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Pinkies worth a go
  |  First Published: March 2005



It’s been a little quiet here on the snapper front but other fish have stepped up the plate to provide fishing options for dedicated anglers.

This month the main catches have been pinkies to 3kg. These have only been caught on the last hour or so of the changing tide and just because they are in a particular spot on one day, doesn’t mean they’re going to be there the next. We are still getting them out on the reefs at McLaughlin’s and Mann’s beach and as far east as the reefs out from McGauran’s beach. Some days, customers are almost bagging out and other days there are only five or ten. The old WA pilchard is the tried and true bait, which is unlike last year when silvers were doing the trick.

All is not lost as there are good catches of several species of sharks being caught, mainly pre-dawn and mainly around Whale Bay and the Kearney’s entrance. The species range from hammerheads to schoolies to good size gummies. Darren Whelan went out last week and got himself a beautiful gummy that weighed 13.06kg and was a touch under 6 ft long. It was caught on a silver trevally cutlet in the vicinity of Whale Bay. Another local, Rick Berryman caught himself a mixed bag of a hammerhead, a couple of schoolies and a nice 4ft foot gummy also on the old faithful trevally.

On the whiting front it hasn’t been too bad for those who are patient but the reports have been very varied. Some of the whiting are touching 40cm and the best results are from locally pumped clickers or pippies on a paternoster rig. Best spots seem to be behind Sunday Island and in around the old port; again the change of tides is bringing good results.

If you’re fishing behind Sunday Island keep a rod out with a gummy set up on it, as there have been gummies to 3ft caught there. Also look for the holes up to 15m. On the estuary front there’s been some good size flathead and trevally landed at all the jetties around Port Albert. Even King George whiting can be caught as 12 year-old Rohan Schrapel found out while visiting Port Albert. He caught three – the largest 34cm – as well as a few nice size trevally. This just goes to show what patience can bring. He tells me pippies work the best! Till next month, best in fishing.

There are some big gummies getting about the Port at the moment as Darren Whelan’s 13-plus kg monster suggests.

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