Shane Murphy with a couple of nice bream from the Hopkins River at Warrnambool (Picture: Richardson Marine).
My apologies to all who tried to ring me via landline over the weekend, my changeover to NBN on Friday having been a complete disaster. Since then I’ve been unable to receive landline calls, my caller ID no longer works and my internet service is now running like a lame dog. Hopefully, these issues will soon be resolved.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Seizing the opportunity to be out on the water when the winds settled on Friday afternoon, Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien headed out to one of their usually productive whiting spots offshore from the Leopold Caravan Parks, but were disappointed with a catch of only three whiting. Mind you they were good size fish, the biggest around the 40 cm mark.
Undaunted as usual, they worked their way back to Clifton Springs, trying quite a few spots along the way, but – save for catching a toadfish – they added nothing to their lean bag, They didn’t even catch any of the undersize pinkie snapper that have been a given in recent times.
An improvement in the weather on Friday proved a blessing for Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head with clients taking reasonable catches of flathead and squid, but there was no sign of a whiting.
A daybreak start from Indented Head proved productive for Andrew Phillips and Tony Greck who covered a good deal of ground in their quest for squid. Beginning in just over two metres of water, they eventually found some good patches in clear water as they moved out deeper, finally finishing up with a respectable catch, their biggest specimen approaching 2 kg.
Bob McPherson took this photo of a breaching whale from the Lee Breakwater at Portland on Friday.
Freshwater
John Clements of Lake Purrumbete reports that fishing has been generally quiet even though some good size brown trout were allegedly taken by anglers that included several fly-fishermen who neglected to leave any details at the office.
However, Tom Ireland, who’d journeyed all the way from Adelaide to fish the lake, caught several chinook salmon using the time-honoured approach of suspending pilchard fillets just above the bottom.
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that it’s hard to go past Tullaroop Reservoir at present with redfin the main catch. Among the successful anglers here last week were Kevin’s father John, and John Gray, who – after having little success trolling – began using their good old bobbers, which did the trick.
An early morning trip to Tullaroop proved a winner for club member Trevor Perry who caught a 53 cm rainbow trout while fishing from the bank with Berkley Powerbait.
Nearby Cairn Curran Reservoir has also been productive with Sean Crombie taking both redfin and golden perch (yellowbelly) while fishing from his boat using worms for bait.
Kevin says that club members are itching to make another visit to Lake Mulwala following reports of Murray cod to a metre or so being taken; Jackall Gantarel Swimbaits – soft bodied lures measuring up to 160 mm – bringing home the goods. Needless to say they’ve become a scarce commodity up that way.
Roland asks:
Geoff, the recent focus on the moon landing in July 1969 has prompted my question:
While I understand that the passage of the moon around the Earth creates a tidal bulge because of its gravitational effect, I don’t understand why we have two tides each day. Can you shed some light on this?
Roland, The very best reference I have ever read on the tides was a work by Steacy D Hicks called “Our restless Tides”. His several other works include “Understanding Tides” which I have not read. And, in light of my learning from the former I can tell you that:
As the moon revolves around the Earth, or to be more accurate, as the Earth and moon revolve together around a common centre of mass, which actually lies within the Earth (because the Earth has by far the greater mass) the moon’s gravity draws the ocean nearest it away from the Earth so that a tidal bulge follows the passage of the moon.
The second tidal bulge, which is manifest on the opposite side of the Earth, is caused by the centrifugal force generated as the Earth and moon revolve around their common centre of mass.