Port Welshpool report
Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2018 7:45 pm
With the weather looking perfect last week, went down to Port Welshpool for a couple of days (Thursday - Friday).
Glasses out conditions both days - perfect!
I’ve only been down there once before so no expert on the area...
Arrived on Thursday morning at a lazy 10am. With glassed out conditions was out at the Seal Island group by 11. Went straight to Cliffy Island and looped around it using my usual medium speed seek and find (trolling X-Raps, a popper out the back and a surface lure nearby). Marked a few kingies but when ever I went back they weren’t there. Thinking they’re just following my lures, next time stopped dead as soon as I marked something and jigged. This got me a couple of rat kings (55cm - 65cm), plus some Wrasse.
Tried all the other islands for naught. Rag Island gave me the creeps...loads of seals on the island, none swimming about except for the ones cooling off no more than a metre from the rocks (It was around this time the motor sounded funny....). Stopped off at Rabbit Island on the way back and had loads of fun on light tackle. Discovered the short cut back to the port by good fortune ( gets shallow out there!)
Next morning got out to the islands reasonably early for what seemed to be the tail end of a bait fish bust up. Marked some good fish but they quickly cleared.
Went down to Cape Wellington but the water turned green/dirty away from the islands. Worked all the headlands on the way back. Popped into Refuge Cove and had a quick flick for two squid. Kept doing the headlands back to Rabbit Island. Same spot - heaps of bait, trevally etc . Good fun. Left some yakkas on the Sambiki and had a school of very small rat Kings come up and harass them but couldn’t catch them/keep them at the boat.
Great trip - half boating half fishing.
Would I rush down here for Kingies? No - every headland off Melbourne seems to have metre plus Kingies right now. But as a quite place to get away from it all - perfect! When I go again what I will change is to get out to the islands at first light
Glasses out conditions both days - perfect!
I’ve only been down there once before so no expert on the area...
Arrived on Thursday morning at a lazy 10am. With glassed out conditions was out at the Seal Island group by 11. Went straight to Cliffy Island and looped around it using my usual medium speed seek and find (trolling X-Raps, a popper out the back and a surface lure nearby). Marked a few kingies but when ever I went back they weren’t there. Thinking they’re just following my lures, next time stopped dead as soon as I marked something and jigged. This got me a couple of rat kings (55cm - 65cm), plus some Wrasse.
Tried all the other islands for naught. Rag Island gave me the creeps...loads of seals on the island, none swimming about except for the ones cooling off no more than a metre from the rocks (It was around this time the motor sounded funny....). Stopped off at Rabbit Island on the way back and had loads of fun on light tackle. Discovered the short cut back to the port by good fortune ( gets shallow out there!)
Next morning got out to the islands reasonably early for what seemed to be the tail end of a bait fish bust up. Marked some good fish but they quickly cleared.
Went down to Cape Wellington but the water turned green/dirty away from the islands. Worked all the headlands on the way back. Popped into Refuge Cove and had a quick flick for two squid. Kept doing the headlands back to Rabbit Island. Same spot - heaps of bait, trevally etc . Good fun. Left some yakkas on the Sambiki and had a school of very small rat Kings come up and harass them but couldn’t catch them/keep them at the boat.
Great trip - half boating half fishing.
Would I rush down here for Kingies? No - every headland off Melbourne seems to have metre plus Kingies right now. But as a quite place to get away from it all - perfect! When I go again what I will change is to get out to the islands at first light