of 10cm for Port Phillip Bay. “It will be alleged that the two men had approximately 15.62kg of abalone from the protected intertidal zone within

Port Phillip Bay that were taken using a screwdriver.

“Neither man was found to have a Recreational Fishing Licence when asked

by Officers and a search of their vehicle uncovered scales, which it could be alleged were to be used to weigh the abalone prior to illegal sale,” he said.

Mr Asplin said all of their equipment was seized and the men will be summoned to appear at court at a later date to face charges.

The two men could face fines in excess of $50,000 and/ or five years in jail.

Fishers must ensure they have a Recreational Fishing Licence, stick to the catch limit of five and avoid the intertidal zone, which includes the area from the high water mark to a depth of 2m.

The open days for abalone fishing in central Victorian waters for the remainder of the season include all weekends and public holidays through to 30 April 2017.

Members of the public are encouraged to call 13 FISH (13 3474) to report illegal fishing anywhere in Victoria, anytime. – Fisheries Victoria MARCH 2017

33

Western Port has it all WESTERN PORT STH

Jarrod Day jarrodday@iprimus.com.au

I was in conversation with a friend not so long ago and the question was asked, why would you want to travel to another state to go fishing? A fair question.

I actually didn’t have an answer to it, considering the last month or so we’ve had barramundi, Murray cod, southern bluefin tuna, kingfish, snapper, whiting,

billfish caught.

However, aside from the kingfish, many of the other pelagics have been caught to the east and west of the state, but Western Port is still producing some cracking fish.

Snapper are hard to come by at the moment, however there are still plagues of pinkies spread over the reefs.

Most of these are coming from the Western Entrance by those drifting with the tide. Paternoster rigs have been the undoing of them

caught. Anglers fishing the lead up and just after the full moon have been landing gummies to well over 15kg. Shaun Furtiere has been dominating the scene catching and releasing some of the best quality gummies the Port has to offer with his clients.

There has been no shortage of them either.

Despite being well spread throughout the Port, the Western Entrance is where Shaun has seen most of the activity.

There have also been reports that the whiting fishery has been one of the best recently, with both the quantity and quality of fish a huge improvement on previous years. Could this be

Johnny Zhu with one of Western Port’s finest.

Photo courtesy of Shaun Furtiere.

Nick Berry took some time out to hunt down gummy sharks on Western Port and wasn’t disappointed.

Photo courtesy of Shaun Furtiere.

calamari, flathead, garfish, bream, perch, Australian bass, mako sharks, gummy sharks and this month should see the first signs of

with strips of calamari the top baits.

The Western Entrance has also seen some impressive gummy sharks

The author with his hands full of quality whiting from Western Port.

Amongst the big ones there is still plenty of table fare.

Photo courtesy of Shaun Furtiere.

a continuation of the netting ban in the Port? I hope so, and with fish like this being caught, it seems that we as recreational anglers are now reaping the rewards.

The most consistent whiting fishing has been in the southern section of the North Arm and Middle Spit, with Tankerton and the bank

that runs from Stony Point to Hanns Inlet the pick of locations.

Fish over 40cm have

been extremely common in these areas, as well as some crackers in the high 40s coming from Balnarring, Somers, Flinders and Cat Bay. These areas can be tough to get to and they are a big run from Stony Point, but if you have a smaller craft or fish out of a kayak, these locations are easy to access.

Whiting have also been in abundance around the Dickies Bay area and in Cleeland Bight. These locations fish best during the run-out tide when the fish begin to move off the shallows and drop into the main channel. Try fishing the last three hours of the ebb tide for best results.

Bait selection hasn’t been too crucial either, however, mussels and pipis have been widely used and have produced the goods.

OFFSHORE Fishing offshore in previous years has let a lot of anglers down, so much so that many I have spoken with

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MARCH 2017

Offshore there are plenty of flathead, and a simple paternoster rig will do the trick.

have questioned why they bother heading out. So far this season, things have been a lot different with mako sharks aplenty, kingfish, flathead, snapper and a host of other critters caught in close along the coastline.

While you can’t pinpoint a drift line to guarantee a mako, from the reports I have heard, many have come from the 40-50m line from Cape Schanck to Flinders.

There’s been one fish reported to 100kg, with a lot in the 30-40kg range. This has been the best offshore fishing in years for makos, and should still continue on for the rest of March.

On the bottom, there have been more than enough sand and tiger flathead for everyone. Anglers catching these tasty critters have been doing so with paternoster rigs while drifting for makos. At least if you miss a shot at a shark, you’ll still be going home with a good feed.

Fishing for flathead in open water is one of the simplest methods of fishing you can do, however, due to the depth, striking to set the hook rarely works. In this case, it is good practice to change your hooks over to 3/0 circle hooks. These will benefit hugely by keeping a nice cut of squid on the hook without the pickers being able to get it off, as well as allowing the fish to hooks themselves with little input by you.

Of all the offshore species though, kingies have been the most talked about, with some stonkers caught around the Cape Schanck area. There’s been one fish reported that went over the 20kg mark, which took a live squid trolled amongst the wash. Other fish have been smaller, but most have been in the 5-10kg range, but I don’t think there would be too many people complaining!

Tolling live baits along this stretch of coast has been To page 35

Whiting season ramping up PHILLIP ISLAND

John Dalla-Rosa

After a slow start to the whiting season, it’s now picked up a notch and I have been catching some good fish from both ends of the bay.

Fishing early mornings has been the most productive.

SURF BEACHES All the local beaches have been fishing well with salmon up to 2kg being caught. There have also been good reports of pinkies being caught in the deeper

gutters on a rising tide just on sunset. After dark, the gummies have been firing up, so now is a good time to give the surf beaches a go.

SAN REMO AREA Below the Bridge There’s plenty happening outside the Entrance, lots of couta, arrow squid, flathead, and odd mako or blue log.

The kingies have started off Cape Woolamai, Pyramid Rock and Seal Rocks. All of these are good spots to have a go, and if you can put up with all of the boats, The Rip is fishing well.

Above the Bridge Whiting are now about in better numbers all over Western Port Bay. The most productive areas have been Cleelands Bight, Elizabeth Island, Corinella, Tortoise Head Bank, Tyabb Bank and Quail Bank just to name a few.

There has been a better ratio of quality fish over 40cm coming in, which is good to see. There have also been a few reports of pinkies off Lyshardts, Silverleaves and The Corals.

FLINDERS AREA Some good quality whiting reports are coming in from

April, so there is still plenty of time to hit them up yet.

Another top kingy spot is along the coast at Kilcunda.

In good conditions, this area supports a very healthy population, however they tend to respond best to trolled hardbody lures. The reef travels right down the coast in 15-20m of water and tends to be almost a highway for them.

This area also produces some nice thresher sharks for those keen on setting anchor and a berley trail for the day.

Small baits such as three pilchards ballooned on a size 10/0 Mustad Big Game hook is an effective technique.

From page 34

the most effective technique for kingies, with squid the top bait as they are readily available on the run down the Western Entrance. If you do have time to stop and catch a few calamari, the most consistent locations have been Hen and Chickens Reef, in and around Cat Bay and Flinders. Larger size jigs in the 3.0 and 3.5 sizes have been working the best.

This month will see a lot of these species continue to chew, but towards the end of the month, the makos might begin to dissipate. The kings will continue to be prevalent right up until the end of

Cat Bay and Somers all the way around to Flinders. The quantities are not big, but they are quality fish. Squid strips have been the best bait. There are still some good squid off Flinders too if you fish just on daylight.

FINAL FAREWELL As this is my last report, I would like to take the opportunity to thank the editor and staff at V&TFM and all you readers. I hope I’ve given you some useful tips over the years.

May all your fish be big ones!

Kingfish have been coming in different sizes, but each one is as tough as the next. Don’t go targeting them without the right gear!

The author with part of a good catch of his favourite fish, the King George whiting.

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35

Bream vs bass for the big autumn title fight GIPPSLAND LAKES

Brett Geddes b.geddes@bigpond.com

It might be now over, but I think most of us welcomed that reasonably hot summer with plenty of fine days to keep all anglers happy. The next few autumn months usually provide the best stable weather of the whole year, and the fish are seemingly always on the bite.

and I’ve been sent pictures of some cracking fish over 45cm. But first up, I want to take some time to talk about bass.

GIPPSLAND BASS Gippsland is now well and truly on its way to being a bass fishery equal to those in the northern states of Australia. Since 2002, more than 800,000 bass have been stocked throughout Gippsland. A lot of those bass are now over 40cm and this year, I’m quite sure the

Big brute bream over 45cm are showing up in the shallows near Loch Sport and the Mitchell River flats.

The one species that has dominated the banter between most anglers over the last three months is the mighty Australian bass.

These aggressive sportfish are now in all of the Gippy Lakes rivers, and it’s hard to believe the incredible numbers being caught.

Bream are also really starting to fire up as well

first few 45cm stocked bass will start showing up.

Right now, reports are coming in thick and fast about bass taking a whole range of lures. Anglers are finding plenty of bass biting in the following streams that feed into the Gippy Lakes; the Macalister, Thomson, Avon and Mitchell rivers and also quite a few the creeks

that flow into them, too many to name. The Tambo and Nicho rivers also hold a lot of bass, and their upper reaches are hardly fished, but that will change soon!

Locations for each stream do not seem to matter, because they are being caught wherever anglers are trying! It’s hard to believe, but this is due to the huge numbers of bass now stocked. In years to come, we will find intrepid anglers pushing up into the far reaches of these catchments and returning with epic stories of champagne lure sport.

To target bass during the day, use sinking soft plastics around the snags or close to the shaded deep edges. Small but deep diving hardbodies are also deadly, with one angler in the Mitchell recently landing over 20 bass for an afternoon session. Spinnerbait lures are also working a treat, just make sure you use the smallest and lightest you can, with 1/8oz lures the best for searching snags. Beetle spins with a soft plastic the most popular lure as well.

Try surface lures in the early morning and into the night using lures like cicadas, poppers and bent minnow style offerings.

Most of the stocked bass are between 28-38cm. There is also still a resident natural bass population of much

Bass have been caught in nearly all of the Gippy Lakes streams and spinnerbaits have been one of the standout lures. older fish, and although only a handful of them have turned up, you expect some of them to exceed 50cm. I’m thinking we will hear more about these trophy fish over the next few months.

BASS STOCKING Just recently, another 122,000 Australian bass fingerlings were once again stocked across Gippsland and a large portion of them into the Gippy Lakes rivers I mentioned above.

A lot of anglers and quite a few fisheries officers I’ve spoken to recently all agree on one thing; this stocking program has been one of the most successful liberation

of native fish anywhere in Victoria and possibly the country.

You have to experience it to believe it, and over the last few months I’ve joined the ‘bass army’ and searched a few of my local streams. The results have shocked me, and even a hack newbie bass angler like me can land 5-10 fish for an outing. Vast areas of these massive streams are so far unexplored. It’s only a matter of time before anglers crack their secrets, because there’s a huge number of bass in all the streams and they are feeding flat out right now.

BREAM REPORTS Right on cue, the bream are also firing on all cylinders. Shallow water edges and high up on the jetty pylons are all the go right now. Not surprisingly, a lot big fish between 40-45cm are fairly common and they can be caught right throughout the whole day.

Bait anglers are reporting that frozen prawn is proving one of the best baits and lure anglers are catching heaps on crab patterns, soft plastics, shallow running hardbodies and a few on bent minnows.

The stand out feature for now and especially into the next few months will be the big number of truck bream feeding out in the shallow clean water margins around all the lakes. It makes for excellent sight fishing, so try working the areas of the Mitchell River flats right down to the Tambo River mouth and the hot spot for now is in Lake Victoria on either the Loch Sport side or the Wattle Point area. Big bream are also hugging the jetties around Metung and Paynesville and are sitting just below the surface. They make your jaw drop with their numbers and sizes but good luck hooking these spooky brutes and if you do, make sure your locked drag can beat the pylon barnacles!

Great expectations settling in for this year This year the fishing has been out of the box. Nature conspired with the elements to curate perfect fishing

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conditions for the fish to flourish in big numbers and move throughout the whole system. Prawns as they mature are still moving down on to the sand flats that run from the Marlo Jetty all the way down to Frenchs Narrows.

With the warm weather, it is an ideal time for anglers to either gather some prawn for bait or gather some for eating.

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36

21 Marine Parade MARLO VIC

aware of the many fish that are in the shallows also attracted by the schooling prawns.

With perfect conditions, it is little wonder big schools of bream have moved upriver past the highway bridge at Orbost making it an exciting time for the locals, as they are able to fish below the township. Visitors using the local camping park are able to just cross the Marlo Road and fish in the Snowy River with the expectation of catching some decent bream. As you would imagine, anglers have reported good catches of most species throughout the whole system, on a variety of bait.

The surf beaches are still producing plenty of good captures of salmon, tailor, flathead, mullet during the day and decent gummy sharks in the evening. The fishing offshore has been amazing.

Plenty of flathead, gurnard, barracouta, morwong, squid and gummy sharks are around. This season the squid are here in huge numbers and anglers are having no trouble getting their bag on most outings.

I should also mention anglers have reported seeing several big schools of baitfish

on their fishing excursions.

With all the baitfish and squid offshore, it’s little wonder there are plenty of great kingfish on the prowl. Anglers have reported capturing kings over a metre in length and many just under. Anglers have been

getting the kings using knife jigs, flutter jigs, trolling deep diving lures, trolling casting big poppers, live baiting with salmon and squid and trolling live squid on a downrigger, so I would suggest trying a lot of different methods.

Kirk was excited about his solid kingfish capture.

Record bass stocking in Gippsland

A record number of 162,000 Australian bass have been stocked into 18 waterways to improve freshwater fishing opportunities.

Since 2002, nearly 850,000 bass have been released into Gippsland’s rivers and impoundments and feedback from anglers suggests they are doing very well.

Improving inland fisheries will get more people fishing more often, which is at the heart of the State Government’s Target One Million plan to increase participation.

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It’s that time of year for big bream bounty LAKES ENTRANCE

Steven Pryke

The town wharfs have been producing plenty of fun fishing with large amounts of slimy mackerel and trevally around the Ferryman Café Wharf and the Post Office Jetty.

These great fish have provided lots of fun for families over the holiday break. A key to consistent fishing has come with the use of a float, which keeps your bait suspended in the water column.

The main lake area around Rigby and Flannagan Island is still producing good amounts of King George whiting

Young angler Levi Tyter with a decent bream from Lake Tyers.

around weed beds, mostly by those using fresh mussel or pipis fished on an extended paternoster rig cast close to the edge the weed patches.

While working the weed banks, it’s well worth flicking around some prawn pattern plastics. A major key to success has been to use a reasonably heavy jighead to keep consistent bottom contact, and to make sure that your lure is swimming with the tide, it will look a great deal more realistic and will bring you better results.

Usually, this technique will see you land plenty of quality dusky flathead, along with a few silver trevally and salmon .

The prawning season is in full swing, with a mix of school and king prawns on the move. Areas such as the sand flats in the Cunningham Arm are where the bulk of the action has been happening, due to ease of access.

LAKE TYERS Lake Tyers continues to produce quality fish from the main lake, but recently it has been rather quiet due to recent boat traffic from the holiday season. Further up the system and heading towards the island in Nowa Nowa Arm or Blackfellows Arm, plenty of quality bream have been holding tight to cover around all of the fallen trees and rocky edges. Along these edges

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Some quality fish taken during a fun surface luring session. have been mixed-sized dusky flathead, and working baitfish profile pattern plastic will find consistent results.

Fishing higher in Toorloo Arm area in places such as Burnt Bridge and Cherry Tree has produced plenty of bream and the odd flathead. These areas are great for the kids and offer a great chance of catching a fish or two. For best success, a simple rig of 6lb line with a small hook and just split shot is all you need to fish a bait around the timber.

WHAT’S COMING UP With the next lot of school holidays on its way, the town will see a steady increase in population.

The warm water currents have well and truly arrived, with the odd rat kingfish running around the lake system and offshore. Depending on the weather, we should see plenty of serious anglers heading out wide to chase marlin and tuna.

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Very proud dad Matt Lattin with his young son Kayden, who caught his first bream at Burnt Bridge in Lake Tyers.

Whiting and flathead galore MCLOUGHLINS

Will Thompson allwaysangling@bigpond.com

This month is all about the whiting and flathead inside. With summer still in full swing and the water temperatures high, the fishing is red hot. There’s no excuse not to be out there.

Inside McLoughlins has given us some huge whiting this season and, in fact, this season has produced the largest whiting sizes

in a decade with the fish averaging 42cm. Plenty are around 45cm and some have reached almost 50cm over the past month.

The top baits have been pipis and squids and the deeper waters around McLoughlins have produced a lot of whiting. Pelican Point at Manns has been as good an area to start. Both tides have fished well and you need good run in the tide, as the weeks with those small tidal movements haven’t produced many whiting at all. At Port

Albert the whiting has been amazing as well with plenty caught in the Drum Channel and the Port Albert Channel near the Basket Beacon.

There are plenty of pinkies mixed in with the whiting and there are stacks of undersized ones, especially if you are fishing further inside in the shallower waters. If you want to get bigger pinkies over legal size or snapper, you need to fish closer to or in the entrance, as that seems to be where the bigger pinkies and snapper

Matt Reid with a cracking flathead measuring 70cm caught on soft plastics at McLoughlins.

are being caught. Also the lighter gear and lighter rigs seem to be catching more fish recently, which is generally the case at this time of year.

Don’t hesitate to use smaller baits such as thin squid strips and small cubes of flesh baits or pilchard cubes.

The flathead have been massive this year at McLoughlins and Manns beaches and the soft plastic anglers are doing the best.

There’s a stack of big fish around over the 65cm mark and a few crackers over 70cm being caught as well.

OFFSHORE The barracouta are in plague proportion this season. It’s making it really tough to chase fish, especially when drifting the reefs for pinkies and trying to chase kingfish around the Prom and the islands.

Anglers are managing to find good sized gummy sharks around the Whale Bay area and in Bentley Harbour.

There plenty of pinkies and small snapper further east past McLoughlins.

• 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.

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Lots of fun had on the Bemm BEMM RIVER

Robyn Sturgess

The past months have seen our waterways abundant with flathead, luderick, yellowfin bream, tailor and trevally. The flatties have been going crazy on lures while the bream have enjoyed a tasty meal of

sliced bluebait, prawns and even sliced chicken fillet.

The prawning has been astounding and a great family night activity either as bait or for the table. Live prawn make excellent bait at the best of times. The channel seems to be the popular ‘hot spot’ for fish activity anywhere from the Storm Hut, Reggies Rest and the Blowhole. The

high water level has enabled anglers to access locations easier. To head past the Fingerling Jetty and fish in

opposite the storm hut have been one of the places to find them. Flathead have also been found around the

Michael Burkett of Camperdown with a 47cm yellowfin bream.

Kane Jones and Travis Shaw show off their catches.

Mark Jones of Langwarrin with a 46cm yellowfin bream.

towards the bank has proved fruitful for good quality bream and the odd flathead.

For those targeting flathead, the sandy areas

mouth of the river. Please be mindful of your fish size and catch limits.

There has been some excellent bream caught

off the fishing platform near the main jetty. Fishing off the bank near the fish cleaning tables at the main jetty has also been successful for flathead.

The surf is fishing well with tailor and salmon. Warm nights have been productive on the surf with good catches of gummy reported.

• For on the spot and up to date fishing reports check out Robyn’s website: www. bemmaccommodation. com.au or ‘like’ them on Facebook – Bemm River Holiday Accommodation Phone: (03) 5158 4233/ Mob. 0427 584 233 Email: bemmaccomm@bigpond. com.

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MARCH 2017

Just waiting for the currents to bring the marlin BERMAGUI

Darren Redman djsxstreamfishing@bigpond.com

Last year January saw an extremely good current settle off our East Coast.

This current swirled and eddied off Bermagui for some time, bringing with it the baitfish and predator fish like marlin.

are the main target and stripes, blacks and blues are in the area. Once the bait comes to the surface, things can get quite frantic.

Pods of stripes harassing them with the blacks and blues shadowing a little deeper waiting for their opportunity.

Other species like tuna, mahimahi and sharks will also be in close proximity

north end of the island, for not all the marlin are on the Twelve-Mile Reef.

With all these good conditions, it has brought a lot of fun close to shore. From the stones it’s possible to find a few different pelagics on the move. Kingies will patrol along the rocks with bonito, tailor, frigate mackerel and salmon. These fish are only too eager to chew on a well-

This stud bream was seen chasing prawns in the shallows and a well-placed bait was its undoing.

This produced some of the best game angling for many years.

This year the currents have been streamlining down the coast at a great rate of knots, not allowing the fish to settle in any one area for any period of time. This makes difficult angling. If we get one of these eddying currents forming off our coast in March, it may well just bring the marlin fishing we have all been waiting for.

The water temperatures are right for marlin and so is the autumn weather.

We should have good temperatures with little wind at times. The Twelve-Mile Reef is the area to go with schools of baitfish attracting the larger predators. Marlin

looking for an easy meal, so don’t be surprised if you find one of them taking a liking to a lure or bait intended for a stick face. If it’s a big blue you are looking for, try running a good spread of lures and head wide to the canyons.

Montague Island has provided well on the kingies all season and is proceeding to do so. Most of the fish to date have been taken jigging while a few better fish have succumbed to live baits. Lately the fish seem to be better in size and also have some other friends joining them. Bonito are now a common catch around the island, as are frigate mackerel. These make a good bait off the

presented lure offering great action from the shore. The best time to do this is sunrise before the wind gets up. Add a little berley while you’re there and you may find you have plenty of bream, trevally or drummer to keep you entertained while you wait for those passing pelagic schools.

The adjacent beaches are also producing well with whiting, bream, mullet, tailor, mulloway, sharks and salmon. Berleying during the day, preferably with striped tuna or mackerel, will have the desired result for most species, while late evening and well into the night may have some larger species lurking. Mulloway and gummy sharks are the

This flatty was taken at first light and spat out lots of prawns on its way to the net.

preferred targets at night.

Combine this with the lead up to or off the full moon to improve your chances.

With the ocean still in mind, usually when one form of fishing is good so are others. Not to be outdone, the reef and bottom fishing is very good. Close to shore, flathead have been in good numbers all season and still are. Larger tigers appear the further you go to sea. Most reef structures play host to an assortment of species. Snapper and morwong are targeted most.

Longfin sea perch, nannygai and trumpeter are targets on the Twelve-Mile. Out over the shelf, with the aid of electronic reels, blue-eyed trevalla, hapuka, gemfish and ling are great options to put some excellent-tasting fish on the table.

The estuaries are an easy place to spend a day.

We are blessed with some truly beautiful scenery along with some excellent fishing. The lakes that remain closed to the ocean are a bit sad right now while those that are open have had some brilliant fishing.

Bream have entered these systems that are open and are excellent angling on

baits such as tuna, nippers or worms. Live prawns, if you can acquire them, are also excellent and will attract other species.

Speaking of prawns,

they’re not only good bait, they are also great chewing for us humans. With a lot of the lakes closed to the ocean, the prawns are landlocked and easier to catch.

Very hot currents along our coast will see sailfish once again mixing with the marlin.

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Warm and quiet start for autumn EDEN

Kevin Gleed captainkev@wildernessfishingtours.com

The town has quietened down after a hectic holiday break. The end of the school holidays sees many visitors leaving and another few months of warm weather. Plenty more visitors to the area will enjoy the quieter times along with the good fishing

this area can offer. Good fishing has been abundant over the past month with plenty of opportunities for boats to get offshore and chase a feed of fish.

An early start made the fishing pleasant before the summer northeasterly winds got blowing.

Good catches of tiger flathead and sand flathead kept anglers happy along with the pinky snapper coming from the inshore

reefs. A few gummy sharks have also been caught. The water temperature has been extra warm with 22°C along all the beaches, which is great for swimming!

A few kingfish have been caught. The best action has been well to the south and the coming months should see the fishing improve as the water cools, bringing the bait and fish back up the coast. Fishing from the local beaches has been good with

This whiting was caught on a Hurricane Blade.

plenty of sand whiting and yellowfin bream. There are plenty of good deep gutters on all the local beaches.

Salmon have been turning up from time to time, but aren’t as common as they were a few months back. Anglers are catching fish from the local headlands including drummer and yellowfin bream as well as decent luderick. Early morning is the best time to be drifting a bait for a snapper.

The estuaries have been fishing well. Sand whiting and yellowfin bream are around the entrance with live bait and fresh bait (worms, nippers and prawns) catching some good bags of fish.

Fishing for flathead has been good with soft plastic lures catching good bags of fish. Prawn imitation lures have also worked well. There have been a few prawns in all the local estuaries. There have been a few mulloway to report, so no doubt there will be a few around over the next full moon period. With little rain over the past month, the water is clear and the next few months will see some good fishing with not too many people about.

Big black bream are about and catching them isn’t easy.

There are plenty of decent tiger flatties about MALLACOOTA

Kevin Gleed captainkev@wildernessfishingtours.com

With great weather and no surf visitors, locals have enjoyed great offshore fishing conditions with only the odd day too windy for comfortable fishing. And with the great conditions has come some excellent fishing. Good catches of big tiger flathead have been common with fish caught at around the 60m mark at a number of locations. In a bit closer, there have also been good bags of sand flathead been caught. It’s pretty hard to beat a good feed of offshore flathead!

Plenty of gummy REVA G.T

L LY . S N A P P E R

. EST U

A

PE R RY

. WH AD

IN

CH

IT

sharks have also been caught.

The fish have been the legal size with only the odd big fish caught around the same areas as the tiger flathead. A few school sharks and mako sharks have been caught by those fishing with big baits in a berley trail. The beach was closed on a number of occasions after the sighting of white pointers swimming not far offshore.

A few kingfish have been caught with the best fishing coming from further down the coast towards Marlo.

With the flat seas, it has been no problem launching at the Bastion Boat Ramp.

Take care around low tide, as the harbour is very shallow.

Fishing the beaches has been quiet, due to very little surf action. When there has been some rougher surf conditions,

some awesome salmon can be caught and the fishing has been good off the breakwall.

The bottom lake has been fishing really well over the summer period. There weren’t too many days that I wasn’t out there fishing with clients and the fishing we had was excellent. There’s plenty of flathead along with some great bream and whiting. The fish were all caught on lures and were great fun. Good catches of bream were made by those fishing with bait and the best bait has been the local blood cockles fished in the shallows in the same area as the cockle beds. Fantastic flounder have also been caught from the top lake.

Black bream and flathead are available in the top lake and further upstream towards

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Mulloway, bream and whiting are all biting!

NAROOMA

Stuart Hindson stuart@ausfishing.com.au

Narooma is blessed with the amount of different world-class estuaries that sit on its doorsteps. The beauty is if one of them isn’t firing, there’s always another nearby that is.

That’s the case at the moment. Wagonga Inlet is a little slow, but the estuaries within a 30-minute drive either north or south are fishing exceptionally.

Tuross Lake is a

hours in the morning, and a dozen or so flatties. The rest of the day was spent chasing whiting and bream on surface and that was exceptional. I’ve also seen a massive 103cm dusky flathead come from there, caught on a live poddy by local gun angler Pam. This fish was measured then released, which was great to see. Congratulations Pam on a great capture.

Fish have been found throughout the system and the lower reaches are the go for mulloway. The river section and bays like Coopers are fishing well for

tailor, but the whiting and bream have made up for it. Live beach worms and pipis are doing the damage.

Light lines are required for constant results. A little bit of berley won’t hurt here.

Crushed pipi shells are a favourite of mine mixed with a little tuna oil.

I have heard a rumour or two that some decent mulloway are being caught up the coast around Dalmeny (Brou Beach). A couple of nights on the beach with the big gear might be worth a go. You can expect a few gummy sharks too when

A bruising 1.6kg black bream caught and released when the weather was less than perfect. ganged pillies do the trick.

There has been some good catches of bonito off these same rocks. Spinning with 40-50g slices will get the desired results.

Bream, blackfish are still being caught in the washes.

Cabbage and cunjevoi are good baits. I heard a visiting tourist lost a small black marlin off the rocks south at Mystery Bay a week or so back. He was live baiting small yellowtail for kings

It’s always a good feeling releasing mulloway. favourite for me and many other anglers. The diversity of species you can target using a variety of different techniques is second to none.

That’s been proven once again in the last few weeks.

The place is on fire with mulloway, monster flathead, bream, whiting and a host of other species all chewing.

I had a recent guide there and managed two mulloway of 95 and 83cm for a few

surface lure enthusiasts. A few locals are cleaning up on luderick. Use the freshest weed for consistent results.

Other lakes like Mummuga, Corunna and Tilba have been excellent for flathead and bream. Casting smaller soft plastics or blades has worked a treat. I expect all these systems to continue to fish well.

The beaches have been a little quiet for salmon and

The Fowl House Reef on the western side of the island has produced fish too. It’s not uncommon for these bigger fish to be on the surface around the Fowl House Reef chasing sauris.

They can become quite hard to catch when they’re like this, but persistence will pay off. The best method I have found when this happens is to slow troll large, live slimy mackerel. The water is quite shallow through

and Potato Point are the best places to try. Fresh striped tuna or squid are ideal baits for the gummies.

Out wider, the gamefishing is in full swing.

Marlin are the predominant species being targeted.

There’s been a solid mixture of black and striped marlin with some crews getting black marlin on their way to Montague Island. This doesn’t surprise me with the quality of water and bait

targeting the mulloway.

The Narooma Breakwall has been fishing consistently for bream, smaller snapper and luderick. Fishing the ebb or flood tide on the inside of the northern breakwall has been the best to target these species. Fresh tuna fillets, prawns and cabbage for the blackfish are the preferred baits. The golf course rocks should be holding some nice kingies. Live yellowtail or BOOK IN THESE G AT R LOCATIO EAT NS All Other

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MARCH 2017

Estuary perch and prawns go hand-in-hand. This 35cm fish spat out this prawn and a few others after capture. when the marlin hooked up.

He estimated it at 50kg, but unfortunately the leader wore through after a short battle.

At Montague Island the kingfish have decided to wake up. Good numbers of kings have been caught.

Both live baits and jigs are working. Squid fished on a flasher rig gets school-sized fish. The kings are solid fish and the majority are 4-6kg with the odd 12-14kg fish falling to live bait. The northern end of the island has been good. Remember the Sanctuary zones in place.

this reef section, so heavier stand-up tackle is required to stop them from reefing you.

The seals can be a problem. however, the hard work may just be worth it.

The reefs have been fishing well for months now and this should continue.

Snapper, morwong, sand and tiger flathead and smaller kingfish have been around and in good numbers.

Although the fish aren’t big, the numbers are certainly making up for it. There have been reports of gummy sharks north of Narooma, and Brou

present in close.

The water is a balmy 24°C straight off the bar with countless schools of striped tuna just past the beach breaks. It makes sense that anglers have hooked them and the crews that have trolled skirted pushers have faired best. The shelf has been the place to fish for the stripes with the Kink being a hotspot. Both trolling and switch baiting has worked a treat and I know of a few solid yellowfin tuna to 50kg that fell victim to the trolling brigade, which is great to see.

NSW South Coast

Most species are playing the game in March MERIMBULA

Stuart Hindson stuart@ausfishing.com.au

Merimbula has finally seen some hot weather hit its shores. It took a while to get here and with it the fishing has really picked up, especially in the estuaries.

Both the Merimbula and Pambula estuary systems have fired up nicely with the warm water of late.

