Aaron Habgood with one of his three gummy shark (Picture: Red’s Fishing Adventures).
Picking a break in the weather on Thursday morning, Aaron Habgood of Red’s Fishing Adventures, headed out from Barwon Heads into 20 metres of water where he soaked a salmon fillet or two in the hope of tempting a decent gummy shark.
He caught three as it turned out, all over the 15 kg mark, but his day was not yet done.
That evening, Aaron and a companion headed out off Clifton Springs where they took their respective bag limit catches of good size whiting using cocktails of pipi and squid for bait on size 6, Gamakatsu worm hooks.
Fishing off the Dell nearby, was Dennis O’Brien who also picked up a bag limit catch of whiting, and who extended an invitation to his friend Andrew Johnson to come out with him the following day.
They made an early start because Dennis had social obligations that evening. Sad to say though, the fishing was slow, and it was only during the last half hour or so of their stay that the whiting really came on, allowing a catch of 10 good size fish before having to leave them biting.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that rough weather put a dampener on fishing throughout most of the week, with only a handful of whiting turning up in angler’s catches. Squid though, said Rod, are plentiful.
Among those to catch these tasty cephalopods were Jeff Richards and Chris Hateley who both finished up with their respective bag limits. That was on Thursday afternoon before they tried for whiting, and – after a couple of moves – they found a good patch.
Sad to say though, they’d just begun hooking up a treat when the southerly breeze turned into a vicious westerly; such is the nature of fishing.
Aaron Habgood with his and his companion’s bag limit catches of whiting (Picture: Red’s Fishing Adventures).
Off the beach
On Friday evening, Steve Arthey paddled a good-sized bait out from Thirteenth Beach, with his kayak, and at around 10.15 pm, he hooked a shark.
He’d caught a 50 kg bronze whaler a couple of weeks previous, but this one was obviously bigger. Unfortunately though – after a battle lasting 45 minutes– it cut him off on a reef some 50 metres from shore.
Freshwater
John Clements of Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that Lake Bullen Merri has been slow with only the smaller chinook salmon and rainbow trout being caught. However, he predicts the bigger fish will fire up on the full moon toward the end of the week.
John reports that no large brown trout were caught from Purrumbete over the weekend, but he caught one of 1.3 kg trolling a 26 gram Tassie Devil below the surface with a drop-weight on the line.
Other successful anglers included Tim Beusmans from Geelong and Chris Farrugia from Oakland’s Junction who both caught brown and rainbow trout to 1.5 kg or so. Trent Broughton also caught both brown and rainbow trout, a chinook salmon and several redfin to 450 grams; all being caught on minnow.
Rohan asks:
Geoff: I’ve fished Lake Bullen Merri a couple of times but with nothing to show for it. I rigged basically as you would for flathead in Corio Bay as I’ve heard that bottom fishing with bait can be successful. Do you have any advice?
Rohan, since you are bait fishing, the first thing would be to anchor up securely so your boat won’t be affected by the wind.
I suggest you use either a braided or fused polyethylene gelspun line of perhaps 10 lb breaking strain on your reel – with some backing if necessary – for the greater sensitivity it provides. Then, thread a small ball sinker onto your line which is then connected to your hook trace with a small swivel.
Having baited your hook – around size 1, I would suggest – with a pilchard fillet, glassie or whitebait, drop you rig to the bottom and wind it up a metre or so; then, put your rod in the holder and wait for a bite.
You could also use a commercial berley like Ultrabite: Tossing out a handful of that, along with a few small chunks of pilchard every twenty minutes or so, should eventually bring the fish to you, so just be patient.