A Landbased Portland trip had been on the cards for a while so on Friday, decided we'd bite the bullet and head out. After a whole heap of research during the day 4 of us hit the road after work around 5pm, armed with;
2 x 12' each all running 40-50lb Braid with Mono Leaders to Match & Paternoster/5-0 Snapper Snatchers/Double Hook Running Sinker Rigs.
Picked up some Servo Bait on the way, Pilchards and Squid. Was hoping to catch some fresh bait out the back too but that didn't eventuate due to massive numbers of our little pinkie friends..
We had rods in the water on the breakwall at about 11pm. Almost immediately the pinkies started, they weren't tiny like the ones we're use to lately in PPB. All measuring 27-30cm - All went back. Its not why we were there. Target was always the bigger species, Snapper (even though its a little late in the season), Sharks and if we're lucky maybe a Kingy..
Around 3ish all the bites stopped, not even a nibble on any of the rods, which was unusual based on the last 4 hours.. Immediately thought there might be something else lurking in the water. So we upped the baits and after about an hour or so sure enough one of the rods screamed off. It was obvious it was big but lacked the sharp head shakes we were use to from the Snappers and sort previously caught locally. After a 15-20 minute battle, to our delight, managed to get him in. Cut the mono with its teeth on the bottom rock but still manage to get him in the net, broke that too on the way in, so I'm sure you can imagine the panic! Photo below, nudging 1.8m, i counted seven gills
. After that the water suddenly had life, big fish, big runs, rods were slamming all over. Not many useful fish but fun nonetheless. Other fish for the night;1 x Shark pictured below,
2 x Eagle Rays
1 x Stingray
1 x Massive Gernard
1 x 60 odd cm Couta
1 x Pinky nudging 40cm
Countless pinkies nudging 30cm
& 2 massive runs missed, one had an incredible amount of head shakes, would have love to see what it was.
Oh & headed down to Narrawong Surf in the morning to see if we could find Salmon, current was running wayyy to strong, unfishable so headed back to the rockwall. Packed up Saturday evening and drove home buckled but with a smile after what had been a pretty big trip..
EDIT: I had posted some info request on Portland and Shark Fishing earlier, thank you to all that responded, every little bit helped..
cheers davo
