Hi! I have returned to Melbourne after an absence of 20years. I have spent those 20yrs fishing from a peddle yak - whenever I can. Now I am “Back in Yak”! (Cue Acca Dacca riff).

I have had a few yaktrips around Melbourne in the last two months, getting the vibe, trying different waters. Yesterday, I decided to put the yak in for the first time at Westernport. From GoogleEarth I chose Corinella near Pelican Island as it seemed to be an interesting location with some deepish water nearshore. I chose yesterday because the winds were forecast to be just less than 20kph all day (my comfortable fishing wind speed). The BOM forecast was correct.

The launching facilities at Corinella are good, with multiple, nonslip concrete boatramps and plenty of parking. A police patrol car did a circuit, too, which gave me additional peace of mind. I guess I arrived at low tide and the tidal range was way more than I expected. There was about 2 metres of wet jetty pylon exposed. The mud & weed flats look to be extensive and are bordered by deep channels. Looks fishy from the shore!

My learnings?

1. This is an area best explored with a buddy.
2. When the tide is working, the channels beyond Settlement Point and around Pelican Island are not a spot for the feinthearted yakker. The tidal current can be very strong. I have a fair amount of experience in strong tidal currents and it pushed me towards the edge of my comfort zone.
3. I wouldn’t cross the raging current here in the dark.
4. When I was there, the seagrass soup made it almost unfishable for casting or trolling lures. I would think that the seagrass issue is tidal &/or seasonal and that there are lower tide ranges or seasons when seagrass may be less of an issue. Some areas may also have less free floating grass, but didn’t find them. I will need to research this further as I explore other Westernport locations.
5. Careful timing to visit the area around slack tide would probably be better for both current and weed, as long as you don’t overstay your welcome and the tide lets rip!

After three hours without a fish, a large school of garfish broke through the surface like massed synchronised swimmers, just at the bow of the yak. They skittered along the surface twice more as they moved away. I change lures to something that looks like a garfish and kept trolling & casting. On a stretch of water that allowed 10 or 20 metres of a weed-free retrieve, I finally attracted some fishy attention and hooked & landed a good sized Snook. Once I worked out the pattern, I repeated, to add four more Snook to the tally. I released them all, happy to have found fish before I called it a day.

Note: I am reasonably kitted up and experienced in solo salty yakfishing. My Hobie Outback is stable, manouverable & has good torque. I have a backup paddle. I wear a lifejacket, have a manual bilge pump, have a PLB and fly an orange flag for increased visibility. I have good GPS maps on my Fish Finder. This area also has phone reception and my mobile is in a waterproof pouch.

BUT, even with reasonable kit, the area around Pelican Island it is not an area I will return to solo. It could have become interesting… if, for instance, my vessel had become mildly incapacitated while in the tidal currents (eg I had snapped a pedal drive or had cramped up at the wrong time). If something like this happened (yes, I did think about it) my plan was to head with the current through the whitecaps, into Coronet Bay and then make for shore once I found the current had diluted.

I will be interested to read the approach others take to this area!

Great post Paul. It is an interesting stretch of water to say the least . Others on here fish it way more than I do. I did loose about $1,200 worth of gear at Lang Lang when the wind changed and went against the tide at a stronger than forecast strength. Waves stood up very quickly and were short and steep. Rolled my Compass. If you are interested in an aerial view - flew around the area on the weekend just gone.

MoreLuresThanFish wrote: ↑31 Jan 2023, 13:00
The launching facilities at Corinella are good, with multiple, nonslip concrete boatramps and plenty of parking. A police patrol car did a circuit, too, which gave me additional peace of mind. I guess I arrived at low tide and the tidal range was way more than I expected. There was about 2 metres of wet jetty pylon exposed. The mud & weed flats look to be extensive and are bordered by deep channels. Looks fishy from the shore!

My learnings?

1. This is an area best explored with a buddy.
2. When the tide is working, the channels beyond Settlement Point and around Pelican Island are not a spot for the feinthearted yakker. The tidal current can be very strong. I have a fair amount of experience in strong tidal currents and it pushed me towards the edge of my comfort zone.

it can be a bugger to paddle against in that area and more so on big tide days - done it many times so i know

3. I wouldn’t cross the raging current here in the dark.

the run out tide head between Pelican Island and corinella it can be a bit bumpy on the south side over some reef and can be interesting in the dark - however it is good snapper grounds on the south side of P/island and sometimes it just has to be done

4. When I was there, the seagrass soup made it almost unfishable for casting or trolling lures. I would think that the seagrass issue is tidal &/or seasonal and that there are lower tide ranges or seasons when seagrass may be less of an issue. Some areas may also have less free floating grass, but didn’t find them. I will need to research this further as I explore other Westernport locations.

