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No winter woes yet
  |  First Published: April 2009



Okay, so who is speeding the months up and making this year fly past so quickly? Normally I wouldn’t mind but there is so much good fishing on offer at the moment, and the chilly winter weather is looming in the all too near future. But don’t pack the fishing gear away because the local areas tend to fish extremely well in winter.

Mordialloc To Black Rock

With the pier open again after receiving repairs and maintenance, anglers have returned in numbers to harass the local fish population and with some great results I might add. Gar have still been going well off the pier although they tend to be of a smaller size. But on the upside the pinkies are making a come back to the area late in the afternoon. Anglers fishing from the shelter shed half way along the pier to the end on the right hand side have been doing well. The rough bottom found along the right hand side is also turning up decent numbers of squid during the evening and night, and while most are small there are enough there to get a good feed.

Heading up towards Beaumaris the reefs such as Parkdale, horse paddock and brickies are fishing well for pinkies, as well as the odd bag of whiting. Adding to the pinkies there are decent numbers of squid starting to appear on the same areas.

Beaumaris Pier is as always a great area to hunt the squid and has been starting to have a few slapped on the deck of an afternoon, along with pinkies and a few salmon for the land based fishermen.

From Ricketts Point through to Black Rock the pinkies are on in good numbers. There are heaps of smaller fish around with a few decent ones up to 45cm. This fishery is all about having fun and catching good numbers of fish, on either bait or soft plastic lures, in many cases anglers use both at the same time. Among the pinkies there are also snook and salmon.

April produced some great sportfishing for anglers as the schools of salmon busted up on bait. Often anglers found the schools that were sitting deep by watching a sounder then dropping soft plastics down to them, so lets hope they hang around for this month.

Out deeper the past month has produced some good snapper reports from the 16-18m line out from Ricketts Point to Black Rock. Sapper up to 5.5kg have been caught but most of the fish have been between 2.5 to 3.5kg. While they may slow up a bit over the coming weeks there will still be snapper on offer for the keen anglers.

Sandringham to St Kilda

Out at the Anonyma Shoal the past month has produced salmon and good snook for those anglers who have been trolling around the edges. While the salmon may slow up a bit over the coming month, the snook will be right at home on this reef.

Back in closer to shore the whiting have been patchy on the known reefs such as Yorkies and surrounding areas, but those who have found them have been getting decent sized fish.

Off the end of the Sandringham Harbour break wall and the rock groynes, land based anglers are getting into good numbers of pinkies, especially when it is blowing from the south or south west. The best times have been late afternoon and into the night, or early morning. This fishing should get better over the coming weeks and months.

Brighton is fishing well for pinkies with large areas of rough bottom to offer plenty of food. The break wall has also produced a few decent flathead as well as squid and trevally. For best results here it pays to use berley to bring the fish to you. For this mix bread, pilchards and super berley into a bucket with a touch of water to make it stick together. Then make cricket ball sized lumps to throw out to where your baits are sitting. When the berley balls hit the water they break down into a fine trail.

Towards North Road and St Kilda the whiting reports have increased. The shallow reef areas have been producing decent numbers, although you may have to make a few moves to find the fish.

Out deeper off Brighton and towards St Kilda anglers have been getting good numbers of gummy sharks along the edge of the shipping channel. While most are small there are definitely enough in the 4-8kg mark to make it worthwhile. There are also plenty of small seven gill sharks to keep you entertained.

Up at St Kilda there have been garfish on offer from the pier. Anglers have also found good success out in the boats on decent sized flathead. The best method is casting soft plastics around the reef edges and along drop-offs.

Along the piers such as Kerford Rd, Lagoon and up towards Station Piers there have been reports of a few mullet starting to turn up for anglers fishing with floats and garfish. This is a great sign and hopefully the elusive mulloway will be following close behind.

Yarra And Maribyrnong

It’s getting to the time of year that the mulloway anglers love, as these silver giants move into the system in numbers to devour the local baitfish population. The following weeks and months should hopefully see a good run of them move into the Yarra. Capturing live bait like mullet is the first step to catching a mulloway. So if you want to get on them now is the time to start learning where to find the mullet and how best to catch them.

The Yarra and Maribyrnong are also fishing really well for bream. Local legend, Brent Hodges, and his mate, Aaron Hassett, have had great success by casting SX40 hardbodies along the rock walls found in the lower sections of the rivers.

It also looks like the pinkie snapper are making a return to the system. Brent and his mates have found some quality fish, again in the lower section of the Yarra. The best results for these guys have been with worm style plastics such as the Gulp turtleback worm or similar, while for the bait anglers pilchard tails or fresh squid strips are dynamite.

The Warmies is producing mullet, bream and trevally and should really fire over the coming weeks as the bay temperature drops. The warm water coming from the power station really has a positive effect, bringing fish from far and wide to come and swim in the warm water.

Williamstown to Werribee

The annual pinkie run at the inner reefs has already begun with good numbers of small snapper invading the shallows to feed. Hopefully the fishing will get even better as autumn progresses.

The majority of the pinkies are fairly small around 25-30cm. But there have been a few better ones up to 45cm caught. Anglers who persist with larger baits of squid strips or whole small garfish have been producing good results.

Not to be outdone the soft plastic brigade are catching their fair share of pinkies. Again the larger plastics will often find you a bigger fish or two. Land based anglers working the rock walls around Williamstown and Altona over the next month should also hook into a few pinkies.

Out in the deep water off Altona there have been reports of good numbers of gummy sharks to be found along with a few snapper between 2-4kg. The coming weeks should also produce some bigger snapper along the edge of the shipping lane.

Moving up towards Werribee there continues to be good whiting reports from all along the drop-offs and weed beds both north and south of the river. There has also been some nice flathead and squid, as well as continuing good numbers of garfish. You would be hard pressed to find a better eating bag of seafood.

Up towards St Leonards the whiting reports are still great and all signs point to a great winter whiting fishery this year.

Also just to let us know that winter isn’t upon us yet, there were a few reports of small kingfish hanging around the mussel farms. Fingers crossed they may stay around for a few more weeks to come.

If you have any questions or reports feel free to send them to me at --e-mail address hidden-- .

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