First trip to WP

[cazof88]

Hey guys,

Yesterday (24/01/15) I went out for my first trip to western port. We decided to launch from hastings which went surprisingly well considering it looked like a disaster waiting to happen from my Google Maps search. We managed to get away fairly easily and followed the buoys out into the deeper water. I had bought a map and done a little research so we headed to middle spit. On the way we saw a few boats fishing near what looked like some promising ground so we anchored down and had a fish. After 20 mins and no bites we decided to make a move.

We arrived at middle spit and started fishing, we had no luck for the better part of 2 hours after moving around a few times on the outer sapit area. After seeing the tide had risen, and a few other boats had successfully cross the spit, we gave it a shot and managed to make it across without incident which isn't the same I can say for one or two other boats that tried to cross. once on the innder spit we fished a few more spots when we finally got our first fish for the day, an undersized flathead which went straight back. After having a look at my fishing map we found a spot labelled as 69. We punched in the co-ordinates and headed there. The location was just offshore from french island. We fishing up here when suddenly the unthinkable happend, I knocked one of my rods and lost it to the deep. It was in shallow water so we tried to fish it out but had no luck. At this stage I was 1 rod down and had no fish so not liking WP.

We made our way down French Island stopping every few hundred meters and managed to finally get onto a few fish. We caught two 37cm whiting and a barely legal flathead. We kept making our way down and I caught a small leatherjacket which I was happy about as I quite enjoy the taste of them (anyone know a good location to target leatherjacket??). Eventually we made our way down further catching a few more fish but nothing too amazing. At this point we thought we'd try somewhere new so headed across the bay towards the mainland near the refinery.

We anchored up near the refinery and tried our luck. It was quiet till suddenly one of my rods started to go off, to my surprise it was a pinkie! While not one of those micro fish around PPB, it was still 1cm below legal size so I had to throw it back. Seeing that there was Snapper around got us excited so we decided we'd use the last of our burley and try for something big. The wind started to pick up and it was getting choppy. Shortly after my rod was going off again and managed to bring up a nice 40cm Flathead, it was the biggest I'd ever caught! The excitement was short-lied however as somehow another rod went into the water- we have no idea how because none of us touched it, possibly something pulled it in but it was in the snapper rack holder...can fish do that with snapper racks? Needless to say I was fuming at this stage so we called it a day. We made our long trip back to the ramp and found it failry choppy. The boat was getting airborne due to some big waves so we really took our time, is it normal to get airborne from big swell? Back at the boat ramp we managed to get the boat onto the trailer on our second attempt so that was a plus considering I thought it'd take us a good hour or two without a pier to help up.

All in all I found Western Port a pain with few fish and more dangers then PPB, however I know that they can be found in numbers, I just don't know ho yet. The fish also do seem bigger so I'm not going to completely write it off yet but I don't think we will be heading back there for a while. In the end we ended up with two nice sized whiting, two flathead, the biggest mullet I have seen (being 38cm and very FAT) and a small leatherjacket. I think I might try Werribee tomorrow since I've heard good things from there lately, it may possibly be my first solo outing!

[barra mick]

Nice report

[scott__henning]

What boat have you got mate? You will find that every trip to westernport will produce more, as you get to know the area. For whiting the shallows towards high tide Are the go, and pinkies wherever there is structure.

You should pick up leatherjacket in the same area as whiting, I tend to find they come up close with a bit of burley. In clear water you will see them swim to the back of the boat!

[cobby]

Welcome to the real bay. Like anywhere, go hard and get airborne. That bit is no different to ppb other than wind against tide can make the chop bigger and shorter than it would in the puddle.

Whiting can be hit and miss anywhere. Generally at the spit run along at or below 7m depth and you'll find them eventually. Consistent larger fish come from Somers to Flinders in general but that's not to say big fish aren't everywhere in the bay. The spit itself is around 1.2m deep at high tide making it an easy cross. There's also an unmarked channel through the middle of it called the cut.

All in all you will be back eventually. Tidal influence makes it a mind **** compared to ppb, but the fishing is arguably better, especially fish like Whiting or Gummies.

[Nude up]

Don't give up on westernport I have caught my best fish from there but mostly out of corinella and rhyll

[barra mick]

Don't give up on westernport I have caught my best fish from there but mostly out of corinella and rhyll

he could do with a secret spot or two.!! That may steer him in the right direction

[cazof88]

Thanks for all of the great advice guys and I'll try not to let the difficult day out get to me but I think I'll explore PPB a little more extensively before I try the beast that is WP a try again. No doubt I will be back there better than ever in time! I did manage to get out yesterday to Werribee but it was a bit of a disaster due to the wind, I'll post up a report shortly.