Fishing Victoria Forum

This was on the 9th

Brains trust (re-tyred & Tackleberry) - To an inshore fisherman, would you mind explaining the significance of these observations please.

Mike can better than me but from my point of view Certain fish prefer a specific water temperature, namely large snapper and gummy sharks. once that water gets below fourteen fifteen degrees they disappear from the shallow water 25m to around 10m .
for me the better eating size snapper of between 30 and 50cm school up on the reef and are very easy to find in winter with a watertemp of around 15 and below .

The temp plunged from 18 C to 13 C in 24 hours. Only explanation is an upwelling of cold water from the Bass Canyon offshore from eastern Vic. This would be caused by a strong east to west eddy down deep. Usually associated with increase in nutrients pushed from the deep to the surface. Fishing wise could cause a temporary slowing of fish catches in the cold areas but and increase fish activity on the fringes where the temperature change zone is. Often find pelagic fish in these areas.

Many thanks Guys

Had a fun trip this morning. Anchored in 12 m just past the pines with a burley bomb down. End result was two decent Gummies retained, a smaller Gummy released, another Gummy lost - and then the rays arrived! Two I fought up to the boat and cut off and two much larger rays broken off when it became obvious they were rays. All bites were on salmon fillets - pilchards and squid completely ignored. The ramp was like Bourke St in peak hour with a fair few learners at work! Only one other boat out of about a dozen had any fish to clean - a very large Gummy caught down off the Bluff. The New Year is off to a good start!!!

Nice one Paul was the squid fresh or just bait squid .

Sort of fresh LOL - I bought some from the Coop last day they were open and froze it straight away.

Went back to my (not so secret) spot early this morning and managed two more Gummies slightly smaller than yesterday. I decided to head in before the rays decided to pay me a visit. One on salmon one on bluebait. Beautiful morning and smooth as glass.

Two more trips chasing Gummies in the usual spot. First trip resulted in a solid Gummy about 1.2 m and 3 small ones released. Trip 2 was 4 hours without a bite - not even pickers! The water was fairly dirty, a slow current to the East, with quite a bit of weed. One can but try!!!