Lorne Pier

Point Lonsdale Pier, Lorne, Barwon Heads, Torquay, Aireys Inlet, Angelsea, Ocean Grove
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Danners93
Rank: Baitfish
Rank: Baitfish
Joined: Sun May 28, 2017 9:07 pm

Lorne Pier

Post by Danners93 » Sat Jan 27, 2018 11:36 pm

Hi all,

I've just spent the last 9 nights camping in Lorne with a mate, with most mornings and evenings spent fishing at the pier. We go to Lorne annually and the fishing has been on a steady decline for a while I've thought. However this year was the best we've had in a long time! I've written a detailed report but i'll summarise at the bottom of the page if that suits better.

First morning I had an hour to spare so went to the pier with one lure (rookie mistake) in hopes on catching a barracuda as I'd seen them caught off the pier on slugs before. i fished off the left hand side of the pier and cast just in front of the rocks. The tide was low so i could see the weed beds quite clearly. On The third retrieve as I saw the lure go out from the weed bed and over a patch of sand a long silver flash shot up and engulfed the entire thing, causing my line to snap instantly. I assume it was either a pike or a barracuda as both were landed on the pier during the trip (not by us). With no more lures I packed it in with a new sense of promise for the following sessions.

The next trip was an evening trip. We spent a few hours using squid jigs and came away with 2 squid. The biggest one was caught by my mate who cast out in front of the rocks and caught it. The smaller was caught by me directly under the pier although 4 squid were attacking my jigs at once. It does make it easier being able to see the squid attack your jig as you can see when they're hooked. This was the only time we went for squid as the fishing was more enjoyable to us but there were usually several squid on the pier each night and morning, although it ranged from 2 a session to 12 a session. In other words the squidding seemed sort of hit and miss to me.

Every session after that bar one was fishing baits off the pier. We usually arrived at the pier anywhere between 7.30 - 8.30am in the mornings. The fishing was always on in the morning and we didn't have a single morning session where neither of us caught a fish. There was a crazy amount of salmon everyday, with my smallest measuring 23cm and the largest 35cm. Hooking the salmon was the easy part, the hard part was lifting them onto the pier without a net (another rookie mistake) without the line snapping, hooking pulling or the resident seal making an easy meal. I also hooked a nice silver trevally estimated at about the 30cm mark. Put up a fun fight on the light gear but snapped the line trying to get it on the pier. Plenty of salmon and trevally being caught around the pier. pippi proved the best bait choice in my opinion but squid and pilchards were working well as well.

At night time the odd salmon or trevally were still being caught as well as a few pike and barracuda, but the main fish seen were yakkas. One night my mate caught a 36cm KG whiting, with about 4 others seen caught, spread between a few sessions. All of them were similar size, not a small whiting to be seen. As is always the case for Lorne pier, there was the occasional eagle ray or banjo shark caught on the heavier setups, whilst light gear anglers had small leatherjacket, puffer fish and grass whiting to annoy them. But hey, better than no fish at all!

All in all it was an enjoyable trip with plenty of action. So much action in fact that I didn't stop to take a single photo (rookie mistake number 3). The number of people on the pier was bearable for most of the sessions bar two on the Aus day long weekend where it was packed to the rafters. The most I've ever seen at the pier at one time. Will be leaving prior to Australia Day from now on or at least not fishing. We also had one day where a mate from home brought his boat down for a fish but with no knowledge of the area it made it hard. Plenty of little pinkies out there as well as other reef species and very small flathead. We managed 1 size flathead after 4 hours on the water. Hopefully the fishing is sustained and next year will be equally as good.

Fish caught/ Seen caught off the pier:
Salmon - 20-40cm
Silver Trevally - 25-35cm
KG Whiting - 30-40cm
Pike
Barracuda
Yakkas
Flathead
Squid
Grass Whiting
Leatherjacket
Banjo Shark
Eagle ray
Toadfish

Scraglor
Rank: Gummy Shark
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Re: Lorne Pier

Post by Scraglor » Sun Jan 28, 2018 7:30 am

Sounds like a great week! Lorne pier is a great spot to fish, it is a pity it gets so busy, but thats pier fishing I guess.

I wish the government would out in more land based fishing platforms.

smile0784
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Re: Lorne Pier

Post by smile0784 » Sun Jan 28, 2018 7:56 am

Sounds like a good trip
Well done

canned_tuna
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Re: Lorne Pier

Post by canned_tuna » Sun Jan 28, 2018 9:49 am

Well done on the trip... If your line is snapping lifting fish of that size up onto the pier either 1. You are using too light a breaking strain or 2. The line is old and needs to be replaced either way for next time. If only to beat that damn seal !!!

Lightningx
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Re: Lorne Pier

Post by Lightningx » Sun Jan 28, 2018 9:56 am

Sounds like you guys had a great time.
I too have had some great sessions from that pier.
Nice report. Well done :thumbsup:

Danners93
Rank: Baitfish
Rank: Baitfish
Joined: Sun May 28, 2017 9:07 pm

Re: Lorne Pier

Post by Danners93 » Wed Jan 31, 2018 5:21 pm

canned_tuna wrote:Well done on the trip... If your line is snapping lifting fish of that size up onto the pier either 1. You are using too light a breaking strain or 2. The line is old and needs to be replaced either way for next time. If only to beat that damn seal !!!
Cheers mate :) I deliberately use light tackle, makes the fishing much more fun and challenging, especially when you get onto a bigger salmon or trev. Usually we have a net for landing fish off the pier for that exact reason but I left it at home this year by mistake! If not for the guts of a seal I would have asked around for one. Oddly the biggest salmon I caught was one of the fish landed... I must admit though, the extra challenge of getting your fish in before the seal could get them made for a really enjoyable session haha.

Sasquatch
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Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2018 6:08 pm

Re: Lorne Pier

Post by Sasquatch » Wed Jan 31, 2018 9:33 pm

Scraglor wrote:Sounds like a great week! Lorne pier is a great spot to fish, it is a pity it gets so busy, but thats pier fishing I guess.

I wish the government would out in more land based fishing platforms.

I wish the Government ( Local, State or Federal ) would build a better boat ramp at Lorne.

As for the Pier, hit and miss.
I fished there over the years and would find it the most 'hostile' place to fish at times.
Was there after Xmas and found a group that had blocked off 'their area' at the end of the pier with esky's and chairs.
As for the people that take up 20+ metres of the pier with their 10 or more rods.

There are better place to fish landbased in and around Lorne than the pier.

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