Weather Conditions Info

[TheGreatestGoat]

Hey All,

The recent blustery conditions have reminded me how little I know about weather in general. Was wanting to learn a bit more about wind direction and the effects on fishing conditions in Port Phillip and Western Port.

Having a relatively small boat, obviously we try and target days with minimal wind for both safety and comfort. But we also want to try and get out for more sessions on the water so hoping to get an idea of which areas of the bays are protected under different wind directions. Try and come up with a shortlist of places to fish when it’s blowing S, SW, N etc.

Can anyone recommend some places that are protected/places not to go based on different wind directions? We fish mainly PPB, but perhaps looking to do more in Westernport. Given the shape of the bay, looks like there may be more ‘protected’ options.

Also, been having a lot of issues with lines going under the boat when wind goes against tide, which is just the worst. I’ve invested in an anchor bridle which should help. But what are the ideal conditions in PPB without the bridle? Does the tide run North in the flood and south in the run out?

Any info greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Goat

[Mattblack]

How small is your boat?
Generally if it's off-shore you should be pretty right....as for where the fish are, I have NFI

[4liters]

For any wind direction you can just pick a bit of coast where the wind is blowing offshore and fish there. For example in WPB Reef Island in close is very fishable in a howling easterly, the Tenby Channel is sheltered in a southerly, Cleeland Bight has shelter from most wind wind directions depending on where abouts in it you fish and so on, That's the joys of having two sort of circular bays, no matter the wind direction there will almost always be somewhere sheltered enough to fish. Just don't do anything stupid and go out really windy conditions

The thing to be really careful of in WPB depending on the size of your boat is that the wind running against the tide can kick up a much bigger chop than you might expect - may not be an issue in the boat but it's certainly something us kayakers need to keep in mind

[Scraglor]

For any wind direction you can just pick a bit of coast where the wind is blowing offshore and fish there. For example in WPB Reef Island in close is very fishable in a howling easterly, the Tenby Channel is sheltered in a southerly, Cleeland Bight has shelter from most wind wind directions depending on where abouts in it you fish and so on, That's the joys of having two sort of circular bays, no matter the wind direction there will almost always be somewhere sheltered enough to fish. Just don't do anything stupid and go out really windy conditions

The thing to be really careful of in WPB depending on the size of your boat is that the wind running against the tide can kick up a much bigger chop than you might expect - may not be an issue in the boat but it's certainly something us kayakers need to keep in mind

This, especially in deeper water, 15 knots with the tide is a totally different beast to 15 knots against it.

[chris srsc]

For any wind direction you can just pick a bit of coast where the wind is blowing offshore and fish there. For example in WPB Reef Island in close is very fishable in a howling easterly, the Tenby Channel is sheltered in a southerly, Cleeland Bight has shelter from most wind wind directions depending on where abouts in it you fish and so on, That's the joys of having two sort of circular bays, no matter the wind direction there will almost always be somewhere sheltered enough to fish. Just don't do anything stupid and go out really windy conditions

The thing to be really careful of in WPB depending on the size of your boat is that the wind running against the tide can kick up a much bigger chop than you might expect - may not be an issue in the boat but it's certainly something us kayakers need to keep in mind

This, especially in deeper water, 15 knots with the tide is a totally different beast to 15 knots against it.

100%.. the 20 meter section nth east of crawfish rock filled my dacks one time...wind blowing hard 20kts easy and tide racing opposite direction...
normally i can get up and skip across the top, but this section was natures way of sayin slow down **** head...lol