Glenelg River

The big Glenelg trip finally arrived. We left on Thursday night and I picked Dad up near the West Gate at about 5.15 and we were off. A quick stop in Camperdown for some fish and chips and then straight through to the shack, which was situated at Donovans, just inside the South Australian border and 480km from our starting point. There we met up with Paul and Patto who had arrived earlier in the day, and we finally got to bed just after 1am.

On Friday it was up early and on the water at daybreak, launching the kayaks at the boat ramp near the bridge. We didn’t have a clue where to go, but headed towards the mouth and fished a bit between the 8 knot marker poles and back towards the ramp in the area known as “The Poles”. Dad and I both flicked lures including squidgy fish, strike pro cyber vibes and ecogear VX50’s. During the morning we probably fished for about 5 hours and then returned in the afternoon to fish until dusk for another 3-4 hours and did not have a touch. It turns out the mulloway must have been smarter than us. Paul and Patto did slightly better than us, although they were plagued by undersize bream and didn’t manage a keeper fishing pippies and prawn baits.

On Saturday morning the alarm again went off at 5.30 and by 5.31 Dad and I were both back asleep. We decided on a change of tactics and our commitment to casting fruitlessly was wavering – Not the best for guys hoping to catch a mulloway! We got up about 8am and pottered around the shack for a bit whilst Patto was casting a line off the top deck (The shack was one that is on the water with a 2 storey deck and boat mooring on the lower one). He was having bite after bite and not hooking up at all as the bream were all in the 10-15cm range. He finally got tired with the peanut gallery (AKA Me) giving him advice and handed me the rod. I cast out, had a bite within 15 seconds (As was the norm) and struck hard, reeling in a 15cm bream. He claimed it didn’t count as it turns out I had jagged the poor fish but I’m claiming it as a victory. The very next cast Patto did manage another small bream, so all parties were happy. Here is a pic of myself and Patto with my bream - Note to self: Hook one in the mouth next time!

Dad and I headed to Nelson to the boat hire place and had a chat to the guy there who was the most helpful tackle store owner/employee I think I’ve ever dealt with. He gave us heaps of advice and said that the EP fishing was the best it’s ever been, and we were about a week late for the jewies (Isn’t it always the way? I think the rain during the week had something to do with it). He gave us some great advice on jighead selection (I got 1/32oz and he told us to get the one with the #2 hook instead of the #4 as the shank was longer allowing a better hook up rate but not affecting the motion of the plastic) and we also walked out of there with some strike pro micro vibes, a rebel fast track jointed minnow and some 3” banana prawn “fry” gulps.

The afternoon challenge was to fish artificials from the shack and get the biggest bream, a herculean task considering we were surrounded by tiddlers. I started with a micro vibe and so did Dad, and he had a small hit almost immediately. After a fruitless while, I changed to a turtleback worm which got a few small hits. I then cast under the neighbours deck and was on straight away. Embarrassingly the fish took off straight around a pylon and broke me off. Oops. I went inside to re-rig and got mildly distracted by Tiger Woods’ run up the leaderboard.

We headed out in the kayaks again Saturday afternoon at about 4pm, launching from near the bridge at Nelson but on the opposite side of the river. We paddled about 150m to a moored yacht and Dad said “You fish on the other side, I’ll fish this side”. I pulled out my new combo with the stradic ci4 1000FML and the shimano jewel rod. I was a bit skeptical as I had set it up with 4lb power pro braid and 4lb leader, particularly as I had heard of some 50cm+ EPs but was excited nonetheless. I had a few casts then aimed for a snag, and the turtleback worm sunk and stuck on an underwater snag…. It was back over to Dad who had the jigheads. I re-rigged and was heading back to my promising looking snag when I noticed a school of fish on the sounder in about 2m of water. I paddled off them and cast back, and on the 5^th or 6^th lift I was on – And managed to land a healthy EP of about 32cm. Next cast I lost another jig (If you’re keeping score that’s Fish: 2, Trav: 1). I paddled over to the boat hire place (How convenient it’s on the water!) to get some more jigheads but when I arrived it was closed as it was now just after 5, so I made do with some 1/24^th oz jigheads and returned to Dad to see him hooked up to an EP. He informed me that he had landed 4 while I was away and we got straight back into them. Until dusk we probably landed 20, most of them on the 3” fry in banana prawn that was recommended by the boat shop guy.

