Callum Ritchie with a sample of his squid catch from the Swan Bay channel.
Reece Anticevic and Robbie Scaringi with their bag limit catch of squid off Indented Head (Picture Rod Ludlow).
After strong easterlies discoloured the water last week, several snapper aficionado’s, including Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien, headed out as the wind died away on Friday night.
They began well enough with two fish, the biggest about 4 kg, but despite their ongoing expectations as the light faded, that was it.
Keith Fry, and his friends John Porter and Gary Maya fished out off “Arthur the Great” on Saturday evening, but – what looked to be a promising start – failed to materialize with just a scale, about the size of ten cent piece, impaled on the hook.
While snapper fishing has not lived up to earlier expectations, land-based anglers caught a number of respectable size pinkies – along with the occasional larger fish – inside the Portarlington harbour toward the end of last week, with one reliable witness suggesting that possibly 50 may have caught.
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that while flathead and squid have been the main catch, whiting have been on offer for those able to take advantage.
Guy Kemp with his catch of squid at Indented Head (Picture: Rod Ludlow).
Lilly Azzopardi with a nice snook off Altona (Picture A J Azzopardi).
After their OK snapper trip on Friday evening, Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien were onto the whiting off Curlewis on Saturday.
While many of the fish they caught would certainly have been takers, they returned most, with bigger fish – of which they caught 16, a good portion of which were around the 40 cm mark – coming on the bite as the day rolled on.
On Sunday morning, Murray and Darcy Scott managed their respective bag-limit catches of whiting – most of which came from 5.5 metres of water offshore from the Leopold caravan parks – squid being the preferred bait.
Speaking of squid, Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head, said that squid have undoubtedly been the main chance around the Bellarine Peninsula lately, with the bigger specimens coming from the Lonsdale Bight at Queenscliff.
Here, Steve O’Keefe has been among the many anglers to take some beauties to 2 kg, on baited stem jigs in the last occasion, while Callum Ritchie caught five; his biggest weighing in at 1.5 kg: All taken on the drift in the Swan Bay Channel.
However, while the rough weather toward the end of last week shut the squid down, said Rod, he mentions that his last clients to come off the water on Sunday night, Reece Anticevic and Robbie Scaringi, returned with their respective bag limit catches.
John Wild with a nice yellowbelly on Cairn Curran Reservoir (Picture Kevin Wild).
Freshwater
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that the Lake Purrumbete Angling Club held their monthly competition over the weekend, which was attended by 12 members: Nine fish were weighed in for a total weigh of 5.08 kg.
The heaviest brown trout weighed 986 grams and was caught by Brian Nygaard. Heaviest chinook salmon weighed 1.05 kg and was caught by Norm Armstrong who also caught the heaviest redfin at 397 grams. Stephen Hill caught, not only the heaviest rainbow trout at 839 grams, but was the overall winner with a bag of five salmonids for a total weight of 1.99 kg.
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club fished with partner Amber Wild at Lake Laanecoorie, and on the Loddon River downstream last week. On both occasions they caught respectable golden perch (yellowbelly), while a respite from trolling to drown a few worms, resulted in Amber catching three Murray cod of 58, 61 and 66 cm, all of which were returned.
Lachie Goldby with a good size gummy shark taken off Portland’s north shore.
Peter asks:
Geoff, how do you work out the tides for Barwon Heads? On Sunday it was supposed to be low at 9.34 am but it just kept running out for ages after that.
Peter, first you must know whether your tide chart has been adjusted for daylight saving; some are not. However, the time of 9.34 am suggests your chart would have been adjusted, but you would have needed to add at least another hour to that for low slack water at the bridge.
Should there have been significant water flowing downstream from the Barwon, then you may have needed to add yet another hour. And, bear in mind that low slack water in the Sheepwash is an hour later than for the bridge, and later still as you progress upstream, toward, and above Lake Connewarre.