Ray Millman with the 17 kg gummy shark he caught from the beach at Jan Juc on Sunday.
Off the Beach
Dedicated beach fisherman Ray Millman prefers freshly caught Australian salmon for bait when seeking large gummy shark, mulloway or snapper from the surf, but as we mentioned last week, salmon have been hard to come by from local beaches, so Ray – along with companion Callum Stavris – made a daybreak visit to the Lorne Pier.
Casting lures, they not only caught a number of salmon, but were amazed at the size of several fish that followed their lures in without striking. The truth eventually dawned that they were kingfish, not salmon, which – true to form – can be hard to fool with offerings that readily tempt other species.
Those fresh salmon did the trick for Ray though, and an early morning session at Jan Juc on Sunday produced a 17 kg gummy shark.
Marcus Pearson with a sample of his and Kevin McLoughlin’s catch off Torquay (Picture: Kevin McLoughlin).
Offshore
Adamas charters client, Jamie Worm probably would have been satisfied with the tally of pinkie snapper he caught off Port Phillip Heads, but he also caught a 35 kg mako shark; the highlight of his trip.
Kevin McLoughlin and Marcus Pearson also picked up a similar size mako off Torquay early on Saturday morning, and – with the day still young – they investigated nearby surface activity with a spread of lures, picking up four tuna in the 15-20 kg range in fairly quick succession before returning to the boat ramp somewhat earlier than planned.
Michelle Richardson with one of the chinook salmon she caught from Lake Purrumbete.
Michael Evans and Joe Rundle with a good catch of redfin from Lake Purrumbete
Corio Bay Bellarine Peninsula
On Friday evening, Andrew Phillips and Mark Sesar took a run out off Point Richards to the east side of the Mussel farm, hoping to get onto the whiting.
With their lines out by 6.30, they were immediately onto a good bite, and by 8.00 pm, both had their respective bag limits of fish to 42 cm, along with a flathead of at least a kilogram.
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire also reports that whiting remain the main catch, and on Friday afternoon, Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien also experienced a frantic whiting bite.
Anchored up in 4 metres of water off the jetty ruins east of the Clifton Springs boat ramp by 2.00 pm, they took their respective bag limit catches of whiting to 41 cm by 3.30 pm.
And, with last week’s morning high tides, Mike reports that the usual familiar faces were down on the boat harbour jetty catching garfish.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that while fishing has been good, for squid in particular, the tides seem to be falling lower than predicted, and these low and falling tides leave a wide swathe of sand, and rocks, to cross when launching and retrieving boats.
Naturally, flathead are still on offer in the deeper water said Rod, and rewarding clients efforts; those fishing on the drift in particular.
Michael Evans with a pair of brown trout of 3.58 and 3.0 kg that he caught from Lake Purrumbete (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).
Michael Evans with the 54cm rainbow trout he caught from Wurdiboluc Reservoir casting a metal spoon.
Freshwater
When Michael Evans of Victorian Inland Charters, has a break from work, he still goes fishing, recently at Wurdiboluc Reservoir where he caught some good size redfin, and best of all, a 54 cm rainbow trout: All were taken while casting a metal spoon.
And fishing with Chris Farrugia of Oaklands Junction, the pair had a session together on Lake Purrumbete, both catching a nice fish each, Chris with a 2 kg rainbow trout, and Michael a 1.8 kg chinook salmon. These were taken while down-rigging their lures at depths to 22 metres.
Chris Farrugia with the 2 kg rainbow trout he caught on a down-rigged lure from Lake Purrumbete (Picture: Michael Evans).
However, it’s been the redfin that have kept Michael busy on charter with a steady stream of clients craving not only the action this species provides, but it’s probably the most reliable method of stocking their larder with fresh fish.
John Clements of Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park also reports that good fishing continues, for redfin in particular; they’re mostly fish from 400 to 800 grams, but Point Cook angler, George Anghel caught one that measured 49 cm, and probably would have weighed better than 2 kg.
Chinook salmon have also been on offer, said John and there’ve been some good ones among them: Among those to catch these were Michelle Richardson of Colac and her companion who bagged out while fishing pilchard fillets just above the bottom in 21 metres of water. Michelle also caught a 2.7 kg brown trout with the same approach.
George Anghel with the 49 cm redfin he caught from Lake Purrumbete (Picture: John Clements).
Kaiden Dwyer 4, with his salmon from Inverloch (Picture: Stewart Dwyer).
South Gippsland
Stewart Dwyer and his 4-year-old son, Kaiden, were soaking pilchards from the beach at the entrance to Anderson’s Inlet at Inverloch, when the lad hooked a good fish as the tide turned to come in.
A decision had to be made whether or not to give the lad a hand, but he seemed to be doing alright, and eventually beached a salmon that would have been over a kilogram.
Damon Sherriff with a good sample of the snapper he and son Sammy caught on Friday, just out from the Bridport Harbour entrance in Tasmania.
Sammy Sherriff with a couple of nice reds taken offshore from the Bridport Harbour entrance.
Tassie Reds
Damon Sherriff, and his son Sammy, headed out off the Bridport Harbour entrance, northern Tasmania, on Friday evening and experienced some hectic action on the snapper.
Anchored up in 10 metres of water as the sun went down, and using fresh mackerel for bait, they caught 7 snapper altogether, the biggest weighing 6.5 kg.