Tony Jones of Hamilton with the 98.5kg tuna he caught off Portland on Thursday (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Big tuna arrive off Portland
Down Portland way, bluefin tuna have been on the go for some time, mainly small fish up to 20 kg or so, and that’s what Tony Jones of Hamilton was expecting after a double hook-up in 117 metres of water south of Lawrence Rock on Thursday morning.
However, it soon became clear that both of the fish he’d hooked were far bigger than that.
And fishing solo, he found himself challenged with manoeuvring his boat with two fish on – each probably around the 100 kg mark and going in different directions – an exercise costing him one of the fish as the rod it was on slipped from his grasp and was also lost.
Never the less, he persisted battling the remaining fish, which eventually weighed 98.5kg, getting it alongside and wresting it aboard.
The news of big tuna off Portland quickly spread with Moe Hamad and Abs Kassem – never ones to miss an opportunity – among those heading offshore the following day to be rewarded with a 113 kg tuna from 120 metres of water off nearby Cape Nelson.
Moe Hamad and Abs Kassem at Portland with their 113kg tuna (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Like just about everyone fishing Corio Bay lately, Andrew Phillips and his companions have been on the whiting, understandably so given how this fishery has bloomed of late, but last week he and Tony Greck had snapper in mind.
Sitting out the pinkies through Wednesday evening until dark, west of the Wilson Spit, they were rewarded with a snapper of 3.5kg at around 9.45pm. That was followed by another of 4.2kg soon after, but they had to wait until almost midnight for their final fish of 5kg.
Also included in their catch were several good size flathead to 53 cm, and like the snapper, they were taken on silver whiting.
Last week Dennis O’Brien headed off to a usually productive whiting spot toward Point Richards at the east end of the mussel farm, but an onslaught of undersize pinkies persuaded him to move; all the way Rear to Curlewis as it happened.
The pinkies were there too, and with only four whiting for his efforts, he headed Rear to the Clifton Springs ramp; but one last try off The Dell saved his bacon, so to speak, for there were no pinkies there and he finished up with his bag limit of good size whiting.
April 1st celebration of the one year closure to netting in Corio Bay west of 30 degrees: From left: Brian (Geelong & District Angling Club), unknown member of the Western Beach Fishing Club, Graeme Dorey (Blue top), Jim Kirk (President of Western Beach Fishing Club), Peter Kellam (President Bellarine Pirates Fishing Club), Murray McLaren (Leopold Angling Club), Jock Irvine (Friends of Corio Bay), Front, Jaala Pulford (Member for Western Victoria), John Hotchin (VRFish), Front, Bruce Harwood (Mayor of Geelong), Rear Geoff Wilson (Friends of Corio Bay), Front, Michael Burgess (VRFish), Rear, Phillip Travis (Fisheries officer), Brad Smith (Fisheries Officer). (Photo: Craig Ingram (Victorian Fisheries Authority).
Off the Beach
Fishing from the beach at Jan Juc on Thursday evening’s high tide, Tony Ingram was again successful catching several Australian salmon, some better than a kilogram, using cut pilchards for bait.
Sacrificing a fillet or two from one of the salmon he caught earlier – on the ebbing tide toward nightfall – he encountered several unwanted species of the flat variety, but his patience was redeemed with the capture of a respectably gummy shark of around 1.2 metres in length as the strong easterly came up yet again.
Freshwater
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete holiday park reports that trophy size brown trout are still on offer as demonstrated by Todd Broughton of Bannockburn and his partner Mandy Thomas who caught four beauties from 2.7 to 4.1 kg while trolling 26 gram Tassie Devils on lead-core lines.
Redfin continue to be the main catch though said John with Terry Shepherd of Bayswater and Trevor Brabender of Panmure each picking up their share, along with Les Broughton of Geelong whose catch also included chinook salmon to 1.5 kg.
Martin asks:
Geoff, while fishing the Anglesea River with my boys we could barely keep our baits (prawn pieces) on for what I assume were small fish of some sort. What do you think they would have been?
Also, a fair size fish jumped near us making a big splash. What would that have been?
Martin. I would say that the small fish taking your bait would have probably been juvenile bream, or maybe small mullet. I can’t think of any other culprits.
As for large fish leaping from the water, the chief suspect may have been a sea mullet, possibly one of a number that entered while the river was open to the sea, that being quite some time ago. Of course Australian salmon and tailor are also possibilities.