A royal engagement - Hastings style

Forget Kate and Prince William – Yesterday the royals were well and truly at Hastings! Although this is another non-yak report, I’ll definitely have a few over the next couple of weeks!

I got a call from Les over the weekend – He wanted to go fishing yesterday but had nobody to go with, so my arm was twisted into going (Ok, no twisting was necessary). We launched at Stony Pt just after 5am with what seemed most of Melbourne, probably due to it being the first decent day in weeks. Credit to the facilities, the line moved swiftly and the 3 ramps worked well.

I had gotten some great GPS marks for the west side of the port, and although most of the boats headed right to hit up Rhyll (Silverleaves and Observation Pt are still the place to be for the reds), we headed right towards Hastings. Les has a circa 1920 depth sounder on his boat that only displays the bottom and anything else shows up as a little pixelated fish symbol, so while it was still dark we searched for some broken bottom, and stopped in about 13m of water over what looked to be a reef. Lots of casts, lots of bites, not lots of fish. The flatties were ravenous but too small for our 5/0 hooks, although I did manage a 35cm one that got filleted and sent back as bait.

As it got light I borrowed Les’ portable handheld GPS and finally figured how to key in a mark, and we went to a spot just off Hastings in about 16m of water which felt very fishy as we were casting. Les quickly produced 2 pinkies (About 30cm each) and then his rod buckled over again – A 42cm whiting on a 5/0 with pilchard on it! I pulled in a 30cm pinkie, released it and quickly dropped down my 4lb outfit with a sinker that was too big for it, a paternoster rig and some squid strips on #6 long shank hooks. Over the next 30 minutes I pulled in 9 whiting between 34cm-44cm, most being in the bigger size bracket. Les then got on the board with his second whiting, slightly smaller than his first. I then hooked something I couldn’t budge from the bottom and suddenly felt like it was free. After about 5 minutes I pulled in a 44cm trevally on the top hook, with no sinker or bottom hook. I had had a double hook up on them and the bottom one had broken off, although even the one was almost too much for my poor little outfit!

As the tide slackened so did the fish and I finally had a bite on a bigger rod with a cutlet of yakka (I had caught a couple amongst the whiting) on it. A fairly fast run but not many head shakes so I called it for a skate. As it turned to run again it was gone. I pulled in the now slack line and it had bitten me off – Must have been a seven gill shark I assume.

We left the spot and tried a few shallow marks in 3-5m of water along middle spit then near Tankerton but I could only manage one salmon.

On the way back to the ramp my salmon became bait cutlets and we stopped on the edge of the channel in 16m of water. Not much at all, except I pulled up another whiting, this time about 34cm. As we were about to pull up stumps and head in my rod with the salmon on it bounced around in characteristic gummy shark fashion. It slowly loaded up and I struck... To nothing! I couldn’t believe I had missed it! This was enough and we headed in, where back at the ramp most boaties had done well on the snapper but no-one else seemed to have any of the royals, and one of them even said he was chasing whiting when he got the snapper and asked if I wanted to swap fish! As I have a few snapper left in the freezer I declined and we came home with 1 trevally, 2 pinkies and 12 King George whiting. A nice session on the water in absolutely flat conditions and not a breath of wind. That is how it should always be!

When I got home I decided that crumbed whiting, chips and salad should be on the menu for dinner so here is my signature dish for the next season of Masterchef:

The calm before the storm

As I'm staying at the house in Coronet Bay this week, I am trying to make the most of the snapper season. Unfortunately the weather was predicted to turn last night. Earlier in the week I had put the call out to some friends and Brad responded, bringing his father in law along with him. Although the weather was meant to turn, they were both very keen to get out so we headed to a desolate Corinella ramp about 6.45. We motored around in front of Coronet Bay and it was a very different story to last time - Only 2 boats in sight, and nobody within 1km. Also, dead calm water with no wind! I sounded around a bit and almost immediately marked up some fish.

I dropped the anchor and threw out the burley pot. As we threw our baits out I informed the guys that it may be a wait as last time the reds didn't come on until dusk. As I finished saying this all 3 rods took off simultaneously, making a liar of me! Rod and myself landed ours, with Brad missing the strike. 2 good fish, about 2.5-3kg.

In 15 minutes we had bagged out, with our pilchards getting smashed basically as soon as they hit the water. It was absolutely amazing fishing. By this time we had to release any fish over 40cm (Which most were - About 55-60cm the norm). My Dad called 6 times for a report and I was on a fish every time. The boys were still having fun and I grabbed my bream rod (It had come along to try and catch some salmon for bait!) and threw an unweighted half pilchard on a 3/0 gamakatsu. Within 30 seconds the 4lb line was screaming off my reel, and 5 minutes later the following red came along:


This continued for some time and was great fun. Rod remarked that he never caught fish this big, let alone released them! We kept quite a few for a feed for their families, but in order to stay within limits we threw many more back than we kept. I estimate we caught 45 reds in an hour and a half. Then the wind hit hard and some dark clouds were coming in, so we headed back to the ramp to clean the fish and get back to the house.


It was the most amazing snapper fishing I have ever had - It wasn't just a school every 30 minutes or so; it was non-stop! The whooping and hollering from Brad and Rod and the screaming of the reels did attract a couple of other boats, but it was an almost empty 'port and excellent conditions. A great evening on the water.

Think Pink

We finally bit the bullet and in an attempt to make us better at reading the conditions of Westernport, and get a better understanding of how to fish it we booked a charter on Think Big. It was to be a mulloway charter (In the middle of snapper season!), leaving Rhyll at a very early 4am yesterday.
A few days out seabreeze had winds at 20-30 knots so a bit of a worry, but conditions were great and we launched without incident. Casey was our skipper, and Dad, myself and my uncle were all on board. We went to a spot seemingly in the middle of nowhere but there was some reef on the bottom on the sounder and Casey said that it was the best jewie spot in Westernport - But before this he made sure that we had all GPS enabled devices turned off!
Nothing for the first hour and a half until the last hour or so of the run in then we each caught a banjo shark and Dad landed this massive wobbegong:


Casey got a call from a mate in another boat who was catching heaps of snapper and we had the option of going to fish for them. Although the fish were coming on the bite the lure of the reds was a little too much and we headed off, armed with some knowledge of how to find jewie spots.

