Long Jetty- Port Welshpool

[saph]

Nice also amazed that this is the stuff vic's get while here in qld at most your lucky to get half a table that size and a little bit of hose and a moment style tap on the other, atleast its fresh water tho so you could drink it if you dont want to spend the price for a drink accross the road.

You get good fish though

Yea when i can catch them and not have the bait picked off the hook by little annoying ones.

[justabloke]

G'day all,

I've just joined this site but have been a part of another VIC site before it closed down. Will do a bit of a proper intro at some stage.

Regarding the Long Jetty, I took my teenage son down to fish it a couple of months or so ago but it was an easterly wind and plenty of ribbon weed was making it hard to fish. I caught a nice flathead and my young bloke caught a couple of smaller fish. When I had the flathead up swimming beside the jetty there were 3 kingfish following it around, with another one just hanging back a couple of metres. The ones that were closely following my flattie were around 60cm long and the one staying back was a fair bit larger, so they are definitely hanging around. A live squid wouldn't last long I reckon. I agree that the restoration is great and the rod holders and cleaning table are a real bonus. With the concrete decking at least some idiot won't be able to set fire to it again! Looking forward to going back and giving it another go as I only live near Yarram so it's not too far to go. Been very ill for a while so haven't done much fishing over the warmer months but am having an operation that should fix things up, only a couple of days out of hospital. Basically got a blocked bile duct with a dirty big gallstone and my whole body has been septic from it, on the mend and I get the stone removed in a month or so. Sorry for waffling a bit but glad to be here. Will try to be a positive contributor to this great site.

justabloke (Darren)

[Lightningx]

Thanks for the update mate and welcome
Would have been very exciting seeing those kings come in behind the flattie.
All the best with the operation.
Cheers.

[justabloke]

Thanks mate, much appreciated! Yeah it was a real buzz to see the kingies. Had heard the rumours about them and a cousin caught one of around 60cm in his boat at the jetty.

Re the operation, I would've had it at St Vincent's Hospital but the infection was a major issue so I was pumped with all sorts of IV antibiotics for a few days and am now taking tablet antibiotics. They put a stent in my bile duct to keep it open a bit. Got a plane ride home in the air ambulance as it was taking an old lady to Orbost with her grandson who was helping her. The plane landed at the East Sale RAAF base and I was transported by road to home. Was actually my first plane ride ever (at 52 years old) and although feeling like crap, you couldn't wipe the smile from my face with an angle grinder...real buzz! Have fun over the long weekend folks!

[tbcha1]

was an easterly wind and plenty of ribbon weed was making it hard to fish...

so what is the best winds to go down where it isnt as weedy?

great post about welshpool! i havent been there for close to 20years when we ran out of petrol and had to stay over night at the jetty till the petrol stations opened. I have only caught kingies at Botany bay sydney and man they are a great fighting fish to catch!

[justabloke]

was an easterly wind and plenty of ribbon weed was making it hard to fish...

so what is the best winds to go down where it isnt as weedy?

great post about welshpool! i havent been there for close to 20years when we ran out of petrol and had to stay over night at the jetty till the petrol stations opened. I have only caught kingies at Botany bay sydney and man they are a great fighting fish to catch!

Hi mate, Sorry about the late reply. I used to fish the area a fair bit but haven't done much fishing there these last few years, just a handful of trips with my father but he's getting a bit old and wants to sell his boat now. Basically you want anything but an easterly. There's an old saying about "wind from the east, fish bite the least" and that seems to have a fair ring of truth to it...at least around South Gippsland etc. I prefer a westerly or northwest wind but a bit of southerly is okay too.

I'd promised my son that we were going so I didn't want to let him down and also wanted to check out the refurbished jetty etc.

The ribbon weed was mainly a problem because there was a lot of it in the outgoing tide and even though we were casting out into the channel with 5-6 ounce star sinkers, they still wouldn't hold as the weed just caught the line and swept it along. I even tried a 7 ounce grapple sinker and even that didn't hold much longer. Tried in closer but it was still a pain. We were using surf gear.

