Jai Nolan with the 17 kg gummy shark off Torquay (Picture: Kevin McLoughlin).
Offshore
Taking a run offshore from Torquay over the weekend, Kevin McLoughlin, along with Brian and Chris Nolan, and Jai Nolan 8, were not sure about Jai’s eagerness to grab a rod that had just sprung to life with a good fish on.
Amway, with a bit of coaching, and willingness to help the lad through the heavy lifting, a large gummy shark, that eventually weighed 17 kg, was brought alongside.
Trevor Muller with his brown trout from Lake Toolondo (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).
Freshwater
Trevor Holmes of Victorian Inland Charters reports that although fishing has been a bit slow on Lake Toolondo, clients have returned with several good size redfin and brown trout.
Among them, Trevor Muller of Horsham’s Webbcon Marine, whose catch included a 60 cm brown trout on an OSP Bent Minnow, and four redfin to 37 cm that fell to the Daiwa Double Clutch and Ima Flit lures.
Trevor also took out his nephew Shaun McDonald who caught a 57 cm brown trout from the shallows just on evening: They’d previously caught nine redfin to 42 cm trolling lures.
Currently, water levels at Toolondo are 30% and rising, which augurs well for the recent release of 7000 brown and 1700 rainbow trout that should, in due course, sustain good fishing.
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Camp, reports that Stan Rae of Norlane picked up a nice brown trout of 1.4 kg on a mudeye fished beneath a float, but redfin are still the main catch; James Reed of the Altona Red Shed taking the biggest of many at 1.3 kg using scrubworms for bait.
John also reports fishing Lake Bullen Merri, catching both chinook salmon and rainbow trout to 1.5 kg trolling Tassie Devils, while Ken Carmen continues to take his share from the bank casting Fish Arrow soft plastics.
Shaun McDonald with his brown trout from Lake Toolondo (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
On Friday, Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien headed down to Curlewis on a mark that had previously produced good catches of whiting, but at first there wasn’t much doing; their only reward being small but legal size fish that they released.
That all changed around 3.00pm when they caught the first of a dozen much bigger fish to 43 cm while using a cocktail of pipis and squid for bait. The bite continued for another two hours or so until low slack water before shutting down at around 5.00 pm.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire reports that while wintry weather has had an effect on the number of folk fishing, for those who are getting out there are still squid to be caught, along with any amount of flathead ranging in size from the usual 30-35 cm run of fish out in the deeper water to an occasional bigger fish closer in.
And, with time on his hands, Rod has spent some time strolling on the Portarlington Breakwater, which continues to produce a variety of fish for land based anglers; among them Bruce Carr who has taken snapper to 40 cm from here over the past week.
Portland
Bob McPherson reports that small bluefin tuna are still the offshore attraction at Portland with charter boats taking most fish in the choppy seas.
Bob also mentions that the Lee Breakwater, a favourite haunt for land based fishers heading down that way, is being closed from July 24 until August 04 while various improvements, including a larger turning circle at the end, are to be implemented.
Laurie asks
Geoff, I was interested to hear of luderick being caught in the Barwon estuary last week, is that a rare occurrence or are they worth fishing for?
Laurie, I fished for luderick in the Sheepwash from the late 1970s through the 80s: That being after keen angler and foreshore caravan park caretaker at the time, the late Don Everett, gave me the drumbeats on that fishery; and – when using fresh, but never frozen, abalone gut or live sandworm – I rarely missed out, occasionally catching fish to 2 kg.
All of mine were caught from a dinghy in around 3 metres of water while bottom fishing, and mainly during winter. Others have caught them land based – notably after accessing the bank opposite, and just downstream from, the bottom of Sheepwash Road – while using fine green weed for bait, suspended under a weighted “blackfish” float.