Martinus de Lange with a sample of the whiting catch from Corio Bay (Picture Joe
Spitiri).
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
After launching into Thursday’s choppy nor’easter, Martinus de Lange and Joe Spitiri headed into the lee of Point Henry for shelter, first anchoring up in around 5 metres of water off Windmill Lane. However, it took three moves to shoreward before their anchor finally took hold Fortunately, whiting were on the bite and they caught 32, their biggest measuring 42 cm and weighing 496 grams; all being caught on either pipi or squid.
Also on Thursday, Harley Griffiths and Stan Owen were on their way to bag limit catches off St Leonards when that nasty
wind change from the north east shut their operation down. Pipis and squid were the favoured baits and their fish ranged from 32 to 38 cm.
Fishing for whiting at Queenscliff on Sunday afternoon were Andrew Phillips and Mark Sesar who first caught several
squid off the entrance of Swan Bay. Then, with the tide beginning to run in at around 4.00 pm, they broke out the whiting tackle.
Initially there wasn’t much doing,but after making a series of moves they picked up a good bite just east of Coles Beacon and finished up with 35 beauties to 42 cm.
Andrew Phillips with his and Mark Sesar’s whiting catch (Picture: Mark Sesar).
Murray Scott and a companion put in some productive squid sessions from Queenscliff last week, mainly in the Lonsdale Bite. Fishing both of an early morning and even on Saturday afternoon in the rain, they took bag limit catches with some whoppers among them, a couple nudging 3 kg.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports being open for business once more, in respect of COVID-19
protocols of course, but says that recent heavy weather has left the water discoloured: Not so good for squid, but with good size snapper now being caught, both from the St Leonards Pier and the nearby Portarlington breakwaters, these are definitely a possibility.
Andrew Johnson and son Tim weathered the rain on Saturday, hopeful of catching a snapper or two from the outer harbour.
First, they tried over the rough ground just north of the Wilson Spit Channel where they caught and released two small but legal size gummy shark, but then the undersize pinkie snapper moved in on their baits.Moving toward the channel junction off Curlewis, they found a few good marks on the sounder and caught a decent pinkie snapper of at least 40 cm before, once again, the smaller pinkies moved in on their baits.
Jaiden McIlroy with a 94 cm mulloway that he caught from the Hopkins River at
Warrnambool on a soft plastic (Picture: Corey, Richardson Marine).
Warrnambool
We had some great bream reports from the Hopkins River estuary at Warrnambool earlier this year, but there are estuary
perch and mulloway to be caught here as well, as Corey of Richardson Marine at Warrnambool reports.
Last week, Jaiden McIlroy – who wasfishing with his uncle Tony, who has quite a CV as a piscatorial assassin caught a
94 cm mulloway on a soft plastic from the Hopkins; his first,but almost certainly, not his last.
Amber Wild with a yellowbelly from Cairn Curran Reservoir (Picture: Kevin Wild).
Kevin Wild with a yellowbelly from Cairn Curran Reservoir (Picture: Amber Wild).
Freshwater
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club,reports that redfin are still on the go at Lake Tullaroop with good numbers of fish coming out. However, he and wife Amber, and in another boat, John Gray,fished Cairn Curran Reservoir which has been fishing will since its surface temperature has reached 15 degrees Celsius.
Anchored up just out from the timber, and bobbing with worms just above the bottom, they caught any amount of yellowbelly (golden perch); no big ones mind, but they provided good fishing.
Kevin asks:
Geoff, if you accidentally wind the free end of your line back through the level-wind on your reel, is there any way you can re-align the level-wind without taking all the line off the reel?
Kevin, I suggest that – before re-threading the level-wind – pull some line from the spool to determine its position on, and in which direction it is moving across the spool and mark that spot.Next, cut the line so that the marked section remains in its position on the spool. Then, wind the handle of the reel until the level-wind reaches your marker.
Provided you matched the direction of the level-wind with the direction of the line on the spool, threading the line back through the level-wind should resolve the desired situation.