I didnt go that close to dumb joe.. didnt really go much further west than altona reef. We were pretty much directly south of the reef slowly heading back north east in about 8 - 10m of water.Nude up wrote:Were there no squid in the area between dumb joe and the marine park its one of my favorite spots for squid
somewhere around 4am i'm guessing ? police where prolly off to do there check under the bolty that i've watched countless times.SteveoTheTiger wrote:Decided to try something different today after getting donuts last time and headed out from Newport at first light.
The cops pulled up right behind us at the ramp with their huge SeaCat type setup, compared to my little 4.2m tinny
As we left the ramp, all i could think of was am i following the laws of navigation correctly! I was positive they were going to pull me up and check out my safety equipment etc, but instead they just powered past me and were soon over the horizon.
I headed around the Williamstown point, straight for the Altona Reef with the aid of my new Navionics phone app (worked great, but my phone ran out of juice in about 2hrs!). There were 5 or 6 boats right up on the cardinal marker, so we decided to stay out a bit wider at first and not much was going on.. a couple of small flathead and 2 small pinkies. Then i hooked an ok flathead (31cm).
We moved in a bit closer and i pulled in another 2 flatties (35 & 38cm). But nothing else was happening at the Reef.
My 2 deckies were happy to chase some flathead, so we headed out to about 10m of water and drifted between P2 and Dumb Joe, slowly making our way back to Willy Beach. We must have caught 40 to 60 small flathead (15 - 25cm) over the next 3 hours or so.. but not a single one was legal.
Funnily enough, just as i pull the boat out of the water.. right behind me is the same police boat that followed me out. :thumbsup:
Edit: I also tried jigging for squid.. again with no luck!
SteveoTheTiger wrote:Welcome to the forum Bigwheels.
My go to bait is pilchards, cut straight across to roughly 1cm portions, i use this 99% of the time with a double paternoster rig and drop it straight over the side rather than casting out. Wait until it hits the bottom and stick it in the rod holder. I think the swaying motion from the boat attracts the fish as the sinker bounces on the bottom (just a theory, but it works for me). I usually have 2 rods going on each side, or i will jig for squid with one of them (with no luck at all lol).
Quite often flatties will hit your bait as soon as it hits the bottom, and when you find a good patch be ready for multiple hook ups and try to get baits back into the water as soon as possible as you dont know how long the fish will stay biting.
And yeah, today was a magic day on the water. The next 3 days should be good. I might head out again on Wednesday too since i have the start of the week off work.
Nice catch mate :thumbsup:Bigwheels wrote:SteveoTheTiger wrote:Welcome to the forum Bigwheels.
My go to bait is pilchards, cut straight across to roughly 1cm portions, i use this 99% of the time with a double paternoster rig and drop it straight over the side rather than casting out. Wait until it hits the bottom and stick it in the rod holder. I think the swaying motion from the boat attracts the fish as the sinker bounces on the bottom (just a theory, but it works for me). I usually have 2 rods going on each side, or i will jig for squid with one of them (with no luck at all lol).
Quite often flatties will hit your bait as soon as it hits the bottom, and when you find a good patch be ready for multiple hook ups and try to get baits back into the water as soon as possible as you dont know how long the fish will stay biting.
And yeah, today was a magic day on the water. The next 3 days should be good. I might head out again on Wednesday too since i have the start of the week off work.
Went out from Werribee south with mate not bad catch of Mayen trip