Clifton Springs bait collecting

Cunningham Pier, Limeburners Lagoon
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4liters
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Clifton Springs bait collecting

Post by 4liters » Sun Oct 06, 2019 6:36 pm

With the exam done and dusted this week I could finally get out for a decent fish this weekend. Clifton Springs was the destination, I was hoping for some whiting but we ended up not really bothering as the boaties we spoke to were only getting small ones.

It was a stunning morning, and as we headed out I saw some birds swooping so I clipped on a little Xrap and gave chase (leaving Peter a fair way behind in his PA). It wasn't really a bustup, just a few gannets and terns diving on some bait in 2.5m but I trolled around anyway and ended up with a small salmon which was promptly turned into a couple of fillet baits.


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With no whiting in sight and the tide change at 8 we decided to try out the shipping channel for snapper. The wind was perfectly positioned for a drift up the edge of the channel; I dropped down a salmon fillet, and put out a whiting rig to see if I could pick up a few silver whiting. It worked - eventually - but I had to fight through heaps of micro pinkies to get one tiny silver whiting, which replaced the salmon fillet on the big rod. I kept trying for silver whiting but only encountered a staggering number of pinkies, I got one that might have been legal but was too small to be worth keeping, the rest were tiny and had an unfortunate knack for gut hooking themselves even though I was using circles and I quickly ran out of whiting hooks from cutting off so many pinkies. I could see the pinkies on the sounder, in places they formed a band on the screen 2.5m thick, and it was just constant. Every time I dropped a bit down I could see the school on the sounder chasing the bait to the bottom.

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As I was drifting I saw one of the boaties land a decent fish which is seemed pretty happy with. I got a big whack on the silver whiting, which turned out to be a flathead, but on it's way up to the kayak something had a dip at the flathead and he came on board sporting a decent bite mark on his back. I'm thinking it was either a gilla or a big gummy, I think anything else (and maybe the gilla too) would've bitten it clean in half.

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The bite window closed and we headed in closer. There were a lot of kayaks on the water by this stage, including some extremely unsafe looking pool toys with kids in them - if the wind blew up from the south there was no way they were getting back in. I trolled around for some squid while Peter confirmed there were no whiting. I got my bag without too much trouble, I'd recently bought some bigger jigs from Rui and I think thy worked a lot better for trolling in deeper areas (6m or so) than the 3.0 size jigs I've been using. The banana jig was the standout, and I completed my bag with 3 in a hurry when a hooked squid bought a couple of followers to the kayak. Peter was stuck on 5 so I gave him a couple out of pity.

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I tried again for some whiting and got probably the smallest flattie I've seen, and after that we called it quits.

Spent some time chatting to one of the locals at the ramp afterwards, apparently the whiting are around, just not where we fished.
2015/16 Fisting Victoria Species comp total: 289cm
Brown Trout: 37cm
Flathead: 51cm; Squid: 36cm; Australian Salmon: 51cm; Snapper 46cm; Silver Trevally 23cm; KGW: 45cm
Major Sponsor: Rim Master Tackle

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Sebb
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Re: Clifton Springs bait collecting

Post by Sebb » Mon Oct 07, 2019 6:36 am

Sounds like you had a nice session. Well done.
Yeah those micro pinkies can be super annoying. Even when I had big bait on a big hook on Sat, they were hitting it constantly til the bait 's gone.
Never seen a flatty mark like that, interesting. Tough life there.
------------------------------
A fish is a fish :ft:
No fish is worth a life, stay safe

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Re: Clifton Springs bait collecting

Post by bluewater81 » Mon Oct 07, 2019 9:11 am

great report, what depth did you find the squid in over there?

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Re: Clifton Springs bait collecting

Post by 4liters » Mon Oct 07, 2019 9:35 am

bluewater81 wrote:
Mon Oct 07, 2019 9:11 am
great report, what depth did you find the squid in over there?
5-6m mainly
2015/16 Fisting Victoria Species comp total: 289cm
Brown Trout: 37cm
Flathead: 51cm; Squid: 36cm; Australian Salmon: 51cm; Snapper 46cm; Silver Trevally 23cm; KGW: 45cm
Major Sponsor: Rim Master Tackle

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Re: Clifton Springs bait collecting

Post by purple5ive » Mon Oct 07, 2019 10:20 am

That's a good haul. Well done.
That jig is a good allrounder from what I've heard.

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Re: Clifton Springs bait collecting

Post by 4liters » Mon Oct 07, 2019 10:58 am

purple5ive wrote:
Mon Oct 07, 2019 10:20 am
That's a good haul. Well done.
That jig is a good allrounder from what I've heard.
Yeah it goes alright in my experience, for what you pay it’s well worth having a couple
2015/16 Fisting Victoria Species comp total: 289cm
Brown Trout: 37cm
Flathead: 51cm; Squid: 36cm; Australian Salmon: 51cm; Snapper 46cm; Silver Trevally 23cm; KGW: 45cm
Major Sponsor: Rim Master Tackle

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Tim399
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Re: Clifton Springs bait collecting

Post by Tim399 » Mon Oct 07, 2019 7:13 pm

4liters wrote:
Mon Oct 07, 2019 10:58 am
purple5ive wrote:
Mon Oct 07, 2019 10:20 am
That's a good haul. Well done.
That jig is a good allrounder from what I've heard.
Yeah it goes alright in my experience, for what you pay it’s well worth having a couple
Could’ve left the whiting on the hook, cast it back in and caught a “2nd” whiting!

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Re: Clifton Springs bait collecting

Post by 4liters » Mon Oct 07, 2019 7:28 pm

Tim399 wrote:
Mon Oct 07, 2019 7:13 pm
4liters wrote:
Mon Oct 07, 2019 10:58 am
purple5ive wrote:
Mon Oct 07, 2019 10:20 am
That's a good haul. Well done.
That jig is a good allrounder from what I've heard.
Yeah it goes alright in my experience, for what you pay it’s well worth having a couple
Could’ve left the whiting on the hook, cast it back in and caught a “2nd” whiting!
Why stop at two? I could've scored my entire bag that way. And only had to clean one fish at the end of the day!
2015/16 Fisting Victoria Species comp total: 289cm
Brown Trout: 37cm
Flathead: 51cm; Squid: 36cm; Australian Salmon: 51cm; Snapper 46cm; Silver Trevally 23cm; KGW: 45cm
Major Sponsor: Rim Master Tackle

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Re: Clifton Springs bait collecting

Post by Lightningx » Mon Oct 07, 2019 8:31 pm

You did well mate. Sounds like a nice day on the water.
Nice report with some great pics.
Enjoyed the read.
Cheers :tu:

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