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Where
Are The Fish – November
2009
The
big news this month is the
reopening of the Stripey Trumpeter
fishery to recreational anglers.
These fish were closed to
recreational fishing for the
months of September and October
but is now reopen albeit with
a reduced bag limit. The new
on water possession limit
is 4 fish with a total possession
limit of 8 fish. Striped Trumpeter
must be a minimum of 500mm
in size and must be landed
whole with head and tail attached
or as fillets with the frames.
With the fish having a couple
of months rest from angling
pressure the fishing has started
off very strong with many
anglers reporting the best
Stripey fishing they have
seen in years with fish schools
thick. Areas such as the Binalong
Patch, the 14 Mile patch off
Eddystone Point and areas
down off Bicheno and Seymour
have proven to be fertile
grounds with anglers catching
many bag limits. There has
even been a handful of fish
caught closer to home on Merricks
Reef, whilst not huge in numbers
its exciting to think that
the fishing could return to
better days on the inshore
reefs closer to the coast.
With the weather starting
to stabilise a little better
there has been much more action
offshore lately with boat
anglers reporting good hauls
of King Flathead all up and
down the coast. The fish are
consistently holding in 60-70
metres of water and appear
to be quite large in size.
Heading straight off shore
from Elephant Rock in 70 metres
of water will see you on some
excellent Flathead grounds
with Silstar Jig Em Rigs and
3” Candy Squids in Pink
and Triple Glow proving to
be the most successful rigs.
Further inshore Georges Bay
has been firing hard; the
recent rain and flood water
has given it a seasonal flush
it probably hasn’t seen
in years which will only improve
the fishing for the coming
summer. There have been large
amounts of small bait fish
moving throughout the bay
and a couple of the local
jetty anglers have reported
the baitfish schools are as
thick as they have ever seen
them. Kirwan’s and Parkside
jetty’s have been fishing
well with many good sized
Trevally, Salmon and even
Tailor being caught using
either soft plastic lures,
whitebait or freshly caught
baitfish.
Further out in the Bay boat
anglers have been consistently
catching good Australian Salmon
up to 4lb, large Silver Trevally
to 3-4lb and some good Tailor
to around 2lb. Most of these
fish have been caught using
soft plastic lures with the
Squidgy Flick Bait in Evil
Minnow colour and the Slam
3” Minnow in a variety
of colours proving to be the
successful patterns.
Large schools of Salmon have
been seen moving around Moulting
Bay and it’s a case
of covering a little bit of
water until the schools are
located then casting the lures
into the fish and lower down
in the water column have been
schools of big Trevally also
in Moulting Bay.
There has also been a notable
catch of a Gummy Shark in
Georges Bay by local angler
and charter operator Michael
Haley, this fish was caught
on a Squidgy Soft Plastic
lure, was 850cm long as weighed
approximately 8lb. As Georges
Bay is a designated shark
nursery the fish was released
back into the water.
A number of the coastal Lagoons
have broken out to the sea
recently and with a fresh
flush of clean salt water
flowing back in the fishing
has improved to no end. Quality
Salmon, Silver Trevally, Bream,
Mullet, Tailor and even Luderick
have been caught on a mixture
of lures and baits in Lagoons
such as Diana’s Basin,
Grants Lagoon and Big Lagoon.
These lagoons are full of
natural bait such as Sand
or Tubeworms and Nippers that
can be pumped from the mudflats
with a Yabbie pump. For those
not wishing to collect the
bait there is a new product
on the market called Dynabait.
This is a Freeze Dried Tube
or Sand worm bait that you
simply soak the in salt water
for 25 minutes and then you
are ready to fish. As soon
as this baitworm hits the
water the flavour explosion
will attract any fish within
a reasonable distance resulting
in a biting frenzy. The freeze
dried product has a shelf
life of at least 2 years and
can be kept in the car, in
your tackle box or on the
boat, are environmentally
friendly and are all natural.
October the 17th saw the annual
Pioneer Trout Fishing competition
run, the Inland Fisheries
released approximately 200-250
2-5kg Rainbow Trout into the
lake for the competition however
not many of the fish were
caught. Local angler and charter
operator Michael Haley won
the event for a second year
in a row with an 8lb Brown
Trout caught on a Squidgy
Fish in Gary Glitter colour.
For any more advice on where
to go and what to catch just
drop in and see me, Jamie,
at St Helens Bait & Tackle…….Tight
Lines.
Email
contact - sthelensbaitntackle@bigpond.com
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