Winter on Westernport

When you plan a trip a few months in advance there are always variables, however this time it worked out for us. The weather was kind and there were even a few fish around! We also counted it in our annual fishing competition so there was more than pride on the line.....

It started last Friday night when I picked Dad up from his house and we headed to Coronet Bay, via the obligatory McDonalds apple pie and coffee stop. It was decided to have an early night and fish first thing in the morning. We launched about 5.45 and headed just north of Pelican Island. Casting out two rods each for not much as dawn broke I decided to throw out a little rod with a squid strip and a healthy 36cm whiting took a liking to it. This competition we had decided to count the total length of our 4 biggest snapper, gummy, whiting and (yeah right!) mulloway. This had been a good start! 

Soon after that we moved up near Freeman's point and sounded around, stopping over some likely looking arches. Although we didn't manage any reds, we did manage a lot of yakkas and salmon on the smaller rods, with some coming aboard for bait. We then went looking for warmer water to try and tempt a snapper so headed up slightly north of Jam Jerrup where we have launched the kayaks in the past. It was dead, with a couple of moves for zilch. The highlight was the bacon and egg sandwiches, cooked on the portable stove. Just as the outgoing tide was slowing to a halt and we were reeling in the rods my only remaining rod out had a bump.... then another bump. It soon loaded up and I was finally onto a gummy. It came in very easy until it saw the boat where it screamed off. I had it to the boat a few more times, where I swear that Dad was doing his best to knock it off with the net and he finally got a good net shot in for a gummy of exactly 1m in length. If you're wondering about the photos you should know that apart from being excellent fashion statements, the hats are mandatory Winter fishing attire!

We cast the other rods back out and sat out the low tide change hoping for another gummy but it wasn't to be so we moved in to the other side close to Spit Point. We sounded up an arch and cast out. After a while we cooked up lunch (Sausages in bread) and kept waiting, knowing that the yakka fillets were wafting temptingly in the current. Dad had an inquiry and managed a 79cm gummy, putting him on the board in the competition. Shortly after his rod loaded up again and he had a massive run. After slugging it out for 5 or so minutes I had cleared out all of the other rods and the burley pot he decided it was a ray. It broke the surface about 2m behind the boat in the current and I saw the biggest snapper I have ever seen. Dad got one that was 94cm a couple of years ago and I think this may have challenged that for size! Unfortunately, it got a second wind and flicked its tail for another run. About 15m into the run it spat the hook. Slightly dejected, Dad cast back out and within a few minutes was on again - This time to a 65cm snapper. 

He missed one more run then caught another snapper of mid fifties. It did get its revenge because as he was attempting to cut it he sliced his finger open - Because the fish were on we decided it didn't need a stitch so we got out the first aid kit and bandaged it up.

Just before sunset I had a small bite that could have been a snapper but it didn't hook up. Dad had caught all of his fish on the same rod, which was not attaining legend status. By now the water had flattened out and we were treated to a nice sunset.

As we had been on the water over 12 hours we decided to call it a night about 7pm and headed back in.

The next morning we headed straight to the area and sounded up a few fish. We sat for about 3 hours, including the bacon and eggs but only managed a small gummy and a small port jackson shark. Two of my sons came down so we picked them up at the ramp and went back to Freeman's Point at about 11am and had some more fun on a dozen salmon and some flathead and then called it a day, keeping the salmon as bait for our next foray.

In the end, Dad won the weekend by 8cm, thanks to my complete inability to tempt anything red!

As I prevailed at Bemm River earlier in the year it makes the score for the year 1-1. This will make the next trip to Nelson very interesting as we are heading there in early July!