Family Trip out on the PPB

Well it may come as a suprise too many that  with all the squid fishing I do that none of my family have ever caught a squid, the weekend gone saw an end to that with a family trip planned on Port Phillip Bay. Conditions started perfectly with no wind and a sunrise to die for, not sure how much the young one Maddison and my fiance Kim appreciated to early morning wake up at 0330 so we could be on the water by 0500 at Sorrento but we got up and made in time.

We did a few stops along the way starting in Sorrento and working our way over to the South Channel Marker picking up a dozen or so along the way, there is nothing like the look on a kids face when they get there first squid. Maddison had a grin from ear to ear and made all the right noises a kid makes when they load up on a fish, it was a very rewarding trip for me, I dont know who felt better me or her. Maddison was smashing them at one stage and had Kim and myself struggling for numbers untill we both struck back with a vengance.

Kim had never even been squid fishing before so this was also a first for her, in one trip we managed to break 2 squid virgins, from here we headed towards Portsea via Sorrento, cating away in Portsea I could hear a voice yelling at me from the pier, was good to hear Don Smith From Gone Fishing Sales in Carrum Downs getting a few from the pier, they ended up with 13 for the day between him and a mate. With only small squid around we headed for Point Nepean to see if we could find some bigger ones, not planning very well I arrived to find the tide gushing out at a rate of knots so finding a nice drift was tough. Packed up and again headed for Sorrento where I knew we would find enough squid to keep the whole family entertained for a few more hours.

These few hours shrunk very fast as some one on the boat turned as green as their shirt, although a bit of sea sickness never killed any one there was no need to stay out and be ill when we had caught and released more than enough squid to keep us all content, everyone had a great day I was wrapped to see the happiness on teh faces of my family as they caught there first squid cant wait to get out there again and do it with them some more.

Stage 1 of Boat pimping complete

Well part 1 of the boat pimping has taken place with thanks to Danny and Jo from Seaford Signs, they came in on their day off or should I say every one else's day off (public Holidy) to get the boat started, I have a big print to go in the middle yet and am excited to see how it will come up as it Danny the sign man, sorry about the pic it comes from my iphone and in my driveway will update when I get some on water pics over the next few days

Back blogging after the Christmas break

Taken a bit of time off to spend some time with friends and family over the Christmas break, was good to step away from the computer for a bit.

Dan with his deep fish on a UO-JYA

Did a couple of trips while I was off playing in the deeper water, with a mate Dan. We managed to find a couple of nice squid in those trips even though the calamari season normally slows at this time of the year with only smaller squid being caught.  We worked the deeper drops of Western Port from 8 to 22 meters looking for some squid that have been attacking baits of fishermen chasing Snapper and Gummy Sharks, many of the baits that have been presented for fish were coming back with the tell tale sight of the triangle bite in the back of the head so we put some egi in front of them to see what would happen and what do you know we found some squid and some good size for what we expect in February. Dan then took his son out to teach him the same as he has been learning and young Izzak landed his first squid egi style from a similar location, from what Dad (Dan) tells us he had only just cast his line out and before he could tie himself up he had this first coming back to the boat, great work from the young fella.

Young Izzak also on UO-JYA

With the change in many of the things we used to believe about the squid spawn and habits I have just written a letter of support to for Dr Corey Green at DPI to get some funding so we can start to get some serious answers about squid spawn, squid numbers and habitat. We hope that this research will get us on the way to understanding a bit more about the slimey little cephlapods and help us manage the fishery a little better if needed. At present we have zero scientific data for Southern Calamari in Australia, no one has ever conducted a census and no one has ever measured spawn cycle's. At first after reading the application I was a little concerned, in recent times fishermen in this country have been the subject to many species bans, closed seasons and unjustified closed areas for fishing, however, we have no data full stop on this species I decided that we as anglers have a responsibility to the species to ensure its future and we can not do this until we establish numbers, habitat and population doubling times.

Another deep squid on a UO-JYA

I thought I might throw this pic in while i was posting, on my return from a trip to Flinders a few days ago I came accross a massive boil in the water, the pic only shows a small area but note I was in the middle of the boil, fish were breaching for about an acre of water, at first I assumed they were just Salmon busting but with the water so clear I could see fish clearly, Salmon were in the school along with Couta, Pike and Slimeys all chasing Garfish. This means that there is lots of stuff chasing these fish into the bay, looking forward to the next few weeks when the Striped Tuna, Mako Sharks and Kings fire up just outside our great bays and harbors, no if only this wind would bugger off and let us all out to enjoy it.

Click on photo for better view