The Pelican's Pick
Friday, 17 January
January has well and truly been the month for kingfish around Victoria, as shown by this epic catch by Jeremy! Jeremy and his dad went out on their boat on a quest for tuna. Unfortunately, after a few recent unsuccessful tuna trips and not even a bite all morning, this father-son duo knew it was time to change tactics. Quickly finding themselves some live bait, they ventured to their favourite kingfish spot in Port Phillip. The pair snagged these two after a hectic double hookup, with the largest measuring a whopping 106cm. Thanks to Jeremy and his dad’s efforts, his family have enjoyed many nights of sashimi and crumbed kingfish, what a treat!
Along the Coast
Another great place to search for kingfish is around the prom, with the neighbouring islands proving to be good starting points. The best bait options have been large knife jigs, live bait and lightly weighted squid strips. Don’t forget the size limit for kingfish, as there are a lot of smaller “rat” kingies around, under the legal size of 60cm. Closer to the prom, tuna are on the chew for those who place themselves at the current edges. The best options to catch them are trolling small skirt lures or casting small stick baits. Right now, tuna are feeding on small baitfish so the smaller the presentation, the better. Venturing further offshore you’ll have the opportunity to snag a gummy, be sure to bring fresh squid or trevally, these seem to be a gummy’s favourite right now.
Around Corner Inlet, the snapper are firing throughout the deeper sections. Fresh squid are a good bet for a catch. Remember, smaller presentations are often perfect for catching the larger fish. Flathead and whiting are hot at the moment, with most anglers catching a good feed at all tide changes.
For those around Lakes Entrance you are in for a treat, with kingfish, snapper, trevally, salmon, tailor, flathead and bream all being caught in the area. Local prawns, pilchards and pipis are proving to be go-to baits for your best chance. Gummies are being caught from the shore at 90 Mile Beach, and if you have a boat, look for deeper waters off the coast for the gummies.
If you are closer to Metung, check out the Hotel Jetty and the Boardwalk for bream on pipis or local prawn. To get some prawns yourself, check out Nungurner, Metung or Paynseville.
At Lake Tyers, beach fishing around Lake Bunga and Easter Beach is a good spot to bring your metal lure and catch a salmon.
For the Mitchell, Tambo and Nicholson rivers, bream are definitely around. To get one of decent size be sure to use cut crab or local prawn. At the Mitchell River check out the Silt Jetties, for the Tambo venture below the Hwy Bridge, and for the Nicholson try the river mouth.
Further east to Marlo, bream, luderick and flathead are biting, with the occasional mullet showing interest. Pilchard or pipis are your best bet. Off the beach try metal lures for salmon or tailor.
Find yourself at Mallacoota and you’ll have a great chance of snagging a flatty. Your options are well and truly open with lures, soft plastics, pilchards, squid or pipis doing the trick! Some bream are around as well if you are lucky, and we’ve heard the elusive mulloway are making rare appearances!
Out west around Warrnambool and Portland, there are plenty of fish to choose from. Southern bluefin tuna, snapper, squid, whiting, gummy shark and kingfish have been found along the coast. If you are targeting tuna, remember that they are fussy this time of year, feeding mainly on smaller baits. Casting small but heavy stick baits into schools of tuna should provide a fun day out. The Lee Breakwater area is perfect for those without a boat. The pontoons are good places for whiting, squid, snapper or salmon. If you are a diver, the west is the place to be for some epic rock lobster at some of Warrnambool’s iconic dive sites.
Around the Bays
The snapper are still snapping throughout Western Port and Port Phillip, and squid is an excellent bait choice. For whiting, the Mornington Peninsula and Western Port are proving fruitful locations. Consider Rosebud or Hastings areas.
Reports have schools of salmon hanging around Altona, loving the taste of some bait fish. If you want to try turning your salmon into something bigger, use salmon as a gummy bait in both Western Port and Port Phillip Bay. Gummies also love to bite on wrasse.
Inland
The warmer weather is really heating up Blue Rock Dam, with bass well and truly on the chew. Successful anglers are targeting them on surface lures in low light periods as well as casting deep diving hard bodied lures around the edges. Without a boat? Land based anglers are catching redfin, trout and carp on worms in the picnic areas surrounding boat ramps.
Great numbers of rainbow and brown trout are being caught at the Eildon Pondage with silver swimbait lures and deep diving hard bodied lures.
The Goulburn, between Eildon and Alexandra, is producing large brown trout. Check out the banks, under the willow trees. If you are a fly fisher, you are most likely to have success.
If you are out at lake Eildon, watch out for the ski traffic, it’s super busy this time of year. To avoid a stray water skier, find yourself tucked up in the inlets up the Big River Arm, where you will likely come across Murray cod when trawling large hard bodied lures. The shallower inlets of the Delatite Arm and the banks near the Hutchinson Road boat ramp are the place to be for large yellow belly. Most fishers are braving the early mornings and using live freshwater yabbies as bait.
Jerusalem Creek is another Murray cod hotspot, with anglers finding large soft plastics cast from boats to be successful. Some anglers are reporting chicken breast and cheese to be excellent baits to catch a cod.
The Acheron and Stevensons rivers are also fishing well for small to medium trout. Fly fishers are in for a treat using PMX Parachute Madam X Dry Fly simulators or olive bead head nymphs.
Lake Nillahcootie is still proving productive for smaller silver and golden perch on yabbies.
If you are in Seymour, the Goulburn continues to be firing with Murray cod, even with the fast flowing water at the moment. Vessel based fishers should consider using chicken or cheese for your best chance of a catch.
The Nagambie is a similar story, another great place to go for a chance at snagging a Murray cod metery!
Further information
Our Hooked on Portland event is this weekend! If you’re keen to check it out, head to our events page for more 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, check out our web page here.
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!