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Gear Up for The Gummies
  |  First Published: December 2006



Reports from all over Western Port have been flooding in this month, with summer shaping up to be a productive season. Schools of snapper are taking up residence amongst the rubbly reef of Lysaughts and the Corals, while squid and whiting have filtered throughout the shallow weed beds of Flinders, Hastings and Stony Pt.

Anglers have been spoiled for choice with diverse and productive fisheries within easy reach of several boat ramps. Humble cleaning tables have become major focal points as anglers meet to discuss the day’s events, swap notes on fish locations and to have a quick brag. There’s definitely enough action to keep them talking for a while: big gummies, snapper and whiting have all been encountered so far and the summer season has only just begun.

Charles Williams and mates Vern, Stuart and Josh fished in 30m of water near buoy 14 recently and returned with a decent bag. They landed 6 snapper in total, 2 of which were just over 6kg and another impressive fish of 8.1kg. Slimy mackerel worked as the best bait on the day.

Another of my customers, Dave, also took home a nice bag. He took 5 snapper off Rhyll in 18m of water, all between 3-5kg. Other anglers had similar results from the Rhyll area throughout the month continuously boating fish over the 6kg mark. Silver whiting, garfish and squid accounted for most other catches.

Eagle Rock has also seen its fair share of action lately with some fantastic snapper and gummies being caught nearby. I have weighed snapper to 7.6kg from the area with plenty of 2-3kg fish amongst them. Some fish, including a lovely 6.4kg red were taken in 13m of water, while others have been found in just 6m at night.

Nearby, Crawfish rock has also been worth a look on the snapper front. Regular customers Rob and John managed 3 solid reds between 11-14lbs on pilchards in 11m of water. The fish came on the bite towards the end of the morning flood tide.

Charter skipper Greg Duncan showed his customers the quality of the port’s top end King George whiting fishery recently on a trip to Gentle Annie Channel. The crew enjoyed a mixed bag landing some lovely whiting to 40cm, a few trevally and some big barracouta. Best baits were pillies and pipis.

Other anglers have also picked up whiting along these grassy banks. The low tide change has been fishing exceptionally well through Gentle Annie, Tooradin and Browns Reserve. The fish seem to be feeding actively as the tide slowly begins to cover the exposed weed and mud flats.

Lastly, Cranbourne Fishing Tackle staff members jumped aboard an Ace Fishing Charter recently. Our Social Club outing was a complete riot with plenty of laughter and rubbishing as 12 staff comfortably fished into the night. As a bit of extra fun, we handed out fines for rock cod captures and after the biggest cod session known to man, I think it’s safe to say that our social club is now well funded.

The guys from Ace Fishing Charters run 3 boats and can accommodate groups of up to 40 people. Contact Ace on 03) 5983 6555.

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