People fishing from the Ocean Grove Pontoon on the Barwon River estuary.
Barwon Heads
It was amazing to see how many folk were out fishing before inclement weather arrived at the weekend, particularly at Barwon Heads with people fishing from the boat ramp pontoons and other structures at Ocean Grove and the Sheepwash.
Despite a noticeable discoloration of the water, a variety of fish were being caught during the daytime high tides, particularly mullet, King George whiting and several good size silver trevally.
What was particularly interesting was Robbie Wright’s capture of a really good size luderick, who – unlike those of us who caught luderick on traditional green weed, sandworms, and fresh abalone gut from the late 70’s though to the nineties (usually in July) – he caught his on a Berkley soft plastic.
Darcy Scott with a sample of his and Murray’s catch of squid from the Swan Island grass-beds off Queenscliff over the weekend.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Braving less than ideal conditions last week, Gordon and Carol Williams launched off Clifton Springs, hoping to catch a few whiting.
After the usual few moves it usually takes to find a good patch, they picked up a couple of fish out in 6 metres of water off Curlewis, and as the early afternoon low tide change was about to kick in, they waited patiently for what they hoped would follow.
The fishing was a bit slower than they would have liked as it turned out, but they caught 21 nice fish before the wind freshened to the point they decided to call it a day.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports having boats out before the cold and windy weather rolled in at the weekend, but once again, flathead were the savior, squid and whiting being virtually absent.
Queenscliff
Early Tuesday afternoon, Andrew and Tony Greck fished for squid at the entrance of Swan Bay on the incoming tide. Although a little slow to begin with, they eventually took their respective bag limits, their biggest approaching 1.5 kg.
By then it was late afternoon, and – with a good deal of kick still in the tide – they headed out toward Coles Beacon, hoping for some whiting before the tide shut down toward dusk. Not in vain as it turned out, for they finished with 30, the biggest measuring 43 cm.
Come the weekend, and with Antarctic-like weather, you wouldn’t expect anybody to be out, but Murray and Darcy Scott were out off Queenscliff, and in their own words, it was in freezing cyclonic conditions with nary another boat to be seen, but they got what they came for, a good catch of very large squid.
Robbie Wright with the good size luderick he caught from the Sheepwash.
Freshwater
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete caravan park reports that trophy size brown trout are still on offer with Ken Carmen of Camperdown picking up a 4 kg specimen while casting a Bassday Sugapen lure from the bank at the quarry.
Chinook salmon are definitely on the go with members of the Craigieburn Angling Club catching fish to 1.5 kg, mainly on trolled lures, while John caught any amount of redfin on soft plastics and live minnow.
Paul Rahman visited Dartmouth Reservoir where he had no trouble catching both brown trout and rainbows on Tassie Devils. He also fished with mudeyes under a float, which is usually a lay-down misère, but the fish weren’t having any; not on this occasion anyway.
A nice redfin that Andrew Ketelaar caught from Wurdiboluc Reservoir on Saturday.
Viva responds
Michael Cave, on behalf of Viva’s Geelong refinery, responds to last our week’s Q&A on the proposed gas terminals: Hopefully, the cautious pathway indicated will prevail.
Geoff,
I am keen to correct errors in your column regarding the proposal to build a Gas Terminal at Viva Energy’s Refinery on Corio Bay.
Our proposed Gas Terminal will be unlike others because synergies between the Refinery and the Gas Terminal will help minimize impacts on the Bay.
We currently chlorinate seawater for use in the Refinery under our Environmental Protection Licence (EPL) approved by the EPA. The level of chlorine in seawater discharged to the bay is extremely low – less than half the chlorine in household tap water.
We intend to reuse the seawater that warms the liquefied gas in the proposed Gas Terminal by recycling it in our Refinery to cool processes. This will result in seawater returning to the Bay slightly warmer than when it was taken in.
Viva Energy wants to minimize the impact of this project on the environment and is undertaking a range of studies as part of the Environmental Effects Statement (EES) approvals process.
For more information, visit our website www.vivaenergy.com.au/gas-terminal, or follow us on facebook.com/geelongenergyhub.