It is now well over two years since I first encountered a fish that I have since named Moby Dick.
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You may recall that Moby Dick was a fictional whale that was big — both in size and attitude.
In other words, it took no prisoners when it met up with whalers.
I named my fish Moby because it is big.
Its exact size is not clear.
All I have seen of it is its huge splash as it rolled in front of me. It also smashed me off on a number of occasions.
I assume that it is the same fish, as I hooked up to it in the same spot over and over again.
It made light work of the gear.
In the Moby Dick story, the whale swims off into the distance after wreaking vengeance on its persecutors.
In my encounter with the fish, the battle likewise has an unknown outcome.
I hope that it still survives to have even more encounters.
Fishing in the region where I encountered Moby Dick produces few fish of the size that I met up with.
Although dotted throughout the Goulburn, metre-long cod are not uncommon.
But in reality, the norm is for fish below ‘keeper size’.
There are a lot of juvenile-sized fish.
The size a cod grows to depends on the available food in the region it grows up in.
For example, the biggest cod are regularly caught in Lake Eildon and Lake Mulwala.
Cod will eat whatever fits in their mouths, which is just about everything.
That is, any fish that comes within range — as well as small mammals and birds, yabbies, shrimp, worms and bardi grubs.
Since the introduction of a maximum size limit of 75cm, the number of cod exceeding that length is on the increase.
This is giving more anglers the thrill of catching a big fish and also increasing breeding success.
Most anglers are reporting an increase in the number of cod being caught in the Goulburn River due to the breeding program at the Arcadia Hatchery.
While most of the cod are juvenile, it is believed they will grow to become adult fish.
Now, a look at saltwater fishing.
Rod Lawn from Adamas Fishing Charters at Queenscliff said he was still catching pinky-sized snapper around the reefs around the heads and also up the bay towards Mornington.
Rod said when he wasn’t chasing snapper, he would fish for flathead and squid.
He said that the main snapper run was still a couple of months away, expected in September.
At Western Port, Rod said that as well as flathead and pinkies, there were gummy sharks being caught in the deeper water near Cowes and San Remo off Phillip Island.
Rod said that tuna were still being caught off the coast at Portland.
While they were still being sighted off Barwon Heads, anglers were not able to induce them to bite.
Rod added that last week's weather had kept his boat tied up at the wharf.
Now, a look at what is happening north of the NSW border.
At Eden, John Liddell said that when the weather permitted, the boys from Freedom Charters fished the inshore reefs and bagged snapper and morwong, as well as flathead and kingfish.
Further north, at Narooma, Graham Cowley said it was a similar story around Montague Island.
But as the shelf is close in to the island, they were bagging big kingfish, as well as the occasional yellowtail tuna and bluefin tuna.
Not much more to report this week, but just four weeks of winter left — and maybe some warmer weather.
So stay safe and good fishing.