Family friendly pier fishing

Docklands, Southbank, Yarra River Area, The Warmies, Newport, Maribyrnong River
Lightningx
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Re: Family friendly pier fishing

Post by Lightningx » Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:41 pm

Also silverfish has always been my number one bait for gars.

PhilN
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Re: Family friendly pier fishing

Post by PhilN » Sun Apr 08, 2018 6:50 pm

I’ve found with kids, what really matters is that they are getting bites and catching fish. I’m a bit concerned that you might be setting the expectations too high, especially with catching whiting off the northern PPB piers at the moment and no recent experience. Even with gars there can be a lot of skill involved. There’s a big chance you’ll sit there all day and get nothing. For the first few outings I would ‘cheat’ a little and bring heaps of burley, and also have a couple of rigs sitting there with small circle hooks so the fish hook themselves. Probably get flatties and salmon but at least the kids catch a fish. Re depth for gars, check the depth others are using around you that are catching and adjust to the same.
Not sure if you can still buy Silverfish? Maggots work well

smile0784
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Re: Family friendly pier fishing

Post by smile0784 » Sun Apr 08, 2018 7:22 pm

Lightningx wrote:Also silverfish has always been my number one bait for gars.
I found taking a fillet of a pilchard and 6mm bits works best for me. But its quite soft so have to bait up a lot

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Re: Family friendly pier fishing

Post by Lightningx » Sun Apr 08, 2018 7:25 pm

smile0784 wrote:
Lightningx wrote:Also silverfish has always been my number one bait for gars.
I found taking a fillet of a pilchard and 6mm bits works best for me. But its quite soft so have to bait up a lot
I have a mate who’s caught them with pillies but for me if I think back to some of my best sessions bagging my 40 it’s always been with silverfish :thumbsup:

dazz999
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Re: Family friendly pier fishing

Post by dazz999 » Sun Apr 08, 2018 8:08 pm

PhilN wrote:I’ve found with kids, what really matters is that they are getting bites and catching fish. I’m a bit concerned that you might be setting the expectations too high, especially with catching whiting off the northern PPB piers at the moment and no recent experience. Even with gars there can be a lot of skill involved. There’s a big chance you’ll sit there all day and get nothing. For the first few outings I would ‘cheat’ a little and bring heaps of burley, and also have a couple of rigs sitting there with small circle hooks so the fish hook themselves. Probably get flatties and salmon but at least the kids catch a fish. Re depth for gars, check the depth others are using around you that are catching and adjust to the same.
Not sure if you can still buy Silverfish? Maggots work well
yep you can still buy silverfish

PhilN
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Re: Family friendly pier fishing

Post by PhilN » Sun Apr 08, 2018 8:31 pm

Great - where? Is it a well known market?

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Re: Family friendly pier fishing

Post by dazz999 » Sun Apr 08, 2018 9:27 pm

PhilN wrote:Great - where? Is it a well known market?
i get it from southern sportsfishing brand is seaford bait

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Re: Family friendly pier fishing

Post by Wolly Bugger » Mon Apr 09, 2018 12:24 am

Lexdon wrote:Hi all,
I'm newish to fishing, I haven't really fished much since I was a kid. I've now got kids and want to take them out pier fishing somewhere between Werribee to St. Kilda. I've got a couple of decent rods but the kids have basic kmart kids rods just for some fun.
I've spent a fair bit of time reading through this forum and all it's done has confuse me and convince me that fish move about daily. Essentially all I want to do is take the kids out somewhere safe (pier, not rock) where I can drop a baited line (not lure) and catch some small yet legal sized edible fish. I've already bought pipis and long shank size 6 in preparation to fish whiting. I plan to head out early on Friday 13th morning to be setup 1hr prior to morning high tide. High tide is at a decent hour that day.

The main questions I have are where and what fish?

As much as I'd love to take the 10ft rod out and cast on pilchards or lure for something big I want to do the same as the kids.
If most agree that whiting is worth targeting I've heard of a super basic setup that only requires a loop in the line containing a running sinker with a foot and half leading to the hook, no swivel, fluro, beads etc. Drop it or small cast and reel it back to get tension. If it's easy to incorporate other bits to make it more successful then please advise

Sorry for the super long post just wanted to put everything out there. Whatever the success or failure I'll report back.
Garfish and mullet can be a lot of fun, mullet and gars respond well to burley. Squid also can be targeted, although there is perhaps a bit more of a learning curve.

What I suggest you do is visit the piers, you want to fish from and see what others a catching. Tell tail signs of garfish are big silvery scales on the pier, with squid it will the dark stains of ink.

Obtain a copy of the landbase guide for Port Phillip and Corio bays.

ChrisTaylor
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Re: Family friendly pier fishing

Post by ChrisTaylor » Mon Apr 09, 2018 2:37 pm

A left-of-field, deliberately-ignoring-what-you-had-in-mind suggestion is carp. You won't get them off a pier, obviously, and you probably don't want to throw one on the barbecue ... but a lot of local waterways are teeming with the buggers. Including a few of the lakes that are also stocked with trout and such.

smile0784
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Re: Family friendly pier fishing

Post by smile0784 » Mon Apr 09, 2018 2:54 pm

And carp easy to catch also if they are there

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