Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Andrew Johnson and Denis O’Brien were fishing the outgoing tide in 6 metres of water off Curlewis early last week and, and – with a good few whiting covering the bottom of the fish box – things were looking good.
Then, at around 9.00 am Andrew hooked something obviously much bigger than a whiting.
It turned out to be a 3.5 kg snapper, the first of two he snared on small squid strips and relatively small hooks. The other was a little larger at 4 kg and the last interruption to their whiting fishing, their final tally of 40 ending a very satisfactory day on the water.
Freshwater
Taking a run down to Aireys Inlet last Tuesday, Bruce Doherty and wife Faye fished Painkalac Creek from the southern end of River Reserve Road.
With no luck there, they moved a to a nearby verge from where they could cast out past the reeds, and using prawns for bait they had better luck here, each catching a bream, Faye with the biggest that measured 38 cm.
Bellarine Light Game and Sportfishing Club fielded the winning team in the ANSA Competition held on Lakes Purrumbete and Bullen Merri over the weekend.
Their catches, measured in centimeters were brown trout, Daniel Sparks 55 cm, rainbow trout, Don Matthews 49 cm, chinook salmon Jim O’Dowd 63 cm, redfin, Andy Fromholtz 41.5 cm, and tiger trout Keith Chapman 62 cm.
The highest scoring competitor was Andy Fromholtz from Bellarine with 211 points.
Fish stocking co-ordinator, Rhiannon Atkinson, advises that the long-awaited stocking of chinook salmon fry in Camperdown’s crater lakes will commence at the Lake Purrumbete boat ramp on Monday August 28 next.
At around 1.30 pm, 30,000 chinook fry will be liberated into Lake Purrumbete, and on Tuesday, August 29, 50,000 chinook fry also will be liberated into Lake Bullen Merri within the same time frame.
In addition to these allocations, it is likely that there will be more than the allocated 80,000 fry. So, for additional updates, please contact Rhiannon at either rhiannon.atkinson@vfa.vic.gov.au or by phone on 0407 987 016.
On a recent visit to Wurdiboluc Reservoir, Simon Werner put in a lengthy lure casting session with a Daiwa Double Clutch from the rock wall for two brown trout, the first a nice fish of 1.5 kg that was followed with a beauty of 3.3 kg.
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports fishing Lake Lonsdale near Stawell last week for 19 good size redfin, while club members John and Brian Rivett – who were also at Lonsdale – caught 22 redfin, two of which measured 43 and 47 cm.
Kevin also mentions that club member Stephen Eales, along with daughter Lily 7, and son Mason 5, fished from the bank of the Loddon where their catch included two Murray cod of 49 and 55 cm and a 34 cm yellowbelly.
These were all caught baitfishing with cheese and worms.
Devilbend Reservoir
Since being decommissioned as a water supply facility, Devilbend Reservoir off Graydens Road, Tuerong (on the Mornington Peninsula), has been upgraded as a prime fishing destination for Kayakers along with several platforms for land-based anglers.
Over the last six years, this water has been stocked with both brown and rainbow trout, and obviously estuary perch, as Andrew Ketelaar states in his recent fishing report.
The photo he sent of one that he caught on a 95 mm Bassday Sugapen is a good illustration of that, and he mentions that the larger estuary perch in this water are now closing in in the 50 cm mark.
Queensland
Geelong 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.
Jamie’s best fish so far measured 48 cm and was taken on a 20-gram Hot Bite, Gangbanger, a bibless minnow-type lure that he hopes will also get the job done at his next stop, which is Burumba Dam, west of Noosa.
Peter asks:
Geoff, I belong to a virtual dynasty of beach anglers, one of whose golden rules is to always fish at high tide, quite the opposite of a situation you described in two of your recent reports: Any more info would be welcome.
Peter, speaking of Australian salmon, high tide is frequently the best time to catch them from most local beaches, but other situations occur, such as when a promising gutter is beyond casting range at high tide.
In such cases, the opportunity to fish such gutters may only occur when the tide falls low enough to provide access from the exposed beach, as was the case at Moggs Creek on the occasions described.
Please send your reports to geoffw10@optusnet.com.au, on messenger, or by phone, 03 5248 1307.