Chris Stamalos with the 15 kg gummy shark he caught offshore from Barwon Heads.
Adam Mollenhauer with his snapper from Corio Bay.
Offshore
After launching onto the Barwon estuary on Sunday morning, Chris Stamalos’ first order of business was catching some Australian salmon for bait.
And, with the tide rising, he had no trouble doing that before heading offshore in search of a gummy shark.
Anchored off Barwon Heads in 30 metres of water, he had a long wait ahead of him, but – at around 2.30 in the afternoon – he was in business with a gummy he estimated to be at least 15 kg.
Kalon Stavris with a salmon he caught from Jan Juc beach on Thursday morning.
Billy Keir with another nice salmon from Jan Juc.
Off the beach
A daybreak start from the Beach at Jan Juc on Friday’s rising tide, had Ray Millman, Kalon Stavris and Billy Keir hopeful of catching some Australian salmon.
Daniel Johnson with a 5 kg gummy shark he caught from Bancoora Beach on Sunday night.
Not in vain either, for a lure-casting exercise yielded fish averaging around 700 grams aplenty, with some larger specimens among them around the 2 kg mark.
And, what else was interesting, were the fresh bite marks on several of their catch, indicating that at least one larger predator had taken an interest in proceedings.
Tony Missen of Airport West with a 2.6 kg chinook salmon from Lake Purrumbete (Picture: John Clements).
Craig Rosser with a 2.5 kg chinook salmon from Lake Purrumbete (Picture: John Clements).
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
With the whiff of snapper in the air, Andrew Phillips and Tony Greck headed out from Point Richards on Saturday afternoon and were anchored up north of the No 3 channel marker by 4.45 pm.
They caught a 4.5 kg snapper at around 6.00 pm, and half an hour later, another of 5 kg; both being caught on silver whiting.
They were also using squid for bait, but Port Jackson sharks, and other unwanted species took a liking to that, along with a fair size seven-gilled shark that they cut free beside the boat.
On Thursday, whiting aficionados, Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien, were lucky to get the last available car and trailer park at the Clifton Springs boat ramp before heading out on the whiting.
A tough gig as it turned out with the number of small, but usually legal-size fish that didn’t meet their size requirements.
Eventually though, after making many moves, they found a patch of good size fish off Curlewis and finished up with what turned out to be a catch of 30 keepers, the biggest measuring 42 cm.
Back at the ramp, they met Adam Mollenhauer who had bragging rights with a 5.8 kg snapper. So, that’s what Andrew said he will be going after next.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that squid were on offer over the weekend, and while most were small, they were reasonably plentiful and widespread.
The squid have been bigger down Queenscliff way where Steve O’Keefe and Anna McLean caught a dozen beauties in the Lonsdale Bight before trying for whiting on the afternoon ebb tide.
The whiting also played ball for they caught 22, the biggest measuring 42 cm, using cuttlefish for bait.
Kevin Wild with one of his chinook salmon from Lake Bullen Merri.
Amber Wild with one of her chinook salmon from Lake Bullen Merri.
Freshwater
Making the journey to Lake Bullen Merri last week were Maryborough Angling Club members Kevin and Amber Wild who’d never fished the lake before.
Berleying at anchor in 22 metres of water, and suspending fillets of pilchard just above the bottom, they caught 21 chinook salmon – several of which they kept – most just shy of a kilogram.
However, Amber hooked a much larger fish that put up a great performance before throwing the hook, so there is no doubt they will be returning soon.
Michael Evans of Victorian Inland Charters reports that with rising water temperatures, redfin are again on offer from Lake Purrumbete with a good many clients taking great catches last week and over the weekend.
These included Adrian Gallon who initially took multiple redfin on soft plastics from 20 metres of water before asking what else was on offer.
The answer to that was a lure-casting session around Purrumbete’s weed beds with a D&A Bent Minnow, an exercise that yielded Adrian a 68 cm, 3.2 kg brown trout on his fourth cast.
Adrian Gallon with the 3.2 kg brown trout he caught while casting a D&A Bent Minnow on Lake Purrumbete (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).
Victorian Inland Charters Client Margot, with her chinook salmon from Lake Purrumbete (Picture: Michael Evans).
Michael also affirms that chinook salmon are also on offer from Lake Purrumbete, and on Friday afternoon, client Margot – who was fishing with husband Sean and sons Cameron and Matt – caught one measuring 59 cm on a 7 cm Rapala Spotted Dog.
Naturally, I suppose, the family were also successful on the redfin while fishing in 17 metres of water with live minnow.
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park also affirms the fishing is excellent and sent me a good many photos of anglers and their fish from this water.
A little closer to home, Robert Coon and his friends Peter and Joe made a pre-dawn start at Wurdiboluc Reservoir.
Fishing with mudeye, the action was not long in coming with a rainbow trout and a couple of redfin, all around the 700 gram mark.
However, it wasn’t long before the wind picked up from the north east, and soon gathered in strength to make fishing impossible.