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Hooking Up Anglers Since 2011.
Think BIG Charter Bookings
Ph Shaun '0423 696 061'
Email: rushdale@hotmail.com
With the passing of Summer & weather patterns that may be best described as indifferent for the most part. Autumn is always a great time for pretty much every species Melbourne Ports & Bays has to offer. As waters locally are at their peak temperature wise, there will be some very good reliable fishing for many species over the next 6-8 weeks with Snapper, Whiting, Gummy Sharks, Mulloway & other popular offerings in both Port Phillip Bay & Western Port.
The local offshore scene has been alive with many reports & captures of both Kingfish & Mako Sharks & this will also continue to around mid to late April as waters slowly cool off with the approaching Winter.
Whiting numbers this season have been staggering for many anglers & charter operators in both Western Port & also along the Western shores of Port Phillip Bay.
Quality of these fish has been excellent with many charters seeing larger fish of 40+cm's in very good numbers. The deeper areas that are more commonly fished for Snapper during Spring have seen good bags of both Whiting & Pinkie Snapper along with other incidental species such as Silver Trevally & Yakka's as well as their bigger cousins Cowanyoung or Jack Mackeral.
These last 3 species are amongst some of the best baitfish species available for another Hugely Popular & Much Loved Western Port Trophy species known as Gummy Sharks or Great Grey Subs.
We've encountered some pretty hot sessions on BIG Gummys to around the 23-25kg mark & have been fortunate to have shown some first time anglers what it feels like to hold a huge Gummy Shark after hooking & fighting these amazingly fast & fit Great Grey Subs.
A Great Grey Sub from the 20+mtr depths of the Western Channel in Western Port almost ready for release & held gently into the current.
Think BIG Gummy Charters:
Now is a very good time to consider booking your Think BIG Gummy Charter as we've seen plenty of BIG Gummys in many areas of Western Port. The chances of landing a trophy sized Gummy Shark of 18kg or better are very high at the moment. Although no-one can guarantee any fish species on a given day, it becomes even more demanding when speaking about trophy sized specimens such as BIG Gummy Sharks. We are proud to say we have a pretty good average in finding these larger Gummys in Western Port for our clients & always try very hard to make this happen while on any Think BIG Gummy Charter.
Follow this Think BIG Gummy Charters link for upcoming prime tides & dates available.
Here's a run down over some of some recent Western Port Think BIG Whiting Charters
1st Feb: Long time friend Alex Seretis, who originally resided here in Melbourne left for sunnier pastures a few years back & now calls Queensland home. Recently Alex & family returned to Melbourne for a quick visit & was able to slip out for a mornings Whiting fishing on Western Port
Alex found these lovely Whiting as good as ever & made the comment a few times that he had indeed missed fishing for these top eating & great fighting favourites.
2nd Feb: Weekday Whiting specialists Colin & Jeff along with Adam found a hot bit of action on a fairly breezy day. Similar to many of our Whiting charters this season the use of fresh Mussel has worked favourably.
Colin with a great bunch of delectable Whiting from Western Port.
Saving the Mussel shells when shucking them at home prior to fishing is also a great way of having a very natural berley. These shells are best left until the very slow part of the tide before putting over the side, alternatively they can be crushed up a bit & placed into a weighted burley pot and tied off once lowered to the bottom.
3rd Feb: Once again Whiting were on the agenda & were found in a number of areas in depths ranging from 11mtrs near the slack water times. Whilst once the tide picks up momentum the 4-7mtr areas along the edges of the middle spit in the Eastern Ch have seen reliable fishing.
These area's will see larger schools of Whiting moving through later towards the end of April & some outstanding Whiting fishing can be experienced.
Feb: As much as we love our Whiting fishery, It's the return and ongoing fantastic Gummy Shark action we've encountered lately that has kept many clients returning after confessing of their newfound addiction to Gummy Shark fishing in Western Ports highly productive & mysterious tidal streams & channels.
Boatside & a pleasing sight.
Nice Gummy destined for the table landed by reg Think BIG Client Davy.
A recently aired Ch31/44 Youfish TV episode was filmed on Western Port a few weeks back & as Winga had said 'We'll get em tonight'. Well when you've done the same scenario on the same tide four years running & landed numbers of large Gummy's each & every time you tend to have faith in a few things !!
Winga looks on as Shaun Dennehy hugs a big Gummy that raced off with a fresh Yakka chunk bait we'd caught earlier in the evening. Shaun has experienced some pretty big Gummys so far this season & is looking forward to putting the lessons & techniques learnt with us into his own boat shortly.
