Andrew Phillips with a sample of Sunday’s whiting catch (Picture: Mark Sesar).
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Launching at St Leonards on Saturday morning, Andrew Phillips and Tony Greck headed up past the Indented Head abalone farm in search of squid, which as it turned out, were well and truly on the bite.
The only obstacle they faced was the strengthening north westerly wind, which by 10.00 am persuaded their return to the boat ramp, both taking respectable catches of squid, the largest of which weighed 1.7 kg.
On Sunday afternoon, Andrew was out again off Indented Head with Mark and Tina Sesar.
They found a good patch of whiting at around 3.30 pm, and – with an incoming tide and south-westerly breeze – they had comfortable fishing for two hours, finishing with respectable catches, their biggest fish nudging 42 cm.
Seeking whiting off Curlewis on Friday afternoon, Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien found fish aplenty off Curlewis, but for the main part, they were a bit on the small side. All were certainly legal size, but with most in the lower 30 cm range, they were hoping bigger game.
But, that was their lot up until almost sunset when they decide to try a little closer in toward the shore before heading in.
A good move as it turned out, for they finished with a total of 30 keepers, with eight of those measuring from 35 to 39 cm.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head, who had just returned from sunny Sri Lanka, found the local winter chill a bit tough going. At least he missed the worst of it and his clients caught plenty of flathead.
Freshwater
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports lean pickings during the club’s weekend competition with barely a murmur from Tullaroop and Cairn Curran Reservoirs. However, club member Trevor Perry had been taking some nice trout from Talbot Reservoir (between Ballarat and Avoca) lately, so Kevin and wife Amber headed up there.
They did no good, but neither did Trevor who was also fishing there: At least he missed a couple of good bites that were obviously trout.
John Clements of Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that the fishing has been slow, possibly because of the weather, but chinook salmon up to 2 kg were there for the taking with Les Broughton from Geelong, and members of the Bannockburn and Greensborough Angling Clubs picking up their share.
Trout were scarce though, but Chris Farrugia picked up a 1.8 kg brown on a bibbed minnow trolled at a depth of 9 metres using a down-rigger.
Werribee
John Bish caught a good size gummy shark off Werribee South last week, but also reports being bitten off a number of times. While it’s hard to say what the culprits were, we have seen an increase in the presence of school sharks over recent years, with reportedly similar experiences on Corio Bay, so they would have to be among the prime suspects.
Tony says:
Geoff, judging by the photo you had in the paper of those whiting last week – allegedly caught off Indented Head – they were being cleaned at the St Leonards cleaning table: Sounds a bit fishy!
Not at all Tony: I asked the anglers involved – whom I assumed had launched at Indented Head – to find that they had actually launched and retrieved at St Leonards, that being a more accommodating facility, especially in windy conditions. However, the area they fished was up past the Indented Head abalone farm close by.
I assumed their arrival at Indented Head was by road, hence the misunderstanding.
Andy asks:
Geoff, what’s happened to the silver trevally? I’ve fished the Queenscliff Marina lately and all I can catch is undersize and barely size Australian salmon and a few mullet.
Andy, you certainly aren’t Robinson Crusoe: While we can blame low water temperatures for the recent drought of snapper catches from the bay, I’m not sure why silver trevally have been absent.
Historically speaking, a good many trevally have been caught in the Queenscliff Harbour and from Bell Reef under the white lighthouse, in September. So, with rising water temperatures from now on we’ll undoubtedly see a big improvement, not only in the numbers of trevally, but in the whole fishing scene.