Great Ocean Road

Beach Fishing

If you go to just about any beach along the Great Ocean Road and throw out a line, you should be able to catch some decent sized Australian Salmon and Yellow-eye Mullet. All you need to do is setup a paternoster and bait up with pipies or pilchards and you are set.



Western Australian salmon - Arripis truttacea

I found that at night on certain beaches, if you cast any bait out, you will end up with a Bearded Cod [#27] on the end of your line. Cod are meant to be sports fish and hard fighters, but the Bearded Cod, although related to true Cods, have tiny tails and fight very poorly for their size. If you can manage to avoid the Cod, you might get into some really nice snapper on these same beaches.



Bearded Cod - Pseudophycis barbata #27



Bearded Cod - Pseudophycis barbata



Snapper - Pagrus auratus

Rock Fishing

As well as the species I talked about in the previous blog post, you are also likely too hook into some leatherjackets. These are close relatives to Triggerfish and are called filefish in other countries because of their rough skins. I have probably caught other species but only have photographs of two species. They are the Six-spined Leatherjacket [#28] and Horseshoe Leatherjacket [#29]. I think the names are quite descriptive. The Six-spined has six spines at the base of it's tail and the Horseshoe as a large horseshoe shape on its flanks.



Six-spined Leatherjacket - Meuschenia freycineti #28



Horseshoe Leatherjacket - Meuschenia hippocrepis #29

Another nuisance fish you might get here is the Dragonet, also known as the Thornfish [#30]. They might look venomous with they scorpionfish like shape, but are actually harmless.



Thornfish - Bovichtus angustifrons #30

When Fishing the rocks, you may try to fish into the deeper clear water sections of wash where you can target Sea Sweep [#31]. These are more mid to top-level feeder so make sure you bait is not sitting at the bottom.



Sea Sweep - Scorpis aequipinnis #31

First Rockfishing Trip - Lorne

My earliest memories of fishing in Lorne may have been from the 80’s where I fished for Yellow-eye Mullet in the St. Georges River a few kilometres to the southwest. We used float fishing techniques an bread dough for bait. I do recall catching quite a big Galaxias as well, but I really can’t tell you what species it was.

It was only until after I moved to Werribee that Lorne was much more accessible. I recall my first rock fishing session there. I don’t remember which year or month it was, but I do remember the first fish and how. I had stumbled on a nice rocky headland and decided to try and fish it using some prawns. On the first drop, and within seconds, with much suprise, I had hooked into a fully grown male Blue-throated Wrasse [#24], which led to my life long obsession with catching wrasse from the rocks here. It was the first time I had ever seen a wrasse, but it is such a stunning looking fish. Blue-throated Wrasse are quite easily told apart from the other common wrasse, the Saddled Wrasse (see below) because they always have yellowish fins. The immatures are quite similar as well, but just check the fins to be sure.



Blue-throated Wrasse - Notolabrus tetricus #24



Blue-throated Wrasse - Notolabrus tetricus



Blue-throated Wrasse - Notolabrus tetricus

Within a few minutes of catching the Blue-throated Wrasse, I pulled out another wrasse, the Saddled Wrasse [#25]. I found these to be the most common of the wrasses in the western part of Victoria and have given good sport throughout the years. They are usually grey or brown with yellowish saddles along their backs.



Saddled Wrasse - Notolabrus fucicola #25



Saddled Wrasse - Notolabrus fucicola



Saddled Wrasse - Notolabrus fucicola



Saddled Wrasse - Notolabrus fucicola



Saddled Wrasse - Notolabrus fucicola

Amongst the wrasse, I also caught a weird fish with cirri on it’s dorsal fin and white spots on its gills, a Western Kelpfish [#26]. These are a temperate relative of the colourful coral reef dwelling hawkfishes.



Western Kelpfish - Chironemus georgianus #26



Western Kelpfish - Chironemus georgianus



Western Kelpfish - Chironemus georgianus



Western Kelpfish - Chironemus georgianus

In the next post I will talk about the other species I'd caught around Lorne and the Great Ocean Road.