Robert Rizzo with the tuna he caught off Barwon Heads.
Ricky Rizzo with his tuna.
Barwon estuary
Despite an ominous forecast for Tuesday, Garry Ridgeway launched at Barwon Heads and was anchored upstream from the Sheepwash by 8.00 am. The tide began running out around 10.30, but initially there wasn’t much doing and the weather was closing in fast.
It was in fact, pouring rain as the pickers began attacking his baits in the early afternoon – and with the canopy up – it took more than their nibbles to coax him out: But line pouring from his reel to the tune of what turned out to be an 81 cm mulloway certainly did.
Robert and Ricky Rizzo tow a trio of anglers back to port when their outboard motor gave them the silent treatment.
Offshore
However, most of the attention has been offshore from Barwon Heads of late as tuna, some approaching the 40 kg mark, have been fair game, and Robert Rizzo and his son Ricky were among those to enjoy the angling challenge they’ve provided.
The pair also proved good Samaritans, towing a trio of anglers back to port after their outboard motor ran out of noise.
Darcy Scott shows the quality of whiting to be caught off Queenscliff lately (Picture: Murray Scott).
Lachie Wombell with some more Portland whiting (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Murray and Darcy Scott were onto the whiting off Queenscliff on Friday, finishing up with 30, all really top quality fish. But in a strong sou‘easter and choppy seas, they deserved every fish they caught.
Corio Bay has also been fishing well for whiting with Andrew Johnson, Dennis O’Brien and Pete Dawson finishing with 36 keepers on Friday after a series of moves between Curlewis and The Dell.
Last Monday afternoon, Andrew Phillips and Mark Sesar found a good patch off the Leopold caravan parks, but as usual, the undersize pinkies moved in, persuading them to move as well.
In fact they’d moved four times by dusk to avoid the pinkies, and of their 24 whiting, it was almost dark when all of their bigger fish – with some around the 40 cm mark – were caught.
On Friday afternoon, Andrew fished with Tony Greck for squid from Indented Head, and – from around 8.00 am on the incoming tide – they each caught their respective bag limits with the biggest nudging 1.5 kg.
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire also reports that squid and whiting are about, and among those to find them were Richard Taylor and Ryan Bolding who found both in three metres of water off The Dell.
Chris Farrugia with a 3 kg brown trout from Lake Purrumbete.
Bruno Portello with his 4.42 kg brown trout from Lake Purrumbete.
Freshwater
Back in November we featured a picture of 8 year old Zac McKenzie and the carp he caught from Lake Lorne at Drysdale, something of an inspiration for friends Jade and Jackson Clay aged 5 and 3 who nagged their dad Jon into helping them do likewise.
Well, after several attempts, the young pair finally succeeded at around 4.30 pm on Wednesday when the pink rod that Jade received for Christmas, signalled a bite. From then on, it was a combined effort between the pair, who shared the rod between them until a carp that weighed 4.1 kg, finished up in Jon’s landing net.
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that trophy size brown trout are on offer and among those to catch them was Chris Farrugia of Oaklands Junction who picked up a beauty of 3 kg. Bruno Portaro of Greenvale held the winning hand though with one of 4.4 kg taken on a #94 Tassie Devil.
Jade and Jackson Clay aged 5 and 3, with the 4.1 kg carp they caught from Lake Lorne at Drysdale on Wednesday (Picture: Ben Clay).
But redfin are still the main catch and Jarrod Tyler, who’d travelled all the way from Birchip in the Mallee, held his own on those.
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that the club held a competition at Taylors Lake near Horsham over the weekend.
Yellowbelly were on offer and the largest, at 47 cm, was caught by Jason (Boof) Lorenzen. Runner up was Greg Street with one of 39 cm. A good many small cod to 50 cm were on the prowl as well, and one much larger fish was lost beside the boat.
But is it one of ours? Submarine on the port side off Portland (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Portland
Bob McPherson and Lachie (the eye) Wombell, have spent a good deal of time fishing for whiting, but when the weather improved over the weekend, they headed out to the wide grounds for blue eye trevalla, of which they caught a few along with some of the bug-eyed gronkies that regularly come up from the depths.
On the way back though, they were a little surprised by a submarine appearing on their port side, but – fortunately though – there was no engagement.
Jesse asks:
Geoff, Lake Connewarre: What species may be caught, and what are the points of access?
Jesse, Lake Connewarre itself is substantially shallow and navigation difficult. However, the Barwon River, which runs north from the west arm of the Lake to the second break, which is perhaps 1.5 km upstream, is a viable fishery producing bream, estuary perch, mullet and eels along with the occasional mulloway.
You may launch a small dinghy or Kayak from Tait Point at the end of Stacey’s Road via Lake Road which runs off Barwon Heads Heads Road, the entrance to the upper Barwon estuary being about 700 metres west of Tait Point.
You may also fish from the pontoon adjacent to the boat ramp, but the use of a float may be advantageous given the amount of weed growth on the bottom.