Don Rayner with a yellowbelly from the Loddon River (Picture: Amber Wild).
Kevin Wild with a 49 cm yellowbelly he caught from the Loddon River (Picture: Amber Wild).
Corio Bay Bellarine Peninsula
Whiting remain the most sought after fish around the Bellarine Peninsula with Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien taking bag limit catches in less than 5 metres of water off Portarlington.
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that snapper continue to be caught off The Springs, and among the lucky anglers were Darcy and Curtis Bibby, and their mate Lachie Poole.
They picked up five reds to 78 cm on Sunday evening, while fishing almost straight out from the boat ramp toward the channel and using squid for bait.
However, whiting and squid have been the main catch said Mike, with James Sarpi and George Vasiljkovic, who were out off Curlewis at very first light, catching both whiting and squid before returning to the ramp, as did Paul Rahman and Goran Nidic who also picked up good catches of both from much the same area.
Mark Gerkovich with a brown trout he caught from Lake Purrumbete.
Jacinta Kelly of Drysdale with a brown trout she caught from Lake Purrumbete.
Simon Werner has covered a bit of ground of late, recently returning from Eildon where he caught two trophy size rainbow trout from the Goulburn River, each over 5 kg, while casting and retrieving a Rapala bibbed minnow. And, with a total of 7 tonnes of rainbow trout brood stock recently released here by the VFA, there are still plenty more to catch.
Being something of a perpetual fishing entity, Simon has recently caught snapper to just on 3 kg from the Portarlington breakwater recently, and – aboard his kayak – has been pursuing flathead with soft plastics off Beacon Point, Clifton Springs, his best recent fish being a 55 cm flathead that weighed 1.15 kg.
Michael Evans with one of several trophy size brown trout he’s caught recently from Lake Purrumbete (Picture: Michael Evans).
Xavier Gercovich with a brown trout he caught from Lake Purrumbete.
Freshwater
As usual, Michael Evans of Victorian Inland Charters has found fish for his clients on Lake Purrumbete, and in-between-times, he’s also caught a few himself.
Prospecting the lake’s shallow margins during the late afternoons and evenings, and casting his ever-reliable Bent Minnow, Michael has caught several large brown trout recently, some better than 3 kg.
Of course he’s not the only one to do so as John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park is quick to point out, giving the folk at VFA full credit for the great fishing to be experienced, both in Lake Purrumbete and nearby Lake Bullen Merri.
John sent in a good many photos of folk who’d taken what would be regarded as trophy size brown trout from Purrumbete, including some of Warrnambool Fishing writer, Mark Gerkovich and his sons Luke and Xavier. There were others of Mick Harbour and Jacinta Kelly of Drysdale, and Wayne Snell, all of whom caught large brown trout.
However, there are other species to be caught from the lake as well including chinook salmon, and tiger trout that were released into the lake as part of the three year trial and appear to be doing quite well, judging by recent captures.
Among those to catch tigers last week – after a successful bait-fishing trip on nearby Lake Bullen Merri for chinook salmon –-were Mark Richards and Paddy Donovan. They caught two, each better than a kilogram, on the fly. The Gerkovich boys caught some as well.
With recent success fishing the Loddon River near Laanecoorie, Kevin and Amber Wild, Don Rayner and Brian Rivett; all members of the Maryborough Angling Club, returned on the weekend. And, again fishing just downstream from the Laanecoorie Reservoir and using worms for bait, they took a total of 12 yellowbelly to 49 cm.
Lachie Wombell with a Nannygai taken offshore from Portland (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Lachie Wombell with a gummy shark taken offshore from Portland (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Portland
Picking a break in the weather over the weekend, Bob McPherson and Lachie Wombell headed out into 130 metres of water for a bottom-bouncing session.
As luck would have it, they encountered a variety of fish that included red cod, nannygai, gummy shark and knife-jaw: Probably missed some, but they did alright.
Wayne Snell with a brown trout
Lachie Wombell with a knife-jaw taken offshore from Portland (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Martin says
Geoff, there’s a sign on the St Leonards Pier entitled “Ray Fishing Rules.” It bans the taking or possession of rays from the pier: I thought there was a bag limit on rays and the like; I find such things very confusing.
Martin, the current Victorian Recreational Fishing Guide, page 21, indicates that there is a bag limit of one, and one-only ray, skate or the like – maximum width of 1.5 metres – provided that one ray, skate or the like is not taken from, or within 400 metres of any pier, jetty, wharf, rock wall or breakwater; the logic of that being somewhat obscure.
Mind you, a 1.5 metre wide smooth stingray, as illustrated on page 21 as an example, would weigh well over 100 kg; something of a handful I would have thought.
Smooth stingray of 1.5 metres width, as depicted in the current Victorian Recreational Fishing Guide, alongside a smooth ray of this size, caught, photographed and released from The Narrows Beach at Queenscliff that certainly would have weighed well over 100 kg.