Steve Arthey with the mulloway he caught from the Barwon on Easter Sunday.
Barwon estuary
Having just returned from Yalata in South Australia, where he caught several mulloway from the beach, Steve Arthey tried for more of the same in the Barwon estuary on Sunday night.
Using Australian salmon for live-bait toward the change of tide, he caught yet another mulloway at around 9.45 pm. He didn’t say how big it was, but from the photo I would guess at perhaps 80 cm.
Corio Bay Bellarine Peninsula
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that whiting are a bit scarce and that even the specialists have been struggling a bit; something to which Andrew Johnson could relate after having fished with Peter Dawson out off Curlewis on Saturday for a tally of only 17 fish.
However, they did catch several squid, more or less by accident, prompting another trip the following day; this time with Dennis O’Brien. A good move as it turned out, for they both took their respective bag limit catches of squid, and there were quite a few good ones among them.
Mike also reports that squid are abundant off The Springs as well, with Danny and Olivia Ortiz taking bag limit catches between the boat harbour and the mussel farm, as did Joel and Brian Anderson, along with Rob Lomas.
Flathead are also about said Mike, with M &M Pugh taking 33 to 46cm, along with a seven-gilled shark that they released. Bob and Fred Luck found a good patch of flatties off the boat ramp where they picked up a dozen respectable fish.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head also reports that flathead are about in good numbers. However, squid were the main chance said Rod, with bag limit catches being made, both by his clients and other anglers which included Jeff Richards and Chris Hateley who retired from squid fishing in pursuit of the somewhat elusive whiting.
Hovever, having accidentally caught a couple of red mullet (whiskered goatfish), which are a good indicator of whiting ground, they anchored up where they’d caught those. But, while they significantly added to their catch of red mullet, they didn’t even get a bite from a whiting
Freshwater
John Clements of Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that redfin are still the main catch, with Michael Evans of Inland Fishing Charters (South West) picking up a catch of 50 over the weekend. Those were caught. Both while using minnow for bait, and on lures.
Brown trout have also been on the bite said John, with Phillip Pirotta and Tom Hogan both catching fish to 1.8 kg while trolling various Tassie Devil lures, both along the surface, and behind drop-sinkers.
Offshore
Daniel Stranger of Gone Fishing Charters, reports that his clients have been taking mixed bags of flathead, gummy shark along with a variety of other species including mako shark to 30 kg or so. In fact he’s been averaging one mako per trip, with the most productive area down toward Cape Schanck.
Lachie Wombell with a sample of the whiting that he and Bob McPherson have caught off Portland lately (Photo: Bob McPherson).
Portland
Bob McPherson reports that the first of four legs of the annual tuna competition was run over the Easter weekend with Muson Shiltze, who was fishing with his brother Michael, taking out the $500.00 prize with a fish of 22 kg: The competition will continue to run over the next three weekends.
As for Bob, he and Lachie Wombell have been fishing for whiting at various places off Portland, seemingly having no difficulty in taking respectable, if not bag limit catches of fish to 44 cm using squid for bait.
Steve Arthey with one of the mulloway he caught recently from the beach at Yalata in South Australia.
Steve asks:
Geoff, I’ve been fishing Corio Bay for more than 30 years, but all I seem to catch is small flathead. What I would really like to catch is a nice gummy shark. Can you recommend any good spots to try?
Steve, if you are catching nothing but small flathead, then your baits are too small.
By using larger baits – and of course rigging appropriately with a running sinker – you will be targeting snapper and taking gummy shark as a fairly frequent by-catch regardless of where you fish.
The golden rule for using large baits, like the fillets from the flathead you are catching, or fairly generous strips of squid, is to ensure that your hook protrudes well clear of the bait. You may do this by simply inserting the hook (preferably size 5/0), through just one end of the bait, or – to provide more security – bind the bait to the hook and trace using bait-elastic like Ghost Cocoon, or even a couple of small cable ties.