Merimbula has been a standout with an array of species playing the game.

We had a session there with clients a few days back and it was awesome. Snapper, flatties, bream, tailor, trevally and whiting scoffed our lures. Most fish fell to softies, but I saw anglers getting good flatties on live poddies as well.

All of our fish came from reasonably shallow water and 2-4m was ideal. Some of the flatties are upwards of 80cm, which are solid fish.

The odd mulloway has been caught by anglers using live bait after dark. This action will continue throughout March and should only get better.

Pambula Lake is still

producing the goods and most fishos are getting nice fish.

Captures of 15-20+ fish are the norm and fishing the out going tide is the go. The main basin has been productive.

Concentrate on fishing the edges of the channels with plastics and blades for the best results. There have been some solid flatties towards the entrance. Soft plastics around 70mm are ideal. The flats in the upper section of the lake have been excellent for bream and whiting on surface lures. Fishing the first three hours of the draining tide has seen better results than the flooding tide.

The local beaches continue to fire and

most beaches hold good concentrations of salmon.

North Tura Beach has been the place to fish with common catches of a dozen fish to 2kg. The northern end of the beach towards Bournda Island has a deep gutter at present. Fishing this section very early in the morning on a rising tide has been effective. Surf poppers are working well in a variety of colours. Laser lures and whole pilchards are also producing.

Tailor numbers should improve this month, with the rocky foreshore near the Island itself fishing better for bream. Cut crabs and pipis are both great baits for

Whiting, summer and surface lures – it just works!

SUPER PE 8

bream and whiting like live beach worms. Lighter outfits come into their own when targeting these bread and butter species and running sinker rigs are ideal. Don’t be afraid to use a little berley here, but don’t overdo it or the pickers will set in.

Those fishing outside for the eating species like snapper, morwong, pigfish and flathead are doing well with most reefs holding fish. There seem to be better results on the deeper reefs like Horseshoe to the south of Merimbula. Here you can expect kingfish. Jigs, live bait and squid all work at times. It can be a little hit and miss, but when they’re chewing it’s as good as anywhere. Both Long Point and White Cliffs are worth a look. The latter is a decent drive north.

The action has been fast and furious on the marlin front. Most crews get a couple of shots per day. Striped marlin are the predominant species being caught. Most fish are 80-100kg with the odd bigger fish. The 70-fathom line has produced a lot of the marlin. The extra distance to the shelf isn’t needed on many occasions.

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Pete Steward with the type of bream that Pambula has been producing.

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.

Trolling skirted pushers has been the most productive method for the marlin and switch-baiting live baits should also work. There have been a few yellowfin tuna caught. Fish to 40kg are quite common. These speedsters are certainly a

welcome by-catch and great on the plate.

On the rocks bonito numbers have increased dramatically over recent weeks.

These little speedsters are awesome fun on light gel spun tackle and 20-30g shiners. If you want to use heavier gear, whole ganged pilchards will also work. The better ledge to fish is Tura Head and the north end of the ledge is where the deeper water is.

FC Rock Fluorocarbon This 100% FC leader has the ideal mix of suppleness for minimum interference on the lures movement and hardness for abrasion resistance. Excellent knot strength is boosted with the triple resin processing manufacturing technique which also improves abrasion resistance, knot strength, outstanding durability.

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45

BOATS FOR SALE on

Mahindra XUV500 SUV 7-seater BRISBANE

Wayne Kampe wkff@aapt.net.au

LABSPORT XT Location: ACT

$28,500 SKEETER SX180 Location: QLD

Mahindra have a pretty tough proving ground for their line of heavy duty 4x4 utes and SUV people movers – India, where the vehicles are manufactured.

Before we have an in-depth look at Mahindra’s sevenseater XUV500 all-wheel drive, here’s some interesting background.

Mahindra is a huge maker of machinery and motor vehicles.

Their plant at Chakan, 100km from Mumbai, India, has a capacity for turnout of a staggering 500,000 units per year. That’s a lot of vehicles by any maker’s standard!

The XUV500 has been around for a while, originally with some quirky styling and held back by an unloved manual gearbox. Last year the bar was lifted to make the vehicle far more attractive to buyers. New front and rear styling smoothed away some

Boat towing is never an effort with this all-wheel drive and its 2.5t braked trailer capability. monitoring. Three glove compartments are a feature with one big enough to hold a laptop and there were also aircon vents for second and third row passengers, which sure would have been handy

$33,500 PHOENIX 920 Location: NSW

$85,000 SKEETER WX1790 T Location: WA

$28,000 BASSCAT COUGAR Location: QLD

$85,000 Like us on facebook for automatic updates 46

MARCH 2017

The reversing camera lets you know if you can expect to hit something, like this tree. of its outlandish look while a very smooth Japanesemade 6-speed Aisin gearbox took care of gear shifts effortlessly, as these Aisin units – adopted by many auto manufacturers these days – always do.

Mahindra have equipped their 2016 all-wheel drive W8 model – as reviewed – with corner projecting headlights, an upgraded suspension, 17” alloy wheels and auto lights.

The highlights on the dash include a 7” touch screen, reversing camera with dynamic assistance (this shows intended and extended track while reversing) a multimedia setup with GPS, Bluetooth audio and iPod connectivity, a great radio, hands-free calling and voice recognition plus a climatecontrol cold box in the centre console.

There are seven leather seats, three Isofix restraints for youngsters and 702L of cargo area with the third-row seats down. Unique for this class of vehicle, it also has tyre pressure and temperature

this summer! Cruise control and electric windows?

Of course.

Obviously, some serious upgrading’s been undertaken and the resulting changes are the buyer’s advantage.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES AND PERFORMANCE In essence, the XUV500 has the same 2700mm wheelbase as a Mazda CX5, and with second row seats also folded there’s a massive 1512L of cargo area, which is larger than the Mazda’s.

Another selling point is the 2.5t (braked trailer) tow capacity.

Equipped with a not-at-all silent and willingto-go 2.2L turbo diesel engine outputting 103kW of power, 330Nm of torque, the four-cylinder 16-valve oil burner – thanks also to the slick Aisin gearbox – the Mahindra was solidly powerful. The tacho was still not touching the 2,000rpm mark at 110kph on the M1.

Obviously the Europeansourced four-cylinder diesel engine is not going to be very stressed in any normal driving situation given that 100kph required a measly 1600rpm.

The gearbox, incidentally, loved to hang in fourth or fifth gear to save

fuel and made upshifts from around 1500rpm but will rev to 4000rpm if the pedal is on the metal. If you floor it, the acceleration is strong enough to easily fall foul of a pay-asyou-go radar detection unit, so it’s wise to pay attention to the speedo if giving the engine a try out on a straight.

The diesel is claimed to offer 8L/100km and I actually bettered this at 7.9L/100km with a mix of city and country work.

Based on those figures, a 70L fuel tank should see a good cruising range.

The XUV500’s ride and handling were quite acceptable although hard cornering will reveal that the AWD Mahindra has some understeer. It also has some interesting vibration from the engine/transmission at times.

Mind you, the roughness on most of our roads make this vibration hard to detect!

I did a run up to Maryborough and back on the M1 and found that the Mahindra acquitted itself very well all round; it was absolutely no effort to drive

While the Mahindra’s styling is different to many other SUVs, features such as ample ground clearance, a very large cargo area and wide doors for ease of entry are all on hand for a prospective buyer to consider.

Audio, phone service and cruise control are all wheel-mounted on the Mahindra. Ample room for driver and passenger, on quite comfortable leather seats is an important feature. and easily kept us moving briskly among traffic. It overtook without effort and best of all I noticed that the leather seats were still comfortable after almost four hours behind the steering wheel. Full marks to Mahindra there.

SAFETY Safety has not been overlooked and the Mahindra offers Bi-Xenon headlights, stability control, ABS with electronic brake force distribution, hill hold and hill descent control. Front and side air bags are standard.

The overall ride was smooth thanks to Macpherson

struts up front and a multilink setup in the rear. Even a buzz down a corrugated gravel road section around Kenilworth didn’t change the cabin ambience to any great degree.

SURPRISING INTERIOR ROOM Picking up the Mahindra XUV500, I was surprised how easy it was to get into all the seats. A deep floor, wide doors and high roofline make access to any of the vehicle’s three rows quite easy. Front and second-row passengers will find this a great strength of the Mahindra, which had as much (if not more) leg and

headroom as competitors.

With the third row of seats upright, luggage space is virtually nil except for an umbrella or two. With these seats down there’s a massive luggage space, which can be enlarged even more with one or both of the second row seats down.

Inside there’s plenty of rugged black material on the doors, the dash area and any areas subject to wear and tear. Silver highlights offset the somewhat bland internal finish with some extra touches around both the tacho and speedo dials. The dash is highlighted by the

multi-function touch screen, which has an interesting faux-wood background and it really does have a multifunction capability. Virtually everything is there from navigation to engine status to distance of fuel remaining. I particularly liked the manner in which the reversing camera showed the proposed course for the driver, in relation to any obstacles. Parking sensors front and rear did their bit here as well.

Another Mahindra feature of note was the eight strong LED interior lights.

Even the tailgate area had brilliant lighting. This feature would be handy on some of

my camping escapades.

SUMMING UP There’s no denying that the Mahindra XUV500 is a different sort of vehicle in many respects. It offers a mix of useful features that make it a good city or suburban work horse through the week, just as suited to hooking up the boat, caravan, or camper on the weekend. I had no trouble towing my boat at all.

Around town the 11.2m turning circle, big windows and reversing camera are going to be muchappreciated. With motor cars, the more you pay, the more you get. That’s in finish, performance, maker’s

prestige. For it’s modest price, the XUV500 offers a lot, given its relative newness on our market in present feature level. The vehicle comes with three years, a 100,000km warranty plus three years roadside assist.

Mahindra have priced the XUV500 at around the $35K mark, but wait – there’s more! During March or until stocks run out, a 4WD six-speed auto will go out the door for $29,900. The six-speed AWD, as reviewed, will go for $32,990. Contact Mahindra Queensland for a dealer on www.mahindra. com.au or phone on (07) 3213 1211.

Second row passengers enjoy plenty of head and legroom in this SUV.

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MARCH 2017

47

Cool your jets and dive from a smaller vessel WEST COAST

Brett Illingworth

In 2005 I made a decision that profoundly altered the way I approached diving and spearfishing. I had been mulling over a new vessel and it had to be small. It had to be insanely seaworthy, fast and with a long range. I bought a

who now conduct their dive activities from the back of their jet skis. The movement is growing and why not?

There is no more seaworthy vessel on the ocean. If the weather comes up rough, getting home will still be a breeze, allowing you to stay that little bit longer or get there a little bit earlier.

A ski will also allow you to get into some of those

rack that can hold more fuel, an esky, or both.

Range and reliability are paramount, so we favour skis with small to mid-sized engines. We also prefer no superchargers or turbos.

Economy is the important issue. I can still blast across the water at 100km/h, but I can go twice the distance at 50km/h. They are also economical to tow. I don’t

The author with an awesome kingfish.

The movement is catching on and plenty of divers are getting jet skis. three seat SeaDoo. Yep, a jet ski. I haven’t looked back. It (they – I’m on my second now) was the best investment I have ever made.

A three seat ski has ample room for two divers to blast across the ocean in search of prey. However, it is much more fun if everyone has their own, allowing you the added comfort of going ‘one up.’ I have at least 15 friends in Victoria

places that a boat simply can’t or to locales too far to swim. Much of the middle ground has now been opened. The skis have the range for serious offshore work, allowing the islands of Bass Strait to be visited as well as the continental shelf or areas along the coast, far from boat ramps. My boat has a 60L fuel tank. This is good for about 150km, depending on speed and sea state. I have a removable

need a Land Cruiser to tow my vessel. My old Falcon wagon doesn’t even know it’s there. This means that long road trips are not going to break my bank.

At the dive site you can anchor like a boat and work the area. If you want to move, simply pull up the little grapnel and tow it to the next hotspot. They are quite easy

never have to worry about where it is. It’s the perfect dive vessel.

I suppose I had better do a little dive report. The weather is still a little up and down. At least it’s warm and the fish are in reasonable abundance. The visibility has been odd this year with crystal waters one day, filth the next and then back to clear again. Kings appear to be everywhere and those bluefin are still being seen at various locations throughout the State.

Nathan Watson managed to spear a 10kg+ southern bluefin tuna in 8m of water near Point Lonsdale while looking for crayfish. I am

Nathan Watson speared this solid tuna recently.

Diving from a jet ski can mean convenience in a lot of ways.

Kingfish seem to be everywhere right now.

48

MARCH 2017

to tow behind you. When I am at the Prom looking for kingfish, or out wide looking for tuna, I simply connect my rigline directly to the ski with the other end attached to the gun. I hook my flashers to the bow, allowing the natural movement of the vessel to work the flashers for me.

All I have to do is float alongside and relax between dives and drift along. No hard swimming need be involved. At the end of the drift run, it’s a simple matter to climb back on and motor back to the start. An added bonus is that if you have any nasty visitors, safety is close at hand. As I am predominantly a solo diver, my ski has become my de facto dive buddy, always close at hand to offer aid and comfort if need be. I

just a little jealous. There is still bait in abundance, which is holding these good fish close to the coast. Other

predators are also increasing.

Be careful out there, as there appears to be an increase in shark activity close to shore.

Jet skis offer a versatile range of diving options, from closer in where bigger boats can’t go, to areas offshore.

Tech Tricks

Build yourself a fast, effective outboard lock BRISBANE

Gordon Macdonald masterbaitertackle@hotmail.com

These days theft is very common. Fishing gear, crab pots and even entire boats and trailers regularly go missing.

While some thieves go to lengths to secure what they want, most only take

something if it is quick and easy to take off with.

Although battery-powered angle grinders and other cutting devices can sever even the toughest locks, they’ll generally attract some attention. It’s the quick grab and getaway that needs nipping in the bud. Putting hitch locks on your trailer, keyed locks on your boat hatches

and not leaving anything to chance will generally be enough to stop most dishonest individuals.

Small outboards are commonly only held on by two screw mechanisms with a flat paddle on each end to allow hand tightening (and loosening) for easy attachment and removal.

Many boaters overlook the need to secure their

outboards to their craft.

Most smaller outboards weighing less than 35kg are easy fodder for thieves.

Padlocking the two nylon paddles together will offer some protection, but a single hit with a hammer or other heavy object will snap one of the paddles to allow quick removal. Numerous outboard locks are available and cost $70-150.

Recently I bought a 3.95m vee-nosed tinny for a bit of crabbing, prawning and freshwater fishing. On the transom was a 2-year-old Yamaha 25. I considered purchasing an outboard lock for it. After seeing the expense for such a simple device, I decided on a DIY project. I had all the basic tools required and was lucky to secure some aluminium

offcuts from a mate. You can also get a metre of suitable box aluminium from Bunnings for around $10, which would make three brackets. Additionally, you could use tube alloy or even stainless steel.

Providing it fits lengthways over the paddles on your outboard’s securing screws, it’s suitable. Let’s look at how to make this device.

3

1

You’ll need an angle grinder with a cutting disk, safety glasses, a drill with a couple of drill bits (the largest would be 13mm), a G-clamp or two, ruler, marker pen, a file and a piece of aluminium or stainless tube or box around 2530cm long, depending on the distance apart your tightening lugs are. You’ll also need a quality longnose padlock. I have used one that shares a key with padlocks on my spare tyre and tow hitch.

2

Measure the diameter of the screw on your outboard securing lugs. The majority have a 13mm slot in them, but it’s best to check.

5

4

Use the ruler to mark a straight line down the tube from each side of the 13mm hole to indicate where the slot will be cut. The portion in the centre marked with the ‘X’s will be waste material.

7

With both lugs on your outboard screws facing inwards, slide the tube over until it’s fully on. Mark the spot just to the side of the screw on the open end of the slot where the padlock will go. I like to have the bulk of the padlock resting between the transom and the bracket. Drill through both sides of the aluminium at this position with a hole larger than the diameter of your padlock bolt.

Use your file to remove any rough metal shavings.

Use a G-clamp or two to secure the aluminium to the bench. I used a Flexovit 100x1.0x16.0mm Ultra-Fast Cut Reinforced CutOff Wheel, which was less than $2 at Bunnings.

Ensure the blade is securely in your grinder and don a pair of safety glasses. Start your cut from the top of the material and score just inside the line by moving the angle grinder backwards and forwards until you are all the way through.

On your tubing, measure in about 30mm from one end and then find the centre. This is the position where you will drill a hole to start the lengthways slot. Using a small drill bit (5mm or less), drill through the aluminium (just through one side of the tube) at this central position.

Next, use an 8-10mm drill bit to create a larger hole. Your final hole will need to be roughly 13mm wide, unless your outboard securing screws are a different size. I had a 12mm bit and rocked the bit sideways in the hole to make it slightly larger.

6

Work along each side of the designated slot, just inside the marked line, until you have cut up each side and can remove the waste section.

Go gently with the angle grinder and work in a backwards and forwards motion to avoid the blade biting and gripping, which could snap the blade or make the angle grinder buck out of the slot. For maximum control, use two hands on the grinder.

While it’s still clamped to the bench, use your flat hand file to neaten up the slot, both inside the tube and out.

8

This is how your lock should now look.

I used 30mm square tube and found these end plugs at Bunnings for around $1 each, which neatened up this DIY project. Your padlock will need a long throat to fit through the 30mm bar and still close. The better quality the padlock, the harder it is to cut. You can opt for a stainless steel marine padlock, but most normal padlocks will work fine with the occasional dosing of lubricant.

9

When slid over the outboard securing lugs and locked, this is how your DIY outboard lock will look. Once in position, the other end cap can be tapped in. You can add a little loom tube to the top of the slot to eliminate any rattling. This lock will stop 99% of dishonest individuals.

MARCH 2017

49

Go Behind the Scenery

Tasmania

Tasmania is coming on strong TASMANIA

Kelly Hunt

This season has started off with a bang and has continued to fire.

Amazingly, it has not been one area or specific species coming on strong, but Tasmania as a whole.

This will continue right throughout April.

The water looks good out to sea and in rivers and estuaries. While the floods of last year brought with them some tragedy and a lot of destruction, the effect on our rivers and coastal areas seems positive. More and more it seems people are

NORTH WEST TASMANIA This month we start at the top left hand corner of the state. The islands area of Montague and the areas east and west of Smithton have been fishing very well. The buzz fish in this area is as always the yellowtail kingfish. They

are coming through in good numbers and sizes. If you are looking to tick a metre long Tassie kingy off your bucket list, this is the place to get it done.

Once more, I will warn people that it is an area not to be taken lightly. Tide

This trevalla looks like one intimidating slopper – any angler would be happy to catch this beast.

only taking enough fish for a feed and the days of loading up on a hot bite, just because you can, are a thing of the past. Tag and release and pic and release are two ways to enjoy fishing that become stronger every season.

Previous netting bans and catch limit rule changes, while confronting and controversial

for some, are delivering real benefits to recreational anglers.

Summer takes the back seat and daylight savings is soon to be finished for another year.

Don’t despair... all is not lost.

Water temperatures don’t fall away as hard as ambient air temperature, so there is still some very good fishing to be had.

and wind combine to turn what was a beautiful stretch of water one minute into a waterborne hell in a heartbeat.

I mention tides all the time in this area, because they are large and move swiftly.

If you spend time in this part of Tassie it is only a matter of when and not if you get stuck on the sand. Think quick and you can get off and retreat to deeper channels.

Dilly dally about when aground and you will be there until the water returns again. It pays to have a small pack with some sunscreen, water and a blanket on board.

The kingfish are the true highlight. Take them down with bigger soft plastics and larger jigheads. Fish the water movement in and around the rocks and islands. If you work the deeper channels as the water runs in and out, you can try stickbaits and poppers. Don’t be shy when working them. Stickbaits must look wounded and erratic and poppers must be creating a good amount of surface disturbance.

These fish are big, powerful and aggressive, but at times insanely frustrating.

When they come through or the bite comes on you must be ready to go. Be efficient, otherwise they will come and go and leave you scratching your head.

The other fish in the area that create some buzz are the extra oversize whiting. You can take them traditionally with small long shanked hooks, baits and berley. Some anglers are really enjoying taking them on soft plastics and even surface lures. Berkley do a number of fine tailed grubs in the 2” size that will bring them undone.

Of course, the crazy effective Gulp Turtleback Worms and Fry are dynamite. Those who want to throw something super cool can try the crab mimics from Cranka and Hurricane Lures. On light gear whiting are great fun and spectacular eating. Stalking the shallows throwing lures at massive whiting, you can pretend you are in Aitutaki targeting bonefish.

Burnie has been fishing well and those who love a feed of flathead and gummy sharks have not

Tassie’s North West Coast is firing with plenty of flatties. been disappointed. Move about if you don’t find them straight away. It could take a few moves and a few drifts to locate them. Have a few different baits to mix it up as they can be shut down on something and fire up on something else. This continues to amaze me.

Take some store-bought blue bait, some frozen squid heads from a past trip and

any fish flesh you have frozen down. The little couta that are about in droves all along the North Coast can be a pain in the bum, but they’re great bait. They are silvery and dynamite when made into triangle baits with a little dangling tail.

Get into Tassie Tackle and Outdoors for the low down on what is being

INLAND FISHERIES SERVICE

Lake Echo is worth a visit IFS

Tim Farrell

Recent windy weather has had anglers looking for options that offer shelter and clear water.

The prevailing winds have been westerly and southwesterly.

Many shallow lakes and lagoons are stirred up by strong wind. This dirty water can result in less fish. And another thing to think about lately, when choosing where to fish, has been stable water level.

A trip to Lake Echo during this month was an excellent option for a party of anglers keen to catch a fish. They launched at the Large Bay Boat Ramp at the northwest end of the lake. The winds were forecast as westerly at 20km/h, but they fished the relatively sheltered waters 50

MARCH 2017

of Large Bay, Broken Bay and Teal Bay. They fished with some success using a variety of small hardbody and bibbed minnow lures of rainbow trout and redfin perch colours. One fish was also taken on a gum beetle dry fly pattern.

Over the course of the day they bagged seven beautifully conditioned brown trout in the 40-42cm range and two decent redfin that were also kept for the table. They had many other fish follow lures right to the boat and miss on the strike.

Due to the excellent water clarity, the fish could easily be seen chasing or following the lures. Most fish were taken off rocky shores by drifting along and casting into the drowned timber or steep drop-offs.

FISHING LAKE KING WILLIAM The recent warm weather has made for some fantastic sight fishing at Lake King

William. Blue-sky days have resulted in the ability to polaroid fish working along the shore. The ever reliable red tag is accepted more often than not when cast to cruising fish or just cast along the drop-off into deeper water. A boat with an electric motor is ideal for this style of fishing as it keeps you moving on these calm days. Drifting or fishing from the shore in likely spots where food is building up can be successful as well.

While concentrating along the shore it pays to keep an eye out a bit deeper, as fish can be seen rising to gum beetles a little further out. Any shores with a drop-off are good.

Those with bushes and trees close to the water are ideal.

Trolling and spinning with bright Tassie Devil style lures and bibbed minnows also works well.

The lake is still quite full for this time of year

and about a metre below full supply. Now is the time to have a look at Lake King William. For more, see our Anglers Access brochure or head the Hydro Tasmania website to find out about lake levels.

IFS AT THE BRONTE FLY FISHING SCHOOL During January, IFS team members Chris Boon and Paul Middleton visited the Bronte Fly Fishing School at Bronte Lagoon.

They spoke about a range of topics including the Carp Management Program, Anglers Access, fishery performance assessments, fishery compliance, freshwater crayfish, whitebait and trout fishing in general. The presentations were well received with some interesting questions asked by the group.

The Bronte Fly Fishing School is organised by the Devonport Fly Fishing Club.

The School is a one-week

Chris Boon gives participants at the Bronte Fly Fishing School the rundown of IFS activities. event held every year. It has been running for 20 years and people from all around Tasmania and Australia attend. About 120 people were there, including students and instructors.

Places are limited and highly sought after. The event is recommended for anyone wanting to learn the art of flyfishing. You learn

from skilled instructors in a friendly atmosphere.

Next year the school will run from 7-12 January.

For anyone interested, more information can be found on the Devonport Fly Fishers website www. devonportflyfishingclub. net.au/bronte-fly-fishingschool. The event also has a Facebook page.

Go Behind the Scenery caught and where. Hannah and the boys will give you all the good oil in the area.

Ulverstone and the coastal waters of Devonport have been giving up some nice flathead and gummy sharks and this should continue through the month. What is exciting

is the increased number of snapper catches in mid to late February. These fish are still a mystery to most and their movements and patterns are yet to be properly nutted out. Having the right rigs and techniques will improve your chances tenfold. Fishing on the anchor and with berley

SOUTHERN TASMANIA The southern areas have had a great summer and as we drift into March the Derwent and waters around are still full of life. Here is a breakdown of the species available and what can find you a few fish.

Australian Salmon are

still being found in huge numbers with some very large specimens among them.

Local angler Alex Christian reported fish up to 60cm+ chasing his lure in while fishing from the rocks around Blackmans Bay recently.

Plenty of smaller fish around

With chompers like these, you’ll want some tough tackle on your side.

OFFSHORE The big boat crew will be getting itchy feet in readiness for yellowfin tuna time. These fish have traditionally been a March prospect in Tasmania.

They’re a much sought after species here in Tas, but have been very elusive for some years. I predict we are due a good run of them and they may be larger than we usually see. I will take a yellowfin of any size, but we normally see specimens from 60-80kg.

They hit lures hard and fight like demons to the very end, often winning their freedom at the side of the boat.

These super fish are going to need gear in great condition to stop them.

Have your reels serviced and check all your lure leaders and wind-on

leaders if you run them. We run wind-on leaders after our double knots and have very few issues. The advantage of having a wind-on is shorter lure leaders and being able to fight the fish from the rod tip. Getting a few wraps on the reel drum of the 200lb wind-on while trying to gaff or tag a fish gives a much higher chance of success.

These massive tuna submarines not only test tackle but also angler and crew. Teamwork and cool heads are as important as good tackle in good condition. When a yellowfin (or any gamefish) is hooked, it is important to remain calm while clearing the other lines out of the way. The fish is at its strongest at this point and the angler is most likely a passenger as it removes line from the reel. This is

Tasmania

is a must.

I know I bang on about it, but it truly is one of the keys to success. The other big part of the trap is patience. Once you have set the trap, you must put the time in. You will get some by-catches while fishing over your berley. Some will be a pain in the butt, like

gurnard and draughtboard sharks, and some will be awesome, like big flathead and gummy sharks.

If you find the edge of a reef or some isolated rocky bottom surrounded by sand and shale, you’re on a winner. It may take a handful of trips over a few tides. You will crack

1-2lb have been caught in both the Derwent River and North West Bay lately.

Searching for bust-ups and casting soft plastics or metal slugs into them is a very productive method.

The shores of the Derwent River are well and truly firing with lots of bream being caught on hardbody lures. Suspending shallow diving minnows are the standout lures as usual. With the water being so warm it can be worth mixing up your retrieve when fishing these lures. The standard twitch and pause retrieves will still work, but slow rolling you lures with a consistent wind can be just as productive.

While the average size of the calamari in the Derwent River and North West Bay seems to have dropped a little over the last month or so the numbers have exploded. Local angler Jacob Cunningham managed to bag out in just under an hour while fishing the weed beds around Howden recently. Squid jigs of about 2.5g in any colour seem to be working. Calamari and plenty of arrow squid have now moved into the Derwent River, Storm Bay and North West Bay Plenty of gummy sharks have been caught in Storm Bay lately. Bull Bay, Betsey Island and Variety Bay are some of the most productive areas. Anchoring up where the reef meets the sand and pumping a good berley trail

will increase your chances if you’re after a feed of flake.

Strip baits such as squid, Australian salmon, couta and whiting are ideal when rigged on a running sinker rig with a 5/0 circle hook and 30lb leader is recommended, as they are known to roll up in your line and cut you off with their rough skin.

Tuna fishing off the Tasman Peninsula has been going crazy lately with bluefin from 10-30kg being caught in great numbers.

Smaller albacore and striped tuna are also making an appearance. While trolling divers and skirted lures is the standard approach, casting stickbaits or dropping microjigs to these fish has been working a treat and is also a heap of fun. The bottom fishing along the shelf has been quite productive also, with plenty of blue-eye, gemfish, rays bream and grenadier on offer.

For those who enjoy their trout fishing, particularly flyfishing, now is the perfect time to get out and explore some of Tasmania’s world class trout waters. The Western Lakes are producing excellent fish up to 10lb on dry flies and rivers such as the Tyenna have a large amount of smaller fish.

While the kingfish reports are still a bit slow in our local waters, Coles Bay and St Helens further up the coast have been slightly more productive with fish around 2-3kg being caught

on 5-7” soft plastics. A few nice fish have also been caught around Port Arthur and Fortesque Bay, but they are still few and far between.

Plenty of silver trevally have been caught in the channel recently by anglers

berleying up and drifting small unweighted baits on long shank hooks down their trail. While the average size has only been about 25-30cm they are still great fun. The odd snotty trevally has also been taken among the silver.

time for the angler to make sure the reel drag is right, they have good footing and they are comfortably lodged in one corner at the stern of the boat.

Lodging in a corner allows you to drive a leg or thigh into the gunnel or bait board for some stability and control. If the corner you find yourself in has the skipper on the same side, bark some orders to the crew to move eskies and other gear to the other side, to level up the vessel.

The gear should all be in now and the crew should be looking to stow that gear well out of the way and clear any gear off the deck of the boat.

What you don’t want is rods stowed lazily in the gunnel with a lure swinging in the air or worse, in the water.

Murphy’s Law is alive and well in any angling situation and if there is

something to catch the angler’s line, it will. Stow away all gear well forward.

Once the gear is put away and you have the fish off the corner of the boat and angler’s line well clear, fit the harness, if you have one.

You can fight large fish without a technical harness.

It puts the advantage firmly back with the fish. Fighting without one is like fighting Danny Green with one arm tied behind your back.

Fighting with one is like fighting him and being Mike Tyson in his prime.

Now you are set ready to go. You are in the harness and comfortable. The crew has cleared all lines and stowed them neat and well forward. The deck of the boat is clear, allowing you to manoeuvre from side to side and along the gunnels.

Perfect, but there is nowhere to go you are hooked to the

fish of a lifetime.

Yellowfin tuna are powerful brutes and you are not going to get the fish to the boat in ten minutes. A lot of mistakes are made and fish are lost by trying to ham-handle the fish and rush the fight. Remember, this fish is in its element and not interested in coming anywhere near the boat. You have to wear the fish down and that takes time – time and technique.

Like any activity, fishing is all about technique and the correct one will save you a lot of energy and put maximum pressure on the fish. Make no mistake, this is a prize fight and you are the weaker opponent. You need to use all the techniques you can muster and be the stronger combatant. Use the harness, as it is a technical advantage.

Not only does a harness

locate the rod butt and stop the big overheads twisting as you wind, but they take the load off your arms.

The two straps from the harness located on the lugs on the top of the reel are a godsend. These straps take the load off your arms and transfer it into the belt and your body. This allows you to concentrate on winding and getting the line back on the reel level. Level line coming back on the reel is important, as you don’t want to build a mini mountain of line on the spool that can jam up in the reel beams and cause issues. The only way to fix this is to drive off and pull the hard-fought line back off the reel and clean it up.

