Damon with one of the three Tomahawk Island kingfish he kept during last week’s visit.
From the Beach
Early last week, Ray Millman had his lines out from the beach at Jan Juc by midnight, and – within 20 minutes or so – pulled the hook on a good-size fish that felt like a snapper.
Ray’s Confidence of more action as the tide continued to rise was justified with the capture of two 45 cm snapper, closely followed by another of 50 cm. And, although the bite continued until the tide began running off shortly after 2.00 am, most fish he caught after that were barely pan size pinkies and were returned. That, and the amount of weed gathering on his line as the tide dropped, persuaded his retreat.
Victorian Inland Charters client, Marco and his daughters Alison and Claire, after a session on the Purrumbete redfin (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).
Corio Bay Bellarine Peninsula
Darcy Scott was on the water off Avalon on Sunday morning, and trolling a selection of lures, caught several snook; the fish we used to call pike back in days of yore.
They weren’t for the table, but for snapper bait, both on the day, and for the future.
Their first trip that evening yielded no snapper, only the lesser prizes of a small seven-gilled shark, and a legal-size gummy.
Around 2.30 on Saturday afternoon, Andrew Phillips, along with Tina and Mark Sesar, headed out to one of their usually productive whiting spots off Point Richards, but on anchoring up, were amazed at the amount of jellyfish present.
And, their lines were only out for a short time before a plethora of banjo sharks moved in on their baits. So, wasting no time, they pulled in the anchor, which – along with the rope – was covered in jellyfish slime, and moved once more.
Rylan Hogan with his bag limit catch of chinook salmon from Lake Purrumbete (Picture: John Clements).
The next move had a seal appear alongside in anticipation of getting more than its share of their catch, so they moved yet again. And, fishing in five metres of water from 4.45 until nightfall, they caught 36 whiting including some beauties, the biggest measuring 44 cm.
Making an early start last week, Andrew and Jenny Johnson fished in 5 metres of water off Curlewis; eventually finishing up on a hot whiting bite that yielded their respective bag limit catches of fish from 34 to 41 cm.
All were caught using pipi and squid for bait, as were those that Paul Rahman – who fished much the same area in the afternoon – also caught.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that anglers fishing on the drift in the deeper water, have taken good catches of flathead, and – on those days of good water clarity – squid of mixed sizes have been on the go from Grassy Point to the Governor Reefs.
However, that wasn’t the case early on Friday afternoon when Jeff Richards and Chris Hateley headed out. The water was quite murky after Thursday’s easterly blow but they had squid and cuttlefish from a previous trip, so all was well there.
So, anchoring up on one of their favourite spots near Dead Man’s Stick, out on the Prince George Bank, they were into the whiting from around 2.00 pm on the early flood tide, the bite continuing until they each had their respective bag limit catches, returning by 5.00 pm or so.
Michael Evans with fishing, and media personality Rex Hunt, at Lake Purrumbete with a sample from the lake (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).
Freshwater
On Sunday, Paul Rahman took a run out to Moorabool Reservoir, where – casting vibe-pattern lures from the bank – he caught 30 redfin, a good many of them around the 800 gram mark.
Michael Evans of Victorian Inland Charters was out on Lake Purrumbete on Friday with clients Cam, Dean and Nate, and it didn’t take long for them to get onto the redfin. All up, they would have caught about 80, of which they kept 35, the biggest 35 cm.
Having their fill of the redfin, they set-up the downrigger, and trolling bibbed lures at around 15 metres, young Nate caught a 40 cm chinook salmon. They would have caught even more had not, what amounted to gale force winds, swept across the lake ending their session.
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that, as usual, redfin are the most sought after species on the lake. However, chinook salmon, some better than 3 kg have been taken, and among those to take a bag limit catch of these was Geelong angler Rylan Hogan.
Victorian Inland Charters client, Max, with a 40 cm redfin.
Tassie Kingfish
A couple of weeks ago we featured Damon Sherriff and his son Sammy with the kingfish they caught at Tomahawk Island, Tasmania. Interestingly, my search for information on this spot, mentioned that it was a good area for catching flathead, pike, and possibly gummy shark, but kingfish didn’t even get a mention.
But I guess kingfish should be added to the list, because – just to show their catch was no fluke – Damon returned, this time trolling a Halco Lazer Pro 190 bibbed minnow; (now categorized as a “hardbody,”) and a Nomad bibbless minnow in the sardine coloration; (now categorized as a “stickbait,”) and – on this occasion – being trolled furthest back, which is now described as “the shotgun position:” Newby names for old flames!
Damon, who was fishing by himself, caught several kingfish, mostly on the small side, returning all but three; these – on getting the tape out – measured from 80 to 90 cm.