Western Port Bay

Location: Elizabeth Island Mark & Hawkseys Secret Spot
Date: 14.11.2008
Time: 3:30 am - 12:30pm
Weather: 15-20 Knots
Crew: Huggett, Toon, Hawkes
Target Fish: Snapper, Gummy
Bait: Squid, Pillies, Sand Whiting, Barracouta, Salmon
Rigs: Various
Berley: Market mystery bag
Catch: 1x Pinkie 34cm, 5x Couta, 1x Slimy Cock Rod, 1x Mullet, 1x Ray, 20x Salmon, 10x Flattie

Report: Not much at Elizabeth Island mark, tide running too fast. Moved to Hawkesy's secret spot at about 4m water. Good session with no tide and constant action.

Rating: 7/10 - Wanted a big red!

Rat Rocks

Location: Rat Rocks
Date: 13.11.08
Time: 7:30 -10.30pm
Weather: Warm, raining and windy
Crew: Dave, Arnold
Target: Snapper, Gummy's
Bait: Eel, Pillies, Squid
Rigs: Snapper Snatchers
Berley: None
Catch: None
Report: Pretty quiet evening on the zzz. Was blowing a gale, raining...yet still pleasantly warm. Starting to wonder if this spot is as productive as we first thought.
Rating: 2/10

River Near Dave's House

Location: The River Near Dave's House
Date: 11.11.08
Time: 7:30 -9.30pm
Weather: Perfect evening
Crew: Huggett, Martin
Target: Eels
Bait: Chicken
Rigs: 3/0 hook. No lead
Berley: None
Catch: 1 Eel
Report: Martin's first time wetting a line...and I suspect not the last!! As expected this little spot is swarming with eels. Action started when it started getting dark. Hooked onto about 10 eels, lost most in the snags. Managed to land only one eel (Martin's first score on the board).
Rating: 7/10

Beer Battered Flake

Fish: Gummy Shark
Batter Recipe: 1 cup of plain flour, salt, pepper, and add beer and stir till a good consistency. Once it takes a good form, add a couple of pinches of paprika and cut up some thyme. Add ingredients to batter and then let sit for ten minutes.
Method: Heat vegetable oil in fry pan. Dust fillets with plain flour. Coat fillets with batter. Place in hot frypan. Cook on each side till nice golden colour. Drain on paper towel. Eat with salad and chips! Mmm.
Note: After fish was filleted, froze fillets for two weeks before cooking.

Rating: 10/10

Rat Rocks

Location: Rat Rock
Date: 26.10.08
Time: 3:00 -8.30am
Weather: Calm morning
Crew: Huggett, Toon, Arnold
Target Fish: Snapper
Bait: Squid, Pillies
Rigs: Snapper snatchers and running paternoster rig.
Berley: Market mystery bag
Catch: None
Report: No bites, no boots into dirty filthy rats and no seagull kites. The early early morning session didn't seem to agree with any of us...and sunday was a complete write-off. As always though we had some good laughs.

Rat Rock

Location: Rat Rock
Date: 14.10.08
Time: 8:00 -11.30pm
Weather: Full Moon, little cloud, calm night
Crew: Huggett, Toon, Arnold, Willo
Target Fish: Gummy, Snapper
Bait: Squid, Pillies, Eel
Rigs: Snapper snatchers and running paternoster rig
Berley: 1 large blue grenadier carcass
Catch: 3 x Eagle Ray, 1 x Pinkie (27cm), 1 x Gummy
Report: Good night and not many fisherman. When we arrived (just before sunset), dudes to our right landed a good sized snapper (on pillie). Arnold caught the pinkie which took a surprisingly good run about an hour after dark. Gummy was caught at about 10:30pm. Pinkie took pillie bait on paternoster rig, while gummy took the combo (pillie and squid) on the snapper snatcher. The eagle rays took snapper snatchers. Penguin's were walking around the joint, and there were many large rats. Huggett got frustrated, cos he just missed two.
Rating: 8/10 . Would have been a 9 if Huggett laid boot to one.

Queenscliff - Point Lonsdale Shark ?

Location: {Queenscliff}{Point Londsdale Pier}
Date: 28.09.08
Crew: Ross
Time: 4.00-11.00pm
Tackle: {Green soft plastic with glitter casting around pilons in Queenscliff Harbor}
{Shark set-up was 6.0 hook, 40lb trace, 2 swivel running sinker, 50cm sinker leed, 20-25cm hook trace - great for casting far}
Bait: {Large pink suid jig}{Full squid wing}
Weather: 27 Sunny
Target Fish: {Squid, Silver Trevally}{Shark}
Berley: none
Catch: 1 x Squid
Report: Hooked up to what we thought was a shark, most likely a seven gilled, battled for two hours, i snapped it off by accident pulling the line with the rod horizontal - such an idiot
Rating: cool/10