The biggest mistake in using a harness is thinking you have to get metres of line in with lots of rod

the code eventually. The friendly staff at Seamaster Fishing in East Devonport will get you in front of the game. Bob Duncombe in at Blue Peaks VDL has many years’ experience and knowledge of fishing in the area and is more than happy to share it.

Good numbers of

flathead are being caught all through the channel, Storm Bay and Norfolk Bay. While there are a lot of sand flathead in close, there are also plenty of larger tiger flathead to be caught in the deeper water (60-150ft) out off Variety Bay and around the Tasman Peninsula.

Anglers after a gummy shark haven’t been disappointed.

To page 52

MARCH 2017

51

Go Behind the Scenery

Tasmania From page 51

lifting. If you are doing that, you have the harness on wrong and you don’t have enough pressure on the fish. A technical fighting harness is designed to take line by dipping your bum and knees and getting some line back with quick sharp winds as you stand. This is the technique and it takes a bit of mastering and timing.

The key here is to be super tight to the fish with a really solid bend in the rod. Any time you have a good bend in the rod you

have good pressure on the fish and it is swimming up hill, effectively. The more bend you can get in the rod, the bigger the hill you make the fish swim up.

Should the fish run and pay line out, it is sprinting up hill. It’s the quickest way to tire it out. That’s the effect of good technique and always maintaining a good solid bend in the rod. You should really be tiring the fish out and starting to dictate terms.

The runs should be less often and shorter in length.

There will be a chance to take or tag the fish coming up. This is when you need cool heads and a plan. While you had plenty of time working the fish, put together a plan and work out who is doing what. If you have the luxury of a few crew members, you can have a leader person and a gaff person. Sometimes that person is one and the same.

Sometimes that person is also driving the boat!

Once you have the fish broken and tiring you can

The flatties are huge around Tasmania and they’re on fire.

Tuna are hard fighters and it can take a team of tough anglers to pull ‘em up.

position the boat to place tag of gaff. The best position is down sea allowing any waves or wind to lay you off the fish. Yellowfin will circle hard and lay on their sides refusing to cooperate.

The last thing you need is to cut the fish off on the boat or motor skeg by washing on and over the top of the fish.

Make the move to tag or gaff the fish with confidence.

Take weight off the line from the rod tip and with the other hand get a good wrap on the line and be firm and guiding.

Don’t jerk and be too rough, as you will pull or have the hook drop out. Some fish will lay along the side of the boat as you trundle along, beaten. Don’t expect that from a yellowfin. They will circle and pull to the very end. You can let them circle

One hour flight from Melbourne

FLINDERS ISLAND King Island

Last year at about this time I was lucky enough to get an invite to Flinders. I had always wanted to get across by air or by boat and the invite was warmly received.

For those of you that have never fished Flinders Island, do yourself a massive favour and get over there.

It is a small island that only takes an hour to drive from one end to the other, but don’t let this put you off. The

entire island is completely jam packed with some of the most amazing fishing to be found in Tasmania, or anywhere in Australia.

While you travel around you will see that the island is also remarkably scenic and the locals are very warm and super friendly. I spoke to Mike from Tasfish.com and he supplied the information below. It is a fantastic head start on how to get there and

Flinders Island

See enlarged map for more detail

Cape Barren Island

Bridport to Flinders Island Ferry weekly service.

About 4 hours Smithton Bridport

Burnie

30min flight from Bridport

Davonport St Helens Launceston

Bicheno

Strahan

Swansea

Orford

Strathgordon Hobart

The scenery alone is enough reason to head over to Flinders. The fishing is just a bonus.

52

MARCH 2017

50 KM

and work them up to the surface on each pass.

Once the tag is in or the fish has been gaffed and on the deck of the boat, you can celebrate.

You have been one of the lucky few in Tasmania to take on a yellowfin tuna and win. Here’s to hoping they come through so we can try our luck and put some of this into practice. where to fish when you do.

Getting there Although Airlines of Tasmania run a service from Launceston Airport to Whitemark in the centre of the island, I prefer to use Flinders Island Aviation based out of Bridport in the state’s northeast, arriving at Lady Barron on the southern end of the island.

The proprietor of the airline (Gordon Rorison) and his chief pilot (Frank) are both keen fishers and are always good for the latest up-to-date tips on what is being caught and where – handy information to know each time you set foot on the island, especially if it’s your first trip there.

Where to stay The Lady Barron township is reasonably well sheltered from the prevailing westerly winds and offers a number of comfortable self-contained holiday cottages for rent in the area, mostly within easy walking distance of the airport, local shop, tavern and fishing.

For your first trip, I suggest the scenic Furneaux Tavern, as it is comfortable, affordable and I doubt there is a better place in the world to enjoy a

Go Behind the Scenery beer and a feed at the end of a great day’s fishing. The views across the Furneaux Sound are simply breathtaking.

This will make a great base for most of your fishing while you get a feel for the island and give you time to check out some of the other great alternative accommodation that is available in the area.

Transport There are a number of car hire establishments on the island including Bowman Lees car hire and Flinders Island Car Rentals. These are reasonably priced, based in the Whitemark area and will arrange to drop a vehicle off at either airport for you. At least one of these businesses offers a mini bus for those that need extra seating. It is important to check availability prior to booking your trip, as they are sometimes fully booked out at peak times of the holiday season.

Food, fuel and tackle Due to the cost of transport getting to the island (where excess luggage is charged on a per kilo basis), you will need to purchase the bulk of your groceries on the island. The Lady Barron store in the south offers fuel, a wide range of groceries and most of the basic fishing tackle you will need on the island.

At Whitemark, you will find the island’s butchery (which also has some basic fishing tackle), a hotel that offers a great counter meal, Bowman’s General Store which offers fuel and a wide range of groceries, a great little bakery and the post office, the newsagents, and a couple of touristy gift shops.

When to go As with anywhere else in Tasmania, the calmest months on the island are predominantly March to May and there is excellent fishing to be had on the island from October right through until the beginning of winter. From

Tasmania

Outer Sister Island

Flinders Island

Inner Sister Island

Blythe Point

Northeast Inlet

Jacksons Cove Conservation Area

North East River Game Reserve

Killiecrankie Bay Wingaroo Nature Reserve

Leeka Tanners Bay

Marshall Bay

Prime Seal Island

Wingaroo Foochow Conservation Area

Patriarch Inlet

Memana Emita Brougham

Arthur Bay

Sellars Lagoon

Sugarloaf Conservation Area

Long Point

Whitemark

Parry’s Bay

Darling Range Conservation Area

Lackrana Conservation Area

Lady Barron

Fotheringate Bay Trousers Point

5 KM

Loccota

Cameron Inlet

Logan Lagoon

Pot Boil Point Adelaide Bay

Great Dog Island

Badger Island

June to October the weather can be cold, windy, unpleasant and just too risky to reliably plan a good fishing trip.

Whereever possible, try to plan your trip when the weather pattern is relatively stable or when there have been at least a few days of westerly weather prior to your trip. The best of the surf fishing beaches are on the eastern side of the island and westerly weather offers at least some shelter in the advent of stronger winds.

Importantly, it helps keep the beaches on the eastern side of the island weed-free.

What to take A good quality 12ft surf casting outfit is a must for targeting a number of species from the beaches. Monster flathead, gummy sharks, Australian salmon and silver trevally can all be caught fishing from the beaches around Flinders Island.

A general purpose combo

Babel Island

Patriarchs Conservation Area

around 7-8ft is ideal for targeting Australian Salmon from rocky outcrops and doubles as a superb outfit for catching squid from the wharves at both Lady Barron and Whitemark, as well as from the shore at picturesque Trousers Point and Salmon Rocks on the Big River Road.

A lightweight soft action combo spooled with light line is suitable for those keen fishers wishing to target the island’s monster garfish.

A good quality soft plastic outfit spooled with braid is a must for those wishing to target flathead in the shallows along with a tackle box filled with an assortment of good quality surf rigs, hooks, sinkers, silver slices, soft plastics, squid jigs, floats, a torch and a good map of Flinders Island.

Where to fish Squid are available from the Whitemark and Lady Barron wharves, Trousers

Vansittart Island

Point immediately below the barbeque/camping area and the Salmon Rocks at eastern end of Trousers Point Beach.

Although Australian

Salmon can be normally taken from all of the surf fishing beaches, by far the most exciting salmon fishing is to be experienced from the large rock outcrop at the mouth of the North East River. Extreme caution should be exercised in this area due to strong tidal currents combined with unpredictable swells and slippery rocks.

Garfish are most prevalent amongst the sea grass beds close to the shore around the Island. My most successful gar fishing spot has been from the granite shoreline between the Lady Barron slipway and Lady Barron Wharf.

Surf fishing from the eastern beaches can be extremely productive for catching the extra large flathead. Places that I have had good success include Dick Davey Shoal, Pot Boil Point and the entire eastern shore from the Pot Boil break out to Sellar Point near Babel Island, Patriach Inlet and North Beach on the western side of the North East River. Many of the western beaches in easterly weather will also produce flathead. These include Tanners and Marshall Bay,

Lillies Beach and Long Point.

The latter western beaches I have just mentioned may not look appealing due to the vast amount of weed beds and shallow water, but don’t be fooled, they are superb locations for wading and flicking soft plastic lures.

When the moon is full it’s the time to target gummy sharks from any of the Eastern beaches. Lady Barron Wharf in January and February can often produce excellent fishing for those intent on chasing these bullets of the sea. Red Bluff on the Eastern side can also be productive when the tide and weather conditions are right.

DEEP SEA FISHING For the more adventurous fisher, a telephone call to James Luddington or Leigh Cox of Flinders Island Adventures is all it takes to target all of the previously mentioned species and tuna, snapper, striped trumpeter, blue-eye trevalla, hapuka, sharks and more.

There are no excuses not to get across and enjoy the crown that is Flinders Island.

This Island will amaze you and have you wondering why you have not visited sooner.

The deep sea fishing around Flinders Island is nothing short of exceptional!

HYDRO TASMANIA WATER STORAGE INFORMATION Water Storage Information as at 9th February 2017 Lake/Lagoon

Metres from full

Comment

Lake Augusta ...................................3.03 ..................................................................

Arthurs Lake ....................................1.05 ..................................................................

Great Lake .......................................12.28 ................................................................

Trevallyn Pond .................................0.99 ..................................................................

Shannon Lagoon ..............................0.1 ....................................................................

Penstock Lagoon .............................0.28 ..................................................................

Lake Echo ........................................5.55 ..................................................................

Dee Lagoon .....................................0.41 ..................................................................

Bradys/Binneys/Tungatinah .............2.78 ..................................................................

Bronte Lagoon .................................1.09 ..................................................................

Pine Tier Lagoon ..............................2.49 ..................................................................

Little Pine Lagoon ............................0.64 ..................................................................

Laughing Jack Lagoon ....................4.06 ..................................................................

Lake St Clair ....................................1.85 ..................................................................

Lake King William ............................2.34 ..................................................................

Lake Liapootah ................................0.83 ..................................................................

Wayatinah Lagoon .........................................................................................Spilling Lake Catagunya ...............................1.5 ....................................................................

Lake Repulse ...................................1.38 ..................................................................

Cluny Lagoon .................................................................................................Spilling Meadowbank Lake ..........................0.48 ..................................................................

Lake Pedder ....................................1.36 ..................................................................

Lake Gordon ....................................28.31 ................................................................

Lake Burbury ...................................2.75 ..................................................................

Lake Plimsoll ...................................1.02 ..................................................................

Lake Murchison ...............................15.88 ................................................................

Lake Mackintosh .............................4.72 ..................................................................

Lake Rosebery .................................0.13 ..................................................................

Lake Pieman ....................................0.35 ..................................................................

Lake Mackenzie ...............................7.95 ..................................................................

Lake Rowallan .................................8.84 ..................................................................

Lake Parangana ...............................1.18 ..................................................................

Lake Cethana ...................................1.44 ..................................................................

Lake Barrington ...............................0.17 ..................................................................

Lake Gairdner ..................................1.51 ..................................................................

Lake Paloona ...................................0.04 ..................................................................

Woods Lake .....................................0.6 ....................................................................

Whitespur Pond ...............................7.55 ..................................................................

Lake Newton ...................................4.69 ..................................................................

Lake Margaret .................................3.18 ..................................................................

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 MARCH 2017

53

Estuary Perch

Searching for estuary perch in the South West FEATURE

Colby Lesko

That old saying ‘10% of anglers catch 90% of the fish really does ring true for the elusive estuary perch. While many anglers are avid perch anglers and know every little hidey-hole to find a perch in their local

species such as bream in some estuary systems, with the right approach and specific techniques, there’s no reason why they can’t be caught just as easily as the humble bream.

Perch will take a variety of baits, however live or fresh minnows or beach worms are ideal.

Despite often succumbing to baits, it is lure fishing

angler’s personal preference, and what works for them with other species will generally do the job on perch as well.

LURES For those newcomers, suspending minnows such as Rapala X-Raps, Balista Trances or Daiwa Double Clutches are a sure fire hit when the fish are off the bottom or hiding under cover.

Soft plastics such as Z-Man GrubZ, Berkley Minnows and Fish Arrows are deadly when the fish are a little deeper. Jighead size depends on water depth you are fishing, and going as light as possible appears to bring best results, as I use around 1/18-1/12oz when fishing edges and move up to around 1/8-1/6oz if fishing deeper.

Surface poppers, surface pencils, vibes, small lipless crankbaits and

Perch are suckers for shad-style hardbodies. various other bream and bass lures are all worth having with you and will also take estuary perch. So if you have something you

water’s surface for signs of bait as you travel past the likely looking areas, you should be off to a great start. By using a couple of

An average size EP taken on a Balista Trance. estuary, to many others they are a fish that is seen in photos, yet never seem to make an appearance on the water.

While estuary perch are known for being tricky to find and don’t have the sheer numbers of other

54

MARCH 2017

that really brings the EPs unstuck. EPs are suckers for an artificial offering and will take anything from a surface popper to a crab imitation hanging on the bottom and everything else in between.

Choosing what lure to target perch with really is up to the

Releasing an EP back to the darkness.

A chunky estuary perch taken from a spawning school.

think may tempt a perch, tie it on and have a go – chances are it will work.

TECHNIQUES Snags Throwing you offering right up and into the structure you think the perch are hiding in is ideal. Once the lure is in the strike zone, don’t be afraid to pause it for a few seconds, as the pause often results in many of my perch strikes. I generally give a snaggy area or drop off a 20-30min spin, and if it isn’t producing on hardbodies or plastics, I will head off in search of other fishy stretches.

Any area of the estuary system can hold perch, and while I have sometimes found them in some strange places using some unorthodox techniques, the general rule is structure, drop-offs and bait-rich areas. By keeping a keen eye on your sounder and the

different techniques at each spot and trying a number of different areas, you will be in with the best chance of finding estuary perch.

Deep Perch are creatures of habit, and once they are found in one area at a certain time, chances are they can be found there again. During winter, estuary perch will school up to spawn, making them easy to spot on the sounder as they appear as closely packed schools of fish close to the bottom. While they are easy to find at this time of year as they sit on the halocline (saltwater/ freshwater layer), getting them to bite can be tricky.

Persistence overtop of the school is key, with the best results coming from slowly working your offering over the perch again and again.

Once the spawning is over, the perch begin to disperse more over the estuary inhabiting drop-offs, snags, reefs and weed beds from

Getting fish in consecutive casts is common once a perch school is found.

Estuary Perch the estuary mouth right up into its freshwater reaches.

Other areas While the perch in many of the snag-rich estuary systems are notorious for hanging off large snags, in some of the less snaggy estuaries the fish will often just hang on much smaller bumps or hard bottom. One of my favorite spots to target perch in the Hopkins is just a small patch of rocky bottom!

So if you’re fishing a

system with little structure, pay attention to the areas of hard bottom and dropoffs, as theses can hold just as many perch as the snaggy systems. The perch can be found right through the water column and while some days you may be targeting them on a deep drop-off with vibes or soft plastic, other days surface lures right up against the bank will bring them unstuck. It pays to always mix it up, as you

never know what you might stumble upon.

DESTINATIONS The South West has a number of great estuary perch rivers, and while the Glenelg River really is a first class fishery and known for its great perch, the Hopkins and Fitzroy rivers are not far behind, as they both hold some great perch fishing.

These rivers would be my top three for the South West, however pretty much all of the estuaries in the South

Once the perch are found, they can be caught in large numbers.

A large estuary perch from the lower Hopkins River.

West offer estuary perch.

HINTS Flow is another important factor to watch when targeting estuary perch, as large rain events rise and dirty the estuaries with freshwater, and this moves the perch around and often leaves them hungry. As the water drops and clears, the fishing should fire as the perch begin to feed.

The recent floodwaters in the South West have created this very scenario, and as the water has just begun to

reside the perch have come on cue. The fishing has been great for perch since the flow has subsuded and is expected to remain great into the coming months as the water will only settle and clear more.

Lastly is time of day, and while perch can be caught at anytime of the day, the periods of dawn and dusk are well worth fishing, as the perch generally seem to bite better in low light conditions when the water is clear. Fishing into the

night is also a great option for those willing to fish into the darkness, as perch happily feed all night due to their large eyes and great night vision.

So next time you’re in search of perch, remember these tips and you should be on your way to cracking the perch code. Just remember, this species is long-lived, having been recorded to over 30 years in age. So while keeping one or two for the table is fine, it pays to let the big breeders go!

CREATE YOUR ADVENTURES

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13 Ashley Park Drive Chelsea Heights Victoria 3196 Phone 03 9772 1277

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MARCH 2017

55

Radical Rocklands is on fire HORSHAM

James Perry

This month signals the start of seasonal change.

With the sun rising later, this heralds the approach of the cooler weather.

March offers the best opportunity to target all species that the region has to offer. Yellowbelly start to slow and hold tight to structure as the water temperatures begin drop, This change also acts as an alarm clock for the large

The author with a healthy brown trout caught on a Rapala X-Rap.

trout that call many of our lakes home.

All of the lakes have been fishing great, but the standouts have been Rocklands Reservoir, Lake Fyans and Lake Bellfield.

ROCKLANDS Rocklands has been continuing to produce solid catches of redfin, with the odd bass and trout too. Slow rolled plastics and small vibes have been accounting for many redfin. Scrub worms on a running sinker rig are always a great option for the bait anglers too.

Recently, local angler Aaron Janetzki found himself in an epic battle with a rare catch of a Murray cod while targeting redfin on a 6lb outfit. With VRfish pushing for stocking of Murray cod and yellowbelly to Rocklands, I believe that Rocklands will truly become the jewel of the west.

FYANS Lake Fyans has been fishing very well over the last month, with many anglers reporting good catches of table-sized redfin. The best methods for targeting redfin at the moment are finesse plastics fished slowly on the bottom with long pauses. A great colour to start with

is the ever-popular pumpkin seed. A weedless rig is also very handy if you’re not familiar with the lake.

Alternatively, trolling small-bibbed minnows along the wall is always a great option that normally results in a few redfin. The Ecogear SX40 or Berkley Flicker Shad in natural colours have had great success.

For land-based anglers, the wall is a fantastic option, giving access to deep water for both bait and lure fishing.

Flicking a Celta is always a good option at dusk or dawn from the wall if you’re after a few trout.

BELLFIELD Lake Bellfield and its tributaries have continued to fish well, with some nice trout being landed. Bellfield is often overlooked due to being a no motor lake, and this makes it a very popular option with kayakbased anglers.

The lake offers deep water access for land-based

Aaron Janetski took this 96cm Murray cod at Rocklands trolling a Berkley Ficker Shad on 6lb line. produce some solid trout.

The fishing has been slow due to the high water temperature, but with the water level up and good

A solid by-catch redfin while stalking skinny water trout for Jarrod Woolley. fishers too, but be warned, the banks can be slippery and the water is much colder than many other lakes due to the depth and protection from the surrounding mountains.

Worms fished under a float is a tried and tested method that should see a result. With the current high water level, Fyans Creek inflow is a great option to fish in the top of the lake.

Stalking trout up here can be hard work, but when the conditions are right, it’s very rewarding.

WIMMERA RIVER The Wimmera River has continued its good form of yellowbelly in the late evening, with catches from Horsham all the way to Japarit. Bait is the best option in the river, and small yabbies or scrub worms are the way to go when fished on a running sinker rig or even in a weighted jighead to keep the bait in contact with the bottom.

TOOLONDO This month I expect Lake Toolondo to start to 56

MARCH 2017

amounts of baitfish visible, its only a matter or time before the water temperature drops and the bigger trout come out of the weedbeds from their summer slumber.

Don’t expect big fish to come easy though, clear water and seasoned trophy trout makes for hard fishing.

These big trout are big for a reason. Bring all your tricks and put in the hours. Aim for overcast days with a bit of a breeze. Daiwa Double Clutches, F7 Rapalas and Bent Minnows are a good starting point.

Fly fishing is also a fantastic option at Toolondo, and dusk sessions are the pick of the bunch. Have a wander around the shallows and take the time to match the hatch. If in doubt, tie on a Woolly Bugger and wait for the evening rise.

Jarrod Woolley releasing another skinny water brown caught on a Rapala F3.

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Short of a cod fishery ROBINVALE

Rod Mackenzie codmac@bigpond.net.au

We’re more than two months into the cod season and local captures along the Murray River can be counted on a single hand. Three small Murray cod have been caught so far and two of them were landed in the Wentworth Weir pool. I’m sure as the months roll on, other cod captures will come to light. Perhaps even a few big fish will show as they make their way back out of the lower Darling River and other pockets

of water that have given sanctuary.

The smaller gilled species seemed to have survived in higher numbers with perch and carp a viable target on bait and lures. It’s great that some smaller cod survived the black water event. I can’t help but think on what has been lost. Imagine being a millionaire and having had your fortune taken away, only to find 50 cents and have others tell you how wonderful it is you still have something left. Those are hollow words and mere loose change when you consider the wealth of green fish stocks that overflowed

the vaults 12 months ago.

Water clarity in the local Murray has been good and anglers are picking up a few decent perch in the pool water above Robinvale on lures. Bait is also producing a few perch, catfish and as many carp as can be pulled from the river. Yabbies are non-existent in the local Murray around Robinvale and have been absent from these waters like the crays after the 2010-11 black water event. Good numbers of yabbies have been running below Wentworth in the Murray River, if you’re chasing a feed.

Heaps of large carp are also being angled out of the

A few solid golden perch have been landed while trolling for cod in the Murray River. This one bit off more than it could chew when it tried on one of the new 170mm StumpJumpers.

Carp numbers have boomed along the Murray and it’s nothing to catch 20 or more each time you lift a yabby net.

DAM LEVELS brought to you by

Murray River on a variety of baits. While they may not be great on the table, they are fun on the line. I will stay on the carp for a moment and touch on one of my all-time pet hates of local fishing. Why is it anglers feel the need to leave piles of these dead fish at almost every popular location you visit on the river?

Be it a camping spot or boat ramp, the stench of decaying fish during the warmer months is nauseating to say the least. A few weeks back I dropped into the Swan Hill Riverside Park for a feed of fish and chips on the steps with my daughter only to be confronted by the same stench of dead fish I regularly see a little further out of town. Several large carp were drying in the sun alongside the steps with a

hive of flies buzzing amidst the stink.

There is a simple answer to this problem. Under current NSW legislation, it is not illegal to return carp into the same waters they are caught from. I simply choose to liberate mine dead after they have been dispatched humanely.

Victoria is different – while it is currently illegal to release live carp, they have no problem with carp being returned dead. In both cases, they provide a valuable food source for any number of animals from pelicans and whistling kites to shrimp, yabbies and even small fishes. It’s far better in the water than rotting on the banks at popular river locations.

The fishing around Swan Hill has been a little better with most anglers landing cod in the Murray

River on bait and lures.

Several cod to 90cm have been trolled on lures up towards the Pental Island area. Some good perch have also been landed at this location according to local tackle proprietor Jim Credlin.

The Kerang Lakes have fished well this past month with good numbers of golden perch and redfin falling to bait and lures.

Lake Charm has been the pick for redfin catches with solid bags landed on blades and vibes. Shrimp and local white bait bobbed on the drift have also worked well.

All up, the best cod fishing in our areas has come from the Swan Hill region. Another month might tell a different story.

Until then, we can only wait and hope and rebuild our greenfish fortune, one wonderful fish at a time.

w w w. b a r g a i n b o a t b i t s. c o m . a u

Dam............................... % Full

Dam............................... % Full

LAKE/DAM Dec Jan Feb

Mulwala

Cairn Curran

(Yarrawonga) 97 92 99

99

96 92

Dartmouth 77 78 78

Newlyn

Eildon

79 77 75

Nillahcootie 100 97 95

Eppalock

100 97 95

Rocklands 52 42 41

Fyans

86 81 77

Taylors

77 75 73

Greens

71 67 72

Tullaroop

100 97 94

Hepburn

99 89 76

Upper Coliban 100

Hume

96 90 82

Waranga

82 74 63

Lauriston

96 94 91

Wartook

102 93 88

Malmsbury 65 55 40

92 89 80

William Hovell 99

99 98

96 97

(All levels correct at time of going to press. Dam levels can change at any time, so please check with local authorities to ensure safe boating and fishing.)

58

MARCH 2017

Piles of dead carp next to boat ramps and camping spots are the result of unthinking anglers.

Lake Mulwala means top fishing YARRAWONGA

Tony Bennett codclassic@bigpond.com

After a year or two of not being fussed either way if I was fishing, the boom in surface action and the results that go with it have me back on the horse again! Lake Mulwala continues to be the number one location for any halfkeen cod angler, especially those keyed into what it takes to get one off the top.

Prior planning and keeping a keen eye on the internet or specific phone apps will have you hitting the lake at prime time. Lately we are averaging about two good nights per week with little wind, so make good use of them. Other factors to take into consideration are wind direction and sunup/ sundown times.

When it comes to lure choice, anything that makes some sort of splash, popping, paddling or blooping action will be fine. Depending on the areas you fish, lure size has a bit to do with the quality of cod returned. I have seen

many monsters landed on smaller lures and small fish on big lures. Wakebaits and swimbaits have also reached a point of being impossible to keep on the shelf. They’re now tricking many a cod that has wised up to other styles of top water fishing.

In saying that, the surface action is great. Your traditional lake methods of trolling and casting lures are now entering prime time over the next few months.

For every fish we hear of taken off the top, there will be many more caught down below.

January was a massive month in regards to visiting and local anglers spending plenty of time out on the lake and below the weir on the river. Reports were frequent with numerous great captures recorded. Without fear of wanting to leave out somebody who deserves a mention, I will roll off a few of the bigger ones. Braidy Lewis accounted for a fit 107cm beast on a Bassman spinnerbait in the upper reaches of the lake. This was off the back of a great night’s surface action where

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Marshall Elliot with his 104cm cod taken off the surface. he managed 80cm and 104cm on the new Codger surface lure.

Jamie Stewart was another to come up tight on a couple of beauties with a 107cm and 90cm hoovering down his cast Koolabung Wake Snake and Cod Cracker respectively.

All that glitters is golden MILDURA

Darcy Scherger

Around the Mildura region the fishing has been red hot.

Golden perch have been providing much enjoyment for local anglers, especially lure fishers around the region.

The golden perch seem to be schooling up in large schools of 30-40 fish around solid old structure usually found submerged at this time of the year. Golden perch have been going into feeding frenzies in these areas with reports of triple hook-ups on lures being cast into likely looking spots with the correct retrieval technique for the day.

The hardest part about these areas is finding the fish.

Then it’s staying on the spot and in the hit zone while your lure is in the water. Anglers have found these areas and managed to situate the boat in the correct location, so every cast that hits the timber has produced solid numbers of golden perch and fish every single cast for short half-hour bursts. Many anglers started using extremely light gear to catch these fish on lures, which made it challenging to pull them away from timber.

This is extremely good fun and rewarding.

Local angler Gareth Collinson was interviewed about the current fishing

situation and he said, “Jackall TN60 and 70s have seemed to have work the best with a very slow retrieve to nearly the point where you can not reel any slower. Hit the snag every cast and you will be smashed by a hungry golden perch.”

Gareth Collinson tried

many varieties of lures on large timber. If trolling was more your thing than casting, small Oar-Gees are also a favourite for the golden perch. It’s definitely worth packing up the boat and heading out for a cast to get your rod bent.

Gareth Collinson looking fly with his golden capture.

Shane and Chris ‘Pizza Man’ Huggard ventured up above Bundalong and caught a massive 110cm on Shane’s cast spinnerbait – a great reward for a couple of good fellas.

I was lucky enough to have Marshall Elliott aboard when his surface lure was engulfed by a beautiful 104cm cod. The hit followed by the fight and then the pure excitement and enjoyment of catching a ‘biggun’ off the top was something to behold.

Below the weir, the fishing has been great with most kids catching plenty of small stuff on bait. Worms, cheese and yabbies have been the most productive. I took a couple of youngsters down for a bit of fun. In two hours we landed no less than 20 fish with two legal cod and a 53.5cm yella thrown in for good measure.

With the competition season upon us, there’s some fun coming up soon.

The His & Hers Partners Classic is 4 March and a great day for understanding couples to share time together in the boat. To round out the competition season is the Cod Nationals, 16-19 March, which is four days of serious tournament fishing for the dedicated green fish angler.

• If you’re visiting town, call into Lake Mulwala Fish Camp & Ski – the shop with the big green cod out the front, opposite the post office in Mulwala.

Check out our new store located between Rivers and One Zac in the main street, Yarrawonga, and say G’day. We’re Yarrawonga and Mulwala’s fishing specialists and know all things green! For any information on the upcoming events or fishing reports, give us a call on 0439 441667.

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Phone: 0410 173 060 basscataustralia@gmail.com MARCH 2017

59

Cod action to continue WANGARATTA

Robbie Alexander

How time flies! It doesn’t seem like that long ago that I was reporting on trout opening in September, and now here we are in March, the start of autumn!

Before I talk about March fishing in the Wangaratta area, firstly here’s a quick recap of how

So it has been a great summer of fishing, and now as we head into autumn, here is my forecast for March.

MURRAY COD March usually see’s the beginning of a slowing down of the Murray cod fishing.

Some years they slow down during February, and other years they bite red hot until late March and early April.

This is largely due to the weather and related water

temperatures. As soon as we start getting those cooler and longer nights the water temperatures start to drop and the cod’s metabolism slows right down, causing them to feed less frequently.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. March is when the water begins to start cooling, and the cod begin to start slowing down, but they are usually still quite active and willing to take a

Jed Nagel, Brett Corker and the author were bait fishing in the Ovens River in the middle of Wangaratta testing the new Black Magic DX Point hooks recently. They caught around 10 cod between them for the evening.

Brett Corker with a nice little trout cod caught in Wangaratta. This trout cod is a perfect specimen for people to look at and familiarise themselves with the differences between trout cod and Murray cod. the fishing has been.

This summer has been the best summer on memory for cod fishing in the Wangaratta area. I have caught stacks of both Murray and trout cod. I even caught my personal best Murray cod on a surface lure!

It wasn’t just me that had a ripper of a summer, many people I spoke to also spoke of the great Murray cod fishing around Wangaratta.

Up in the hills it took a while for Lake William Hovell to start firing and produce a few redfin, but they should fish better in autumn and I will go more into that further on. The trout fishing has been much better than most summers due to intermittent rain events.

Jason with a small trout cod he caught while fishing recently. He released the fish unharmed straight after the photo was taken.

A nice little Murray cod caught on a Bassman ‘Codman’ series spinnerbait in Wangaratta recently.

