Class capture: Frank Bluch with a pending world record rainbow trout capture on a 1kg class tippet.
Another record
Geelong fly fisherman Frank Bluch has just returned from New Zealand where he fished the opening of the Ohau River and associated waters with yet another world record capture pending. On acceptance, his tally of world records will have reached 24.
Frank caught an 8.25 kg rainbow trout on a 1 kg class tippet; definitely a milestone capture, the previous record for same having stood for well over three decades.
It was one of twelve rainbow trout he caught, (the biggest weighing 8.5 kg) along with one brown trout and five small, land-locked sockeye salmon known as Kokanee.
Helen Missen with her brown trout from Lake Purrumbete (Picture: John Clements).
Freshwater
Closer to home, John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that, although the fishing has been fairly quiet, redfin are back on the bite, with George Gillies of Winchelsea picking up several from 400 to 600 grams on soft plastics.
Several brown trout were taken as well: Helen Missen of Airport West picked one up of 2.8 kg and Bryan Nygaard of Bacchus Marsh, another of the same size; both were caught on mudeyes fished beneath floats.
Mark Sholte with yet another barrel size, 146 kg, tuna taken offshore from Portland.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
With patchy weather early last week, Andrew Phillips and Tony Greck had some doubt about getting out but they headed down to St Leonards anyway and by 4.30 pm it was clear the weather was moderating.
Taking a run down south, off the entrance of Swan Bay, they were soon onto a good patch of squid. Calling it a day around 6.00, they’d finished with a respectable catch and there were some good size specimens among them.
Andrew Johnson, his son Tim and Tim’s friend Callum Olsen, tried hard for a snapper last week, and – despite finding some promising signals on their sounder along the west side of the Wilson Spit – they didn’t turn a scale.
In frustration, they tried a few other formerly productive areas before calling it quits. Well, before giving up on the snapper anyway. Their next alternative was to break out the squid jigs off Point Wilson; a much more productive exercise as it turned out for they certainly caught enough of those to redeem their trip.
At Indented Head, Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire reports that squid are certainly on the rebound after a very lean period at the beginning of the month and that his clients have had no trouble taking multiple catches.
Whiting fishing seems to have slumped over the past week or so though, with even specialists producing very few fish.
Peter Goode with the 131kg tuna he caught offshore from Portland last week (Picture: Richardson Marine).
Portland
Mark Sholte, along with Clinton and Colby Lesko were trolling a pattern of lures in 70 metres of water off Cape Nelson near Portland on Wednesday morning, when – right on the high tide change at 9.45 am – a New Zealand made, Bonze lure was taken.
The fight lasted 120 minutes on 37 kg tackle before the fish was subdued, eventually greeting the scales for a verdict of 146 kg.
Collin asks:
Geoff I’m fairly new to boat-fishing and want to know if there is any way you can stop the boat swinging in an arc at anchor and tangling all of the lines?
Collin, you could take a piece of scrap metal weighing 12 kg or so, and tie it onto a rope, drop it to the bottom and tie off to your stern cleat. That’s a good solution in water up to about ten metres deep.
Another method is to bridle you boat at around 30 degrees to the wind using a second rope measuring about two boat lengths. One end is attached to a gunwale cleat, either port or starboard depending on the current, if any, while the other end is attached to your anchor rope to form a triangle.
You can buy a device called an Ezy-Lay from marine dealerships for this purpose. Attached to the other end of the bridle rope it can be clipped onto the anchor rope and you are done. The angle of the boat is adjusted by letting out more or less anchor rope.
On a cautionary note; bridling your boat exerts additional pressure on the anchor which may cause it to slip, so you may need a larger anchor than that recommended for the size of your boat.