Fishing Monthly Magazine | March 2024 by Fishing Monthly

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A royal feed: KG whiting • Lift your squid games • Vic Fisheries evolution • Prized yellowtail kingfish •

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Neil Slater brings us: A royal feed with King George whiting March, 2024 ISSN 2652-5798

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From the Editor’s Desk... It’s the end of an era at Fishing Monthly – our long-serving Production Manager and Director, Matt Drinkall, is off to see the world after never missing a print deadline in nearly 30 years. Thank you for your dedication to the publication, Matt. Millions of readers have enjoyed your work. Jacqui Thomas is stepping up to the role of assembling the magazine in a desktop-publishing, as well as writerwrangling sense, so we hope you enjoy the first of the magazines that she has taken the full way through.

Also, this month sees the retirement of Jason Ehrlich from compiling the Queensland freshwater impoundment reports. Jason is a stalwart of the title, and we thank him for his many years of keeping readers up to date in the fresh. NET-FREE GIPPSLAND AMAZES Our sister company, ABT, runs annual bream fishing tournaments in Gippsland Lakes. We just finished the 2024 iteration, where an incredible 1,800 bream were logged into the tournament app. This result was up from 1,100 the previous year. Ever since the Lakes became net-free,

there’s been an anecdotal improvement in the quality of fishing, and now the data proves it. Thank you, Victoria, for the gift; it will keep on giving for years. SUBSCRIBERS And while I’m handing out thanks – subscribers have voted with their wallets, and we hit the top 10 in the iSubscribe sales over the Christmas period. We never thought we would make it that high, especially since the next highest fishing publication was down in the 80s, but there ya go! You keep ordering it, and we will keep making it!

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REGULAR FEATURES A royal feed: KG whiting

Prized yellowtail kingfish

Lift your squid games

Sydney Rock

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Tagging Tales

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Sheik of the Creek

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FEATURE

Species

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Bellarine King George whiting: a royal feed GEELONG

Neil Slater slaterfish@gmail.com

The Bellarine Peninsula on the south-western edge of Port Phillip Bay is considered one of the best locations for whiting in Victoria. Towns like St Leonards, Portarlington and Queenscliff go nuts during the holiday periods and one of the big draw cards is the king – King George.

TACKLE You don’t need fancy tackle to target whiting – just shout yourself a 2m, 2-3kg spin rod and add a 2500sized spin reel, plus 3kg mono or 4kg braid. You should always add a leader to braid to reduce tangles. I also recommend tying on a snap-swivel to make it easier to swap out whiting rigs or switch to a squid jig quickly. BAIT All conventional baits will catch Bellarine whiting, although the fish

Above: Hugh wrestles a whiting boatside. Whiting like to hug the bottom when hooked. Main: Stewie and Adam with a fair catch on a windy afternoon off Leopold. 8 MARCH 2024

can get selective on some days. For this reason, it’s best to take a variety of baits, and use fresh stuff when possible. The two baits I always have on deck are pipis and squid. Calamari are plentiful around the Bellarine and they can often be caught in the same place you fish for whiting. Pilchard fillets and mussels also catch plenty of whiting. You can buy mussels fresh off the pier at Portarlington, and there are plenty of bait outlets in the region. Cuttlefish are another top bait, and are most often caught as a by-catch when searching for calamari. Calamari are excellent bait as they provide a high volume and are tender as a rare steak. RIGS You can use a paternoster or running sinker on the Bellarine, although a paternoster is more versatile if you need to swap out sinkers if the current strength changes. I like to tie up a bunch of paternosters with varying leader lengths, and a loop knot for a sinker dropper. The loop knot is used in conjunction with a bomb sinker to allow quick changes. I store my rigs on small blocks of closed cell packing foam so I can get back into the action if I get snagged or bust off. HOOKS Long-shank bait holder hooks can prevent baits slipping down the shank

Squid are top bait – just ask Lincoln. and spinning. However, they are not completely immune to it, so check often if you are in a quiet period. These hooks hold squid strips well and are good for soft baits because you can really load them up with a fish-attracting feast. I have noticed a reduced bite rate with shiny (stainless) long-shank hooks if the bait doesn’t

Species FEATURE

FMM

This mixture of sizes will cover you around the Bellarine. completely cover the shank, so load them up with bait until they’re covered. The only downside with longshank hooks is that they gut-hook fish more often than circle hooks do. To minimise gut hooking, hold your rod, keep the line tight, and strike the fish when the rod tip loads up. Small circle hooks work best with small baits, such as squid, and can reduce the number of gut-hooked fish. When you use circle hooks, it’s also more likely the fish will hook itself when the rod is in the holder. A 3cm strip of squid is all that is needed. Just pin the first centimetre or so with

the circle hook, and thread it to the gape to prevent spinning if there is decent tidal flow. ATTR ACTORS Some people use red tube, wool, or a bead to attract fish to their bait. I know this works because I have fished with an attractor and without, side by side. You definitely get more bites with the attractor. ‘Bites’ being the key word – you’ll get more toadies, leatherjacket and so on – but definitely more whiting as well. The only downside with bulky attractors such as beads is that they restrict hook removal on gut-hooked fish. SOFT PLASTICS If you want to fish with soft

plastics, you’re unlikely get the same numbers of fish as bait fishos, but it can still be worth a try. Your best bet is to use thin, worm-style soft plastics on light jigheads. Working your plastic very slowly along the bottom will do the trick if fish are about and hungry.

