Fishing Victoria Forum

Time fished 5:45am-9am
Wind 10-15kmh north
Moon 47%
Barometer 1009 and dropping
High tide 7:45am
Bait/lure : various squid jigs, zman slim swimz, pipis, squid strips.

Most swan bay is marine park, we can only fish in between the markers.. After some research, me and a mate decided to look for a gummy or two and some whiting.

Got at the carpark around 5am, almost no wind and dark (moon set was around mid night, so no moon at 5am).
Finding the markers were a bit tricky in the dark. Water was pretty much flat 2.0m with weed bottom and sand holes.

Saw a tinny near the right marker so I positioned myself and the kayak on the left marker. Sun started to come up and I put light rod with pipi and heavier gear with squid strip (12 kg rod 7/0 KL). Burley burley burley. I was also throwing squid jig in between.

Short summary, few undersized whiting and undersized pinkie on the light rod. Only managed to get one legal whiting. No squid. Aaand... 3x banjo over a meter long. I was genuinely thought they were gummies. In shallow water, they fought like gummies. I'd say they're around 5-7kg. My arms still pretty sore. I need to start going to the gym.

Funny was, I actually saw the first banjo under my kayak. In my head was like, geez that's a big banjo, hope I dont hook it. And bang! Bbzzzz .... 12kg rod, 4000 exceller and 40lb leader with fg knot put to the test. Never had banjo fight so hard.

Back home with no gummy.

Nice report mate. You're very unlucky to not land at least one squid, unusual for down that way...

Robbie1950 wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 02, 2020 8:41 am

Nice report mate. You're very unlucky to not land at least one squid, unusual for down that way...

Was a bit of my fault too. I left the anchor in the car. So I couldn't get a lot of casts with the squid jig, was too busy paddling and resetting the bait. Though almost no wind, the current was pretty strong during the tide change.

Andrews wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 02, 2020 9:27 am

I am a little surprised the larger whiting were not hanging out in the sandy holes of Swan Bay, they have been productive in the neighbouring town of St Leonards. Caught a couple land based 32-41cm Saturday along with a few squid. If the burley doesn't do the trick what can you do. I think after yesterday’s N/NW/NE winds all-day pinkies will be productive this end of the bay.

Just want to remind everyone of the dangerous four-way intersection leading into the Swan Bay boat ramp, it has blind corners and stop signs do not guarantee people will stop. There was a bad accident there yesterday, 1 March involving someone towing a kayak and a SUV which flipped. Sometimes the dangers start before we even hit the water.

They were like this big. But there's few of them.

It's always nice to see healthy numbers of the juvenile King George Whiting in Swan Bay and other inlet nurseries.
There is plenty of research being done looking at the movement of species within Port Phillip Bay, including the King George Whiting study launched September 2019.

"We know whiting enter our bays when they’re only a few months old and leave again at about four years of age to mature and begin spawning offshore. What we don’t know is how juveniles move within and between our bays up until they depart..." - Victorian Fisheries Authority CEO, Mr Dowling
https://vfa.vic.gov.au/about/news/citiz ... -movements

Here is hoping they decided to stick around during autumn and being their larger friends with them.