The Pelican's Pick
Friday, 6 March
It’s race week in Melbourne, but today’s podium star is WIRFAB leader Kelsi with a quality Glenelg River estuary perch!
Kelsi spent a beautiful afternoon flicking soft plastics along the green banks of the Glenelg River hoping to take home a trophy.
Kelsi was casting her lure at snags when her reel started to squeal! It was a race to the finish line and at the wave of the checkered flag Kelsi landed this ripper estuary perch!
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Along the Coast
If you’re looking for somewhere to wet some line this long weekend, head to Portland where there’s favourable fishing conditions predicted and trophy fish waiting to be caught! Large game fishers continue to score a visit with royalty as kingfish actively feed in the area. Tuna are busting up and making waves, with mullet and squid doing the damage. Land based fishers are getting stuck into schools of pinkies and whiting with the odd salmon on a metal spoon.
There’s kingfish offshore at Yarram with a few larger specimens on fresh bait off Cliffies Island. Gummy sharks are tackling fresh slimies, and salmon are chasing pilchards. There’re loads of mackerel around while flathead are a bit hit and miss, stay determined and vary the type of bait used.
Target deep holes around Port Welshpool and Port Albert with fresh salmon and squid to hook into the hungry gummies waiting for a feed. Flathead are out and about in awesome numbers and many anglers are getting their bag and reporting sightings of good-sized yanks! There’s mixed bags of trevally and snook getting around too! Salmon are in strong numbers both big and small, flicking with metal lures or using pillies as bait is producing impressive results!
Anglers are hauling in their bag of whiting on bass yabbies and pipis in Shallow Inlet. Smaller salmon are out and about on the prowl for a fresh feed of pilchards, cut up cubes and you’ll be sure to get catches of class flathead!
The estuaries of East Gippsland continue to produce! Plenty of black bream are to be found on any structure you can find – snags, rocks and shallow sand flats will hold fish. Try using ultra-light jig heads (1/40oz) and small soft plastics in a subtle presentation to temp these finnicky fish. You’re likely to pick up a few dusky flathead as bycatch as well!
Around the Bays
The fishing at Black Rock is firing on all cylinders and anglers are getting speedy catches! Masses of pinkies are on the move in the area - chasing them with small squid strips is the key to catching them! Whiting are schooling up and they are hungry! Serve them up fresh pipis and you’ll be the one feasting! Working soft plastics along sandy flats is tempting some spectacular flathead to strike!
The Maribyrnong River has plenty of bread and butter species including those who love bread for bait! Yep, that’s right! Be sure to stop in at your local bakery to pick up a fresh loaf and use it to target the excellent bream, estuary perch and mullet patrolling the river. Surface lures are working their magic and paddle tailed soft plastics are irresistible when worked slowly along structure.
Squid are on the menu around Rye with many anglers having success jigging from the pier and kayaking across the sandy flats. Black or red coloured jigs work best over sand on bright days. If drifting over weed beds, use lighter-coloured jigs to create a distinct object for squid to latch onto.
Western Port is generating a fishing buzz as per usual, with whiting fishing off the charts! The top end has boasted the best whiting catches and we’d have to agree! Anglers are reeling in BIG fish and earning a well-deserved feed! Reef Island is an ideal spot to drift for squid and collect fresh bait. Rigging up large squid strips around Corinella is proving effective for reeling in decent gummy shark.
Inland
Wild weather and big storms have switched on the bite for big fish, especially the mammoth cod cruising around Lake Eildon. Fishing around snags is proving reliable for decent catches whilst some fish are displaying pelagic activity and can be found in open areas of the lake. Yellow belly are on the chew and are hitting worms and yabbies hard!
The Noojee area is a trout fishing paradise and has been giving anglers a fantastic day on the water. Look for fast flowing water that runs into slow moving pockets. Hard body lures have proven most effective and are perfect for spending hours wading up the river catching quality browns. If you’re bait fishing you can’t go wrong with scrub worms - reports suggest they are triggering a reactive bite!
Lauriston Reservoir is giving dedicated anglers a mixed bag of rod bending chaos! Yellow belly are truly a prized catch from this waterway and can be tempted with small bibbed lures. Redfin have been commonly caught from the bank while trout can be found in deeper cooler waters.
The northern part of the Wimmera River is action packed this week with spinners working like metal detectors and producing golden (perch) nuggets for keen anglers! In amongst the gold there’s streaks of silver with giant silver perch hammering soft plastics! Switch to small spinners for a chance at some reddies too.
Tight lines - Mr Percy!