Snook and a Whiting

Location: Ventnor Tinny
Date: 12.10.08
Crew: Ross
Time: 8.00-11.30am
Tackle: Surf rig, size.6 hooks, maybe best so that you don't always catch the small stuff on a size.4
Weather: 5 knots, brilliant weather, mist in morning, shorts and a t-shirt
Target Fish: Whiting, Snook
Bait: Pippie
Berley: Berkley Berley Suasage - not no impressed -$7.99 better off with pellets and tuna-oil
Catch: 1 x Whiting 30cm
2 x Snook (40&50cm)
1 x Small Leather Jacket (15cm)
1 x Cool Red Reef Fish (17 cm)

Report: decided to try a green soft plastic on a weighted hook. Cast and retrieve mid pace, small tugs. Picked up both that way. Tried pink squid jig for a while no luck. Smaller jigs seem best.
Dude came twenty meters in his boat! no luck for him..suck shit
Rating: 6/10

Point Lonsdale Pier

Location: Point Lonsdale Pier

Date: 04.10.08

Time: 4.00-11.30pm

Crew: Ross, Huggett, Toon, Arnold

Weather: Windy arvo 25 degrees, then fine, calm, cold night

Target Fish: Gummy, Snapper, Squid

Bait: Fresh squid, eel, pillies

Berley: None

Catch: Nothing. Saw a 5ft shark swim under the pier late afternoon. The odd weed drifting, but nothing too bad.

Report: Nothing all day/night. Bogans arrived after dark. Woodstocks, trackies, Corio type bogans.

Rating: 2/10 . Its fishing.

Mornington Pier

Location: Mornington Pier
Date: 13.09.08
Crew: Dave Huggett; Toon Van Beeck; Andrew Wilson
Time: 6-830am
Weather: 10-15 knots, small chop,cold
Target Fish: Squid, Salmon
Bait: Lures
Catch: ~ 25 Salmon.
Reoport: Smashed the salmon with metal lures. Killer session. No real big ones, all around the 25cm mark. Good times had by all (including Jerry)
Rating: 8/10

Mornington Pier

Location: Mornington Pier

Date: 21.09.08

Crew: Dave Huggett; Arnold Castillo

Time: 5-830am

Weather: 10-15 knots, small chop,cold

Target Fish: Snapper, Salmon

Bait: Lures, Pillies, Squid

Catch: ~ 3 Salmon.

Report: Started off pretty ordinary. Lost a brand new snapper snatcher and whole squid head on the first cast. Next cast got snagged. Cracked it...then the salmon came in. David managed 2 on lures and Arnold got one on a snapper snatcher with pillies. All good size. the curse has gone??. JERRY

Rating: 8/10

Lorne Pier

Location: Lorne Pier
Date: 05.07.08
Crew: Ross, Dave Huggett
Time: 8.00-11.30pm
Weather: 10-15 knots, small chop,cold
Target Fish: Squid, Silver Trevally, Mackerel, Thresher Shark, Seven Gilled
Bait: Pilchard, King George Whiting, Salmon, Barracouta
Berley: Fish leftovers - whiting, salmon
Catch: Nothing. Dave hooked onto something that was taking out line... but busted off after a minute.
Report: No luck this time. As we arrived a dude was hooked onto something big, most likely a seven gilled shark or a thresher. An hour before we arrived he hauled in a 5 foot thresher that he pulled up nearly to the top of the pier but its tail thashed the line and broke off. They were using a gafe rope to pull them onto the pier. Using full Pilchard with steel trace. 8.0 hook maybe. Weed toward the corner where the bait table is. Straight off the end or to the left seems best.
Rating: 2/10

Whiting Challenge

Species: King George Whiting

Location: Ventnor, Phillip Island

Bait: Pippie

Tackle: Standard Surf Rig

Length: 46cm

Weight: 750 grams

Poached Australian Salmon

Fish: Australian Salmon
Recipe:
Fillet Salmon - remove dark muscle along outer side of fillet (this is the strong fishy taste which is not wanted)
Heat red wine in pan (enough to completely cover fish)
Add fillets, sprig of rosemary, a bay leaf, basil, diced tomato and Spanish (red) onions
Slowly poach making sure red wine issimmering not boiling
Remove fish when cooked
Reduce red wine sauce on med-high heat (continually stiring)
Serve fish on couscous and pour over sauce
Serve with asparagus or green beans
Note: Apparently Australian Salmon works well in fish burgers and is very good if smoked. Check web sites shown in Blog for other Australian Salmon recipes

Rating: 7/10

Steamed Whiting

Fish: Whiting
Recipe:
Fillet whiting
Boil water in saucepan or wok
Lay fillets on bamboo steamer and put on lid - ensure water doesn't boil above fillets
Heat peanut oil in small saucepan
Chop spring onions and ginger and place in a metal bowl
Once oil starts to steam pour over spring onions and ginger to make an infused oil
Once fillets are cooked place on plate and pour over sauce
Serve with lemon slices and salad

Rating: 8/10