Geoff’s Fishing Report

 

Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula-

Late on Thursday afternoon, Paul Rahman and wife Selin headed out from St Helens in search of snapper. And, with the sounder running, they eventually found some promising marks, but – as we know – that’s no guarantee of a catch.

 

On this occasion though, their baits were taken by snapper to 45 cm or so, and the bite continued until they were just one fish shy of their respective bag limits; Selin still had one to go, so the hunt went on into the night.

 

But, with a thunderstorm coming across the bay, they were just about to head in when a single, solid arch showed on the sounder at around 8.40 pm.

 

An unweighted pilchard dropped over the side did the trick with an almost immediate hook-up on what turned out to be the fish of the night, a snapper of 7 kg.

 

Also included in their catch was a 3 kg flathead.

 

At around 5.00 am, and just prior to reaching their last productive spot north east of Point Henry on Thursday, Andrew Phillips and Tony Greck throttled back as their sounder screen lit up with indications of snapper.

 

Well supplied with the fresh squid they’d caught a day or two earlier, they wasted no time in slipping the anchor quietly over the side before casting out their first bait, which soon tempted a 4.5 kg snapper.

 

Two more, each around the 3 kg mark, quickly followed before the bite inexplicably shut down, and – although they stayed will into the morning, and put out a good deal of berley – all they caught after that were banjo sharks.

 

Others to do well included Zac Barnes who picked up a beauty of 8.1 kg from the inner harbour, and Tim Johnson who picked up a couple of nice snapper near the Wilson Spit providing even more assurance that the snapper season had begun.

Putting in another whiting session off Curlewis, Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien were hopeful of a big-fish-session after pulling a 43 cm fish first up. So, their expectation of more of the same was high, but they were plagued with smaller fish after that.

 

Never the less they sat it out, hopeful that the early afternoon tide change would deliver: And it did, initially anyway, and they were well on their way to respective bag limits of whiting, along with a number of silver whiting and salmon when the bite shut down.

 

However, on the way back, they anchored up offshore from the boat ramp; a good move as it turned out for their luck continued, topping off their bag limits of King George whiting.

 

Steve O’Keefe and Anna McLean tried their luck just offshore from the pilot’s jetty at Queenscliff, first for squid with the tide coming in, and of which they caught some beauties to 2 kg.

 

With the water colouring up on the afternoon ebb tide, they tried for whiting in much the area, and again the bigger specimens – up to 41 cm – were well represented.

 

Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that squid are on offer, but you may have to look for them. Whiting are present but scarce, but flathead are there for the taking, particularly on the rising tide when fishing on the drift, out deep off St Leonards in particular.

 

Off the beach

On Thursday evening’s rising tide at Jan Juc, Ray Millman began a cast and retrieve exercise with a 40-gram metal lure that yielded 20 Australian salmon, the largest weighing 1.5 kg.

 

All had been feeding whitebait and the like; one had even swallowed another smaller salmon, so ferocious was their appetite. However, an angler fishing nearby, with bait on this occasion, was having no luck all.

 

Ray beckoned him over, and contributing one his lures, also put him well and truly in the strike zone; some brownie points on offer there.

 

Offshore

With tuna recently caught off Barwon Heads, Warren Jankowski, Dean Oakley, and Dean’s 7-year-old son Jordan, spent several hours trolling lures, but it eventually became obvious it wasn’t going to be their day, and young Jordan was itching to catch something.

 

So, they anchored up in 50 metres of water, initially sampling the usual gurnard, wrasse, slimy cod etc. But after an hour or so Jordan hooked what turned out to be 4 kg snapper, the fish that saved the day with high fives all round.

Freshwater

John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that chinook salmon have been on offer of late and the preferred approach has been to suspend baits like pilchard fillets just above the bottom.

Among those to catch them in this manner include Geelong Anglers Jeff and Les Broughton who have taken fish to 2 kg or so, and Colac’s Jeremy Richardson who also had money in the game.

 

Brown trout are also on offer to patient anglers. These have included Stan Mackerel of Colac, and of course redfin – although a little slower of late – are coming on the bite during the last hour of daylight.

 

And, among those to be successful on the reddies were Carly Solomon and her son Eli, 9, who had John for a coach: So they couldn’t go wrong really!

 

Fishing Lake Fyans, near Halls Gap, Maryborough Angling Club members Kevin and Amber Wild had trout in mind, and Amber did indeed catch a nice rainbow of 1.15 kg on a mudeye fished beneath a float.

 

And, with the same approach, they also caught a number of redfin.

 

Making the trip up toward Eildon, Simon Werner put in a lure-casting exercise on the Goulburn River at Thornton, initially with some success, catching one of the brood stock rainbows recently liberated into this water.

 

Unfortunately, following recent heavy rain in that river catchment, the water soon became heavily discoloured and unsuitable for lure fishing.

 

The fish Simon caught weighed 4.5 kg and was taken on a Rapala F7.

Big fish specialist, Matt Tormey, visited the Ferntree Gully Quarry – which is regularly stocked with rainbow trout prior to each school holiday break – for a lure-casting exercise.

 

He may have got more than he bargained for though, when the rainbow trout he caught – and of which he sent in a photo – weighed 9.1 kg.