Just imagine this bit of plastic is squid – cut to a thin triangle to reduce spinning in the current.

This beast of 48cm was pinned in the corner of the mouth with a circle hook near Point Lonsdale.

LEADER Your choice of leader is almost as critical as your choice of bait. You can fish down to 3kg monofilament, but if you go any lighter you can break off fish as they thrash boatside. Anything over 4kg can reduce bite rates from fussy fish.

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QLD Tropical North

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Skip casting under branches to hungry barra TOWNSVILLE

Dave Hodge

Cyclone Kirrily turned out to be one of the driest cyclones imaginable; the highest rainfalls I heard of were only around 120mm. Don’t get me wrong, after watching the news of the Cyclone Jasper fallout, it’s clear things could have been a lot worse for us. Still, getting a bit more rain in the lead-up to the barra season opening would have been nice. Fortunately, there’s more rain on the horizon, and there are no nets removing the big breeders. I’m sure

closed. Out in the bay, there were trout and other tasty morsels on tap, and if you just wanted to bend a rod, there were queenies and GTs just waiting to grab a well-placed lure. The heat has kept most people off the water, though. We have all become a bit soft thanks to air conditioning! In the days after the cyclone, it was clear just how soft we’ve become as we sat melting in the backyard in front of fans that had no more power than a frog’s fart. Before the barra season opened, we braved the heat to look around some spots we planned to visit after 1 February. We saw barra boofing

would be good. Casting surface lures is my favourite way to catch barra, and I’m sure many of you would feel the same way. Our standard barra tackle is a 20lb baitcaster or spin setup, with the baitcaster setup for the close-in stuff and the spin rigs for the long-distance scenarios. We use Atomic Arrowz rods for this type of fishing, as the tip is user-friendly for making accurate casts and, when required, delicate casts that don’t spook fish. An 8-16lb rod is the go for your average stuff, and a 6-12lb, 5’6” rod is perfect for accurate, close-quarters fishing. In these scenarios, you can get good results on 80mm poppers or stickbaits. Stickbaits can perform better than poppers when the fish are a bit less enthusiastic. In my experience, less noisy lures work well

predators were eating! We’ve had a great run of prawns this summer, so our go-to has been soft plastic prawn imitations rigged on weedless hooks. These plastics also work at other times of the year because pretty much everything eats a prawn. That includes jacks, grunter, fingermark (golden snapper), barra, queenies and just about any other estuary species you can think of. You’ll need to rig your prawn imitation correctly to get the most out of it. In deeper waters and drain

When the bigger tides mess up the rivers, the author heads out in the bay to catch a feed. This trout ate a 3.25” Plazo paddle-tail meant for a grass emperor. we’ll manage to nail a few barra throughout the year. There was plenty of fishing action to keep us busy while the season was

bait with serious enthusiasm, which gave us a bit of an adrenalin rush! The fish’s behaviour was a sign that the surface bite early in the season

Rigged weedless, this Atomic Prong was worked over the top of thick weed to get the bite on the surface. The colour is motor UV, which is ideal for tannin-stained waters. when the runoff starts to clear a bit. When it comes to diving lures, I have been getting good results casting around structure with the TB80, which is effective on both jacks and barra. With very slow buoyancy, the TB80 can be stalled and worked for prolonged periods around structure and drains where fish are holding. If you want to change the depth range during a retrieve, just point the rod tip upwards to go shallow, or down towards the surface for a deeper retrieve. My son and I went up near Lucinda to hunt some jacks recently, and as we pulled up at the ramp, prawns were jumping onto the sand. It wasn’t hard to figure out what the

40 MARCH 2024

Blades are effective when the fish are holding in deeper water. Tannhym Hodge nailed this fingermark in a deep hole after spotting a school on the sounder.

The Paddle Prawn 5” in fluoro orange is often seen swinging from our rod tips. It really comes into its own in dirty water. situations we use a ‘J’ styled jighead, often in the 1/4-1/3oz weight and 4/0 hook size. For the more rough-andtumble snaggy stuff, though, we rig our plastics weedless on a 5/0 Atomic

Tropical North QLD

FMM Seeker EWG 1/4oz. For some reason the Seekerz are a bit tough to get at the moment, so if you see them on the shelves at your local independent tackle shop, I recommend grabbing them while you can. We use soft plastic prawn imitations ranging from 4” to 7”, depending on the scenario. If the structure is thick and the fish are way back in amongst the snags, our go-to is the 4” Atomic Prong rigged on a 5/0 Seeker EWG. This jighead

sits slightly tighter against the body, reducing the snag rate. If the bite is on the surface, completely unweighted surface presentations will be the best. You’ll want to commence the retrieve as soon as the lure finishes its forward momentum; this approach is key to getting bites more consistently. Striking is imperative, and if you’re not quick enough to set that hook, you’ll miss the connection to the fish. Leader-wise, we find 30lb Dangan

Casting around the mouth of a drain, Tannhym used a TB80 to tempt this barra into having a go. This lure has copped a flogging, and there’s hardly any paint left.

