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!