Darren Foster with the kingfish he caught from the St Helens Rocks in Geelong (Picture: Trelly’s fishing tackle).
Off the Beach
I suppose parking near the Torquay boat ramp shortly after 1.00 am was reason enough to attract the attention of our finest, two of whom were on patrol at that hour, but Ray Millman was going fishing and had the gear to prove it, so mutual goodnights were exchanged.
The fishing was slow from the beach just north east of the boat ramp, and for the main part, he was the sole attendee. But at around 4.00 am, Ray was approached by the same members of the constabulary whom he’d met earlier, and who – fortuitously – witnessed the capture of Ray’s only fish for the night, a snapper that measured 80 cm and registered 6 kg on his digital scales.
Maryborough Angling Club member John Rivett with a 56 cm Murray cod from Taylors Lake.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Darren Foster landed a surprise catch from the rocks at St Helens after the piece of chicken he was using for bait was taken by what turned out to be an 82 cm kingfish. And, they are seldom alone, so – hopefully – we might see a few more.
On Saturday afternoon, Jeff Richards and Chris Hateley headed out off Indented Head where they caught several squid and a cuttlefish, before anchoring up on one of their favourite whiting marks off Dean Man’s Stick, out on the Prince George Bank.
That was at around 4.30 pm to catch the first of the incoming tide. And true to form the whiting came on the bite: They were clearly headed for bag limit catches when a plethora of banjo sharks of various sizes moved in on their baits, a time-consuming exercise on their light whiting gear.
Never the less, they finished up with a total of 18 whiting, only two of which were less than 40 cm. Most were taken on cuttlefish tentacle, some on squid, and others on baits of either, garnished with pipi.
Late on Saturday afternoon, Andrew Phillips’ and Mark Sesar’s first order of business was also a session on the squid offshore from Point Richards that resulted in a bag limit catch. And, with a couple of hours of daylight remaining, they turned their attention to the whiting at their usually productive spot at the east end of the mussel farm.
They too were cooperative, and by nightfall, they’d taken yet another bag limit catch using pipis, and a portion of the squid they’d caught earlier, for bait. Their fish on this occasion ranged from 34 to 43 cm.
Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien also fished for whiting, and on Saturday – in very discoloured water on the outgoing tide – were soon into a good patch of fish in five metres of water off Curlewis, eventually bagging out on fish from 35 to 42 cm.
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that, with great weather over the weekend, Clifton Springs boat ramp car park was packed to overflowing, which just goes to show that we are in dire need to more boat launching facilities along with adequate parking.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that clients have been taking a variety of fish, with whiting and squid the most sought-after species, and they’ve been taken anywhere from Grassy Point at Portarlington to the Governor Reefs off Indented Head.
What was something of a shock, said Rod, was the number, and variety of rays – along with other discarded species – discovered along the beach on Saturday morning; a bit of a mystery that.
Maryborough Angling Club member Madi Raitt with a nice redfin from Taylor’s Lake.
Freshwater
Kevin and Amber Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club fished an interclub competition at Taylors Lake near Horsham at the weekend, and although quite a few fish, mainly redfin – one nice one taken by eight-year-old Madi Raitt – were caught on Friday before the competition started, but the fish seemed to go off the bite over the weekend.
The biggest fish taken by a club member was a 56 cm Murray Cod taken By John Rivett. However, a 99 cm cod was taken by an un-named angler from another club.
Club member Don Rayner had better luck at Tullaroop Reservoir, and took a number of good size redfin – the biggest just shy of a kilogram – trolling a deep-running variety of bibbed lure under the “feral cat” label.
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that redfin have been the main catch from the lake and they’ve been up to 40 cm. Live minnow have been a preferred bait, along with scrubworms, but they’ve been taken on soft plastics and various other lures as well.
Among those to do well on the reddies were George Gillies of Winchelsea, Peter Bishop and Ben Johnson of Warrnambool and Robert Walters of Hamilton.
Chinook salmon have also been on offer, mainly in the one to 2 kg range, along with the occasional bigger fish, with John Clements and Drysdale angler Tom Hogan catching these from just on 27 metres of water.
Sammy Sherriff with his kingfish from Tomahawk Island, Tasmania.
Damon Sherriff with his kingfish from Tomahawk Island, Tasmania.
Tassie Kings
Readers would be well aware of Damon Sherriff’s snapper captures just offshore from Bridport Tasmania, bream more than 2 .5 kg from the Brid River, and the 50+cm whiting he’s caught just offshore from Waterhouse Island. But, to further demonstrate Tasmania’s variety of fish, Damon sent me photos of kingfish as well; two that he and son Sammy caught last week, just offshore from Tomahawk Island.
Tomahawk Tasmania: Fish plentiful, anglers, few.
After taking a run to Tomahawk, some 30 km east of Bridport, they launched at the local boat ramp, making the short trip to Tomahawk Island, which – although it’s only a proverbial stone’s throw from the shore – abuts deep water on the north east side, well worth the exercise of trolling a couple of good-sized bibbed lures: And, that’s what they did.
The result; two kingfish of 83 and 90 cm.