The Strike Tiger nymph in the new orange spawn colour has been bringing the author a lot of success on the local redfin recently.

These will be dynamite in Lake William Hovell in March.

60

MARCH 2017

lure for most of the month.

I do a lot of my cod fishing of an evening. I love to sneak out after tea in summer and fish for around two hours up until dark. I usually use a subsurface lure until sunset and then switch to a surface lure for the last hour of the day. Using this system I average probably three to five Murray cod an evening. Sometimes I catch none, and other times I catch eight to nine. Usually they are all small fish in the areas that I fish.

In March I still expect to catch cod frequently, but my expectation might drop to two to three fish, or even one to two fish later in the month as the fish feed less frequently leading to the active fish being harder to find.

April is the greatest transition month when the fish slow down the most in the Wangaratta area and I will talk more about that next month.

So in a nutshell, if you’re planning on heading to the Wangaratta area during March for some cod fishing, do not be disappointed if you do not catch any cod, and do not be surprised if you catch 20 in one day, because March can really turn the

fishing on as quickly as it can turn it off.

I am looking forward to some great sessions in March this year.

TROUT Thanks to consistent rainfall throughout winter, I am actually quite excited about the autumn trout fishing. I expect to see some larger trout caught than other years as they will have fed more often this summer.

This is thanks to increased flows leading to better water conditions enabling them to feed more regularly, and the fact that we have had huge amounts of grasshoppers around this summer.

Stream flows should be really good as the creek and river levels have remained higher than average all summer. Even many of the more seasonal creeks have continued to flow all summer this year.

REDFIN In late summer, the redfin fishing had just started to pick up in Lake William Hovell. I caught a nice one

around 30cm long there in February trolling a Halco Crazy Deep lure, and my mate Lindsay Knowles and I caught 30 or so small redfin the same day, all caught on Strike Tiger Nymph soft plastics in the new orange spawn colour.

As a by-catch, I also caught a few small rainbow trout that day, approximately 20cm long. This was a welcome surprise and also a fantastic indication of what might be ahead this autumn and winter for Lake William Hovell.

Autumn is the best time of the year to fish for redfin in Lake William Hovell and some of my most memorable redfin catches have been in late March.

March is still a bit early to target trout in Lake William Hovell, however towards the end of the month, later in the day and in the evening it may just be worth trolling a small winged lure along the steep shaded western edge of the lake to try and pick up an early trout.

Finding yellowbelly and cod in the rivers SHEPPARTON

Nick Brown teamriverrats@hotmail.com

The past few months have been filled with a lot uncertainty surrounding the long-term effects of the black water event in January.

Speaking to many local fisher, the stories of dozens and dozens of dead fish are very concerning. I have spoken to people who believe they have statistics that show the effects are not as damaging as other black water events but have also spoken to people from the fishing industry, who

are highly credentialed, and their thoughts are the complete opposite saying the majority of fish are now dead.

The black water event has made me dig deeper into our river systems. I’ve spoken to some at Fisheries who say their research shows lots of bigger fish migrate to the area. We have lost many big fish because of the black water event but knowing that the majority of fish migrate here gives us hope that if all the big cod have died that possibly there are more to return.

We will have more of an idea on the effects

Young gun Kydan Atkinson with a yellowbelly caught on a Pirate spinnerbait.

of the black water after this month’s annual fish survey taking place on the Goulburn River. This involves a group of anglers fishing alongside Fisheries officers in the same area as previous year’s surveys.

The statistics will be compared to previous surveys and this will give us a clear picture of exactly what has taken place. Yes we have lost lots of fish but fingers crossed it’s only the 10-15% reported and not the almost 100% that some have said.

Reporting on the Goulburn has been tough this month with many locals refusing to fish the river. Some are trying to avoid the Goulburn River to decrease the chance of adding any more stress on surviving fish and some staying away feeling that it’s pointless fishing there.

There have been reports of big fish in good numbers being caught above Murchison and closer to the Goulburn Weir. Trolling Codgers and Ballistas have worked well in recent months and many are now trolling the bigger bladed spinnerbaits. The Pirate spinnerbaits with the new vibration blades have worked well and I expect they will continue to bring success in the coming months.

Broken River didn’t get the black water like the Goulburn and this has been fishing very consistent.

There is a lot more fishing traffic down the Broken River but this has not spooked the fish. The fish have not been huge but the numbers have been high with some catching 10 cod in an evening session. Using swimbaits and spinnerbaits at the start of the session and then shifting to surface lures in the evening has been the best method.

The waters in behind Kialla Lakes have

seen good numbers of yellowbelly being caught around the faster flowing sections. Casting Jackalls or baitfishing with a large heap of shrimp have worked best on the yellowbelly.

Hopefully some of the fish from the Goulburn escaped upstream into the Broken River and if so we should see an increase of fish caught in coming months.

LOCAL CHANNELS Reading Trelly’s Tackleworld report in February, I saw they were reporting a cod being caught over a metre in the channel that runs from the Waranga Basin to Colbinabbin. Going off the Tackleworld report the same fisho has managed to catch 3 over 1m and plenty between 70-90cm for the last 2 years by casting big cod lures anywhere from the mouth at Waranga Basin, all the way through to Colbinabbin. These techniques to catch big cod can be used in the Main Eastern and there have always been reports of big cod being caught in there.

Most of us are using inch long lures to chase redfin in the channels but this gives us something to think about in regards to big cod lures.

I have had a bit of fun in recent times catching redfin on surface poppers.

Small cup-faced lures that pop, not walk, has worked best. The fish are not huge but any fish off the surface is always fun and using 4-6lb line with a small reel is a blast.

WARANGA BASIN The basin has now seen most of the summer holiday boating traffic dwindle down and is now very easily accessible. The Basin has been fishing well with majority of fish being caught either trolling or jigging ice jigs in the schools. Fish up to 40cm have been caught along the

Ross Threlfall with a Broken River yellowbelly. wall area through towards the caravan park.

Small AC Invaders in colour 4T (red) or colour 80 (redhead/white) in 30ft have done a lot of damage of late along with drifting worms and yabbies.

One report came in with a Murchison local wrapping an inch or two of foil above his hook while drifting bait. The foil works like a reflector with the sun (you could almost call it a poor man’s spinner) and it has produced fish.

There have not been many reports of big cod being caught this summer but with more people now targeting the basin with big lures I am sure a few metre cod will be reported in coming months.

SHEPPARTON LAKE The lake has not had much fishing action of late with only the odd angler out fishing. Those in boats and kayaks have had luck trolling shallow running lures and Tassie Devils for trout. Bait fishers have been floating Powerbaits and worms to catch the trout.

Yellowbelly have gone very quiet this summer and there’s only been a few fish caught deep in the weeds.

Fisheries have re-stocked the lake with some mixed size silver perch recently in the hope that they will become another fish locals can target in the lake. Silver perch can be very frustrating if you’re baitfishing for cod but if you target them with smaller hooks and bait on light gear you can have a lot of fun.

There has been plenty of fish stocked in the lake for our enjoyment but with plenty of fat pelicans calling the lake home I suggest we’re not the only ones enjoying the stocked fish.

KIALLA LAKES Lake number one has produced most reports lately with most fish being caught on bait around the willow trees. Yellowbelly between 20-25cm have been the average size with the odd redfin and carp being caught. Lure anglers have caught smaller numbers of fish casting Jackalls around the willows.

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Early bird catches the trout JINDABYNE

Steve Williamson swtrout@airlan.com.au

I think most areas had record temperatures over the last couple of months, and I can guarantee I have never worn shorts for so many days in the last 30

lake this year, which have helped the brown trout to put on some serious condition, so you might see some record fish caught this year.

We all love catching big brown trout!

For the boat trollers, Lake Jindabyne’s normal downrigging season was

The Tasmanian Devil 111 Yellow Wing ‘Willy’s Special’ or a black and orange devil are the best deep lures at the moment, with Tasmanian Devil number Y36 also doing okay on the surface and off leadcore lines early.

My black one side and orange the other side

MARCH ROUNDUP – THE BEST OF THE BEST! Best method Lake trolling – leadlines early, then downriggers.

Best lake lure Tasmanian Devil Steve Williamson’s

Lime Green Yellow Wing or number 111 Willy’s Special.

Best lake area Deep water off Lion and Cub islands.

Best fly method dry fly – hopper patterns and Yellow Humpies.

Best River Thredbo River.

Best River lures Bullet Minnows or Strike Tiger Nymphs. years of living in the Snowy Mountains! I’m actually looking forward to cooler days and cold nights, which will stir the trout into action once again.

As we head into the first month of Autumn, we start thinking about the brown trout spawning run and this months temperatures and rainfall will dictate whether it will be an early or late spawning season this year.

If the trout run early like they did last season, it will be an interesting river fishing season, but we might have to wait a few more weeks yet to see just what happens.

With the warmer weather of the last couple of months, there have been plenty of yabbies in the

late, and so I expect there will be plenty of deep trolling for the rest of March.

The best way to start off the 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 three colours to take the lures to 4-5m as a backup.

If you have been out a while and there are no bites, don’t persist, get out your downriggers and starting at 35ft with a lure dropback of 4m, you should start to see some fish.

As the day brightens further, maybe go to 45ft by mid morning and drop the lure back to 9-10m or even more for the best fishing.

On cloudy or rainy days you can surface fish until about 9am before going deeper.

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Tasmanian Devil has been very good also for downrigging or off the surface early.

Some of the better trolling areas this month will be deep water off Lion and Cub Islands or the deeper water off Hatchery Bay and Hayshed Bay. Sids Bay through to Rushes Bay will fish well early in the day for big brown trout, but the first hour of light will be the time to be there.

If you like to spin the lake with lures, then you need to be on the water very early before the trout head into deeper cooler water. Working a minnow lure around the edges of the shallow bays in about 4m of water will be the best way to pick up a bigger fish.

But be early!

Later in the morning, look for deep drop-offs and allow the lure to sink deep and work the lure slowly back to the surface. The best colour lures have been in either natural brown trout 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 drop-offs. The best areas have been down at the

South Arm or near Banjo Patterson Park, but as the month progresses, Waste Point and the Snowy Arm will start to fire.

Spinning on the Thredbo River has been much better fishing this year, and with the higher water we are also seeing bigger fish. Small minnows in the sinking variety like the Bullet Lures are better in the faster water, with Celtas working better in the shallow water.

Other lures to try have been Gillies Bendbacks and Feathertails, but you could also try soft plastics! The Strike Tiger range of soft plastics have taken the trout fishing scene by storm with their excellent range, with the nymphs being perfect for rivers and streams.

Over this month, the best lake bait fishing will be with scrub worms off the bottom, teamed up with some artificial bait.

Tiger worms under a float are good, and another bait worth suspending under a float is the old faithful grasshopper, which is a bait you don’t often hear about much these days, but they work a treat and there are plenty about at the moment.

You might need some kids with a butterfly net to help you collect the bait though!

The best bait fishing areas are Creel Bay, Hatchery Bay and Curiosity Rocks in the deeper water.

For lake fly anglers at the moment, the best fishing has been early morning and there have been a few wind

John Ramley with an Atlantic salmon caught between the boat ramp and Lion Island. lanes about, and if you see the ducks and sea gulls on the water, this is a telltale sign that they’re eating insects on the surface.

Some of the best lake fly fishing is 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

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Scott Newman with a 1.3kg brown caught at Kalkite.

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 Sids 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 still looking good, and plenty of small fish are being caught on dry fly. Fly selection is not too critical in these streams, but placement is, or else you just scare all the fish.

Try a small Hopper pattern, Royal Wulff, Royal Humpy or a caddis moth in these areas. The area on the lower Mowambah near the weir on the Dalgety Road is a great spot to have a look for small stream trout.

Until next month, hope you catch the big one.

• 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.

Codoholics come to Eildon EILDON

Andy McCarthy

It seems as though the yellowbelly have been coming up into the shallows with numerous reports of fish being caught land-based with scrub worms, which is a little unusual for February.

Hats off to good mate and all around champion of a bloke Trevor Holmes for putting in the time and effort for his clients and getting some great results.

He has put his clients onto some cracker fish in recent months, and doesn’t look like slowing down!

Lots of reports are coming in from the top of the lake, with good sizes of cod and some great yellowbelly to boot, and it also seems that the redfin schools are up the top as

Matty Wright was over the moon with this beautiful 94cm cod.

well and looking good for the future.

On a recent trip, Jan Bast, a great angler who spends quite a bit of time on Eildon, unfortunately came across some set lines in the trees. I still can’t quite imagine what goes on in some peoples’ minds to think it’s acceptable in this day and age – it’s got to stop. So keep your eyes peeled and report any of this type of behaviour to fisheries.

It’s great to see plenty of water still up under the bridge in March, and this will more than likely fill over winter and provide plenty of water for the next 3 years or so, which is great for locals and local businesses moving forward.

There have been quite a few sightings of snakes in the water, so be aware and leave them be wherever possible. Stay safe.

Bonnie Doon is not a bust!

BONNIE DOON

Andy McCarthy

It seems as though the yellowbelly have been coming up into the shallows with numerous reports of fish being caught land-based with scrub worms, which is a little unusual for February.

Hats off to good mate and all around champion of a bloke Trevor Holmes for putting in the time and effort for his clients and getting some great results. He has put his clients onto some cracker fish in recent months,

and doesn’t look like slowing down!

Lots of reports are coming in from the top of the lake, with good sizes of cod and some great yellowbelly to boot, and it also seems that the redfin schools are up the top as well and looking good for the future.

On a recent trip, Jan Bast, a great angler who spends quite a bit of time on Eildon, unfortunately came across some set lines in the trees. I still can’t quite imagine what goes on in some peoples’ minds to think it’s acceptable in this day and age – it’s got to stop. So keep your eyes

Benny Millot took this metre fish in Eildon recently.

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Lake Nillahcootie is another option for Victorians, and that’s where Mick Caulfield caught this healthy cod. peeled and report any of this type of behaviour to fisheries.

It’s great to see plenty of water still up under the bridge in March, and this will more than likely fill over winter and provide plenty of water

for the next 3 years or so, which is great for locals and local businesses moving forward.

There have been quite a few sightings of snakes in the water, so be aware and leave them be wherever possible. Stay safe.

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Bendigo bounty is brimming with opportunities BENDIGO

Roger Miles codhuntertours@bigpond.com

Anglers fishing in the Bendigo region have many great options now.

Water clarity has settled in the local rivers and the productivity in the fishing has been great. Our local impoundments are fishing well, but the amount of boat traffic can make finding some quiet water difficult.

LAKE EPPALOCK Redfin continue to make up the majority of anglers’ captures. The best concentrations of redfin can be found in a depth range of 4-5m of water. If you are chasing redfin, you must be prepared to move around a lot in order to find the fish.

If you can find areas where there is a good concentration of baitfish (juvenile redfin) then some larger redfin won’t be far away.

The baitfish are moving all the time, so the trend has also seen the larger redfin moving regularly. Once a good concentration of redfin is located, a number of techniques have been

working.

Casting soft plastics and blades has been productive. Casting and trolling lipless crankbaits has been working. Trolling small hardbody lures has also been a good option. On a recent tour to this destination I would have tried over 30 different areas before I managed to locate a good concentration of fish.

The golden perch fishing has been slow in Lake Eppalock this season. Small numbers of this species are currently being caught. The majority of these have been caught by anglers casting the edges of rocky shorelines with lipless crankbaits. Small numbers of Murray cod have been caught. Most of these have been caught by anglers casting to lay-me-down timber with spinnerbaits or trolling larger lures around the rocky shorelines.

A recent report of an angler landing a Murray cod at Lake Eppalock measuring over one metre is encouraging. With good stocking in the future by Victorian Fisheries, hopefully we will see a continuing improvement in the Murray cod fishery.

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CAMPASPE RIVER The fishing in the Campaspe River has improved a lot over recent weeks. Water clarity has improved and the fishing is currently very good. Your first impressions when you get to the river will be that water clarity is poor. There is currently a lot of tannin colour in the water. Once you get on the water and you start fishing, you will see the clarity is good. A wide range of lures has been productive.

Casting spinnerbaits and lipless crankbaits has been the most popular option.

Hardbody lures have also been producing good results.

Recently, golden perch are the main species being caught. The average size of the golden perch is around 40cm. Reasonable numbers of Murray cod have been landed. The average size of the Murray cod being caught has been 50-60cm with the occasional larger fish landed.

Small numbers of redfin have also been caught in the Campaspe River.

CAIRN CURRAN Water clarity has been improving Cairn Curran. We have seen an improvement in the fishing here over the last month. Reasonable numbers of redfin are being caught and the best concentrations of fish are being found in the depths of around 4-6m. Casting soft plastics and blades has been the best option for the redfin.

The golden perch fishing has been reasonable. The most productive technique for the golden perch fishing

Kelvin Miles displays his golden perch, which was caught casting in the Loddon River. has been casting lipless crankbaits around the edges of rocky shorelines. Small numbers of Murray cod have also been caught at this location. Trolling 75-120mm hardbody lures has been working. Casting large lipless crankbaits like Jackall Doozer and the new 100mm Mazzy Vib have been good options for those anglers targeting Murray cod.

LODDON RIVER The fishing in the Loddon River has been very good lately and the productivity should continue. Most days see a bite window early in

the morning and late in the afternoons. The fishing during the middle of the day has been slow, so if you are planning a trip to this destination, plan for an early start or late finish to experience the most productive fishing.

Golden perch are making up the majority of captures.

They are measuring 40-45cm.

Productive lures for the golden perch have been dark coloured spinnerbaits and a combination of both dark colours and reflective colours in the lipless crankbaits.

Good numbers of golden perch are also being caught

on small to medium sized hardbody lures.

Some good numbers of Murray cod have also been caught in the Loddon River over recent weeks.

The average size of the Murray cod being caught has measured 50-60cm. There have also been a few very large Murray cod measuring up to and over the magical metre. The Loddon River has been receiving a lot of fishing pressure lately. Anglers producing the best results are those who have the higher skill level and can get lures into the tight spots.

Plenty of bass in the lakes CTL GIPPSLAND

Will Thompson allwaysangling@bigpond.com

Summer is here and the bass have been going berserk in our bass lakes such as Glenmaggie and Blue Rock.

Blue Rock Lake has probably been the standout with plenty of bass caught up the river arm. A few have been in the lower sections in the woody bays and near the wall. Cicada Lures have been exceptional this season as there have been massive cicada hatches. The bass and even trout have been feeding on them heavily.

The prime time to use lures has been late afternoon, the mornings and even in the middle of the day if you fish in the shadows. The Blue Rock bass have been a good size this season with lots around 35cm and a few bigger. Plenty have been around that 20-25cm as well.

In Glenmaggie, the bass are hanging around the rocky outcrops. Soft plastics and

Ryder’s PB bass was caught on a surface lure at Lake Glenmaggie off the bank while trying out the Tiemco Soft Shell Cicadas. With a few twitches this cracking bass smashed the cicada on the surface. vibes fished along the steep banks are producing bass to 35cm regularly. There are good bass in the timbre and you can quite easily catch them land-based.

HAZELWOOD BARRA Barra have been very tough over the past month.

Most of the fish have been caught on early mornings on surface lures such as Sammy style walkers or bent minnows and even large stickbaits

and poppers that you would chase kingfish with. The mornings are fishing well as are evenings from 6:30pm to after dark.

Surface lures have been working very well after dark. These fish seem to be scattered around, but the island has produced fish fairly consistently, especially in the reeds. The rock groins of the main boat ramp have produced a couple as well.

The boaties have done well lately and the odd boater has caught barra when sounding them up in large schools and annoying them with vibes and lipless crankbaits.

• 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.

Space for anglers to wet a line CRATER LAKES

Rod Shepherd

The summer holidays have well and truly finished, leaving many of our waterways uncrowded for the first time this year.

From February onwards and right throughout autumn seems to be the best time of year for locals to get out there and wet a line.

Many of the water skiing fraternity have finally left the waters of Lake Bullen Merri allowing the more sedate sport of fishing to go unhindered. All it takes is a warm to hot day to occur on a weekend and they suddenly reappear in droves. If you can get in a session or two during the

week, Chinook salmon are still being caught close to shore in depths from 4-8m.

These fish are varying from a kilo in weight to well over two. The odd rainbow from 1-2kg have been thrown into the mix. The browns are quiet, but I’ve heard whispers that local bank anglers fishing throughout the night using mudeyes and locally sourced live gudgeon minnows suspended under a float have picked up the odd solid fish.

So far the lake’s water temperature hasn’t risen sharply as it has done in the past. This is due to a below average summer. A thermocline layer has yet to fully form, so downrigging hasn’t become a necessity yet. Plenty of boaters are

still flat line trolling minnow lures around the shoreline and I’ve noticed a substantial increase here of boaters static fishing, casting soft plastics as well as hardbodies towards the shallows.

There are plenty of smaller, more recent releases of the above species about and they are voracious to say the least. Many of these fish could be considered pan-sized. There are plenty of larger salmonoids about, so carefully release the smaller ones. It will only take a few months for these fish to double or even triple in weight with the sheer amount of food on offer in the lake.

Lake Purrumbete remains fairly quiet. Solid rainbows around 2kg have

been taken early on in the day. Suspending bait at least 2m under a bubble float and allowing it to drift towards the weed beds has been successful for a few. The odd Chinook has also been taken along with brook trout. The big browns are still there.

Lately, I haven’t heard of any confirmed captures.

Lake Tooliorook has rainbows around 800g taking just about anything on a given day. The campers have finally left, so the lake has much less boat traffic.

Lake Elingamite’s water levels continue to slowly drop and small tinnies can still launch. If it wasn’t for two large falls of rain that occurred in December and January, I doubt whether anyone other than kayaks

A 2015 release brown from Elingamite taken on a Damiki Saemi minnow in red. could access the lake.

The new release trout are rapidly approaching 40cm and the odd fish that were released last year are

being taken on minnow lures, along with redfin up to 1.4kg. Casting or flat line trolling lures is working well here.

Summer heatwave still producing action MELBOURNE METRO

Dylan Brennan

While Melbourne sweats it out under the last real taste of summer, there are still plenty of places to sit back in the shade and throw a line in.

For the local suburban lakes, Karkarook and Devilsbend have been producing redfin for both the bait and lure anglers.

The odd trout has been taken while fishing early morning around the edges, but the redfin numbers are much greater at the moment. Baits and berley consisting of a maggot mix or PowerBait have been the most effective in the lakes, especially Karkarook.

There have been some rather decent trout working

the lake edges under the right conditions too. Amongst the trout and reddies there have also been an odd number of crucian carp caught recently.

For anglers fishing the Yarra this month the usual catches can vary from carp and eels through to a Macquarie perch or Murray cod. With the weather at it’s warmest, the river should start to cool down a bit over the next month, which can bring on some quality trout fishing higher up. For the moment, the aforementioned species are more active.

If you want to hedge your bets and relax with a bait in the water, there are some good spots along the river that have reasonable access and plenty of fish habitat.

A good area for land-based anglers is just off Homestead Road in Eltham, with a short

walk from the car park to some prime river access with a small sandy beach.

From here you can cast into a nice slow pool with some good timber around, perfect structure for many of the river’s species.

The warm water temperature should start dropping, which will kick the yellowbelly into gear over at Sugarloaf Reservoir. Anglers catching the yellas in here have been doing well on a range of lures. Slow sinking plastic vibes, hardbodies and spinnerbaits are best. Small vibes like the Strike Pro Hummer and Daiwa Vibe 47 have been the perfect size for these fish to eat. Fitting these lures with double hooks will lessen the chance of snagging them on rocks and bits of timber while not affecting the hook-up rate.

• For up to date fishing information, contact the guys at Compleat Angler in Dandenong on 9794 9397

or drop in and see us at 241-243 Princes Hwy, Dandenong, we are open 7 days a week. For our other

latest fishing reports and to download information sheets, go to www fishingcamping.com.au

A less commonly seen crucian carp caught on bait recently from Karkarook Park.

Photo courtesy of Morgan Taggert.

The much-loved options working for March WST/STH GIPPSLAND

Steve Haughton steve@habitatcreations.com.au

Daylight savings ends in April, leaving only one month to enjoy fishing in extended daylight. West and South Gippsland offer some great freshwater stream and lake options with target species including bass, trout, redfin, luderick, eel and, of course, carp.

The impressive streams of the Noojee region set amongst a beautiful backdrop of bushland and lush farmland is a must for any stream trout angler.

The Latrobe, Toorongo and Loch rivers all hold small trout and are great fun on light gear whether it be tackle suited to fly, lure or bait fishing. Closer

Josh Schuurman from Melbourne had a bit of fun recently catching and releasing several PB bass at Blue Rock all around the mid-30cm range. A solid fish bends a lightweight rod tip to the water. to Melbourne is the Tarago River, which begins north of Neerim South and flows down to Longwarry

before entering the Bunyip River; both rivers offering good fishing.

Twenty minutes north of

Warragul is the picturesque Blue Rock Lake set behind the township of Willow Grove.

The northeastern banks of the lake are predominantly native bushland creating the foothills of Mt Baw Baw. Open farmland dominates much of the western banks with good land-based fishing around two boat ramps positioned nicely at either end of the lake. The Tanjil Arm located north of the lake provides the lake with its main source of water, coming from the Tanjil River, and is set amongst an amazing rugged landscape of native bush and submerged dead trees – ideal habitat for big bass, trout and redfin.

Heading south, the Lang Lang River always looks very inviting at this time of the year with good flow

and tannin waters. There is plenty of food throughout the system which results in some nice healthy brown trout and redfin swimming about. The Lang Lang River historically holds some big trout and luderick but access can be difficult, so it will require some adventurous spirit.

By March the stream flows can be down quite low, but there is still plenty of insect action happening at the surface.

Dry flyfishing can be very productive, as can small surface lures. Your approach to any stream will require stealth, as the fickle trout can be spooked very easily. Trout also like waters that are well oxygenated and cool, so it is likely you’ll find them in or below riffles where the water is flowing.

The lake levels of Blue Rock have been dropping and will likely continue over the next month. This creates perfect conditions for shoreline vegetation to grow until the water comes back up to the natural water mark in the wetter months. Good shoreline vegetation attracts the aquatic invertebrae, which in turn attracts the fish.

This is ideal for land-based anglers. If an autumn break comes early this month, then definitely head to Blue Rock to fish the rising lake levels.

Those who have boats and kayaks should also focus their attention on trolling or casting at the shoreline.

Feel free to send me a report or photo, particularly if you have any success stories over the last month.

Happy fishing!

MARCH 2017

65

Timing is everything for Ballarat BALLARAT

Shane Stevens

What will give you the best opportunity to catch a fish today? Do some homework and find information on the species you are going to target like what they eat and the best times of the day to fish for them. Find out what other anglers have been catching them on and where.

All of these tips can be found in articles like this or on Facebook, fishing forums, TV programs, DVDs, radio and at fishing clubs. There is a host of knowledge out there. Tap into it. Find out about the fish you are after.

Unfortunately, 90% of the fish caught are often caught by 10% of anglers. Let’s try and change the odds.

Anglers in and around the Ballarat district need to think about this. We’re in the middle of our summer.

A lot of our fisheries in the district are shallow by nature. During the warmer, sunnier months, trout and redfin will seek refuge in the weeds and change their feeding patterns, to stay safe from predators like birds.

This behaviour is also dictated by what the fish are feeding on. Mudeyes are predominately the number one source of food in our local waters at this time of the year. The mudeyes crawl out of the weeds and swim through the water onto land to hatch into dragonflies.

This generally happens on evening and into the night.

Sometimes they hatch all night and the fish will feed all night into early morning.

This is when you should be out to give yourself the best chance of catching one, whether you’re a bait, lure or flyfisher.

This information can be used on most species of fish and not just around the

waters of Ballarat. You have to think like a fish. What is a good time to fish in the middle of spring is not

trout and redfin casting a variety of hardbodied lures and soft plastics.

Ben Young and Damien

youngest son Maxi had a ball trolling and landed lovely rainbow trout and redfin. The best lures we have found at the moment are the Bullet Lures in silver and gold trolled 5m behind the boat. This allows them to be higher in the water column and not dredging the bottom, getting fouled up by weeds or the rope from the rowing lanes.

Lake Wendouree will continue to fish well over the coming months if you stick to the right times of day to fish. Early morning, evenings and after dark are prime times, especially in the next couple of months. The mudeye hatches peak in these months, so the fish will make the most of this opportunity and so must anglers.

Newlyn Reservoir reports have been patchy.

The water level is falling due to the water being used for irrigation purposes, which has exposed a lot of weed.

This happens every year and anglers need to target the areas where the weed is not as bad or wade through the

Damien Kierl snagged this lovely pair of redfin on mudeyes fished under floats on Wendouree.

Photo courtesy of Damien Kierl.

Daniel Hon bagged this lovely 43cm redfin drifting around Lake Wendouree with a Christmas Beetle Bullet Lure. the necessarily the best time during autumn or summer.

Fishing in the district waters has been a bit patchy over the past month.

Anglers who have done their homework and fish at the best times have landed some lovely fish. Daniel Hon loves nothing better than to get out on Lake Wendouree in the evening casting lures out of his Hobie. Lately, he has been catching magnificent

Keirl certainly know the best time to fish Wendouree. The boys have been bagging some excellent redfin. Damien caught them on mudeyes and Ben used lures.

I have taken my kids up a few mornings on first light, firstly trolling the rowing lanes with small hardbodied lures, then we fish mudeyes suspended under bubble floats into the weed beds with excellent results. My

Ben Young bagged this lovely redfin casting a Nories B74 hardbodied lure while drifting around Lake Wendouree.

Photo courtesy of Ben Young.

Max Stevens landed this lovely Wendouree rainbow trout on the troll. The silver Bullet Lure brought this one undone.

66

MARCH 2017

weed to cast baits and lures into the open water.

The best time to fish Newlyn over the past few years has been on very first light before the sun gets up. Fish with mudeyes suspended under floats in the open clear water and make sure you have your lines greased up with Mucilin so it floats and covers plenty of water.

At Hepburn Lagoon, not very far from Newlyn Reservoir, the same suggestions apply. I haven’t heard much from Heppy.

I’m sure that over the next couple of months with the

mudeye hatches in full swing, anglers will be out there making the most of the feeding frenzy that takes place on or after dark.

Anglers fishing mudeyes and flyfishing at the prime times will catch some lovely fish.

Moorabool Reservoir is flying under the radar at the moment. I have heard nothing on the angler grapevine and there are no photos on Facebook. I’m sure the fish will be biting normally at this time of year, as there are plenty of guys catching big bags of redfin casting lures from

the deeper banks of the reservoir. The best times have been evening and early morning. Moorabool Reservoir was heavily stocked last spring with brown and rainbow trout, so there should be plenty of fun to be had. A bunch of garden worms on a running sinker rig will bring them undone.

Other waters that will be worth a look in and around the Ballarat area over the coming months are Bostock, Cosgroves, and the Dean and Tullaroop reservoirs.

Anglers using plastics, lures and baits should be able to catch a trout or redfin.

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67

Common fishing mistakes made by all anglers PART 1 BRISBANE

Sean Thompson

Fishing can be a wonderfully relaxing experience and a great escape from the pressures of everyday life. But it can also be frustrating at times – leaving you wondering why the fish aren’t biting or how that big one got away!

Like most things in life, the greatest lessons as an

wrong place, time or tide to poorly presenting your bait or lure or simply having the wrong tackle. It then outlines what you can do to help avoid these mistakes in future. I trust that after reading this you will be better informed and better prepared to avoid these fishing mistakes in the future. This month we’ll be looking at the when and the where.

