Grazio Dalli with the 250 kg mako shark he caught offshore from Portland on Sunday (Picture: Jason Debrincat).
Big mako shark
With tuna off Portland, Grazio Dalli, along with friends Jeremy Greed, Aaron Caruana, Chris Muscat, Geoffrey Buttigieg and Jason Debrincat, made a booking for Sunday with Reel Time Charters.
A triple tuna hook-up off Cape Bridgewater warranted a second pass that revealed two mako shark over the bait ball; one clearly over 200 kg and well worth catching.
Substituting the lure for a suitably baited 10/0 hook, Grazio, was soon into a prolonged battle for 90 minutes or so to bring the big mako alongside, after which it was brought back to Portland, greeting the scales for a verdict of 250 kg.
Zac Pritchard of Ballarat with a brown trout and redfin he caught from Lake Toolondo (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that flathead continue to keep anglers occupied. Both off The Springs and across the Bay at Point Wilson where Graeme Gittens and Charlie Grech caught 22, on pilchards and whitebait, the biggest of which measured 45 cm.
Mike also reports that squid are plentiful and you don’t need to go far offshore to catch them as Chris O’Toole, Cash Sunderland and Lenny Burnham could relate after taking 17 just off the boat harbour, the biggest measuring 60 cm.
Whiting are present as well, said Mike with specialist like Andrew Johnson and Denis O’ Brien taking their share, as was the case on Friday afternoon when they first caught some good size squid off The Springs.
Then, working their way down past Curlewis, they caught plenty of whiting around the 29 to 30 odd cm mark that were returned. But, they eventually hit a patch of bigger fish off The Sands caravan park at Leopold, taking 17 keepers from 35 to 40 cm.
Although Jeff Richards of Indented Head reports not having done much fishing lately, his neighbour, Rena Raftopoulos, caught 20 legal size salmon from the Portarlington Pier on Friday afternoon on an old silver wobbler, and with a good many others doing likewise.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that while little had changed last week with squid and flathead the main catch from the few boats he had out, he found time to take a stroll along the Portarlington Pier and both breakwaters.
Here, while salmon were the main catch from the pier, several of the anglers fishing from either breakwater had taken pinkie snapper with the larger specimens, he suggests, being up to 1.5 kg; well worth the effort of making a visit I would say.
Grazio Dalli ( bottom left), his companions, and the crew of Reel Time Fishing Charters (Picture: Chris Hawli).
Upstate mulloway
At this time of year, erstwhile Barwon Heads resident and angler extraordinaire, Jamie Behrens – now of Bli Bli in Queensland – sends me photos of the mulloway he catches from the Maroochy River. So far this year he has caught seven up to 20 kg, but is looking forward to July, which he sys is the best month.
Turning the conversation back to comparing the Maroochy River with the Barwon, and whether he still had to put up the large number of stingrays that mulloway fishermen have to put up with taking their baits down here, he suggested the number of bull sharks up that way are the main problem, and that’s probably why stingrays are absent.
Bruce Robertson, Colin McLoughlin and Adrian Jenkins with the 120 kg tuna they caught in 65 metres of water south of Lawrence Rock on Wednesday. Lure was a small purple Jet-head (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Ray asks:
Geoff, I currently live at Werribee but am soon moving to Geelong. My two boys are very keen anglers and we’ve discussed catching Australian salmon and silver trevally in particular. I have a boat but need some guidance as to the most productive areas to fish for these species. Can you help?
Ray, Australian salmon have been a recent presence off the Geelong Waterfront and Limeburner’s Point where many have been caught on lures. However, with the advantage of having a boat, you can be on the lookout for circling sea birds that betray their presence more or less anywhere on the bay, particularly in relatively calm conditions.
When seeking silver trevally, you do need to approach structures like the outside wall of Geelong Yacht Club or the old tug jetty at Rippleside, which is at the bottom of Liverpool and Walker Streets, where the use of berley is advantageous.
You could also try among the boat moorings from Eastern and Western Beaches with some expectation of success.