Jim Gillians with the 5.03 kg rock ling he caught from the beach at Ocean Grove.
Off the beach
Fishing RAAFs beach at Ocean Grove last Wednesday evening, Jim Gillians was hoping for a decent catch like a snapper, gummy shark, or perhaps even a mulloway, but none of those were on offer.
However, he did catch a 5.03 kg rock ling, something more than a consolation prize because they are fine table fare, but very few are caught from the beach.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Heading down Leopold way after the whiting on Tuesday morning were Andrew Johnson and Denis O’Brien who found their quarry in five metres of water.
By 9.30 am, they’d each taken their legal bag of whiting that included some really good size fish to 41 cm using mussels and squid for bait.
Also fishing for whiting from Corio Bay’s outer harbour last week were Gordon and Carol Williams who were out to catch the afternoon flood tide off Point Richards, but initially, there wasn’t much doing.
However, after making several moves, they found a good patch of fish offshore from Spray Farm that kept them busy despite the sea breeze picking up toward evening.
By then though, they’d each taken their respective bag limit catches of whiting using mussels for bait and were heading back to the ramp.
Fishing off Indented Head in around 6 metres of water on Saturday, Simon Werner was also after the whiting, and despite the sometimes blustery conditions, hit paydirt.
He too finished up with a bag limit catch of whiting, the biggest measuring 42 cm, all taken on tiny strips of squid.
Launching at Queenscliff on Tuesday evening of last week, Scott Hamilton and Wes Brewer headed out to the Symonds Channel, where – anchored up in around 15 metres of water near Mud Island – they were hoping for a good size gummy shark, something that this area is noted for.
There wasn’t much doing until the tide began running off at around 7.00 pm, shortly after which they did indeed catch a gummy shark of about 15 kg.
Unfortunately, all they hooked after that were what could only have been various sharks – probably seven gillers – of the larger variety that, fortunately you might say, bit them off.
Barwon estuary
Fishing the Barwon estuary at the Sheepwash early last week were Jason Treloar and Harley Griffiths but there wasn’t much doing until the tide began coming in at around midday when the first action came from mullet and small but legal size salmon.
They put a couple of these out as live baits in case there were any mulloway around, but apart from one bait being chopped by what they assume was a small tailor, almost certainly not a mulloway, which – from all reports – have been a bit scarce this year.
Lockie Wombell and Michael Goldby with a sample of their blue eye trevalla catch offshore from Portland (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Portland
With a break in the weather on Sunday, Bob McPherson, Lockie Wombell and Michael Goldby headed out to the edge of the Continental shelf off Portland where they fished on the drift in around 500 metres of water.
As usual, their target species was blue eye trevalla, of which they had no trouble catching. They also caught blue grenadier and an assortment of other deep water dwellers.
They also brough up a mako shark of possibly 40 kg, a manageable size compared with some they have hooked out there, but with any amount of other edible fish they cut the trace, releasing it.
Fisheries officers wanted
The Victorian Fisheries Authority is now recruiting additional fisheries officers to service Melbourne, Phillip Island, Bendigo, Tatura and Swan Hill.
Women may apply, especially for the regionally based locations, and for Melbourne and Phillip Island, preference will be shown to applicants of Vietnamese or Chinese backgrounds. Applications are now open and close on Sunday, 7 July 2024: www.vfa.vic.gov.au/recruitment
David asks
Geoff, could you please include more land-based fishing reports in your weekly report because some of us don’t have boats?
David, I have one this week. Unfortunately, I
receive comparatively few reports from land-based anglers. I do get some from freshwater locations but very few from salt water. Perhaps if you caught a nice fish land-based, you may care to give me a report.
Please send your reports to occytrapper@gmail.com, on messenger, or by phone, 03 5248 1307.