LOCATION, LOCATION! These buzz words from

also filled with swimmers due to the same reasons of convenience, and so any fish that might happen to be swimming past are spooked by swimmers in the water.

Consequentially and unfortunately, many of these casual anglers will therefore associate the beach with having no fish. Worse still, they may blame the tackle shop for supplying them with the wrong gear, bait or lures, when in reality they were simply fishing the

Many anglers will fish from pontoons and jetties and cast well away from the structure. They don’t realise that most fish in the area will be using the jetty or pontoon as cover!

Beach fishing is all about reading the water. There’s a lot of barren, fishless water between the good pockets, so make sure you familiarise yourself with what to look for. angler can come from your mistakes. Sometimes you might realise your mistake at the time; as you study your frayed line, broken hook or the tell-tale piggy tail at the end of your line where the hook use to be. At other times, it might not be until you look back through your fishing diary to understand how the wind, water colour, time of day or tidal conditions were different to the last time that you fished at that spot and had much greater success.

Sometimes however, the biggest fishing mistakes can be those that you just aren’t aware that you are making.

This three-part series discusses a range of the biggest fishing mistakes that anglers, both novice and experienced, can make every day. These mistakes can be anything from fishing the

real estate agents are equally as relevant to anglers when choosing the right type of fishing area or structure in which to target fish. In simple terms, this means you can’t catch fish where there aren’t any! So let’s look at some of the mistakes I see holidaymakers or unsuspecting anglers make when choosing a place to fish.

Beach formations Probably the biggest and most common mistake I see on the beach is concentrations of anglers fishing close to the nearest walkway, car park or swimming flags.

That is, people are choosing spots based on convenience rather than anything else.

Such spots can be barren, featureless water with few or any fish attracting features.

These locations are usually

wrong water.

Understanding beach formations is not rocket science, and once you learn the basics, your results off the beach can change quickly and dramatically, provided you have all the other basics (such as tackle choice) right as well.

Learn to ‘read the beach’ by getting up on a high vantage point, such as a headland or sand dune and study the water. Look for changes in water colour (the darker the water, the

deeper it is), waves forming but not breaking in a gutter and sand banks where waves will break on a sandbar and spill whitewater over the deeper water of a gutter, hole or channel. Look too for entrances to gutters, which are like a channel from the deeper inshore water or gutter to the open sea. These are known by swimmers as a rip as it is running water from the beach back out to sea.

Jetties and wharfs Jetties and wharfs are popular locations for both

If fishing in a lake or impoundment, it pays to get away from access points, which are often barren and devoid of any structure. Time of day is also very important in the lakes.

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young and elderly anglers and can be quite productive at the right time with the right tackle and techniques.

Fish like bream, luderick, trevally and drummer will feed directly below these structures on the oysters and weed growth on the supporting pillars. These areas also attract baitfish, which in turn attract bigger fish. Unfortunately though, I see a lot of anglers making the mistake of casting heavily weighted baits as far as they can into the distance into deep, yet often featureless water.

A better option is to tighten your drag and position your baits under the structure and/or around the supporting pillars. As the fish are often sitting mid-water here, you should use very lightly-weighted or even unweighted baits around the change of tide periods when the tidal run slows. A berley pot is also a good option.

You can also cast lightlyweighted soft plastics or vibes into these areas.

If you want to chase bigger fish like tailor, salmon, bonito and kingfish from these platforms, once again, don’t throw a big heavily-weighted bait into the distance. You might get the odd fish, but a more natural presentation is to use a live bait or a pilchard, which is either lightly-

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weighted or under a float.

The best time to do so is during the faster, middle of the tide period, particularly when there is an offshore breeze, that is when the wind is blowing against your back or off the shore.

Rockwalls A common complaint I hear from anglers fishing rockwalls is they always get snagged. This is caused from fishing the mid-tide phase and having their line pushed sideways and into the rocks.

A better option from a rockwall is to fish the end of the wall (if it is safe to do so), casting your line straight off the end into water which is clear of snags. Otherwise, if there is room to do so (i.e. between other anglers) a good option is to cast your line in the up-current direction of the tide and walk along with it until it starts to swing around and into the wall or you run out of room.

This is a popular technique with luderick anglers using floats in winter. Another option is to cast baits like unweighted or very lightlyweighted pilchards upcurrent and slowly retrieve it back to you, speeding up the retrieve as it approaches the rockwall.

Freshwater lakes Camping and fishing at freshwater lakes has become increasingly popular in recent times, particularly with restocking efforts of native species. The problem is too many people assume catching a fish should be as easy as throwing your line in at any convenient spot. This might be at the end of the track in or where the grassiest bank is for a camping spot or picnic. The problem is such locations are usually flat or very gently sloping banks, areas which are not conductive to fishing due to their lack of serious structure.

Shore-based anglers at freshwater lakes are far better off seeking out areas

around submerged trees, boulders or rocks; steep inclines near dam walls; or entrances to the lake from rivers and creeks. Further, during periods of low water levels in the dams, anglers should take photos of good structure like riverbeds or the type of features described above while they are high and dry, so that when they are covered with water again, you have a very good idea of the areas you are fishing. For boat anglers, this is the advantage of side scan imaging on your sounder as you can look for and take screenshots of such locations for further reference.

TIME AND TIDE After fishing location, anglers choice of time and tide to go fishing can be among the biggest fishing mistakes they can make.

Unfortunately, I see a number of anglers fishing at midday on a glassy day for species that mostly feed actively around dawn and dusk.

Likewise, casual anglers will often head for cover at any sign of rain rather than take advantage of the low light

conditions, which will often bring the fish on the bite, even during the day.

Another common mistake is fishing locations at the wrong tide. Anglers may well be armed with information from the local tackle shop or local fishing reports that everything from whiting to barramundi are on the bite with photos to prove it. They might also go to the trouble of finding out the best baits, lures and rigs that the fish are taking and stock up accordingly. They might even be lucky enough to extract information on where the fish are biting.

Unfortunately though, this can be of little benefit if they don’t understand or ask at what stage of the tide the fish are biting at these particular locations.

For example, as the high tide pushes well up mangrove-lined creeks and covers food-rich estuary flats, predators from flathead to barramundi, as well as foragers such as whiting and bream will feed in these areas. Conversely, on a falling tide, foragers and

Fishing the end of rock walls or where they come to a point is a great way to avoid snagging up and catching more fish. baitfish will move off the flats into deeper water with the predators waiting in ambush for them at the entrance to drains, creek mouths and drop-offs. Therefore, anglers

Anglers fishing rock walls will often complain they get snagged.

However, they make the mistake of fishing at mid tide, when the strong current will push their rig onto the adjacent rocks.

who fish the shallow flats at low tide and deep water at high tide might wonder about the advice they were given, rather than realising they were fishing those locations at the wrong stages of the tide.

Even experienced anglers can fall into the trap of fishing at the wrong time.

As I wrote in my article on the best fishing times and tides in the July 2016 edition of QFM, some anglers believe the answer to this question is just a case of buying an Angler’s Almanac or checking the Maori tide charts and going fishing at the best predicted times. But what if it has rained for two weeks solid, or it’s blowing a gale, or there are 40 boats sitting on your secret spot?

Can you seriously expect to catch fish then just because a chart tells you that you can?

Anglers should not expect cut-and-dried results when they go fishing. That’s not to say fishing results are just arbitrary, and tides,

times and moons don’t matter – they do. It is just that other factors are at play.

To maximise your chance of fishing success, you need to weigh up a whole range of information, and then be able to adapt your plans if all doesn’t go to plan. This includes understanding the best time of year for your target species; choosing the right tides for your species; being aware of the effects of wind, weather and water colour and temperature; and generally taking notice of other factors like boat traffic, commercial fishing pressure and the availability of bait fish in the location.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER By taking note of the factors mentioned and applying this information to you fishing, you should see you results start to improve.

Next month we will look into some of the other common mistakes that anglers can make unknowingly.

Stay tuned!

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69

Finding out the world’s best fisher SUNTAG

Stefan Sawynok

I am that kid that who collected newspaper clippings and kept a book of statistics on my favourite cricketers. I am that guy that thinks that Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

by Michael Lewis and The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver are riveting, action-packed novels, especially when they talk numbers. Numbers can tell us important things about what is happening in the world. More importantly, numbers cause more arguments than just about anything short of politics and religion.

In choosing the challenge for my first article of the year, I set out to find the world’s best Fisher. I wanted to use official numbers as much as possible, no matter how hard that might be. Portentously, it was a

Elite series in the US, IGFA World Records, UK Angling Championships and the Suntag Frequent Taggers list.

The one that I think is missing would be Television series. Guys like Jeremy Wade, Robson Green and even Starlo would fit into that category, but data collection is a lot more of a challenge.

There is also youtube where guys like Jon B show off their skills on a daily basis.

At some future time, I might book some binge-watching fishing time to see if it’s possible to get a ranking.

BASSMASTER ELITE There will always be arguments over whether fishing is a sport or a recreational pastime. The main issue with regarding fishing as a sport is the lack of an official peak body or rules system. The BASSMaster series (and series such as the ABT) are probably as close as we get to an official sport. Certainly, the numbers justify it. Some fast facts, just looking at the field for the 2017 series:

Kevin VanDam has the highest $/pound ratio. demonstrated clearly that he performed better than anyone else. Here it gets a little tricky, because while there is lots of data on outcomes on the BASSMaster site, there isn’t anything on their individual performance indicators.

To give an analogy, it’s

Steven M. Wozniak and the countries in which he has active All-Tackle Records. lot harder than I imagined.

To ensure consistency, I set some basic criteria:An event/organisation had to be long term (stretching back at least a generation), they had to be recognised internationally (if not followed internationally), they had to have accessible data (preferably a larger set), they had to be different in what they measured (and how), there had to be a balance of fresh and saltwater fishing and techniques in the mix and the selected fisher had to be still actively fishing.

Of course, the first point of argument will be in the selections, but that in many ways is what I aim to achieve. I think that rivalries and tribalism in sport are a healthy sign for a sport.

Whether you agree with them or not, I can assure you that what follows is some mindblowing numbers. I chose to review the Bassmaster 70

MARCH 2017

• $97 million in combined winnings • 110 anglers • 12.9k events completed between them (average 110 events per competitor) • 180 tonnes of bass weighed in collective careers (average 1.6 tonnes per competitor) • Combined 269 1st places, 267 2nd places, 227 3rd places in collective careers If that gets you thinking about giving up your day job, have a chat with Carl Jocumsen first on how hard it is to make it. Nonetheless, have a drool over at www. bassmaster.com.

So here are a couple of tables that gave me a head start on selecting the best fisher. Looking at both, there is clear daylight between Kevin VanDam and everyone else.

Sometimes though, big numbers lie. It’s easy to go, “well he won the most, so he is the best.” What I wanted was a figure that

like trying to say Bradman was the best batman by just looking at total runs.

Without the 99.96 average, we have no context.

However, in keeping with my rules of working it out on stuff that is available to the public, I tried looking at the data in different

ways, but one stood out as it was a measure of fishing performance. When you look at the $/pound registered ratio, you can see why Kevin is the best. Kevin is $140/ pound ahead of his nearest long-term rival Skeet Reese.

(Am I alone in thinking American names are bloody awesome? – probably).

What that shows is that Kevin is the best converter in the field. In what is arguably the highest-pressure circuit on the planet, he is better than anyone at finding the fish that matter on the scoreboard.

IGFA WORLD RECORDS The IGFA data was by far the hardest, as it required days of manual compiling of stats to get a picture that would be meaningful. It’s easy to say for example, who caught the biggest fish ever – job done but that is very simplistic. If you want to check out IGFA World records yourself, you will need to be a member, but that is easy enough. You can sign up online as an e-member for $15, and I thoroughly recommend it, as IGFA are one of the biggest fishing advocacies in the world. Check them out at www.igfa.org.

• There are around 5876 active line class and 1593 All-Tackle Records.

• The earliest reported fish is

Meredith J. McCord with a solid red drum.

1865 (a yellow perch) though that may be a typo on the part of the data entry team.

• The largest fish reported is a great white shark weighing in at 1208kg (I hope they had a bigger boat).

• The largest freshwater fish recorded is a sturgeon weighing in at 212kg.

• Records have been recorded in 102 countries for line class and 92 countries for All Tackle.

• 68% of Line Class Records are >10kg, but that drops to 58% for All Tackle.

• 18% of All-Tackle Records are <1kg (showing you don’t have to catch massive fish to get a world record).

One note, I am only looking at active, not expired records. That would be nearly impossible to do without access to the backend database. As a quick diversion (at the risk of upsetting my editor), to clarify the world record scene, if you believe that all the big fish disappeared years ago, guess again.

Converse to expectation, the rate of world records is increasing. The rate at which world records are reported has doubled since 1950. In fact, the rate of growth in the past 20 years is 10 times that of 1950-1996. There are several reasons based on my examination of the data: • The single biggest is the Internet. The internet has allowed IGFA to reach a larger audience of fishers.

It has also encouraged more fishers to wander thus presenting a lot more opportunities.

• The increased focus on All Tackle and All Tackle Length Only has provided new opportunities. All Tackle is responsible for almost all the growth of IGFA records in Asia.

• Brazil and Japan have become players as world record destinations (on inspection, US fishers are visiting South America much more often).

• The US, while stable for

many years has had a spike in the number of freshwater line class Onto the discussion of the best IGFA fisher, it’s hard to ignore a 1.2t great white, and frankly, any fish of size is an amazing feat of endurance. To make a proper equivalence though with other systems repeatability is more important. There are two candidates based on the number of world records held.

• Meredith J. McCord with 85 active Line Class and fly fishing records.

• Steven M. Wozniak with 86 active All-Tackle records So how to separate the two?

• Meredith has 29 species in four countries, with an average weight of 3.28kg in her active records. A broader look though shows she has 81 fly, 53 line class and 37 species (including lapsed records).

• Steven has 86 species in 19 countries, with an average weight of 1.40kg. Steve has 134 All Tackle and All Tackle Length Only including lapsed records and 5 Line Class.

Steven has a great blog which can be found at www.1000fish.wordpress. com where he documents his path to catching 1000 species, a feat he completed in 2010, and he is still going.

Meredith also has a website, w w w. m e r e d i t h m c c o r d . com, which is a lot more professional, and she has been around way too many parts of the world as well.

Steven’s record is impeccable but so is Meredith’s.

Both are amazing ambassadors for fishing, so while I think that the extension material makes me lean to Steve, the reality is that would be unfair as my criteria are just looking at official records.

Rather than try and split them, I feel it’s appropriate to include both as the current top of the IGFA pile.

UK ANGLING CHAMPIONSHIPS To compare the UK

Angling Championships to the BASSMaster series is to compare test cricket to twenty20. One invokes images of tea and cucumber sandwiches, the other fireworks and cheerleaders.

The UK Angling Championships harks back to a time when fishing was a ‘gentlemen’s sport’. It’s rules feel like something from another era, with an older, peg based system where fishers are allotted a fishing location with very specific tackle requirements. I will confess to being a fan of the UK Championship and used to follow the Tight Lines podcast religiously. There’s almost no technology, the variables are evened out.

It’s a battle of skill and luck, not bank balance.

Check out some serious old school at www.ukangling championship.co.uk.

Like the BASSMaster series, the UK Angling Championship gets a television audience, so it’s worthy of comparison.

Unfortunately, for a series that is covered on television, it has the worst published data of the group I compared, so it’s much harder to provide context. Results are available for the last five years, which is the extent of the data set I analysed.

• Last year’s winner, Andy Power, managed a total bag of 210.558lb (94.75kg).

• 194 individual competitors between 2012 and 2016.

• The top 20 competitors in that time have managed 66 1sts, 54 2nds and 48 3rds between them in that time.

• The objective is to get the least points, even though points are calculated on total bag.

• Matches are broken into 10 sections of 8 anglers, points are allocated 1-10 based on final position in section (largest catch = 1).

Can you imagine getting excited to see carp on TV? There have been four two-time winners, with one fisher, Jon Arthur, winning three times. Looking at the last five years though, Jon slips down the rankings.

The list below shows the rankings based on placings.

IGFA World Records by year achieved.

As with the BASSMaster series, I wanted something to demonstrate ranking on something other than results. In this case, I used the average points per event combined with the average position round by round. I would prefer to have weight data, but unfortunately, there was only one year with weight data. Even so, it’s clear that Andy Power is a cut above the rest and my pick for the best of the UK Angling Championships.

SUNTAG FREQUENT TAGGERS In looking for an Australian entry into the list, there were a few systems to choose from. I ruled out the GFA, ABT and Barra Nationals, as they are too close to existing entries I had already examined. The two systems that caught my attention were the ANSA Masters system and Suntag’s tagging records. Of the two, Suntag has the richer set of data that is easier to compare on an international level and has more consistent data over time. The ANSA Masters system has waned in popularity, making it harder to assess active fishers.

Having said that, I will be doing a much more complete index that will include the ANSA Masters, ABT and Barra Tournaments in the coming months.

None the less, the numbers make Suntag worthy of consideration, especially the underwhelmingly titled ‘Frequent Tagger Club.’

It should be called the 1% Club. There are a lot of stats

available on fish and fishers at www.suntag.org.au.

• 9,943 people have tagged a fish.

• 682k fish tagged since 1984.

• 283k collective recorded fishing days.

• 1427 species reported (not all tagged).

• 16k ‘trophy fish’ recorded.

• Only 130 people (1.3%) of all taggers have achieved the Frequent Tagger award.

• The top 5 taggers have tagged 65,068 fish, collectively the frequent taggers have tagged 327,000 fish (or 47.94% of all fish tagged).

The only non-gamefish tagging program that is even close is Tag Louisiana with 263k fish tagged. In other words, Suntag is a genuine world-class program.

Picking the best tagger is a challenging proposition.

On the one hand, we have Michael Dohnt who has tagged 25,000 fish, then there is Daniel Powell, the youngest person to 10,000 or Barry Oxford, just short of the first person to tag 10,000 of a singles species.

In fact, any of the top 10 could be considered to be pretty amazing fishers.

The easy choice, as I have said earlier, is simply to go with the one with the biggest numbers. With more than 20,000 fishing hours clocked up, Michael Dohnt would be a worthy choice.

None the less, I wanted to look at more than one statistic to be sure. I decided I had a lot more performance data to work with to create an index that included: number of species tagged,

number of locations, career catch rate, career number of trophy fish per day, number of TAAs (Tagging Achievement Awards per species) and number of TEAs (Tagging Excellence Awards per species).

I scored each of the top 10 taggers on a scale of 1-100 for each, where 100 means you are top in that category. On that basis,

that basis, Daniel must get the nod as the Suntag fisher.

SELECTING THE WORLD’S BEST FISHER I have to stress that this is the first round of an evolving process. No doubt there are many, many amazing fishers around the world that are not measured or measured by different systems. I will be continuing

in making these judgements I did look at their online profiles and include as much additional information as I could. As much as I am a data nerd, separating the best takes more than looking at numbers.

5. ANDY POWER In a future expanded list, I think Andy would fit down a bit lower. That is not to undersell his skill and ability to perform under pressure.

Andy represents the best of a very traditional form of fishing, one that I think we should value as much as the BASSMaster series.

The thing I think that goes against Andy in a wider context is range of skills on show. He has mastered one set of skills in familiar conditions. Wins away in international conditions or different systems would lift him on my list.

4. DAN POWELL I have known Dan for a long while, I think he does

The last five years of rankings based on placings. Andy Power has won two whole seasons in the last five years.

Daniel Powell comes out on top a cumulative 467-426.

The big difference for Mick Dohnt is his documented ability to find trophy fish is way below Daniels. The other consideration here is that Michael is in his 70s now, and his health prevents him from fishing most of the time, and Daniel is at the peak of his fishing ability. On

to add systems and even expand the pool within the examined systems with the results going out via Crystalbowl and the Track My Fish Report Youtube site.

Having said that, what’s the fun in providing an answer that nobody is going to argue with.

Here is my ranking, 5 to 1 and reasoning. Note,

deserve being considered world-class. On the big positive side Dan has recently mastered tripletail and permit, which are international species. On the minus side, he hasn’t been measured in international conditions. To go to the next level, I think Dan would need to be tested in overseas To page 72

Dan Powell takes top honours in the author’s opinion out of the top 10 Frequent Tagger statistics.

MARCH 2017

71

From page 71

conditions under another system such as the IGFA. 3. KEVIN VANDAM I have lost quite a bit of sleep trying to determine positions 1-3. Kevin has his own Wikipedia page, which is rare for a fisherman and his own website that proclaims him the #1 angler in the world (www. kevinvandam.com) and given his performances in what is the world’s toughest circuit, there is no doubt in my mind that as an athlete/ sportsman, he is the #1 sportsfisher in the world.

One thing holds me back from pushing him to the very top. The most important organ in fishing is the brain. I have done a lot of work with Neuroscientists in understanding how the fishing brain works, but in simple terms, Kevin’s brain is organised better than anyone in that environment.

In making the call on him being the #1 in the world though, I had to look at the experiences of an Australian angler Carl Jocumsen.

Carl has done the swap of environments and documented the challenges of growing up in one environment and competing in another. Fish exist in a lot more than one environment.

The best fishing brain must

be adaptable, pliable and able to solve problems in many environments, not rigid and patterned to a particular set of conditions as Kevin’s is.

Kevin is a champion athlete, but like Andy, I would need proof that he can master many environments before I could say he is the world’s best. Sorry, Kevin.

2.

MEREDITH J. MCCORD I love to court controversy. Meredith is not just a fisher, but she hunts and is a Triathlete of note, demonstrating that she has skills in more than one area. She has fished in 29 countries in many different environments. She has mastered fly fishing, which in my book is the toughest of

all fishing skills to master.

I did debate pushing Kevin higher than Meredith, but in the end, she has gone wider and performed under pressure in more than one disciple. Adaptability is the single most important skill in fishing and Meredith has it in spades. Accordingly, I feel comfortable now with her as my pick for number 2.

1. STEVEN M. WOZNIAK I don’t know whether Steven should get a medal or a straightjacket, and I am leaning towards the latter.

1000 species and beyond is a truly special fishing achievement, that’s a 1% of 1% club. My acid test for a anglers would be if they were taken to an alien planet

in life and death conditions with no food and forced to live off only the fish they catch, could they do it. I have no doubt Stephen could.

It may seem unfair to rank someone who gets to go to all those places, to see so many fish, an opportunity, so few get. As I said above, the ability to problem solve is the mark of the best fishing brain. The fact that Steven has managed the journey at all is a testament to his problem solving, adaptability, endurance and dedication to being the best fisher he can be. The fact he has documented the journey as evidence is the icing on the cake. He is a clear pick for best fisher in the world.

This is the beginning

rather than the end of my journey in looking at the world’s best fishers. I took the time over the Christmas break to think about my focus personal researchwise, and this jumped out at me. I want to spend this year discovering and celebrating fishing and all it can be.

So over to you dear reader. Do you agree or disagree? How would you rank people and what fishing systems should I look at that I haven’t thought of? Next month, I am going to get under the hood of the ABT (fingers crossed) and look at what the raw data tells us about fish and champion fishers. By the end, I hope to add another system to my index.

TOURNAMENT CALENDAR 2017 MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

25 Mar

Rnd 2 Central Vic Lure Casters Super Series

David Nelson 0418 378 944

Mitchellstown

roundy@cvlcss.com

29-30 Apr

Hawkesbury River BASS Pro Qualifier #1

www.abt.org.au

Hawkesbury River

1-2 Apr

Albany BREAM Qualifier #3

Albany

5-6 Apr

Blackwood BREAM Qualifier #4

Blackwood

20-21 May

Rnd 3 Central Vic Lure Casters Super Series

Mulwala roundy@cvlcss.com

6-7 May

Round 2 Central Vic Pro Series

Mulwala

20-21 May

Manning River BREAM Qualifier #5

Manning River

3-4 Jun

Cania BASS Pro Qualifier #2

Cania Dam

7-8 Jun

Boondooma BASS Pro Qualifier #3

Boondooma Dam

1 Jul

Rnd 4 Central Vic Lure Casters Super Series

David Nelson 0418 378 944

Torrumbarry

roundy@cvlcss.com

5-6 Jul

Lake St Clair BASS Pro Qualifier #4

www.abt.org.au

Lake St Clair

8-9 Jul

Glenbawn BASS Pro Qualifier #5

Glenbawn Dam

15-16 Jul

Richmond River BREAM Qualifier #6

Richmond River

5-6 Aug

Round 3 Central Vic Pro Series

Eildon

19-20 Aug

Gold Coast BREAM Qualifier #7

Gold Coast

www.abt.org.au

www.abt.org.au

David Nelson 0418 378 944

David Nelson 0418 378 944

www.abt.org.au

www.abt.org.au

www.abt.org.au

www.abt.org.au

www.abt.org.au

David Nelson 0418 378 944

www.abt.org.au

Add your tournament or competition to this list by emailing jthomas@fishingmonthly.com.au or calling 07 3387 0800 in office hours.

Just supply a date, venue, tournament name and a telephone number and contact name.

72

MARCH 2017

Somerton takes the lead in Hobie Round One Daiwa Australia Round One was a tough start to the season for all 75 anglers competing in Hobie Kayak Bream Series 9, which was contested over the 22-23 January weekend, at Marlo in Victoria.

A favourite on the Hobie Fishing calendar, Marlo has a reputation of delivering big fish, and once again, while the total catch numbers were

SOMERTON HITS THE SURFACE Having previously won the 2014 Hobie Kayak Fishing World Championship with a combined bag of fish from Victoria’s Bemm River and Marlo, this 2017 Daiwa Round One victory was Richard Somerton’s first standalone tournament win at Marlo since he began competing in the Hobie Bream Series.

Across the two days, 145 fish were caught weighing over 100kg in total. down, the big black bream were there, just a lot tougher to catch. Full bags were scarce on both days with only four anglers catching six legals over the two days of the series opener.

Sitting in third place on day one, Richard Somerton from Melbourne snatched the top of the leaderboard from fellow Victorian, Bogdan Zisu. At the final weigh-in, he had a day one bag of three fish for 2.27kg and a day two bag of three fish for 2.22kg, giving him a total tournamentwinning weight of six fish for 4.49kg.

Second place finisher, Tony Pettie from Victoria, moved up from his day one fourth place position to finish with six for 4.20kg. Stephen Majera from Victoria rounded out the podium placings with five for 4.16kg.

The total bream caught for the weekend numbered 145 – 65 from day one and 80 for day two. These fish weighed a total of 100.2kg.

The current number two in the world, Somerton pedalled a long way to reach a secret location that he has shared with only one or two others.

Somerton can travel extremely fast in his Hobie Pro Angler 14 and it still took him around an hour and twenty minutes to reach his preferred destination for the first round of the season.

“We (Scott Lovig and Somerton) travelled all of the way up to PS Curlip at the Brodribb River Boat Ramp, then up past the bridge to a secret location. You can get an average bag out of the place, but you’re usually not in the running when you fish up there, mostly ending up in mid-field. We knew the place was going to win a competition one day, it just needed a really tough comp and this was that weekend.”

“It was a very late start on Saturday, due to bad weather, but when we reached our spot I was able to turn a few bites into a bag. After the long haul back I was surprised to find I was in

The bream were hard to entice over the weekend, but anglers persisted.

third position and within range of the day one leader. It was a tough day out there, but I really like it when it’s tough.”

On day two, with the usual 7am to 2:30pm session time announced at the briefing, Somerton chose to lose nearly three hours of line in the water, and set off for the same location as day one.

“When I finally arrived, the bite was a little better than the day before. I targeted the surface bite with Cranka Shallow Minnows and I managed to get my bag of three reasonable bream in pretty good time”.

“I was quite surprised how tough it was for everyone out there. I thought I might be in with a slim chance of getting near the top, but it was a really big surprise to take out my first win at Marlo.”

The first prize payout was $2130 and a sponsor prize pack valued at over $400. Somerton’s rod was a 7ft 1-4kg Duffrods Hystix and the reel was a Daiwa Certate 2010 matched with Daiwa Tournament Braid 8lb and Sunline FC 6lb leader. The Cranka Shallow Minnow in rusty gold was the winning lure.

PETTIE POWERS TO SECOND Along with Richard Somerton, Tony Pettie recently competed in the Hobie Fishing

island about a kilometre for the start, but to get my other fish on Saturday, I went up between the second and third islands to a spot where I also got my bag today (day two).

I pretty much got all of my fish within a 500m radius and I was pretty happy bagging out on both days, because I knew everyone was struggling out there.”

The second place prize payout was $1110 plus a sponsor prize pack valued at over $300.

ATOMIC BIG BREAM Chris Burbidge from Ferntree Gully in Victoria, who also represented Australia at Hobie Fishing Worlds 6 finishing 8th in the world, caught the first $100 Atomic Big Bream of the 2017 season. The monster fish could possibly end up being the largest bream of the whole series, weighing a massive 1.72kg.

The round was a tough series opener for all anglers.

Like most, Burbidge struggled throughout most of day two until he cast at a tree, caught on a pole and came up tight with a heap of weight. The Atomic Big Black took him almost five minutes to land in his Hobie Pro Angler 14 kayak. The monster had three

Richard Somerton took out first place, once again, by peddling a great distance to a secret winning spot.

East Gippsland and Steve Fields from Hobie Fishing has promised to throw in an extra $1000 to the prize pool if entries go over 100 for the

second year running. Atomic Round Two entries for Bemm are open. It’s going to be massive, so enter now!

- Hobie Kayak Bream

The Hobie Kayak Bream Series again proving that kayak fishing can be a whole lot of fun.

World Championship in Louisiana, USA, finishing as the third highest placed Aussie in 10th position on the leaderboard. On the weekend he was looking forward to returning to a familiar waterway and a favourite target species.

“I’m just the bridesmaid once again. It was pretty tough out there, but that’s fishing. One day it’s blowing its guts out and the next day it’s beautiful and the sun is shining. You’ve got to be able to plug through all conditions whatever they are and get the fish when you need them.”

On day one Pettie ended up with three fish for 2.17kg and also bagged out on day two with three fish weighing in at 2.03kg. He was one of the only four anglers to get full bags on both days.

“I got my first fish yesterday along the west bank of the channel near the first

huge attempts to make a run back towards its cover before Burbidge was able to win the Marlo battle against the brute.

Lucky Craft Tango in a ghost shrimp pattern was the winning lure.

MORTGAGE CORP MONSTER MOVER The Mortgage Corp Monster Mover picnic hamper and backpack went to Nathan Prezioso from Victoria who moved up from equal 36th place on the Lowrance Leaderboard at the close of day one, finishing in 11th place with a three fish bag of 2.72kg.

UP NEXT! On 25-26February, Hobie Kayak Bream Series 9 returns to Bemm River in Victoria, an undisputed favourite on the Hobie calendar. It is going to be a dynamite weekend of fishing in the Atomic Round Two. Last year, a record 105 anglers descended on the tiny bream fishing mecca in

Round 2 March 25 Mitchellstown

(Major Creek Camping Area) • Each round will have a target species, either Murray Cod or Golden Perch • Catch and release lure tournaments • Conditions Apply

NEW – PRO SERIES Round 2 May 6 & 7 (Mulwala -DC on the lake) Check out our Facebook pages:

• Central VIC Pro Series • Central VIC Lure Casters Super Series For more information contact David Nelson 0418 378 944 roundy@cvlcss.com • www.cvlcss.com MARCH 2017

73

Pirtek Fishing Challenge

Get set for 2017 Pirtek Fishing Challenge The Pirtek Challenge is coming round again, and this year, it’s bigger and better than ever before!