A reliable way to catch fingermark is with a live herring, mullet or gar fished on the bottom. Note the dilly pot for lifting and lowering fish from a high platform.

fluorocarbon to be the best, although we’ll switch to 40lb when the bigger fish are playing dirty. Finally, if you’re not skipping plastics at the moment, you’re missing out on catching a lot of fish deep in structure. If you remember skipping rocks from a creek bank when you were a kid, you’ll pick it up easily. To skip your plastic, start with your

rod tip down and cast the lure out so it flies horizontally. If your lure is travelling horizontally above the water before you release the cast, it WILL skip for you. The more of it you do, the more refined your casting will be. If you want to see how effective it really is, check out our humble little YouTube channel at Hodgie The Barefoot Fisherman.

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MARCH 2024 41

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NSW

FMM

Tasty mixed bags for anglers fishing the washes SYDNEY ROCK & BEACH

Alex Bellissimo alex@bellissimocharters.com.au

Finally, that summer heatwave is in the rear-view mirror. We’ll have fewer sleepless nights this month, and more comfortable days on the water. Autumn marks the beginning of more favourable weather and some milder days – and the fishing is damn good! Here’s what we can expect this month off the rocks and beaches.

a mac tuna. Some mid-north coast land-based game anglers chasing northern bluefin tuna regard mac tuna as a nuisance, nicknaming them ‘dirty macs’. Personally, I’m rapt when I catch this underrated tuna species. Besides, most LBG anglers would agree they fight harder pound-for-pound than a northern blue does. Mac tuna don’t get anywhere near as large as a blue. If you can manage a 6-7kg mac tuna in Sydney, you’re doing well; we rarely get larger fish here. However, if you

you mention something to these anglers, they often just ignore you or become quite belligerent. A better alternative is to take photos and, if you happen to be leaving at the same time, take a photo of their car and hand it over to Fisheries, with any other info you have. Fisheries Officers are spread thin, so getting them to turn up in time to bust these anglers can be hard. Still, the offenders often return to the same spot to take more undersized fish, making it easier for them to be caught. Another way to help Fisheries Officers is to mention that it often happens at that spot, and they can eventually apprehend these anglers. At the end of the day, the goal is to protect our fish stocks for the future. If masses of small fish are killed before they’re old enough to spawn, everybody loses. A wide range of species have been caught recently, including a nice spangled emperor. One of my clients, Pat, caught it while wash fishing* for rock blackfish, and I have included a photo on this page. Spangled emperor fight hard and are superb on the plate. They get a fair bit bigger than Pat’s fish, but for Sydney it’s a quality fish. Generally, spangled emperor eat crustaceans and cephalopods, so the preferred baits are usually prawns and squid. However, you can also catch spangled emperor on fish baits.

Pat Chaysinh with a 55cm spangled emperor, which she caught on a trip with the author. On the right gear, spangled emperor pull hard, and most anglers in this region never encounter one. plenty of other baits that will work. Fresh is best. Whichever bait you’re using, add some of it to your berley. You can bulk up the rest of the berley with bread or chicken pellets. Good spots to fish include Bluefish Point, North and South Curl Curl, the

Part of a beautiful mixed bag from the washes: snapper to 48cm, bonito and salmon. The fish were caught on a mixture of pillies, king prawns and OT metal jigs. L-R: Adam Annesly, Angus Annesly (12yo) and Brodie Leigh. ROCK FISHING We’ve had a great run of bonito this summer, and we can expect the action to continue in the coming weeks. Frigates and mac tuna will also be common catches off the rocks this month. If you like sashimi, and want to try a fish with a more punchy flavour, try mac tuna. The flesh is bloodier, and makes great sashimi in my opinion. And of course, mac tuna also make great bait for a range of species like snapper, bream, trevally, kings, and mulloway. Basically, whatever eats a pilchard will relish

head north around Seal Rocks or further, they can get up to 10-11kg+. That’s a very impressive mac! The king fishing hasn’t been as good as we’d like. Some of the locals have been getting bigger fish to 13kg, but they’re few and far between. Most of the kings caught have been the usual rats from 55cm to near legal size (65cm). Unfortunately, some unscrupulous anglers have been taking home undersized fish. It may be tempting to just ignore these grubs, but I think it’s better to act, or they’ll just keep taking more and more. If

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Daiwa executives Daniel, Greg and Brett enjoying a beach outing. It was a fun session, and many more fish were caught by the group. Some quality snapper up to 55cm have been caught by some locals and clients. Mixed in amongst them have been other species like small kings, bonito, salmon, and bream. Generally, while wash fishing, you’ll be fishing deeper water around 4-10m or, if you can find the rock spots, even deeper. Most of the time you’ll be using light sinkers, hook sizes between 2/0 to 3/0, and a line weight between 5.5-10kg. Fishing the heavier gear allows you to fish really rough terrain, and if you get tangled up in a sizeable red or king you have a better chance of landing it. As always, having a variety of baits is a plus. Squid strips, pilchards and king prawns are good options, but there are

ledge front of Mona Vale pool, Bangalley Head, and North Whale Rocks. BEACHES The beaches have been producing the usual species like tailor, out-of-season salmon, whiting, bream, flathead, some mulloway, and dusky whaler sharks. Unfortunately, while using smaller baits like beach worms and small fish fillets, we have been catching quite a few rays lately. On some outings, my clients have been catching up to half a dozen, which is a nuisance. Please be careful if you catch a ray because even the small dinner-plate size ones have sizeable barbs on their tail. Those barbs can inflict a lot of pain if they spike you. Even worse, rays often swallow

