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Going top end bonkers
  |  First Published: December 2014



Happy New Year to everybody and for all of those New Year’s resolutions that involve catching more fish, then I have some awesome news for you. The fish are going completely bonkers through out the top end of the Port, so get amongst them people!

THE TOP END

I am going to open the report with a little bit of a sketchy one. There was an enormous mulloway caught recently and I have heard a few different reports on where it was actually caught so rather that fuel rumours let’s just say it was caught somewhere in Western Port and it was officially weighed in at 30.34kg.

The reason I even put this report in with so many conflicting reports is for the simple fact there are loads of perfect mulloway ground through out the top end of the Port, in particular the tips of the channel arms from Bouhier and Boultons Channel and down through the east arm towards Corinella. Fresh bait and the cover of darkness are an absolute must.

Now, onto the more less secretive reports!

There are still loads of snapper schooling around the top end and they are still big! Joe’s Island is still stacked with snapper ranging from 4.4-7.8kg and freshly caught squid is by far the best bait.

Tooradin would have to be where a lot of the top end action is taking place at the moment. Ron Smith from Catch and Cook TV has been turning over a few nice snapper to 5kg but it’s the whiting that have really come on the chew up here. All of the usual whiting baits such as pipi, mussel and whiting worm have been getting fish and the bigger models are up around the 42cm mark.

An interesting one for all of the lure chuckers out there has come from Tooradin lately. A local fisho by the name of John was casting a few hardbodies around the mangroves and he hooked and landed a monster 51cm estuary perch! Well played indeed John.

If Tooradin is number one in the top end then Warneet would be a close number two. The whiting are schooled up at the end of the Warneet Channel and are also packed into the surrounding channels and arms around Warneet. The run out tide is without a doubt the most productive with pipi and squid being the best baits.

There have also been some really nice table sized gummies being taken into the ramp and a whopping 10kg, 97cm snapper was taken in 17m of water outside the channel.

THE NORTH ARM

What a stretch of water the North Arm of Western Port is? And it has turned it on once again!

A few of the Aussie cricketers have found a little bit of time off throughout their busy summer to sneak out onto the port and have got amongst some great fish. Cam White has been smashing big snapper to 80cm on pilchards and fresh squid and James Pattinson got a nice bag of reds to 60kg on squid and trevally baits.

Brendan Wing and Dave Standing from YouFish TV have also been dominating some massive snapper from Lysaughts through to Yarringa with fish to 8.45kg. Fresh calamari is an all time favourite of the YouFish boys and once again this big fish fell to a fresh squid head.

Steve and Nan McCabe have found great numbers of snapper along Lysaughts with a lot of their fish being between 4 and 5kg. The low tide change has been best.

The whiting are stacked all over the middle spit and it’s just a matter of moving until you find them. Most fish have come from the 4-6m line and berley has been the key to keeping the fish around the boat. Once you have them though it hasn’t been hard to get your bag of 20.

Hastings has been a real hive of activity and if you want a mixed bag then it’s here that you’ll want to be. Local legends Huff and Kozzi have found a nice little hole outside the Hastings Channel and are getting everything from snapper and salmon to whiting and flathead. In one particular session they bagged 20 whiting without a single fish dropping below 40cm! Well played boys.

Another of our Aussie cricketers is John Hastings who has also been spending a bit of time around Hastings and bagged a cracker 7kg snapper on a salmon fillet, so there are still some really serious fish getting around.

As we move into February I would expect the snapper reports to fade a little bit but the whiting and gummy sharks will only go from strength to strength. Don’t forget about the mulloway and as I mentioned earlier, now is the time of year to spend some quality hours under the cover of darkness to hopefully come face to face with these silver beauties!

Good luck to you all and keep the reports coming!

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