Kalon Stavris with the 3.2 kg salmon he caught from the beach at Moggs Creek on Friday morning’s low tide.
Kalon and Ray with a matching pair at Moggs on Friday morning.
From the Beach
After last week’s success on the low and falling tide from the beach at Moggs Creek for salmon, Ray Millman returned at first light on Thursday, but with one small alteration to his tackle.
While he’d caught any number of salmon on his 42-gram, Savage Sea Missile’s treble hooks, he’d lost several bigger fish as they leaped from the water, throwing the lure.
So, he’d added a free-swinging assist-hook to the lure on a short lanyard, a preferred set-up for deep-sea jigging, an idea with some merit certainly.
But in this case, it proved to be a double-edged sword, for grabbing a lively fish that was hooked on the treble, allowed the free-swinging assist-hook to spear right through the third finger of Ray’s right hand.
So, with a pair of pliers, and some difficulty with the attached fish still thrashing about, Ray closed the hook’s barb, allowing him to reverse its passage back through his finger from which blood was now pouring.
So, proceedings took a break while Ray phoned friend Tony at Lorne, who arrived shortly, expertly dressing Ray’s perforated finger before the fishing resumed, each of the pair now catching salmon turnabout, with Ray’s gear until the rising tide denied them access to the gutter.
Mind you, the party was not over, for Ray was up for yet another trip the following morning. And, accompanied by good friend Kolan Stavris, both had another hot session on the salmon at Moggs with Kalon taking the biggest; it measured 68 cm and weighed 3.2 kg on Ray’s digital scales.
Murray Scott and his 6-year-old grandson Byron with an impressive squid (Picture: Darcy Scott).
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Andrew Johnson, just back from Queensland, did a solo run down off Curlewis at first light on Sunday morning, and anchored up in 6 metres of water off Hermsley Road, had to wait an hour or so for any action.
But the whiting bite started on the outgoing tide, and once they got going, said Andrew, it was figuratively all hands-on deck with an insane bite yielding a bag limit catch of keepers from 34 to 41 cm, all taken on strips of squid.
A recent trip on the whiting off Indented Head with the incoming tide provided lean pickings for Simon and Jayden Werner in the heavily discoloured water. So, although they were in only 4 metres of depth, they decided to put a snapper rod out.
Sound judgement as it turned out for Jayden’s rod buried over, reel singing to the tune of a 3 kg snapper that brightened up their day.
After Darcy Scott finished with a bag limit catch of squid to 2 kg and a dozen good size whiting, all from the Lonsdale Bight on Friday afternoon and evening, and with good weather in the offing, Darcy and his dad Murray took Murray’s 6-year-old grandson Byron out for a run the following day.
They caught 10 squid between them, the biggest 1.2 kg. And, judging by the size of the squid the young lad had hold of in the picture that Murray sent me, he looks like a quick learner.
On Saturday afternoon Andrew Phillips and Tony Greck found a good patch of squid off the entrance of Swan Bay, eventually picking up bag limit catches with their biggest nudging 2 kg.
And, with the last kick of the incoming tide to run for an hour or so before dark, they anchored up just inshore from Coles Beacon, picking up 25 whiting before the tide eventually shut down at around 6.00 pm, their biggest fish stretching the tape out to 46 cm.
John Gray with a pair of nice redfin from Lake Lonsdale (Picture: Kevin Wild).
Mason Eales 3, and Kevin Wild with a redfin catch from Lake Lonsdale.
Freshwater
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that he and club members, John Gray and Stephen Eales, and Mason Eales 3, and in another boat, John and Brian Rivett, fished Lake Lonsdale near Stawell, all taking great catches of redfin, mostly good size fish in the 36 to 42 cm range.
Kevin Wild with a pair of nice redfin from Lake Lonsdale.
Kevin reports that Kevin Streets and Leonie Jones spent three days at Lake Mulwala, and – while they were grounded with atrocious weather for two days – they were out fishing on Saturday and Sunday catching and releasing 9 Murray cod from 50 to 67 cm.
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that redfin are still well and truly on the bite with regular anglers Moses Cocubia and John Hewitt of Port Fairy, each catching more than 50 fish apiece.
These were caught on scrubworms and soft plastics, and ranged in size from 30 to 45 cm.
Jamie Wells’ 40 cm bass that he caught from Queensland’s Cania Dam last week.
Local angler Jamie Wells heads up to south-east Queensland each year to fish its freshwater impoundments, including Cania Dam between Biloela and Monto, just north from the Burnett Highway, and stocked with bass.
That’s where he is now, reporting that while the dam is still quite low, the fish are biting and his biggest so far this trip, and of which he sent me a photo, was a bass measuring 40 cm.
Please send your reports to geoffw10@optusnet.com.au, on messenger, or by phone, 03 5248 1307.