Hammered: Beau Ely with the hammerhead shark he caught offshore from Bream Lea.
Offshore
Beau Ely was on the water off Barwon Heads by 5.30am, and would have been out even earlier except for the fog; even so, the visibility was so poor he had to concentrate on avoiding the cray pot buoys outside the river mouth.
Soon, he was fishing on the drift with a light breeze and moderate swell in 35 metres of water off Bream Lea, his berley trail attracting dozens of slimy mackerel; great bait for the game fishing outfit, and so ravenous they were even taking bare hooks: Then the kingfish arrived!
There were dozens of them, but unlike the slimies, they wouldn’t take a bait. Rigging with a knife jig did the trick, but those he boated were just shy of the legal 60cm minimum. He also caught a nice snapper on the jig though, and followed that with several pinkies.
With the sounder ticking over in 13 metres, Beau was about to retrieve his lines to begin another drift when the Tiagra game reel screamed into life, heralding a battle with what turned out to a lively hammerhead shark of possibly 70kg. And, by the time he’d wrestled that in through the dive door, he was within cooee of the surfers off Bream Lea.
Matching pair: Andrew Johnson with his matching pair of big flathead from Corio Bay (Picture: Dennis O’Brien).
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien’s whiting expedition in just on 7 metres of water off Curlewis on Friday went well, and in the midst of it, Andrew hooked a big flathead that cut him off as it dived beneath the boat.
Re-rigging once more, again for whiting, Andrew hooked what was obviously another large flathead; this one finishing in the landing net, along with hook, line and sinker from the previous encounter. And, while disentangling all of that from the landing net, Andrew’s other rod buried over with a second, equally large, flathead.
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that Darren Hillier took a run across the Bay to the area just east of Point Wilson known as Arthur the Great, where he caught a number of pinkie snapper and 18 flathead using squid for bait.
Levi and Oscar of Colac with a nice mixed bag taken off Indented Head (Picture Rod Ludlow).
Fishing close to the mussel farm off Clifton Springs on Sunday was Aris Sertaridis who also returned with a mixed bag that included whiting, pinkies and flathead.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire reports that whiting are well worth trying for with the Inner Governor reef, and elsewhere on the Prince George Bank, producing fish with pipis and mussels preferred baits.
The squid have been patchy said Rod, but keeping on the move, and using a selection of jigs, will usually bear fruit. Bear in mind though that they have been more prolific on the outer marks over the past week, along with flathead; both best caught on the drift.
Lachie Wombell with a pair of spotted ling from 600 metres of water off Portland (Picture: Bob McPherson).
See what I mean, says Lachie Wombell (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Freshwater
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that 17-year old Angus Robinson’s tally of 150 redfin was an eye-opener, all being taken on live minnow, while the Washington brothers from Geelong caught several brown trout to 3 kg or so fishing on mudeyes fished under floats.
Chinook salmon have also been caught from the lake with Terry Shepherd of Regal Marine taking his share on pilchard fillets suspended just above the bottom.
Fishing nearby Lake Bullen Merri was Mitch French who caught both rainbow trout and chinook salmon trolling Tassie Devils.
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that club members covered a bit of ground over the past week or so with John Rivett taking yellowbelly to 47 cm from the Wimmera River near Horsham, while Ken Hinks and Robert Cook found cod to 60 odd cm in the shallows of Lake Mulwala near Yarrawonga.
This drop in 600 metres of water off Portland, brought up a blue eye trevalla, and – on the very next hook – the trouble maker (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Flathead Challenge
The Bellarine Pirates and St Leonards Angling Clubs are hosting a “Flathead Challenge” on Saturday (Jan 26) with valuable prizes to be won. Fishing time is from 2.00 pm Friday (Jan 25) until 3.00 pm Saturday. That’s also the final weigh-in time, which begins at midday on Saturday at the Clifton Springs boat ramp car park. Entry for adults is $10.00 and $5.00 for juniors; 10-16 years, and the same for nippers; 9 years or under.
Prior registration is required by Thursday (Jan 24) and may be made by email to secretary.fish@bigpond.com Please phone Phil Walters on 0411 215 146 or Peter Kellam on 0408 581 685 for more information.
Jeremy asks:
Geoff, when I wind in to check my bait on Corio Bay, it’s nearly always gone, even if I check it after only a few minutes. What’s to be done?
Jeremy, there are a multitude of juvenile snapper in some areas of Corio Bay at present and they will quickly strip off soft baits like pipi or mussel, but even they let the angler know that something is going on.
You don’t say what you are fishing for, but binding your bait to the hook and trace with bait elastic – which you can buy from fishing tackle outlets – may solve the problem.
On the other hand, you may find that using a tougher bait like squid, or perhaps a strip cut from a fish fillet, might solve the problem.