Sydney NSW

FMM

Lots of places to catch succulent sand whiting

Maddie, the author’s colleague at BCF Taren Point, caught this fan-belly leatherjacket while fishing off one of the wharves in the Port Hacking.

dark blotches at the base of their pec fins. Sand whiting have a minimum size of 27cm and a combined bag limit of 20 (a ‘combined’ limit means other whiting species are included in the limit). Whether you drift or anchor while bait fishing, I have found that you need to keep the bait moving when chasing whiting. I use a leader length of at least a metre so the bait can move about a fair bit. When targeting whiting off the beach, you can use a running sinker down onto a swivel, and I recommend a leader of no longer than 90cm. Alternatively, you can use a doublehooked paternoster rig. Places to try in a boat are Botany Bay, wide off Towra, the middle of the bay out from Brighton, Dolls Point, Silver and Frenchmans Beach and The Sticks. From the shore, you could try Silver and Frenchmans Beach, Dolls Point, Brighton, and the rock walls at the entrance to the Cooks River. In the Georges River, you could try just downstream of the Como Bridge, Kogarah Bay, the stretch of water near the old Lugarno ferry, The Moons and the stretch of water just upstream of the Alfords Point Bridge. The place called Cattle Duffers and the State National Park are a couple more spots. If you venture up the Woronora River there are plenty of sand flats you could try drifting. From the shore, you could try Bonnet Bay and

your bait right down, so extracting the hook can get messy and dangerous. Just let them have it, and cut the line close to their mouth before you carefully release them. This is standard practice for other gut-hooked species as well, unless you are confident you can extract the hook without causing too much damage. I prefer hooks that aren’t stainless steel, so if I gut-hook a fish and have to release it, the hook has a chance to rust and become barbless, making it easier for the fish to spit the hook. That maximises the fish’s chance of survival. Nice, fat whiting to 40cm have been caught in recent weeks, with the average legal-size fish being 30-33cm on most beaches. Bream are a common bycatch whilst whiting fishing. Undersize bream are more common in the estuaries than off the beach, but you will still catch them while beach fishing – and of course, small whiting are common off the beach. If you find you’re gut-hooking undersized fish, just increase your hook size. They’ll be much more likely to get hooked in the mouth, and won’t die from internal injuries. Tailor numbers have been good lately, with larger fish up to 1.4kg being landed, especially after dark. Many

have been caught as bycatch by anglers fishing for mulloway or by those fishing with a ganged pilchard rig. Salmon are also a common catch amongst the tailor. I recommend fishing for them at Manly after dark. It’s a very crowded beach in the day but a good producer at night. Other places to try are Dee Why Beach near the pole, North Narrabeen, Bungan, and Newport. That’s all for this month. The weather might be cooling, but the fishing is really hot at this time of year, so don’t miss out! Be prepared, have an outfit ready in your car/truck, and hit the water whenever you get the opportunity. * ’Wash fishing’ means fishing the sudsy white water off the rocks. • Alex Bellissimo is an experienced rock fishing guide with proven teaching formulas. If you’re an experienced angler, he will bring your abilities to new heights. And if you’re new to rock fishing, Alex will teach you all the fundamentals so you can consistently catch fish -- and stay safe at the same time. All tackle and bait is supplied. To find out more, visit www. bellissimocharters.com.au, email alex@ bellissimocharters.com.au, or call Alex on 0408 283 616.

SYDNEY SOUTH

Gary Brown gbrown1@iprimus.com.au

The sand whiting are still on the chew in the southern areas of Sydney and are being caught on both baits and lures. It’s time to fine-tune your gear, get out there and chase a few of these great fighting and tasty fish. Sand whiting (also known as summer, silver, and blue-nose whiting) are silvery white with yellowish sides. They have dark blotches at the base of their pectoral fins. Yellow-finned whiting look similar, but they don’t have those

Aaleyah (8yo) managed to pull in this thumper sand whiting while fishing with her dad. Prince Edward Park. For those of you who prefer to fish in the Port Hacking, make sure you berley while you’re anchored up with lines out. I have found that chicken pellets mixed with old pilchards work very well. You’ll need to ensure the berley has been smashed into very fine pieces. Any of the beaches in Bate Bay should produce sand whiting in the coming weeks. You could also check out Turramurra, Coogee, and Maroubra

and Atomic Hardz Pop 50. If I’m fishing with soft plastics, I prefer to use the ZMan 2.5” PrawnZ, 2.5” Slim SwimZ, 1.75” Micro Goat and 2.5” GrubZ and ST GrubZ. PELAGICS Both the Bay and the Port Hacking have been producing a number of kingfish for anglers live/dead baiting, lure fishing, trolling or casting very small metal slugs. Offshore, the FADs have been

Elijah (7yo) with a ripper whiting. beaches. In the Royal National Park, you could try Jibbon, Marley and Stanwell Park beaches. When fishing all the above places, you may encounter some welcome bycatch species, such as tarwhine, bream, trumpeter whiting, silver trevally, flathead, luderick, kingfish and snapper. When It comes to chasing whiting with surface lures, there are plenty that will do the job. My personal favourites are the Bassday Sugapen, Daiwa Slippery Dog, OSP Bent Minnow, Nomad Dartwing 7cm, Lucky Craft Sammy 65

producing mahimahi, kingfish and marlin. There won’t be as many boats there this month, which makes things easier. The bonito should still be around in numbers in the coming weeks. You can catch them on deep diving and small skirted lures on the troll, 10-15cm stickbaits cast from the rocks, and small metal lures. That’s all for this month. Don’t forget to keep those short reports and photos coming into gbrown1@ iprimus.com.au. MARCH 2024 57

