Adam Mason with a freshly caught mako shark off Port Fairy (Picture: Kevin McLoughlin).
Marcus Pearson with yet another mako shark off Port Fairy (Picture: Kevin McLoughlin).
Western District
Berleying up for a shark in 80 metres of water off Cape Bridgewater on Saturday were Drysdale anglers Reece Holwell, Jim Clay and Trent Booth. And, as you can imagine, they were delighted at the arrival of a mako shark, which was presented with a whole Australian salmon.
The mako, which eventually greeted the scales for a verdict of 112.5 kg, put up 40-minute battle before finishing up as flake.
Fishing off nearby Port Fairy on Sunday, were Kevin McLoughlin, Brian Nolan, Marcus Pearson and Adam Mason who also caught two respectable makos.
A sawfish that was caught at Lorne last week (Picture: Bill Athanasselis).
Sawfish
The term sawfish is usually associated with the large tropical variety, reputedly growing to 6 metres in length. However, at least one species of sawfish is found in southern Australian waters.
Bill Athanasselis photographed one his friend Warren caught at Lorne last week, which – at 1.5 metres long – was larger than the 1.2 metre maximum given in “Sea Fishes of Southern Australia” by Barry Hutchins and Roger Swainston, who rate the culinary qualities of this species equal to that of gummy or school shark.
Kevin Wild with a 52 cm redfin that he caught from Cairn Curran Reservoir (Picture: Amber Stone).
Paul Droney with a 2 kg rainbow trout from Tullaroop Reservoir (Picture: Amber Stone).
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
On Saturday afternoon, Andrew Phillips and Mark Sesar, fished for snapper just east of the Wilson Spit where they picked up a promising signal.
At 4.00 pm they’d barely had their lines out before catching their first fish; the start of a session, during which they each took bag limit catches of snapper from 1.5 to 5 kg, and a gummy shark, using silver whiting and squid for bait.
On Boxing Day, Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien fished in 6.8 metres of water off Curlewis for 20 whiting to 40 cm, along with a couple of nice flathead, returning a good many legal size but smaller fish.
Lachie Wombell with yet another pink ling. This one was caught from 600 metres of water off Portland (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Trying at the same spot on Friday, despite the strong southerly and rough seas, they didn’t turn a scale, but determined to succeed, they diligently worked their way back to The Springs, eventually picking up a dozen keepers offshore from The Dell.
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire also reports that several others picked up whiting 200 metres or so out from The Dell, including Clive Allen-Paisley and Tom Adair who took a catch of 14 here using pipis for bait.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that whiting, flathead and squid have all been represented in angler’s bags, with pinkie snapper a bonus.
Among those to catch them were Jeff Richards and Ken Shae who caught 8 to 40cm in five metres of water between the Prince George Light and the PG2 pile, all taken on the incoming tide, using squid for bait.
Jeff also reminds us to use tough baits out here because the resident hordes of voracious undersize snapper will strip off softer baits, like pilchards, in seconds.
Redfin are definitely on the bite at Cairn Curran Reservoir, but I’d guess that Dylan Mccosh (pictured) had some contributors to this catch. (Picture: Amber Stone).
Freshwater
Although the main catch from Cairn Curran Reservoir last week was redfin, for which Kevin Wild and Amber Stone were well prepared – using both small yabbies and soft plastics – bonus captures of golden perch (yellowbelly) to 52 cm were also well received.
From all accounts, nearby Tullaroop Reservoir has been producing both rainbow and brown trout, particularly at daybreak and dusk, with Paul Droney among the successful anglers, catching a 2kg rainbow trout on whitebait.
A seven-gilled shark caught in 600 metres of water off Portland (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Casey asks:
Geoff, I’ve always understood that when fishing from a beach, it was always better to fish on the high tide. I noticed on December 18, you reported an angler catching fish from Ocean Grove, not only on the low tide, but on a very low tide. Can you give me some explanation please?
Casey, there is no general rule of thumb for beach fishing: Beaches that shelve fairly steeply into relatively deep water may fish well on either tide. On the other hand, the shallower beaches at Ocean Grove, particularly those toward the Barwon River mouth, are usually turbulent at high tide with a good deal of side drift.
Because of this, a small group of anglers fish here on the low tides that occur in the evenings, especially during October, November and December, when they fall much lower than those of the morning, exposing enough of the beach to walk out, then cast into the deeper water beyond, a situation that exists until the incoming tide ends the exercise.