Robert Coon with a nice snapper that he caught land-based from St Helens on Friday afternoon.
Land-based fishing
Snapper are about, and while most are being caught by anglers out on the bay in boats, land-based anglers have also been successful.
While the most productive land-based options are almost certainly the breakwaters at Portarlington, and the St Leonards Pier, anglers have also been picking up some nice fish from structures around Corio Bay.
Among them Robert Coon, who caught a nice specimen of around 4 kg from the rocks at St Helens on Friday afternoon using a pilchard for bait.
But land-based anglers have not only caught snapper; Jim Gillians took advantage of an offshore breeze last week to put a generous bait out under a balloon from the old Black Rock outfall site, hoping to catch a shark.
His patience was eventually rewarded with a hefty seven-giller that should keep him and his family in flake for some time.
Jim Gillians with his seven-gilled shark from the old Black Rock outfall site.
Kevin McLoughlin with the bronze whaler he caught off Torquay.
Offshore
Fishing off Torquay in around 30 metres of water on Saturday morning, Kevin McLoughlin, Brian Nolan and Jason Terpstra were hoping some action from below, from perhaps a gummy or school shark.
However, it was a bronze whaler of around 25 kg that took Kevin’s bait, providing enough fresh flake for all three.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Breezy conditions kept a good many anglers ashore last week, but in calmer conditions on Friday, Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien tried their luck in six metres of water, just east of the Point Richards mussel farm.
A good move as it turned out, and – using slender trips of squid for bait – they each took bag limit catches of whiting, the two biggest of which both stretched the tape out to 46 cm.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that the fishing has been good, and on those days the weather permitted access, both whiting and squid were caught in good numbers.
Michael Evans with one of his chinook salmon from Lake Bullen Merri (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).
Nathan Sobko with one of a bag limit catch of chinook taken from Lake Bullen Merri on Sunday (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).
Freshwater
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that the fishing is good with redfin the main attraction, and among those to catch their share was Geelong angler Les Broughton who took any amount of reddies to 800 grams last week using live minnow for bait.
Fishing Lake Bullen Merri on Wednesday, Michael Evans of Victorian Inland Charters fished Lake Bullen Merri, and trolling around the edges in around 5 metres of water with a CD5 Rapala, he caught a 58 cm tiger trout and a 55 cm chinook salmon.
Having come ashore and about to leave, Michael decided to have a few casts off the jetty, catching two more chinook salmon.
A return trip to Lake Bullen Merri on Sunday afternoon with client Nathan Sobko yielded bag limit catches of chinook salmon, several of which were taken trolling on Rapala CD5s in 5-7 metres of water, but most were caught bait fishing with pilchard fillets in around 15 metres of water.
Their biggest fish on that occasion measured 58 cm and weighed 3 kg.
Trevor Perry of the Maryborough Angling Club with a yellowbelly from Tullaroop Reservoir (Picture: Kevin Wild).
Michael also reports taking clients that included Dennis Grundy, Peter Riley and quite a few others, out on Lake Purrumbete. And, fishing in 12 metres of water with live minnow on a running sinker rig, found enough redfin to put smiles on their faces.
Maryborough Angling Club member Kevin Wild reports that Tullaroop Reservoir is fishing well, and venturing out, took 5 redfin and 3 yellowbelly on Beetlespin lures; a soft plastic and spinnerbait combination.
Fishing from the bank at Tullaroop was fellow club member Trevor Perry, who was also successful on the yellowbelly.
Lilydale angler Dennis Grundy with his catch of redfin from Lake Purrumbete (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).
Peter Riley with his catch of redfin from Lake Purrumbete (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).
James asks:
Geoff, reading the reports of snapper catches in your column, I have to ask: How do they do it? I’ve been out several times in the places where you have reported catches coming from, but all I catch is flathead.
Can you provide any tips please?
James, you are not Robinson Crusoe, not by any means. A good many anglers return with little or nothing to show for their efforts when snapper fishing.
Assuming you are shipshape as far as boat and tackle goes, the most important thing is patience, and to make an early start, preferably before the sun comes up.