We have had a bit of calm weather that has made it easier for anglers to head offshore and target their favourite bottom species. Some great catches have been had both in shallow and out on the edge of the shelf. Rivers still remain quite slow but a rise in water levels might be a turn of the tide and fishing could pick up.
Saltwater: Scott Gray had a great day out in his Seacruiser 6m Safari fishing the edge of the shelf. Using electric reels Scotty landed some solid knife jaw, school shark and a cracking Tassie Trump. What is it about deep water fish that makes them taste so damn good!? Both the knife jaw and tassie trumpeter are a prized eating fish off our coast and everyone that has had flake from the fish and chip shops know how good the school and gummy sharks are. If you’re wanting to get into this style of fishing then make sure you have hard baits aplenty; no pilchards or baits that fall off easily. What you need is a flesh bait with tough skin that will hold on even after a school shark has a fair dinkum crack at eating it. Some of the best baits are tuna fillets with a small line of meat on the skin, salmon fillets, mullet and the humble squid. The one thing that you will need is a bit of lumo on your rig due to the lack of light in the depths where these type of fish are found. Even as little as a single glow bead above the hook will be enough to give off some sort of glow but most run a strip of lumo tubing or a lumo hook sleeve. The most important thing that you must use is circle hooks and leave your rods in the holder and wait for the fish to hook themselves cause it’s a long way to wind the rig back because you struck too early and ripped your bait off the hook striking. One crew that do it better than most is Dan Hoey from Salty Dog Charters Port fairy and his last few trips are a true testament to that. Fishing in the deeper water Dan has been putting his clients onto some great fishing of late. Their most recent trip seen them come home with a swag of snapper, both school and gummy shark, some big leather jacket, tarakihi and latchet too. All these fish are prime eating species and by the looks of the anglers faces they knew it too! Dan and his crew won’t just put you onto the fish but at the end of the day they will also fillet it and prepare it for you so you don’t have to. In other saltwater news there are still loads of salmon kicking about on the beaches and around the headlands. Casting stick baits and metal lures there have been plenty of people filling the freezers in preparation for the next calm day we have so they can head out on the snapper and shark. While most fish are between 500g and 1kg there have been the odd bigger ones mixed in with them which have been keeping anglers on their toes. If you’re keeping these for bait then don’t worry about bleeding them as they work better with the blood still in them.
Estuaries: the Hopkins River is still very clear in the bottom section thanks to some big tides and big swell but this hasn’t seemed to fire the fish up at all. Plenty of smaller perch and bream but the bigger ones are once again proving hard to catch or even find. Like all years this time of year your best piece of equipment is your fish finder. If you aren’t using your sounder during the colder months then you’re just not making the most of the times you head out. A simple thermocline in the water column can give away where the fish are holding and the only way to find that is through your fish finder screen. All you will see is a thin line that goes across your screen and this is what you’re looking for. Most of the time a thermocline is formed when a layer of fresh water sits on top of the salt due to salt water being more dense and heavier. It’s especially noticeable when a flood has come down and the saltwater just starts to push underneath the fresh. Typically this is where the bream will sit as it’s where the oxygenated water is and this makes the fish more active. What you will hear anglers say is that there is 2m of fresh on top and that just means that they have seen it on their fish finder. If you see this then target your efforts on that area of the water column as this will be where the active fish are. The Glenelg River is fishing quite well for bream down below the poles on an incoming tide on both baits and a mixture of lures. Live crab fished on as light sinker as you can without dragging bottom is the ideal way to target the better fish and that’s exactly what they are. The biggest fish I have heard of lately is a solid 45cm model caught on a live crab down near the Pope’s Nose. In regards to lures there isn’t much they won’t eat when they are in this feeding mood but the standouts are any type of gulp bounced down the current especially in the camo colours. With inbuilt scent the fish just keep coming back until they have it. Keeping a close eye on your line to see when the line stops is a key indication that your plastic has been eaten by a hungry bream.
Freshwater: Lake Purrumbete has finally fired up with some absolutely huge trout coming aboard some regular visitors boats. Darren’s 10.2lb brown trout and his son Chris’ 9.2lb brown were just two of the bigger models caught with reports coming from Victorian Inland Charters Facebook page saying there were some caught at 5kg or 11lb in the old scale. The diehards have been waiting for the lake to start firing up and by the looks of these fish caught in the recent week or so it certainly has done just that. Trolling both live minnow or bullheads as they are known locally is the favoured technique for targeting a 10lber in there. The humble Tassie Devil is also a very well needed weapon in your arsenal for Purrumbete and can be fished either flat lining or on a downrigger where the guys are sounding schools of bait and fish. Just like the estuaries the fish finders are certainly the most important tool on your boat to find the depth where the fish are holding. Keeping a close eye on the surface too is also a very important part of it as these big fish launch out of the water when attacking a school of bait fish near the surface. The range of Tonic eyewear are the standout option for price and quality and we all wear them here at the Tackle Shack. The Copper Photochromic lense is the best option for trout fishing with its multiple filters made into the lense it turns the dark conditions light and bright conditions they dull it down for you. The lower Merri has still been fishing well for big brown trout, as Ash Rawlings has found out recently fishing around Dennington.
With some less than favourable conditions again this weekend the reports from offshore might be a bit less than usual. Hopefully you get out for a fish so until next week tight lines and best of luck.