Family Fishing Competition held by Bellarine Pirates and St Leonards Angling Clubs in conjunction with the St Leonards Yacht Club and Motor Squadron. Nipper Champ Jesse Paech (5 species), 2nd Nipper Elliott Henderson, 3rd nipper Harley Corries. Junior Female Champ Isla Cotterill. Junior Male champ Brandon Scaffidi. Female adult champ Josie Scaffidi. Adult male champ Joe Scaffidi (5 species), 2nd Matt Paech, 3rd Ted Stannard. Photo back row Matt Paech, Joe Scaffidi, Ted Stannard. Front Row Sam, Tom, Jesse peach, Elliott Henderson.
Freshwater
Farrugia is a common name among the successful anglers on Camperdown’s Lake Purrumbete, and on Saturday, Chris Farrugia, his brother Will, along with their eleven year old sons Jye and Charlie, took a run out onto the lake for an exercise in the gentle art of piscatorial assassination.
Well, the lads didn’t need much coaching with Jye taking a 2.49 kg brown trout, Charlie with another of 2.72 kg, while Will set the benchmark with one of 3.2 kg.
Michael Evans of Victorian Inland Charters has had his work cut out on Lake Purrumbete seeking redfin, but among his clients was Corey Mills who caught two browns of 2.9 and 3.2 kg, but redfin were the main catch.
Geelong anglers Jack and Jak with 108 redfin they caught from Lake Purrumbete at the weekend aboard Victorian Inland Charters (Picture Michael Evans).
Jack and Jak, both from Geelong had never caught a redfin prior to their weekend charter, but finished up with 108 and a photo to prove it.
Maryborough Angling Club member, Kevin Wild reports that fishing was tough during the National Cod Fishing Championships at Lake Mulwala over the weekend. However, it was won with a worthy fish measuring 1.05 metres taken by Bryn Matthews of Wagga.
Kevin reports that Cairn Curran Reservoir is still producing yellowbelly with those catching them, including club member Kevin Parker, having most success with worms among the timber.
Centre, Trent Riley with Zara left and Zane right with their respective bag limit catches of whiting (Picture: Tony Mollenhauer).
Queenscliff
Good size whiting are on offer at Queenscliff, and among those to catch them during office hours on Wednesday were Joe Mortelliti and Col Feldman.
They were onto them pretty well straight away off the entrance of Swan Bay, and there were some better than 40 cm among them, but as the tide slackened off, so did the bite.
Moving out toward the Coles Light, near the other boats provided no more action, so – in anticipation of the flood tide – they returned to where they’d started: A good move as it turned out, for by 2.00 pm, they left with 39 fish and a full-on cleaning job in the offing.
Jye Farrugia with a 2.48 kg brown trout (Picture: Chris Farrugia).
Charlie Farrugia with a 2.72 kg brown trout (Picture: Chris Farrugia).
From the Beach
Fishing the beach at Cosy Corner, Torquay with the low tide on Wednesday evening, Ray Millman was hopeful of catching a whiting or two. He caught three as it turned out, all just over 42 cm and in just two hours before the incoming tide covered the beach.
Once, when about to cast out, he noticed some movement in the knee deep water through which he was wading, and – in the light of his head torch – could see that there were whiting of a similar size in the shallows to those he’d caught, so it makes you wonder just how far inshore these fish come after dark.
Will Farrugia with a 3.6 kg brown trout (Picture: Chris Farrugia).
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Last Tuesday, on the day of the full moon, which is not a renowned time for whiting, Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien worked hard for their fish after launching at Clifton Springs, and having made several moves by 3.00 pm had only caught twelve.
They elected to make one more move before calling it quits, and that was in just shy of 5 metres of water off Curlewis where they found a hot bite. Here, they finished off their respective bag limits within the hour, their biggest fish measuring 40 cm.
Fishing off Portarlington early on Sunday morning with cousin Trent Riley and his daughter Zara, and son Zane from Bendigo, Tony Mollenhauer had high expectations.
To say they did well would be an understatement for they each caught their respective bag limits of whiting, the biggest measuring 40 cm, and of which Tony sent in a photo.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that flathead have been a reliable catch on the drift out in 8-10 metres while squid have been the main catch on the bank itself.
Jeff Richards, Ken Shae and Brian Cumming found the squid out toward the Prince George Light on Wednesday and soon picked up eight. And, with an hour of the ebb tide in the offing, they headed down to the Coles light among other boats on the whiting.
Unfortunately though, there wasn’t much left in the tide and they only caught 7 by slack water before calling it quits.
Lockie Wombell with yet another good catch of whiting off Portland (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Asrath asks:
Geoff, in regard to last week’s question about putting injured fish back, do you think – particularly with all the undersize pinkies about – that it would be a good idea to use barbless hooks to make releasing them easier?
Asrath, it probably would, but virtually all of the hooks currently available are barbed, except for a small selection that are sold in specialized fly-fishing outlets, and these are generally of too small a size for general bait fishing.
An internet search revealed some barbless varieties, both in circle and J patterns; even so, they are rare animals indeed. Mind you, in recent years, I’ve noticed that the barbs on hooks are getting smaller. I’ve also read some scholarly articles making the case for barbless hooks, so there could be a trend in that direction.