The Melbourne Boat Show was a huge success last week. I spent five days with Alistair and his wife Rachel on their stand selling dvd's and had an opportunity to take a look at some fantastic boats. Stay tuned for demo days which will be held out of Patterson River in the coming weeks. Now turning to fishing ...... I received another comprehensive report from Shaun this week, he writes;

Mick Torpy and his upcoming bait machine son Mitchell have had some excellent catches during the past two weeks in both Port Phillip Bay and Patterson River. Just this weekend Mick again got amongst some serious bait activity, with any amount of Garfish available around the Canadian Bay through to Mornington reef patches. Anchoring in 4/5 meters with a steady stream of pre wetted pellets soaked with tuna oil out back...The gars soon home in on this. Once again a light float rig with a size 12 longshank hook baited with just about any soft bait, Pippi pieces, shelled Prawns, even small slithers of Pilchards works. Mick & Mitchell were using Pilchard pieces during their weekend successful session.

Also some squid have been landed in these area's, Not in the numbers of 2 months back, but just as welcome. Smaller jigs are the key to enticing these with the 1.5 & 2.0 sizes working well. The latest jig offering from Yamashita in natural the colours are definately worth having onboard as they have snared a fair number of squid in the short time they have been available.

Mick also mentioned sighting dolphins in the area as well as a huge pod of Penguins, all very obvious signs of plenty of baitfish holding in these areas. Salmon have been fickle at best with no reliability to go on. If you are really after Salmon in these areas, it can pay to have a look after a decent amount of North wind has been up for a few days. This has the effect of herding the baitfish in close and the Salmon soon get stuck into them. Early morning will be the best time as the sun isn't on the water and makes for an easier approach, seeing it's fairly shallow areas of 4 to 6 metres.

Alternatively the long forgotten Paravane is a useful tool here when fish aren't showing on the surface. There also deadly on Snook that frequent these same reef patches. If using a Paravane, have a simple lazer style lure of 25/30grams around 1 or 2 metres behind the Paravane. Use a heavier leader than normal of around 25/30lb, reason for this is that the entire rig is reasonably close to the reefs when run 30 to 40 meters behind the boat. This helps guard against loosing the lot should it become fouled. Troll slowly at 2/3 knots.

One last item, this time last year saw huge schools of Slimy Trevalla or Wharehou in both Port Phillip Bay and also around the Docklands area of the Yarra River. It may be worth a look now for these fish as they also provide super fast action when about. Rickett's Point through to Black Rock along the 4/ 5 metre line would be worth a look during the next few weeks, great eating when eaten fresh. They also make prime baits for large Snapper and work very well on Gummy Sharks. Use Gar rigs with a larger hook of size 4 or 6 and fish a deep float setting a sliding float system works well for this. Soft baits work well, chicken is a popular offering. The bag limit is 20 per person, and it is amazing when there on how quickly this can be achieved.

The action in the river has been hot, especially last Sunday evening. After a busy weekend visiting the boat show my nephews Daniel and Tom with mate Dougie had a quick fish around dusk on Sunday. What a session they had, in less than half an hour they landed three nice bream 37cm, 36cm and 33cm. All fish were caught using bread !

Shaun also reports that on the same evening George Kokkinos, got amongst the Bream fishing in the back lake near the bridges, he had some excellent action with a total catch of 6 all well over 30cm's with one lunker just shy of 40cm's, Who needs to travel to Gippsland when there very local and obviously hungry. Baits used were a mixture of Freshwater Yabbies as well as raw Chicken strips that had been rubbed in curry powder. George originally planned on going to the Yarra, but with such reliable fishing close by, I think the Yarra may have to wait for the moment.

As reported above Mick and Mitchell also had fun in the Patto during the week. Fishing the top of the flood tides near the second flood gates in the river good schools of Yellow Eye Mullet have been taken. The boys have been getting amongst them using a home made dough mixture. Fishing a light float rig allows for easy bite detection. Catches of 50 or more seems to be the norm most sessions. Although only around 15 to 22cm or so, they not only provide hours of enjoyment and learning for the younger kids, they also make good whole baits if packed and frozen soon after capture. Or even better use them for oily cubes/berley during spring & summer on either Snapper or Sharks.

The sixth DVD in the STRIKEZONE series will be released in July 2008. Billfishing 2 is packed with over 80 minutes of action including the capture of a 76kg swordfish of the NSW South Coast. Learn the techniques that Alistair and the STRIKEZONE Team use to catch marlin and the elusive swordfish. STRIKEZONE Billfishing 2 is guaranteed to improve your fishing with awesome surface and underwater action, tips and techniques.

Thanks to Shaun again for a very comprehensive report. Shaun runs Southern Fishing Tuition if anyone is interested in heading out with him, contact details are Mobile: 0417 335 272, Home: 9546 0429, Email: rushdale@ hotmail.com

Hope these reports can be of some help if you are planning a trip out this week. For updated fishing reports as well as boating conditions please call the shop on 9772 5777.

Have a great week.

Lynette and Trevor Hogan