Peter Agius with the 6.12 kg chinook salmon that he caught from Lake Purrumbete on Saturday (Picture: Dave Thompson).
Crater Lakes Chinook
Fishing on the east side of Lake Purrumbete with friend Dave Thompson on Saturday, Peter Agius hooked something clearly larger than usual while downrigging a black Rapala XR8 on 3 kg line at a depth of 25 metres.
After a brief pause to measure it at 77 cm, weigh it, and have a photograph taken by Dave, Peter released the 6.12 kg chinook salmon, hopefully to grow even larger.
Recent captures of these large chinook salmon prioritize their release as fingerlings as a recent, and hopefully, ongoing trial has clearly shown.
It is now demonstrably clear that on-growing these fish in the hatchery to be released as “yearlings,” which had become common practice, deprives them of their full growth potential and their status as a premier game fish.
Mark Sesar and Andrew Phillips with a sample of Saturday morning’s snapper catch from Corio Bay (Picture: Adrian Cole).
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Making an early start off Avalon’s Mountain View Quarries on Saturday, Adrian Cole, Mark Sesar and Andrew Phillips were hoping for a snapper or two, and after half an hour or so, picked up their first fish at around 5.00 am.
They caught five altogether, ranging in size from 4.5 to 5.6 kg in a hectic bite, but by 7.00 am, it became clear the show was over.
Well prepared for such eventualities, they headed into shallower water, hopeful of catching a few whiting, which they did in spades, taking 20 beautiful fish to 41 cm, along with several good sized garfish.
But that only lasted until a really strong south-westerly came up, and – like most others – had them heading back to the boat ramp.
After their mixed success on the whiting off Curlewis the week previous, Gordon and Carol Williams broke new ground on Saturday morning, heading down to Point Richards where they found action aplenty just off the eastern edge of the mussel farm.
However, arguably on their way to bag limit catches of decent fish, some around the 40 cm mark, the gathering south-westerly had them too heading back to the ramp, joining an ever-growing queue retrieving their boats.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that there were some good catches of whiting made last week: Client James and his companion, managed bag limit catches of whiting using mussels for bait, and followed that up with a lure trolling session that produced several snook.
Squid have also been on offer said Rod, and – while they may take a bit of finding – some good catches have been made.
Rita Polgar with her tuna catch taken offshore from Barwon Heads (Picture: Tib Polgar).
Offshore
Braving the elements on Saturday, Tib and Rita Polgar headed offshore from Barwon Heads in search of tuna, which have been a little hard to tempt of late.
However, they found a school of fish in around 35 metres of water off Barwon Heads and managed to catch two, each around the 15 kg mark.
Freshwater
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club fished Tullaroop Reservoir on several occasions last week, taking both redfin and yabbies each time.
The redfin have been fairly close to shore, in only 2-3 metres of water and most have been caught on soft plastics. The yabbies, on the other hand. have been out in 7-8 metres of water.
Werribee River Bass
With several questions regarding Frank Benvenuto’s bass fishing techniques on the Werribee River, he tells me the bass are widespread and will probably be on the go until perhaps late April.
Frank says Monroe’s soft plastic, 2.75 inch paddle tail in the glass monkey coloration, coupled with a1/20th of an ounce jig-head, fished on a slow retrieve out-fishes just about anything else. So, there you go.
Jeremy says:
Geoff, after watching fishing DVD’s and television programs, and even reading your column, I sometimes feel guilty about taking fish home to eat, so strongly is catch and release being pushed these days.
Jeremy, I write about what people do in fishing, whether it’s catch and release or catching fish to feed the family. I don’t hold, nor do I promote any fishing ideologies, and that includes catch and release.
I know that some folk release just about everything they catch, and provided the catch is bought alongside quickly, giving it the very best chance of survival – hopefully with the hook removed – I see nothing wrong with it.
Other folk catch fish to eat. They target specific fish and take responsibility for gutting, filleting, and preparing those freshly caught fish for the table and I fully support their right to do so.