KGW Gippsland Lakes

Pirkz
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Re: KGW Gippsland Lakes .....Again....

Post by Pirkz » Fri Apr 15, 2022 9:13 pm

Its 0615 and Im up early (for me) to let a dog out.. not THE dog (our Fox terrier cross rescue mutt) but A visiting hound who couldn't fit out of the cat flap on account of him being a 30kg Staffy. Whilst viewing the garden ,various snails and a dog doing its thing i.e. p*ssing on my grass , I couldn't help but notice the colours on the horizon, and a beautiful sunrise developing...and it was calm as...so now ... decisions ....decisions ...to fish or not to fish (again)....how awake (read motivated) am I ? Warm bed or a cold boat....Dog back through the door ,everyone upstairs once more and the bed won
( I am a bit of a lazy bar steward by nature unfortunately) - and there is always tomorrow . Fast forward 4 hours, 2 dog walks, and some piscatorial promises to neighbours and Im back down Fort King jetty once more (walked the dog here earlier) about to launch on another first.. a mission to catch a KGW from behind Raymond Island ...thereby avoiding a cruise to Metung and consequently saving $10 in gas and 30 mins of my life. All good... the boat floats and starts ( always a good sign with an old Tinny) and 15 mins @38kph later (1130 ish) lines were in and the clock of expectation was started . Trying to be clever by interpreting the sonar contours on the App I chose a likely spot 400m away from the 2 boats already moored up in the area and... and nothing. No bites = boring .. So decided to join the armada of 2 and ended up anchored 50m away from 1 in 1.7m, and within a few minutes started to catch quite steadily . Fishing 1-2 rods depending on the bite rate ...notched up about 14 in the esky in a couple of hours, and all fish were of a good size 35 - 40cm on squid or prawn. Threw a few smaller ones back along with 2 @ 38 & 40cm ( to appease the fish gods) and after only one move of 100m (so 2 new Navtronics markers stored for future reference,) ended the day with about 26 KGW of which 20 were kept - & 16 of these were donated to a worthy cause/ neighbours. The last 2 fish were a double header on one of those commercial 2 hook whiting rigs... both fish measured 38 , so overall the day gave up nearly 7 m of KGW combined (20 @ min 35 cm). And that was my Good Friday ... literally... with not an Easter egg in sight!
Mission accomplished!
Happy Easter/holidays & Tight Lines
Pirkz
Attachments
kgw double.jpg
Last edited by Pirkz on Sat Apr 16, 2022 7:02 am, edited 1 time in total.

Hammy Y
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Re: KGW Gippsland Lakes

Post by Hammy Y » Fri Apr 15, 2022 10:58 pm

Great reports Pirkz, I've really enjoyed reading them over the past few days.
Are you heading out this morning (16/4) or Sunday (17/4)?
I'm staying down in Metung at the moment and I'm heading up the Tambo at first light tomorrow on my ski targeting bream, will let you know how it goes.
I might have a crack targeting the KGW on Sunday up near Nungurner or around Shaving Point.
Let me know if you're heading out and I'll keep an eye out for you!
Cheers and tight lines.

Pirkz
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Re: KGW Gippsland Lakes - Never Assume

