A big fluke in the Pea Soup

After a long lay-off due to the incredible windy winter we have had, ( windiest in 30 years according to BOM) I decided I would dust the cobwebs off of my yak and head out for a metro session targeting squid, snook and whiting. It was two days before a full moon and I decided I would fish the run-in floodtide and an hour after the tide change before heading in on sunset. With the daytime maximum forecast to be 22 degrees accompanied with variable winds below 10 knots it was set to be a great day to be out on the water.

At 12 30pm I launched the kayak off Seacliff beach and headed out towards the squidding grounds where two other yaks and one tinny were fishing away. As soon as I reached their vicinity I decided it was best to keep on paddling in home of finding clearer water. I eventually stopped approximately 800meters from shore and decided that unless I was prepared to travel a lot further out into the gulf that the water clarity was not going to improve in a hurry. Feeling a bit deflated I blindly anchored and started throwing out a great deal of surface burley in the hope of attracting squid and other pelagic species. Unfortunately after half an hour of nothing I decided I would give the bottom a go. This increased the action as I missed two bites ion 10 minutes, however 3rd time was the charm and I was able to hook a small fish which I assumed would be a juvenile whiting. My assumption was half right with weedy whiting coming on board which was promptly released. Over the next 45 minutes I was able to land another 4 of this prized species and 1 box fish to top it all off.

Once the boxy was released I decided to make a move and paddle the 1.5kms down the coast towards the red cliffs of Hallett Cove.

Once anchored in close at Hallett Cove I again began to burley in the hope of attracting various pelagic species and a certain red coloured reef fish. However my efforts were futile and after 45 minutes of catching nothing but the sea floor once the floating baits had sunk I decided it was time to make the long paddle back Seacliff. Once back, I again decided to anchor out further than I have fished before. However this attempt was very short lived as it was infested with weedy whiting. This infestation prompted me to head for home and start paddling in, all be it in a bit of a huff , I couldn’t help but think I had wasted such a beautiful day fishing in the wrong spot.

As paddled I thought about a little sandy hole I had fished one day in summer and I tried to pick land marks that were familiar.

After crudely guessing where the hole might be a threw the anchor overboard and set up one rod for whiting and one for snook/ salmon trout ( both of which I had caught in this location before). I then threw burley in the water like a mad man it all had to go!!! As I was burleying my whiting rod was hit, I picked it up and set the hook into something with a few head shakes to my surprise I landed a small flathead of about 25cms and quickly released it. Next cast I didn’t have time to put the rod down before the tip disappeared to the water. I struck and set the hook in to a much larger fish. After taking a small bit of line I was able to land a nice plump king George whiting of 35/36cms. From then on it was madness, for those of you who have had experience fishing for king George whiting you would understand how hot a bite can be and this certainly was a hot bite. Over the next half hour I was able to get 13 whiting to the deck of the kayak and I were able to secure 10 of those.

I could have caught and kept my bag limit easily if it wasn’t for the wind shift that co-incited with the tide change which moved me well away from the hole. I decided that now it was time to call it a day and to get these fish on Ice pronto.

So in this case persistence paid off and I was able to take home a fantastic feed for the family, it was great metro winter fishing and I will be back out at the next opportunity.

largest and smallest whiting from the session