Kraken Squid & the Gummy show. WP 13/10/18 Report.
Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2018 5:08 pm
G'day everyone.
Back with a report again after another awesome day on Western Port.
The plan was to launch a little earlier than normal yesterday. I arrived at Yaringa at 5am. My buddy, Josh was running a little late but the kind gesture of a long black coffee and a McMuffin from Maccas was enough to forget that instantly.. Wake up juice!
Quickly got out of the channel and went straight to a bait collecting mark of mine. In no time at all we had enough Yakkas to get moving, also greeted with a nice pinky on sunrise during the collection. With enough flesh baits, it was time to hit the Calamari on Tyabb. The luxury of being able to get out a fair bit means i have the advantage of knowing where fish are and arent. Again, headed straight to some Squid marks from the last couple sessions and they didn't disappoint. First 10 minutes was slow, but as the tide started to kick in to full swing and the sun was further up in the sky, i was on. Initially thinking it was bottom but.... to my surprise.. "Its moving!" zzzz...zzzz...zzzz...zzzz and again, and again, and again. At this point i literally thought i'd hooked the Kraken. This thing was stripping line, so much so that i was getting worried of being spooled, by a Squid... My little 1000 Sedona took a thrashing thats for sure. Controlling my excitement, i got it to the boat and Josh scooped him in with the net. Wow! Definitely my PB at 45cm Hood. Thanks Tyabb :thumbsup:
That one Calamari was enough bait alone. We motored off to the very upper reaches of the Bouchier channel where a few good fish have been getting around. Everything was really looking up.. especially the structure and marks i had just found on the Sounder. Baits were in and the traps were set. At least until the weed started to maul us. It was so bad, we couldn't even fish. Normally i work through the weed and the last two hours of tide when the water slows up is better and rewards, but this was just simply unbearable. We tried dropping in a few different areas, shallower etc.. less tide... still the same result.
With a sense of mad frustration and confidence flopping, we had to pull the pin. Went all the way back down the port and gave the Long reef area a go. Nope, nothing. I pitched the plan to forget about Snapper for the day. With a sizeable tide and the weed not quite as bad down this way, i made the decision that we were going to collect some more bait, and then fish for gummies for the whole incoming tide.
A few more yakkas and tailor later.. we were setup for a Gumbo on my favourite mark
. With a spread of FRESH Mullet, Tailor, Yakka & Squid, hopes were high. 20 Minutes later, the unmistaken violent gummy mouthings and sure enough the rod bent and screamed.. but not for long. Josh grabbed the rod a little too soon in all the excitement, which gave the gummy enough time to spit the bait. It was a good fish too. I like to run my drag quite tight when chasing them, and this thing was peeling line easy. Poor old mate wasn't happy.. but i said to him that things were looking good already.
We missed another bite, but eventually one of my rods went and i gave it off to Josh. Not a big one but for him, it was his PB. I convinced him to release it with the expectation that this was going to be a hot little bite. Well, im just glad i wasn't wrong. We ended up with 7 Gummys. We kept 3 and later weighed them in at 3.3-4kg. We lost one boat side the same size during sunset, (very hot bite window for the area) and also released two smaller ones and lost a bigger one earlier in the day. Josh was absolutely stoked as he had never caught a gummy of somewhat size. Granted these are small but its better than nothing and great table sized fish in numbers! Every gummy caught was legal and majority lost i estimated the same size or bigger. Its such a great feeling sharing memories with another passionate fisho.
Pretty happy with the effort we put in yesterdat. Western Port is no easy waterway, really didn't give it to us easy early on, but persistence, patience and backing yourself goes a long way. Now... back onto the Red Carp next session.
Cheers guys, hope you are all having as much success as i am when your out there! the bays are alive at the moment and its great.
Back with a report again after another awesome day on Western Port.
The plan was to launch a little earlier than normal yesterday. I arrived at Yaringa at 5am. My buddy, Josh was running a little late but the kind gesture of a long black coffee and a McMuffin from Maccas was enough to forget that instantly.. Wake up juice!
Quickly got out of the channel and went straight to a bait collecting mark of mine. In no time at all we had enough Yakkas to get moving, also greeted with a nice pinky on sunrise during the collection. With enough flesh baits, it was time to hit the Calamari on Tyabb. The luxury of being able to get out a fair bit means i have the advantage of knowing where fish are and arent. Again, headed straight to some Squid marks from the last couple sessions and they didn't disappoint. First 10 minutes was slow, but as the tide started to kick in to full swing and the sun was further up in the sky, i was on. Initially thinking it was bottom but.... to my surprise.. "Its moving!" zzzz...zzzz...zzzz...zzzz and again, and again, and again. At this point i literally thought i'd hooked the Kraken. This thing was stripping line, so much so that i was getting worried of being spooled, by a Squid... My little 1000 Sedona took a thrashing thats for sure. Controlling my excitement, i got it to the boat and Josh scooped him in with the net. Wow! Definitely my PB at 45cm Hood. Thanks Tyabb :thumbsup:
With a sense of mad frustration and confidence flopping, we had to pull the pin. Went all the way back down the port and gave the Long reef area a go. Nope, nothing. I pitched the plan to forget about Snapper for the day. With a sizeable tide and the weed not quite as bad down this way, i made the decision that we were going to collect some more bait, and then fish for gummies for the whole incoming tide.
A few more yakkas and tailor later.. we were setup for a Gumbo on my favourite mark
. With a spread of FRESH Mullet, Tailor, Yakka & Squid, hopes were high. 20 Minutes later, the unmistaken violent gummy mouthings and sure enough the rod bent and screamed.. but not for long. Josh grabbed the rod a little too soon in all the excitement, which gave the gummy enough time to spit the bait. It was a good fish too. I like to run my drag quite tight when chasing them, and this thing was peeling line easy. Poor old mate wasn't happy.. but i said to him that things were looking good already. We missed another bite, but eventually one of my rods went and i gave it off to Josh. Not a big one but for him, it was his PB. I convinced him to release it with the expectation that this was going to be a hot little bite. Well, im just glad i wasn't wrong. We ended up with 7 Gummys. We kept 3 and later weighed them in at 3.3-4kg. We lost one boat side the same size during sunset, (very hot bite window for the area) and also released two smaller ones and lost a bigger one earlier in the day. Josh was absolutely stoked as he had never caught a gummy of somewhat size. Granted these are small but its better than nothing and great table sized fish in numbers! Every gummy caught was legal and majority lost i estimated the same size or bigger. Its such a great feeling sharing memories with another passionate fisho.
Pretty happy with the effort we put in yesterdat. Western Port is no easy waterway, really didn't give it to us easy early on, but persistence, patience and backing yourself goes a long way. Now... back onto the Red Carp next session.