Kevin McLoughlin, Paul Carson and Marcus Pearson with the mako shark they caught off Apollo Bay.
Offshore
Fishing on the drift in around 40 metres of water off Apollo Bay, Kevin McLoughlin, Marcus Pearson, and Paul Carson were catching flathead, and as usual, had a berley trail going.
And nosing up the berley trail came a mako shark that soon had them switching out the light tackle for something more heavy duty, baited with a mackerel rather than a sprat, and which wasn’t refused.
Well, most of us know what to expect with a mako’s powerful fight and arial displays, and this one – that they estimated at 100 kg – was no exception.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Making an early start on Sunday morning, Andrew Phillips and Tony Greck anchored up in 8.5 metres of water off Point Wilson where they caught their first snapper, a nice fish of 5.5 kg at around 4.30 am.
By 6.00 am, they’d caught two more, each around 3.5 kg. However, with nothing doing after that, they headed across the bay to Point Richards hopeful of catching a few whiting.
After initially finding a good whiting bite, they had to contend with pinkie snapper taking their baits and kept on the move to re-engage with the whiting. They finished with 30 fish to 43 cm before the south easterly, that had been gathering in strength all morning, had them heading for home.
On Friday morning, Dennis O’Brien and Andrew Johnson headed out off Clifton Springs where their first drop produced four nice whiting.
But from then on, hordes of undersize pinkies moved in on their baits, initiating a series of moves, hopefully to separate the whiting from the pinkies.
And in five metres of water, within close proximity to the nearby mussel farm, they managed that, enabling bag limit catches of whiting that included several fish over the 40 cm mark.
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports whiting have been taken in good numbers with Leopold and Curlewis being stand-out areas, and squid have been caught off The Dell.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that while fishing was a little slower than usual last week, at least some of his clients brought home the goods.
Jeff Richards and Chris Hateley headed out off Indented Head around 12.30 on Sunday, first to catch a few squid before trying for whiting on one of Jeff’s big fish marks just inshore from the Prince George Pile.
While the fishing was slow with just half a dozen whiting, the size of their fish was at least up to expectations with all fish over the 40 cm mark; the biggest measured 46 cm.
Chris Stamalos’ catch (mainly whiting), from the Barwon estuary.
Barwon estuary
Fishing the Barwon estuary, between the Sheepwash and the Bridge on Sunday, Chris Stamalos arrived around mid-day and waited for the tide to begin coming in.
Chris finished up at around 5.00 pm with a bag limit catch of whiting, the biggest around 38 cm, several good size silver trevally, Australian salmon to 700 grams or so, and some good size mullet.
Freshwater
Temporarily abandoning the bountiful catches of whiting and snapper from Corio Bay, Stewart Veitch made an exploratory trip to Lismore’s Lake Tooliorook following rumours that there were fish on offer.
Fishing land-based and using the “Magic Bait,” he’d ordered, Stewart didn’t have long to wait for his first fish, a rainbow trout nudging 2 kg, the biggest of several he caught, almost guaranteeing his return.
John Clements of Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that the lake’s redfin have attracted anglers from near and far.
They included Sandra and Dave Theobald of Swan Hill who used worms for bait, Jacinta Kelly and Tom Hogan from Drysdale, and Darren Campbell from Lismore, who – along with Jeremy Richardson from Colac – took a mixed bag of fish, mainly redfin, on small Stump-jumpers.
Cornelius asks:
Geoff, you mentioned Talbot Reservoir last week. My search for that water indicates it is in Narrandera, NSW. Is there such a water in Victoria?
Cornelius, you have discovered Narrandera’s Lake Talbot Water Park in NSW. What you were looking for was Talbot Reservoir, which is just off the Clunes/Evansford Road about 1 km from Evansford. It’s 30 km south of Maryborough, and going via Ballarat, about 130 km north-west of Geelong.