In my early days of snapper fishing, my father and I would catch the number 15 tram in Carlton all the way to the St Kilda beach then take a short walk to the St Kilda pier.

In those days, there was a rocky breakwater at the end of what formed an artificial reef; midway along its length we would drop a snapper line into the water.

We caught pinkies, flathead and rock cod, but I can only recall ever catching one snapper of five kilograms.

What a day that was.

When penguins moved in and roosted on the breakwater, it was then declared a sanctuary and fishing was banned, so snapper fishing was put on hold until I met Rod Lawn at Queenscliff.

He showed us then just how to fish for snapper, and I have bagged plenty ever since.

St Kilda was as far north in the bay where you could catch snapper.

After that was Port Melbourne, and it was good for flathead, salmon and barracuda during their season.

I must admit, my father and I did do a lot of fishing off Station Pier and Princess Pier at Port Melbourne.

It too was just a bus ride from Carlton on the Port Melbourne or Garden City bus.

The same bus that heads to Port Melbourne is the one we used to catch to go to Studley Park on its return trip.

So in an odd way, the metropolitan transport service was responsible for bringing out the love for fishing and releasing the hunter and gatherer in me.

Although, I will not eat freshwater fish — it is all catch and release with them.

I only eat their saltwater cousins, so this helps me to catch and release cod, trout and redfin.

This is a good thing, as for some reason, fish from fresh water don’t breed or grow as fast and as big as those from salt water.

Speaking of salt water, Rod Lawn from Adamas Fishing Charters at Queenscliff said it had been a slow start to spring and the snapper run, but there had been positive signs, with larger fish being caught off Barwon Heads and Point Lonsdale, along with resident pinky-size fish.

Rod said he will then start fishing for whiting, flathead, gummy shark and calamari squid, although he said squid were being over fished.

Rod said Western Port Bay was also starting to produce snapper, and fishing the rubble beds along the shipping lanes off Hastings was worth the effort.

Gummy shark were biting in the deep of Phillip Island and whiting along the shallow grass beds.

North of the NSW border at Eden, John Liddell said the boys from Freedom Charters were catching snapper, morwong, gurnard, kingfish and leatherjacket, while tuna, yellowfin and bluefin, were starting to appear.

Further north at Narooma, Graham Cowley said the fishing was much the same, but with the main difference between Eden and Narooma being the lake and oyster leases at Narooma.

Graham said when it was too rough to go outside, you could always fish the lake.

Down south at Flinders Island, James Luddington said there was very little fishing at this time of the year.

In our region, Dartmouth Dam is still fishing well for trout, mainly early mornings as it starts to warm up.

So, from first light until mid-morning is the best time for trolling a fender with a bunch of worms or a mudeye.

Then, as it warms up, the trout go deeper, and you will need weight to reach the fish.

After Dartmouth comes the big three.

Eildon, the Hume and Lake Mulwala — all three provide anglers with a variety of species.

The Hume has trout, redfin and yellowbelly.

Mulwala has big cod and yellowbelly, while Eildon has cod, redfin, yellowbelly and trout.

All are worth fishing, but you will need an NSW licence for Mulwala, and with the cod season closed, the only place you can fish for cod is in Eildon, but bag and size limits still apply.

Not forgetting the rivers and streams — spring time is a great time to fish.

So stay road-safe, water-safe and, now it is spring, stay snake-safe.

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Thursday, 10th August 2023

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