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Peninsula fit for a king
  |  First Published: April 2015



It’s been a big couple of months on the peninsula with a huge amount of attention directed at the ‘new found’ kingfish fishery.

This season many Melbourne and Peninsula anglers have found themselves encountering the first local or Victorian kingfish. It has certainly created quite a buzz around the traps and has plenty of fishers pretty excited about the possibility of targeting and catching what is a genuine sport or game fish.

Kingfish

The last few weeks has really seen a continuation of the fishing that we have had since January. There have been plenty of rat kings taken on jigs in the rip as well as the occasional model up to about 10kg. However, some of the best action has probably come from offshore where the more adventurous anglers have been out searching wrecks and reefs to see if they can find their own patch of kingies.

Late in February some good quality fish were found down around Cape Schanck and a little further to the east off Phillip Island around the Seal Rocks and in front of the Penguin Parade. Many of these fish were in the 12-14kg range and that’s absolutely awesome when you consider that most anglers hadn’t even dreamed of catching a kingfish in Victoria, let alone at that size!

Squid

With all the attention on the kings it seems some of our bread butter species have been forgotten over the last few weeks, however there has been some really good fishing for squid and a host of our other smaller species. Numbers and size of squid have been really good with plenty of calamari around that 20-30cm length, which are terrific table fare.

There have been plentiful squid on the shallow grounds between Rye and Sorrento, as well as plenty on the patches off Tootgarook.

Flathead

With a few good northerly blows we have seen a number of anglers offshore. There has been some good fishing for tiger and sand flathead in 30-35m of water off Sorrento.

Inside the bay, we have heard of some good captures of flathead on soft plastic for anglers wading along our sandy peninsula shoreline. Picking a likely spot with a deeper gutter or weed bed edge is the key but has produced both sand and blue spot flathead on a quiet morning or evening.

Whiting

After a couple of ordinary years on the whiting, it’s good to see we have had a much more consistent season. We’ve seen reasonable captures coming from both boat anglers and in the last few weeks some good land-based fishing as well.

Safety Beach and the stone wall at Anthonys Nose have seen the best land-based fishing, with pipis and mussel the most popular baits.

Out in the boat, anglers fishing at the Sisters have had some success this month with the Rosebud Reef also continuing to hold fish. Further afield the grounds to the east of Mud Island have also seen some good reports.

Looking Ahead

As we move into May, we will without doubt see a change in the seasons. For many, this will herald the beginning of the winter surf scene, which is certainly a popular part of the fishing calendar. But in the meantime, enjoy what will hopefully be a calm Autumn period.

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