Australia’s biggest fishing competition, The Pirtek Challenge is open to anglers across the whole of Australia. It’s an opportunity to get out on the water with some mates, have an awesome day of fishing, and be in with a chance to win a share of $176,000 worth of cash and prizes! We want to give our readers the best possible start to this year, and we’ve got all the information you need to get started and have a cracker day on the water.

THE CAUSE Each year the Pirtek Challenge is held to raise money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

Prostate cancer is currently the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia, and is the third most common cause of cancer death. These are

sobering statistics, but we can work to lessen the damage by opening up the conversation about prostate cancer with loved ones and mates, which can lead to earlier detection of cancer and fewer fatalities.

The importance of supporting the research and work of the Prostate Cancer Foundation cannot be overstated. In time, we’d love to see these statistics change, and this is possible with research.

What better way to support such an important cause then a fantastic day out on the water? Registration is affordable at $25 per angler so you can get the whole family involved for an outdoors fishing bonanza.

PRIZES GALORE Fishing will commence at 6am and finish at 6pm on Sunday 19 March, 2017.

Prizes are up to $4000 in cash, as well as the chance to win a Stacer 449 Tiller Steer powered by Evinrude E-tec 60hp plus trailer valued at $25,000, a $2,300

Humminbird Helix 10 DI GPS package, a $2000 Berkley and Abu Garcia Pack, and a $1500 BCF spending spree.

That’s enough to get us motivated! All you need to do is catch a target species, photograph and release that fish, and upload the picture of your biggest fish of the day. It’s that simple! Check out www. pirtekfishingchallenge. com.au for all further terms and conditions and more information about the challenge.

–FMG YOUR CHALLENGE • Enter the challenge via the website and be sure to read the terms and conditions.

• After you have registered, a limited edition Fishing Challenge cap and Fishing Challenge brag mat will be posted to you.

• The list of target species will be available via the website www.pirtekfishingchallenge.com.au at 1200 hours AEDST on Sunday, 26 February 2017.

• On Saturday, 18 March 2017 (after 6.00 pm) you will be sent via email a repeat list of the target species plus your angler number. You can also log on to the website to download this information.

• Fishing will commence at 6.00 am and finish at 6.00 pm on Sunday, 19 March 2017.

• All lines must be out of the water at 6.00 pm on Sunday, 19 March 2017.

• When you catch your target species simply lay the live fish with the nose in line with the “0” (zero) measurement on the Pirtek bragmat.

• Photograph the fish so the entire length can be seen in the photograph along with your angler number.

• Check out the Photographing Your Fish page for information on how to correctly photograph your catch.

• Remember to write your angler number clearly in the white box provided on the brag mat.

• Check your photograph to ensure the whole fish is in the photograph and the nose end of the fish is in line with the “0” (zero) measurement and the overall length along with the angler number is clearly visible.

• If you do not receive your brag mat before Sunday 19 March, you may measure and photograph your fish using last year’s brag mat, a fisheries measuring sticker, another competitors mat (with your Angler Number), or a generic brag mat (BCF sell them).

• If you are not happy with the photograph, simply take another one.

• Quickly release the fish and try to catch a bigger one.

• Only a fish caught by the registered angler can be entered.

• Any photograph that shows a fish not alive or damaged will not be accepted.

• Any photograph which has undergone digital manipulation, i.e., photoshop, will be disqualified.

• You can only upload one photograph per angler to the website. This needs to be your biggest fish.

• Follow the directions on the website to upload your photograph.

• The upload needs to be complete by 7.00 am AEDT, Monday, 20 March 2017.

• Any photographs uploaded after this time will not be accepted.

• If your photograph is damaged, blurry or the overall measurement of your fish is not clearly seen with your angler number the photograph will be disallowed.

• Check the website on Saturday, 25 March, 2017 to see if you’re a winner. The National Fishing Challenge committee’s decision will be final and no correspondence entered into.

BASS

Tactics: Bass in rivers have a preference for structure, however close to their spawning season in winter, they will school up in open water around the tidal reaches. Bass aggregations will vary in dams depending on what food sources are available. If there is a lot of structure around the edges and the food source in predominately insects, small fish and shrimps, the bass will feed in shallow water.

If there are bony bream or other schooling baitfish present, the bass will usually school up in deep water. Fishing where the bass are with lures or bait that mimics what food source is available will catch you more bass.

Rigs: Light braided line around 4-6lb with a fluorocarbon or monofilament leader around 10-14lb is preferred for lure fishing. The same line classes are perfect for bait fishing, with unweighted, weighted and floated rigs working, depending on how deep and where the fish are holding.

Bait: Baits of grasshopper, cricket, worms, yabby, and particularly live shrimp are successful.

Lures: Bass take a variety of lures from surface lures, diving lures, lipless crankbaits, spinnerbaits, soft plastics, jigs and even flies. Match your lures to suit where and how the bass are feeding.

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COASTAL

Size Range: Up to 65cm, common from 30-40cm.

Pirtek Fishing Challenge

BREAM

FLATHEAD

Bait: As mentioned, almost anything found or bought should catch bream, including white bread, which is an under-used favourite.

Bait: Flathead will eat anything they can fit in their mouth, whether it’s live, dead, big or small.

Lures: Small hardbodied divers, smaller than your little finger, cast around rocky shores and worked with a slow, steady retrieve are hard to beat. When fish go deeper, tiny soft plastics with according jighead size is a sure-fire way to pin a bream.

Lures: Most lures work y well on flathead. Lures such as soft plastics, vibes, lipless crankbaits and hardbodied lure all take flathead.

BROWN TROUT

CARP

Size Range: Up to 80cm, commonly encountered at 20-50cm.

Rigs: Running sinker rig, float rig or drift rig with 4-6lb mainline and leader, the same line wrights can be used by lure anglers.

Size Range: Up to 1m, but more commonly encountered at 30-60cm.

TASMANIA

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.

Bait: Baits from artificial trout baits through to worms, grasshoppers and crickets are all excellent takers of brown trout.

Size Range: Up to 1.8m, common from 40-80cm.

Tactics: Murray cod are a structure-loving, long-lived, hyper aggressive and territorial species. Therefore, lures or baits fished or cast around pig snag complexes repetitively usually get a response eventually.

Rigs: A running sinker rig is all you need to connect with a cod if you’re bait fishing, and 20-30lb should be your minimum line weights for both your mainline and leader. The same goes for lure trolling and casting.

Baits: No bait fishing allowed. Murray cod can only qualify if caught on lure or fly.

Lures: Murray cod will eat a variety of surface lures, hardbodies, lipless crankbaits and spinnerbaits. As with bait, lures should be big and annoying to achieve the best results.

Rigs: A medium running sinker rig, paternoster rig or float rig with 6-20lb braided line onto a 10-20lb leader, lighter in clear water free of snags.

Lures: Carp rarely take lures, but will sometimes be taken on lures as by-catch, occasionally confusing surface lures for berries. Fly anglers can target carp in shallow water by sight fishing with small nymphs.

MURRAY DARLING BASIN

MURRAY COD

Tactics: Carp feed by smell and taste and are therefore attracted to things that give off scent, making smelly baits effective. Carp will also get up into shallow water and grub along the bottom looking for aquatic insects, and this is where fly anglers can have some fun.

Bait: 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.

Lures: 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.

COASTAL

Rigs: A running sinker rig with 6lb braid with a 15lb leader is sufficient for bait fishing. The same goes for lure fishing, but try to attach your lures with a loop knot where possible.

GOLDEN PERCH Size Range: Up to 75cm, commonly caught at 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 cast around fallen timber in rivers and standing timber in lakes are all successful, especially around first and last light.

Rigs: Running sinker rig and a paternoster rig are both good options with 20lb braided main line to 20lb leader. The same line weights can be used for lure fishing.

Bait: Baits of yabby, live shrimp, worms and even smelly dead baits are successful.

Lures: Lures like Australian-made hardbodied lures, spinnerbaits and lipless crankbaits all do damage on golden perch.

MURRAY DARLING BASIN

Rigs: Bait: Running sinker onto a #1 or 1/0 hook will work for the bait anglers.

For the lure brigade, 2-6lb braided line connected to 6-10lb fluorocarbon or monofilament leader is perfect.

Tactics: Flathead are classic ambush predators that use camouflage to their advantage. Drop offs, weed edges, hard rock and mud edges are all favourite haunts of flathead. Flathead feed hard when there is tidal movement.

COASTAL

Tactics: Bream can be found in every saltwater river, creek and coastal 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

Size Range: Up to 1.1m, commonly caught 30-65cm.

MURRAY DARLING BASIN

Size Range: Up to 50cm, common from 25-35cm.

MARCH 2017

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WHAT’S NEW FISHING CUSTOMISE YOUR LURES!

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JigSkinz are a shrinkable and inexpensive covering designed to help protect the paint on your new lures, or to rejuvenate your old favourites after they have lost their paint. This product can also revamp an old lure that hasn’t caught a fish yet.

JigSkinz work by slipping the new skin over your old lure and placing it in hot water. The moment your lure hits the hot water, the skin shrinks tightly over your lure and you are done! You now have a new lure in your favourite colour.

JigSkinz are suitable for a huge range of lure types, including poppers, stickbaits, slugs and slices, knife jigs, micro jigs, blades, jigheads, lipless crankbaits, bibbed minnows and skirted pusher heads.

J.M. Gillies are currently stocking six packs with various colours and patterns, plus a clear skin to help protect your new lures. Patterns include: flying fish, mackerel, mullet, sardine, perch, holographic colours, lumo and more. Visit the JM Gillies website for more info and pics. www.jmgillies.com.au

WILSON WALL ROD HOLDER

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ZERO TOLERANCE KNIVES

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Zero Tolerance is a brand that has been setting the standard since storming onto the scene in 2006. Designed to meet the exacting needs of the military, law enforcement, firefighters and emergency medical professionals, Zero Tolerance folding knives are premium-quality, professional knives that owners can always depend on.

Built using only premium materials, these knives are second to none in operation, comfort and reliability. One of the latest models to hit our shores is the 0456, the result of a collaboration between Zero Tolerance and Belarusian custom knife maker Dmitry Sinkevich. The CTS-204P blade steel is wear and corrosion resistant, and takes an exceptional edge. The 0456 opens with ZT’s KVT ball-bearing system for a quick, easy blade release. A titanium frame lock, with a hardened steel lockbar insert, secures the blade open during use.

This knife’s top cutting capabilities and excellent edge-holding performance make it the perfect tool to take with you on any adventure. www.frogleysoffshore.com.au

AUSTACKLE BIG SPRITZ

Austackle’s Spritz just got bigger and stronger! This unique surface lure now comes in a 118mm version that weighs in at 27g. It’s easy to hurl, and has plenty of presence in the water to excite hard hitters like Murray cod, tuna, kingfish, barramundi, mangrove jack, trevally and more.

The strength upgrade is achieved with one-piece internal wire linking the hooks to the tow points, and topped with upgraded 2X VMC hooks and rings.

Other features include dual tow points to give the angler ultimate control over the lure action; a keel on the pivot point to enhance the walk-the-dog action; and large cut-away pockets on the face to spray water for an explosive bloop.

Price: SRP $18 www.austackle.com

DAIWA AIRPORTABLE 3 EXTRA HEAVY

NEW DAIWA APPAREL

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The Wilson Wall Hanging Rod Holder is a simple and effective way to keep your rods neat and tidy whether at home or on the road.

With this design, a tough canvas-like material is used to create a sturdy wall hanging rod holder that will store up to six rods, rigged or unrigged. This way, your rods can be ready to go the night before or just stored in a clean, organised fashion.

Secure Velcro straps keep the rods in place while the base cups are formed from tough plastic that is coated in the heavyduty material. The Hanging Rod Holder is 130cm x 63cm and doesn’t take up too much space.

Three hanging hooks are provided and all seams are ribbed and stitched to ensure these vital areas stay strong for years. This is one investment for your rods that is bound to last. www.wilsonfishing.com.au

Looking to hop on a plane to chase barra, or even further afield to chase black bass? Daiwa’s Black Label V2 Airportable Extra Heavy Models are for you. These multi-piece, high quality rods feature Daiwa’s latest technologies.

Light, responsive, and crisp in action, the HVF graphite blank performance is enhanced courtesy of X45, 3DX and Bias Wrap Construction blank technologies.

X45 and Bias Wrap allows a small diameter blank to be made, and lighter, more dynamic rod.

These rods are finished off with the best components like Daiwa’s Air beam reel seats, triple A grade cork and Fuji SIC guides that are ultra strong, and maximise rod performance and sensitivity. All this comes packed in a heavy-duty case.

The 61SH-3 model is 6’1” long, can cast weights up to 200g, and is rated to PE 3-6. The 64H/RF is 6’4” long, casts weight up to 140g, and is rated to PE 3-5. www.daiwafishing.com.au

PRODUCT GUIDE

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Look sharp and chart a course for style with Daiwa’s brand new T-shirt and polo shirt designs. Made from 100% cotton, these breathable shirts are set to impress both on and off the water.

The new Daiwa T-Shirts are short-sleeve and are emblazoned with Daiwa D-Vec and Vector embroidered logos. They are available in four colours – blue, grey, black and khaki – and sizes range from small to XXL. The Daiwa Polo Shirts are also shortsleeve and feature Daiwa D-Vec and Vector embroidered logos. The polos are available in green, blue, red and black, and sizes range from small to XXL. Daiwa’s quality fishing apparel is available for purchase online at www. daiwafishing.com.au. The range includes long-sleeve fishing and sun shirts, hoodies, vests, long-sleeve T-shirts, jackets, leather and mesh finger gloves, caps, hats, headsocks and more.

Price: SRP $29.99-$39.99 www.daiwafishing.com.au

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PRODUCT GUIDE 7

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WHAT’S NEW FISHING DEPS BUZZJET

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The award-winning Buzzjet has taken the world by storm. While this Japanese surface lure is suited to all freshwater situations, it is particularly deadly at night, attracting freshwater predators with its unique swimming action and water displacement system.

A cross between a classic propeller bait and a shallow running crankbait, the Buzzjet draws attention with its internal ball bearing rattling system, and through the use of its tail propeller, which causes the lure to omit a massive wake. A weight transfer system augments castability, and all you need to do to catch fish is cast it out and reel steadily with a slow retrieve. You can also walk the dog or jerk the rod tip to make the Buzzjet dive.

The Buzzjet measures 96mm and weighs 30g, and there’s an extensive range of colours. Ideally suited to bass, it has also landed EPs, yellowbelly and Murray cod.

Price: SRP $40 www.dogtoothdistribution.com.au

PFLUEGER LITHIUM 8 GRAPHITE RODS Lure anglers looking for optimal performance will appreciate the Pflueger Lithium rod series from Pflueger.

F65 Flex System high modulus carbon blanks with Carbon Inertia Tip (CIT) combine with Fuji Alconite K guides and hybrid cork/EVA grip system to deliver a rod range specifically designed for Australian lure anglers. The F65 Flex System provides greater stiffness, flex and strength, and the CIT (Carbon Inertia Tip) delivers extra casting distance.

There are eight spin and two baitcasting models aimed at plastics and hardbody fishing, from ultra light 6’11”/1-3kg and 6’9”/2-5kg flick sticks and a 7”/3-6kg flathead slayer, through to a 7’0”/48kg model ideal for techniques such as snapper on plastics. The 5’4”/2-5kg model is perfectly suited to tight spaces such as creek fishing for bass, jungle perch and sooties. For the traveling fisho, a 3-piece, 7’0”/2-4kg model fits nicely in the suitcase or car boot. Baitcast anglers can select from two models, 5’6”/4-8kg and 6’7”/3-6kg.

Price: SRP $159.95 www.pflueger.com.au

LEGIO AUREA BRUTUS

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The Legio Aurea Brutus, distributed in Australia by Weflikin Lures, is a multipurpose swimming soft jerkbait.

The Brutus is the ultimate T-tail swimbait.

When retrieved, the extremely advanced design of the lure mimics the swimming motion of a little fleeing prey. The original ‘long joint’ provides a never seen before ‘boomerang action’ in the water, allowing it to dart and glide like no other bait in its class. Raised 3D details and textured scale patterns make this an incredibly lifelike lure.

The Legio Aurea Brutus features easy weedless rigging via a belly slot, and it suitable for catching barramundi, mulloway, flathead and mangrove jack. The Brutus is injected with a high content of squid scent and is made from super soft plastic, an exclusive LegioAurea polymer project. It comes in a length of 120mm with five pieces per packet.

For more information look up Weflickin Lures on Facebook, or visit their website. www.weflikinlures.com.au

BFG 5 TRAY FRONT 10 LOADER The Bigfish Gear Front Loader is a real tackle bag. It’s big and juicy enough to carry a large array of tackle and accessories for anglers of all skill sets.

This handy bag has five adjustable tackle trays measuring 355 x 220 x 45mm in the front loader. There’s also a padded adjustable tray for your reels or camera in the top. You can slip your pliers, scissors and fish grips in the plier/ scissor slips under the side flaps, and you can even fit another two full tackle trays in the side pockets if you want. In all, this box can accommodate seven full tackle trays. There’s also a couple of vented compartments for wet gear and more.

Other features include: two carry handles; carry strap and padded, adjustable shoulder strap; large Velcro side pockets; tube holder; jig pouch and more. The overall dimensions are 430 high x 520 wide x 270 deep.

Price: SRP $119.95 www.bigfishgear.com

SAMAKI STAINLESS 11 STEEL PLIERS Samaki’s new Stainless Steel Pliers range from a fine split ring plier of 150mm in length to a long-nose reef plier with bent nose feature, to allow you an easy roll of the wrist for hook removal. These models complement Samaki’s very popular multi-purpose plier with gang hook features.

The team at Samaki has invested time and energy in research and development to create rust-resistant pliers, using a blend of surgical stainless steel and nickel.

These reliable pliers are strong and feature enhanced ergonomic handles for comfort in the palm, grippy teeth for grasping those slippery hooks, and fine yet strong features for split ring use or gang hook applications.

The full range now includes a 150mm and 215mm Long Nose Plier; a 150mm fine and 180mm medium Split Ring plier; 290mm Bent Long Nose Reef Plier; and an 11” Multi Purpose Plier with gang hook opener. www.samaki.com.au

RIGGED 3.5” EZ SHRIMPZ

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The lifelike ZMan 3.5” Rigged EZ ShrimpZ comes pre-rigged with a unique jighead that locks inside the plastic, so it’s ready to fish straight out of the packet. The jighead is built on a quality, Mustad UltraPoint hook and features a segmented weight system. It begins at around 1/4oz, and by cutting off segments of the weight the EZ ShrimpZ can be made lighter for shallow water applications, such as fishing drains and mangrove edges.

The segmented body creates a lifelike kick and glide, and the thin legs and antennae provide added realism and lifelike movement. There’s also an unrigged version that rigs well on a TT Lures 3/0 HeadlockZ jighead, or weedless on a 3/0 TT Lures ChicnlockZ, ChinlockZ SWS or SnakelockZ jighead.

The EZ ShrimpZ has already proven effective on a wide range of species, including barra, jacks, mulloway, flathead, bass and snapper. It comes in eight colours.

Price: SRP $17.95 (twin pack) www.tackletactics.com.au

Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au MARCH 2017

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WHAT’S NEW FISHING R2S CHASEBAITS FORK BAIT

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Last year River2Sea released a new brand of soft plastic lures called Chasebaits, and one of the stand-outs is the Fork Bait.

Available in 3”, 5” and 7” models, the Fork Bait is streamlined, super soft and supple.

This allows the lure to swim straight, and with any twitching of the rod the lure comes alive.

It can bend back on itself and whip the tail in all directions. It looks just like a wounded fish trying to get away.

The Fork Bait is perfect for jigging in deep water, bouncing along the bottom or casting and retrieving for sportfish. It’s currently available in nine unique, two-tone colours, All Chasebaits have injected salted and scent for ultimate luring performance, and have eyes for added attraction. These soft baits are made from a very soft and supple PVC plastic for maximum action, and are stronger than you’d expect. There are three other models in the range – the Curly Bait, Paddle Bait and Dagger Bait. www.river2sea.com.au

SHIMANO ULTEGRA FB

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Shimano has released the longawaited Ultegra FB series of reels. At their core is Shimano’s Hagane Gear, a cold forged piece of metal crafted with micron accuracy for incredible smoothness and longevity. X-Ship provides robust gear engagement under heavy loads.

All models feature 5+1 shielded A-RB bearings. The drag output ranges from 3-11kg, and target species range from finesse trout fishing to chasing pelagics.

Another feature is Core Protect. A hydrophobic spray is applied to the roller clutch, the body and the line roller, forming an invisible barrier to water entry and corrosion. Special seals and protective plates provide an additional barrier.

A rigid XGT-7 body forms the reel’s outer shell and provides added strength and durability. An aluminium screw in handle design provides added stability and removes unwanted play.

The cold forged aluminium spool and improved rotor design provide extra weight reduction, and the G Free Body makes this reel comfortable for all-day use. www.shimanofish.com.au

PRODUCT GUIDE

SHAKESPEARE WILD 16 SERIES Shakespeare has introduced a range of species-specific combos called the Wild Series. With lengths and actions to suit bream, flathead, whiting and snapper, the Wild Series combos deliver excellent quality, giving you every chance to enjoy your time on the water. Each species is named on the rod so the guesswork is taken out, leaving you to focus on the fishing.

There are also Jungle Spin and Travel Spin outfits for those adventurous anglers.

Wild Series outfits feature IM6 graphite rods with a hybrid cork/EVA grip system matched with a three bearing spin reel with aluminium spool and handle.

The models are: 1-3kg Bream CBO (2.06m/6’10”, 2-piece, 1-3kg, U/L action, 30SZ size), 2-5kg Flathead CBO (2.10m/7’0”, 2-piece, 2-5kg, L, 30SZ), 1-4kg Whiting CBO (2.15m/7’2”, 2-piece, 1-4kg, UL, 30SZ), 4-7kg Snapper CBO (2.10m/7’0”, 2-piece, 4-7kg, M, 40SZ), 2-6kg Jungle Spin CBO (1.75m/5’10”, 2-piece, 2-6kg, LM, 40SZ), and 2-5kg Travel Spin CBO (1.95m/6’6”, 3-piece, 2-5kg, LM, 30SZ).

Price: SRP $99.95 www.shakespeare.com.au

STORM 360GT SEARCHBAIT

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Designed for anglers of all skill levels, Storm’s 360GT Searchbait is designed to be useful in every fishing scenario, whether it’s being fished fast or slow, deep or shallow. The idea of a searchbait is to have a lure that you can cover water with to work out where the fish are.

This paddle-tail plastic swimbait comes pre-assembled with a unique ABS moulded jighead featuring internal rattles and weighting. The precise placement of weight allows the bait to exhibit a more pronounced body roll and tail kick than a traditional soft plastic with a lead jighead.

The 360GT comes in ten colours and three sizes. There’s a baby 3.5” size suitable for freshwater species like bass, a 4.5” size that’s set to be dynamite on trophy flathead, and a giant 5.5” bait for large predators like mulloway, snapper and barra.

Available in packs of three, the 360GT Searchbait is priced at under $10 and will be available from February. www.stormlures.com

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BLACK MAGIC SOFT SAMAKI NEON FISH 15 HEAD LURES 18 GRIP Black Magic has released two new

additions to its game lure range. Both of these lures feature Black Magic’s new ‘soft head’ technology. It is commonly believed that if a marlin misses the lure on its first strike, it’s is far more likely to make a second strike if the lure head is made of a softer material, rather than a harder resin.

The first of the new lures is the 270mm long Soft Slammer. It has been modelled on the legendary Grand Slammer range, which is responsible for many large fish and numerous records.

The second Soft Head lure is the Soft Pusher, which measures 300mm. With its reverse tapered head, it has a pronounced wiggle action in the water, making it attractive to a wide variety of pelagic species.

Both lures come in five striking colours and are available either rigged or unrigged. www.blackmagictackle.com 78

MARCH 2017

Samaki has launched into the tooling market for the first time, delivering functional, practical and solid tools for anglers.

The new Samaki Fish Gripper is bright and easily accessible in the bottom of your tackle bag, with a white body and neon accents.

You’ll never again lose sight of your grip while bringing fish aboard.

With key features being its tight locking mechanism, heart-shaped lip grip and floating ability, the Samaki Neon Fish Grip will hold your catch tight. Even with a struggle or flip of the tail, your grip’s locking jaw will hold and the lanyard will keep your connection secure.

Samaki Fish Grips are 8” long, weigh 68g and are made with stainless pins for endurance.

Available in one size with three awesome colours, these beauties will be waiting for you at your closest Samaki stockist. For more information and stockist locations visit the Samaki website, or check them out on Instagram and Facebook. www.samaki.com.au

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PRODUCT GUIDE

WHAT’S NEW FISHING

The final verdict has come in: Atomic Arrowz hit the target

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Being handed the newest gear on the market to test is not my favourite part of working at Fishing Monthly, but it’s right up there. This week started with a phone call from my old mate Jay, national sales manager at Frogleys Offshore in Ballina. He had some exciting news that their latest range of rods – the Atomic Arrowz series had landed and was being distributed to stores by the thousands as we spoke.

We’d been able to have a play with the samples of these rods at the AFTA trade show on the Gold Coast in August of last year, and had eagerly been awaiting their release to the market place.

The Atomic Arrowz range features four series of rods specifically designed and tuned for the Aussie market by the team at Frogleys. They consist of Bream Specialty, Estuary, Barra and Offshore and are made to cater for both lure and bait anglers with 14 rods in total.

Each rod comes equipped with the new Fuji deep pressed ‘O’ ring stainless steel guides, and Fuji reel seat. All but the barra models come with hyper-sensitive EVA grips front and rear. The barra models are loaded with cork at the rear and EVA on the foregrip.

Knowing the Atomic Arrowz were coming out of the MajorCraft factory, renowned for producing quality and value for money in fishing rods, I was more than happy to put my hand up to put them through their paces.

TESTED

This trevally put a solid bend in the Bream Surface model that Steve was using. right through to my fingertips.

As with any new rod I’ve used, it took a few casts, maybe 20-30 to dial in my range and start to cast accurately. Distance isn’t a problem – I could’ve launched that Sugapen to South Stradbroke Island with the right breeze.

I only managed a couple of fish for the morning on the heavier stick, and none of them were big enough to stress the rod to its limits, but the ones that did eat were handled with ease thanks to the lovely taper and responsive blank.

In summary, although our testing period

for these was much shorter than we’d usually like to have – by about 3 months – I would happily have any number of the Atomic Arrows series in my quiver of rods.

Although they are labelled as being built for specific purposes, these two rods alone could cover a lot of bases in my usual fishing pursuits for under $200 RRP each!

If you’d like to know more about these rods please give our Tackle Junkie on the Fishing Monthly Magazines Facebook page video a watch and then head into your local tackle store to put a bend in one for yourself.

– Rob Gaden

These Atomic Arrowz look pretty fly on the deck of a bass boat!

The test for us what exactly how much quality could we expect out of a couple of rods that retail for around the $189 mark.

Having used rods from the $50 special bin right up to some that retail for $700+, I dind’t know what to expect.

We were blessed with a Bream Surface AAS-70BS – which we matched to a Daiwa Emeralds 2506 and an Estuary AAS-70ML, which we saddled with a Daiwa Luvias 3012. These are the rods we figured to be two of the more versatile rods in the range.

Bream, jacks and trevally were the targets of the day and the lures of choice were Bassday Sugapens in both the 70mm and 95mm versions, the smaller being fitted with the new Trick Bitz assist hooks, which make it easier for those slurping silver terrors of the canals to latch on to.

Steve Morgan grabbed the Bream Surface rod as he almost loves bream as much as life itself, while I worked the heavier combo tight to structure looking for a red

dog or estuary dwelling trevor.

A couple of a casts into the session and Steve had a nice little trevally on and was bending the Bream Surface model to the foregrip. It was mentioned on the way to the ramp, “I wonder if we can break these things?” We tried – as you’ll see in the accompanying video – but couldn’t.

A scattering of fish continued to eat the tricked up Sugapen and hit the deck throughout the morning. Each presenting a different challenge, but all conquered without fuss by the equal parts power and precision demonstrated by these rods.

For me, the first thing I noticed about the rods was they look awesome. Quality workmanship in the build is obvious and the lightweight of the blank also stands out. You could fling lures or plastics all day on this thing and not get tired. The transfer of lure action through the braid to the rod is also noticeable. Every zig and zag of the head of the Sugapen came

Bream aren’t quite a match for the Estuary model, which would be more suited to mangrove jacks or larger trevally.

MARCH 2017

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Melbourne Marine Centre (03) 9703 2003 Regal Marine (03) 9874 4624 Streaker Marine (03) 9729 8288 Triple M Marine (03) 9465 8787 Warragul Marine (03) 5623 6250 Wes Frost Marine (03) 5976 4622

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CENTRAL

HOLIDAY RENTAL

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FRESHWATER

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WEST COAST

Boats and More Shepparton (03) 5822 2108 Boats and More Echuca (03) 5482 1992 Eades Xtreme Marine Echuca (03) 5482 2333

Fishing Fever Mordialloc (03) 9590 9899 Melbourne Marine Centre (03) 9703 2003 JV Marine World Braeside (03) 9798 8883

Warrnambool Holiday Park (03) 5562 5031

EAST COAST

MARINE ACCESSORIES

Compleat Angler Ringwood (03) 9870 7792

PROVEN WORLD LEADING

The Flyfisher Melbourne (03) 9621 1246

ANCHOR DESIGNS

EAST COAST

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Anchor Right 03 5968 5014 or www.anchorright.com.au Salt-away 1800 091 172 or www.salt-away.com.au

Naaj Marine 0421 955 371 Unique Marine Accessories (03) 5427 1802 CMC Marine Sales

www.cmcsales.com.au

ONLINE TACKLE PRODUCTS Specialty Fishing Products

Hunter Marine Boat Builders (03) 5032 2320

www.specialtyfishing.com.au

03 5687 1385

Shallow Inlet Caravan Park (03) 5687 1385

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION EAST GIPPSLAND

MARLO

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Chelsea Yamaha (03) 9772 1212 Kris Oakley Marine Services (03) 9794 5524

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This section in V&TFM 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 the state, this guide will direct you to reputable businesses in the area you’re searching.

