Winter snapper in Port Phillip Bay is a thinning crowd's pursuit. Most local anglers store the boat by May and wait for the summer schools to push back in, but a small group of dedicated fishers chase the larger fish that stay through the cold months. A recent video from Between the Bays Fishing follows host Luke and his mate Cohen out for a session of the Lord of the Snapper competition — a winter event running on Port Phillip — testing a theory about where the bigger fish hold when the bay cools down.
Luke set out the working assumption before launch. "My theory is I reckon that the big fish hide out in the channels," he told the camera, motoring out from Martha Cove. "In theory, they go out to sea when the weather gets colder. So you'd imagine if they're not going out to sea, they're going to go out to the deeper water."
The plan was to run up to Rye for fresh squid bait, drop off Luke's grandson Maxi with family on the way, and then push out to the Port Phillip channel to test the channel theory against scarce winter fish. The squid session at Rye delivered. Luke worked egi jigs methodically around the boat in seven to eight metres of water against an incoming tide and an opposing breeze. "You want to get the jigs down as low as you can to the bottom. Problem is the current's running through that hard," he explained, walking through the rod-rotation method that has produced for him in similar conditions. The pair finished with close to ten fresh southern calamari — "nine or ten squid," Luke called as they packed up.
The move out to the channel was less productive. The bait went straight down on cubed pillies, a sinker, and rigs running a fresh squid ring on one rod and a half belly on the other. The sounder marked arches and bait schools but the reds did not come up. "As for snapper, donuts. Nothing," Luke acknowledged later. "No pinkies, nothing."
The by-catch made the day. Three small gummy sharks came over the side, all undersized at "a bit over 60cm overall" and released, alongside an oversized banjo shark that drew a laugh from the deck. "I think we got three gummies today. All smallish sort of gummies, but banjos we can almost say one of them was record size," Luke joked.
The session also doubled as an extended product review of Luke's Honda 4-stroke repower, a project he completed during a quiet stretch off the water. The boat had previously run a two-stroke 90hp Mercury Saltwater Series — a famously thirsty motor. "Believe it or not, the economy of one of those is they average 36 litres per hour," Luke said. He compared Suzuki, Yamaha, Honda and Mercury options before settling on a 2013 Honda 90. "This thing boogies. I actually think it's quicker than my two-stroke was," he reported. "The fuel economy is just insanely different. This Honda, I think from what they say, they average about 9.6 to 10 litres an hour."
The closing message from both anglers was less about results than about the experience. "It's been a bit different this winter," Luke said, looking out across the glassed-off bay. "You can see in the background behind us, it's glassed out out here. Beautiful afternoon. You wouldn't think it's winter." The pitch for the competition followed. "If you didn't join the comp this year, next year, make sure you jump on board because winter fishing is not that bad."
For Port Phillip locals contemplating a winter comp entry, the session is a fair representation of what to expect. Squid grounds remain reliable through the cold months, the bigger reds are scarce but not absent, and a glass-off day on the bay is its own reward whether the rod loads up or not.