A short time later we arrived at a spot near the Corals and almost immediately got into the reds, although nothing massive with fish up to about 3kg, most being 1.5kg-2.5kg. This even included a triple hook-up at one stage.

At 10am we had to head in, as a bleary eyed Casey had to take out another charted that evening and didn't look like he had slept much at all. Ah to be a guide in snapper season!

It was great catching the reds, so it probably would have been easier (And a few hundred bucks cheaper!) to just book a snapper charter, however we did learn some great techniques for rigging, spot selection and bait presentation.

The hunt for Red in October

Now that we had decided to do a dedicated weekend for snapper early in the season, having fresh squid and salmon gave us some confidence for the weekend. Friday night and saturday's weather did not fill us with the same confidence. Friday afternoon saw me running around getting food, packing the car and getting Dad's dog so we could take him with us. I also managed to get both of the kayaks on the roof of my x-trail, layered one on top of the other. A fair effort, although I had to make sure I didn't go above 90km/h on the way down because I didn't trust them! As it was, they were very solid.

We arrived and unpacked. It was blowing a gale, a fair swell, raining and the sky was lit up with lightning. Not the best night to go out, so we stayed in and rigged up all of our rods for the weekend, packed the boat and watched a movie.

Saturday morning was slightly better and we launched about 5am in the boat. Headed to Snapper Rock where we sounded up some fish. Chucked out 4 rods, all baited with fresh squid. Barely anything at all except for one tentative touch I had definitely from a snapper and quite a few flatties. We moved around a fair bit but the wind against tide made it uncomfortable and we were back in by 11.30. At the ramp one of the guys had some snapper and I had a chat to him - After I spent all week catching fresh squid and salmon he had caught them on servo pilchards! A good lesson though, not to have just one bait on offer, particularly early in the season.

After mowing the lawns and a bit of a rest, we launched again at 6pm and headed up towards the top of Mosquito Channel. We sounded some up again and chucked an array of baits out - Pilchards, squid and salmon fillets. Dad had a few good bites on the salmon fillets and even hooked up once, albeit briefly. The snapper are still very timid, particularly in the 15 degree water. Finally Dad had a good run and hooked up, although after 5 minutes it was obvious this was a flat fish. Finally a monster skate came to the side of the boat and in an effort to keep it there he had his silstar rod almost vertical and then SNAP - The rod was broken. Oops! Just after dark I had a fish pick up and run slowly with a pilchard and I left it with almost no drag on however when I reeled it in the head was gone (Pilchard bitten in half) and the hook was clean - How did it not hook up?

A sleep in on sunday then a rethink and launch of the kayaks at Reef Island. A great morning to be on the water with very calm conditions and light winds. I was up for an explore so chucked a 4" nuclear chicken out on the paddle over, to no avail. We did spook many fish in the shallows on the way out (Flathead???) as there were puffs of sand everywhere. When we arrived I chucked a squid jig around and went to the island itself for an explore. A little while later I came over to Dad who had thrown out some bait and already had a health 34cm whiting in his keep net. This was enough to make me pull up next to him and do a re-rig and chase sone 'ting. About an hour later and 3 or 4 moves we had not added to his tally. The wind was up a bit, making it coolish (t-shirts and shorts on) so we headed in. As we only had the one whiting, we felt sorry for him and let him go. It's the first time for the season I have "kayakers legs" with them very red and a bit sore today. It must be Spring! To top off the trip, on the way back Dad didn't tie his anchor on and when a wave hit him on the way back in it fell overboard, never to be seen again. Then we packed up and as I was finishing up upstairs Dad said "The dog might enjoy a run around". I told him to leave my dog in the backyard because I don't trust him not to run away. Turns out Dad should have done the same thing. 2 hours later and multiple trips along the beach, up towards Corinella and even to Grantville for lunch we finally found his dog running along the beach having a great time.

I might give the snapper another week or two to start feeding vigorously then get amongst them, hopefully with more success than that trip!

Mornington again

Another day, another trip to Mornington. Got there yesterday arvo at about 4pm and straight on the water. A really nice day with light winds. Unfortunately half of Melbourne had the same idea (Don't people work anymore?) and there were a few other kayaks out, but heaps of boats launching and retrieving from the nearby ramp.

I thought all of this extra traffic and noise would put the squid off but in my first 10 casts or so I hooked 3 squid. Due to my lack of a net (Left at Coronet Bay) I had to attempt to lift them in to the kayak. All 3 got off at the kayak. A very disappointing start.

A half an hour later I finally hooked another one and it stayed hooked, so I brought it into the kayak and finally had one on board.

A boat came over and started a drift next to me. It was all fine except that every time they returned to the top of their drift they would drive straight back over the reef! Also they were smoking and then throwing their butts in the water, which is a very disappointing sight with all of the groups around at the moment trying to ban fishing in these areas.

I had a black yamashita in as a "sleeper" jig while I drifted and cast my favourite natural yamashita, and just as I was about to finish a drift it hooked up. As I had it near the kayak I noticed (As is often the case) another squid following it. I left the rod in the holder and dropped my other jig behind it. Bingo! Now I pulled in my first squid and then got the second one aswell.

About another hour later with no luck and heaps of boat traffic I left at about 6.30. It probably would have been much better fishing as the light started dropping but I was hungry and now I have 5 fresh squid and 2 salmon for bait for the weekend's Big Red hunt!