Matt Squiddy & Winga interview a large Gummy that Squiddy has just landed & then wrestled for a quick chat on cam. Squiddy rates Gummy Sharks very very highly as a preferred species to target in Western Port. I can wholeheartedly agree also as there is something very special about seeing these huge grey lengthy shapes arrive boatside in the current after a great line ripping initial run & ensuing fight.
Winga with a very happy 'Malliot' & another Great Grey Sub landed this evening. Malliot aka Matt Elliot is also fast becoming addicted to BIG Gummy Shark fishing too, any wonder !!
Malliot with another very good example of the calibre of Gummy Sharks landed recently.
Clients from McDonald Real Estate in Noble Park/Springvale were aboard for a Gummy charter. This particular day saw very strong winds that was going to make it interesting. Once a variety of fresh bait had been aquired we set off for an area up the top end of the Port. Fishing in just 9mtrs with a strong easterly wind pushing an already large ebb tide on its way out, we had a rod bounce, buckle & literally howl as something grabbed a fresh Silver Trevally chunk. Angler on the rod was none other than 'Cheeky Dunlop' I kid you not. To say this fish fought is an understatement as it was a very long drawn out battle right to the end, more inline with hard running Eagle Rays.
Thats 'Cheeky' up front cradling the head of this huge Gummy Shark. Great team work here guys. All hands were required to keep this girl from playing up too much before a smooth release back into the murkier zones of the top end of Western Port.
This newly born & very ravenous Gummy was caught on a single Single 8/0 Penotrate Circle Hook just moments after we'd released the big girl pictured above. The top end is a large nursery section for these very important mini sublets racing about at this time of the year. Please do the right thing here & treat them with respect before quickly releasing them. In time these will be some other anglers dream Great Grey Sub.
Some people get all romantic & buy flowers for partners on Valentines day, however we had a posse of guys who were keen to find their own grey slender Valentine from Western Port.
Andrew Gerardi is stoked with this his very first Western Port Gummy Shark just on dusk.
Wayne Wills also was pleased when this bigger model moved in as darkness entered for the evening.
More Facebook clients aboard with both Darrell & Peter getting amongst some quality Gummy Shark.
Darrell with a perfect table sized Gummy Shark, at the 5-7kg range they are amongst the best seafood fare our southern waters have on offer. Freezes very well also, which is part of the reason it is so hugely popular with the Victorian Fish & Chip trade.
Peter is also quite happy with this Gummy Shark as the eve progressed.
Well I guess if you spend enough time on the water your bound to come across one of these from time to time.
Here's a large armful model of the Biggest Port Jackson Shark I've yet to see, let alone watch a small girl slowly get owned by this large kelpbed resident. This outsized female Shark was easily around the 16-18kg range & was as solid as you would expect a boxheaded Port Jackson of these proportions to be.
Looking at it from this angle,
I think Crabs would roll over in sheer fright as this monster hunted in amongst reefs etc.
Andrew returned & along with some other clients 'Scott & Adam' from back during the Snapper season & another first time client 'Steve' for a Gummy Charter. Bait was first explained & acquired before settling in for the evening.
Once again Andrew was hot to trot on the first Gummy Shark for the session.
Adam sooned livened up things though when this big Grey moved in & snaffled a bait before racing off on an extended run.
Steve Fields soon had his arms full too with this hefty Gummy, that also did a Tony Grieg & ran Haurd & Faurst before we could safely net it before releasing after pics were taken.
A mixture once again of familiar faces & some new clients via Facebook on this Gummy Charter & after setting a selction of fresh baits, we didn't have to wait too long before the first enquiry.
Dylan was shown some neat lessons & proudly shows the success's. Since this he has accomplished some very good capture & releasing of Gummy Sharks to over 17kg. This is a fantastic achievement so soon after joining in on one of our Think BIG Gummy Charters.
Youfish TV Fan & committed tidal water angler Shane drove a fair hike across from Traralgon to get a closer under standing of Gummys from Western Port. Shane often fishes Corner Inlet with very similar techniques & has had some reasonable succes on Gummys. He also did ask if we could arrange a Gummy charter for the Corner Inlet region, We'll keep you all updated as we feel it is a fairly underated Big Gummy area worth exploring, particulary during Winter.
Here's a 2 person Gummy Shark held up for a quick pic by Reed & Shane. Terrific fight & some fun once in the boat that is for sure !!
Dan & Nat Moloney along with a pair of work mates (the boss I believe) had a session recently & were all called in to cradle this Big Gummy.
A half Yakka head section was used for this Great Grey with a Single 8/0 Penotrate Circle Hook from the Rigmaster stable of tackle.
