Vic - Reef Island 14-4-12

[cheaterparts]

headed to reef island today met up with lucky jack at the launch site -Jack was geared up when I got there so headed out a bit before me
after a couple of reports of good KG whiting catchs in the area I was hoping for a few
anyway I trolled lures out to near the end of the island to see what else I could pick up but the weed was pretty bad out there and I gave up on that
anyway I moved out onto one of my marks and picked up a 38 cm flatty all most straight away
then the pickers started and after a few moves I had a couple of leather jackets and 3 squidly doodles
2 small ones and one about 29 cm hood still no whiting
moving down to some nice looking whiting ground in about 1.5 meters maybe a bit more down past Bass landing and after a slow start bang a KGW rebaited and straight away another ( both 34 cm )
then wouldn't you know it a gummy (115 cm over all ) dam it by the time I got back to my whiting hunt they had moved on
the wind got up a bit from the Nw it started to get bumpy so I pulled the pin and had a paddle straight into a 10 - 15 kt wind for 3 + km , must say I was glad to turn for home with a tail wind for the last Km or so

so a mixed bag and all good eatting fish still I'm still stuggling to get good catchs of KGW



I think jack had some leather jackets

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now where to go today is the next problem for the Pirtek day - Salmon and flatties are the vic target fish
it 5.30 am and I still dont know where I'll fish

[BrisbaneJamie]

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[cheaterparts]

Wow , I just looked up flatty legal size in Victoria, and the Gov site says 27cm,

Regards Jamie

the same for KGW but as a rule I and mainy others dont take these under 30 cm - my bait board is 30 cm and I like to have them at least that long or theres not enough meat to fillet

[TheFishinMusician]

Seafood basket!!
Nice haul cheater & thanks for the report.

[mingle]

Nice catch...

I had a quick drive along to the end of Soldiers Road on my way back from Phillip Island
this arvo - looks like a very nice spot.

Will give it a try soon...

Cheers,

Mike.

[Junglefisher]

Wow , I just looked up flatty legal size in Victoria, and the Gov site says 27cm, thats ..................well thats what it is I suppose, I wonder why the legal limit here in QLD is so much bigger ( 40cm ) ? Nice report btw , thanks for taking some photos to, that makes a report for my money

Regards Jamie

A 27cm flattie is tiny, I think this limit is quite silly. Even in Tassie we didn't take them at 30cm (their limit). Anything under 33/34cm is just too small to bother. Whilst in Vic, we had a self imposed 38cm limit and still bagged out just about every fishing session.

What a great mixed bag though, I'd have been stoked with that. Some of the tastiest catch going.

[graybalz85]

Hey cheater looks like u had a great day out, looking at getting out that way Thursday, Friday as I've taken the days off to go fishing , hope this nice weather holds out untill then. Helps that the Inlaws have a holiday house at coronet bay.

[cheaterparts]

Hey cheater looks like u had a great day out, looking at getting out that way Thursday, Friday as I've taken the days off to go fishing , hope this nice weather holds out untill then. Helps that the Inlaws have a holiday house at coronet bay.

as you know theres good fishing both sides of the island and even up outside the main beach at coronet bay
good luck

[graybalz85]

Havent fished around reef island yet as last friday was my first trip out in salt water in the yak. Last Saturday arvo launched off queens ferry rd n paddled up to tenby point, me n the father Inlaw got a 70cm elephant shark each. Keen to do that again, even paddle down to stockyard point and give that a shot

[cheaterparts]

Havent fished around reef island yet as last friday was my first trip out in salt water in the yak. Last Saturday arvo launched off queens ferry rd n paddled up to tenby point, me n the father Inlaw got a 70cm elephant shark each. Keen to do that again, even paddle down to stockyard point and give that a shot

Ok then you know the launch spot is at the end of bluff rd coronet bay - there no mud so you can launch at any tide
low tide if you have a bait pump bass yabbies can be pumped on the beach

take your squid jigs - if the weed has settled troll some HBs - take both light and heavier bait rods as almost anything that swims in WP can be caught there

[graybalz85]

yeh will keep that in mind, got stuck in the mud flats on low tide coming back from tenby point wasnt much fun dragging the yak back to shore knee deep in mud.
The father inlaw and i paddled out to reef island last sunday morning but was a bit windy and choppy, was a fair effort to get there with a head wind and 2-3 foot chop and swell, but looks like a good area to fish with the rocky edges around the island, but the looks u seem to do alrite around that area. keep up the good work.

[mingle]

Here's a panorama pic of the launch site at the end of Soldiers Road - it was around low-tide when I was there today...

This pic is cropped, as it seems to be too 'wide' (2423 pixels) to display properly on the forum pages.



Click here if you want a 'Full HD" version of the image (5452x1080 - 1.8MB file)

It does look like a great spot to try...

Cheers,

Mike.

[cheaterparts]

Here's a panorama pic of the launch site at the end of Soldiers Road - it was around low-tide when I was there today...
Mike.

the beach is solid enough to ride horses on - there is a horse walk through for that purpose

the beach also has large number of bass yabbies ( great whiting bait ) that can be pumped at low tide

and its good fishing from corinella to the san remo bridge along the whole sth east side of the port
with all the species you would find at cleeland bight and more ( just no wrasse )
its a slice of westerport heaven

[mingle]

Oops - fixed the image (wasn't displaying properly)

It certainly is a great area - I definitely won't miss the wrasse!

Mike.

[mingle]

Hi Cheater,

I forgot to ask - what rigs/hooks/bait do you use for the whiting/leatherjackets?

Do you bother with berley?

Cheers,

Mike.

Here's a panorama pic of the launch site at the end of Soldiers Road - it was around low-tide when I was there today...
Mike.

the beach is solid enough to ride horses on - there is a horse walk through for that purpose

the beach also has large number of bass yabbies ( great whiting bait ) that can be pumped at low tide

and its good fishing from corinella to the san remo bridge along the whole sth east side of the port
with all the species you would find at cleeland bight and more ( just no wrasse )
its a slice of westerport heaven