If there'd been no weed and the wind was better, I'm sure that we would've caught a bit more. We couldn't hold our baits out for long at all really.

The kingfish sure do go hard and I've only ever caught one of around 67cm at Eden a few years back. Lost a much bigger one sadly. That was the only time I've specifically targeted them and was rapt to get one. You would've been spoilt around Sydney!

When the wind dropped the sandflies were savage so take some RID etc.

[Kimtown]

Thank you for the photos, good to see the old 70's bell in place, did many deep-sea dives in that bell on helium mix, brings back many memories, looking forward to the opening of the museum.

Feel free to share some stories, what kind of jobs you did, the kind of things you saw. I'm sure many, including myself, would be all ears... Or eyes in this case.

[Kimtown]

Nice also amazed that this is the stuff vic's get while here in qld at most your lucky to get half a table that size and a little bit of hose and a moment style tap on the other, atleast its fresh water tho so you could drink it if you dont want to spend the price for a drink accross the road.

You get good fish though

:a_goodjob:

[tbcha1]

Hi mate, Sorry about the late reply. I used to fish the area a fair bit but haven't done much fishing there these last few years, just a handful of trips with my father but he's getting a bit old and wants to sell his boat now. Basically you want anything but an easterly. There's an old saying about "wind from the east, fish bite the least" and that seems to have a fair ring of truth to it...at least around South Gippsland etc. I prefer a westerly or northwest wind but a bit of southerly is okay too.

I'd promised my son that we were going so I didn't want to let him down and also wanted to check out the refurbished jetty etc.

The ribbon weed was mainly a problem because there was a lot of it in the outgoing tide and even though we were casting out into the channel with 5-6 ounce star sinkers, they still wouldn't hold as the weed just caught the line and swept it along. I even tried a 7 ounce grapple sinker and even that didn't hold much longer. Tried in closer but it was still a pain. We were using surf gear.

If there'd been no weed and the wind was better, I'm sure that we would've caught a bit more. We couldn't hold our baits out for long at all really.

The kingfish sure do go hard and I've only ever caught one of around 67cm at Eden a few years back. Lost a much bigger one sadly. That was the only time I've specifically targeted them and was rapt to get one. You would've been spoilt around Sydney!

When the wind dropped the sandflies were savage so take some RID etc.

thanks for getting back and the tips. I always hated fishing on the piers when its really weedy. Ive been to San Remo a few times and the weed can be a real pain when you are on the pier.
think the 2 kingies i got were around the mid to high 60 mark as well on SP. Its been a while since ive been up there but i cant believe how good the fishing is up in sydney around Botany bay. The variety of species you can catch including squid and blue swimmer crabs and the amount of fish you can catch if you know the spots.

[WayneK]

I took my two boys down there a few weeks ago and had a great day, even though we only came away with one very nice flathead (caught on a soft plastic shad). Normally, I get my boys to return the bulk of what we catch but this particular day the bite was very slow. My eldest boy spotted a few kingfish cruising up and down the jetty and asked me if we should try to catch one. I told him that they're a great eating fish but that we weren't equiped to catch them. Needless to say, and against my advice, he spent the next 20 to 30 minutes dangling his baited hook in front of them, hoping to entice a bite. Well, bite one did!!! It was peeling line from my boy's reel faster than a strike fighter! He looked at me and asked, "What do I do?" I told him to increase the drag a bit, but not too much. The look on his face was priceless! We all know how the story ends .... the torpedo does a U-turn and heads straight for the pier pylons. Yep!!.... my boy got busted off good and proper! He was dejected, somewhat, but to his credit, he smiled at me and said something like, "Holy cow, what a fish!!!" We left Port Welshpool with a solitary flathead and a great story for mum. When we got home, we cooked up the flathead with a few fish we'd caught in the previous trips. Man!... Is there anything nicer than a cooked fish that you've caught and a light garden salad?