Fishing Victoria Forum

This is a little bit of a late report, but I believe the info can be useful. I'm trying to make the report as informative as possible (inspired by Truedogz).
Believe it or not, I live in Point Cook (minutes away from Sanctuary Lakes) and this was the first time I fished there. Been living in Point Cook for almost seven years now.

The idea : started with my recent post about looking for a 'flat' to catch some breams/whitings on surface in VIC, since most videos etc are showing NSW or QLD locations. Some members mentioned Sanctuary Lakes is a shallow lake that the breams sometimes willing to take surface lures.

The place : Sanctuary Lakes is a man made lake, about one to two meters deep with heavy weed bottom. The weeds go all the way up to the top. Apart of bridges here and there, it's pretty structure-less. The water generally always clear and pumped into the lake regularly I believe, that's how the breams and the mullets got into the system I'm guessing. Looks like a healthy system. *Note there was a news about commercial net found and owners caught killed thousands of breams in Feb 2019.

The access : Mostly the lake edges are private property lined. There are some playground beaches for public access but not allowed to fish off the beaches. The best are bridges and the front entrance right after the big runabout. Parking is another issue, there isn't a lot. Some bridges have public parking nearby, otherwise park at Sanctuary Lakes Shopping Centre and walk to fish the 'entrance' right after the roundabout.

The fish : predominantly breams but there are mullets too, there are a lot of micro breams. When I checked around the day before, I talked and saw someone failed hook a sea mullet (shiny silver colour) that looked like around one kilo'ish, the tail went over the white bucket.

Bait/lure : if you are a bait fisherman, I suggest a bait under a float just because of the heavy weed, though mostly the weeds are 'pull-able'. It's also fun to see that pencil float gets dragged around. For lure fisherman I suggest surface and sub-surface hardbodies or slow retrieve plastic in mid/top water. I have only managed to get few taps on lures, but there are few youtube videos showing the same technique and catching fish.

Secret/Hidden location? : not really, few people know and fish there. The urban like place and the limited landbased access and limited public car spaces can put off some people, similar to Patterson Lakes. At least Patterson Lakes has easy access at the mouth with carparks and all.

Worth going? : if you live nearby like me, yes. If you have a kayak, yes. If you are landbased, Sanctuary Lakes has limited landbased access, think twice before going, there are many other good landbased places for breams (warmies, docks, nong, williamstown, princess pier).

The condition 28/04/2019 :

Time : 6:30 AM - 10:00 AM on kayak
Weather : 17 degrees overcast and a drizzle now and then, 20 kmh SW wind
Barometer : 1019 and increasing
Rod : 1 - 3 kg graphite
Reel : 2000 size
Line : 6 lb braid, 4 lb fluorocarbon leader
Lures : Storm Gomoku pencil surface 45mm orange geno, sammy black, zman 2" grubz bloodworm 1/16 jig head.
Bait : squid strips #4 baitholder hook

The fishing report :
The plan was to catch a bream or two on surface. A bit windy, so I had to paddle around looking for sheltered area and less weedy (hard to find) spot.
Got the first 'boof' at 7 AM on the pause when I wasn't paying attention (I was opening by water bottle) with the Gomoku pencil, I stroke straight away but felt no weight.
Second hit of a small 'slap/plop' from probably a small fish, I stroke straight away,no weight. Then I thought, maybe I should wait for it to load and feel the weight before striking (like murray cod).
Third 'boof' around 8:30 AM, I waited a bit, felt a slight pull and I stroke, again... no weight. I guess murray cod isn't the only lousy surface hitter. Also I think I had too much slack on that third one.
After that, few lookers but no surface hit. Changed to zman grubz only managed to get few taps but no hookups. Started to slow down around 9:30 AM, changed to bait and got few actions. The biggest for the morning at around 30ish centimeter.

Good informative post Seb, cheers davo :thumbsup:

That’s a great report Seb! Thanks for taking the time to put in all the details mate. Cheers :thumbsup:

Good report seb85dogz - pretty good result for a first attempt even tho none to hand from surface

good job and great report

Good informative report. I like your format.

One of the problems with surface lures is that they tend to be pushed out of the way by the fish trying to eat them. The pressure wave in the front of the fish often pushes the lure up. This is why attaching an assist hook can really boost your hook-up rate. They work well on walk-the-dog lures. The assist hook hangs down lower minimising the pressure wave effect. It could be worth a try at least.

Windknot wrote: ↑

Thu May 02, 2019 6:48 pm

Good informative report. I like your format.

One of the problems with surface lures is that they tend to be pushed out of the way by the fish trying to eat them. The pressure wave in the front of the fish often pushes the lure up. This is why attaching an assist hook can really boost your hook-up rate. They work well on walk-the-dog lures. The assist hook hangs down lower minimising the pressure wave effect. It could be worth a try at least.

Thanks, I enjoyed writing it too.

Yes, I heard the same theory about murray cod on surface lures.
Only recently I added a swivel on two of my murray cod surface lures (see photos).

That was my first attempt for breams on surface, I might try to do the same on the bream surface lures to increase the hook-up rate.

And hopefully, just hopefully, I will catch breams and cods on surface.

Good on you Seb, we need more discussion on FV about our techniques. Thats how we all learn. I usually add split rings to my surface lures (I said swivels in my boof post but meant split rings, I wouldn't trust swivels with big fish). I add ultra sharp hooks too.

Here is are two good articles:

http://www.wilsonfishing.com/Content/Fi ... reble-Talk

http://www.fishingworld.com.au/how-to/pimp-your-lures

I would caution you about giving out too much info on very specific locations. A lot of people look at this site. Info on techniques is great and general areas is fine.

Best Wishes

Truedogz

Truedogz wrote: ↑

Thu May 02, 2019 8:13 pm

Good on you Seb, we need more discussion on FV about our techniques. Thats how we all learn. I usually add split rings to my surface lures (I said swivels in my boof post but meant split rings, I wouldn't trust swivels with big fish). I add ultra sharp hooks too.

Here is are two good articles:

http://www.wilsonfishing.com/Content/Fi ... reble-Talk

http://www.fishingworld.com.au/how-to/pimp-your-lures

I would caution you about giving out too much info on very specific locations. A lot of people look at this site. Info on techniques is great and general areas is fine.

Best Wishes

Truedogz

Thanks Truedogz, not too much info on a very specific location, noted.

I added swivel on my cod lures, you're right using split rings sounds more secure. I'll read those articles.

Good effort Seb keep at it your bound to get one off the top soon.