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Game on for glorious gummies
  |  First Published: May 2015



The air temperature has definitely dropped a few degrees now and we are rolling into some very winterish weather, but I’m really rather impressed with just how good the fishing has been! There are plenty of species on offer from snapper and calamari, to gummies and whiting so it’s certainly not time to pack the boat away just yet!

THE TOP END

The top end of the Port has been rather consistent of late and, like I mentioned in the intro, the amount of different species on offer has been great.

I will open with a little bit of land-based action from around Lang Lang and Grantville. This time of year is just insane for the land-based fishos around here and they have been dominating fish. Gerry and Garry from Tackle World Cranbourne and Mornington have put in a few hours at Lang Lang off the beach and came across a couple of really nice gummies. The top of the high tide produced the goods, as it normally does, as on the low tide it gets rather dry.

The Grantville jetty is another little land-based hot spot with a nice mix of both gummy shark and elephant fish. Night generally fishes a little bit better through here and similar to Lang Lang; basing your trip around the high tide is the go.

The gummy sharks have been a real feature in Western Port and this year has not disappointed. Local lad and all round nice guy Gavin Methers put in a few hours around the top end of Western Port and landed a cracker gummy tipping the scales at 16kg on a slimy mackerel fillet.

Crawfish Rock has seen one of the more exciting reports of the last month with John Woolf sneaking out for a whiting and a gummy but instead returned home with a beastly 6kg snapper. Although this was a pleasant surprise it’s not totally uncommon. The temperature in the Port is now on the decline heading into winter and typically we get a really nice run of good snapper when this occurs. John’s fish was caught on a fresh squid head and is a perfect choice of bait for this time of the year.

Warneet has continued to produce the odd whiting and really nice gummy shark as local angler Bill Lawrence found out. Bill was fishing in 10m of water and landed his PB gummy. Congratulations Bill!

The whiting have been really hard work lately around the top end but there are still some nice fish for those putting in the time. Greg Duncan made plenty of moves recently around the Quail Bank to try and find them and once he did getting a bag wasn’t too hard. There were no massive fish amongst them and all fish came on mussels.

THE NORTH ARM

The whiting have been a little easier to find throughout the north arm of the port but it still can be hard work at times. The local charter boats have been working the Middle Spit and doing quite well. Shaun Furtiere has been getting a bag on most trips and has been patrolling the edges of the spit. Better fish have been up around the 42cm mark. Shaun has been getting most fish on mussel and pipis.

Mitch Bertacchini has been getting his customers amongst the whiting on the Middle Spit as well and has found that a pipi laced with a small strip of squid over the top has been the go-to in the bait department.

As the water temperature continues to drop, the whiting will move out of the shallows and start to school up in the deeper stretches of the North Arm. It can pay to do a couple of drifts in 10-14m of water and just see if you can come across a couple of schools. Once you do, drop the anchor, and filling a bag shouldn’t take you much time at all.

The waters just out from Hastings continues to fish well. James Bortolus was fishing in 10m of water on the last of the run-out tide managed a nice bag of pinkies and flathead on pilchards and squid. Amongst that bag was also a big elephant fish that measured 85cm and weighed 3.5kg. Well done, James.

Steve Johnston has been putting his clients onto a few whiting again lately and has also been sending them home with a few nice gummies as well out of Hastings. Steve tells us the whiting can still be a bit of hard work so a few extra moves to find them has been paying off. Staying prepared is a must as bite times have been pretty short and sharp so make sure you are ready!

As you can see, the fishing is getting a little tougher but the rewards are still well and truly there. I suggest making the most of it now before the winter chills really starts to settle in.

Good luck and keep the reports coming!

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