Scott Gray with his tiger trout from Lake Purrumbete.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Catching the last of the outgoing tide off Curlewis on Wednesday morning. Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien plucked around 20 whiting from five metres of water at one of their previous hotspots before the bite petered out.
Moving to yet another previously productive spot down toward Leopold, produced only a couple of small fish, not really what they were after.
So, with the tide due to begin running in quite soon, they moved back to where they’d started, waiting patiently for the flood tide to kick in, which, as expected, triggered another good bite that had them topping off their respective bag limits of keepers from 33 to 40 cm by early afternoon.
Taking a run down to Queenscliff on Friday afternoon, Darcy Scott was on his Cottage by his Sea mark mid-way through the incoming tide at 4.30 or so, and – using squid for bait – caught seven beautiful whiting, all well over the 40 cm mark before the bite shut down before dark.
Seeking information from a confidential source to answer a reader’s question about mulloway produced no information, not on mulloway anyway.
However, I was told that estuary perch, adult fish to 45 cm, which – from my understanding would be larger than those released by the VFA in recent years – have had something of a following by local anglers of late with one of the hotspots reportedly being at the Sheepwash boat ramp, particularly at night after the solar powered light goes off.
John Gray with a brown trout he caught from Deep Creek, a water adjacent to Tullaroop Reservoir.
Freshwater
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that a variety of fish, including brown trout to 4.5 kg, have been taken from the lake, some on lures, others on mudeyes suspended under a float.
Warrnambool fishing identity Scott Gray was among the mix with a tiger trout of around 3 kg and a couple of chinook salmon, all taken on lures.
However, redfin have been the main catch said John with John Hewitt from Port Fairy taking them to 42 cm on scrubworms.
And, speaking of redfin, on Friday morning, Michael Evans of Victorian Inland Charters, and his mate Kenny Rogers, headed out onto the lake in bitterly cold but ameliorating conditions, following the storm front that went through late on Thursday night.
They too did well on the reddies, finishing up with 60 keepers to 42 cm, and that’s not including a number of small ones they returned, Michael crediting their success to the use of Dizzy Scent on their baits and lures.
A little further afield, Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that although Tullaroop Reservoir remains heavily discoloured and not a good fishing proposition, Deep Creek, which runs into that water has been producing some reasonable brown trout, Robert Baxter, and John Gray both being successful here.
Following requests from the club to VFA to stock Maryborough’s Goldfields Reservoir, it received around 350 brown trout that benefitted young anglers like Nathan Eales 4, who – while accompanied by his father –Stephen, managed to pluck a pan size specimen from here.
Abe asks:
Geoff, when do the mulloway come into the Barwon, and what’s the best way to catch one?
Abe, although I’ve had no recent reports of mulloway being caught from the Barwon, the wide variety of other fish currently on offer from here suggests there is no reason for mulloway not to be present at this time of year.
I assume you are fishing land based. That being the case you could try from the old fisherman’s wharf in front of the foreshore caravan park, just downstream from the restaurant, but it can be difficult to find a park here.
A good time to fish here would be during any evening low tide change –the last of the ebb and the start of the flood – as would be the case this coming weekend. Fresh squid is an excellent bait along with live salmon or mullet or the fillets from same.
There are also a good many options upstream that include the various structures erected within the Sheepwash, and from the bank upstream to the end of River Parade, and beyond.
Please send your reports to geoffw10@optusnet.com.au, on messenger, or by phone, 03 5248 1307.