MANY of the holidaying anglers and locals have found the fishing over the holiday period quiet, especially those anglers concentrating their efforts on the Lee Breakwater and from small boats in Portland Bay.
Cold and cloudy weather with showers and wind have kept the water temperatures down by up to three degrees Celsius. lower than can he expected at this time of the year.
I believe this is having a detrimental effect on the fishing in the hay.
Off the Lee Breakwater small catches of snapper. whiting, calamari squid. salmon and barracouta have all been caught in the past week.
Many of the snapper have been undersize and anglers are reminded to please carefully return them to the water to grow bigger for next time.
It is not unusual for the Lee Breakwater to become less productive at this time of the year but it has the advantage of being easy to access (no walking needed) and if the fish are not cooperating then it is comfortable to sit in the car to listen to the cricket or music.
Baits worth trying are salted pilchards. squid. fish fillets and pippies.
Boat fishing in Portland Bay at present is quite poor with evon small snapper being difficult to The\ are still being caught but are biting slowly and are moving around on top of the hard bottom.
Whiting have been caught in the shallow waters all around the bay from Point Danger to Narrawong.
Fishing around weed beds is the most productive method and the best baits are pippies and strips of squid.
Kingfish have made a slow appearance with a couple caught 10 days ago and not much since.
While a couple of kingfish have been lost by anglers in the past few days the kingfish are in the area, but they are jtist not biting.
The water temperature is about 17.5 degrees Celsius.
Barracouta seem to be everywhere at present. in the harhocr. off the Lee Breakwater and out in the deeper water off Lawrence Rock.
Inshore they are small to medium sized hut in the decpc. water thea are up to .2 metres long.
The deeper water off the southern coastline of Portland is the best place to try for a consistent catch.
Boats able to go o ’er to Bridgessater Ba~ base caught good bags of flathead, butterfly gumard and the odd gummy shark.
Boats fishing between Cape Nelson and Lawrence Rock are still catching snapper and a few morv, ong.
Many of the boats have been targeting the mako sharks that are in the SOm water at present.
Some of these sharks are weighing between 50-100 kilograms while others have been hooked and brought to the boat and have been released because the anglers considered them too big to tackle in relation to the size of the boat they were using.
The makos are following the schools of barracouta.
While the fishing may he slow you always have a chance of hooking a good fish or shark while fishing at Portland.
Mulloway. kingfish, all sorts of sharks. salmon, snapper and whiting are being caught by someone at some time through the week.
Often good catches are kept quiet by the anglers so the best thing to do isjust keep trying and enjo\ your time on or beside the skater.
The Surry River. at Narrassong. ssas fishing rcall\ ssell until the riser breached the sandbar at the mouth and about 80 centimetres of water floss ed to the sea.
Since then fishing there has been more difficult.
The Glenelg has good-sized bream asailable and some mulloway as well but many small bream are making it more difficult to catch the bigger ones.
Anglers keen to learn more about fishing and to become involved in fishing with a group of keen anglers shoul consider contacting the Portland Sport and Game Fishing Club through Shane Sanders on 5523 4531.
Construction works on Wharf From December 2, 2008 through February, 2009 piling works will be happening on the trawler wharf as part of its I 25m extension.
Observe all speed limits and keep the ssake to a minimum, waves caused by boats slows pile driving, forces work to stop, prolongs the project and creates unnecessary risks to safety of construction personnel.
Portland Observer,
Victoria,Australia