On a picture perfect day we set out for a Gummy charter. We also had a young dedicated angler by the name of Jezz Scott join us. Jezz is a going to be a very good angler going on his recent captures which amongst other fine fish includes an outstanding Mulloway of 18kg landed during the Snapper season in Port Phillip Bay last spring. He'd dilligently kept his promise & saved up money from a recent birthday for his own crack at a Gummy Shark with us.
Well as it turned out we were all suprised at the length of both the fight & size of this Gummy Shark once we had it boatside!! At this stage Jezz was almost ready to collapse from both the extended fight time in a hard running current & the heat as it was a 35deg day & also the sighting of what for him is so far a personal best for Gummy Shark. Well done mate, was a great moment for you & when we got back to the ramp later on, one your parents were absolutely stoked with & won't forget about in a hurry.
Another 3 person Gummy, Note the dark coloration & vivid white spotted markings. This is typical of Gummys landed in areas of heavy reef & kelp covered bottom. They really are beautiful when from this environment & take on a more authorative look with the darker grey almost black tones. Contrasts very nicely against their white undersides.
Facebook fan George with a closeup view showing the lovely markings & contrasting colours in the sunlight.
Back you go you good thing....hope to have a client catch you again some other tide ;)
As the day turned to night, a move was in order to another area to coincide with the tide. Wasn't too long in the waiting, with a mere 8 mins passing after the 4th rod had been set when a rod bounced hard twice before leaning over against our regular very firm reel drag settings.
George with a well marked solid Gummy that will see him soon try to top weight wise as it seems he is well and truly hooked on Gummy Sharks also.
Steve D also got out with us recently & found it to be a tad wet when a deluge of rain hung over us for a good couple of hours, still we pressed on & made Steve's night with this hard running Gummy Shark. As it was raining very heavily at time of hookup, it was a strange sensation to have a hard running Gummy racing off yet struggling to hear anything over the noise of the rainfall...was quite unique..
Salmon amongst the Shearwaters: The past 6 or more weeks have seen huge numbers of Australian Salmon throughout many areas of Western Port. However the standout area has been out from the Pilot Buoy area near Flinders in 12-17mtrs. At around the 1.5-2kg range on average they do make for some great light line action when casting very small 10-15gm slug lures from a stationary boat & importantly, with the motor switched off to allow you to close the gap & get right in amongst the action.
A good approach is to first see the direction the quickly moving Salmon schools are headed & position the boat so they come to you. Chasing them down only disturbs the krill which soon sound deep at the motor noise & have the Salmon follow them real fast.
Hawk Eyes Squiddy up front as Salmon Buster Spotter while Malliot displays a typical Salmon landed on a small 15gm metal slug rigged with a single hook. The single hook is far & away the best way to stay connected to these Salmon, especially when they start their Barra like antics on the surface near the boat. It almost goes without saying that these Salmon are up there as one of the top baits for BIG Gummy Sharks in both Western Port & Port Phillip Bay. They also come up a treat when cooked within a day or 2 with the aid of a smoker. Very tasty indeed.
These schools are not too hard to locate as they are also being closely followed by millions of migrating Shearwaters or Mutton Birds. Petrels are also here in huge numbers. The reason is a huge party & gorge fest on tonnes & tonnes of tiny almost clear/white colored krill that is being swept through these areas helplessly each tide change. There is also many other species here loading up on this marine banquet including Cowanyoung, Slimy Mackeral, Barracouta, Short Finned Pike & more than likely some Kingfish down below this surface feeding melee or combat zone.
This is all part of a worldy travel migration these Muttonbirds are about to embark on. A journey that will see them land in distant postcodes in Russia, before returning to the very nest they first mated up with, with their partner. Yes it is fascinating & part of an approximate number of 23 million Muttonbirds in the Sth Eastern regions of Australia. It's estimated that around 18 million of these birds alone inhabit the Tasmanian coastline each year.
When you consider these lightly framed birds not much bigger than a typical Seagull fly across the world as part of their ongoing exsistence, you really do feel humbled when watching a part of this amazing part of our intricate sealife we have here in Melbourne waters.
So there's another snippet of what has been happening since the last report, stay tuned for ongoing reports & upcoming news.
For any Think BIG Charter enquiry please call Shaun on '0423 696 061' or send an email to rushdale@hotmail.com for any other detailed information required for our charters.
Thanks,
TBC
This Fishing Report was submitted on 11/2/2012 4:21:31 PM by Seamus and last updated on 11/2/2012 4:21:31 PM.
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