VIC

West Coast

FMM

Getting stuck into autumn fishing in Portland flathead and gummies or heading out deep to chase blue-eye, ling and gemfish, just to name a few. We should also start seeing some big makos lurking around the deeper water. You really have a huge range of fishing options offshore, from 50m of water right out to the shelf. Remember, Portland has fantastic

PORTLAND

Nigel Fisher

G’day fishos, what a big few months we’ve had in Portland. We have seen big influxes of people coming into our town, and they have been making the most of the great variety of fish both inside and outside the bay. Autumn is generally one of the better months to fish here in Portland, mainly because the weather can level out, with more westerly winds that favour our shorelines. Depending on water temperatures, March can turn on the kingfish. With a good start to

Matthew Hunt Fishing Services with another good haul of fish. waters from 10-30m. The main areas have been the boat anchorage and North Shore along Julia Reef. Small skirts and a mix of hardbody deep divers have

Jimmy with a horse of a whiting that went 55cm. the kingfish season, then a bit of a slow mid-season, you never know what March can throw at us. The weather bureau keep telling us we are in for longer, warmer days this year so let’s hope they are on target. Our summer school tuna should still be cruising around the bay in shallow

Shell caught this ripper 63cm pinkie snapper in shallow water.

been doing most of the damage so far. We could also start seeing tuna schools in the deeper waters and there’s even a chance of catching larger fish as the months roll on. An early barrel tuna is always on the cards before Easter. We have had a great run of pinkie snapper and whiting around the bay. The pinkies have been around 35-65cm in length, which has been great to see. In past years we have been plagued with undersize or just legal-size pinkies. Our whiting, on the other hand, have always turned up in great sizes. Most fish have been over 40cm long, with some great 50cm+ monsters mixed in. Most of the big whiting have been caught along the North Shore, but there have also been good catches coming from in front of the Water Tower and Blacknose Point. With more favourable waters in March, the bigger boats will take advantage of the conditions to make trips around to Bridgewater Bay, chasing

Phil with a nice school tuna from Julia Reef. land-based opportunities close to the town centre. These include our drive-on breakwater, town jetty and Trawlers Wharf. Some great estuary fishing is also available; it’s just a short drive to areas like the Surry River, Fitzroy River and the mighty Glenelg River. So, get on down to Portland and get into the action! • Call in and see the team at Portland Compleat Angler for all your bait and fishing needs, and local information. You can find them at 61 Bentinck Street, next to the Gordon Hotel, call them on 03 5521 1844, or look them up on Facebook.

Plenty of good fishing to come before winter APOLLO BAY

Craig Rippon

The wind hasn’t been our best friend over the last month. I can’t remember a summer with so many easterly winds, but when the weather has been OK there have been plenty of fish being caught. Anglers have been catching salmon along most of the local beaches, with Marengo Beach being the best. Lots of fish have been taken using bait and lures. Down the coast, quality gummies and school shark have been taken on the slack water. Fresh salmon has been the go-to bait. I had an awesome day with my son Ben where he caught his PB gummy and PB school shark in the same day, with the school shark weighing 24kg. We managed our bag quickly, all quality fish. Snapper have been in good numbers lately, too. 80 MARCH 2024

Kingfish have been around but they have been hard to tempt. There have been a couple caught, but the water temperature is not quite there yet. There have been some school tuna about but not in big numbers just yet. There have been a lot of fish further along

the coast, and there’s plenty of bait in the water, so they shouldn’t be far away. We’ve seen some good catches of whiting but the fish have been a bit patchy. I would like to see the water temperature rise a bit. The water has been a bit dirty with the east wind, too. I will start chasing

Ben Rippon with a decent gummy.

these fish a bit more this month. Squid in the harbour have kept the holidaymakers happy, along with the odd salmon. It was sad to see a boat get turned over recently, and a man losing his life. We live on a rugged coastline and I can’t stress how important it is to check the weather before you head out. We get a lot of good days to go fishing, and we don’t need to press the boundaries to catch a feed. There was a big swell running that day, and the water wasn’t great. The man was an experienced fisho so it shows it can happen to anybody. There’s so much info on weather and sea conditions nowadays, so please check before you go out. With better weather ahead, there’s plenty of good fishing to come before winter so let’s get out while we can. Good luck, and if you’re visiting town, Wayne at Surf and Fish has everything you need.

