Tim Beusmans with yet another trophy size brown trout that he caught from Lake Purrumbete on Saturday.
Freshwater
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park, reports that the Lake provided trophy size brown trout for two of the usual suspects over the weekend; Tim Beusmans catching one of 4.45 kg and Phillip Pirotta catching another of 4.8 kg.
Both fish were caught deep-trolling 26 gram Tassie Devils with downriggers. Phillip also caught a 2.3 kg rainbow trout with the same approach.
A good many other trout have been caught as well, with Stan Rae of Norlane winning a recent competition held at the lake with a catch that included a brown trout of 1.4 kg and four smaller rainbow trout.
John also reports that redfin are still being taken in good numbers, and caught a respectable bag of fish from 700 grams to a kilogram himself using scrubworms and minnow for bait.
Other freshwater reports have come from Lake Bolac along the Glenelg Highway where Brian Jones’ catch from here included a 1.5 kg rainbow trout on Berkley Powerbait.
Shaun (blue hat) and his companion, with the nice bag of fish they caught out near the Prince George Pile off Indented Head at the weekend (Picture: Beachlea Boat Hire).
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
With snapper off the bite, as is usually the case at Christmas, Jason Treloar and Harley Griffiths were hoping for at least some good size pinkies after a daybreak start off Point Lillias. However, those that they caught were barely legal size and returned.
Their persistence eventually paid off though with several better fish, including one close to 3 kg, while using pilchard for bait.
Derrick Hargreaves was in much the same area, catching several pinkie snapper of legal size and a couple of flathead. But when they went quiet, he trolled over the weed beds with a deep running lure, catching a couple of good size snook.
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that flathead have been the main chance of late, and among those to catch them was David Ridley who found a good patch in the deeper water off the boat harbour, picking up several to 38 cm using squid for bait.
On Saturday, Brad and Glen McPoyle fished offshore from Portarlington where their catch on bluebait, included some bigger flathead to 57 cm. And, fishing nearby off Point Richards, were Rob Lomas and Clinton Cole who also picked up a good catch of flathead using soft plastics.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that squid have been plentiful over the past week or so, along with pinkie snapper to a kilogram, not to mention modest catches of some really good size whiting.
Gummy shark have also been present in the deeper water, said Rod, with client Shaun – and his companion, catching a nice one among the mixed bag of fish they caught out near the Prince George Pile.
Gummies have also been present offshore, particularly off Barwon Heads where Daniel Johnson caught one of about 10 kg while fishing out here with Matthew Petts at the weekend. They also cut free a seven-gilled that would have been close to 100 kg.
Summertime blues: Dale Cannon with a 34 kg bluefin tuna; one of several that he caught offshore from Portland last week (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Portland tuna
Although tuna seemed to have disappeared from Portland, Dale Cannon went out wide for a look anyway. Spying surface activity nearby, he headed over that way, hooking several tuna, and releasing all but two, the largest of which weighed 34 kg.
Colin asks:
Geoff, I was interested in your reports of snook being caught from Corio Bay. Can you suggest when, where and how I might catch them land-based?
Colin, in my pre-teen years, I was shown a basic technique of catching snook from the old (now demolished) Parkside Pool along Hearne Parade, by a Mr Page.
It involved stripping a good length of line onto the jetty, then casting out a pilchard rigged on a flight of ganged hooks, which was then retrieved slowly by hand. On feeling a bite, the line was released and allowed to run out for several feet before the snook (which we referred to as pike back then) was hooked.
Back in the 1980s, I was one of several folk to catch them land based on bibbed minnow lures from the North Shore rocks. That was provided low tide allowed access at either dawn or dusk; an approach that should be valid today.
One evening, I saw a large snook caught from the Rippleside Jetty by a gentleman who’d suspended a pilchard beneath his float; so there’s a good start.