Snapper season begins

For Dad and myself, snapper season usually begins with a trip mid-October with some pilchards and californian squid, a random spot and a lot of hope! This year we thought we'd change things, particularly after the successes we've had over the past 10 months or so using fresh bait.
As we're heading out over the weekend, we decided to hit Mornington this afternoon for some bait. Dad was to pick me up at 5pm, and true to form he rocked up about 6.15. His rods were also still at the holiday house, so I gave him one of my pre-rigged rods to use so we had one each. This didn't leave us heaps of time so we quickly chucked the yaks onto the roof and away we went, launching about 7.
It was very slow and I picked up a nice squid about 7.30 on a yamashita 2.0 natural.
About 7.45 I had a massive screaming run on my jig and then it jumped! A very nice salmon had taken my squid jig ad was obviously stuck! Shortly after the jump he spat it. Just after 8 I landed another squid. Dad was now trolling his jig around and I changed to a plastic after seeing the salmon and a fair bit of surface activity. I had a few casts but it was getting pretty dark. As we turned to head in Dad finally hooked a squid. He got it to the boat and without a net was trying to grab it for quite some time before it pulled free and into the depths. That gives him 3 trips in a row without landing a good fish - I bet he'll use some of my nice squid on the weekend and pull in an 8kg snapper!
I threw out my plastic to troll in and it was hit within 5 seconds. After a fun fight I pulled in a fiesty little salmon, destined to become bait for Big Red. I threw it out again and got another one after about 30 seconds. It was quite dark by then so we headed in, with the total being 2 squid, 2 salmon.
I'll have to go back on thursday evening to try and make sure we have enough bait for the weekend!

Bushy's Stiffy Devilfish vibe - Major Issue!

During the trip to Bemm (See previous post), there were some great fish caught. My #1 lure by an absolute mile was the Bushy's Stiffy Devilfish vibe in the "Phantom" colour. It caught many bream, and even had the big EP up to the boat (Dad's netting skills notwithstanding) during our trip.

On the last day though, after a fruitless hour or so of casting I had a really good bream on. After a tense struggle, I finally got it near the boat. It did the last gasp lunge for freedom, as all fish do and then was gone. I couldn't believe that the hooks had pulled! When I reeled it in, turns out the hooks hadn't pulled - The vibe had snapped!


This is most disappointing for a number of reasons:

1) It was a great bream and would have capped off an even better trip.
2) They're not cheap - Have paid anywhere from $12.95 to $16.50 for them.

Mark at the General Store where I bought it was nice enough to replace it free of charge, however I am now not 100% using them anymore - They hook lots of fish but can you trust them with a fish of a lifetime? I have since heard of a number of them snapping in half or even having hooks rip out of them.

Bemm River

We headed down to "The Bemm" on saturday 25th September, that fateful day when the Saints came perilously close to their first premiership in 44 years. Despite this, we left early and took advantage of the calm conditions and hit Sydenham inlet on Rowan's boat with some vibes. The fishing was very slow and we only managed a couple of fish - Dad got a smallish tailor and Rowan struck a small bream plus a few missed hits. When we went back to shore I was still fishless for the trip!

Sunday morning we launched in our boat (Rowan had a few others in his) and got off to a very slow start. Rowan headed off up towards the entrance and we drifted between The Mahoganys and Siberia. After an hour or so of fruitless casting Dad hit a purple patch, catching 3 quick fish. As I was still fishless I cast towards his side of the drift and after a couple of raises of the Bushy's Stiffy Devilfish Vibe I was on! The fish went 38.5cm to the fork, making him about 42cm overall. This was all the action for the day as we headed in. Rowan's boat didn't trouble the scorers. Dad and I took the kayaks out on the afternoon for a couple of hours, however the only bit of excitement was when I hooked a good fish that took my lure - It broke at the knot, probably due to the release of the last bream I caught that morning where the lure was stuck and I had been anxious to get the fish back in the water.



Dad headed off to work on monday/tuesday so Rowan and I had an early start. We had no hits and after an hour or so of fishing packed it in for some bacon and eggs. Unfortunately the wind got up a bit so we didn't get out again monday, then on tuesday with only Mum, my wife and son there I had to play taxi driver and take them to Orbost for some craft shopping.

Dad returned tuesday night so wednesday morning we went out in some very windy conditions. The lake was unfishable so we headed up the river. We packed it in shortly afterwards when it started hailing!

That afternoon we still had to go fishing so we headed to the (relatively) calm waters of Bemm river itself, launching at the bridge. We went upstream to the rapids, then downstream as far as Dolly's Garden. I started with an SX40 until I decided to do some trolling and lost it on an underwater snag, then tried a strike pro galaxia in the tiger minnow colour. We must have flicked our lures at every snag in the river for no result.


This was a bit disheartening so we resorted to bait on the thursday. Dad started strongly as he got the first couple on the board. I then chimed in with a few more and by the end of the session we had 10 fish - Myself 7 and Dad 3. Later in the afternoon we returned and I picked up another 3, with Dad starting to go downhill and not getting a sniff.

Friday we were back on the lures, and I had purchased another Stiffy Vibe in the Phantom colour. First cast of the day I had a hit and missed it, which got me thinking that it may not be my day. After about half an hour of fruitless casting I hit a good fish right near the boat, and pulled in a decent bream. 2 casts later again right near the boat my line was stopped dead. This time the fish stayed really deep and I was thinking maybe trevally, however as it came near the boat it was a big estuary perch. It was on top of the water by the time Dad went to get the net, and he couldn't find it immediately (I had put it in the rocket launchers) and the hook pulled. I would have released it anyway, but a photo would have been nice! The following 2 casts produced 2 more bream and Dad came in from the front of the boat and took my spot saying there were no fish up the front. I took the front, cast out, gave the vibe a few hops and a bream was on again! Dad was nearly pulling his hair out at this stage. Another bream or two and it was time to head in.


That afternoon it was a bit windy, but we went out regardless for a quick drift. I put a bucket out the back in an attempt to slow it, however we were still drifting at 1.5km/h most of the time. No hits for a good hour then I hooked a really good bream. I finally got it near the boat and it took a dive. I thought the hook pulled, however when I retrieved the vibe it had actually snapped in half (More on this later). Very poor and disappointing after all of the fruitless casting. I borrowed one of Dad's vibes in the same colour and style and on the last cast of the day hooked, caught and released a really nice bream. What a great trip, only marred by the Pies smashing the Saints on the afternoon that we returned home.