West Coast

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VIC

Plenty of pinkies, gummies and sharks inshore WARRNAMBOOL

Mark Gercovich mgercovich@hotmail.com

After a promising start to summer, the weather took a big turn for the worse, leaving everyone searching for the meteorologists who predicted a long, hot summer. Januar y was definitely not hot, with constant southeasterlies punctuated by several rain events. Instead of chasing topwater kings and tuna around, I found myself spending more time trying to keep

the lawns down. Pretty much every style of local summer fishing was affected. The surf beaches have been difficult to fish, with the constant southeasterlies pushing plenty of weed in. Cray netters and divers have had limited days and often limited visibility. Mulloway are still non-existent locally, and anglers making the trip to nearby Nelson haven’t been catching many fish, either. It hasn’t been all doom and gloom, though. The disturbed inshore waters, which haven’t been great for

Xavier Gercovich with a quality shallow water school shark.

summer pelagics, have proved to be perfect for snapper. The quality of these pinkies has been a little better than the usual annoying pink plague that descends on the inshore reefs this time of year. Most fish have been in the 35-40cm range, with the odd bigger fish around 60cm. Just remember, snapper have a bag limit of 10 but only three over, or equal to, 40cm. Accompanying the snapper have been some good gummy and school sharks, which have also been feeding in close in the stirred-up water. Anglers fishing further offshore have also encountered plenty of these species in deeper waters. King George whiting have been caught in all the usual haunts like Lady Bay, Killarney, and Port Fairy Bay, and should still be a good option as we head into March. March is perhaps the last month to target kingfish locally, so hopefully we’ll get some late summer heat and flat seas to help with this pursuit. Summer tuna will also still be an option. Last year the first barrels were being encountered in March so who knows what will happen this year. All the local estuaries have been producing good bream fishing recently, and with the summer holiday crowds dropping off, the fishing should only improve. Casting hardbodied or surface lures in the shallow areas can be a productive

This summer we had few opportunities to cast lures to surface-feeding schools of bluefin. and enjoyable way to fish at this time of year. Estuary perch will also be on the cards doing this, but most larger fish will be further upstream in the freshwater this month.

Solid Hopkins bream are along the rock walls COBDEN

Rod Shepherd

The Hopkins has been holding good bream to well over a kilo and 40cm, with many caught along the rock walls with unweighted baits cast in close. The most popular baits are small, live crab and fillets of pilchard or small salmon and mullet. Soft plastics in similar patterns have also been also working. Many of the bream are very dark in colour which suggests they have been residing way upstream in the fresh; maybe above Tooram Stones. When the river mouth is closed and the reef is submerged, bream will venture further up into the system, and often get caught when the mouth opens and water levels drop. Years ago, while casting lures for estuary perch, I caught five big, dark bream from the bank, not far from the township of Allensford. Perch are regularly found in the freshwater stretches of the river (well below the falls) so why not bream?

The Curdies lake is full and the bream are spread throughout. Boating is easy due to the added depth, but you could spend all day trying to find the fish. Some spots to try first would be the bottom channel, Wallaby Creek, Doctors Point and the river mouth. There’s plenty of weed, which means fishing unweighted baits or very shallow diving lures. Slow rolling soft plastics across the surface is also worth trying. Offshore, some excellent gummy and school shark have been caught in close along with nannygai, pinkie snapper, rock flathead and some excellent sweep. Boaters have been anchoring up and sending down berley, so depths of around 20m have been the go, especially over a rubbly, reefy bottom. The odd schoolie has pulled the scales down to 20kg. The gummies have been more lightweight, but there are still plenty of them to go around. Plenty of nannygai, sweep and the odd rock cod have been so close inshore that many rock hoppers have bagged a few. The drop-offs on the edge of many flat reefs around the Peterborough area have been

A duo of Hopkins bream taken simultaneously on the troll opposite the cliff faces at Kings Head. productive; so too any nearby bommies that spew an updraught of water every time a saltwater surge enters a dead-end gutter. Plenty of small, often undersize pinkies are about, ready to steal a bait. Pipi meat held on with hosiery elastic has been the top bait, while not much further out on submerged reefs fresh squid baits have been employed.

School bluefin tuna and yellowtail kingfish are still around close inshore, and have been taking trolled minnow lures and skirted lures. If the tuna are being finicky, there are plenty of big salmon schools about, with some fish weighing in at 2-4kg. They are also great fun on cast or trolled lures. MARCH 2024 81

North Coast

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Land-based is a great option in the wind DAMPIER/KARRATHA

Troy Honey

It doesn’t give me much pleasure to write another report starting with how windy it has been in Karratha. While it is the norm to have wind

up with days or work has been the challenge for most. Albeit, there have been a few good boating days and they were certainly made the most of by locals who got out to find some demersals, mackies, tuna and GTs. Land-based has been the preferred option by many when the wind is howling and the Karratha region is lucky enough to have plenty of locations that are completely or somewhat protected from the wind and allow the ability to cast lures or baits in water that doesn’t resemble a washing machine and not get wind knots or snagged. These areas include all of the creeks first and foremost at this time of year. There are also spots to be

Mathew Howard landed this superb barramundi land-based at low tide in a local Karratha creek.

Ricky Mclean and his son Marley had success on Karratha barra using ASWB King Brown Prawn lures and an Indian Pacific rod. in November and December, it normally well and truly tapers off with endless days of glass as we progress through January to May. There have been a few days throughout late Januar y and February but trying to line them

Taj Hicks with a nice fat local barra caught land-based on a Samaki vibe.

found in the creeks to get out of the wind and with the barramundi, threadfin, jacks, flathead and queenies all fired up at this time of year, fishing the creeks makes perfect sense. Then there are areas such as around the Burrup Peninsula, Dampier foreshore, Point Samson, Cossask, Cleaverville and 40 mile, all of which have area facing different directions and provide the ability to escape the wind. These spots are particularly good for species such as bluebone, queenies, trevally, cod, flathead, whiting, javelin and even squid at this time of year. The rocks off the headland around Point Samson are holding lots of squid at

the moment and definitely worth a try. Another option here and one that is helped by the south westerly wind is floating baits with balloons off Point Samson or the Burrup to target Spanish mackerel. March through to May are by far the best months for fishing conditions in Karratha and as we look forward to the transition in seasons and ideal fishing conditions it will be the demersal fishing that takes centre stage. Notably one species that is turning up more and more, especially those fishing in waters of 60m or more is the gold band snapper. There have been quite a few reported catches recently which would mostly be put down to anglers fishing the cooler

