Geoff’s Fishing Report

 

 

Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula

Murray and Darcy Scott have the knack of finding snapper, probably due in no small part to their usual habit of heading out well before daybreak, covering likely areas with the sounder ticking over.

 

As it turned out, they found a good patch east of the Wilson Spit on Saturday and finished up with a bag limit catch of fish to 7 kg by 7.30 am.

 

Also on Saturday, Michael Bealham. and companion Candace Mimms, tried one of Michael’s favourite snapper spots off Point Wilson, where – having just arrived – a rod soon buckled over.

 

An insane session on the snapper followed, during which some were released, but not a rock cod that was in the mix, the head of same was their final offering; a very large bait they hoped might tempt a much larger fish.

 

Well, the 6.8 kg snapper that scoffed the cod’s head was indeed their largest fish, but even so, that bait must have been quite a mouthful.

 

Andrew Phillips and Mark Sesar were out off Point Richards after whiting on Saturday, and – anchored up in 6.8 metres of water just east of the mussel farm – they had no need to move, so ferocious was the bite.

 

Well on their way to eventual bag limit catches – their biggest fish measuring 46 cm – despite their session being interrupted, first by a shoal of salmon, and then by undersize pinkie snapper.

Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien also finished up off the Point Richards mussel farm after a fairly dry run on the whiting off Curlewis, but they did catch a dozen squid there before making that move to where they too did well on the whiting.

 

Jeff Richards and Chris Hateley headed out off Indented Head at around 1.30 on Thursday, first catching 8 nice squid before settling in on the whiting near Dead Man’s Stick, which is clearly marked, inshore from the Prince George Pile.

 

They finished with 24 whiting by 6.00 pm, and probably would have caught more had they stayed, but with only one fish shy of 40 cm, it was still a class catch.

 

Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that among the whiting reports was one from Anthony Matheson, who – along with his family – caught whiting from 35 to 40 cm on pipis and squid.

 

Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire also reports that whiting have been on the bite lately with good size fish the norm off Indented Head, but squid have been patchy.

 

 

Freshwater

An unanticipated benefit of the new boat ramp at Lake Bullen Merri is that larger fish, like chinook salmon and trout, have been herding smaller fish – minnow and the like – up against this structure in a feeding frenzy.

 

Among the many anglers to benefit from the land-based opportunities afforded was VRFish Executive Officer Ben Scullin who took full advantage, catching a couple of chinook salmon around the 2 kg mark.

 

That was before being invited out in the boat by crater lakes specialist Roger Tolland, but only far enough to cast back to the boat ramp frenzy, catching even more fish that included a 3.3 kg tiger trout that took Ben’s soft plastic.

 

And, there are still plenty of fish out deeper as Garry Ridgeway and Lindsay Robinson could attest, with bag limit catches of chinook salmon to 3 kg, all taken on whitebait fished just above the bottom in 15 metres of water.

 

John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that nearby Lake Purrumbete is also fishing well, and among the successful anglers was Shaun Kelly from Eltham who caught a 3.5 kg chinook salmon and a 2 kg rainbow trout, both on trolled lures.

 

Also successful, said John, were Tony Missan from Airport West who caught a number of rainbow, brown, and tiger trout to 1.5 kg, all taken on mudeyes fished beneath a float, and – fishing with John – were Andy Martin and his son Jason from Monbulk, and – naturally enough – they fished for redfin, catching some nice ones up to 800g.

 

Fishing the “Cod Classic” at Lake Mulwala over the weekend, which is run by the Mulwala football and netball clubs, were 20 or so Maryborough Angling Club members, including Kevin and Amber Wild.

 

Some 1700 people were in attendance and 700 or so legal-size cod to 1.18 metres, and yellowbelly to 58 cm, were registered on a catch and release basis.

 

Kevin also reports that club member Stephen Eales fished the Loddon River below Laanecoorie Reservoir, taking any number of yellowbelly, keeping half a dozen or so. These were mainly taken on worms. However, a few were taken on trolled lures.

 

Mordialloc

Dedicated land-based angler George Vlahogiannis has been doing well on the Mordialloc Pier lately, and – using calamari for bait – recently took a bag-limit catch of respectable pinkie snapper.

 

He followed that up another day with a lure-casting session, catching a number of good size salmon from the pier using a 25-gram Savage Gear Sea Missile, a metal lure, and a 3.75 inch, Zman Streak, soft plastic.

 

Boat ramp upgrades

Submissions are invited regarding proposed upgrades to the St Leonards boat ramp and vehicle parking area.

 

These may be emailed to www.betterboating.vic.gov.au/consultation until the January 13, 2023 deadline, or in person at the St Leonards boat where a consultation meeting will take place from 4-7 pm on December 15, next.

 

Offshore

Fishing offshore from the Black Rock sewerage treatment plant, in just over 40 metres of water on Saturday, Keith Fry, Steve Grey and John Porter caught their respective bag limit catches of snapper to 4 kg along with a mixed bag of other fish.

 

These included leatherjackets, the biggest going 2 kg, slimy mackerel to a kilogram, two gummy shark, a barracouta and a snotty trevalla. They were also bitten off a time or two by what were probably seven-gillers.

 

Also fishing offshore, in around 30 metres of water, were Kevin McLoughlin and his brother Jeremy. As it turned out, they also caught several gummies, keeping a couple for a feed and releasing the others.