Brooklyn Erard with a nice snapper from Corio Bay.
Bellarine Peninsula
Fishing some distance north of the channel junction off Curlewis on Thursday evening, Jason Treloar and Harley Griffiths were hoping to catch a snapper or two as they’d done before, but all was quiet apart from the occasional small flathead.
It wasn’t until the tide began running out just after dark that their luck changed with a nice snapper of about 5 kg along with a couple of pinkies around the kilogram mark, all being caught on squid.
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs boat hire report that that pinkie snapper have been plentiful, but apart from one fish of about 3.5 kg, the larger fish have been a bit scarce.
Flathead were a different story though with some larger fish coming from the shallower water toward Portarlington. Among those to do well on these was Corey Mountney who returned with several good size flathead, the biggest measuring 56 cm.
Mike reports that whiting have been scarce, but whiting specialists Andrew Johnson and Tony Mollenhouer managed to catch 17 good ones to 40 cm or so after making several moves from 4.5 to just over six meters where they found the bigger fish.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that squid and flathead are still on song with most of the better catches coming in during the mornings.
Small barracouta have also been about off the Prince George Bank, but while anglers have shown little interest in these, there’s been some attention from below with something snatching the hapless ‘couta, sometimes with a tussle ensuing.
Michael Evans with his 50 cm estuary perch from the upper reaches of the Hopkins River.
Freshwater
Michael Evans and a companion tried their luck on the upper reaches Hopkins River on Friday, to find the water very clear, and – while a number of good size brown trout followed their lures – they had no takers.
Pushing along in search of deeper pools, one featuring a fallen tree held particular promise, casting his pink minnow-type lure alongside, resulted in a heart-stopping strike by what turned out to be, not a trout, but a 50 cm estuary perch.
John Clements of Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that redfin remain the main chance on Purrumbete and that George Gillies of Winchelsea took them to 700 grams on live minnow, while others had similar success using a variety of methods.
Chris Farrugia of Oaklands Junction and his 8 year old son Charlie, fished Lake Bullen Merri where they caught both chinook salmon and rainbow trout both on bait and lures, and at Lake Purrumbete where their catch included a 1.3 kg brook trout.
Also fishing Lake Purrumbete was Ray Stewart from Melbourne who caught brown trout of 1.96 kg.
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that following fellow club members Ken Hinks and Alan Pooles catch of 50 redfin from Lake Cairn Curran last week, he and Don Rayner headed out onto the lake with high hopes of doing likewise.
They caught 17 to just on a kilogram using both soft plastic lures and small yabbies, while Ken Hinks and Alan Poole who were fishing nearby, picked up 20; the hot bite beginning at around 8.00 am and lasting an hour.
Surf
Beach fishing enthusiast Tony Ingram, tried his luck from the 50W area of Thirteenth Beach on Friday afternoon where he’d previously caught good size Australian salmon.
Moving some distance down the beach to remain clear of nearby surfers who were taking advantage of the mid-afternoon high tide and reasonable waves, Tony soon caught two good size Australian salmon. He also caught a tailor of about 2 kg; a species he’d already learned to be wary of after having a close call from a specimen’s sharp teeth one evening after dark.
Ahmed asks:
Geoff, Can you enlighten me as to the use of a bubble float. I can’t grasp the significance of having a float shaped like a bubble. Is it supposed to be disguised as a bubble so as not to arouse the fish’s suspicion?
Ahmed, bubble floats and their variations continue to be used, and misused, in various ways: However, the clear plastic, egg-shaped model (preferably about the size of a bantam’s egg) and featuring a displaceable, tapered tube within to allow the infusion of water to provide sufficient weight for casting, is the most useful.
The bubble float is rigged in tandem with a smaller Styrofoam or waggler float – which is fixed onto the line a meter or so above the hook with a small split-shot on either side – to act as both a bottom stopper for the bubble float, and to indicate any bite, while the hollow tube within the bubble allows the line to pass unimpeded.