Anglers’ focus is now moving inshore EXMOUTH

Barry Taylor

This month’s report has been supplied by Josh Cheong. At the time of writing this report, we are just starting to see some good weather after two months of windy conditions. The blue marlin have begun to quieten down a little on the west side, but a few black marlin and sailfish reports have started to come through inshore. Mixed in with them have been a few mahimahi and a few tuna as well, mainly yellowfin, with sizes up to 60kg. The gulf has been quite dirty on the eastern side, which has it’s made spearfishing a bit more difficult. However, if you start halfway across, the clarity has been quite good. In recent weeks we’ve seen a few golden trevally, mackerel and so 108 MARCH 2024

forth being caught in the gulf around the shoals. Soft vibes and soft plastics are a good way to target the trevally, and one of the stand-out lures at the

moment is the Nomad Squidtrex in the 5” and 7” sizes. Anglers trolling Laser Pros and Pacemakers have been catching some nice-size mackerel.

Josh Cheong with a local bonefish caught on a Big John’s Flig. Image courtesy of indepthanglerjosh.

If you’d like to catch a feed off the shore, there have been good numbers of whiting around the gulf. A few trout up to 65cm+ have been getting caught around the islands. Good lure choices include jigs, soft plastics, vibes, and stickbaits. I usually use Saltiga Rough Ride stickbaits in the 140 size. For the guys fly fishing, there have been a few permit down towards the bottom of the gulf and across the other side. Crab flies generally work the best. There haven’t been a lot of reports from the guys deep dropping lately, aside from a few rankin cod and malabar. That said, a couple of guys did do quite well last month fishing in 150-200m of water, catching some nice rubies and 8-bar cod. FISHING IN MARCH All the gulf waters should

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North Coast

LIGHT, POWERFUL, DURABLE… to deliver. These species all come in

deeper waters to escape the sharks during the wet season. Currently your best options is fish the same depths for reds and rankins as shark activity is high closer in, but as we progress through to May from March and the water cools, so too will the shark activity start to temper and the demersals will move in as well. Around the islands throughout March it would be the bluebone

LIGHT, POWERFUL, DURABLE…

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to feed on the crabs naturally as the tides rise and fall over the shoreline and by using the crabs as bait, you are presenting the most natural food to the fish. For bluebone and golden trevally t is recommended to use heavy gear to stop the fish before you get reefed but with the other species lighter gear is recommended and adds to the enjoyment of fishing. It is at this time of year I always get

MORNINGTON PENINSULA MY MARINE

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BRAESIDE A perfect day for fishing the flats. Image courtesy of indepthanglerjosh. JV MARINE WORLD 878 Springvale Road Braeside still be nice and warm in the P: (03) 9798 8883 so it’s a good time to coming weeks, F: (03) 9798 7554 go flats fishing. W: jvmarine.com.au The GameX tournament is

coming up soon (8-16 March) and we’ll see a lot of anglers switch tactics from blues to inshore blacks and sailfish. We will report on the tournament results in the next issue. • For the latest news on what’s biting and where, drop in to Tackle World

Exmouth at 3 Maley St, Exmouth or call them on (08) 9949 1315. You can also view the range at www. tackleworldexmouth.com.au, and see the latest catch photos on their Facebook page. This family business stocks a large range of tackle, from light spin to big game. The staff have a wealth of local knowledge and expertise, and are always happy to help. MARCH 2024 109

BOATING TEST

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Horizon Sports Fisher 632 with Yamaha F200XCB SPECIFICATIONS

FMG

Steve Morgan s.morgan@fishingmonthly.com.au

I’ll admit that one of the problems in the boating industry is that it’s sometimes hard to get a test drive in a rig you want to buy. Of course, this is because it’s nothing like a car dealership – you can’t just throw someone the keys and say “Bring her back tomorrow”, the water isn’t like a road. That’s why it’s great to see dealers putting together ‘demo’ boats that are used for boat staff trips, and to take potential customers out on the water. This is the first boat test we have done with Marine Care in Redland Bay in Queensland and they have a ramp handy just down the road that lets them access southern Moreton Bay. Alan Riesenweber seemed pretty proud to show off their new demo boat – a Horizon Plate 632 centre cab fitted with a Yamaha F200XCB and some cool

Length Overall .......................... 6.50m Beam ................................................ 2.50m Depth.................................................... 1.5m Bottom Sheet ................................4mm Side Sheet .......................................4mm Hull weight................................... 935kg Rec HP....................................................150 Max HP..................................................200 Capacity................................. 7 persons accessories. Sporting a new wrap, the rig sure does look the part. “We have no problems getting customers down to take a ride if they’re interested in the boat. It’s a great way to get a feel for it,” Alan said. Horizon Plate boats are proud of their GRiDcore construction. Under the deck, it’s deck-to-hull welded aluminium grid that adds strength and rigidity. They have a variable deadrise hull with reverse chines along the back half of the hull and plenty of gunwale height inside.

