Lachie Wombell with a large gemfish taken from the wide grounds off Portland (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Portland
With good weather toward the end of last week, Bob McPherson and Lachie Wombell headed out wide from Portland in search of blue eye trevalla, of which they caught several.
However, as usual, there was a by-catch of various species, which on this occasion included a large gemfish, and although not weighed, was well over a metre in length; larger than usual, you might say, and particularly good culinary fare.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
On Friday afternoon. Andrew Phillips and Tony Greck fished one of their favourite whiting marks off Point Richards, but initially the fishing was fairly slow persuading them to keep on the move.
But by late afternoon, they’d found a good bite off the east end of the Point Richards mussel farm, and – but the time the incoming tide slackened off around 5.30 – they’d taken their respective bag limit catches of whiting, the biggest measuring 43 cm.
Paul Rahman fished to the north off Point Wilson, and through the evening, and – using mussels for bait – picked up a bag limit whiting catch by dark that included several from 35-40 cm.
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that some have taken whiting just out from the boat harbour, among them were Luke Roberts and Kyden Bullock who took a bag limit catch here using pipis for bait.
Andrew and Jenny Johnson fished from early afternoon off Leopold, but initially, all they caught was a large flathead.
Never the less they persisted until 3.45 or so having made some social arrangements, and – as you might expect – not long after the whiting came on the bite. Still, they managed a very respectable 27 fish before leaving a hot bite.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire reports on a good week of fishing with plenty of flathead being taken on the drift out in the deeper water.
Squid were also plentiful and widespread said Rod, with some clients taking bag limit catches from the Governor Reefs to Steeles Rocks.
Dave from East Keilor with his two brown trout from Lake Purrumbete (Picture: John Clements).
Off the Beach
With exceptionally low early morning tides over the weekend Tony Ingram fished RAAF’s Beach, hopeful of catch a legal-size snapper or two, which wasn’t difficult, his biggest nudging 40 cm, but he was bitten off a time or two which was puzzling.
Rigging with a flight of ganged hooks solved the issue with the capture of three tailor – the biggest possibly a kilogram – a species we’ve been seeing quite a bit of lately, and an indicator that packing ganged hooks or wire traces would see even more being caught.
Don Rayner of the Maryborough Angling Club with one of the Murray cod he caught from Lake Mulwala at the weekend.
Freshwater
John Clements of the Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that redfin have shown no sign of slowing up, Among those to catch them was Paul Carvis of Roxby Park who took a respectable catch of reddies using both live minnow and soft plastics.
Charlie Costa and Joe Bailey, both members of the Greenvale Angling Club, took several chinook salmon to a kilogram or so on lures, while an angler who introduced himself just as David from East Keilor, weighed in two brown trout, each at 3.6 kg, method unknown.
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that club members have been doing well on redfin both at Laanecoorie and Tullaroop Reservoir, using both various lures like ice jigs, and bait.
And it was bait that did the trick for club member Don Rayner who journeyed to Lake Mulwala in search of cod. While he caught a number, he didn’t find the big one he was hoping for.
Jack asks:
Geoff, I note you use the spelling “berley” for what everybody knows as “burley”. Why is that?
Jack, b-e-r-l-e-y has always been the spelling for any matter you would put in the water to attract fish. The misspelling b-u-r-l-e-y has crept in over recent decades, courtesy of newbie gurus and even commercial providers of same.
References providing the correct spelling for berley include the Merriam-Webster Dictionary https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/berley Other references include Brian Coad and Don McAllister’s Dictionary of Ichthyology: http://www.briancoad.com/Complete%20Dictionary%20latest%20version.htm
The spelling b-u-r-l-e-y is applicable to American architect Walter Burley Griffin 1876-1937, designer of Canberra, his blood-line, and to a fine-leaf tobacco used in the making of cigarettes, but not for any matter used to attract fish.