Post by Pirkz » Mon Apr 18, 2022 9:30 am

Sunday morning once again (not that the dog knows what day it is) and walking the Fort King jetties at 10 am . Met a boat coming in with a few Taylor on board. Visitors from Mel homeward board the following day and no KGW to sample. So being me I gave em the good gen (spots) , and promised to drop off a few later in the day at their Air b n b residence just across from the ramp. 11 am afloat at my new best friend of a spot (behind Raymond Island.), without little Jimmy dog who doesn't like the water. Expectation was high after Fridays fish, when I could not not catch a fish a bite - almost. Sun was out once again and all was calm ....literally. Berley in, tea poured , come on fishies I know you're there........1130am not a bite ......1200 ... still nada. Couldn't lose a bait...not even a Toady! Hmmmmm.... whats going on? (well more of a WTF actually ). So move 100m , fish, moan, repeat and again and again.. absolutely dead. So fearing that I would look a complete (fishless) tw*t back at the ramp, plan B was invoked ... and off to Shaving point it was. Surely Id get a good feed there in no time, as has been the case over the last few weeks. Long story short (for once), no it wasnt to be . Despite another 4 hrs on the water and several moves, only managed 5 KGW and actually kept one at 30 cm (sorry about that). Boat traffic was high so some wake induced rollercoaster fishing, and at times it looked to me as though I was the only person in Gippsland who didn't own a Jetski (yet). So a good albeit disappointing day afloat with a few lessons learnt. Dont assume you will catch, (fish have no postcodes) and promise what you don't already have, and don't chuck most of your berley into the first spot you fish unless you get at least a tap tap. And finally, definitely maybe I just need to just get on the water a lot earlier (dawn) like some others do...who knows.. but that's fishing...All fish donated to a new neighbour (walking their dog) as the Melb mob weren't in when I called to keep my promise. And surprisingly, lamb not chicken (or fish) for T.
Tight Lines
Pirkz

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Re: KGW Gippsland Lakes-Winters Coming.

Post by Pirkz » Fri Apr 22, 2022 10:49 am

Winter is coming, and sadly the grass was (and still is) too wet to cut so I thought that I'd nip across to the back of Raymond Island for a couple of hours yesterday arvo, despite a breezy south westerly which would make the transit a little lumpy (read quite rough) once past the northern shore of Raymond Island . Suitably shaken and stirred, I eventually reached the target area and chose a spot close to a previous marker in 1.7m and baited up expectantly. Fish curry for T - the only ingredient missing being the fish.. oh and my bait - fresh Woolies prawns, which had been left behind in the fridge. So if all else failed it would be prawn curry on the menu . But squid on board - so all good. Anchored up in the chop and the boat was swinging about a fair bit (as expected) so deployed a (yet to be patented) makeshift rear anchor (v 2.0), consisting of an old concrete block in a porous hessian type shopping bag attached via its handles to a 2m length of rope; which to be fair actually worked quite well. And it was an improvement on a previous version (v1.0) where the bag wasn't porous and ended up being twice the design weight on the retrieve owing to it holding several gallons of water along with the block which combined nearly gave me a hernia when trying to drag it up over the bow on account of it weighing close to 30kg! So lines in ... and out, and in,... nothing. Then the lightest of tap tap's (always lifts the mood) which after a minute or two resulted in being eye to eye (though socially distanced @1.5m ) with a KGW of about 38 cm ish, but only briefly, as it declined an invitation to come aboard just prior to the lift in, slipped the hook, and disappeared pronto back into its backyard. Bugger... 30 mins later... nothing ...(it must have dobbed me in to its fishy mates) so time for a move. Coupla quick stops here and there (10 mins each) all within a 100m of so and.... again disappointingly nothing . By now it was approaching 5 ish - dusk was falling, wind still blowing, boat still bouncing and the fish not biting ... and it was getting cold. Admittedly I was still wearing my summer attire of favourite old scaggy fishing shorts and T shirt, which were now accessorised by anything I could find in the storage box on board i.e a fleece, windproof jacket, beanie and neck scarf and old travel socks (courtesy of British Airways ) when the W word (work) used to replace the F word (fishing). But I digress. So last chance for a fish - moved once more to an area which the sounder showed to be a bit rougher than the immediate surrounds, and still weedy ( that,s what the yellow is right?) and at 1.6m around the target depth. Continued to fish 2 rods using squid on a running trace and a paternoster rig and 45 mins and 5 fish later I called it a day. So success - and Nav lights on, as it was just about dark o' clock, I headed back to the ramp a bit quicker than the outbound leg as the wind had dropped as forecast. Pleased to still be catching some quality plump fish 38 - 41 from a spot not associated with a previous trips Navtronic's marker (well it is now). Worth reminding new players that when fish of this size are about its worth keeping an eye /or hand on a rod as some of the takes can be quite enthusiastic and tackle quickly overboard could be the result of inattention when they are biting, as I almost found. Edited to add - took Mrs P over to the same area today (Fri) for a few hours afloat in the Rae Line - so home made cake and T and a bit of social domestic intercourse was the focus and not the fishing - still managed 2 more KGW 40 & 38.
Tight Lines
Pirkz
Attachments
5KGW21APR.jpg

