Ben King and Darcy Scott with a sample of their offshore catch from Barwon Heads on Saturday (Picture: Murray Scott).
Ben King and Darcy Scott with the snapper they caught offshore from Barwon Heads on Saturday (Picture Murray Scott).
Offshore
With the promise of good weather, Chris Stamalos was out off Barwon Heads by 6.00 am, but having anchored up in 30 metres of water, the fishing was as quiet as the weather.
However, at around 9.00 pm, one of his rods buried over, his reel singing to the tune of a snapper that weighed 4.6 kg. Three more followed before the bite was over as suddenly as it had started.
On Saturday morning Keith Fry and Gary Maya made an early start off Barwon Heads in 37 metres of water for a final tally of 12 snapper from around a kilogram to 4.6kg, while Murray and Darcy Scott and Ben King – who were fishing out in 50 metres – not only caught a couple of good size snapper but several large gummy shark as well.
Chris Stamalos with a sample of the snapper he caught last week off Barwon Heads.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Salmon have been plentiful in Corio Bay, and among those to find them on Saturday morning were Justin and Katryna Burns. They found a good patch to 800 grams or so near Cunningham Pier that responded to the cast and retrieve of soft plastics.
Andrew Phillips and Mark Sesar were out on one of their favourite whiting spots to the east of Point Henry on Thursday morning in perfect weather conditions. The fishing was pretty good as well with both anglers taking bag limit catches of whiting by 10.00 am while using pipis for bait in 5.5 metres of water.
Squid were also numerous, engulfing some of the whiting they’d hooked, which prompted the breaking out of squid jigs to good effect. Their biggest squid weighed 1.6 kg, while the biggest whiting they caught measured an impressive 45 cm.
Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien were also harassed by large squid while whiting fishing off Curlewis on Thursday afternoon, and cast out a squid jig or two.
Russell Knott with yet another great gummy shark from the South Channel. The bait used was yellowtail scad (yakka). (Picture: Courtesy of Steve Chamberlain).
While they caught a few small ones, they couldn’t interest the bigger specimens, but that all changed with a dedicated squid trip on Saturday morning that yielded their respective bag limits within an hour, most coming from 7 metres of water.
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire also reports that squid were the main catch last week with Paul Holwell of Eden catching them with mantle lengths to 40 cm over the grass beds off The Dell, while Chris Metcalfe and Nick Veldhuis caught both flathead and squid offshore from the boat harbour.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head also reports that flathead and squid have been the main catch from Portarlington down to St Leonards, along with several good size whiting, mainly as accidental captures from the deeper water while fishing on the drift for flathead.
Aire River
Grant Pendlebury took a run down to Hordern Vale last week where he put in an extended stay on the Aire for six bream. The biggest weighed 1.5 kg, the sound of his Shimano Baitrunner awakening him during the night; something of a change to an earlier disturbance caused by hoons who seem to turn up anywhere these days to inflict their mischief on law-abiding citizens.
Mark Sesar and Andrew Phillips with their mixed bag of fish, mainly whiting and squid, that they caught from Corio Bay east of Point Henry.
Mark Sesar with a couple of the squid taken by he and Andrew Phillips.
Freshwater
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that the 31 members attended their monthly fishing competition at Lake Mulwala. Only 7 Murray cod were caught, the biggest measured 70 cm and was taken by Jason Lorenz. Kevin was second with a fish of 56 cm. The poor result was put down to heavily discoloured water coming down the Murray from recent rain.
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that the boat ramp at Lake Purrumbete is now open. Trophy size brown trout are still on offers said John, as evidenced by large fish lost rather than caught. However, Uri Corbett did catch several Chinook salmon to a kilogram or so.
The late David Cervinski with a snapper he caught from Corio Bay on October 13, 2016.
Vale David Cervinski
Former soccer star, David Cervinski, who passed away last week, is not only mourned by followers of the beautiful game but by folk from several different walks of life, for Dave knew many people. His many and various skills extended to fishing, although he was somewhat shy of the limelight as a diary notation of October 13, 2016 illustrates:
On that occasion, friend Ivan and I had arranged to meet Dave at Limeburner’s boat ramp, but he was a no-show at the appointed time. A quick exchange on the mobile phone revealed he’d had taken a run over to Curlewis to catch some squid for bait, and did so before eventually picking us up to try for a snapper or two.
We caught three as it happened, the biggest around 6 kg, and left them biting at 7.30 pm, all being caught on Dave’s freshly caught squid within short run from the boat ramp, but he asked me not to identify him in my report the following Tuesday, or use my photo of him in the paper … but maybe that’s OK now.