Chris and Mark Cassar with the bluefin tuna they caught outside Port Phillip Heads last week (Picture: Cassar Fishing Charters).
Offshore
With tuna offshore from Port Phillip Heads, Chris Cassar of Cassar Fishing Charters – along with his father Mark – picked a break in the weather last week to head out through The Rip, hoping to make contact.
Not in vain as it turned out, for Chris soon hooked a good size fish. Unfortunately, he pulled the hook on that one. But it didn’t take long to hook up once more, and – staying connected this time – brought a barrel-size tuna of possibly 100 kg alongside after 35 minutes or so.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Heading out from Clifton Springs on Wednesday morning, Andrew Johnson and Peter Dawson initially tried their luck off Curlewis where they had a good whiting bite going for about half an hour, but after that, all went quiet.
It took perhaps half a dozen moves, but staying within the Curlewis area, they finishing up with a final tally of twenty keepers from around 34 to 40 cm; a slower day than usual, but certainly not a complete waste of time. Successful baits on this occasion were pipis and strips of squid.
Mark Richards and Darren Pidgeon had a bit more action on Saturday afternoon, taking bag limit catches of whiting; their biggest measuring 42 cm. These came from five metres of water off The Sands caravan park.
The bite was on from their arrival at around 2.00 pm, and they were obliged to leave them biting just over an hour later.
Launching at St Leonards on Saturday, Harley Griffiths and Stanley Owen headed down past the Indented Head abalone farm in search of squid, which as it turned out, were a bit scarce, possibly because the water was fairly discoloured.
So, having invested in a good supply of pipis, they finished up off the entrance of Swan Bay hopeful of catching some whiting. And, with an incoming tide and south-westerly breeze making for comfortable fishing, they finishing up with a respectable catch, their biggest nudging 42 cm.
Offshore
Heading out from Barwon Heads on the weekend, Simon Werner and Jake Callahan anchored up in around 8 metres of water out from the Barwon Heads Bluff where they found no shortage of silver trevally, and there were some good size specimens among them, along with a snotty trevalla of about 1.5 kg.
Unfortunately, a seal turned up stealing any further fish they hooked, but by then they had a respectable catch of fish and headed back to Barwon Heads.
Fishing inside the Barwon estuary, just upstream from the bridge, were Chris Stamalos and his friend Stanley, and with the tide still running out and the water heavily discoloured, there was little cause for optimism.
But they stayed, and from around 3.00 pm, the incoming tide made all the difference; and from then until around 5.30, they caught Australian salmon, silver trevally, large mullet and a tailor; in all, a good catch.
Freshwater
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park, reports that redfin are plentiful, and that on the weekend, he and Daniel Kelly of Warrnambool caught 50 good size specimens using scrubworms for bait.
John also reports that brown trout and chinook salmon were also caught over the weekend, with Tom Hogan of Drysdale picking up several good size chinook salmon on pilchard fillets suspended a metre or two above the bottom.
Apparently, the boat ramp at Lake Bullen Merri has yet to be completed. However, a couple of temporary launching sites have been constructed, and – from all accounts, said John – the lake is fishing very well, particularly for all species of trout and chinook salmon, most being taken on trolled lures.
Abe asks:
Geoff, when the weather warms up, my wife and will be looking for a good place to take our kids, which are 6 and 7, fishing. We’ve been told that Cunningham pier is a good place: What do you think?
Abe, from my perspective, Cunningham Pier, is quite high off the water with no safety infrastructure. So, from a safety point of view, I would rather you tried from one of the various jetties at the waterfront, or perhaps Griffins Gully at Western Beach or nearby Rippleside; they might be a better choice.