Big gumbo: Aaron Habgood of Reds Fishing Adventures with a 30 kg gummy shark that he caught offshore from Port Phillip Heads (Picture: Reds Fishing Adventures).
Offshore
With the previous weeks’ heavy swells gone, Aaron Habgood of Reds Fishing Adventures was quick to take advantage. And as usual, soon found a good patch of gummy shark off Port Phillip Heads in 24 metres of water, from which he caught three at an estimated 16, 22, and 30 kg; two of which he released.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that flathead are still being caught in good numbers with Darren, Lachie and Brody Kelly, along with Kayden Dower, taking around 30 of these, and a gummy shark, while fishing out near the mussel farm.
Squid are still about as well, said Mike, with a good sample being taken by Craig Goodison just out from The Dell. However, whiting have been scarce, as Andrew Johnson can attest after only catching one good fish of 42 cm on Saturday.
Interestingly, Andrew was soon surrounded by uncountable numbers of bottlenose dolphins, something that persuaded him to move some distance, where he sat at anchor for about half an hour before being surrounded by the dolphins once more; an event that persuaded him to leave fishing for another day.
A point of interest was that Andrew met a couple of young anglers who’d caught eight really good size mullet while fishing from the shore near the new boat ramp in the Clifton Springs harbour.
Kevin McLoughlin with a gummy shark of possibly 20 kg that he tagged and released off Torquay (Picture: Jeremy McLoughin).
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports visiting the breakwater at Portarlington and St Leonards pier during the week where legal size pinkies are still being caught, along with a few other varieties, something that could be of benefit to kids on school holidays, along with their parents of course.
On the water though, flathead and squid have been the main catch, said Rod with the bigger flathead coming from the shallower water while the more numerous smaller fish have been taken on the drift out in 12 metres or so.
Squid have been a bit patchy though, but on Saturday afternoon, Andrew Phillips and Mark Sesar picked up 14 good ones on the drift in the deeper water toward the edge of the Prince George Bank; their biggest weighed 1.2 kg. These were all caught on the incoming tide from around 3.00 pm.
Test of strength: Jack Oliver with a Samson fish he caught recently in 120 metres of water off Cape Nelson.
Freshwater
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park fished the Lake with George Gillies from Winchelsea last week for a catch of 60 redfin to 700 grams in a one and a half hour session using minnow and scrubworms for bait. Others caught them as well said John with paddle tail soft plastics a favourite among lure fishing enthusiasts.
John also mentions that Tim Beusmans had a good deal of action on Purrumbete while casting lures on Saturday, catching 4 brown trout to around 1.8 kg; and that’s not to mention a brown trout of probably 5 kg that leaped from the water near his boat.
Lake Bullen Merri is also productive said John, with Steven Hill of Camperdown catching both chinook salmon and rainbow trout from the bank using soft plastics. Others have done well using pilchard fillets and glassies for bait, particularly those fishing from boats out on the lake.
Other freshwater reports have come from Lake Bolac, which is just off the Glenelg Highway and the intersecting Mortlake-Ararat Road. Here, rainbow trout to 1.5 kg have been a regular catch, both on lures and on bait with Berkley Powerbait a favourite for anglers fishing from the shore.
Jamie Behrens with one of several mulloway he has caught from the Maroochy River in Queensland over the past week or so (Picture: Jenni Behrens).
Col asks:
Geoff, I sometimes fish at the Wurdee Boluc Reservoir, which you refer to as Wurdiboluc Reservoir. Has Barwon Water got it wrong, or have you?
Col, I answered this question on 20/09/07 and again on 10/04/14, but there is more to be said.
My fairly ancient topographical maps, and the Melway Directory (ref. X927 C7), both refer to this water as Wurdiboluc Reservoir. However, a Wikipedia reference https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wurdiboluc,_Victoria states ‘Newspaper advertisements from the 1860s refer to a “Wurdee Boluc Hotel” or “Reeves’ Telegraph Hotel” at Wurdiboluc.’ Links provided, reveal those advertisements, both in the in the Geelong Advertiser, were in the 1960s, not the 1860s and occurred on 08/05/1961 and 08/08/1966: They referred to that caricatured spelling of Wurdiboluc specific only to the hotel and nothing else.