Peter Galvin with his 3.56kg brown trout from Lake Purrumbete.
Fishing Lake Purrumbete just on dark last week was Peter Galvin when the 75mm Daiwa, Double Clutch he was casting toward the edge of a weed bank, was taken.
The protagonist, a 69cm brown trout that later weighed 3.56kg, repeatedly leapt from the surface before heading for deeper water on the other side of the boat where it performed further acrobatics before finishing up in the landing net.
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that others to take trophy size brown trout included Chris Farrugia of Oaklands Junction whose catch included one of 4.1kg; the biggest of three he caught while trolling bibbed minnows, while Declan Betts of Colac caught two browns of 1.8kg apiece on Z-man soft plastics.
Redfin continue to be the main catch from the lake though, and among those to do well on these was Tom Hogan of Drysdale who caught several on live minnow, along with two chinook salmon.
Wednesday saw the liberation of 1600 cheetah trout (brook and rainbow trout hybrids) and 400 brown trout, into Lake Purrumbete as part of our State Government’s commitment to having one million anglers participating by 2020.
Also of interest is that Bannockburn Lagoon, Saint Augustine’s Water Hole in Highton/Waurn Ponds, and Lethbridge Lake have been stocked with rainbow trout for the school holidays and are providing good fishing.
Peter Galvin’s catch of whiting taken offshore from Curlewis.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Peter Galvin, on the day following his trout capture at Lake Purrumbete, fished offshore from Curlewis on Corio Bay, where – in 7 metres of water, and using pipis and squid for bait – he took a bag limit catch of whiting that ranged in size from 30 to 43 cm; the action being so hot at times he ended up using just one rod, rather than the two he began with.
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that Lachlan Hill also caught his legal bag of whiting off Curlewis, the best being 39cm.
As usual, Andrew Johnson, his son Tim, and Dennis O’Brien took respectable catches of whiting on Friday afternoon, and again on Saturday when they were a little harder to find.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that flathead were the main catch last week, and like several others who were fishing down that way, reported that the usually abundant squid were absent.
With catching squid their intention on Saturday, Andrew Phillips, along with Mark and Tina Sesar, arrived at the Indented Head boat ramp to be confronted an easterly blowing right in their faces. As it turned out, that may have been a blessing in disguise for the squid had shut down around much of the peninsula last week.
Anyway, re-locating to Point Richards was a good move, said Andrew, for they found a good patch, their biggest squid weighing 1.2kg.
Ivan Bereza also shows the quality of whiting currently present in Corio Bay.
On the Beach
Fishing Friday’s daybreak low tide at Ocean Grove, Tony Ingram was relieved not to be troubled by the bait-thieving crabs so often present here, but his baits were mauled by what were obviously small fish of some sort.
However, when the tide began coming in, pushing him further up the beach, the small bites ended, but a couple of heavier pulls followed by slack line had him wondering.
He was right onto the third such bite, hooking what was obviously a good size fish that turned out to be a mulloway measuring 94cm, and which created some interest from folk walking their dogs along the beach.
Cheetah trout, a sample of 1600 that were released into Lake Purrumbete last week.
Evelyn Asks:
Geoff, we are big on eels. Having just moved to Belmont in Geelong we are looking for a place to catch them. Can you help please?
Evelyn, bearing in mind that eels are principally nocturnal, they may be caught on baits of raw meat or worms from all of our freshwater streams and rivers including the Barwon.
Given your locality, you may care to try at Breakwater, just down from the Breakwater Hotel after turning right having crossed the Breakwater Road Bridge. Access is downstream from the ford after passing under the railway bridge via what is now known as Gundog Lane, to the Belmont side of the River where you can park your car off the road near the bank.