Callum Olsen with one of his Gunbower cod.
and Tim Johnson with another.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Making an early start off the Mountain View Quarries on Friday morning, Andrew Phillips and Tony Greck were hopeful of catching a snapper or two, which – from all reports – have been a bit scarce lately.
They had to wait until almost daybreak for the first decent bite that turned out to be a 6.5 kg gummy shark. That was followed by three snapper, the biggest weighing 4 kg, the others around a kilogram apiece along with a couple of good size flathead.
Making an early start off Limeburners boat ramp on Saturday morning, Chris Stamalos and Calvin McLean were soon anchored up in 4.2 metres, some 700 metres ENE off the ramp; an historically good spot to fish for snapper at this time of year.
And again it paid off, for they each took their respective bag limit catches of snapper to 1.7 kg and several whiting to 36 cm; all being taken on squid Chris had caught off St Leonards the previous day.
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire, reports that among those to catch whiting over the weekend were Matthew Hedgecock and Darren Murdoch with a dozen, along with several pinkies, just south of the mussel farm using beach worms for bait.
Also successful on the whiting were Rodger Bush and Ollie Klautmann from Ballarat: They took 25 keepers off the red shed at Curlewis using pipis and squid for bait, while Paul Rahman an Selin Inan caught 30 after making several moves,
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that while squid have been slow, whiting are still on offer and there are some really good size ones among them.
Louie Polgar with the 23 kg tuna he caught off Collendina on Sunday.
Geelong angler Joshua Leach with a 2.5 kg rainbow trout that he caught from Lake Purrumbete (Picture: John Clements).
Offshore
Making a 5.00 am start off Barwon Heads in their 4.3 metre aluminium boat on Sunday, Louie Polgar and Luke Jackson were after tuna. And, along with quite a few others, made their way down toward Point Lonsdale, where – although regularly sighted – these fish have been largely disdainful of angler’s lures.
But in this case, their persistence paid off, and at 8.00 am, in 30 metres of water, they got a solid hook-up and returned triumphant with a 23 kg bluefin tuna.
Launching from Barwon Heads on Saturday morning, Keith Fry, Gary Mayr and Noel Porter anchored up in 30 metres of water straight out from the Barwon Heads Bluff where Noel caught two gummy shark, one of 8 kg and another of 3 kg that was released.
Apart from the gummies, their mixed bag included silver trevally, barber perch, mackerel scad and Sergeant Baker, but then Keith hooked something huge in the early afternoon.
This was at the approach of the water police, who – to their credit – hove to until Keith was eventually able to remove his hook from a huge skate before releasing it.
Selin Inan with a 3 kg rainbow trout she caught from Lake Purrumbete.
Faye Hinks with the 1.12 metre Murray Cod she caught from Lake Mulwala using chicken for bait.
Freshwater
Paul Rahman and Selin Inan fished Lake Purrumbete last week, using cut pilchards for bait and berley down deep, taking chinook salmon to a kilogram or so.
They also had mudeyes out, both under floats and down deep hoping to pick up a brown or rainbow trout. But it was a piece of pilchard fished at 19 metres that lured a 3 kg rainbow for Selin.
Others to catch good size rainbows from the lake recently have included Geelong angler Joshua Leach who caught one of 2.5 kg trolling a deep-running lure, while James Gill – also from Geelong – caught others of that size trolling mudeyes behind a Ford Fender fish attractor.
Fishing Gunbower Creek up toward Torrumbarry Weir last week were Tim Johnson and Callum Olsen.
Using cheese they’d brought with them for bait, supplemented with the Murray River shrimp they were able to trap, they caught and released 13 Murray cod to 78 cm, along with two trout cod over a three day period.
Particularly interesting though was the staggering number of juvenile European carp they caught in their shrimp traps.
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that members have done well recently with Faye Hinks catching a 1.12 metre Murray Cod from Lake Mulwala while John Gray and Brian Rivett have both taken yellowbelly to 40 cm or so from Cairn Curran Reservoir using small yabbies for bait.
Lachie Wombell at Portland with the silver whiting catch, and the Australia salmon that also came to the party (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Portland
Down Portland way, Bob McPherson and Lachie Wombell have been catching some good size whiting, but on Sunday, the smaller silver whiting were all that was on offer; that was until a shoal of Australian salmon swooped on their baits, and – with the biggest around the 3 kg mark – they got all the light tackle fishing they could have hoped for.