Pimp my ride

We're heading to Bemm River next week, and snapper season is just around the corner, so rather than spend the day fishing today, Dad and I set out to deck out our yaks for the upcoming season.
We started our "bloke shopping" by heading to Anaconda and found some Berkley MF40 soft vibes 2 packs which were $1.99 down from $12.99. It was a bargain so we got 8 packs with 7 different varieties and also picked up a great plano tackle box each.


Our next stop was BCF where we found the same vibes we just bought, but here they were $12.95. A good buy indeed! We bought some rod holders and Dad got a nice SPF 40+ long sleeved shirt for our barra safari next year.
Bunnings was next on the agenda and we looked around for a while before getting some 32mm PVC, a pine timber offcut, some screws, lunch boxes and some silicon.
When we arrived home it took a while, but we spent the next few hours constructing our masterpieces. We cut the pine to about 15cm long and drilled a 32mm hole through it. We then screwed the sounder mount on top and put a 30cm length of PVC into it. This created a nice setup with the sounder mounted on top. Dad had borrowed a hole drill and drilled a hole through my yak and we attached a vertical rod holder with the screws and silicon.
Inside the front hatch I siliconed in the lunchbox with its lid cut off and some tie downs on it to house the battery. It also was set in place with some polystyrene so the battery won't get jerked around. Then I attached the cables to the battery and put it in simulation mode for a test, and it worked! When sitting in it the sounder was within reach for adjustment but far enough away so that it doesn't get in the way of my paddling stroke.


We did the same to Dad's yak, although he already had a vertical rod holder in front of him and used that to put the sounder in to. He also got some angled rod holders and we used the hole driller and put one on each side of him.
We then returned to Bunnings where we got some crates and they now sit behind us in our yaks. They're very solid and far more waterproof than just sitting your tackle box behind you next to the scupper holes!
We should be able to sound up some great bream and the schools of EPs at Bemm now....

Lang Lang cop out!

After I had 7 squid ready in the freezer from my last trip, Dad and I were set to hit Jam Jerrup again in the yaks. We found low tide was about 5.30pm, so we could easily launch about 2pm, but would have to wait until 7.30-8pm to get back in, a couple of hours after dark. As we don't have lights yet and we definitely don't want to get stuck in the mud again, it was off to launch the boat at Corinella and motor up.
After launching about 1pm, we were on the spot about 1.30. I prepared the burley and threw my first bait in, but before I could get my second rod ready Dad was pulling in a healthy gummy. After netting it I go my second rod in. I had some slimy mackeral on one of my rods (Purchased slimies and pilchards on the way) and squid on the other. Within 5 minutes Dad was on again, boating another good gummy. I asked if he wanted to have a rest now that he had bagged out. After a few smaller gummies it went quiet and we moved towards French Island to the other side edge of the channel. We dropped our baits in (All with squid now, which was accounting for all fish) and over the next 45 minutes did not get a rest, having multiple double hook-ups. In the end we left them biting as we couldn't keep any more gummies and just had to catch and release them.
We motored towards Freemans Pt at walking pace, and sounded up some fish near the bottom. Hearing recent reports of some winter reds coming in we dropped the anchor and got all of the rods in. For the next couple of hours we moved once more, sounding up fish again. Apart from a few tentative bites we did not get anything more of note, and came in about 5.45 very happy with some great gummies.
Back at the ramp we had 3 other boats come in when we were cleaning and filleting our gummies, and between them they had caught 2 undersize gummies after fishing all day using bought pilchards and squid. Over the last 2 trips to the Lang Lang area (One in kayaks, one in the boat) we have caught well over 20 gummies with most being a good size. The key has been the fresh squid, so the lesson I have taken is that you need to spend the time collecting quality bait and it is the difference between a great day on the water and coming home empty handed.

Unlucky 7

Got up early for my last day of holidays. Hit Mornington around 7am and attached the new sounder (A portable Humminbird 160) with a piece of rope. Turns out I need to work on my system to attach it! Paddled out to the reef at Red Cliffs and started drifting. Threw my favourite squid jig around and second cast had a nice calamari in the bag. The rest of the drift proved fruitless so I went back to where I caught the first one and anchored. 6 more squid in the next half hour was a great bit of fun, but then they slowed down. I missed a strike (First miss of the day!) and decided I'd get them active by working 2 jigs, so threw the other one out aswell. As I was working them, my favourite jig became snagged. I gave it a couple of short, sharp tugs and it broke at the leader! This is the last time I used 4lb leader at a reef that shallow - 10lb catches just as many squid and is easier to get off snags, and with squid jigs hovering around $22, it's a much smarter investment!
I continued fishing with a "shallow" yamashita, that had a very slow sink rate. I was also trying to get my sounder to work properly, which I think I basically have, just need to get it attached to the boat properly. While this was going on my rod was nearly ripped from my hands. The squid took a bit of line before dislodging itself. That hardly ever happens!
A positive for the day was the sounder worked as it should and I picked up 7 good squid to be used for bait in snapper season, the big negative was my favourite squid jig which has caught nearly all my squid on now forms a part of the Mornington reef.
On another note my online tackle order arrived (Well, about half of it did with the rest on backorder!) and I now have a 307 colour SX40, a Bushy's stiffy vibe in phantom and 2 TT switchblade vibes in nightmare and tiger minnow. Very pumped to get out on the Patto river to give them a try before the big Bemm River trip in late September!

All quiet at Mornington

Well, we have had a week of inclement weather to start the school holidays. I spent the first week at Coronet Bay, and got a leave pass one day to go to Mornington to chase some squid for bait. I got there and it was a massive onshore wind (No internet to check weather conditions from Coronet Bay, although Westernport was very calm!). I headed out through surf-like conditions but came back in shortly afterwards when I was nearly tipped numerous times by the swell.
Headed out again yesterday in much better conditions, however the squid would not play the game. The water had cleared up, and I was fishing the high tide so it looked very likely. First cast produced a small inker. Second cast I tried a new jig and snagged it up straight away - My 4lb leader was no match for the reef! Back to my old faithful natural yamashita 2.0 and over one and a half hours I got one more smallish squid. Headed back in about 11.30.
Not a great day, but sure beats working!