MARCH 2017

NSW SOUTH COAST

CHARTER BOATS

Reel Affair, Merimbula freecall 1800 233 247

EAST GIPPSLAND

Espirit Charters, Bermagui (02) 6493 4104 or 0407 260 110

East Gippsland Charters 0400 564 032

Freedom Charters, Eden (02) 6496 1209 or 0415 602 446 Headland Fishing Adventures, Merimbula (02) 6495 1134

WEST COAST

Island Charters, Narooma (02) 4476 1047 or 0408 428 857

Portland Fishing Charters, Portland (03) 5523 3020

K9 Fishing Charters, Merimbula (02) 6495 1681

CENTRAL

Merimbula Marina, Merimbula (02) 6495 1686 or 0427 951 080

South-West Fishing Charters, Portland 0418 306 714

Narooma Charters, Narooma 0407 909 111

Gone Fishing Charters 0409 007 068

O’Brien Charter Service, Bermagui 0407 214 124

Able Fishing & Charters, Williamstown (03) 9502 3777

FISHING GUIDES

ACE Fishing Charters, Bonbeach (03) 9773 4183 Adamas Fishing Charters, Barwon Heads (03) 5254 3320

NSW SOUTH COAST

Big Red Fishing Charters, Queenscliff 1800 805 587 Wilderness Fishing Tours, Mallacoota 0424 625 160

Blue Magic Fishing Charters, Rowville (03) 9759 5301

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Aussie Fish Estuary Adventures (02) 6495 9902 or 0400 062 504

Calypso Fishing Charters, Tootgarook (03) 5985 8463

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Katrina Louise Charters, Cheltenham 0402 828 140

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Kestrel Charters, Queenscliff (03) 5258 1783

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EAST COAST Capella III Fishing Adventures, Port Welshpool (03) 5688 1585 Far Out Charters, McLoughlins Beach 0428 401 819 Prom Coastal Charters, Yanakie (03) 5687 1248 or 0429 935 583 Razorback Bluewater Charters, Port Albert (03) 5183 2691

FRESHWATER Angling Expeditions Victoria, Tawonga (03) 5754 1466 Highland Trout Lakes, Ballarat (03) 5368 9574 Millbrook Lakes Lodge, Ballarat (03) 5334 0404

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If you have any other trades or services that you would like to see in this section please don’t hesitate to give us a call Email: pjung@fishingmonthly.com.au

139

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CHANDLERY & ACCESSORIES

Flinders Island Adventures, Flinders Island (03) 6359 4507

Anchor Right (03) 5968 5014

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Advertisers wanting to be involved in this directory can call (07) 3387 0800 or email pjung@fishingmonthly.com.au

MARCH 2017

81

FIND-A-WORD COMPETITION WORDS THAT ARE ALSO FISH

ANGLER

FLOUNDER

SLEEPER

BANJO

GHOUL

SKATE

BASS

MULLET

SMELT

CHAR

PIKE

SOLE

COBBLER

POACHER

SWEEPER

DAB

RAY

TANG

DRUMMER

ROACH

TAILOR

DISCUS

SCAT

Name: Address:

P/Code:

The first correct entry at the end of each month will win the prize pack.

SEND ENTRIES TO: VICFM Find-a-word Competition, PO box 3172, Loganholme Qld 4129

FINS SCALES & TALES by A. Both

VICFM MARCH 2017

Phone (day):

Dynabait worms are an all-natural, freeze-dried bait. Just soak them in water, and within minutes they’re ready to go! As soon as they hit the water, they release a potent mix of hormones and enzymes that fish can’t resist. These worms are dynamite on bream, whiting, bass, flathead, blackfish, cod, yellowbelly, trevally and many more!

Dynabait Bloodworms, Tubeworms and Sandworms are available at all good tackle stores.

FIND-A-WORD

Congratulations to Tom Gardiner from Warragul, who was last month’s winner of the Find-a-Word Competition!

Monthly winners receive a sponsor prize.

Prize delivery can take 8 weeks. – V&TFM

BARRA COUNTRY by Brett Currie

SUBSCRIBER PRIZE BITE ME by Trisha Mason

The subscriber prize winner for January was C Isbister, who won an GME GX750 VHF Marine Radio valued at $329srp.

All subscribers are entered in the monthly subscriber prize draws. Prize delivery takes up to 8 weeks. – V&TFM

FIND THE DX POINT LOGO

GEORGE & NEV by Michael Hardy

82

MARCH 2017

The answers to Find the DX Point hook for January were: 8, 14, 20, 24, 26, 32, 38, 44, 46, 48, 52, 58, 61, 104, 106. – V&TFM The Find the DX Point logo prize winners for January were: J Jenner of Malmsbury, B Meaney of Tungamah, A Wagner of Bardon, K Tripp of Glenroy, W Fearnhead of Skipton, G Bannister of Lorne, H Stapelfeldt of Nunawading, J Killian of Paynesville, M Adams of Grahamvale, D Robinson of Carisbrook, M Shaw of Ringwood, J McNamara of Goornong, C Gios of Myrtleford, M Pearce of Devonport, J Ploughman of Claremont, F Hutchins of Sunbury, T Sweeney of Emerald, C Kelly of Cranbourne, F Oleszko of Braybrook, K Boros of Korumburra, L Milkins of Wonthaggi, R Anset of Kyabram, R Barns of Euroa, M De Voigt of Cranbourne, K Carter of Shepparton, B Colpo of Morwell, C Smith of Traralgon, A Healey of Morwell, J Drummond of Moe, J Darch of Altona, R Crossman of Echuca, J Sullivan of Georgetown, W Johnson of Morwell, T Darker of Daylesford, T Dron of Alfredton, D Dunn of Warrnambool, H Wilson of South Yarra, G Downs of Moe, P Musgrove of Casterton, G Whinney of St Albans.

Prize delivery takes up to 8 weeks. – V&TFM

boats & kayaks

In the skipper’s seat

Inside story...

CrossXCountry Boats are purpose-built fibreglass fishing boats that range from 3.7-4.75m in length, and have been around since 2009. These boats are tailor made to Aussie conditons by qualified shipwrights and self-confessed habitual anglers. They’re constantly trying to improving existing product and service, and are always looking to the future in design and development.

Made for...

CrossXCountry Boats are made to be lighter, quieter, safer and stronger than their competitors, and are endorsed by some of Australia’s top fishing and travelling journalists.

This month...

Wayne Kampe revisits the 4.5 Island Hopper, this time testing out the fully optioned up version!

84 Unloading the boat trailer at home

This is always a tricky task, but Wayne Kampe has provided some tips to make this easier.

86 Kayak storage solutions Justin Willmer looks at some simple ways to store your tackle in the kayak.

89 Marlo Magic

Corey Gallaghar explores this amazing bream fishing and kayak Mecca in his trusty Hobie.

90 Quintrex F481 Hornet Wayne Kampe catches up with Paul from Brisbane Yamaha to give this fastmoving beast of a rig a run.

MARCH 2017

83

Taking the boat off the trailer at home in five steps BRISBANE

Wayne Kampe wkff@aapt.net.au

Boats are meant to go on and off trailers – at the ramp, that is. And while the boat is in the water, it’s pretty easy to give the trusty trailer a once over to see that all is well.

While a quick check is fine, there can be circumstances that will require more detailed work on the trailer and might see the boat off the trailer for quite a while, in closer proximity to tools and materials. Cleaning up and then re-painting a trailer, which I did when my boat returned from Weipa on each occasion, is a prime example of the necessity for a boat and trailer to part company.

In this article, you’ll see just how easy it is to remove and then return the boat to its trailer. Note that the trailer will remain connected to the car until the boat is totally off it and on a bed of tyres.

Old car tyres are never hard to find with the number required depending upon the length of the hull and it’s shape. Generally speaking, the boat needs to be supported firstly at the stern as it’s coming down off the

trailer, and then on the sides as the trailer is moved from under it. I used six tyres in the example shown with my 4.3 Bullshark. The same number of tyres worked just as well with the 5.5 Galeforce when we replaced the brake system. Ever tried replacing a brake system with the boat on the trailer?

Forget it! Also, removing the boat from the trailer is best as a two-person project to make things easier.

STEP 1

back of your alloy craft, you might like to tape a straight edge under the hull, showing just how the transducer’s aligned and then photograph it for later reference, before moving it out of the way.

This saves you frustration later. The outboard needs to be tilted up as far up as possible and a tyre placed at the transom area for the skeg to sit on.

Before doing anything further, consider the general area where the boat is being

The job ready to go – tyres can be moved in exactly where the hull will touch the ground. to be enough space for the car to be reversed straight back to the boat with trailer at the ready. Alternatively, the trailer needs to be lined

contact with them as the boat is coming off the trailer, which is a totally manual exercise. A push will start to move the boat backwards.

you don’t want the boat slipping back quickly or jarring down hard. Take heart, it’s very easy to control that rear movement

Protect those transducers. These ones are safely up out of the way.

Tyres sorted, the next job is to move the transducer/s out of harm’s way. If, like myself, you have gone to some trouble to get the transducer just right on the

removed from the trailer.

It’s important to be able to bring the trailer back in perfect alignment with the hull when the boat needs to come back on it, so there has

With a good trailer, the boat won’t take much effort to shift back. Denise is moving it fairly easily. Note the controlled amount of slack in the winch cable. up straight and then the car connected to the trailer.

In practice, later, you will see why this is stressed as important.

STEP 2 With transducers taken care of, the next task is to sit three tyres under the transom area ensuring that the transducer will not make

Move it only a small amount at a time by controlling the amount of slack in the winch cable for the duration of the exercise. Providing slack in the winch line by disengaging the winch pawl, pulling out a bit of cable, then again engaging the pawl is the way to go.

Control is everything;

as the amount of winch cable provided governs the rearwards movement of the boat. Once the boat is moving backwards in small controlled stages, it’s time to start working out where the tyres need to be to support the hull.

A bit more movement – under careful winch control – will make it pretty clear where the

At this point, the hull and tyres need to be placed exactly right, so go slow.

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With careful placement, the transducers are out of harm’s way.

hull is going to come down to the ground. With the tyres carefully aligned, the hull can be moved backwards even further so that the stern dips down off the trailer to see the hull resting correctly on them and extending nicely skywards on the back of the trailer.

STEP 3 This next bit involves both a car driver and a winch supervisor. The car driver will be moving the vehicle very carefully forward a few centimetres at a time, to move the trailer out from under the

boat while the winch is also strategically disengaged to provide slack at all times, otherwise the poor old boat will be dragged forward.

Again, make sure the placement of tyres is correct when it’s obvious that the boat is coming off the trailer. You can easily halt everything and take a look at where things are going.

The winch operator will be able to make this assessment and this is why I advocate moving the car forward just a small amount at a time while the winch

cable is carefully disengaged to provide slack. By proceeding slowly, and with care, the boat will come off that trailer without even a jar or bump, and (I might add) with some satisfaction for the participants!

Congratulations, you have the boat off the trailer and you can work on it at leisure.

Work completed, we need to get it back. That’s the next step.

STEP 4 The only tricky bit here is to get the trailer absolutely square on to the tow hook

The car is driven forward very slowly as the tyres for the sides of the hull are aligned. Then the job’s done and the trailer is ready for any work.

Perfect! The hull is moving up onto the trailer as the trailer and car are reversing back.

of the boat before doing anything else. I usually do this with the trailer disconnected.

Once the trailer is perfectly in alignment, bring the car back to the trailer and connect it. If the trailer is out of perfect alignment, the boat will come up in a badly misaligned manner. In the water, it will swing to correct itself. Sitting hard on the tyres, it can’t do this. Things soon go pearshaped once the car moves forward. It starts with the boat moving to an edge of the first roller and gets progressively worse. Don’t go there!

With the winch connected and someone on the winch to

watch state of play, use it to pull the boat up as the car is carefully and slowly reversed to the point where the trailer is just engaging the hull.

STEP 5 Now comes the best bit and it’s a process that works quite easily. As the transom is perched hard on the three rear tyres, the boat won’t move backwards. The car will when the winch is used.

How? Rather than reversing the car, which might cause an issue with power, the car is left out of gear and with hand brake off. With each winch handle revolution, the trailer and car move

backwards quite easily to see the boat rising as the trailer goes under it. The trick is to keep winding that winch handle. You won’t need to check things like when the boat was coming off, so long as the boat is going onto the trailer as straight as it should be.

While it might sound involved, it’s not. I have done this with the 5.5 fibreglass Galey at least three times and the Bullshark just as many times. There has never been a drama. Once the boat is horizontal on the trailer, it comes forward very readily and the exercise is complete.

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www.wesfrostmarine.com.au MARCH 2017

85

Kayak tackle storage solutions BRISBANE

Justin Willmer Find me on Facebook at Yaks On

When you’re fishing from the cockpit of a kayak, you need to be organised and

kayak designs allow tackle trays to be stored within easy reach. Other tackle storage solutions that are built into kayaks include bucket hatches, moulded pockets, mesh pockets and even drink holders.

with your gear while it inside the hull. By gluing or riveting an attachment point to the inside of the hatch lid, you can then leash the dry bag to the lid so that it doesn’t slide out of reach inside the hull.

Tackle stored behind the seat and in the side pockets means a clear cockpit area for pedalling and fishing. this includes mounting and storing everything within easy reach, while also considering the weight capacity of your chosen craft. This also applies to fishing tackle.

Many boat anglers gain notoriety among their mates as that guy that brings ten rods and five tackle boxes of gear when they head out fishing. As kayak anglers, we don’t have the luxury of taking all of the tackle that we own with us, so we need to refine our arsenal. Let’s have a quick look at tackle selection and tackle storage for kayak anglers.

STORAGE Some kayak anglers are lucky enough to have their tackle storage requirements solved for them by the kayak designers. Some

Whether you’re storing terminal tackle or lures, you can use the storage options supplied as part of the kayak design and its fit-out, or add your own additional storage options to suit your needs.

BUCKET HATCH A common storage option on kayaks is the centre bucket hatch. These are also sold separately and can be fitted at a later date. A simple twist of the hatch to remove the lid and you have access to your tackle. The downside of these hatches is that they are often small and only hold a couple of packets of plastics and a small tray.

A trick is to remove the bucket, if this is an option, load in an empty dry bag and then load the dry bag

Moulded and mesh pockets are great for storing tackle and mesh pockets can be retrofitted.

86

MARCH 2017

Now you can open the lid and easily access the dry bag and its contents.

Sea to Summit make a range of dry bags that are white on the inside, making it much easier to locate the items you’re looking for.

MOULDED POCKETS If your kayak has moulded pockets as part of its design, these can be ideal for storing smaller tackle trays. If the trays need securing, a bungee paddle holder can be fitted to lock them in place.

MESH POCKETS Quite a few kayak brands use mesh pockets as part of their fit out and also offer them as a spare part. These mesh pockets can be retrofitted to other kayak brands and even in multiple locations within easy reach. Mesh pockets are lightweight, don’t hold water and have a degree of flexibility for what can be stored in them. They are perfect for small tackle trays, lip grips, other tools, scent and sunscreen.

DRINK HOLDERS I prefer to keep my water bottles out of the sun,

A dry bag inside the centre hatch loaded for an adventure. Note the white lining for ease of locating items. under or beside my seat or in the Evakool icebox in the rear well, so I use my built-in drink holder for tackle storage. Before I paddle out, I load my scent and a few favourite lures into the drink holder, including a few different jighead weights to suit varying stages of the tide.

Often I have all that I need for a session in just this handful of lures and don’t even need to go digging for other lure options.

SOFT PLASTICS WALLETS Along with these fitted

When the toothy critters are around, pack a bit more tackle.

options there are also more portable options such as dry bags, dry boxes and soft plastic wallets. These are a great option for storing soft plastics, allowing you to carry a dozen or so packets and you can quickly and easily flick through to select the model and colour you’re looking for. They often come with a carry handle, making them easy to leash to the kayak.

It’s important to remember that if they have a zip you will need to give them a spray with silicone spray or wipe the zip with some reel oil to minimise corrosion and the chance of the zip seizing.

TACKLE TRAYS Tackle Trays are the most popular option for storing terminal tackle, jigheads, blades, hardbodies and many other lure types. There is a range of waterproof options available featuring a silicone gasket in the lid, and these are excellent for the kayak. They also feature a plastic tag for hanging them in stores that can be used for leashing them to your kayak. The downside is that there is only a limited range of waterproof models available and the configuration won’t suit all anglers and applications.

There are stacks of tray options available, including shallow trays, deep trays,

Leash it or lose it. These BogaGrips are leashed and then stored in the mesh side pocket.

double-sided trays, trays with adjustable dividers, fixed dividers and more.

The downside is that they’re not waterproof. One option for kayak anglers is to store them in a dry bag. I have recently started using

in a dry bag to keep it secure and away from the elements. The dry bag has an attachment point where it can be leashed to the kayak and I can even throw it behind my seat out of the way, retrieving it with the

larger trays makes it easier to see what’s running low and make yourself a shopping list to top up this base station when required.

It’s then simply a matter of topping up the smaller tray or two that you carry

It’s worth having a few weedless options in your kit, just in case. with you in the kayak from this tackle base station. I never return used items to these larger trays. That way I avoid rusting out bulk items, instead rinsing the used items in fresh water

the packets that I wish to take on a particular adventure. I will often carry two packets of my go-to for that adventure and then it’s important to have a mix of colours in a few of your favourite models.

is common on windy days and run out tides, and finally a fluoro pink or chartreuse colour just in case the others aren’t firing.

Finally I have my retractable line snips

Sheri with her tackle bag attached behind her seat.

Waterproof trays are another handy option for kayak tackle storage.

A simple solution in smaller kayaks is a dry bag in front of your feet. a double-sided tray and the great advantage is that it’s about the same thickness as a single-sided tray but with twice the number of compartments.

Although you can’t store bulk lots of items, you can keep a lot more items separated and organised for a kayak session. This allows me to carry a range of jigheads as well as a selection of blades, hardbodies and even some rigged plastics all in the one tray, while ensuring I have a couple of compartments loaded with my go-to jighead size.

DRY BAGS With one soft plastic wallet and one doublesided tackle tray I have everything I need for a day on the water, stored

leash when required. Dry bags come in a wide range of sizes and if you leave some air in the dry bag when you roll it closed, it will float should anything go wrong and it ends up in the water.

TACKLE SELECTION Over time you will refine your kit to suit your particular adventure and I have larger trays at home where I store the bulk items that I often use, including favourite blade colours and jighead sizes. Rather than carting these to the water every trip, often exposing them to the saltwater and overloading the kayak, these trays are left at home.

Leaving the part number and description from the product packaging in the compartments of these

and hanging them on the side of a small plastic tub to dry for future use.

Again, when it comes to soft plastics I have a container that holds bulk plastics at home and I grab

Time on the water has shown me that it’s worth carrying a lighter, natural colour for clear water and bright days, a darker silhouette colour for when the water dirties up, which

Double-sided tackle tray, soft plastics wallet and a dry bag – tackle storage sorted.

attached to my shirt or ‘D’ ring on my pants, lip grips, fish ruler and landing net leashed to my kayak and a couple of different flavours of scent handy, either in my drink holder or pocket.

When you’re setting up your yak, take note of where you can store and secure your tackle within easy reach, remembering the option to retrofit mesh pockets and bucket hatches, along with the option of a leashed-on dry bag loaded with a tackle tray and soft plastics wallet. Try to make a plan based on the location you’re fishing, target species, tides and other variables to assist you in refining the tackle you carry with you, while also covering the possibilities that may arise in your chosen location, such as a few weedless options in case there’s weed around, a variety of lures to cover different water depths and a couple of larger or smaller profile lures to suit the bite on the day. Fish on!

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WHAT’S NEW BOATING MERCURY 75-115HP FOURSTROKE OFFER 1

Boasting less weight and high displacement, Mercury FourStrokes generate abundant torque and immediate power, so they accelerate better, get boats onto a plane faster, and provide optimal fuel efficiency at cruising speed.

These engines are quieter and smoother than the competition, with up to 50% less vibration and 50% less noise, and are all available in Command Thrust format. With a larger gearcase and gearcase torpedo, combined with a bigger-diameter prop, Command Thrust outboards provide greater leverage and control, lifting a heavy boat onto a plane more easily and holding it there without effort at lower speeds. The 115hp FourStroke is also available in counterrotating format.

Until 21 April, 2017, anyone purchasing a Mercury 75-115hp FourStroke from a participating Mercury dealer will receive a VesselView 502 multi-function touchscreen display upgrade from the standard VesselView 4, and Mercury Active Trim – the industry’s only GPS based automated trim system, valued at $1541. www.mercurymarine.com.au

GMR FANTOM 18 AND 24

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New for 2017 are the GMR Fantom 18 and 24 radar from industry giant Garmin.

These new solid-state pulse compression radomes offer MotionScope Doppler technology and 40W of power – the highest in the industry for its kind.

Available in an 18” or 24” footprint, they bring Garmin’s award-winning Fantom technology to a smaller size and lower price point, making them an attractive option for boats where open-array radar isn’t an option.

With its pulse compression technology, the Fantom 18 and Fantom 24 provide high resolution while maximising energy to enhance target detection. The Fantom 18 features a 5.2° beam width, while the Fantom 24 offers a narrower 3.7° width.

Both Fantom radomes offer excellent range performance from 6m to 48nm.

Price: SRP $2999-$3999 www.garmin.com

ENHANCED I-PILOT SPOT-LOCK

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Minn Kota has made significant enhancements to the ground-breaking Spot-Lock electronic GPS anchor.

“We’ve reinvented Spot-Lock to make it the most accurate electronic GPS anchor ever,” said Shaun Clancy, Minn Kota Brand Manager. “Anglers will immediately notice that the reinvented Spot-Lock holds the boat in position with unmatched precision and consistency. When fishing, even in strong wind and current, it’s easy just to Spot-Lock to land fish, change baits, or even take a photo or two. The updated Spot-Lock feature will make boat positioning easier and more precise than ever.”

The new Spot-Lock also features ‘Jog Mode’, which allows anglers to move their current Spot-Lock position 5ft to the left or right, forward or backward, with the simple push of a button. The enhanced Spot-Lock feature comes standard on the new i-Pilot and i-Pilot Link systems, factory-installed on a wide variety of new Bluetooth-enabled bow-mount trolling motors including Ulterra, Terrova and PowerDrive, as well as Riptide Ulterra, Riptide Terrova and Riptide PowerDrive. www.bla.com.au 88

MARCH 2017

PRODUCT GUIDE

NEW DIAMOND DECK 4 COLOURS

Diamond Deck marine-grade, selfadhesive EVA foam decking is ideal for anyone who’s tired of having a slippery, hot boat – or who’s tired of trying to keep their marine carpet clean. Originally available only in white, black and grey, Diamond Deck now comes in three new colours – blue, maroon and marble grey.

Diamond Deck easily bonds to aluminium, fibreglass, steel, wood, gelcoat, flowcoat, painted surfaces and even checker plate with minimal preparation. It comes ready to apply with a peel and stick, self-adhesive backing sheet. It reduces glare, heat, noise, shock and fatigue for those on board, and it won’t come unstuck in even the harshest of elements. It’s also easy to clean and dries quickly.

Diamond Deck is 5mm thick, which is enough to cushion the ride when applied to tinny seats. It comes in easy-to-use sheets in various sizes, all of which can be cut to shape with scissors or a cutting knife.

Custom cutting is also available. www.diamonddeck.com.au

DYSON V6 CAR + BOAT

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Boat and car cleaning can feel like a major hassle, with tight gaps, tricky angles and awkward spaces. The Dyson V6 Car + Boat vacuum makes the job easy. It comes complete with a set of specialised cleaning tools, each designed for specific cleaning uses, to deal with all types of dirt, in every nook and cranny.

The Dyson’s cord-free format transforms easily to tackle dirt and debris all over your car or boat – even in the most difficult spots. The extension hose attachment lets you vacuum out enclosed spaces like hatches or foot wells.

Combined with the stubborn dirt tool, the extension hose removes even ground-in dirt.

The Dyson In car charger connects to a standard 12V accessory socket for charging your cord-free machine on the move, or when there’s no mains socket to hand.

Price: SRP $449 www.dyson.com.au

LOWRANCE HDS CARBON

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Lowrance HDS Carbon multi-function displays (12”, 9” and 7”) feature StructureScan 3D with SideScan and DownScan Imaging, dual channel CHIRP sonar, StructureMap, Broadband Radar and SiriusXM Weather Chart Overlay.

The HDS Carbon’s dual-core processor allows anglers to switch between applications and simultaneously view independent sonar feeds with ease, and the SolarMAX HD screen provides great visibility at almost any angle.

Along with integrated wireless connectivity that lets you download updates and map purchases directly, HDS Carbon features Bluetooth control of multiple Power-Pole shallow water anchors and Bluetooth audio streaming from SonicHub2.

Anglers can navigate with ease using proven Lowrance navigation technology, built-in C-MAP Insight mapping with enhanced coverage of coastal and inland waters, a 10Hz internal GPS antenna, and a multitude of mapping options accessible from the unit’s dual microSD card slots or via wireless download.

HDS Carbon supports radar, SmartSteer control of Motorguide Xi5 trolling motors and Lowrance Outboard pilot, and full engine data integration with Mercury VesselView Link.

Price: SRP $1599-$4699 www.lowrance.com

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

SCAN THE QR CODE!

Marlo magic in a kayak MELBOURNE

Corey Gallagher

Extensive shallow flats, seemingly endless kilometres of rock wall, abundant snaggy edges, plentiful backwater creeks and lagoons, reedy banks and fast flowing deep water channels combine to make up one of Victoria’s premium estuary fishing locations.

The estuary’s main features include the Snowy River and its entrance to the sea, the Brodribb River, which enters the Snowy just a short distance upstream, and the two shallow lakes, Lake Corringle and Lake Curlip. Located in East Gippsland, Marlo has developed a well-earned reputation as home to some of the state’s biggest and hardest fighting southern black bream. Recreational and tournament anglers alike are drawn to the location in search of giant bream and many go home after experiencing success.

ACCESS Several launch options are available for kayak anglers at Marlo.

The boat ramp located in town is excellent and offers a concrete ramp with adjoining jetty. The ramp also has some car parking suitable for trailers, fish cleaning facilities and toilets.

Kayaks can also launch from the small beach at the angling club just upstream from the main town ramp.

These launch options are best for those looking to target fish in the main estuary and Lake Corringle.

as French Narrows.

A second boat ramp can be found by following Old Marlo Road north out of town. Located on the Brodribb River, the ramp features an extensive car park, toilet facilities, jetties and picnic tables. The Brodribb ramp is perfect

the system, Australian bass can be found, particularly during their spawning run in winter.

METHODS AND TECHNIQUES As I mentioned in the variety of fish holding areas available in the estuary is extensive, and there are

An entrant in the 2017 Hobie Bream Series works the flats during a still morning at Marlo.

Photo courtesy of Hobie Fishing Australasia.

Dale Baxter with an excellent example of some of Marlo’s finest.

Photo courtesy of Hobie Fishing Australasia. for kayak anglers looking to explore Lake Curlip and the upper reaches of the Brodribb or Snowy rivers.

TARGET SPECIES There is no denying that the main draw card for those venturing to Marlo is bream.

The estuary has been a long running venue in the Hobie Kayak Bream Series and also hosted the Hobie World Fishing Championships in 2013. In recent years, even the boaters have also cottoned on with Vic Bream Classics running a few rounds and their 2016 grand final at the venue.

Bream are available in the estuary all year round.

Richard Somerton, winner of the recent 2017 Hobie Bream Series event held at Marlo, showing the next generation how it’s done.

Photo courtesy of Hobie Fishing Australasia.

Seemingly endless kilometres of fish holding rock walls line the banks of the Snowy at Marlo.

Photo courtesy of Hobie Fishing Australasia.

Another beach launch option at the eastern end of beach road is excellent for anglers looking to fish the entrance or the area known

Other species on offer include dusky flathead, luderick, tailor, silver trevally and the elusive estuary perch. Higher in

The extensive shallow flats located towards the entrance in French Narrows are in the two lakes will fish well all year round, however bream are more likely to move into the shallow water during the warmer months when they

plenty of ways to catch the bream there, the tricky part is working out which technique will get the bite on any given day.

are actively searching out prey. Shallow diving cranks and jerkbaits slow rolled over the shallow flats can be a dynamite method of landing a solid bream.

Equally, using a similar retrieve with a slim profile paddle-tail plastic such as ZMan Slim SwimZ rigged on a relatively heavy jighead around 1/12oz can be just as deadly on big bream cruising the flats in search of a feed.

The drop offs, channels and deeper water surrounding the flats are always worth a look as well. Again, plastics can be excellent, but my go to lure in these areas is deep diving hardbody lures such as Daiwa Spikes or OSP Dunks. When using this style of lure, I like to use my Power Pole to anchor on the flat and put long casts out into the deeper water and then implement a twitch and pause retrieve, or simply slow roll, keeping the lure in contact with

the bottom.

Rock walls are plentiful at Marlo and often hold good numbers of bream.

Many of the rock walls also feature submerged timber laydowns that have been put in place by the East Gippsland Catchment Management Authority.

These areas are full of bream and are always worth a look when fishing at Marlo. Along with the techniques mentioned above, flicking lightlyweighted plastic grubs and hoping them back along the rock edges or casting them alongside the laydowns will often result in a hook up.

Twitching bent style minnows along the edges at first light can also provide anglers with an exciting surface strike.

Marlo is a tidal estuary and often has significant flow. As a result, targeting fish in the deeper water of the main channel can be a challenge. Heavy vibes such as Strike Pro Astro Vibes or heavily-weighted plastics are your best chance of getting your lure down deep and keeping it there. When fishing vibes, I like to employ short, sharp lifts followed by

long pauses. This technique has accounted for plenty of big bream in the past and is also a great technique to use when the river is running dirty.

SAFETY Due to the significant tidal flow, kayak anglers are advised to pay attention to tidal movements when launching at Marlo. The flow can become very strong towards the mouth and extra care needs to be taken when fishing this area during the run-out tide. Always remember to wear your PFD and carry a bailer on board at all times as required by Victorian State laws.

CONCLUSION Marlo is up there as one of Victoria’s premier kayak angling estuary destinations. Kayaks are the perfect vessel to explore the area, granting access to the systems extensive shallow water flats and tight backwater creeks and lagoons impassable by anything drawing more than a few inches of water. An amazing place to explore and having spent many hours on the water at Marlo, I am still discovering new areas to fish every time I make the journey east.

Reedy banks are plentiful and often account for some cracking East Gippy Bream!

Photo courtesy of Hobie Fishing Australasia.

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Quick Quintrex F481 Hornet is a sure winner

BRISBANE

Wayne Kampe wkff@aapt.net.au

Quintrex offer so many fantastic boats that it can be difficult to nominate a particular rig most suited to a specific task. If there’s a need for a rig that will double as a competition craft fully ready to hit the starter line, or ready to be used by sports anglers to test their skills wherever the opportunity presents (in estuaries rivers or impoundments), the four person F481 Hornet Trophy will fit the bill nicely.

It’s 5m in length with a 2.1m beam and a feisty 90hp Yamaha four-stroke on the transom.

There’s a veritable nest of Hornets, from the 400 to the 500. There are several models to choose from and every one of these punt style craft are well designed. The F481 Trophy has virtually every internal feature serious anglers might need, from a large plumbed catch well, which can be made even larger, through to an optional 3m long rod locker to port with tips well and truly protected under the front deck.

There’s also floor storage under both forward and aft decks, flexibility in seating, a neat side console and a host of other features as well.

EASY LAUNCH SYSTEM Launching from the Bribie Channel, the craft was easily released from its dedicated alloy Quintrex trailer, via the Quinnie Catch and Release easy hitch up and launch system. A couple of seconds saw the stem post’s securing 90

MARCH 2017

shackle and the trailer’s retrieval cable released. From that point, all it took was for Paul (from Brisbane Yamaha) to start the engine, pop it into gear, nudge forward the Hornet’s bow and the Catch and Release let go – brilliant!

No more wet feet on a cold morning – I liked it!

FOUR-STROKE ON THE TRANSOM There was plenty of sting in the Hornet’s tail too. The reviewed Trophy, supplied by Brisbane Yamaha Burpengary, was powered by an EFI 90hp Yamaha four-stroke engine –

with the rig’s plumbed live well underneath, easily accessed by a wide hatch.

