Chris Farrugia with the 3.63 kg brown trout he caught from Lake Purrumbete on Wednesday of last week.
Chris Farrugia with the 2.72 kg tiger trout he caught from Lake Purrumbete on Wednesday of last week.
Offshore
With a break in the weather on Friday, prior to the storm, Danny Skene, along with Trent Schiller and Tom Buckland, headed out from Barwon Heads in search of tuna.
They found them in 40 metres of water and had no trouble catching medium size fish trolling skirted lures.
They then decided on a change of tactics and began fishing on the drift, hopeful of catching a mako shark.
They were unsuccessful with that exercise, but with tuna coming within casting range, the guys let fly with poppers, once again adding to their catch.
But there was even more going on with a school of small kingfish milling around the boat, and of which they caught several to 63 cm.
Simon Werner also found the tuna on Monday of last week while fishing with Matt Dean. They took four on that occasion, weighing from 15 to 22 kg, while trolling white occys.
And, Simon was out off Barwon Heads again on Thursday, this time with Jamie Dickson. They too came across a school of kingfish, catching several from 61 to 72 cm.
Amber Wild with one of the Murray cod she caught from Lake Mulwala last week.
Kevin Wild with one of the Murray cod he caught from Lake Mulwala last week.
Freshwater
Lake Purrumbete continues to produce great fishing, and among those to do well was regular attendee at the lake, Chris Farrugia of Oaklands Junction.
Trolling a vibe-pattern lure at a depth of 19.5 metres, with the aid of a downrigger on Wednesday of last week, his catch included a brown trout of 3.63 kg and a tiger trout of 2.72 kg.
Maryborough Angling Club members Kevin and Amber Wild spent some time up at Lake Mulwala last week rehearsing tactics for the forthcoming National Cod Championships.
And, sharpening their lure-casting skills – on this occasion with spinnerbaits – caught and released any number of cod during a frantic bite session, just prior to Friday’s storm.
Trent Schiller with one of the tuna that he Danny Skene and Tom Buckland caught off Barwon Heads on Friday (Picture: Danny Skene).
Richard Schuster with the 97 cm mulloway he caught within the Port of Brisbane.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
On Friday afternoon, Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien headed out from Clifton Springs and were surprised to find very few vehicles and boat trailers at the ramp, possibly because of a fairly ominous forecast.
Anyway, they found the whiting in four metres of water off Curlewis and began catching some excellent fish before the weather closed in. They eventually finished up with 26 whiting to 43 cm, along with several good size pinkie snapper that they released.
They were still fishing when the storm hit, and began receiving some concerned phone calls from family and friends. But, once back at the ramp, were surprised to find they were by no means the last to head back in.
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that improved weather conditions since the storm saw a good many anglers catching fish.
Among them were Rodger Bush and Ollie Klautmann who took a good catch of whiting and some good size pinkie snapper over the weekend.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that flathead, taken mainly on the drift out in the deeper water, were the main catch.
However, the heavily discoloured water had slowed the squid fishing down, said Rod, and whiting were hard to find.
Off the beach
With reports of salmon off Thirteenth Beach, Tony Ingram and Col Simmons, tried their luck from the beach adjacent to 50W early last week, where – in the late afternoon – there were fewer surfers.
Things were slow to begin with, but toward evening, the salmon had obviously moved in with the rising tide, for they began to catch a few around the 500-gram mark.
However, on the high tide toward dark, some bigger fish appeared on the scene, a couple of these nudging the 2 kg mark.
Upstate
Richard Schuster reports on making a trip to Brisbane with his mate Chris.
They fished from their boat in the Port of Brisbane where they had a varied catch that included prawns, mullet and squid, some of which they used for bait, but all they caught on these during the day were catfish.
They had better luck at night, and on the last kick of the outgoing tide – again using live prawns and squid for bait – they caught a 97 cm mulloway and two threadfin salmon measuring 112 and 117 cm, some of their catch finishing up on their Sunday night BBQ.
The late Terry Sheppard with the 1.1 metre chinook salmon he caught from Lake Bullen Merri in January, 2018.
Vale Terry Sheppard
First known as a pioneer of coarse fishing in Australia back in the 80s and 90s, and author of several publications including “Australian Coarse Fishing with Terry Sheppard : The Art of Catching Fish with Bait.” Terry Sheppard passed away at the weekend.
In more recent times, Terry worked for Regal Marine in Canterbury Road, Vermont where he was a great source of information on things nautical, fishing in particular.
Terry was also a constant visitor to Camperdown’s crater lakes where he caught, and sometimes released the fish that he caught. And, he was one of the few anglers to catch a very large (1.1 metres in length and possibly 9 kg) chinook salmon from Lake Bullen Merri in recent times – which he photographed and then released – a report of which was featured in my column of 16/01/18.