Aire river near Apollo Bay

Apollo Bay, Port Campbell, Warnambool, Port Fairy, Portland, Nelson
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Nightwish
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Aire river near Apollo Bay

Post by Nightwish » Mon Feb 13, 2017 8:32 pm

l went fishing in the Aire river on Saturday in my tinnie,l have only fished it once before in a boat.
Got there at about 7.30am and couldn't beleive how low the water was,l have never seen it looking so low but l don't fish there much so this might be normal.[should've taken some pics but never thought of it at the time]
Once l was on the water the quality of it didn't look too good and there looked like some sort of grunge was floating on top of it,not oil but it looked brown.Once again should've taken some pics but l think l was in too eager to start fishing.
l picked my first spot near some reeds that looked alright and the water quality seemed better and within 20min l had my first bream,nothing big but still alright
WP_20170211_12_26_50_Pro[1].jpg
5min later l had a 30cm mullet which l kept to use for bait.
Not long after that a better size bream about 35cm that had line peeling off the reel.
WP_20170211_12_03_02_Pro[1].jpg
Things slowed down after that,just a couple of small mullet so l moved on.
The next spot was seemed quite a bit deeper than the first so l thought this could be alright but all l managed was a 25cm and 15cm bream, l have never caught a bream as small as 15cm before.
Off to the next spot and the water quality was looking better and the fishing really picked up,it was now about 9.30 and l fished this one spot for about an hour and the bream were going off,well they were going off by my standards.
l reckon l landed about 6 good sized bream largest being 38cm but heavy,just on a kilo,the smallest was 35cm and they all felt pretty heavy for their length.
WP_20170211_11_52_34_Pro[1].jpg
Time to move on and the next spot was nearly as good as the last another 5 good sized bream.
By 3pm it started to cloud over a bit and it was starting to look like l was going to get a wet arse,l fished for about 1hour more and caught a few more and then they went totally off the bite,after 4pm l didn't loose a bait so it's beer o'clock and time to head home.
l have recently started using circle hooks and you have to love them,just put your rod in the rod holder and let the circle hook do its thing.
Out of the 15 to 20 fish caught only on 1 did l have to cut the line because he was gut hooked,which makes life really simple when it comes to releasing them l don't think l will go back to normal hooks again except for my trout fishing when using mudeyes.
Overall that was the most productive session l have ever had and l have never caught so many good size bream,only 2 under size and the rest were all 34cm plus and the fight in them was fantastic,l just love the sound of the drag screaming out.
Four of them came home with me for a feed and l know bream are'nt the bees knees of table fish but when eaten fresh l still reckon they are alright.
l can't wait to get down there again and have another dip,l don't think l will have another session like that but l don't care it was a fantastic day.
:cheers:

bilby
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Re: Aire river near Apollo Bay

Post by bilby » Mon Feb 13, 2017 9:16 pm

Great report and fantastic fishing! From photos I've seen, the Aire looks like a very beautiful river, too.

Lightningx
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Re: Aire river near Apollo Bay

Post by Lightningx » Tue Feb 14, 2017 1:30 am

Nice report and pics mate :thumbsup:

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Delirium
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Re: Aire river near Apollo Bay

Post by Delirium » Tue Feb 14, 2017 3:37 am

Nice part of the world down there mate. I'd take that over a day at the office any time. Good work.

fishpod
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Re: Aire river near Apollo Bay

Post by fishpod » Tue Feb 14, 2017 5:19 pm

One of my favouite spots for bream,sounds like the mouth was open to the sea thus the low water and best time to fish it, it also has quite a few sea run brown trout cruising up and down it

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Re: Aire river near Apollo Bay

Post by Nightwish » Thu Feb 16, 2017 10:03 pm

Delirium wrote:Nice part of the world down there mate. I'd take that over a day at the office any time. Good work.
your not wrong it's a great part of the world and your right l reckon your worse day of fishing has got to be better than working except for me fishing doesn't pay the bills unfortunately
:cheers:

Nightwish
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Re: Aire river near Apollo Bay

Post by Nightwish » Thu Feb 16, 2017 10:08 pm

fishpod wrote:One of my favouite spots for bream,sounds like the mouth was open to the sea thus the low water and best time to fish it, it also has quite a few sea run brown trout cruising up and down it
That makes sense about the mouth being open but l have never seen it that low before and as l said in my earlier post l haven't fished there much and obviously l still have a lot to learn.
l have never caught sea run brown trout before so how would you go about targeting them?

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Delirium
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Re: Aire river near Apollo Bay

Post by Delirium » Fri Feb 17, 2017 11:38 am

Nightwish wrote:
Delirium wrote:Nice part of the world down there mate. I'd take that over a day at the office any time. Good work.
your not wrong it's a great part of the world and your right l reckon your worse day of fishing has got to be better than working except for me fishing doesn't pay the bills unfortunately
:cheers:
Ha.....yep. If only

fishpod
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Re: Aire river near Apollo Bay

Post by fishpod » Fri Feb 17, 2017 2:32 pm

Nightwish wrote:
fishpod wrote:One of my favouite spots for bream,sounds like the mouth was open to the sea thus the low water and best time to fish it, it also has quite a few sea run brown trout cruising up and down it
That makes sense about the mouth being open but l have never seen it that low before and as l said in my earlier post l haven't fished there much and obviously l still have a lot to learn.
l have never caught sea run brown trout before so how would you go about targeting them?
If you have a boat then the best spot to get them seems to be where the 2 rivers meet and the best method of catching them is with an Ecogear sx40 lure or similar patterns, you can also get them on worms and they can really be anywhere in the system even up near the mouth and yes usually when the river is low it means it's open at the mouth :thumbsup:

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Re: Aire river near Apollo Bay

Post by Nightwish » Sat Feb 18, 2017 8:16 am

If you have a boat then the best spot to get them seems to be where the 2 rivers meet and the best method of catching them is with an Ecogear sx40 lure or similar patterns, you can also get them on worms and they can really be anywhere in the system even up near the mouth and yes usually when the river is low it means it's open at the mouth :thumbsup:

Thanks fishpod next time l am down there l will give it a go
:cheers:

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