Sunday morning we had our last session, heading towards the snags again. 4^th or 5^th cast I was on (Again the banana prawn 3” fry) and it was a good one. I was a bit worried as it kept running towards the snags and I couldn’t really stop it with the 4lb leader but eventually it was guided away and into the net – A 38cm EP. A couple of casts later and I was on again, and this felt even bigger. The fight lasted about 20 seconds, most of which involved the stradic’s drag screaming and me frantically trying to guide this fish away from the snags. Turns out that I wasn’t able to stop it as I felt the leader rub against something then part. I changed to a 10lb leader then, but didn’t manage another hit. Dad was still fishless aswell. We went around the corner and I started trying a galaxia minnow in the pink/silver colour and first cast was on! It was a monster 15cm mullet – A first for me on a lure and I started rigging up a bigger rod to drop it over the side as a livey in the hope of a mulloway. I was almost rigged up with the mullet swimming happily in my footwell and went to reach him and noticed his head was out a scupper hole so I tried to grab him by the tail and actually assisted his escape. This prompted me to put the big rod away and keep casting with the lures. We headed up to the bridge, past the bridge and back down to the ramp casting at all of the boat moorings, however did not have another hit for the morning. We then left as we had to pack up and head back to Melbourne. A slow morning with only the 1 EP, a mullet and a bust off and Dad not troubling the scorers. Patto and Paul again had managed some small bream on prawns and pippies. Here is a pic of the boys with my 38cm EP, which was the "fish of the weekend" (And one of the only ones we kept) and they were going to have it for fish and chips last night:

Some lessons taken from the weekend:

• You would need a lot of time to explore the river – We did all of our fishing within 1km either side of the ramp and the river is something like 75km long.
• The lighter jigheads work brilliantly, and get snagged less!
• The commitment to try to catch a mulloway is still huge, so we should endeavour to keep trying and set aside days on end to this quest.
• Down in the country places, people are so much nicer than in the city! Everyone helps you, says G’day and there is no ramp rage.
• If you ever want up to date fishing advice or reports, call the guy at the boat hire place as he said he’s always willing to help.

October Reds

Dad and I finally managed to align the schedules and leave passes and hit Corinella in the boat yesterday afternoon. After dispensing with the obligatory family commitments like swimming, I got to Coronet Bay and we packed the boat and headed out of a packed Corinella ramp at about 2.30. We headed to French Island and went north about 500m before sounding up some promising looking arches. We dropped the pick and sent out an array of nice baits - Calamari, garfish (Both caught a few weeks prior) and some pilchards.

About 2km north of us (Spit Point area) there was an armada of boats - It was almost Port Phillip Bay like in the how tightly they were all packed together so obviously someone had been catching some fish! As it turns out nobody for the entire trip anchored anywhere near us, although we were in the middle of the highway of boats heading up and back to the ramp. We didn't have to wait long after out baits were in for Dad to hook up - A nice 52cm red which was just shy of his PB of 54cm. Shortly after I was on and a 53cm red came aboard. Although we had put in all this effort to catch bait the only things that were getting a look in was the humble old pilchard! Dad hooked up again to a good fish, which came in at 62cm after an initial massive run then just letting itself be led to the boat, nevertheless it became his new PB.


Dad then got another mid-fifties red and it was 3 fish to 1 - A very sad state of affairs! I missed a good run then had a slower bite, which resulted in a monster port jackson shark, one of two that I managed for the afternoon.


After about an hour of nothing I went to pull in my rod and found a healthy 44cm red attached to the end of it. Only down 2-3 I was mounting a comeback of sorts, however about 10 minutes later Dad hooked up and as I was netting his 45cm red my rod went off. I managed to land another mid fifties and so Dad had to throw his back as we now had 6 over 40cm. Dad managed 2 more reds in the mid fifties, and in all his years has never done well anough on them to have to release these great size fish and was almost in tears as he released another 55cm red.

We went back in on dusk and didn't bother to stay to fish the start of the runout tide as we were ready for tea. Back at the ramp people had had mixed success - Some had none, some had a few. The guy next to us on the cleaning table had managed 3 nice fish and mentioned that a couple of blokes had brought in 15 between the two of them earlier in the day and gotten their boat confiscated, so it's really good to see the laws being enforced and also made Dad far happier that he had in fact released all of the others!

Dad has gone back out this morning (I'm back on home duties) and managed 2 so far, with the best 64cm which again is his new PB!

Saving daylight

An early season trip was in order after hearing of quite a few snapper pulled in recently. I had Sunday off so called a mate who has just gotten a new boat and we organised to meet at 6.30 at his house. Turns out daylight saving started so 6.30 was actually what had been 5.30 for the past couple of months. Neither of us realised but my phone (Which is my alarm) automatically switched to daylight savings time and his didn't, consequently when I arrived at his house there was no movement at the station and I had to wait a while for him to grace me with his presence.

