The Pelican's Pick
Friday, 20 December
This week’s Pelican’s Pick is a snapper caught by Bilal. What a ripper day of fishing he had at Black Rock! Dropping the line in 21m of water, Bilal hit the jackpot, as he managed to pull in his personal best snapper at 87cm! What a day to remember!
Along the Coast
Those out on vessels from Newhaven have had an especially great weekend, with some good-sized gummy sharks and a couple of early bluefin tuna offshore found along the Bass Coast and near Williamsons Beach.
Both the Tamboon Inlet and Bemm River are continuing to see good numbers of dusky flathead. Bream are around in both waters, though are a little bit slower in the Bemm at this time of year.
December is a great time to start getting those heavy rods ready for the big kingfish in the Portland area. Typically active from December to February/March, kingfish can be caught up to a meter in length. Popular bait options include pilchards and squid, and they also respond well to baits including yakka and mackerel. Another popular technique is jigging large metal lures or using large soft plastics.
If you are looking to get out on the boat over the holidays, snapper, flathead and squid are firing in the Corner Inlet around the Lewis and Franklin channels and also in the Rabbit Island area.
It is a great time of year to go after a trophy sized gummy shark, as there are reports of large models being caught right around the Victorian coast both in deeper waters and from the beach.
The Mallacoota Inlet is still full of dusky flathead which are being caught on a broad range of baits and lures. A popular lure with proven success is the curl tail grub soft plastic. They can be slowly reeled in close to the bottom or be softly jigged up and down to imitate an injured bait fish. Flathead will take a variety of baits, some proven choices include pilchards, squid and pipis.
Around the Bays
If you are looking to pick up some quality snapper from the bays, aim for the couple of hours either side of the flood tide, they’re still around! Some hot spot areas for snapper have been from Carrum to Rye, with good numbers being reported. The best bait continues to be fresh squid strips.
If you are looking for a beautiful feed of squid or King George whiting, the southern peninsula weed beds have been showing some action! Squid can be caught drifting over the weed with jigs of any colour or a whiting on a squid prong under a float. Whiting are primarily being targeted on bait, with the classic squid and pipis doing the damage.
Another great spot for whiting at the moment is Corinella, with reports of multiple anglers bagging out with 35-40cm fish near the corals in only a few meters of water.
Western Port anglers are reeling in multiple smaller gummy sharks along with the bigger models, which is a great indication to quality gummy fishing in the upcoming seasons.
Inland
Summer is kicking off nicely, with hot and stormy afternoons bringing a rapid change in barometric pressure. Our native inland fishery is providing successful fishing opportunities for anglers as well as afternoon caddis hatches for our trout fishers.
Lake Eildon Murray cod are active on hard bodied lures casting to the bank by vessel or trolling in approximately 4-6m depths. Bait fishers are finding success catching Murray cod around Jamieson on chicken and cheese.
Golden perch have been caught around rocky edges in Bonnie Doon on spinner baits, also around the tops of flooded trees in 6-8m of water with slowly retrieved soft plastics, which is a popular method around the Delatite Arm.
The Goulburn River is running crystal clear with an abundance of healthy brown and rainbow trout hugging close to the edges along shaded banks. Fly fishers drifting nymphs through the runs around Thornton Beach are catching a number of small rainbow trout, while bait and lure fishers are striking success using powerbait and minnow soft plastics at the Alexandra Bridge.
The Acheron River around Buxton is flowing clear with anglers catching rainbow trout and small brown trout on small hard body brown trout patterned Rapalas.
Rubicon River is producing small trout to fly fishers fishing upstream from the bridge, using elk hair caddis white dry fly.
The Eildon Pondage is productive on predominantly pan-sized rainbow trout, while large brown trout are having hits on soft plastics. Golden crocs and woolly buggers are working for the fly fishers on last light on Bourke Street.
Rocklands Reservoir is firing at the moment! Try fishing shallow water along timbered shoreline 3-4m deep with hard body lures for Murray cod and even golden perch. Bait fishing with scrub worms and yabbies will also work well for the yellas.
Taylors Lake is producing large Murray cod and golden perch. Fishing the arms using bait amongst the structure has proven very effective.
Lake Fyans is a good option for those chasing brown and rainbow trout using mudeyes for bait under a bubble float.
Further information
If you’re a regular fisher and interested in contributing to research while you’re out flicking a line, the Angler Diary program might be for you! Anglers are asked to fill out a diary about their fishing trips to assist our scientists with monitoring fisheries stock health.
For more info, email us at angler.diary@vfa.vic.gov.au
Out fishing this week and would like to feature in the Pelican’s Pick? send your snapshots to pelicanspick@vfa.vic.gov.au!
Tight lines – Mr. Percy!