They are built on the Gold Coast in South East Queensland in the factory that also make Stessl boats and are supplied with factory fitted Dunbier trailers that match perfectly, which leaves the dealer to complete outboard fitout and any options that the customer wants. In the case of this boat, it’s a big Raymarine sounder, a 36v, long shaft Minn Kota at the bow and a novel battery system that packs plenty of amps of 12V in a multiple battery setup and a converter that lists the output to 36v. It’s a centre cab with a walkaround to the bow and the setup is wide enough to make your way 360o around the rig quite easily. This lets you spread out a bit while fishing and if there’s 3 or 4 aboard, anglers appreciate this. I assumed the cabin would be tiny in a 6.3m boat of this type, but it’s surprisingly large. Not big enough to stretch out, but at 1.4m, long enough to lay out if you get the optional cabin extender. The cabin is separated with a canvas privacy screen

that Marine Care have installed. At the helm, there’s some comfortable and adjustable seating, but it does lack a place to put your feet while underway. Horizon says that the issue is being rectified as I write this. The dash is wide enough for the largest of electronics mounted flush, which is what they should be. There’s some storage under the seat pedestals, too. You can fit a cooler under the passenger one. The hull is powered by the biggest outboard allowed – a 200 Yamaha

Main: It’s nice to see dealers who put together demo boats with the intention of taking interested customers out on the water. It helps that Marine Care is just up the road from the ramp. Above: Yamaha’s F200XCB is the maximum horsepower this hull is rated to. It’s a good match.

Word has it that the wrap went on the day before the boat test. Looking sharp! 114 MARCH 2024

4-stroke. It’s the XCB version, which has an inbuilt hydraulic steering piston, but fly-by-wire throttle and shift. On the water, it’s a smooth setup and would suit someone that’s not going to dive into the Helm Master ecosystem.

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BOATING TEST

Top: There’s a fold down rear lounge to the port of the transom door. Above: The side pockets have a gap underneath to slot your feet when fishing over the gunwale.

The Yamaha 200 fitted to this boat is a more economical model with digital throttle and shift, but inbuilt hydraulic steering that matches to any hydraulic helm.

Top: The shade extension is virtually a necessity in Australia. You can unzip the middle to access rods. Above: There’s a plumbed live bait tank in the port transom corner.

There’s decent cockpit space astern of the cockpit.

Comfortable, adjustable chairs are part of the package, although I’d like somewhere to put my feet at the helm.

Top Left: The boarding ladder is rugged and the transom door is standard. Top Right: The cabin length is 1.4m, so you’ll need optional cabin extenders if you want to sleep comfortably in here. Bottom Left: The bait board comes with a shelf and ample rod storage. Bottom Right: There’s a standard anchor well up front with the electric motor to the port side of it.

Left: The walkaround is wide enough so you don’t have to shuffle sideways, except when skirting the stowed electric motor. Top Right: There’s some simple storage under the helm seating and room for a cooler under the passenger pedestal. Bottom Right: The hard top is simple and there’s plenty of room for a radar up here. MARCH 2024 115

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BOATING TEST

On the water, it was a little sporty with a 20-knot southerly pushing against a making tide to spice things up a little. Quartering the sea, you definitely get wet down the back, but she’s all dry in the cockpit. The demo rig has optional Trim Tabs, which were needed on the test day to level the ride. As expected, she is quick out of the PERFORMANCE RPM Speed

(km/h)

Economy

(km/L)

600 ............................ 5 ......................... 1.7 1000 ...........................7 ........................2.3 2000 ........................12 ......................... 1.7 3000 .......................25 .........................1.8 3500 .......................36 .........................1.8 4000 .......................43 .........................1.6 4500 .......................49 .........................1.4 5000 .......................55 .......................... 1.1 5800 .......................66 ........................0.8

Top: Best fuel economy was at 3,500rpm, although a great cruising speed was a little faster than that. It gave twice the range of wide open throttle and, at that speed, the economy dropped to 800m per litre of fuel burned. Above: This rig will turn heads at the ramp and in the water.

hole and has the most economical cruising speed at 3500rpm, where it gets 1.8km/L at 36km/h. Compare that to wide open throttle at 5800rpm where you get 800m per litre at 66km/h. I reckon you’d end up cruising a little faster at 4000rpm and 43km/h where the range is exactly double that of hammersdown at 1.6km/L. With a 250L tank, that’s around 400km to play with in theory. Supplied on a Dunbier twin axle trailer, this rig would come in at a little over 2 tonnes fully loaded, which is easily handled by all of the twin cab utes on the market. As tested, this rig came in at around $130,000, but delete some of the options and the price comes down a lot. Reach out to Alan at Marine Care if you’d like to take up his offer of a test drive.

Top Left: This underfloor kill tank will easily hold a limit of snapper. Top Second: We love boats that can flush mount the biggest screens you would want to use. Horizon does this well. Third: Tipping the hard top back isn’t a 30 second job, but it’s easy enough to do if your storage is height limited. Top Right: There’s a raw water wash down for the gunwales and bait board. It’s not a self-draining deck. Bottom Left: The cabin privacy screen is an aftermarket option fitted by the dealer. Bottom Second: Horizon supplies a fitted Dunbier trailer to the dealer, so you know it’s set-up right. Bottom Right: The Minn Kota is powered by a high amp 12 volt battery bank with a DC to DC voltage converter. 116 MARCH 2024

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