FEATURES TO SUIT THE TOURNAMENT ANGLER The Quinnie’s neat side console was set up with top shelf Yamaha LAN gauges linked to the F90 astern, switches and a Humminbird 899 sounder plotter. The small wind deflector on top of the console hinged forward to reveal a decent storage area, suitable for cold drinks or lunch.

Up front, large under floor

SPECIFICATIONS Length..............................................................5.01m Beam................................................................2.10m Length on trailer.............................................6.30m Side height......................................................0.93m Construction............ bottom 3mm, sides 2mm alloy Weight hull.......................................................420kg Engines........................................................ 60-90hp Engine fitted...................... 90hp Yamaha four-stroke Fuel......................................................................77L the maximum horsepower for the craft. It was as nippy as it was quiet.

Warming it up prior to speed runs made sense, as the engine was totally new. I assessed the Hornet Trophy’s potential as the Yamaha hummed gently astern. The 90hp saw the rig going places quickly and frugally.

If four people were aboard, the maximum power ensured easy performance. I noticed a couple of steps on the rear platform and a ladder to port.

Rails and rod holders adorned the aft gunwale area as well.

Behind the skipper and mate’s pedestal bucket seating was a carpeted rear cast platform

lockers were set within the forward casting platform’s framework. A general storage area was behind it, paired with heavy duty framed compartments for deep cycle batteries. The rig’s anchor was also tucked out of the way up front, but ready for use. The reviewed rig came with a single battery to power the Minn Kota motor and it’s very handy I Pilot Link that connected with the Humminbird 899SI sounder plotter set into the console.

Seating was flexible – a seat spigot was also installed up front upon the casting platform, which featured hookless carpet to match the

rest of the rig. If this sounds pretty good, you’re right – it was good. Let’s not overlook the very neat dark blue wrap adorning the Hornet’s sides.

It’s a popular addition, and it’s pretty rare to see a competition style rig leave a trailer a wrap lately.

While the correct mix of fishing features is important for this style of craft, there’s much more to the Quintrex Hornet than what readily meets the eye. Sticking your head into a hatch reveals that welding in tucked away areas is just as well executed as that in clear view. This indicates the sort of high standards Quintrex demand of their alloy work. In truth, fit and finish was everything it should be and topping off the package were good looks, good performance and great ride and handling.

PLENTY OF CHOP ON THE WATER In many respects, it was an excellent morning to give the Hornet some sea time, as a nasty southerly chop pushed up the outgoing tide in the Bribie Passage shortly after we launched. It created just the sort of conditions that estuary or dam anglers have to contend with from time to time, despite their earnest wish for better. The solid Hornet took the chop in it’s stride with little fuss. It’s Fighter series hull features a sharp entry with plenty of flare above it, linked to a multi-straked bottom section and a 12° vee.

Experience has shown me that most boats can be driven easily enough in less than ideal conditions, at the right speed. This experience comes

from time on the water – once you have it, you know what you’re doing. Sometimes that ‘right speed’ is surprisingly quick and other times there’s a need to slow down. It all depends on the hull and engine combination.

I found the 481 Hornet Trophy readily fell into the faster boat category, given it’s excellent hull design. It was really no surprise to see the rig simply skip over wind chop at 28.4kph and 3000rpm, with very little impact or fuss.

The Humminbird recorded 4000rpm at 40.8kph, and a quick burst to 5000rpm moved the ground speed measurement to 51.3kph. With the 1.6L Yamaha four-stroke 90hp properly run in, there’d be no question about speeds in excess of 65kph, once the revs hit the 6000 mark. When cruising at 3500rpm or 35kph, the engine was hardly audible, taking it very easy.

SUMMING UP The Quintrex 481 Hornet Trophy and 90hp Yamaha four-stroke package is no chore whatsoever. It’s a sportfishing craft with huge

potential for anglers who want to enjoy tournaments or simply make the best of light tackle work in calmer waters. It’s designed to travel comfortably, make things easy for up to four anglers and provide immense stability at rest – the punt styling ensures this. Quintrex have been building quality alloy craft for a long time and the Hornet’s a show piece of their expertise.

Call JV Marine World on 03 9798 8883 or email info@jvmarine.com.au for more information. The rig can be bought with options such as the sounder, rod lockers rear ladder and more. A basic rig with sounder and suitable engine is available from $32,415. and you can decide what’s needed for your specific requirements.

• 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.

Top: The Quintrex Hornet Trophy is a rig with ample freeboard, a nice forward casting platform and great style. Above: The bow of the Hornet’s Fighter series hull cuts through chop easily.

With Paul from Brisbane Yamaha at the helm, the Hornet had plenty of pace with comfort to match, thanks to the hull’s great design.

The 90hp Yamaha was a great match to the Hornet’s solid hull mass. At cruise speeds the engine seemed to be doing it very easy.

At rest but ready to go – this is a beautiful looking boat that’s tough enough to hold four people with no fuss.

The Hornet’s main storage area up front was designed to swallow up a lot of equipment. Think of the tackle boxes that would go in there!

A dash layout can’t get much simpler than that of the Hornet Trophy, and there’s a soft-feel, sportsstyle wheel for the skipper to enjoy as well.

The Hornet Trophy can easily run up onto a bank if necessary.

A look in the battery hatch up front revealed neat welding, so this rig is polished.

The components of the Quintrex Catch/ Release system are easily assessed.

This rig is glammed up with hookless carpet – a must for a serious fishing rig these days.

Six well-formed strakes per side keep the Quintrex on track and provide plenty of stability under way or at rest.

The Quinnie’s optional rod locker would be a certainty on most buyers’ lists, as they store and protect rods very well.

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Features galore in the Cross Country 4.5 Lapstrake

BRISBANE

Wayne Kampe wkff@aapt.net.au

A few issues back we featured the 4.5m Cross Country Island Hopper as a car topper. With roof racks taking the place of a trailer and weight savings essential, the rig tipped the scales at a mere 135kg.

Considering the overall need to conserve weight, the craft was well set up with various compartments and features. I also mentioned that there were many options available for the 4.5 Cross Country owner.

To prove that statement, this review sees the 4.5 tarted up with a host of features including a fridge/freezer, under floor fuel tank, deck wash, console and canopy.

Power has been upgraded to a 60hp Suzuki 4-stroke with hydraulic steering. There’s even a custom trailer for the craft as well.

CUSTOM TRAILER Cross Country have their alloy trailers custom made locally to suit individual craft, with rollers exactly where they’re needed. Sets of skids are there to make loading and unloading as easy as possible.

Fibreglass craft, particularly ones with large strakes under their hulls, benefit from having trailers set up to conform with hull dimensions – the extruded glass Cross Country Lapstrake style hull, with its ballast tunnel over a central planing plank, was suited perfectly to its trailer.

The craft slipped off like a greased eel and just as easily winched later in the day.

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NO ISSUE MAXIMUM ENGINE POWER Aboard the 4.5 Cross Country, I took stock of the features. They were so numerous that I resorted to a digital recorder so I didn’t overlook an important item or two. First off was the 4-stroke Suzuki 60. With engines rated

passing craft, which confirmed to me just how good these Cross Country punt style craft can handle chop with such little perceived impact, with their well designed entry sections and prominent bottom strakes.

This rig could handle!

With hydraulic steering, which made wheel input a fingertip

SPECIFICATIONS Length................................................................4.5m Beam..................................................................1.8m Weight hull....................................................... 135kg Deadrise.............................................................. 14° Engines........................................................ 30-60hp Engine fitted............................60hp Suzuki 4-stroke Fuel......................................................................70L Persons................................................................Six Towing Family...........6 cylinder or big 4 SUV/sedan from 30-60hp, the owner of the reviewed rig opted for maximum power, which made for easy boating.

At the helm, tucked in behind the craft’s side console and comfortable on the skipper’s pedestal seat, there was no feeling that the light-weight Cross Country hull was over-powered. Wellpowered is a better term with the Suzuki near silent at idle. It hummed easily onto a plane at a mere 12.8km/h and 2600rpm with two aboard. Cranking up to 3000rpm saw 19.6km/h on the handheld GPS, 4000rpm saw 38.3km/h, 5000rpm 46.7km/h and 6000rpm 62.4km/h. Admittedly, power came in spades – all it took was a push on the throttle to see the rig leaping forward, but it was still very smooth and user-friendly.

Travelling at good speed gave me the opportunity to jump a bit of serious wash from

exercise, the Cross Country could virtually turn on it’s own length at 30km/h. Zipping up mangrove creeks to check the crab pots at high tide would be a cinch.

OPTIONS FROM STEM TO STERN As mentioned, this particular rig was set up with ample options. A Kingfisher canopy was installed, along with a deck wash, a bait tank aft, a 70L underfloor fuel tank, an easy access compartment for bilge pump and fuel filter under the transom area, a cast deck and a couple of other features about the side console craft worth mentioning as well.

A cavernous rod locker was set to port in the cockpit, and while taking up a fair amount of room, it was designed to be sat on, or even walked on. This was a handy feature.

Atop the console (on the ever useful RAM bracket) a Garmin 955Sv unit took

pride of place. It was not only highly visible, but it created a bit of a windbreak as well!

Instruments for the outboard and a Garmin radio were also handy, as was a spin out hatch on the port upper section of the console, which effectively offered completely dry storage for personal items in need of protection from the elements.

Grab handles and a vertical rod rack were also installed on the console, which was large enough to do the job, but by no means intrusive.

Features on the extra large casting deck up front, which sported a non-skid SeaDek that covered other horizontal contact surfaces, were unusual.

Two large compartments were tucked under the deck’s friction hinged hatches, which will stay open exactly where you want them. The first

To provide continuous power for the deep cycle battery, up front cabling connected it to the engine battery astern with a 12V DC charger, so the Suzuki could keep both units topped up. The Eutectic fridge/freezer system can be bypassed if not required on the day. Most importantly, there’s inbuilt switching to prevent the refrigeration system robbing power from the engine battery.

SUMMING UP As a fishing craft, the 4.5 Cross Country trailer rig would fulfil a host of requirements.

With it’s 640mm high sides, there’s ample sea keeping capability for a rig of this modest size. Combined with the high degree of stability from the well designed hull and it’s under floor floodable ballast system, this rig is suited

While rated for up to six persons, the best fishing would likely be with 3-4 anglers aboard. Extra seating is an option, naturally. In overviewing the 4.5 Cross Country Trailer with 60 Suzuki 4-stroke, I was impressed with the way the team at Cross Country had combined useful features to make it a very handy fishing rig. The finish was very good all around, with strong 25cm wide decks atop gunwales a highlight, along with the extensive use of the SeaDek material to provide an attractive but functional surface to work from.

With refrigeration system, big sounder, the max powered 60 Suzuki and other features, like a 55lb electric outboard, registration numbers and a half wrap to bring on the bling, the reviewed craft would come

Top: The Cross Country could really turn! John Hall put the craft through its paces.

Above: The Cross Country’s lapstrake construction is beautiful.

The well shaped bow reduced impact when crossing pressure waves and wash from other craft in the Bribie Passage. housed a 120amp deep cycle 12V battery to power both an electric motor and a Eutectic refrigeration unit that serviced the adjacent inbuilt 190L refrigeration compartment.

to virtually any kind of rod and reel work within rivers, impoundments, estuaries or the bay in decent conditions – and crabbing. Lets not forget the crabbing!

home for $54,000. A start up trailer package with engine would be around $29,900.

Cross Country Boats can be contacted on 0410 090 317, or (07) 5499 3155.

Fully optioned and ready to go –­ one thing easily noted about the 4.5 Cross Country Trailer rig is the massive amount of fishing room.

Although maximum power for the 4.5m craft, the 60hp Suzuki was ideal in every respect, and certainly sits neatly on the Cross Country’s transom.

A custom made trailer is a bonus with this craft. The large rubber wheels ensure correct alignment of the hull and trailer.

Cavernous rod lockers were set up within the port section of the Cross Country’s cockpit.

Some of the major features are here, including the canopy, full-length rod lockers to port (with twin catches) and the big sounder atop the console.

A smart design there – a spin out hatch allowing access to storage within the craft’s side console.

The Cross Country sported a sensibly sized side console that provided room for instruments, radio and sounder, but hardly restricted the fishing room.

Cross Country Boats love that SeaDek material. You will too once you see how good it feels under foot.

There’s still room to store spare clothing, PFDs and the like, in the under deck compartment, even with a forward deep cycle battery and Eutectic refrigeration unit.

An overview of the rig under way shows the degree of freeboard that makes this 4.5m hull suited to estuary or bay work.

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Victorian Tide Times

2017 2017 Local Time

POINT LONSDALE – VICTORIA POINT – 144° VICTORIA LAT LONSDALE 38° 18’ LONG 37’

JANUARY Time Time JANUARY m

Time 0305 0305 0850 0850 SU 1452 1452 SU2050 2050 0343 0343 0928 0928 MO 1534 1534 MO2125 2125 0419 0419 1004 1004 TU 1615 1615 TU2200 2200 0455 0455 1042 1042 WE 1657 1657 WE2237 2237 0530 0530 1118 1118 TH 1740 1740 TH2317 2317 0607 0607 1157 1157 1827 FR FR 1827

11 22 33 44 55 66

m 1.61 1.61 0.63 0.63 1.37 1.37 0.27 0.27 1.64 1.64 0.57 0.57 1.39 1.39 0.27 0.27 1.65 1.65 0.52 0.52 1.40 1.40 0.29 0.29 1.63 1.63 0.47 0.47 1.41 1.41 0.32 0.32 1.61 1.61 0.43 0.43 1.40 1.40 0.38 0.38 1.57 1.57 0.39 0.39 1.39 1.39

Time 0344 0344 0920 0920 MO 1537 1537 MO2130 2130 0427 0427 1009 1009 TU 1627 1627 TU2215 2215 0506 0506 1054 1054 WE 1715 1715 WE2257 2257 0543 0543 1135 1135 TH 1801 1801 TH2335 2335 0616 0616 1214 1214 FR 1849 FR 1849

16 16 17 17 18 18

19 19 20 20

18’ of High LONG 144° TimesLAT and38° Heights and Low37’ Waters Times and Heights of High and Low Waters MARCH FEBRUARY MARCH FEBRUARY Time m m Time Time m Time m

m 1.70 1.70 0.47 0.47 1.49 1.49 0.20 0.20 1.69 1.69 0.41 0.41 1.48 1.48 0.26 0.26 1.66 1.66 0.37 0.37 1.46 1.46 0.33 0.33 1.61 1.61 0.35 0.35 1.42 1.42 0.41 0.41 1.54 1.54 0.35 0.35 1.37 1.37

Time 0359 0359 0945 0945 WE 1603 1603 WE 2147 2147 0435 0435 1023 1023 TH 1646 1646 TH 2229 2229 0511 0511 1102 1102 FR 1730 1730 FR 2310 2310 0546 0546 1143 1143 SA 1817 1817 SA 2353 2353 0625 0625 1224 1224 SU 1909 SU 1909

11

22

33

44 55

m 1.62 1.62 0.44 0.44 1.46 1.46 0.30 0.30 1.62 1.62 0.37 0.37 1.48 1.48 0.33 0.33 1.61 1.61 0.31 0.31 1.49 1.49 0.38 0.38 1.58 1.58 0.26 0.26 1.48 1.48 0.44 0.44 1.53 1.53 0.23 0.23 1.45 1.45

Time 0437 0437 1031 1031 TH 1658 1658 TH 2236 2236 0510 0510 1108 1108 FR 1738 1738 FR 2312 2312 0540 0540 1143 1143 SA 1816 1816 SA 2347 2347 0611 0611 1216 1216 SU 1854 SU 1854

m 1.60 1.60 0.32 0.32 1.50 1.50 0.37 0.37 1.56 1.56 0.30 0.30 1.47 1.47 0.43 0.43 1.52 1.52 0.30 0.30 1.44 1.44 0.49 0.49 1.47 1.47 0.31 0.31 1.39 1.39

0023 0023 20 0644 20 0644 MO 1251

0.56 0.56 1.41 1.41 0.33 0.33 1.35 1.35 0.63 0.63 1.35 1.35 0.37 0.37 1.31 1.31

16 16

17 17

18 18 19 19

1251 MO 1936 1936 0101 0101 0719 0719 1328 TU 1328 TU 2024 2024

0014 0.50 0038 0.52 0038 0.52 21 0014 0.50 6 21 0649 1.48 1.48 6 0706 21 0706 1.48 21 0649 1.48 SA 1251 0.36 MO 1308 0.23 1251 SA1938 1938 0052 0052 0724 0724 1329 SU 1329 SU2030 2030

0000 0.45 0.45 22 770000 0645 0645 1.52 1.52 22 1238 0.35 SA

0.36 1.32 1.32 0.58 0.58 1.41 1.41 0.38 0.38 1.29 1.29 0.67 0.67 1.34 1.34 0.41 0.41 1.26 1.26

1308 MO 2009 2009 0126 0126 0754 0754 1358 TU 1358 TU 2116 2116

0.23 1.41 1.41 0.61 0.61 1.42 1.42 0.25 0.25 1.39 1.39 0.69 0.69 1.36 1.36 0.28 0.28 1.38 1.38

0142 0142 22 0800 22 0800 1408 WE

0.70 0.70 1.29 1.29 0.41 0.41 1.27 1.27 0.77 0.77 1.23 1.23 0.45 0.45 1.26 1.26

11

WE WE

22

TH TH

33

FR FR

44

SA SA

55

SU SU

66 MO

MO

Time 0252 0252 0837 0837 1505 1505 2050 2050 0331 0331 0918 0918 1552 1552 2133 2133 0410 0410 1000 1000 1637 1637 2215 2215 0447 0447 1042 1042 1722 1722 2259 2259 0525 0525 1125 1125 1808 1808 2342 2342 0605 0605 1207 1207 1858 1858

m 1.54 1.54 0.45 0.45 1.49 1.49 0.35 0.35 1.58 1.58 0.35 0.35 1.56 1.56 0.35 0.35 1.60 1.60 0.26 0.26 1.60 1.60 0.37 0.37 1.60 1.60 0.20 0.20 1.61 1.61 0.41 0.41 1.57 1.57 0.17 0.17 1.58 1.58 0.46 0.46 1.53 1.53 0.17 0.17 1.53 1.53

Time 0330 0330 0923 1600 TH 0923 2138 TH 1600 2138 0403 0403 1000 1637 FR 1000 FR 1637 2214 2214 0434 0434 1035 1711 SA 1035 SA 1711 2247 2247 0504 0504 1108 1744 SU 1108 SU 1744 2322 2322 0536 0536 1142 1142 MO 1817 MO 1817 2357 2357 0610 0610 1215 1215 1855 TU 1855 TU

16 16

17 17

18 18 19 19

20 20 21 21

m m 1.54 1.54 0.34 0.34 1.56 1.56 0.43 0.43 1.54 1.54 0.30 0.30 1.57 1.57 0.46 0.46 1.52 1.52 0.29 0.29 1.56 1.56 0.49 0.49 1.49 1.49 0.29 0.29 1.53 1.53 0.53 0.53 1.46 1.46 0.31 0.31 1.49 1.49 0.57 0.57 1.41 1.41 0.34 0.34 1.45 1.45

Time Time 0343 0343 0932 1625 SA0932 2200 SA 1625 2200 0323 0323 0918 1611 SU0918 SU 1611 2144 2144 0404 0404 1004 1658 MO1004 MO 1658 2228 2228 0447 0447 1049 1746 TU1049 TU 1746 2313 2313 0533 0533 1135 1135 WE 1840 WE 1840

11 22 33

44 55

Local Time APRIL APRIL Time m

m 1.59 1.59 0.19 0.19 1.73 1.73 0.47 0.47 1.59 1.59 0.15 0.15 1.72 1.72 0.48 0.48 1.57 1.57 0.15 0.15 1.68 1.68 0.51 0.51 1.53 1.53 0.19 0.19 1.61 1.61 0.56 0.56 1.48 1.48 0.26 0.26 1.53 1.53

m Time m 0259 1.49 0259 0900 1.49 0.32 1543 0.32 1.64 SU0900 2123 1.64 0.58 SU 1543 2123 0.58 0331 1.48 0331 0935 1.48 0.33 1615 0.33 1.62 MO0935 MO 1615 2158 1.62 0.60 2158 0.60 0405 1.46 0405 1008 1.46 0.35 1647 0.35 1.59 TU1008 TU 1647 2231 1.59 0.63 2231 0.63 0441 1.42 0441 1040 1.42 0.38 1724 0.38 1.55 WE1040 WE 1724 2306 1.55 0.66 2306 0.66 0518 1.38 0518 1112 1.38 0.43 1112 1804 0.43 1.50 TH1804 TH 2342 1.50 0.69 2342 0.69 0600 1.33 0600 1.33 1145 0.47 1145 0.47 1850 1.44 1.44 FR 1850 FR

16 16 17 17

18 18 19 19 20 20

0000 0.61 0000 0.61 21 6 0627 1.41 21 6TH0627 1.41 1224 0.35

TH 1224 1940 1940 0052 0052 0732 0732 1318 FR 1318 FR 2044 2044

0.35 1.46 1.46 0.66 0.66 1.34 1.34 0.46 0.46 1.40 1.40

0020 0.72 0.72 220020 0649 1.28 1.28 22 0649 SA 1226 0.53

0026 7 0026 0647 7 0647 TU 1252

0.53 0.53 1.48 1.48 0.21 1252 0.21 TU 1954 1.47 1954 1.47

0032 0.62 0.62 22 0032 0646 1.36 1.36 77 22 0646 WE 1248 0.38

0112 8 0112 0737 0737 WE 1340

0157 0.69 0.69 0107 0.73 0.73 0110 0.68 0.68 80157 230107 23 0110 0850 1.30 1.30 23 0750 1.26 1.26 0727 1.30 1.30 8 0850 0750 0727 SA 1426 0.55 SU 1317 0.60 TH 1324 0.42

0203 9 0203 0836 0836 TH 1436

0316 0.68 0.68 0205 0.72 0.72 0151 0.74 0.74 90316 24 0151 240205 1008 1.31 1.31 24 0904 1.27 1.27 0815 1.25 1.25 9 1008 0815 0904 SU 1545 0.60 MO 1422 0.66 FR 1405 0.48

0445 0441 0316 0445 0.76 0.76 0441 0240 0.72 0.72 0316 0.82 0.82 10 1119 0915 0939 10 100240 25 1119 1.31 1.31 25 1105 1105 0915 1.37 1.37 25 0939 1.23 1.23 10 1728 0.31 1708 1517 0.28 1558 0.44

0307 10 0307 0951 0951 1547

0434 0.62 0.62 0313 0.66 0.66 0242 0.78 0.78 100434 250313 25 0242 1118 1.36 1.36 25 1024 1.35 1.35 0916 1.21 1.21 10 1118 0916 1024 1701 0.62 1538 0.70 1459 0.53

0029 0029 0350 0.77 0.77 0426 0.86 0.86 0045 1.46 1.46 11 260426 110350 11 0045 1023 1041 0607 0600 1023 1.35 1.35 26 1041 1.20 1.20 11 0607 0.71 0.71 26 0600 1630 0.26 1705 0.43 1217 1233 1.34

0430 11 0430 1112 1112

0346 0.78 0.78 0538 0.54 0.54 0423 0.56 0.56 110538 260423 26 0346 1030 1.21 1.21 11 1221 1.44 1.44 26 1135 1.46 1.46 1030 1221 1135

0021 1.34 1.34 0144 1.52 1.52 0001 1.48 1.48 0122 0122 270021 120001 12 0144 12 0545 0.84 0.84 12 0717 0.61 0.61 27 0705 0510 0.78 0.78 27 0705 0545 0510 0717 1146 1.21 1338 1.39 1137 1.35 1321

0019 12 0019 0553 0553

0500 0.73 0.73 0034 1.44 1.44 0527 0.43 0.43 27 0500 120034 270527 1150 1236 0629 1150 1.26 1.26 12 0629 0.46 0.46 27 1236 1.60 1.60

0236 1.58 1.58 0105 1.56 1.56 0113 1.40 1.40 0209 0209 130105 280113 13 0236 13 0816 0.51 0.51 28 0754 0626 0.72 0.72 28 0651 0.78 0.78 13 0754 0816 0626 0651 1435 1.45 1246 1.38 1248 1.24 1415

0118 13 0118 0701 0701 1330

0039 0116 0039 1.51 1.51 0038 1.38 1.38 0116 1.47 1.47 28 0038 13 28 0623 0614 0712 0623 0.32 0.32 0614 0.63 0.63 13 0712 0.40 0.40 28 1331 1.72 1259 1.36 1400 1.59

0202 1.63 1.63 0159 1.47 1.47 0321 1.61 1.61 14 0321 140202 290159 0730 0.64 0.64 29 0743 0.70 0.70 14 0906 0.43 0.43 14 0906 0730 0743 SA 1348 1.43 SU 1343 1.30 TU 1528 1.49

0209 14 0209 0757 0757 TU 1428

0153 0129 0129 1.56 1.56 0130 1.45 1.45 0153 1.48 1.48 29 0130 0712 0750 0715 14 29 0715 0.23 0.23 0712 0.50 0.50 14 0750 0.35 0.35 29 WE 1358 1.49 FR 1438 1.63 SA 1422 1.80

0256 1.68 1.68 0401 1.62 1.62 0241 1.54 1.54 15 0401 150256 300241 0828 0.55 0.55 30 0951 0.36 0.36 0826 0.62 0.62 15 15 0951 0828 0826 SU 1445 1.47 MO 1432 1.36 WE 1615 1.51

0253 15 0253 0843 0843 WE 1516

0227 0215 0215 1.59 1.59 0217 1.51 1.51 0227 1.49 1.49 30 0217 0826 0805 0800 15 30 0805 0.17 0.17 0800 0.37 0.37 15 0826 0.33 0.33 30 SA 1512 1.64 SU 1511 1.83 TH 1450 1.61

1238 0.35 SA1921 1921 1.37 1.37

0133 0048 0.53 0.53 0133 880048 0801 0729 23 0801 0729 1.47 1.47 23 SU 1324 0.32 MO 1411 SU 1324 0.32 2025 2025 1.37 1.37

MO 1411 2125 2125

77

0219 88 0219 0850 0850 WE 1455 WE 1455 2229 2229

1408 WE 2119 2119

0229 23 0229 0851 0851 TH 1455 TH 1455 2222 2222

0328 0220 0325 0.75 0.75 0328 0140 0.63 0.63 0220 0.75 0.75 99 0325 990140 1000 0817 0845 24 1000 1.32 1.32 24 0953 0953 0817 1.42 1.42 24 0845 1.28 1.28 TH 1607 0.31 FR 1555 MO 1416 0.30 TU 1459 0.43 MO 1416 0.30 2138 2138 1.38 1.38

TU 1459 0.43 2223 2223 1.26 1.26

TU TU 1517 0.28 WE WE 1558 0.44 2251 2323 2251 1.42 1.42 2323 1.29 1.29

WE WE 1630 0.26 TH TH 1705 0.43

FR1146 1.21 TH1137 1.35 FR TH 1810 0.40 0.40 1745 0.22 0.22 1810 1745

FR1246 1.38 SA1248 1.24 FR SA 1851 0.19 0.19 1903 0.36 0.36 1851 1903

SA 1348 1.43 SU 1343 1.30 1950 0.17 0.17 1949 0.32 0.32 1950 1949

SU 1445 1.47 MO 1432 2043 0.17 0.17 2030 2043 2030 0320 0320 0906 0906 1519 TU 1519 TU 2108 2108

31 31

1.36 0.30 0.30

1.59 1.59 0.53 0.53 1.42 1.42 0.29 0.29

TH 1607 0.31 2339 2339 1.41 1.41

FR FR 1728 0.31

SA SA 1233 1.34 1839 1839 0.29 0.29

SU 1338 1.39 SU 1939 0.27 0.27 1939

MO 1435 1.45 MO 2031 0.27 0.27 2031

TU 1528 1.49 2117 0.29 0.29 2117

WE 1615 1.51 2159 0.33 0.33 2159

0.82 0.82 1.19 1.19 0.48 FR 1555 0.48 2328 2328 1.28 1.28

0.83 1.18 SA SA 1708 0.48

1.33 0.78 SU SU 1217 1.22 1822 1822 0.45

1.40 0.68 MO 1321 1.30 MO 1919 0.41 1919 1.48 0.57 TU 1415 1.40 TU 2007 0.37 2007

0.60 0.60 1.41 1.41 0.27 1340 0.27 WE 2058 1.41 1.41 2058 0.67 0.67 1.34 1.34 0.34 1436 0.34 TH 2207 1.37 1.37 2207 0.72 0.72 1.29 1.29 0.41 FR 1547 0.41 2315 1.37 1.37 2315

0.72 0.72 1.28 1.28 1710 0.44 0.44 SA 1710

1.40 1.40 0.66 0.66 1225 1.32 1.32 SU 1225 1824 1824 0.44 0.44

1.45 1.45 0.57 0.57 1.40 MO 1330 1.40 1926 1926 0.42 0.42 1.50 1.50 0.47 0.47 1.47 TU 1428 1.47 2016 2016 0.41 0.41

1.53 1.53 0.39 0.39 1.53 WE 1516 1.53 2100 2100 0.42 0.42

0.38 WE 1248 1938 1.39 1.39 1938

TH 1324 0.42 2028 1.34 1.34 2028

FR 1405 0.48 2127 1.30 1.30 2127

SA 1459 0.53 SA 2232 1.30 1.30 2232

1606 0.56 0.56 SU 1606 SU 2338 1.32 1.32 2338

1724 0.57 0.57 MO MO 1724

TU TU 1259 1.36 1840 1840 0.54 0.54

WE 1358 1.49 1939 1939 0.50 0.50

TH 1450 2029 2029 0300 0300 0847 0847 1538 FR 1538 FR 2115 2115

31

1.61 0.48 0.48

0.53 SA 1226 1942 1.40 1.40 1942

SA 1426 0.55 SU 1317 0.60 2146 1.38 1.38 2041 1.37 1.37 2146 2041

SU 1545 0.60 MO 1422 0.66 2248 1.38 1.38 2145 1.37 1.37 2248 2145

MO1701 0.62 MO 2345 1.41 1.41 2345

TU1538 0.70 TU 2248 1.40 1.40 2248

1804 0.60 0.60 WE 1659 0.69 0.69 TU1804 WE1659 TU 2346 1.45 1.45 2346

1315 1.52 1.52 WE WE1315 1855 1855 0.59 0.59

TH TH 1400 1.59 1937 1937 0.58 0.58

FR 1438 1.63 2014 2014 0.57 0.57

SA 1512 1.64 2048 2048 0.57 0.57

1807 0.66 0.66 TH TH1807

FR FR 1331 1.72 1903 1903 0.63 0.63

SA 1422 1.80 1953 1953 0.60 0.60

SU 1511 1.83 2040 2040 0.58 0.58

1.56 1.56 0.27 0.27 1.69 1.69 0.46 0.46

CopyrightCommonwealth Commonwealth of of Australia Australia 2015, 2015, Bureau Bureau of of Meteorology Meteorology Copyright Datum of Predictions is Lowest Astronomical Tide Datum of Predictions is Lowest Astronomical Tide Timesare areininlocal localstandard standardtime time (UTC (UTC +10:00) +10:00) or or daylight daylight savings savings time Times time (UTC (UTC +11:00) +11:00) when whenin ineffect effect New Moon First Quarter Moon Phase Symbols Full Moon New Moon First Quarter Moon Phase Symbols Full Moon

Last LastQuarter 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.

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