Jamie McKenna with the tuna he speared offshore from Port Phillip Heads (Picture: Andrew McKenna).
Offshore
With a break in the weather, Andrew McKenna, his 15 year old son Jamie, and Jamie’s friends Jesse Thomas and Ryder Benson were on a mission to find those tuna off Port Phillip Heads, and for Jamie to claim one spear-fishing.
Locating a school of tuna in 30 metres, the float was deployed and Jamie hit the water, soon closing in on a prime target. But unfortunately – although hit – the fish escaped: However, an unforseen a problem arose as they regrouped on board for another attempt.
A great white shark of well over 3 metres in length appeared, almost certainly attracted by the wounded tuna, and begun circling their boat. Luckily, a friend’s call on the radio alerted them to yet another school of tuna a kilometre or so distant.
Undeterred, Jamie was back over the side, and – at a depth of possibly 10 metres – found another target, and this time the spear held fast; Andrew admitting some relief when young Jamie, and a bluefin tuna of possibly 20 kg were both safely aboard.
Fishing for tuna off Port Phillip Heads on Wednesday afternoon were Simon Werner and Danny Skene, and – trolling 15 cm white rubber occys in calm conditions – struck a good pod in 40 metres of water, taking three; two around the 10 kg mark; the other weighing 20 kg.
Chris Stamalos with the snapper he caught off Clifton Springs on Saturday night.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Fishing fairly close in off Clifton Springs on Saturday night, and using a whole Australian salmon for bait, Chris Stamalos was definitely hoping for something out of the ordinary, and at 10.30, hooked what turned out to be a 7 kg snapper.
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports seeing a variety of fish caught last week despite the inclement weather. They included a 9 kg gummy shark being cleaned by Sean Mennen who’d caught it on a pike fillet off St Leonards, and there were also quite a few good size whiting taken off Curlewis.
Lachie Wombell and Bob McPherson’s mixed bag of fish from Portland (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire reports that fishing has been good with whiting, flathead, and even garfish on offer. And the squid, which had gone quiet the week previous, were back on the go as well.
And speaking of squid, Andrew Phillips and Tony Greck headed out from Queenscliff over one of their favourite squid spots off Swan Bay, and – as expected – they were soon in business with squid, some over the kilogram mark.
They’d planned a trip on the whiting as well, but after tidying up after their squid catch, the wind squalled up from the south east, so – like just about everybody else – they headed back to the ramp.
With much better conditions on Thursday afternoon, Darcy Scott and Trent Budinski tried their luck, first in the Lonsdale Bight where they caught five squid. That was before heading out off Swan Island, where – on the last of the outgoing tide – they caught their respective bag limit catches of whiting.
Off the Beach
Taking advantage of last week’s exceptionally low evening tides, Tony Ingram and Col Simmons were back at RAAF’s beach once more where catching legal size pinkie snapper – and a couple of large specimens approaching 50 cm – wasn’t a problem despite the cold, gusty conditions and showers of rain.
Greg Street of the Maryborough Angling Club with one of the Murray Cod he caught from Taylors Lake at Horsham.
Freshwater
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that both brown and rainbow trout are on offer, and among the successful anglers was Geelong angler Mick Harbour whose catch included a brown trout of 3.7 kg on a mudeye fished beneath a float. Mick also caught his share of redfin as well using live minnow for bait.
Good size rainbow trout are also on offer with a number of anglers, including Mick Malone and Joshua Leach, both of Geelong, each taking fish to 2.5 kg.
Purrumbete is also producing good numbers of chinook salmon with Geelong angler James Gill taking several, the biggest weighing 1.8 kg.
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that club members have done well, whether farther afield where Greg Streets took two Murray cod of 55 and 58 cm from Taylors Lake near Horsham, and closer to home where club member Wally, caught a 62 cm yellowbelly from the bank at Cairn Curran Reservoir.