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Port Welshpool. Where is it ?? Who
has heard of it, let alone fished there ?? Could Port Welshpool
be home to one of the BEST, most secluded and Secret piers in Victoria
?? It's definatly up there for me.
Port Welshpool is a lazy 2 hour drive from Melbourne. The town is
10min after the Wilsons Prom turn off. Port
Welshpool gets its name because it used to be an old shipping town.
Once your in Port Welshpool, you have the option to fish one of
their two piers. Let me talk about the "Long Jetty" as
it is known. Seriously, this is one massive piece of pier. Without
exaggerating it easily has to be 900m long, and takes a good 25min
to reach the end. The pier runs straight out from the huge sand
flats, then does a slow bend of 90degrees to the right, running
up and down the Lewis Channel. Because the pier is so long, we constructed
trollies from golf carts to transport our gear. You simply could
not do it any easier!!
In these next pieces, I will go through each hot spot on the "Long
Jetty", unitl I reach the famous end of it.
The Bend
The area know as "The Bend" to us, which is the actual
bend in the pier can produce good fish. On hot days we have seen
hundreds of mullet, whiting and garfish, swimming around the outside
(channel side) of the pier. Theres a large
sand bank which rises out of the main channel. The Bank is roughly
2m deep. All these fish will fall to unweighted or evelated baits.
(Using a float)
The Ramp
The little loading ramp which goes down the inside of the pier is
fished when winds cause anglers into refuge. If you haven't been
to Port Welshpool, think of a place that generates and makes ALL
the wind for Victoria. Port Welshpool is that place. The Winds here
can be Devistating !! Anyway...the ramp is totally wind protected
and is conveniently placed in a productive area. Casting out to
the sand bank on low tide will produce good whiting, flathead, mullet,
salmon, trevally and garfish. Low tide does expose square kilometers
of sand, it isnt hard to find.
The Light
A light situated about 180m from the end of the pier is a big hot
spot at night. Best way to fish it is a 2 hook paternosta rig, fished
straight down. The Port Welshpool monster Trevally love hiding amongst
the timber. And once hooked will give you an awsome "never
say die" fight. The
number of big trevally we have lost amongst the timber is unbeliveable.
The light at night also attracted insects, which inturns attracts
solid numbers of Horse Mackeral, or Cowanyong. Using the black magik
jigs, it wasn't unusal for us to hook 3 or 4 at a time. These make
the BEST fresh bait because they are so oily and so easy to catch.
The light also attracts qood numbers of squid. Although we've never
got any big squid, we have caught plenty of small to medium size
ones.
The End
The end of the pier. The end which has probably failed to produce
a fish once in Twenty trips, most likely because it was blowing
400 knots and was minus 20 degrees. Fishing straight down again
here has produced some awsome action. Double header Trevally, quadriple
header Mackeral, magnificent King George Whiting. Looking back on
past diaries, I will name a list of species we have caught or seen
been landed from here. Trevally, Snapper, Gummy Sharks, Mackeral,
Whiting, Squid, Flathead, Tailor, Bearded Cod, Ling, Butterfish,
Parrot Fish, Barracouta, Garfish, Mullet, Salmon, Flounder, Sweep,
Leather Jacket, plus all your gumboot fish rays etc. And yes there
have been some spool jobs out in the Lewis Channel. Not a bad species
list for a pier !!
Some remarkable captures whitnessed - 8lb Snapper, 8lb Salmon, 4
foot Gummy. Nuff Said !!
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