New ledge ignites!
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New ledge ignites!
So Carl and I thought we might try something different to normal. I've been eyeing a ledge that drops into fairly shallow water (3-4m) that always has schools of bait swimming around it whenever I walk past, which I do fairly often. Checking the weather report the steady SW wind and high tide at 930 meant that instead of getting up at stupid o clock on a Sunday like we normally do we could just fish the Saturday evening instead.
I always love the anticipation of going to a new spot. You're never really quite sure what is going to happen, you get a sense that you could achieve anything. Tying up the arsenal I could actually feel adrenaline kicking in.
Armed with fresh squid, Thursday nights enormous salmon, and a dozen silver whiting we made the trek down to Phillip Island and geared up the walk in. The carpark was freaking freezing, fully exposed to the SW wind and the fading light. The walk in was mellow and not as bad as I thought it might be with the rising tide.
The easy to navigate ledge was tucked away from the swell....a welcome change to not have to pay absolute attention all the time. After a couple of minutes of dicking around, i landed a bait in the water and instantly hooked up....
Blue spotted goatfish. Super Super aggressive, had only been in the water for 60 seconds and the Tcurve was bending nicely. A good sign!
Next cast CarlG lands a nice grass whiting.....definitely onto some fish....now to find something bigger. A couple more grasswhiting. As I rebate and as my sinker hits the bottome BOOM! in comes a 40ish cm flathead.....we're definitely onto a session here.
With all the action I thought i'd try some soft plastics. Rigging up a pumpkinseed turtle back on a 1/4 ounce jighead gave me some distance and also some finesse on my little 3-6 impact nano.
Six bites in a row, Six turtlebacks destroyed.
I tried a little paddle tail with no effect, and some lighter jigheads but couldn't get the range i needed. Back to chilling with my bait rods....
A couple of minutes later I brought in a beautiful KG! Wow, shallow water ledge fishing is going well....
Then Carl's whiting rig doubles over and the drag on his stradic 4k starts screaming......10 minutes later we break off a MASSIVE skate just at the rocks. Bit of excitement. I love watching these things swim and love watching them swim away even more.
We were fishing a sandy channel with a weedbed and bit of reef out a touch further. It looks EXACTLY like the one at hearn road so we tried jigging for squid. Coudln't get the jigs to work properly so MrG whacked out a silver whiting on a float....
WOO! about 22cm hood i think, we didn't bother measuring it. What a session! Love the diversity. The sense that everytime a rod buckles you don't know whats going to be on the end of it makes this kind of fishing absolutely fascinating. We'd now been fishing for about four hours, had caught 10 different species (swell shark, wrasse and a few more not mentioned here) and hightide was still half an hour away!
Then.......
Nothing happened for the next 90 minutes. At 1030 we decided to call it a night, the original plan was to fish for longer but we both have work sunday and it's been a good night. Just as i'm packing up my whiting rod the nitro doubles over......
And in comes a reasonable sized pinkie! It was a keeper. I didn't get apic just of it but i'll measure it for the species comp after I finish writing this report. Probably could have hung around for another hour but it was getting late and we both decided to call it a night.
We landed eleven species in total, with three keepers and one squid used for baits. Great night on a ledge that I would be entirely comfortable fishing through the night as there is literally no swell.
I don't often keep fish to eat, but Tongiht LadyK and I will eat a seafood buffet of KGW, Flathead and Pinkie snapper.....and if dog is lucky he might get some too.
I always love the anticipation of going to a new spot. You're never really quite sure what is going to happen, you get a sense that you could achieve anything. Tying up the arsenal I could actually feel adrenaline kicking in.
Armed with fresh squid, Thursday nights enormous salmon, and a dozen silver whiting we made the trek down to Phillip Island and geared up the walk in. The carpark was freaking freezing, fully exposed to the SW wind and the fading light. The walk in was mellow and not as bad as I thought it might be with the rising tide.
The easy to navigate ledge was tucked away from the swell....a welcome change to not have to pay absolute attention all the time. After a couple of minutes of dicking around, i landed a bait in the water and instantly hooked up....
Blue spotted goatfish. Super Super aggressive, had only been in the water for 60 seconds and the Tcurve was bending nicely. A good sign!
Next cast CarlG lands a nice grass whiting.....definitely onto some fish....now to find something bigger. A couple more grasswhiting. As I rebate and as my sinker hits the bottome BOOM! in comes a 40ish cm flathead.....we're definitely onto a session here.
