Werribee-ish gummy sesh

[Redhunter]

Hi all,
At 9pm last night over a few brews, decided to punch out this morn for a feed of flake. Tied some rigs and set up the boat and agreed that I would pick up a mate by 5:50am. All went to plan, and we were on the water by first light.
With a block of pillies and a cupla boxes of cali squid on hand, the plan was to see if we could pick up a few fresh squid on the way out, before settling into a spot out wider for a gumbo or 2. After spending 20mins casting around jigs for no results, we decided not to waste any more time and to punch out to "spot x". The water wasn't quite as flat as expected, but that happens sometimes. Within a half hour of dropping the pick, a rod starts to get a tap, showing clear signs of a gummy having a chew. Within seconds line starts to peel off the spool as the fish begins to move off, and my mate cranks the reel to engage the reel and bingo, fish on! A few headshakes and it pretty well came straight to the boat, until we saw colour and it then realised what was goin on. Off it went, as they do, peeling line like nothing. Before long it was spent, and came straight to the net. Beauty, fresh flake! A nice 1.1m gumbo for a feed within bugger all time of hitting the water. Anything from now on could only be a bonus. From then on, things died right off. A few banjos and a pj, and only 3 keeper frogs for the next 3 hours. The water began to settle by now now and started to glass off. The clarity was probably too good, being able to see the bottom in 35ft of water. One of my rods then had an enquiry, and I was straight onto it. Line slowly started to peel off the reel, so I decided to hit it up, being convinced it had the bait. Bugger! It felt like I pulled the hooks straight out of its mouth. I brought my line in to find that the lower hook of my two-hook rig was missing, being bitten straight though. Must have been a millar gorilla (7 giller). We then had another rod howl off and this time it was a hook up. A few headshakes, and the reel then screamed, and before long half the spool was gone. Too quick for a giller, but too slow for a bronzie (water too cold too), so we got excited. The shark then gave up the ghost and came straight back to the boat. A few dives back to the depths, before it was boatside and another gummy slid into the net. This was a better gummy, but fought much harder than it should have for the size of it. It gave up a great fight, going 1.25m or so. We gave it another halfa, but no more bites, so we decided to call it a day. It's a great feeling to fish a new spot, chosen by looking at a map, then putting theories into practise, and accomplishing that goal. It's a great feeling knowing you've done it all on your own.
All this talk is making me hungry. Fish & chips, here I come. Thanks for reading...
Cheers, Redhunter

[seephil]

Great when a everything goes to plan! Got your target species, made the right call to not bother with fresh squid and move to spot X. Nice size gummies too Red. Personally I've never used live squid for bait... I can't resist not eating them.

[bowl]

Hey, nice report.
Fished out deep Friday from werribee with fresh live squid caught just past Marina


wall n frozen squid for a banjo n small frogs.

[Nude up]

Nice work redhunter funny how gummies come to the boat quite easy the first time the scream off again.fresh flake for tea you beauty

[FishnMiss]

Well done mate.
You gotta love it when a plan comes together :a_goodjob:

[vinalf]

:nicefish:

Great post....

[4liters]

Sounds like a good session.

Obviously don't respond if it gives away too much info, but what are you looking for when you decide on a new gummy spot to try?

[Redhunter]

Gotta love it when a plan works. It's tough to go past fresh flake when you're after a feed. Gotta be up there with the best imo.

4liters - no worries at all mate...you aren't asking for a spot, you are asking for advice
Gummies aren't a stagnant creature, they cruise. By looking at contours on a map, showing holes and dropoffs, we chose a spot where the the bottom dropped away at a steeper angle. Matching this with previous knowledge of type of bottom helps, of which contains small scallops, tube worms, cunje, crabs etc which is a great food source for this species. It was simply a matter of punching out and anchoring up, getting a burley trail going and casting out baits and putting in the time.
Cheers.

[4liters]

Thanks for that, I reckon its best to be a bit respectful when asking about 'secret spots' even if it isn't a specific location.

Is there a website or post somewhere discussing different seafloor types and where to find them, or is that just something that comes with experience?

[Redhunter]

I've acquired a chart of ppb and one of wp that I often refer to. I've seen colour versions for sale at tackle world before, dunno where else sells them, but they can be a handy tool showing depths and markers etc. As for the sea floor, other than experience on the water itself, I'm not too sure if there are any resources to refer to...but it could be handy if there was.