Port Melbourne Webb Trail Fishing report Melbourne Cup Weekend

Melbourne cup weekend has finally arrived and I was eager to go out and catch some big reds down at Port Melbourne Webb Trail.

Well, we were hopeful as a couple of days ago a few mates we’re reeling them in during dusk and overnight on Pilchard. So we thought we’ll take our chances and see what we come back with.

 

Location

Port Melbourne Webb Trail is approximately a 15 to 20-minute drive from the Melbourne CBD and is a great location for anyone who doesn’t want to travel far.

The fishing here can be done all year round and we have previously caught Australian Salmon, Flathead, and Snapper. Depending on the time of the year you can expect to find big snapper swimming around and with a bit of luck, you can land one or a few.

 

Image referenced from Google Maps

 

What did we use?

As we were predominantly chasing snapper the rig majority of us set-up with was a modified paternoster rig with double circle hooks from size 3/0 to 5/0.

Previously we had caught Flathead in the same location and just in the hopes a Flathead was laying around ambushing any unsuspecting prey. We rigged a few of the rods up with a running sinker rig.

The bait of choice on the afternoon was Pilchard and Squid cut up to suit the size of the hook. Nothing too special was used and we kept things simple with a spinning rod and reel combo spooled up with either straight mono-filament line or braid mainline and fluorocarbon leader.

 

The Catch…was there any?

The timing was right as we fished at dusk on a run in tide approximately 2 hours leading up until high tide. However, we had plenty of small bites from a lot of undersized Pinkies ranging from size 12 – 20cm but nothing big enough for us to take home.

Leading up to high tide these guys we’re on the bite almost as soon as the bait hit the bottom. Continuously biting right up until high tide. However, during high tide and then after it felt like they completely shut off. Unfortunately, no big Snapper around this time or even the unsuspected Flathead.

 

 

The afternoon sunset was spectacular

Even though we weren’t able to bring any dinner home this time around. The small pinkies provided hours of entertainment as they attacked the bait very aggressively and put up a very strong fight on light tackle.

I’m hopeful we’ll be back sometime soon and try our luck again. But to finish the afternoon off with a sunset over the Melbourne city skyline was spectacular!

 

4 thoughts to “Port Melbourne Webb Trail Fishing report Melbourne Cup Weekend”

  1. Quite unfortunate there but this is really the thing about fishing. It is just like life. Sometimes we get the big stuff and sometimes we dont. But we should be excited over the very little we get right? Nice post you have here and very good work as well. I wish you better luck next time. Nice!

    1. Henderson, thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment. After this session I’m still hopeful we can land a few big ones from this location. 

      That’s the nature of fishing i guess. Sometimes the big ones arn’t around to take the bait. Oh well, until next time!

    2. Yea use to head out that way years ago when you could access the warf dock and just drop a line and use to hook up tonns of garfish as the water was pure aqwa green and literally you could see the gars swimming just about a meter below the top surface.
      But I can see in your pics that the track is all laid out. I would definitely put it on my explore list if the snapper and flatys are about. I’m heading out to avalon back beach this Saturday as last week caught 3 good size Kg whiting and ohenestly missed heaps also plenty of pinkies the around but where all undersize and I couldn’t believe it they were hooking up on chicken. Have a crack at that area you mite get the one that got away. Cheers Billy from wollert

      1. Hi Billy,

        I love the location as it’s convenient to get to and there are times you do get the occasional big Snapper.

        I definitely will give Avalon back beach a go. Thanks for the recommendation and who would have thought they are biting on chicken.

        Keep me in the loop and let us know how you go this Saturday!

        Cheers,

        Vinnie

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