Fishing Victoria Forum

Headed to Portland Saturday night after a mornings work in Sandringham. Got down by 8 in time for a pub meal with our mates, who'd been down since Friday morning.
Sunday saw us on the water at dawn, and round to the rock in ok conditions. Straight after sunup, the birds were working harrd, and the flotilla of boats were chasing the patches of diving gannets. At 7.45, we'd moved away from the boats, and into a quieter area, all of a sudden, we were driving in a bust up of huge tuna, an amazing site, we'll be lucky to ever see again, it was increadibly intense, and we fully expected to have a multi hookup..
Bizarrely, no hookup, but within 10 minutes of circling the area, the long rigger twanged back, and the talica started screaming. Myself and the other decky quickly cleared the lines and teaser, while the skipper got onto the fish.
I jumped behind the wheel, and we got into a near 2 hour battle with the fish.
Utter jubilation as it was leadered up and gaffed, then pulled through the stern door, making up for a couple of bad experiences over the past year.
Fish was bled, and went into the chiller bag with a stack of flake ice. Pulled the scales down at 115kg adjusted.
3 very happy fishos lol..
I even had a boags to celebrate that night...

Awesome work!

....& whilst the rest of us chumps are chasing red cod!

ripper fish well done persistence pays off

Man this is the stuff I'm jealous of! Well done! My brother sent me that picture yesterday to hype me up for another shot at a barrel. We lost one estimated at around 130kg a while ago.. Man it hurt and still does.
You guys must be over the moon! Congratulations! Awesome work.

What lure did it take and what depth did you get it?

Cheers, Anth

Sinsemilla wrote:Man this is the stuff I'm jealous of! Well done! My brother sent me that picture yesterday to hype me up for another shot at a barrel. We lost one estimated at around 130kg a while ago.. Man it hurt and still does.
You guys must be over the moon! Congratulations! Awesome work.

What lure did it take and what depth did you get it?

Cheers, Anth

Yeah Anth, we've lost 2 before this one, hurts like hell...
The fish are in real close mate, if you picture a line from the outer tip of Lawrence Rock to the lighthouse, you'll find the bait, and then the fish, (45-50mtr line).
Lure was an older model Revolver Lures, 'Barrel'. Pretty ironic name, and I did jokingly tell the other deckie that morning that the name was an omen...lol...
The bulk if the fish have been caught on blue lures, so we had a blue lure at shotty, and this at long rigger.

Well done shorty.. good to see you guys finally land that barrel.
Next time your going, borrow some of my stilletoes you never know if you need it or not

Its cerainly painful losing a big fish like that at the side of the boat...

CarlG wrote:

Sinsemilla wrote:Man this is the stuff I'm jealous of! Well done! My brother sent me that picture yesterday to hype me up for another shot at a barrel. We lost one estimated at around 130kg a while ago.. Man it hurt and still does.
You guys must be over the moon! Congratulations! Awesome work.

What lure did it take and what depth did you get it?

Cheers, Anth

Yeah Anth, we've lost 2 before this one, hurts like hell...
The fish are in real close mate, if you picture a line from the outer tip of Lawrence Rock to the lighthouse, you'll find the bait, and then the fish, (45-50mtr line).
Lure was an older model Revolver Lures, 'Barrel'. Pretty ironic name, and I did jokingly tell the other deckie that morning that the name was an omen...lol...
The bulk if the fish have been caught on blue lures, so we had a blue lure at shotty, and this at long rigger.

Pretty much the same area we lost ours. We got ours on a Black bart Pelagic Breakfast running it shotgun.
Were you paying attention to your troll speed? I've been hearing a bit slower is the way to go

Sinsemilla wrote:

CarlG wrote:

Sinsemilla wrote:Man this is the stuff I'm jealous of! Well done! My brother sent me that picture yesterday to hype me up for another shot at a barrel. We lost one estimated at around 130kg a while ago.. Man it hurt and still does.
You guys must be over the moon! Congratulations! Awesome work.

What lure did it take and what depth did you get it?

Cheers, Anth

Yeah Anth, we've lost 2 before this one, hurts like hell...
The fish are in real close mate, if you picture a line from the outer tip of Lawrence Rock to the lighthouse, you'll find the bait, and then the fish, (45-50mtr line).
Lure was an older model Revolver Lures, 'Barrel'. Pretty ironic name, and I did jokingly tell the other deckie that morning that the name was an omen...lol...
The bulk if the fish have been caught on blue lures, so we had a blue lure at shotty, and this at long rigger.

Pretty much the same area we lost ours. We got ours on a Black bart Pelagic Breakfast running it shotgun.

blackbartpelagicbreakfast.jpg

Were you paying attention to your troll speed? I've been hearing a bit slower is the way to go

Yeah, we sort of work between 6-7 knots. The accepted theory is slower for the big fellas, quicker for the school fish, but after seeing the speed on display during that bust up, I'm not 100% convinced that it is totally critical.
Lure colours is another thorny issue, we put out 2 blue lures for the reasons I've already mentioned, and the fish have been gorging on pilchards, which makes sense. But a couple have come on Pakula Evil Angel's as well, so work that out.

CarlG wrote:

Sinsemilla wrote:

CarlG wrote:

Sinsemilla wrote:Man this is the stuff I'm jealous of! Well done! My brother sent me that picture yesterday to hype me up for another shot at a barrel. We lost one estimated at around 130kg a while ago.. Man it hurt and still does.
You guys must be over the moon! Congratulations! Awesome work.

What lure did it take and what depth did you get it?

Cheers, Anth

Yeah Anth, we've lost 2 before this one, hurts like hell...
The fish are in real close mate, if you picture a line from the outer tip of Lawrence Rock to the lighthouse, you'll find the bait, and then the fish, (45-50mtr line).
Lure was an older model Revolver Lures, 'Barrel'. Pretty ironic name, and I did jokingly tell the other deckie that morning that the name was an omen...lol...
The bulk if the fish have been caught on blue lures, so we had a blue lure at shotty, and this at long rigger.

Pretty much the same area we lost ours. We got ours on a Black bart Pelagic Breakfast running it shotgun.

blackbartpelagicbreakfast.jpg

Were you paying attention to your troll speed? I've been hearing a bit slower is the way to go

Yeah, we sort of work between 6-7 knots. The accepted theory is slower for the big fellas, quicker for the school fish, but after seeing the speed on display during that bust up, I'm not 100% convinced that it is totally critical.
Lure colours is another thorny issue, we put out 2 blue lures for the reasons I've already mentioned, and the fish have been gorging on pilchards, which makes sense. But a couple have come on Pakula Evil Angel's as well, so work that out.

I'm not convinced either on color or speed. Honestly i think it's more critical to have the lure in a good position and at a speed where its working well and heading in the right direction, as in whichever way the bait is heading or fish are moving chasing the bait. So pretty much half of it is pure luck..

Well I'm glad you guys ended up getting one after losing 2 previously. it's given me a kick in the ass to try again

That fish is something you and your crew will never forget!

Cheers