Pirkz
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Re: KGW Gippsland Lakes- Anzac Day

Post by Pirkz » Mon Apr 25, 2022 6:57 pm

Short story short. Went out for 3 hr sessions Sat for 9 KGW and today for 16 - all 34-40 cm. East of northern end of Raymond Island in 1.6m - 1.9 over the weed banks still firing. No early morning start required. Squid and prawn both effective - not a mussel in sight.
Tight Lines
Pirkz
Attachments
kgwanzac day.jpg

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Re: KGW Gippsland Lakes

Post by bowl » Mon Apr 25, 2022 8:01 pm

Nice ting 👌
To many boats kayak, helicopter , catch a fish,catch a fish

Lightningx
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Re: KGW Gippsland Lakes- Anzac Day

Post by Lightningx » Tue Apr 26, 2022 7:48 am

Pirkz wrote:
Mon Apr 25, 2022 6:57 pm
Short story short. Went out for 3 hr sessions Sat for 9 KGW and today for 16 - all 34-40 cm. East of northern end of Raymond Island in 1.6m - 1.9 over the weed banks still firing. No early morning start required. Squid and prawn both effective - not a mussel in sight.
Tight Lines
Pirkz
Great catch!
Well done 👍🏻

AndyM
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Re: KGW Gippsland Lakes

Post by AndyM » Tue Apr 26, 2022 2:52 pm

Thanks for sharing

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yepi'mon
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Re: KGW Gippsland Lakes

Post by yepi'mon » Fri Apr 29, 2022 3:28 pm

Thanks for all the reports guys.

Visited Paynesville last night and tried a few spots that looked promising to end up at shaving point for a relatively quick bite on sundown for 20 minutes or so… 15 whiting in the bag.

Cheers

Pirkz
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Re: KGW Gippsland Lakes

Post by Pirkz » Wed May 04, 2022 1:00 pm

Well sharing is caring.....and on that note.....Fished Mon & Tue 11-3pm ish. Monday launched in Paynesville south of Raymond Island and fished a few spots in Wollaston Bay en route to the anticipated catch zone abeam the northern end of the Island. Nothing doing despite multiple moves in various depths 1.4 - 2m. Eventually fished an old marker point at the northern end of the Bay in 1.9 and after a slow start ended up with 11 keepers 35-40 cm. Bite improved when I switched from a running trace and size 4 circle hook rig to a 3 hook sabiki paternoster rig baited with 1-2 cm pieces of squid. Lost a couple of bigger fish as the gape of the rather small hooks pulled open a couple of times as I tried to bully the fish in - lesson learnt. 7 given away and 4 kept. And with so little fish in the fridge and another balmy day forecast, Tuesday afloat (again) was a forgone conclusion. Headed over to Shaving Point for a change of scenery, and despite moving to half a dozen of the previous hotspots, couldn't lose a bait. Decided to give a random spot just past the red markers opposite the northern end of Raymond Island on the Metung side, a quick fish en route back to Mondays productive mark. Chose an area in 2m showing some weed and after a bit of a wait was more than pleased (ecstatic actually) to get a small toady like tap tap on the multi hook sabiki rig which turned out to be not one but two KGW - 38 & 32 -the smaller one of which was released. Over the following 40 mins only managed one more @ 38. Always nice to catch in a new area, especially after a slow start. But 1 hr in and with no improvement in the bite rate i.e. no activity whatsoever, one last move was required to finish the day with 7 KGW 36-40 CM - with most being caught on the sabiki rig tactic using small baits. 3 kept 4 donated - Should be afloat today as I type this up as it will no doubt be the last of this glorious autumnal weather for a while (probably next autumn!). Thought Id include a screen shot showing the marks mentioned in the previous posts as well as this one.
Tight Lines
Pirkz
Attachments
Screenshot_20220504-124212[8856].png
view (2).jpg
7KGW2 May.jpg

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