VYak RSS feed

Well, we have finally moved to version 3.0! There is now an RSS feed down the right hand side of the blog. It brings the heading of the five latest forum topics from VYAK, which is a great site for Victorian fishing kayakers that helps with planning trips, safety issues, DIY, recipes, kayak reviews, fishing competitions and even some classifieds for when you decide to upgrade to a newer model!
On the fishing front, it's been a bit quiet since the birth of my son, but hopefully we'll get out soon as we have run out of bait and need to hit the squid again!

Man Vs Wild - Great Grey Sub style!

Wow what an interesting experience. When many people see our beloved WP they think of the beautiful bluewater and the fast currents that dominate the eastern and northern arms, where many a gummy, snapper and whiting can be found. The area from Tenby Pt-Lang Lang and above provide a stark contrast to this.......

Arriving at 6.30 with Dad we drove up and down the road at Jam Jerrup making sure this was the place cheaterparts (Stephen from VYak) had told us about. Turns out it was, as he arrived about half an hour later than us. In this half an hour we had managed to unload and had started the walk out across about 600m of quicksand and mud to the water's edge. Almost dead low tide is not the time to be launching here. I was taking a step, sinking to the knee and above, moving the kayak forward and supporting my weight with it to take another step, then repeating the process. It took about 40 minutes to walk 600m. I thought Dad was about to keel over and die! Of course when cheaterpants arrived with Di (His wife), he was far better set up than us, with a great pneumatic wheel setup that took them half the way, then they knew which path to stick to and managed to launch just after us. This was where the bad part of the day ended (The walk!), and the good part began.

We paddled out for a bit until we were in about 1.5m of water. It was basically dead low so I got the rods set up. Cheaterparts, Di and I watched with amusement as Dad's first run (With the culprit likely to be a big black ray a.k.a "The Sofa") sytematically tore him to shreds before spitting the hook some hundred metres or so away from the boat. Then the action started as the tide began its run in. My first rod was sent out with half a squid head and while I was setting up my other one I had the telltale tap-tap-tap of a gummy loading up and soon it was game on. A healthy 3 foot specimin became my first gummy in the yak.

Then Di (On a light rod with a prawn for bait I believe) hooked up to a gummy, and by the sounds of it also hooked on to numerous other lines! It all went ballistic in their canoe as cheaterpants then proceeded to make it a double hook-up. One keeper, one just under for them. Not to be outdone, Dad then also hooked and landed a nice keeper gumbo.

This was all in the space of about 5 minutes and I had just set both my rods up for the first time when one started to load up again. I waited to feel the full weight of the gummy and struck, and within seconds I had lost about 50m of line. Characteristically, it then headed straight back for the kayak and dug deep for about 30 seconds then took off on another blistering run. The phrase "You're gonna need a bigger boat" did pop into my head more than once. While this was happening, my other rod also loaded up and on its run (And in the massive confusion now!) it broke off. Probably a good thing as the first one was dragging me around enough! I finally got it back to the kayak and tried to grab it. Not being able to reach the tail I grabbed the dorsal fin. Oops. It took off again, making its third massive run before eventually being brought back to the side of the kayak. I grabbed the tail and the fight was over.... Or so I thought. I could not hold this beast still, and it rolled in my arms and kicked its tail. One end of my paddle (Which was 'safely' tied to the side of the yak) got caught in the current, went vertical and threatened to take off. As the Great Grey Sub thrashed around in my arms it also kicked my bait bucket overboard. By the time the very very nice man that is cheaterpants had up anchored and retrieved it, the bucket was probably 500m closer to Warneet!

I dispatched a very angry gummy then shoved it into the rear storage hatch, where it struggled to fit (It was probably a smidge under 4 foot). A very good feeling. I had unfortunately no leader material left so could not rig up my line the other gummy had broken so was fishing with one rod. Dad in the meantime had caught a couple of good sized elephants which were released to fight another day, possibly because elephant fish are the devil.



The fishing slowed down as the tide came in (Probably moving in closer to feed on more crabs as the exposed banks were being covered) and we moved nearer to shore. Not much action here, so cheater and Di headed towards Lang Lang and Dad and I headed closer in, where Dad caught another gummy. Two each for us, so we called it a day. As we got in to shore, Dad saw that the tide was still a fair way out and with a "No way I'm walking through that again" headed back out to soak some more baits. I headed in, packed up and put the kayak on the roof. Then I enjoyed a tepid coffee from our increasingly unreliable thermose.

Shortly after, Dad, cheater and Di came back in. Cheater had caught another nice gummy and they were off to Morningto to stock up on some more squid for bait. We headed back in to wash the kayaks and have some hotter coffee. Below is Dad posing with a couple of the better specimens from the day.


In the wash up - If you want a gummy from a kayak, you could go to a lot of worse places than this, but make sure you go on a tide that is at least half in, and I suggest fishing the outgoing on a channel edge and the banks as the tide rises.

We're famous

Well, not exactly famous but I was flicking through "Victorian fishing monthly" and noticed a pic of myself and Dad at the Apollo Bay fishing competition, from early morning on day 1 preparing to launch our yaks.


You can see me on the left, eager to launch as always, and Dad on the right showing everyone his best side. I am currently in negotiations with Max Markson to broker us a movie deal.

Not too much to report on the fishing front recently - Our first son Ben arrived 2 and a half weeks ago so have been keeping busy. Did get to Coronet Bay this weekend, but unfortunately the wind conspired against us so did not manage to wet a line in anger.

