Riley McLeod Harrington with a 1.5 kg tiger trout that he caught from Lake Purrumbete.
Garry Ridgeway with the 60 cm brown trout he caught from Hoses Rocks on Lake Purrumbete (Picture: Renater Ridgeway).
Freshwater
Fishing Lake Bullen Merri, Garry Ridgeway joked at being in some trepidation of putting his hand over the side of the boat, so savage were the chinook salmon (the biggest measuring 45 cm) that he encountered there last week.
That was in the pouring rain: Testing enough! But when the wind came up to near gale force, that proved a bit too much.
Retrieving the boat, he moved to Hoses Rocks on nearby Lake Purrumbete, suitably equipped with an umbrella and a good supply of mudeyes for bait with which was hopeful of tempting a good size brown trout.His first mudeye was stolen with barely a movement from the float. Not the second though, for it snared a female brown trout measuring 60 cm, and – given its condition and the amount of eggs it was carrying – possibly 3 kg.
With an improvement in the weather, Garry was out in his boat the next day, again on Purrumbete, fishing mudeyes along the weed beds where he hooked a much bigger brown than the one he’d caught the previous day, but pulled the hook.
Patience prevailed though, and he eventually caught another brown measuring 64 cm.
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that Mick Harbour caught a brown trout of 3.4 kg on a trolled lure, while Jeremy Richardson of Colac caught redfin from 600 to 800 grams on live minnow.
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that good size redfin are still being caught from the Loddon River below Laanecoorie Reservoir, and – after last week’s report – club member Rob Rayner called up his mate“Woofza” from Castlemaine, and fishing here, took good catches of yellowbelly to 48 cm.
Garry
Ridgeway with the 64 cm
brown trout he caught from his boat on Lake Purrumbete (Picture: Renater
Ridgeway).
Corio Bay
Bellarine Peninsula Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that there are whiting are to be caught off
Curlewis’ red shed, while good catches of squid have been taken off The Dell. Andrew Johnson and
Pete Dawson found the whiting plentiful off Portarlington but a bit on the small side. Never the less, while returning anything less than around 33 cm,they still had 16 keepers.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head, reports that squid have been on offer despite some patches of discoloured water, and there have been some good onesamong them.
Off the Beach
Early last week,Ray Millman fished from the beach at Torquay, just north-east of the boat ramp.
And, he didn’t have wait long before catching a gummy shark just shy of a metre.
After dark, he caught a 45 cm whiting on his light outfit, which was baited with squid, but the strike of the night was on his heavier outfit that was baited with a whiting head/squid-strip cocktail.Although line screamed off the reel for a few seconds, it was all over before he reached the rod. Winding it in he found the bait had gone, and that was his last bite for the night.
George Pogany with a 70 cm flathead, caught from the Brisbane River on a live pike (Picture: Scott Goleby).
George Pogany with a 42 cm bream from the Brisbane River (Picture:
Scott Goleby).
Snapper competition
Snapper aficionados are reminded that the current 2020 Bellarine Snapper Challenge is already underway and will continue until December 8.Entry fees are $20.00 for seniors (18 year and older), and $10.00 for juniors. Payment is to be made – before any fish can be weighed in – by direct credit, to Bellarine Pirates BSB 633-000 A/C1398 75348, and identified as S20 along withyour name.Prizes are for the first, second and third heaviest snapper, along with five additional awards for mystery weights. For more information, please contact secretary.fish@bigpond.com or phone
Phil Walters on 0411 215 146.
Scott Goleby with a 62 cm flathead from the Brisbane River that he
caught on ultra-light tackle while fishing for bream.
Upstate
Scott Goleby and his friend George Pogany spent an afternoon on the Brisbane River, and not in vain as it turned out for included in their catch were two flathead of 62 and 70 cm, and a 42 cm bream.
John asks:
Geoff, while fishing offshore from Curlewis I caught this creature, brick-red in colour,that appeared to be half crayfish and half crab. Do you know what it would be?
John, the creature you caught was almost certainly a shovelnose lobster (Ibacus peronii). They used to be fairly common in Port Phillip Bay prior to scallop dredging; and – as you’ve demonstrated – they are making a comeback.