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Monster sharks and flathead
  |  First Published: March 2012



With some very hot days, the water temperature has sky rocketed and the fishing is sensational.

INSIDE

The flathead are still the fish that everyone is talking about and I can’t believe how big some of these fish are. There have been lots of 70cm pus flatties getting caught and these are blue spot flathead so they are very fat fish and weigh over 3.5kg at that length.

It’s been better fishing toward Manns and Robertsons beaches, but that is because McLoughlins seems to be getting a lot more fishing pressure and also, it’s far more susceptible to commercial netting due to the shallow water and small area.

Soft plastics are proving they are the ultimate weapon in catching flathead and if you want numbers and sizes, use plastics, also you can specifically target big flathead by using larger soft plastics in the 4-5” size range. You won’t get as many, but they will be big.

However if you want numbers, stick with 3” plastics and you can’t go wrong. Now that the water is clear, the hardbodied lures have been working well and on a number of different species. Tom Lucas caught a rare catch of a luderick whilst fish for estuary perch with hardbodied lures. You just never know what you are going to get with them.

Port Albert and Mcloughlins are suited for shallow suspending hardbodies as they are less likely to foul with weed. Port Albert is a classic place for doing this sort of fishing, there are so many drains and gutters in this place that it is flathead heaven.

Bait anglers are getting their fair share of fish as well. They are not only getting flathead, but are getting big garfish, plenty of whiting and trevally as well. This is all over the waterways from Manns Beach right through Port Albert and into the shallower areas of corner inlet.

Most of the good bait anglers are using berley trails to get a food chain started and going from there. These are the anglers that are getting good mixed bags of everything. A mate of mine Mo Machion showed that berley is the ultimate key to this area, when he got a mixed bag of flathead, whiting, garfish and mullet all in less than 1m of water.

OFFSHORE

It’s been gummy shark central out here and that’s talking about McLoughlins and out at the islands off Port Albert. There have been some absolute monsters caught, such as gummy sharks to 30kg.

Fresh bait is the go and most guys are anchoring and using heaps of berley.

There are loads and loads of yakkas and slimy mackerel offshore now and almost to the point that they are annoying, but at least no one will have any shortage of fresh bait: slimies are taking large balloon baits meant for makos, that’s how thick they are.

Mako sharks have been a bit later this year, but if you check the currents, it hasn’t been all that warm out past the 50m line past the islands. There has been the odd mako caught or berleyed up in close around McLoughlins, but most of the reports have been coming from around 55m of water past cliffy island, with lots of berley the key.

For more information, contact Will at Allways Angling in Traralgon on 51748544. You will get expert advice and great deals on fishing tackle.

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