Westernport critter hunt

Not entirely a kayak trip, but it started out that way.....
After hearing all about fresh bait being the key to any fishing success, Dad and I decided to try this theory out. Therefore before we hit Corinella last night, I first took the kayak to Mornington in an attempt to entice some squid. I got to Mornington about 4pm and was on the water about 4.15. First and second casts were smashed, and 2 squid in the boat. Then I decided to also work Dad's black yamashita alongside my natural colour. I was casting one, then casting the other and working them alternating so I always had 2 in the water. This worked well, however every cast was a hit so I was having double hook ups and having to do a lot of winding on the rod without a jig on it. It did result in me bagging out with 10 squid within half an hour.


Then it was over to Westernport. I arrived at the house at Coronet Bay about 6.30, and Dad wasn't getting there until 8. So I rigged up all of the rods, loaded up the boat and hooked it up to my car in waiting. As soon as Dad arrived we headed out to be greeted by a full moon and pristine conditions, with not many other boats out. We were really hoping for a jewie and found a nice spot in 2.5m of water just outside the Corinella channel with a lot of reef. My first cast resulted in a large elephant shark (ALWAYS a throwback!), and I rebaited and threw out again. Within 2 minutes one of my rods was off again, this time I was halfway through pulling it in when my other rod went off. This was obviously a bigger fish so I handed the first rod to Dad to finish pulling in. Dad finished pulling in the 50cm snapper (Which I obviously still claimed as mine!) and after a healthy fight and Dad doing everything with the net to lose it I pulled in a 6kg gummy shark, about 1.1m in length.


This fresh bait theory was going great! Another few elephant sharks, and then I had another run and pulled in a gummy of about 1m (4-5kgish). Dad finally got on board with a 90cm gummy that made his first for the night, then hooked a giant ray (Otherwise known as a sofa as you cannot move them.). A great run on Dads rod woke him up from his siesta at about midnight and he landed a nice 1.2m, 7kg gummy that put up a great fight. I then pulled in an absolutely enormous skate which took out all other lines, signifying that it was time to head in.



Does fresh bait make a difference? We talked to 3 other boaties back at the ramp, 1 unsuccessful, 1 with a couple of elephant sharks and the other landed a few elephant sharks and an undersize gummy. Geeting squid at Mornington is definitely my first stop in any fishing situation in the future!

A new plan - Secret Silver

With all of the success on the squid recently, in fact to the point that squid seem to be the only thing that I can catch, I am heading to Mornington again this afternoon. This is in the hope that I can get 6-8 nice million dollar bill size squid. I will then head to Coronet Bay, pick up the boat and go out with Dad off Corinella in the hope of enticing a Secret Silver - The mighty mulloway!

There are a couple of issues here though:

• Can I actually catch a few squid, now that I need to?
• Am I going to get stuck for hours on my way to Coronet Bay, which also happens to be on the way to Phillip Island before the Easter long weekend?
• Is Nicole (Who is due to have our first child tomorrow) going to decide to go into labour this afternoon or overnight, dashing hopes of any jewies?

Whatever happens, I have analysed my last trip and decided that I need a few new things on board with me:

• A longer anchor rope, with chain. I am currently struggling to hold bottom in the wind with my 1.5kg anchor and 10m of rope. I will invest in a large handline to wrap it all around, and fill it with foam so it floats should I ever drop it!
• A navigation light - We had to wait half an hour to launch last time. This could be solved by me getting 1-1.5m pole with a white light at the top to put behind me sticking up in the kayak. This will also come in handy when it gets to snapper season!
• A drogue for drifting. This would slow down the drift and be very handy when drifting for squid, or flicking soft plastics around.

Cerberus Cephalopods

Another weekend another kayak trip. This is great! As planned, we headed to Black Rock and launched at 6.30 in Half Moon Bay. It was good to meet a fellow VicYakker (Mark, known as Rollie) and we had to wait a while to launch due to it being overcast and still dark. Lucky because this gave us time to pay the ridiculous sum of $10 for a parking ticket! We headed to the wreck Cerberus, and I flicked a 3" pearl watermelon minnow at it. No sooner had it his the water than I was on! Not a massive start, but a 20cm pinkie opened the account. For the next half hour or so we caught and released many similar size fish, with almost every cast resulting in a hit. I even managed a 38cm flathead which went into the keep net for dinner.
It went quiet so we headed out a bit and anchored up after our first drift resulted in 500m of movement within a couple of minutes - A bit breezy so too fast to drift. A couple more undersize pinkies came aboard and we headed back in to the Cerberus for one last try. After 15 fruitless minutes I swapped to a squid jig and first cast on the drop I was snagged on the ship..... As I was cursing my luck and readying myself to say goodbye to $22, the snag took off! My PB squid to date then came aboard after a spirited battle, so I quickly removed the jig from its tentacles, cast back in the same spot and went to get the squid out of the net. I didn't have time to accomplish this as while it was dropping again a good squid took the jig! Then I had my 2 biggest kayak caught squid ever in the net but was drifting close to the ship, so moved off and put them in the keep net. Then I had 10 more minutes of casting at the ship for 1 more (Slightly smaller) squid. Dad tried to get in on the action, but failed to tempt any squid. He did catch quite a few pinkies in the meantime though.


The pic is of me with the Cerberus in the background. Disappointing to find that although we had to pay $10 just to park in the carpark (Even though we didn't have a boat trailer!) there were no fish cleaning facilities provided. Apart from that, it was an enjoyable day and good to meet another fantastic VicYakker.

Black Rock - Where to launch?

Dad and I are fishing at Black Rock on Saturday (If there are no babies yet....), in search of some pinkies, salmon and flathead. I will be stocking up on the gulp 3" and 4" minnows in pillie (Great colour), nuclear chicken (Another top colour) and vader (Just a good name). We are trying to decide where to launch. The ramp is point A on my map, with the Junction Beach at point B. I know for ease of launch there would probably be more space etc at the ramp, but I think most of the pinkie-holding reefs are south, nearer to point B.


I have posted this on VYAK at http://www.vyak.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=544 to get some opinions. Honestly it doesn't really matter where we launch, as long as we get onto some fish!

