Fishing Report: Snapper - by whatsbiting.com.au

Big Red's, Pinkies, Pagrus auratus, Melbourne Snapper, the Crimson Tide
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AzCoy7
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Fishing Report: Snapper - by whatsbiting.com.au

Post by AzCoy7 » Tue Apr 16, 2019 10:07 am

FIshing Report: Snapper

I just wanted to share this report of pinkies and snappers - written by whatsbiting.com.au

"There are skeptics out there, but Port Phillip is still producing some good snapper fishing. Some could say it is as good as during October or November, but without the boat traffic. Fish to 5kg aren't a scare occurrence if you're out doing the first light sessions in the south of the bay. Mornington/Mt Martha has still been the better area to concentrate on, but school sized fish and decent pinkies are prolific all throughout the bay around the reef structure.

James from Unreel Fishing Charters has been catching some ripper fish during recent charters with clients, with some very nice fish coming over the sides. Pilchard and Whiting have been the best baits.

The pinkies have been red hot around the shallower reef areas of the bay, and probably as good as they'll be all year with some nice fish to 2kg floating about the mix. Fishing soft plastics and lures and covering ground is the most effective method at finding the better fish, as static bait fishing really relies on waiting until the fish come to you. Customer Ryan has been catching heaps of fish around the 30cm mark on plastics, with a few up around 40cm in the mix also. Ryan has been fishing a few different rig methods with the plastics, with 'sled' heads and snagproof hooks being able to really break down the structure and pick out any likely pockets while not getting hung up.

Staff member Dylan got out on the bay on Saturday afternoon for a quick 2hr session and found plenty of pinkies, with fish to around 1.5kg taking the plastics. Locating isolated bait schools was the most productive method for finding the better sized fish, as the heavy reef held the smaller fish. The larger active fish were hunting the dense patches of anchovies out from the reef, and were more than happy to eat a slow falling plastic. TPR 'tearproof' plastics were the most effective in UV colours fished on around 3g jigheads.

The autumn run of snapper and pinkies has been excellent in the bay. There has been fish caught all over the bay from Williamstown to Brighton through to Mordialloc and down to Mount Martha. The smaller school fish to 2kg or so have been prevalent around the inshore reefs but the main run of better fish has been between Mt Eliza and Mount Martha.

Customer Pete caught some lovely fish to around 6kg out wide from Mornington last week. Fishing 21m of water around first light and an early tide change was the go, with pilchard being the gun bait.

Also fishing the same area was customer Rohan. Rohan fished in 22.5m out from Mount Martha and got a couple of fish to 4kg. The first light bite around the tide change again was the productive time, with pilchard again the best bait. There is a huge amount of small frogmouth pilchards in the bay at present so small soft baits can be very productive. Customer Adam fished with his kids out from Mornington during the week and got into some nice school sized fish. The smaller school fish have been thick in the area but bait changes are a must, keeping fresh baits on the hook at all times."

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