Weed is fairly normal all year round which make lure fishing hard - most of us bait fish WP and you don't always need deep water to find fish I have caught Gummies and snapper in 1.5 meters and less

5. Careful timing to visit the area around slack tide would probably be better for both current and weed, as long as you don’t overstay your welcome and the tide lets rip!

Slack tide doesn't last long and normally most fish shut down over the slack and fire again once the tide gets moving again

BUT, even with reasonable kit, the area around Pelican Island it is not an area I will return to solo. It could have become interesting… if, for instance, my vessel had become mildly incapacitated while in the tidal currents (eg I had snapped a pedal drive or had cramped up at the wrong time). If something like this happened (yes, I did think about it) my plan was to head with the current through the whitecaps, into Coronet Bay and then make for shore once I found the current had diluted.

I will be interested to read the approach others take to this area!

Just a heads up the section between Pelican Island and Snapper rocks on an out going tide in interesting to say the least - couple that with a southerly and it a place not to be - it's quite reefy through there which stands the wave up a bit and wind against that -- as I said interesting with 10 + years of fishing WP I avoid that section and go between snapper rocks and F/island or pelican and corinella

if you wont to play lures or plastics you might do better though Coronet bay down to San Remo - that whole area has less tide flow - you will pick up weed though

Don't give up on WP though there is a huge area to explore --

Cheaterparts… thanks for the prompt feedback. Fishing around Pelican with a buddy would probably give a bit more of a buffer to prevent any mistake getting unrecoverable! I like lures, so will probably give Coronet a shot. I am researching the westerly side of westingport now, looks like there is a maze of channels over there… it might spread the tidal force somewhat?

Maverick, that birdseye view was epic! Thanks. That amount of gear loss sounds serious, unless you were in personal danger, if so, then it was cheap price to pay!

Yep many years ago while trying to help a mate I got distracted in that washing machine with my anchor trolley rope wrapping itself very tightly around my hand with kayak starting to tilt side on. Fortunately I managed to get free an dumped the anchor and headed bow first into the channel and got control back.
I have found going across there slightly diagonally helped me personally getting across to Mosquito channel.
Coronet bay around the corner is all tides launch, slower current and holds Whiting, LJ’s, some Trev’s and sometimes Sambos.
The Western side is good for bigger gummies/sharks and this time of year possibly Kingies.

A lot of areas in WP have very high tidal currents and that area can be particularly bad at times. I've never caught much in the washing machine there, only salmon when passing through. Below is a map showing the relative tidal strength around WP (closer larger arrows=stronger tide). Most yaks don't go in the stronger tidal areas much unless they're familiar with the area and know how to fish there.
Weed is a major problem throughout much of Westernport and makes trolling lures very tough. There's better areas to fish away from that Pelican Island choke point either on the French Island side along the channel edges or around the corner in Coronet Bay.

Having owned/part owned different boats for over thirty years before getting a yak and fishing various parts of westernport and port phillip bay, has provided me with experiences that I take for granted. Even with a boat, I have experienced nerve-racking moments between Pelican Island and Settlement Point. High volume outgoing tide and Southerly breeze produced 1.5m waves when every where else was less than a metre. Best option if travelling from/to Corinella is to take a wide berth around Pelican island and travel around the French Island side (easier done in a boat). Better still plan your trips around tides/winds. If the tides/winds don't suit - go somewhere else that does. I like to yak in comfort when conditions suit. One key information that I always look up when fishing westernport is the tidal range between high and low and vice versa. The larger the the tidal range, the higher the current rate. (think of the theory of no flow - no fish when it comes to fishing weternport).

Thanks for the feedback, VicYak community, sounds like Coronet Bay is a better proposition for the future.

1. Yako... I would not want to get my anchor stuck while inside that current, glad you escaped unscathed!
2. Shane... that is just the map I have been looking for, I thought there must be maps showing max tidal current strength somewhere - I'll see if I can find the one you used.
3. Ecoronad... thanks, I will be paying much more attention to the tidal range in future.

Tite lines, Paul.