Storage solution

Well, I've had the both mine and Dad's kayaks sitting in my garage for a while now, as it's more convenient to take them out from there rather than drive to Coronet Bay (1 hour) then to Mornington (45 minutes), when it is only 35-40 minutes to Mornington from my house. Although this has been great (Fished 4 weekends in a row until this very windy weekend), it has caused 2 problems: My garage was filling up and had not much room to move, and Glen was at Coronet Bay this weekend without a kayak. I can't help Glen, but while I'm not out on the water I had some spare time to fix the space issue. Here is what I came up with:


Basically I went down to Bunnings, bought 50m of rope, 4 pulleys, 2 D shackles and some aluminium marine grade attachments to put the rope through from the wood. I got the wood from off cuts from previous renovations to our house. I drilled holes up each end of the pieces of wood (Cut to about 32cm long). Initially I also had some 250mm bolts to go through the wood, through the scupper holes and into another piece of wood below the kayak. This only worked at one end (It was too deep at the other end with the footwell etc) and would take too long to put on each time. I just made up a couple of loops of rope and now thread them through the scupper holes, up and through the pieces of wood then loop them back around. See picture.


All I have to do to get it off the ground now is pull on a couple of pieces of rope, then tie them off to the side of the garage. It not only keeps the kayak out of the way, but I can store paddles, PFD's etc on top. Total cost was about $67 for the materials from Bunnings.

Coronet Bay whiting

A bit misleading in the title of this post, as I only boated one whiting for the day. However, it's the 4th weekend in a row we've managed to get out on the water, and it's been a lot of fun. Another early start, with Dad picking me up at 5.30 and we arrived at Coronet Bay about 6.40 with a rising tide and high hopes. As we went to park, Kel (momunny from VYak) arrived and we set off. First we tried drifting throwing squid jigs around for nothing. Dad and I anchored and threw out rods with fresh squid strips on them hoping for some whiting. About 7.30 Mitch (mtfisho from VYak) turned up and started flicking a plastic. 2nd cast he was on, and pulled in a 45cm-ish flathead up to his yak and lost it at the side. His Dad Gaz (angryseal from VYak) turned up aswell and they went off trolling around. Now motivated by Mitch's hookup, I threw on a soft plastic and started drifting. Almost immediately I had a good hit and follow...... From a squid! Where was it 2 minutes beforehand when I had the squid jig on?????Dad and I decided that the whiting may be in closer in the shallows, and paddled in. Whilst flicking a plastic, my bait rod with squid strips went off and I soon pulled in a healthy 34cm whiting.


We moved a couple more times, and I got a very nice sized grass whiting, which was released due to them being far less tasty than their cousins the king george, then a couple of leatherjackets, which also went back over the side.
We paddled back towards the Coronet Bay ramp (Still not open!) and tried one last time for some squid. Dad cast out his black yamashita 2.0 and then busied himself casting out his bait rod. When he picked the squid jig rod back up he was on! Not a monster by any means, but a good size and it will be great bait for future whiting trips. It's also good to know that there are a few squid in Coronet Bay and we don't have to travel to Mornington every time we need some calamari!


We were ready to head back in, still couldn't see angryseal and mtfisho anywhere. After packing everything up and putting the yaks on the car, we finally saw them come back into view and they were out past the stick, maybe fishing for gummies or elephants?
Anyway, another good day on the water and meeting of some new faces. The forecast is good for all weekend so good luck to all who venture out!

Early Morning-ton session

After a quick call to Dad last night, we were ready to make the most of the long weekend. Unfortunately it's going to be blowing a gale, thunderstorms and windy, so we decided an early morning assault on Mornington was in order. Dad picked me up at 6, we loaded up and launched about 7.15. After paddling to our spot, we started casting. 2nd cast Dad was on with a nice size calamari.... and 3rd cast he also bagged a nice one. It took me another couple of casts before I got one. Dad then straight away got number 3. I went back and started another drift and got my second. It was still very nice on the water, but a breeze gave us a fair drift so I started paddling back with the squid in a keep net on my yak. Unfortunately, it turns out that Dad gave me the "big holes" keep net and on the way a squid somehow escaped!I anchored up and started casting again. I was on 2 casts in a row. After the second cast, I dropped my jig straight down in about 2m of water whilst getting my 2 squid from my net into the keeper net. I found out another one had escaped it so it was straight back in the boat never to see water again! Whilst I was cursing my stupidity, my rod dangling over the side was on! I pulled up number 5. Then Dad got a snag..... And lost my new yamashita "shallow" jig, which had up until then been responsible for the downfall of a lot of squid! I fixed him up with another one (My last decent one), but it dove quicker and while he was constantly chasing it to get off the snags I bagged another 3.


Dad decided to cut one up and use it as strips of bait for whiting, so went off and fished the edge of the reef. I joined him and soon we had a few small pinkies each. I had a couple more casts with the squid jig and bagged number 9. This gave us 12 between us, although 2 had escaped through the "keep" net!
A great morning, off the water in an hour and a half with a great bag of calamari. Just when we were leaving a couple of boats pulled up, but we didn't see them get any. Maybe if they had have been using the stealthiest of all fishing craft, the kayak, they would have done better......

