Elbow slapper: Ivan Bereza of Geelong Boat Hire and Fishing Charters shows a sample of the whiting to be taken off Queenscliff lately.
Danny Skene with part of last week’s kingfish catch.
Queenscliff
Queenscliff continues to produce excellent whiting, and among those to catch them on Tuesday evening – after first catching some squid off the entrance to Swan Bay – were Ivan Bereza of Geelong Boat Hire and Fishing Charters, and Danny Skene.
They were right onto them on their first drop just north of Coles Beacon, and when that bite petered out, they moved a little further to the south-east where they topped off their respective bag limits and left them biting in the dark.
The following day, Danny and Jake Callaghan made an early start on the squid, eventually picking up their respective bag limits before picking up Phil Dickson to catch the remainder of the ebb tide at Port Phillip Heads with kingfish on their mind.
They picked up six as it turned out, and what beauties they were, and even then they lost a couple more that just had too much stick.
James Galea with a nice kingfish that he caught while trolling offshore from Point Lonsdale (Picture: Michaela Kelly).
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Andrew Phillips, along with Mark and Tina Sesar, made an early morning start off the Pelican Shores caravan park at Leopold where they did so well on the whiting last week, and were again on song for another great catch, but the wind – which was sou’ sou’ east – picked up at around 9.30, persuading them to call it a day.
About to head back to the ramp with their final tally of 27 whiting, they were approached by fisheries personnel on jet skis, but with all aboveboard there was no problem there, and the size of their fish duly impressed with several over 38 cm, the biggest nudging 43.
Andrew Johnson, Dennis O’Brien and Pete Dawson tried their luck on the whiting at the Portarlington end of the mussel farm where they caught 15 good size whiting, but small pinkie snapper were a nuisance which prompted a new game plan.
Trent Schiller with another nice kingfish from Port Phillip Heads taken on a knife jig (Picture: Geelong Boat Hire and Fishing Charters).
Moving out into deeper water off Point Richards, they found some promising signals on the sounder, but they too turned out to be pinkies. However, there were some bigger fish among them with fish – some better than a kilogram – topping off a reasonable day’s catch.
And they too were approached by jet-skiing fisheries officers, so it must have been a busy day for those folk.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that squid have been the main catch of late with good catches of specimens to a kilogram or so.
Among those to catch these was Col Simmons who found a good patch on Saturday morning out wide of the Governor Reef, and was well on his way to a bag limit catch when the wind came up from the south east, persuading his return.
Aaron Gawlinski with a 60 cm brown trout from Lake Purrumbete.
Robert Cook of the Maryborough Angling Club with a Murray cod from Lake Mulwala (Picture: Amber Wild).
Freshwater
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that club members have shown an interest in Lake Mulwala with their recent visits proving productive. Robert Cook and Ken Hinks caught and released Murray cod from 58 to 75 cm on their most recent visit which augers well for the forthcoming national fishing championships at Yarrawonga.
Closer to home, club members John Gray and John Wild have caught a number of yellowbelly from Cairn Curran Reservoir of late using worms for bait amongst the timber. The biggest challenge has been avoiding the large number of small fish taking their bait.
John Clements of Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that the lake has been fishing well with redfin the main catch. However, large brown trout are still on offer, and those to catch them include Darren Busfield of Colac with one of 4.14 kg, Michael Buxs of Narre Warren with one of 2.3 kg, and Aaron Gawlinski with a well-conditioned specimen measuring 60 cm with a probable weight of possibly 3 kg.
Ken Hinks, also of the Maryborough Angling Club with another Murray cod from Lake Mulwala (Picture: Amber Wild).
John asks:
Geoff, with the undersize pinkies continually taking our bait, and sometimes swallowing the hook, bleeding and obviously going to die, do you still have to put them back?
John, there is a legal requirement to return any undersize, or unwanted fish that you may catch regardless of any injury they may have sustained in the process, which sometimes happens regardless of how careful they are handled.