The most common question I am asked, apart from where they are biting, is: where is my favourite spot to fish?
When I think about an answer, I start to ask myself a number of questions.
For example, do I like a particular spot because of the number of fish I catch there, the species of fish, or even the aesthetic quality of a place?
By the time I reach an answer, I find that in most cases it is a collection of all of the above.
I have a liking for saltwater fish, so ocean fishing holds sway - except for the times I was seasick.
But if you count the hundreds of times I have gone, I have been seasick just five times. Not a bad record.
When you work it all out for a results-based outcome, saltwater fishing is my favoured choice.
Now, the aesthetic outcome of sitting on a riverbank, is difficult to beat.
All that aside, I still prefer eating saltwater fish rather than freshwater.
Redfin is the only species that comes close to my palate, but still falls short of any saltwater variety.
My preferred saltwater fish is just about any of them, but top of the list would be whiting, followed by flathead and gummy shark.
Fresh tuna is not bad, then snapper.
The good thing is that the top three can be caught in about the same location, which makes “fish and spot” a close tie.
Mind you, the weather over the past week made sitting on the couch and watching TV a more viable option than fishing.
Offshore would have been a no-go.
The best plan would have been to plan the next trip, or maybe tidy up the tackle box.
Rod Lawn from Adamas Fishing Charters at Queenscliff said that all he could manage were a couple of trips up the bay, but he had little result.
“Just a few small flatheads”.
“The rest of the time it was just too rough”.
“It is the same for Western Port Bay - and also Portland”.
Rod said most of his time he was busy re-booking charters where he could.
“While the weather around Queenscliff was bad, the conditions on the NSW coast were worse, with huge waves, 100-kilometre-per-hour winds, and rainfall over 10 inches on the old scale,” he added.
These conditions stretched from Gippsland all the way to Sydney, making the south coast of NSW as bad as it has been for some time.
Needless to say, there was no fishing along the coast on either side of the border.
Which brings us back to our region - and freshwater fishing.
But would you believe we too were affected by the weather, albeit to a much lesser degree?
Mid-week rain kept only the keenest out fishing, the rest of us on the couch.
If you braved the elements, you would have sought the sheltered side of the river and used bait, as casting lures would have been quite a chore with the winds we experienced at times.
Fishing close to the bank would have been the order of the day for two reasons: first, to combat the wind, and secondly because the fish would have been feeding close to shore.
You might have found you needed some extra weight to combat the wind and current.
Fishing lakes and dams would have been a no-no!
The weather would have caused them to become choppy and dangerous for boating.
If you fished them, I would have suggested you worked the sheltered side and fished from the bank.
I would have left the boat at home.
Up until the middle of last week, we had really great weather for fishing - a little cold and foggy, but calm, with days that mostly became warmish and sunny.
But by mid-week it was wet, windy, wild, and woolly.
But it is winter, and we have to expect weather.
Now there are just two more months, and it will be spring.
This brings me back to the start of this story, which is my preferred fishing spot.
I will take an each way bet a place where the weather is good and the fishing's fine.
Stay safe and enjoy whatever you do.
Stay on the couch or go fishing.