With all the action I thought i'd try some soft plastics. Rigging up a pumpkinseed turtle back on a 1/4 ounce jighead gave me some distance and also some finesse on my little 3-6 impact nano.
Six bites in a row, Six turtlebacks destroyed.
I tried a little paddle tail with no effect, and some lighter jigheads but couldn't get the range i needed. Back to chilling with my bait rods....
A couple of minutes later I brought in a beautiful KG! Wow, shallow water ledge fishing is going well....
Then Carl's whiting rig doubles over and the drag on his stradic 4k starts screaming......10 minutes later we break off a MASSIVE skate just at the rocks. Bit of excitement. I love watching these things swim and love watching them swim away even more.
We were fishing a sandy channel with a weedbed and bit of reef out a touch further. It looks EXACTLY like the one at hearn road so we tried jigging for squid. Coudln't get the jigs to work properly so MrG whacked out a silver whiting on a float....
WOO! about 22cm hood i think, we didn't bother measuring it. What a session! Love the diversity. The sense that everytime a rod buckles you don't know whats going to be on the end of it makes this kind of fishing absolutely fascinating. We'd now been fishing for about four hours, had caught 10 different species (swell shark, wrasse and a few more not mentioned here) and hightide was still half an hour away!
Then.......
Nothing happened for the next 90 minutes. At 1030 we decided to call it a night, the original plan was to fish for longer but we both have work sunday and it's been a good night. Just as i'm packing up my whiting rod the nitro doubles over......
And in comes a reasonable sized pinkie! It was a keeper. I didn't get apic just of it but i'll measure it for the species comp after I finish writing this report. Probably could have hung around for another hour but it was getting late and we both decided to call it a night.
We landed eleven species in total, with three keepers and one squid used for baits. Great night on a ledge that I would be entirely comfortable fishing through the night as there is literally no swell.
I don't often keep fish to eat, but Tongiht LadyK and I will eat a seafood buffet of KGW, Flathead and Pinkie snapper.....and if dog is lucky he might get some too.
Last edited by DougieK on Sun Nov 08, 2015 11:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
Chasing LBG and sharing a love for the Martial Arts, everywhere, all the time.
LBG Season 2023/4 :
Kingfish : 61
LBG Season 2023/4 :
Kingfish : 61
- Raulfc7
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Re: New ledge ignites!
Good report Doug well done, by the sounds of it didn't require a ridiculous long walk to the new location :thumbsup:
"Do good when you remember, and what you forget will be revealed to you; and do not surrender your mind to blind forgetfulness."
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Re: New ledge ignites!
According to my pedometre it's 18000 steps over about 8 hours.....not too bad at all. Pretty sure some of the Prom ledges are that much just in walk in.Raulfc7 wrote:Good report Doug well done, by the sounds of it didn't require a ridiculous long walk to the new location :thumbsup:
Chasing LBG and sharing a love for the Martial Arts, everywhere, all the time.
LBG Season 2023/4 :
Kingfish : 61
LBG Season 2023/4 :
Kingfish : 61
- hornet
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Re: New ledge ignites!
Good session Douglas ! a sign of things to come as the water is gradually warming up ! things can only get better and BIGGER fish soon !
He who has the most fishing rods WINS !
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Re: New ledge ignites!
If it's in the area I'm thinking of, I've never had jigs work well in there either but bait's on prongs are pretty consistent for nice squid. When the weather warms up a bit more you might find a few more fishos down there overnight but the KGW which hang around through the summer make it worthwhile!
Was it leatherjackets or couta smashing your plastics do you think?
Was it leatherjackets or couta smashing your plastics do you think?
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Re: New ledge ignites!
Not LJ's, hitting way to hard. I was guessing Wrasse or grassies to be honest. Could have been anything around 35-40cm and fairly explosive. There are so many different fish there I won't make a call until I land one.foggybottom wrote:If it's in the area I'm thinking of, I've never had jigs work well in there either but bait's on prongs are pretty consistent for nice squid. When the weather warms up a bit more you might find a few more fishos down there overnight but the KGW which hang around through the summer make it worthwhile!
Was it leatherjackets or couta smashing your plastics do you think?
Chasing LBG and sharing a love for the Martial Arts, everywhere, all the time.
LBG Season 2023/4 :
Kingfish : 61
LBG Season 2023/4 :
Kingfish : 61
- davek
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Re: New ledge ignites!
Top report and nice catches from your new ledge, good work, cheers davo :thumbsup:
It's an exhilarating feeling catching a fish
But it's an even better feeling releasing them
But it's an even better feeling releasing them
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