Chris Stamalos with one of the gummy shark he and his brother Daniel caught off Barwon Heads at the weekend (Picture: Daniel Stamalos
Daniel Stamalos with the gummy shark he caught off Barwon Heads (Picture: Chris Stamalos).
Offshore
Fishing offshore from Barwon Heads over the weekend were Chris Stamalos and his brother Daniel. Their hopes for a respectable gummy shark or two were realised by 11 am or so, but around mid-day the seven-gilled sharks arrived.
The first was small and easily handled, and so was next, but everything went pear-shaped when huge seven-gilled shark came up from the depths and had that one for dinner.
Adele and Lucy Micallef with the big squid they caught off Curlewis (Picture: Justin Micallef).
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
On Sunday, Justin Micallef along with daughters Adele 8, and Lucy 5, fished off Curlewis. And, in clear water – ideal conditions for catching squid – they broke the jigs and caught 10.
It was young Lucy who hooked the biggest squid of the day and was ably assisted by big sister Adele to bring it aboard.
In search of whiting on Sunday, Collan Erard, his father Ernie and Brother Malcolm, first headed out to the east of Point Henry where they’d previously caught fish, and started off well with a couple of nice fish. But then the undersize pinkies moved in, taking every bait.
Heading toward one of the caravan parks off Leopold proved no good at all, so they continued to move, until – about a kilometre from their last spot – they found productive ground with a good bite going, and in three hours they’d taken 52 whiting, ranging in size from 33 to 41 cm with squid being the stand out bait.
Early on Sunday morning, Andrew Phillips and Tony Greck fished the last of the incoming tide near Coles Beacon, which is just off the mouth of Swan Bay at Queenscliff.
Lachie Wombell with a sample of the Nannygai he and Bob McPherson caught off Portland on Monday (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Lachie Wombell with a knife-jaw that he caught off Portland yesterday (Picture: Bob McPherson).
And, although they had to contend with small leatherjackets and other unwanted species taking their pipi and squid baits, they finished up with 28 whiting, their biggest measuring 41 cm.
With the whiting bite shutting down toward the top of tide, they moved in closer in where they found several good patches of squid, eventually taking their respective bag limits including one of 1.3 kg.
Lachie Wombell with one of the Tasmanian Trumpeter that he and Bob McPherson caught off Portland on Monday (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Freshwater
With the promise of good weather on Saturday, Bernie Bennett of the Bannockburn Angling Club and his mate “Scanno,” headed down to Lake Elingamite – just south west of Cobden in the Western District – putting their minnow trap in overnight.
Come Saturday morning, there were only a couple of minnow in the trap, but one of them tempted a beautiful redfin of about 1.8 kg; that was their only catch here though.
Fishing Wurdiboluc Reservoir on the way home produced a 1.3 kg rainbow trout on a worm and glassie cocktail. Bernie hooked another on a lure he’d been casting out, but it escaped.
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that 30,000 trout, both browns and rainbows were released into Tullaroop Reservoir recently and that redfin are still being caught here with the usual approaches.
However, one of the more outstanding catches taken last week was by Peter Conn of Bendigo who was rewarded a for drowning a worm from the bank of the Loddon River – just downstream from the Laanecoorie Reservoir at Baringhup – with a Murray cod that measured just over a metre in length.
Rhiannon Atkinson of the Victorian Fisheries Authority reports that freshwater fish-stocking programs continue with a delivery of 10,000 rainbow trout (average weight 20 grams) to Lake Purrumbete yesterday. And, on Thursday, Lake Bullen Merri is scheduled to receive 5000 brown trout (average weight 30 grams) from around 1.00 pm.
Should you wish to attend on Thursday, and in respect of the current crowd size restrictions, please contact Rhiannon on either 0407 987 016 or by email; rhiannon.atkinson@vfa.vic.gov.au
Ernie, Collan and Malcolm Erard with Sunday’s whiting catch.
Portland
Fishing off Portland in 130 metres of water yesterday, a depth noted for Tasmanian trumpeter, Bob McPherson and Lachie Wombell did indeed catch a couple of good ones.
They also caught nannygai, gummy and school shark, snapper, knife-jaw, rock ling and several other species. Needless to say with such abundance they released much of their catch.
Christi asks:
Geoff, we’re heading down to fish Lake Bullen Merri with a small boat: Are trout still to be caught there, and can you give us any tips?
Christi, both chinook salmon and rainbow trout are to be caught from Lake Bullen Merri.
Your preparation should include a good supply of either fish or poultry pellets for berley – preferably mixed with fish scraps or dissected bait – to be suspended in an open weave bag from your boat, but not deep enough to tangle with your lines.
The lake is very deep, over 60 metres in places, but anchoring in around nine or ten metres of water is manageable. And, rigging with a short leader below a small running ball sinker, about the size of a pea, will allow you to suspend your bait (glassies, sprat whitebait or even pilchard fillets) in the bite zone, which just above the bottom.
Please send fishing reports and photos to geoffw10@optusnet.com.au: Thank you.