Big Catch Competition

What a massive weekend. Is started friday afternoon, when after shopping and waiting for Dad to pick me up, we were off..... Almost. As we turned onto the Monash I remembered that I had left our room key to the apartment on the kitchen table. A quick exit at the next opportunity and we were off again. We arrived at the Apollo Bay Surf Lifesaving Club at about 7.30, signed in and hit the pier for some serious squidding. Dad hooked one almost immediately, and I followed him a while later on dusk. We went back to the room for a good night's sleep! Saturday morning greeted us with typical conditions when you want to get out and kayak fish - A fair swell and blowing a gale! I met a few guys from VYAK and AKFF whilst readying the kayaks for launch, and then I cleaned the 2 squid on the waterfront. Unfortunately, as I was doing this, one of my thongs which was on the ground next to me floated away and the strong offshore breeze varried it out into the harbour and far away before I realised it was gone.... If anyone is travelling across bass strait soon make sure to keep an eye out.
Undeterred (And because all of the Hobie crowd were there effortlessly gliding over the waves!) we headed out, but stayed in the marina. I had a couple of hits on a 4" pillie SP but decided we should target whiting, and anchored and set up with some squid. A couple of decent leatherjacket and 4,000 wrasse later, we switched our attention to squid, and quickly bagged 2 more to use as bait the following day. Most of the yaks then headed in (Us included) to hit the hopefully more protected rivers. First thing was first though - We hit the bakery for a pie and coffee, and judging by the amount of other yakkers in there, we weren't alone in not yet having any fish!
After that, Dad and I hit the Aire river (See pic). We threw around plastics and strike pro minnows for a while for nothing more than a few small salmon, then anchored and fished with prawns. Immediately I missed my first 2 runs, and hooked up solidly with a massive run on the third. Before I had turned the fish, the leader inexplicably snapped. I think I was over-zealous in my half hitches around the twig I was using as a sinker stopper. We then landed 1 31cm bream, came back in and weighed it in. Although it was by now 3pm, they informed us it was the first and only fish weighed in to date, Very embarrassing having your picture taken and having all this fuss made over such a small fish!
Saturday night saw us have dinner with my parents in law (Lasagne - Best meal of the trip!), and a late-ish night. Sunday we awoke at 5.30, I rolled over and went back to sleep but Dad made me get up at 5.45 - He was keen for a bream or two! We headed back to the Aire River and met Tim, an (almost) local from Colac who already had 2 bream @ 32cm in the livewell. As we anchored and had our first lines in, Tim came back to show us his latest catch - A 41cm, 1.1kg monster. After a couple of moves and many small salmon, I hooked and landed a 27cm throwback and a 29cm model. Small, but legal. Dad moved over to next to me and was soon in on the action. He hooked and landed a 27cm one, then his rod took off. As he was playing a spirited salmon back to the yak, his other rod also took off and the fish headed for the reeds. I pushed my way over, grabbed his salmon, landed and released it and got the net for him. Unfortunately, his fish was well embedded in the reeds. Here is the advantage of kayak fishing - He paddled across to it and saw it, by now exhausted and near the surface, although around many reeds. I went over and slipped the environet under a 33cm fish - His best of the tournament. We then headed in to beat the 11am final weigh-in.After checking out it was back to the surf lifesaving club for the final results. Tim won the bream from kayak category with his monster, and in these conditions it also claimed "The Grand Slam", because nobody caught more than 1 of the 4 species on offer! All eyes were on the major prize, a $2400 Hobie voucher, and Merv Hughes drew it out and the winner was....... A guy who fished from a stinkboat all weekend. No class!
It was a great weekend, and we have already lined up the unit for next year! Here is Dad's best for the trip on the official measurer:

Mornington mayhem

Yesterday I decided if we ever want some decent fish, we need decent bait. So I went out yesterday morning and bought 2 new squid jigs - Yamashita 2.0 in the natural colour and a 2.2 in the transluscent colour, the "shallow diving" one.
Went out with Dad last night, when the wind finally dropped after howling for a few days. He picked me up at 5pm, although it took a while to load both kayaks onto the roof of his car. We arrived at Mornington half an hour later to some great conditions. After a launch and a 10 minute paddle we found a likely looking reef and cast out. First cast I was on. A small, "million dollar bill" for those jewie fishermen. Shortly after Dad was on too, this one slightly bigger. 20 luckless minutes then we both hooked up again. As I pulled mine out of the water it decided to ink me - Rookie mistake!
This is Dad with a couple of the little inkers.
It went quiet again for a while, then I hooked up and dropped a smallish model at the kayak. A move of 50m and just before dark I pulled out 2 more in quick succession. Unfortunately, through all of this I had the squid in my kayak (4 by this stage) in the footwells and they definitely saved some ink for the poor kayak.
The storm clouds started gathering, and with the promise of an electrical storm we decided enough was enough. A quick paddle back to the ramp, packed up the kayaks, cleaned 4 fsquid or the table and kept 2 smaller ones for bait and home we went.
Once home, we added flour, salt, pepper and paprika and here is the result:


I do think that there has to be some better recipes out there that bring the flavour out more though! Still, very fresh and very tasty.
Off to Apollo Bay next weekend for the Big Catch Competition.

Apollo Bay Inkers

Nicole and I just spent 6 days in Apollo Bay. Although a romantic holiday as it's the last one before the baby comes, you cannot go to Apollo Bay without fishing! The first few days had perfect weather, but I was good and spent time with the wife. I was released from the saturday onwards so of course sat, sun and mon were all ridiculously windy and raining. Monday night at about 7pm I decided enough was enough and headed to the pier, armed with a squid jig. First 2 casts landed squid, the fourth I dropped one lifting it up and about half an hour later I landed another one, much to the disappointment of the guy next to me who had put in 8 hours for nothing. I think it must have been the jig (Colour/size/sink rate) as I didn't know what I was doing. Tuesday morning I arrived at the pier around 7am with Nicole heading over to a cafe for breakfast. First cast I had a monster in only to lose it halfway up the pier. I managed to land another 3, one of which was quite large.
Tuesday at about 11am I took the kayak to the Aire River, and launched it it windy conditions. First cast of the vibe was followed up by a healthy little bream, but over the next hour and a half I spent more time trying to get into a good position for the drift as I did casting. I also learnt that my environet acts as a sail. I did see numerous large splashes under the old bridge, making me assume that there could be a jewie or two in the system. I gave up when I was soaking wet from the rain and headed back to the cabin.
Wednesday morning I got to the marina at 5.30 to meet a fellow AKFF'er. I moseyed around the moored boats for 2 hours, boating 4 squid and he arrived at 7.30 and we headed out. He showed me a great reef that runs off the breakwall and with a 4" GULP "pillie" minnow I was on almost every cast. As soon as it hit the water pike would hit it. Really quite good size pike, however they are basically useless and we let them all go. We left a hot bite as I had to head back in and leave for home, but it was a lot of fun - My first open ocean experience in the kayak and some squid to target jewies in Westernport!