When he finally arose and we went to hook his boat up it was a beautiful sight -A 5m Whittley with massive snapper racks, a 90hp e-tec and a lowrance HDS5 with the chartplotter. After getting over how great the boat was we went to Warneet and launched pretty hassle-free (Most other boats had remembered daylight savings and launched by then!).

We plugged in a few marks but on a very fast outgoing tide stopped near Joe's Island in about 4m of water for some bait catching. While the tide was still running I managed 2 nice salmon on my 2 hook rigs (Hoping for a snapper) and he managed 4, much to his amusement. As it slowed I dropped in my trusty 2 hook paternoster on my whiting outfit and caught about 15 salmon in the next 20 minutes, including 2 double headers.

With the salmon packed away for bait and the tide stopped we moved out into the channel in about 7-8m of water where we saw some promising marks. As the tide started running we had a few tentative bites on salmon fillets and the squid I had brought from a previous trip but that was it, so when the wind got up going opposite to the tide we decided to head in.

Not a productive day on the reds but he now has a freezer full of salmon to use as bait!

Spring cleaning

Well it's that time of the year when the garage needs a clean, so everything comes out, gets sorted through then the garage is swept out (Our garage isn't exactly what you'd call weatherproof) and put back in, hopefully neater and more accessible. This year when it call came out it was a nice day so I decided to wash the kayaks, with a little help from my son:


This is "Pops" kayak, and despite him not being the greatest squid angler of all time, somehow his Kingfisher was covered in ink so we scrubbed it clean. Ben also found that he fits neatly into the front hatch so is looking forward to his first trip.

I have also just ordered a couple of 300yd spools of Power Pro braid for the upcoming season - 3lb in white for the Stradic Ci4 1000FML and some 10lb yellow for the spare spool on the Stradic 2500FI so I can target snapper on it again. They are coming in from the USA (AUD$52.95 for both including postage) as one spool is close to $70 from Australian stores!

The garage is now clean, the lawn mowed and the deck has been stained so we just need a decent, wind-free day and it's back on the water!

The best snapper season ever?

As a precursor to snapper season some people like to look at weather patterns, some look for the blooming of the ti-tree, some look at water temperature and some even get out on the bay with a depth sounder and motor around for 5 hours at walking pace to sound up some schools of the red fish. My best indicator came yesterday when I arrived home from work to find this:



My wife had gotten sick of the "feral dog dropping his hair everywhere" so took to him with a brush outside. In the image you can clearly see massive clumps of hair all over the yard. Although this has only begun to scratch the surface of his moult, it is definitely an indicator that it's warming up and Big Red is just around the corner!

Handyman at work

As our son approaches moving into another room to accommodate child #2, I have been conscripted to get a bed, mattress and paint his new room. My wife came home the other day with 6 spice racks from Ikea that she decided could be mounted on the wall to use as bookshelves for him. Today I was sent to Bunnings to get some screws and wall anchors to put them up. Here is the result:



I may have "accidently" misunderstood her and now he has inherited the "best of the best" of my fishing magazine collection, just to make sure he is indoctrinated early!

I also managed to pick up about 1m length of 1" PVC, a joiner and some gaffer tape to knock up this for my kayak light:


I just had to fit the joiner to the bottom and used a hacksaw to cut out a groove at the top for the light to fit in. It stayed together well, but used some tape for added security. The reason I added the joiner at the bottom is that it now fits perfectly into a vertical rod holder that is located just behind where I sit in the yak. It has 4 LEDs and I think you'll be able to see me for miles this snapper season!

Kitted out and ready to go

Last Spring/Summer was a quite successful time in the kayak, however a few things were needed to make it a more comfortable and enjoyable experience. I noticed in snapper season that the "hot bite" started on dusk and as I didn't have a light this was always when I had to head in. Also, in Spring we tend to get a stiff westerly breeze that blows the 'yak along a bit too fast for throwing plastics. To this end I decided I needed a few things, and with my birthday it was the perfect time to get them!

I am now the proud owner of a drogue (sea anchor) to slow down my drifts, and also a tektite light which will be mounted behind me on top of about 1m of 1" PVC, and it battery operated and waterproof to 300m so I can fish after dark and get the big reds!


I was also lucky enough to get a Shimano Stradic Ci4 1000FML attached to a Shimano Jewel 2-4kg rod. A very nice combo which will be put to great use over the coming months, particularly when we hit the Glenelg river in mid November!

Mornington bait hunt

Getting out in the kayak 2 weekends in a row? It's unheard of! However recently we have had "Spring-like" conditions and the trees have been in bloom very early, plus I noticed this during the week:


With the water temps on the rise there have been a few reports of snapper filtering in, however Dad and I decided we need to get some bait so when they really start to fire we'll have a nice selection.

