The Southern fishing forum looks a bit lonely so thought I'd put a report in it even if the fish arn't that big.

Headed out this morning in Port Phillip Bay with the old man chasing the Snapper. They're usually dropping off a bit by now but they're still around in numbers. Ended up with 5,no biggies today,dropped a few others. Baits used were Silver Whiting and freshly caught Garfish.



The snapper fishery has made a brilliant recovery in Melbourne after it almost became non exsistant in the mid to late 90's. After 10,000 of us rallied on parliament steps 10 years ago to get the scallop dredgers banned the snapper have returned to the bay again and are getting better each year it seems even when it cops and absolute flogging from the 'snapper fever' crowd of Vic.

I'll have a go at Western Port later this week for some King George Whiting before returning back to the N.T

Fished Western Port Bay last night for King George Whiting. Had a great session and we bagged out with 40 fish in about 2 hours. Should be nice on the table today



On the way home in the car leading the news was the cyclone was an hour from Darwin . Raced home and sat on BOM til 3am,nothing better than that site! Head back tonight,might try some culverts in the morning..

G'day Jonesy,
I'm from Melbourne and I sold my 5.5 metre Seafarer because I got sick of battling the crowds at the PPB boat ramp and coming home with nil or one snapper per trip. However I have to agree with you that the bay was much better off after the dredgers got booted out. I was told a few days ago that the kingfish were making an appearance at the heads and someone trolled up a Southern Bluefin Tuna!!! I was told it was about 80 cm and they only got one but where there is one there would have to be more. They havent been there for years so that says something. But it is to be short lived as the dredging project starts next month and I reckon that will stuff the bay and turn it into a dirty brown puddle.
My fishing mate and I both sold our boats and invested in an old landcruiser and took it to Darwin last year to suss out the fishing. We left it up there in storage and flew into darwin on two more occasions and did a charter and some land based barra fishing. My first legal barra was 103 centimetres from the rocks at Pococks on a gold bomber. Got a few others from the beach at high tide on livies between 60 and 75 cm. Needless to say I am hooked on the place.
We blew our landcruiser up last time we were up there and trucked it back to Melb where we are putting a new motor in it. We are looking for a boat to drag back up there but are not able to decide what to get. I reckon a 470 Trailcraft Profish would be the go but my mate cant decide what he wants. He's thinking Hooker or just a 4.2 open tinny. I reckon that will restrict us too much. What do you use?? The idea is to leave the car and boat on a mates relatives property and fly in and out when we can as flights are pretty cheap.
Anyway, dont know why I told you all this, it was just good to see a Melbourne bloke up there and maybe you could give us a few beginners tips if we came up - maybe next year around runn off time???

G'day Not Guilty.
Yeah i saw a pic online of that Bluefin. They get the odd strange capture around the heads every so often,heard of a Dolphin fish a few years ago,and an unconfirmed report of a cobia in Wesern Port! You're right about the dredging,could be catostrophic stuff up by Bracks/Brumby!

I reckon you've got the right idea on buying a boat and car and leaving it in Darwin.If I had money I'd do that,or had even more money I'd live 6 months in Darwin,6 months in Melbourne.

Boat size is totally dependant on what fishing you want to do? I'm not a good example as i fish for barra 95 % of the time,so i only have a 3.85 edgetracker. Pretty certain I'm upgrading to 4.35m this month but. You're 4.2 meter tinny is fine for barra,and you'll still get out on the bluewater if you pick you're days. If you want to do a lot of bluewater fishing though the 4.7m will be better for you.

No probs on the run off,I'll be on the water for 6-8 weeks straight for it. Also plenty of people on this site that no much more than me,so hang around here and you'll learn heaps

Paul Worsteling from Cranbourne bait and tackle has a pic of the cobia and appranttly sighted it the day it was caught. A few months ago they where getting rat kings of Mornington pier just like the good old days. There has been 3 SBT that i know off taken with 50km of the rip in the last 12 months im sure there would have been more as the blokes that chase them are pretty cagey and dont really let to much on