Reel Life | When plan A sinks, try plan B

In fact, Monday, December 9 was to be a day of snapper fishing, with large red fish expected to be well to the fore.

But Mother Nature raised her head yet again, and conditions were definitely not suitable for snapper fishing.

To make matters worse, the general conditions on the bay were dismal — overcast with light wind and smooth seas.

Meanwhile, further offshore, where the snapper were, the remains of last weekend’s storm had whipped up a two-metre swell.

This was definitely not suitable for snapper fishing.

The trip to Queenscliff, however, was not an entire loss.

Rod Lawn from Adamas Fishing Charters came up with a plan B — we could fish inside the heads.

There, we could seek one of the most sought-after fish, King George whiting, and as a backup to whiting, there might be southern calamari squid.

Boy, therein lies another tale.

When it came time to chase squid, these cephalopods could not be found.

So suddenly, our options came down to just the whiting.

Fortunately for us, the whiting were about in large numbers.

As it turned out, the four of us that left Shepparton on Monday morning for a day of snapper fishing ended up with a bag-out of more than 60 whiting.

Add to that one gummy shark, 10 toss-back pufferfish, one small flathead and a large eagle ray.

The eagle ray nearly spooled the reel before snapping the line and escaping unseen.

According to Rod, he identified this fish as a ray by the way it bit and the manner in which it departed the scene.

But let’s face it, whiting sells at more than $70 a kilo.

So, our 60 fish weighed in at about 50 to 60kg, and thus our catch, including the gummy shark, weighed in at about $600 worth.

That turned out to be a not-too-shabby day’s fishing.

Plus, you can’t put a price on the fellowship and fun of a day’s fishing.

The sad thing was, the next day would have been ideal for our plan A to have been carried out.

By coincidence, the reef Rod wanted to fish for snapper is the same one where trevally and kingfish are caught.

Oh well, who knows how our day might have turned out if we had only been able to chase snapper.

Still, fishing is better than a hard day’s work.

Other saltwater fishing was also affected by weather.

In Western Port Bay, snapper were biting along the shipping lanes, whiting in the close inshore weed beds and gummy shark in the deep off Cowes and San Remo.

North of the NSW border at Eden, fishing was affected by storms.

The same was the case at Narooma and down south at Flinders Island.

Hopefully, the upcoming weather will be better for cod fishing.

Trout fishing is also going to improve.

In the mountain streams, fishing in the lakes has been patchy, with a lot of thunderstorms in north-east Victoria.

Just a last warning about snakes.

Last week, I and a group I am a member of were shocked when a metre-plus brown snake paid us a visit.

They are about, and you do need to be careful.

Last year, a tourist died from a snake bite.

Take care.