As we had a limited timeframe (3.30pm until dark) we headed to Mornington, and overlooked the spot we usually fish to see at calm as a mill pond and free of any boats. As we launched just after 4, 2 boats converged on the small reef we fish, which I have found often puts the squid off. Despite this, third cast I am on and bring up a squid with a very tentative candle attached to the jig, and it escapes about 2m from the yak.

About 15 minutes in I get another one, and Dad (Who is slow trolling 2 jigs past where I am casting them) hooks one as well. Next cast I manage another one, and 2 more quickly follow. Dad then snagged up his jig and it unfortunately broke off, so I was enlisted to tie his braid to a flurocarbon leader. This proved to be an excellent ploy, for as I was doing this for him Dad managed to snag another 1. I now had 4 and Dad 2, so we decided with 2 more each we'd have 10 and some nice bait for big red.

After a fruitless 15 minutes I managed 2 more in 3 casts, and Dad got 1 soon after. As dusk fell we had only managed 9 and on a "one more cast" on the inner edge of the reef as we headed in I managed one, which in jeiwe fisherman terms would have been described as a "million dollar bill" as it was tiny! We put them in a bucket with salt water to preserve them, and packed up and headed home.

Here is Dad with a selection of squid as we packed them up to freeze:


No whales this week, but we managed 10 squid (7 to me, 3 to Dad if you're keeping score!) and I tested my new anchor - After paying $50 for a sand anchor with 2m of 6mm chain and 50m of rope (Then getting annoyed at how much space it takes up so not bringing it anywhere!) the most effective method was 10m of cord and a brick!

A whale of a time at Black Rock

After a bit of an absence from the water, Dad and I were keen to get back out. We had heard a few reports from Port Phillip Bay so decided to head out from Half Moon Bay at Black Rock. Originally we were going out on Saturday afternoon but changed plans, which was lucky as it was freezing and hailing by about 2pm. Sunday greeted us with much better weather and we headed out about 2, our first cast being at 3pm after a lengthy set-up.
The low tide was about 2pm, so we didn't really have a tide to fish but we started casting squid jigs around the Cerberus and its associated structure. After about 20 minutes of no luck we headed out to flick some plastics. The sounder lit up with baitfish everywhere, alas there didn't seem to be any predators around. After about 45 minutes of drifting I finally had my first fish - A little minnow that was about half the size of my 4" nuclear chicken jerk shad. Unfortunately even with all of these baitfish around, birds diving etc we couldn't find the salmon.
A couple of casts later I was on, and pulled in a healthy 25cm pinkie. Just as I was releasing it I heard a "whoosh" sound and turned to look out about 200m away where a whale had breached the water, which was dead calm by now. It then came out vertically before splashing back down. After a couple of minutes of acrobatics it only seemed to come up for air intermittently, and even from that distance you could hear its distinctive "whoosh" every time it came up. Amazing stuff.
Then we started to get more hits, and I pulled in a 32cm model, which went into the bag to become baked snapper later in the week. Dad was missing a few hits, and it seemed to be contagious as I started to miss them too. It didn't help that the only plastics I had with me were 4" nuclear chicken jerk shads and the jighead was a 1/8oz with a 1/0 hook - Note to self: Pack smaller plastics next time!
Dad anchored and I was drifting about 6-8m away when a massive seal came up between us. After recently hearing about a vyakker knocked off his kayak by a seal I was a bit apprehensive, especially as this guy seemed quite curious. After circling us for a bit, he got bored and went off on his merry way, much to the disgust of the nearby boatie that he started to annoy who threw a few choice words his way.
Within half an hour of dusk we were getting hits every cast. Dad managed to land a couple of smaller models and I did as well, but I also got another 2 around the 32cm mark. We each had a couple of nice runs as dusk approached, and were hooking up or missing hits every single cast, with multiple hits on most casts. Most were about 25cm. We got a better hook-up rate when we really let the fish take it before loading up, which was hard when the first instinct is to strike.
Unfortunately we don't have lights on the kayaks, so had to head back as dusk fell, which was disappointing as we had started to have some good hits and there were sill fish everywhere. I have now ordered a light for the yak so in future I can stay out on hot bites like this!


A couple of lessons learned:

1. Take smaller plastics and jigheads for Winter pinkies
2. Make sure you take a scaler and knife so you don't have to clean them at home
3. Park somewhere else - Half Moon Bay is $12 with no fish cleaning facilities and no toilets
4. If you don't want to be harassed by whales and seals stick to the nice friendly mud of Westernport!