Angus Illingworth with a catch of whiting by he and his mother Janet, from Corio Bay’s outer harbour. (Picture: Janet Illingworth).
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Whiting catches have prevailed over the past week with little else gaining attention. However, Andrew Phillips and Mark Sesar took a mixed bag of pinkie snapper to 1.2 kg, a couple of gummy shark, and several snook to 80 cm, while fishing offshore from Point Lillias.
On Thursday, 14-year-old Angus Illingworth headed out off Clifton Springs with his mother Janet, their first item on the agenda was catching squid. They finished up with 14 as it turned out, mostly just offshore from the Clifton Springs boat ramp.
With a good supply of pipis – now supplemented with freshly caught squid – they headed some 2 kilometres west of the ramp where they found whiting on the bite: They kept10 fish to 38 cm for a feed and returned the rest.
Mike Windsor of Clifton Spring Boat Hire reports that Peter Clark first tried off Edge-water Drive where he’d been previously successful with no luck. But heading down to Curlewis paid off with 20 whiting to 39 cm.
Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien also took bag limit catches of whiting to 38 cm off Curlewis on Friday afternoon, and were again blessed with a catch of 7 flathead to 54 cm.
With time to spare after work on Friday, Darcy Scott took a run down to Queenscliff with squid first on his bucket list.
With possibly an hour of daylight left after taking his legal 10 from the Lonsdale Bight, he tried for whiting, picking up sixteen fish before losing the seventeenth to what he judged to be shark.
With night closing in, and after losing yet another whiting – and a second rig – he eventually finished with 20 fish, most over 40 cm, before returning to the ramp after dark.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head also reports improved whiting catches over the past week, in addition to the pinkie snapper, flathead and squid that have been his client’s mainstay of late.
Chris Farrugia with one of the trophy size brown trout he caught from Lake Purrumbete last week.
Freshwater
John Clements says he bears no grudge against George Gillies of Colac who beat him by 200 grams (7kg against George’s 7.2kg) in the Lake Purrumbete Angling Club’s redfin competition on the lake over the weekend.
Apart from that though, trophy size brown trout have been on offer with Portarlington’s Tom Hogan taking one of 3.8 kg. Others to catch them included Tim Beusmans and Chris Farrugia, the approach varying from fishing with mudeyes beneath a float to trolling various lures.
Rod Shepherd fished Lake Elingamite early last week where the water level had visibly dropped over the past week. Frustrated at missing several good strikes, and being harassed by small redfin, he was eventually rewarded with two respectable rainbow trout.
Fishing the Murray near Echuca, Boris Stocki caught and released five Murray cod, each around the 45 cm mark, and a silver perch. However, he told of hooking a much bigger fish that stripped metres of line from his reel before hanging him up on a snag.
Boris said that despite using a variety of baits that included cheese, shrimp, yabby, chicken and marinated chicken, the only bites he had during the day were on cheese. And, although he fished on into the night, all was quiet after dark.
Amber Stone with one of the Murray cod she’s caught recently from the Loddon River at Baringhup (Picture: Kevin Wild).
Estuary perch liberation
On Tuesday, some 45,000 estuary perch fingerlings were released into the Barwon River downstream from Queens Park by Fisheries Victoria, an exercise funded by recreational licence fees as part of a State Government initiative to promote recreational fishing.
Those that adapt, and survive predation by cormorants, eels and the like over the next few years, should – optimistically – reach the legal length of 27 cm, and at least 400 grams in their third year, and possibly 45 cm with a decade.
Jack Oliver with one of the hefty hapuka he’s caught offshore from Port Macdonell lately.
Rod asks;
Geoff, I fished off Avalon on Friday evening and there was a buoy a kilometre or so from the Point Wilson pier, on which was written, Point Wilson Exclusion Zone. I’ll swear it wasn’t there before. Can you tell me anything about it?
Rod, in June 2006, myself and several others were officially notified, on site, and given a map of an extended exclusion zone, beyond the existing 300 metre zone around the pier, that would come into force, only when munitions were being unloaded at the pier. I posted the following in my fishing column of 29/06/06 but have received no further updates.
The Point Wilson munitions facility, which includes the pier, is to be upgraded to receive ongoing shipments of defence ordnance. An exclusion zone, in respect to the size and nature of these cargoes, has already been marked out with yellow buoys around the pier, and will come into force while these cargoes are being transferred from ship to shore.
For security reasons, advance notice of shipping, and activation of this exclusion zone cannot be given, so your co-operation is requested when the yellow buoy lights are flashing and the red flag on the pier is flying.