Al Castro with the 9.5 kg snapper he caught from the beach at Collendina on Saturday night.
From the beach
Arriving at the beach at Collendina late on Saturday night, Al Castro was hoping his baits of squid would tempt a good-sized gummy shark or snapper.
Well, it was a snapper that took his bait – and on the very first cast, but at 9.5 kg it was a large fish for the surf … or anywhere for that matter.
Needless to say, after catching the big snapper he returned home.
Lockie Wombell with three of the seven blue eye trevalla that he and Bob McPherson caught before the orca moved in (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Lockie Wombell in action with passing traffic along the Continental shelf (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Portland
With the good weather holding over the weekend, Bob McPherson and Lockie Wombell headed out wide from Portland to do some bottom bouncing for blue eye trevalla, and – after the six minutes or so it took for their rigs to hit the bottom – the bite was on.
Bringing the fish up took a lot longer, but they caught seven good size specimens before their attention was drawn to a pod of possibly five orca (killer whales), approaching, obviously eager to share the bounty.
By no means shy, they took each and every one of the blue eye, and possibly other species of fish they hooked from then on, sometimes right beside the boat, giving Bob the chance to take several photos.
By no means shy, the orca took every fish Bob McPherson and Lockie Wombell hooked on their arrival (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Launching at Queenscliff in freezing conditions on Tuesday morning of last week, Andrew Phillips and Tony Greck headed out to one of their favourite whiting grounds off the entrance of Swan Bay to catch the remainder of the rising tide.
Unfortunately, though – although they had bites straight away – they were not from the whiting they were seeking but a variety of unwanted fish including small mackerel that were stealing their baits.
Anyway, in the calm conditions they headed out into deeper water where the tide was running more strongly, a move that had previously paid off.
And again, it was here they got onto the whiting, and before too long, each finished up with bag limit catches, and there were some beauties among them with Andrew measuring their biggest at 44 cm.
With their whiting catch stowed, they moved inshore while there was enough run on the tide to fish for squid on the drift, again taking a bag limit catch with Andrew estimating the largest of their cephalopods at around 1.3 kg.
Also, last Tuesday morning, Andrew Johnson and Peter Dawson took a run down to Leopold where they had no trouble at all in picking up bag limit catches of whiting to 41 cm from 5.5 metres of water and were on their way back to the ramp by 10.15.
Heading out to the same spot again on Friday Andrew and Denis O’Brien encountered a lot more smaller whiting, with only 32 keepers, returning fish below 33 cm as is their usual practice.
Fishing from his Kayak just offshore from Moorpanyal Park North Shore last week, David Cox had no problem catching a variety of fish using soft plastics.
These included a bag limit catch of pinkie snapper while returning another four potential keepers, along with three that were undersize, keeping a larger pinkie of 41 cm.
Also included in his catch were a King George whiting, two grass whiting, a small salmon, a toady, and another fish that he describes as a southern Māori wrasse; a variety that I’ve yet to find a reference for.
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club with a sample of the redfin he caught from Tullaroop Reservoir.
Don Rayner displays a redclaw crayfish taken from the Thompson River at Longreach in central Queensland.
Freshwater
Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club has just returned from Longreach in central Queensland where he joined fellow club members Ken Hinks and Don Rayner, fishing for redclaw crayfish – which resemble a very large yabby – on the Thompson River.
Using opera house nets, of which you can use four in that neck of the woods, they took a phenomenal catch of redclaw – some around the 43 cm mark – while baiting their nets with potato, pumpkin, and oranges.
On his return, Kevin wasted no time in getting his feet wet once more launching at Tullaroop Reservoir with fellow club member Barry Crombie, both taking redfin over the 40 cm mark, the biggest measuring 46 cm. All were caught while trolling lures.
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