Michael Bealham with a couple of nice Corio Bay reds.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Heading out from St Helens at 3.30 on Friday morning, Michael Bealham throttled back on reaching the outer harbour, and with the sounder running, he picked up a promising reading in 6 metres of water off Point Wilson.
With the anchor down at 4.30 am, he was into the snapper immediately catching five in short order, the biggest around the 4.5 kg mark. Michael also caught a good size gummy shark as well before heading back in.
Simon Werner also picked up another couple of snapper in much the same area during the afternoon, each around the 2 kg mark.
Heading out early on Friday morning after the whiting, Andrew Johnson first tried off Curlewis, but with nothing doing there he began a series of moves, eventually finishing back off Clifton Springs where he began picking up a few nice fish almost straight out from the boat ramp.
In fact, he finished with his legal bag of keepers from 34 to 41 cm in only an hour’s fishing, during which time he also picked up several large garfish from the bottom on his whiting rigs. All of Andrew’s fish were taken with squid strips and mussels on the incoming tide.
Heading out off Clifton Springs to catch the mid-afternoon tide change early last week, Paul Raduka and Dennis McDowell were also after whiting, and – after anchoring up in five metres of water – caught 20 to 41 cm, also using mussels and squid for bait.
As well as the whiting, they also caught a mixed bag that included four beautiful flathead from 45 to 60 cm, a pinkie snapper, a leatherjacket, several squid, and a dozen yakkas (yellowtail scad).
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire reports having only a few boats out during the week with the choppy conditions, but whiting are the main catch, mainly between Grassy Point and the Governors.
Some have been taken on the drift in fairly close to shore, along with several good size flathead, and – although squid have been a bit scarce – one of Rod’s clients brought in a bag limit catch on Sunday.
And, speaking of squid, Steve O’Keefe tried his luck on the squid over the Queenscliff grass-beds off Swan Island, finishing up a bag-limit catch, the bigger ones around the kilogram mark.
Grazio Dalli with the bronze whaler shark he caught from Point Lonsdale Pier at 12.30 am on Monday.
Point Lonsdale
With fresh bonito for bait, Grazio Dalli headed down to the Point Lonsdale Pier on Sunday night, hoping to catch a shark under this month’s full moon.
Well, everything went to plan, and at around 12.30 am – on the high tide – his reel screamed off, heralding a tussle with a bronze whaler of just over two metres.
Freshwater
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports heading out on the lake with Dean Paton of Barongarook, intent on making a dent in the Lake’s redfin population. And that they did, with their biggest fish measuring 43 cm.
Geelong anglers Les and Jeff Broughton also had good day catching chinook salmon with several fish around the kilogram mark taken down deep on cut pilchards.
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that he and club member John Gray, fished Tullaroop Reservoir on separate occasions last week, both taking good catches of redfin on a variety of lures including Beetlespins and soft plastics.
Damon Sherriff caught this 10.30 kg snapper in eight metres of water on fresh calamari off Bridport in Tasmania over the weekend.
Thank you
A heartfelt thanks to the attendees of Saturday’s meeting at the Leopold Angling Club regarding Lake Bullen Merri’s current catastrophic algal bloom.
Guest speaker Peter Harries, CEO of EnviroSonic, shared detailed history of the solution to this problem with ultrasound algae controlling units mounted on solar powered platforms.
Peter stated that: “Cyanobacteria or blue green algae blooms are a part of the building blocks of life and different algae species will dominate as a result of nutrients and warming temperatures.”
This technology controls the growth of the algae and was successfully trialled on Bullen Merri from December 2021 to April 2023.
It has been proposed that 8 platforms are reinstalled on the lake so the community can enjoy fishing and recreational activities year-round. A grant of approximately $500,000 is needed and possibly funded by the Victorian Government for this expenditure, including maintenance for five years.
Please email your concerns over this issue to the Hon Steve Dimopoulos, Minister for the Environment and Outdoor Recreation: steve.dimopoulos@parliament.vic.gov.au