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Time to target Sambos.
  |  First Published: June 2008



It’s that time of year again. Time to put away the whiting and snapper gear and get out the surf rods, hit the beaches and start chasing some sambos.

If you’re not into surf fishing, a spot of bream fishing in one of our many rivers could be on the cards? Or maybe you chase the trout in any of our impoundments? Just because the weather’s changed doesn’t mean that you just stop fishing. So what if it’s cold, wet and miserable and hard to extract yourself from a warm bed in the early morning? Once you are out there and hooked up to a good fish, you won’t want to be anywhere else.

Surf Beaches

Kilcunda Beach has been fishing reasonably well with a few thumper salmon to 3kg. The bigger fish have been taken on the top of the tide and the start of the run-out. Both Woolamai and Williamsons beaches have been producing salmon to 2kg, with bluebait and whitebait being the best bait options.

San Remo

Outside the entrance on the 70m line there are still a few makos around, and plenty of arrow squid too.

Whiting, pinkies, salmon and trevally are about in the Cleelands Bight area, although as soon as we get a proper cold snap and the water temperature drops a bit, the whiting will shut down.

Above the bridge near the last peg there has been some good whiting to 45cm.There are also good reports of whiting in the Tortoise Head area.

Elephants are fishing well from Corinella to Rhyll, and some good fish in the 6kg range have been caught around Loelia Shoal.

Cowes

The deep water off Cowes is still producing some good gummies in the 10-15kg range, and a few seven-gilled sharks to 2m. Both Cat Bay and the Inner Reefs off Ventnor are producing some good whiting and large snook. There have also been reports of good bags of whiting off the nudist beach at Somers. This is a good all year round spot to catch whiting.

Flinders/Somers

There are still some good whiting about but, as it’s been all year in this area, it’s a hit and miss affair. Some good snook can be caught over the reefs, and gummies around 1m are turning up in the Point Leo area.

PIPI PROBLEMS

For all you fishos out there who love to catch whiting, using pipis to catch them could soon become a thing of the past. The problem is that we get our pipis from South Australia, and South Australian Fisheries have taken control of the pipi harvest quota. Due to a down turn in pipi numbers, these quotas have been reduced by 50%. This year the pipi season closes on May 1 and reopens in November. To compound the problem there is a growing demand for food grade pipis, so next whiting season you could be looking at $20 per kg, and that’s if they become available in sufficient numbers for bait. It looks like we need to look at alternative baits for whiting for next season, such as mussels, Jap clams, squid, pilchard strips and peeled prawns.

Frankie Natoli with a nice little mako shark caught off Flinders.

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