Billy, Rylan, and Mark Stewart with Rylan’s marlin, which he caught off Bermagui, NSW.
Upstate
Mark Stewart, along with his ten-year-old son Rylan and his dad Billy, has just returned to Geelong from Bermagui, NSW where he was hoping to get his dad, and the lad, both onto a marlin.
Well, on the first day out, an eager contender smashed the fish being trolled as a skip bait before turning its attention to one of their lures but without hooking up.
The next few days were too rough, so it became waiting game with the weather, which did improve, along with their fortunes for they caught four striped marlin altogether, releasing three: Billy’s and Rylan’s were each around 80 kg, while Mark’s fish would have been close to 100 kg.
However, after doing a great job in bringing his marlin close enough for Mark to take the leader, young Rylan’s fish had an unfortunate encounter with the boat’s propellor, ruling out its suitability for release, so that one is to be mounted and is going on the wall.
Shown is the accumulation of weed along the Indented Head foreshore (left), and the algal bloom in the same area (right). (Picture: Rod Ludlow).
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Scott Morse and Col Simmons made the trip across Corio Bay to Point Wilson in the pre-dawn darkness on Wednesday with high hopes of catching a decent snapper or two.
Anchoring up in around 8 metres of water and using pilchards for bait, they caught three snapper, the biggest around 5 kg, two gummy shark, and a couple of flathead before the bite shut down shortly after daybreak.
However, they were well prepared for some whiting fishing as well with a bag of pipis and some lighter tackle, so – moving into around 5 metres of water – they were again rewarded, this time with a dozen good size whiting and a flathead of 45 cm.
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that on Tuesday of last week, local anglers Pete and Des headed out despite the fairly stiff southerly, after a few whiting.
As it turned out, the most comfortable spot was down toward Curlewis, where – anchored up in the lee of the shoreline in 3.5 metres of water on the outgoing tide and using squid for bait – they caught 29 whiting and a good-size flathead before the bite shut down.
They probably would have caught more had their baits not attracted so many undersize pinkies that they returned unharmed, not to mention the unwelcome banjo sharks that were obviously attracted by their berley.
Heading out from Clifton Springs on Wednesday morning, Andrew Johnson found any amount of small whiting, but the bigger fish were initially elusive, and even after making a good many moves, had little to show for it.
Eventually though, he found a more productive patch in front of the Jack Rabbit vineyard where he plucked ten good size fish to 40 cm before the end of the flood tide.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that whiting have been the main catch, anywhere from Grassy Point, south to the Governor Reefs.
Of concern though, said Rod, was an influx of what appears to be an algal bloom, the source of which remains unknown. This, and an accumulation of weed along the foreshore is a very poor look for this once pristine beach.
Chris Stamalos and his companion Jove had intended to head out from Queenscliff after the whiting on Sunday, but the breezy conditions persuaded them to fish within the harbour.
Initially all was quiet, but with the tide coming in from around 11.00 am, and using pipis for bait, they began to catch not only some good size whiting, but a mixed bag of other fish including mullet, silver trevally, salmon, leatherjackets, and several legal-size pinkie snapper.
John Clements of Lake Purrumbete Angling Club, and media personality, Rex Hunt with a sample of their whiting catch from Westernport Bay (Picture: Think Big Charters).
Westernport Bay
Media personality Rex Hunt, along with John Clements from Camperdown’s Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park, and Graham McLeod from the Police Angling Club, hopped aboard “Think Big Charters” under the stewardship of Shaun Furtiere for a crack at the whiting.
And, heading out from Stony Point, each had little trouble bagging out on the whiting that this area of Westernport Bay is noted for.
Frank Benvenuto with a 42 cm yellowbelly from the Werribee River.
Harrison Gibson with one of his bass from the Werribee River.
Freshwater
Frank Benvenuto reports catching of over 40 Australian bass, and the occasional yellowbelly from the Werribee River over the past two weeks, mainly on lightly weighted jig heads in combination with either a scrubworm or yabby on a very slow retrieve.
On Sunday night, Frank introduced his friend Harrison Gibson to this technique, which resulted in him capturing three nice bass.
Frank also said, that – for whatever reason – surface strikes have been few and far between during the day lately, but it’s quite a different story should you be prepared to fish after dark when these fish are feeding at the surface.
Please send your reports to geoffw10@optusnet.com.au, on messenger, or by phone, 03 5248 1307.