Fishing Victoria Forum

So this will be my first full snapper season with a boat , now fully set up.
I'm pretty confident on the techniqes in PPB, but my question is concerning fishing Westernport.
In the few times Ive fished the port over autumn and winter , its clear there is structure everywhere.
Do you head out and sound for fish marks before anchoring or do you fish likely structure?
Do you try shallower when its dark / incoming tide?
What is your method ?
I'm not much for following hoards of boats and would rather get my sounder paying itself off.
cheers

Very generally speaking it’s harder to find feeding fish in Wpb vs ppb. Still possible though. But I think they move around a lot more during a tide. So people aim to intercept them on their cruise lines etc.

Having said that. Our best bagout sessions have generally come sounding fish

Hey Graham, I'm the 2nd worst fisherman on this forum but I usually park myself in a channel near a drop off and fish a couple of hours each side of a change of tide.
Your sounder is going to pay for itself on your 1st trip out when you avoid getting stuck in the mud.

We always sound for fish, and I mean sounding for an hour or two at times before dropping the pick. We'll pick an area, but then scour it pretty hard before actually dropping baits, so say we pick Joe's Island, we'll sound around it, not just the area to the Sputh where we'd normally fish. Go against the tide, then back over with the tide for better clarity. Weed is a big enemy up the top end of the Port, especially after a big blow, so playing around with the sensitivity will become second nature.
As Ducky said, you can simply park up off Hastings, or up in one of the channels near Lang Lang, and you might have fish run across your baits as they cruise with the tide, but it's not something I'd suggest for snaps.

Theres areas with structure where you can anchor and wait where you will be in the running for big red. Other areas sound up looking for grazing fish or stacked up schools

Mattblack wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 01, 2020 1:34 pm

Hey Graham, I'm the 2nd worst fisherman on this forum but I usually park myself in a channel near a drop off and fish a couple of hours each side of a change of tide.
Your sounder is going to pay for itself on your 1st trip out when you avoid getting stuck in the mud.

Who’s the worst

Kimtown wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 01, 2020 6:24 pm

Mattblack wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 01, 2020 1:34 pm

Hey Graham, I'm the 2nd worst fisherman on this forum but I usually park myself in a channel near a drop off and fish a couple of hours each side of a change of tide.
Your sounder is going to pay for itself on your 1st trip out when you avoid getting stuck in the mud.

Who’s the worst

Thought we agreed that was you

Mattblack wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 01, 2020 7:45 pm

Kimtown wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 01, 2020 6:24 pm

Mattblack wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 01, 2020 1:34 pm

Hey Graham, I'm the 2nd worst fisherman on this forum but I usually park myself in a channel near a drop off and fish a couple of hours each side of a change of tide.
Your sounder is going to pay for itself on your 1st trip out when you avoid getting stuck in the mud.

Who’s the worst

Thought we agreed that was you

Lol yeah, that’s probably fair

Mattblack wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 01, 2020 1:34 pm

Hey Graham, I'm the 2nd worst fisherman on this forum but I usually park myself in a channel near a drop off and fish a couple of hours each side of a change of tide.
Your sounder is going to pay for itself on your 1st trip out when you avoid getting stuck in the mud.

I rate you well above b2f purely because you don't release your toad fish and recatch then.

So your upto the 3rd worse now

Cheers bm

Mattblack wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 01, 2020 1:34 pm

Hey Graham, I'm the 2nd worst fisherman on this forum but I usually park myself in a channel near a drop off and fish a couple of hours each side of a change of tide.
Your sounder is going to pay for itself on your 1st trip out when you avoid getting stuck in the mud.

classic.