Altona Reef to Williamstown Beach 30.05.16
- SteveoTheTiger
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Altona Reef to Williamstown Beach 30.05.16
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!
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!
The only thing better than serenity is a two stroke at full throttle!
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Check out my Flickr Photostream
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Re: Altona Reef to Williamstown Beach 30.05.16
hi mate sounds like you had a busy day I'm looking at going out on Wednesday just got my 4.2 tinny like yours
just wondering what bait you were using as just starting my salt water adventures
just wondering what bait you were using as just starting my salt water adventures
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- Bluefin
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Re: Altona Reef to Williamstown Beach 30.05.16
Welcome to the forum mate and good luck on Wednesday :thumbsup:Bigwheels wrote:hi mate sounds like you had a busy day I'm looking at going out on Wednesday just got my 4.2 tinny like yours
just wondering what bait you were using as just starting my salt water adventures
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- Bluefin
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Re: Altona Reef to Williamstown Beach 30.05.16
It would have been a beautiful day to be out on the water better luck next time with the squid mate.
- SteveoTheTiger
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Re: Altona Reef to Williamstown Beach 30.05.16
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.
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.
The only thing better than serenity is a two stroke at full throttle!
Check out my Flickr Photostream
Check out my Flickr Photostream
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- Bluefin
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Re: Altona Reef to Williamstown Beach 30.05.16
I'm sure you will get into the squid soon mate. It's a great time of the year to be targeting them. I got onto a nice bag with my missus yesterday in a quick session. They were thick
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Re: Altona Reef to Williamstown Beach 30.05.16
Were there no squid in the area between dumb joe and the marine park its one of my favorite spots for squid
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Re: Altona Reef to Williamstown Beach 30.05.16
X2 that spots very good! This week Iv been getting my bag around the Altona reef so there are there Steve, but not very big about small to medium size with the occasional big one lurking around.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
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Re: Altona Reef to Williamstown Beach 30.05.16
Thanks for the info off to grab some bait nowSteveoTheTiger 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.
Thanks again