On Saturday morning, Andrew Johnson, along with Dennis and Brodie Bell, headed out off Clifton Springs, hopeful of catching whiting, but after making several moves, those they caught were very small, ranging from undersize to not worth keeping.
Never the less they persisted, but with much the same result. However, approaching day’s end, they tried one last time off The Dell at Clifton Springs where they hit pay dirt, and – with night closing in – caught 43 whiting that ranged in size from 38 to 43 cm.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that whiting have been a bit scarce but David Hoey found a good patch off The Dell where he picked up fish to 38 cm, along with six good size squid.
Flathead have also been about in good numbers and among those to catch them was Alf Cardelli who also caught a 75 cm elephant fish out toward the No 5 Wilson Spit Channel marker using salted pilchards for bait.
Offshore
Taking advantage of calm weather on Sunday morning, Andrew Phillips, Keith Fry and Colin Starick headed out off Barwon Heads, and commenced a drift in 32 metres of water.
They were hoping to catch a good size gummy or school shark, but getting past the pinkie snapper and barracouta was a challenge. Never the less, they did catch two snapper, each weighing 3.7 kg, along with their respective bags of pinkies to 38 cm and a 5.5 kg cuttlefish.
Freshwater
On Friday, Daniel Johnson put in a productive session at Wurdiboluc Reservoir, fishing along the rock wall between the viewing platform and the pumping station. He caught three rainbow trout from 45 to 50 cm on a 3” Berkley soft plastic, and lost one that was noticeably larger.
Daniel mentioned that casting range was an issue, with all of his strikes happening during the first metre or two of his retrieve.
John Clements reports that Lake Bullen Merri is still producing chinook salmon, both on bait fished just above the bottom, and on lures with Chris Farrugia among those who caught a number of rainbow trout and chinook salmon in a catch and release exercise.
At Lake Purrumbete, John reports that large brown trout are still on offer for those with the skills to catch them; among them was Geelong angler Chris Bates who caught one of 3.92 kg casting a Daiwa Double Clutch minnow, and Maki Sarik from Melbourne who caught another of 4.1 kg trolling a Nories laydown minnow.
Redfin are still on the go at Lake Purrumbete said John, and among those to catch them was Justin Adair of Bacchus Marsh who caught a number of fish to 1.2 kg on soft plastics.
Trevor Holmes with one of the very large redfin he caught from Lake Toolondo recently (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).
Trevor Holmes of Victorian Inland Charters reports that large redfin, some better than 2 kg, have been caught at Lake Toolondo, a situation which has attracted boat traffic from far and wide: This hasn’t threatened the fish, said Trevor, but they have been laying low.
Never the less, a trip on the lake with Clint Hotchin and his son Cooper last week produced a couple of respectable brown trout.
Paul asks:
Geoff, I have a couple of questions if you don’t mind, my first is: Do you think that rigging a running sinker on gelspun braid would cause excessive wear?
Paul, it is possible – theoretically at least – that could be a problem. With the same concerns, I have used Sled sinkers for this purpose with gelspun lines. Sleds are available from WAM in New Zealand who may contacted by email on sleds@bigfoot.com
Geoff, my second question is in regard to using a fluorocarbon shock leaders for casting with gelspun line: I find the knot just snaps as it goes through the guides. Can you recommend a solution?
First Paul, your shock leader may be too short to allow your rod to straighten sufficiently before your join goes through the guides. The standard length of commercially available shock leaders is 13 metres, but one measuring three rod lengths should be sufficient.
Shock leader connections are best made with the Plaited Splice, of which an animated version is displayed on YouTube, along with its incorrect description as a knot.