Port Phillip bay launching conditions

[8BALL]

Well my holidays have arrived and I've been keen to get out on the boat fishing but everytime I've checked BOM the bay reports are always 15knots +. Making it unbearable to really fish in, nearly 2 weeks of observations and maybe one or two really fish able days. Just wondering what conditions others are launching in - and should I be looking at more then just knots? Ie wind direction.

[Linc]

What sort of boat have you got mate? I launched at mornington in my 4.3M quinny in around 12knots the other day which wasn't fantastic but it was bearable as the water was fairly protected until we got out a few k's. It has been quite frustrating though, it's so hard to get a nice calm day on the bay this year! The few good days mother natures gives us are ruined by work!

[frozenpod]

PPB is calm like a big lake as it has low tidal flow and there are many shelted locations.

Provided you have a reasonable boat and skipper 15 knots will be fine and I'm sure you can find shelted locations to fish.

[8BALL]

Boat is a 5.2 metre aluminum half cabin. I'm use to Western Australia fishing where you can hide behind islands to avoid the winds/waves but pp doesn't seem to be like that

[dragonfly]

I have a Cruisecraft 600 - 6M nice, heavy fibreglass boat. I was out yesterday and it was really uncomfortable at 20kts. Anything up to 15kts and I'm heading out. :fish11:

My previous tub was a 4.7M fibreglass boat, and I would only head out in under 10kts.

One thing to look at is wind direction and where you're going to fish. I it's SW and you'd be protected by headland, you should be OK - but you still have to get there.

The key thing I look at is wind vs. tide. If you have wind pushing against the tide, the waves get pretty big, pretty quick. Seabreeze makes that easy by showing you wave height forecasts, based on this data...

[FishSamFish]

I'll head out in 20-30 kts, Revival 5.25m, just have to keen the bow pointed into the waves (not swell but, waves) and put along at 8 kts. I am happy with wind but won't go out if the swell is 1-1.5m, up to 1m is fine for me. just don't let the waves/swell hit you side on, and when going with them, sit ontop of the peak, also use a lot more anchor rope.

I was down getting gear today at stkilda and the wind was 15kts easy, but the swell was pretty fair, 0-0.5m, no waves over the beach or near the pier.

it's always best to check two or three weather sites, head down, but if it's not looking safe, don't go out , you can't know if it's good 'till you're down there.
as I've been out around 6am, on sunrise with predicted .5m swell and it was like glass. explain that :p

also ^above me (forgot name for now) is right. if you have a SSW or SSE or SE or S or SW (phew-so many southerlys) then fish an incoming to slack tide!

[Bartnmax]

I think a lot of it depends on wind direction also.
A 15 knot northerly will still see reletively flat conditions with a fair, but still hanbdle-able chop.
A 15 knot southerly will see a larger, but quite predictable swell that can still be easilly fished.
However, a 15 knot westerly, if yer fishing the western siode of the bay, can be an absolute bastard.
That wind comes across the open western plains & hits the bay, raising a nasty, short, sharp chop that's not only uncomfortable to try to fish, but it can start to get a bit dangerous if it get's up too much.
An Easterly is generally also a bit choppyy but can still be fished ok.
Generally for snapper fishing I like a SE wind & would not hesitate to fish one at 15 knots with swells to 1-1.5 meters.
Your boat should be fine for the bay in reasonable conditions. I wouldn't think a 15 knot wind would bother you too much, just watch the wind direction, barometer, & weather reports (getting caught out during one of those sudden wind changes can be a bit of a bastard.
The good thing about fishing PPB is that you are land locked.
If something gows wrong there is land in all directions, but it can also be a fair way off as well.

One piece of advice is to make sure you have a good anchor & adequate rope to go with it.
I actually fish two anchors on a bridle most of the time.
It's a technique of setting the two anchors out front of the boat at roughly 30-45 degrees.
This will dramatically reduce the boat swinging & make fishing at anchor, even in fair sized swells, reletively comfortable.
The beauty of using this system is also that the two free ends of your anchor ropes can be eye spliced & shackeled together, so that if things really get hairy you can drop one anchor with both ropes out & have virtually no chance of dragging that pick (course you also need reasonable chain length as well).

Last piece of advice - when fishing at anchor, with the motor off, keep the donk in gear to prevent the prop turning in the current.
Then if your line hapens to come in contact with the prop you won't have problems with the rotating prop tangling the line around the prop shaft.
This can be an absolute pain in the arse, especially if you're using braid line. Nothing worse than trying to unwrap a length of braid from your prop shaft with a fair swell & wind blowing.

[Linc]

That's all great advice Bartnmax.

I'm interested in the duel anchor method, I've seen it before, the best part is the non-swinging boat which is very annoying when trying to snapper fish with 4 people on board casting out a combo of braid and mono! I'm going to have to do some more research on this.