Garry Ridgeway with a 2.8 kg chinook salmon from Lake Purrumbete (Picture: Renater Ridgeway).
Freshwater
In addition to attending the tiger trout release at Lake Purrumbete early last week, Garry Ridgeway also came equipped for a couple of days fishing, and – following the fish liberation – he and his friend Roger Tolland had a successful trolling session on nearby Lake Bullen Merri, catching a variety of fish including trout and chinook salmon.
Garry was out on Purrumbete the following day, and anchored up in 22 metres of water, he initially lowered his berley container all of the way to the bottom where his baits would be, and then at a shallower depth to initiate a good spread of scent to attract fish from farther afield.
As usual, large eels were a problem, but chinook salmon also came to the party and Garry eventually took a bag limit catch, the biggest of which weighed 2.8 kg after being bled.
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club with a sample of his, and wife Amber’s redfin catch from Tullaroop Reservoir (Picture: Amber Wild).
Also fishing Lake Bullen Merri last week were Simon Werner and son Jayden who initially caught two rainbow trout, each around the 2 kg mark, trolling Rapala deep-running lures.
They too had planned a bait-fishing exercise, and after putting the anchor down in around 20 metres of water, berleyed heavily before suspending lightly weighted baits just above the bottom, also hoping for chinook salmon.
While this created some interest, the bites they received were tentative with no hook-ups, so Jayden removed his sinker and cast his bait out, completely unweighted.
While the bait took a while to sink, the wait was worth it, producing their first chinook salmon; an epiphany of sorts, for the unweighted baits were taken hungrily and they were soon on their way to bag limit catches of chinook salmon, each just shy of a kilogram, but great fishing all the same.
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Caravan Park reports that redfin remain the main attraction on the lake and among those to catch them at the weekend were Jack Kelly from Romsey, Denim and Byron Hansford from Ocean Grove, and their grandfather Daryl Hansford.
John’s photo revealed their catch covered the whole cleaning table, their biggest redfin measured 42 cm and took a scrubworm.
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club fished Lake Tullaroop on two occasions last week, the first was from the bank with John Gray where their catch included several redfin and a rainbow trout of about a kilogram that was tempted with Berkley Powerbait.
Kevin’s second trip was with wife Amber, the pair taking 24 good size redfin from the boat using Micro Jigs.
Wayne Griffiths with a 46 cm bream that he caught from the Barwon River estuary.
Barwon Bream
Bream are about, but getting a report is tricky because, most of the time anyway, for most who catch them keep it a well-kept secret. Never the less, Wayne Griffiths sent me a photo of a 46 cm beauty that he tempted with a crab from the Barwon estuary upstream from the Sheepwash recently.
Ultimately, after having its photo taken, it was released to bite another day.
Right to left: Jack Kelly from Romsey, Denim and Byron Hansford from Ocean Grove, and their grandfather Daryl Hansford (Picture: John Clements).
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Early last week, Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien were out on the whiting from 8.00 am, and fishing the last of the outgoing tide in 4.5 metres of water off Curlewis, were onto a good bite.
They finished up with their respective bag limit catches of keepers that measured from 33 to 42 cm by mid-day, using baits of squid and pipi.
Michael Behrens with the 15.5 kg mulloway he caught from the Maroochy River at the weekend.
Upstate
Jamie Behrens is a dab hand at catching mulloway from the Maroochy River near where he lives at Bli Bli in Queensland, and at the weekend, he took his 17-year-old son Michael out, hopefully to catch one.
The signs were good approaching high slack water after dark, with pelicans working the mullet schools that were busting up all over the place. And, it was while using one of these live mullet for bait that Michael tempted a 15.5 kg mulloway.
Hugo asks
Geoff, I once had a metal lure called a “Deadly Invader.” It was a fantastic lure for land-based lure-casting from piers and rock platforms like those at Green Cape because it worked almost to the piles of a pier, or the edge of the rocks in contrast to most metal lures that begin skipping out of the water all too soon when being retrieved from raised platforms. I would love the replace it but can’t find them anywhere: Can you assist?
Hugo, the Deadly Invader was made by the South African company, Striker. They still produce a variety of lures, but no longer it would seem, the Deadly Invader.
However, an internet search found a limited number for sale at Ganis Tackle World in South Africa https://www.ganis.co.za/pi43652/ci402/fishing-lures/saltwater-lures/jigs/striker-the-deadly-invaders.html in packets of 4 in assorted sizes for 150 South African Rand, which is about AU$13.00. They may ship to Australia.