John Gray with a large redfin from Tullaroop Reservoir (Picture: Kevin Wild).
Stephen Eales with a redfin from Tullaroop Reservoir that hit the 50 cm mark (Picture: Stephen Eales).
Freshwater
With no shortage of clients, Michael Evans of Victorian Inland Charters doesn’t get much time to go fishing by himself, but mid-week had an opportunity to engage in a solo lure-casting session, picking up a 56 cm chinook salmon along with a modest tiger and brown trout, along the weed edges of Lake Purrumbete using his favorite OSP Bent Minnow lure.
Melton client, Nathan was booked in for Thursday afternoon and it wasn’t long before he too was hooked up to what turned out to be a 60 cm chinook salmon, again on the OSP Bent Minnow.
Prior to that, on Thursday morning, Michael was joined by regular clients, and great friends. from Horsham; Phil and Shell. They were keen on chasing some redfin for a feed, and – in around 12 metres of water – they found a good school and were soon coming aboard; not only the redfin, of which Shell caught the biggest at 41 cm and 1.2 kg, but she also caught a couple of tiger trout to 45 cm.
Melton VIC client, Nathan with his 60 cm chinook salmon (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).
Michael Evans with his 56 cm chinook salmon from Lake Purrumbete (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that redfin remain on offer at Tullaroop Reservoir, and while the average size tends to fluctuate quite a bit, a few of the larger reddies have been nudging the 50 cm mark with Club members Greg Hinks and Stephen Eales catching those.
Some 10,000 brown trout averaging 35 grams are to be liberated into Lake Purrumbete on Thursday (04/08/22), the truck being scheduled to arrive at the main boat ramp from around 1.30 pm from where the fish will be distributed around the lake.
Should you be interested in attending, please notify Fish Stocking Coordinator, Rhiannon Atkinson on rhiannon.atkinson@vfa.vic.gov.au or give her a call on 0407 987 016, in case there are any changes to this itinerary.
Phil and Shell from Horsham with a sample of their redfin catch (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).
Friday morning was Jason’s birthday, and – along with Darryl, Eddie, Darryl and Shane – was ready to chase down some redfin, and in that mode, they did very well.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Taking a run down from Clifton Springs to Curlewis on Friday morning at around 9.30 to catch the incoming tide, Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien were at anchor by 9.30, but they still had to wait a while before whiting bite kicked in, but when it did, moving was not an option.
Pipis and mussels both proved to be the most effective baits, and in around 4.5 metres of water they held their ground with the bite continuing until they both had taken bag limits catches of keepers, which ranged from 33 to 43 cm.
With a break in the weather on Thursday, Gordon and Carol Williams were also out after the whiting, and they too took respectable catches, some over the 40 cm mark after finding a good patch down toward Point Henry.
Fishing the ebb tide within the Lonsdale Bight at Queenscliff on Friday evening, Darcy Scott had great success on the whiting using the tentacles of freshly caught squid for bait, five of which he caught before settling in on the whiting.
His final tally was 20 whiting that included some real beauties, the biggest measuring 44 cm.
Barwon Heads
Fishing the incoming tide on the Barwon estuary on Sunday, Simon Werner and Mick Szirka each spent a lot of energy casting and retrieving soft plastics with very little to show for their efforts, initially at least. But then Mick hooked something that had them both guessing for a while.
It turned out to be a silver trevally, but at 50 cm it was larger than the usual catch from here, and it put up a great fight before they were able to get it in the landing net.
Happy with his catch, Mick left Simon to fish outside the estuary in relatively calm weather. Once again the fishing was a bit slow, but Simon eventually picked up several good size whiting near the wreck of the Orungal.
John Goleby with a Queensland groper that he caught, and then released within the port of Brisbane last week (Picture: Scott Goleby).
Upstate
Scott Goleby and son John have evolved an adventurous fishing technique within the Brisbane River, Queensland, where – by first catching some suitably-sized fish for live-bait – present them wharf-side within the shipping terminal.
They release what they catch, and catch is a tricky word because sometimes, whatever they hook, turns out to be a bit on the large side, affecting their own release.
This could have been the case last week when John hooked, and managed – after quite a tussle – to capture a Queensland groper, not full size luckily, but about right for catch and release.
Bradley asks
Geoff, I’ve fished Bancoora Beach a fair bit over the past 2 years, mainly 800m up the beach to the left just before the bluff but don’t seem to catch as many fish as the people in your reports. Is this the spot where all of the salmon are getting caught from or are they getting caught off the rocks to the right at low tide?
Bradley, most fish the area you mention, as I have, up toward the Black Rock Bluff rather than from the reef near the more easily accessed lifesaving club that you mentioned can be fished at low tide.
Salmon and pinkie snapper have both been caught here with the best results usually experienced toward the top of the tide, particularly when coincidental with daybreak or dusk. But, like any other fishing spot, it can be more productive on some days than others.