Kirt Behan, Andrew Johnson and Noel Behan with Sunday’s snapper catch.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Snapper are about, and – with the bay discoloured from last week’s heavy weather – they were on the tooth.
Among the successful anglers were, Andrew Johnson, who – along with Kirt and Noel Behan – headed out from Clifton Springs on Sunday afternoon to one of their favourite marks off Curlewis.
Anchored up in11 metres of water just north of the Point Richards and Wilson Spit channel junction, Kirt caught their first fish of 3 kg at 3.00 pm, then Noel caught another of about 6 kg half an hour later.
These were followed a number of smaller fish in the pinkie size range, along with a couple of decent gummy shark. But then, at about 5.30, Andrew hooked a bigger fish that headed around the front of the boat, his line fouling the anchor rope.
Another powerful run from the fish, saw Andrew’s fine, braided gelspun line, slice completely through the anchor rope, setting them adrift. So, with no anchor, their trip was virtually over. Fortunately though, they boated Andrew’s 8 kg snapper, which – as were the others – taken on silver whiting.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that the few boats he had out last week returned with reasonable catches of flathead and squid; both of which have been present in reasonable numbers lately.
And as is usual for this time of year, there’s been an influx of large squid at Queenscliff. Although they may be taken on the prawn jigs most popularly used for the general run of these cephalopods, experienced big squid seekers like Steve O’Keefe – who’s taken a bag limit catch of two from the Lonsdale Bight lately – use stem jigs, baited with silver whiting on the most recent occasion.
Fishing the Queenscliff harbour for silver trevally over the weekend, as they’ve done previously, Keith Berry and Tom Robinson were well prepared with a good supply of bait and berley.
All they caught until late afternoon were modest size Australian salmon. However, when the tide began running off into the evening, they were in business with several trevally, with some better than a kilogram, coming aboard.
Seeking trevally on the Barwon estuary during Sunday afternoon’s rising tide, Mark Sesar caught one on his preferred bait of chicken dipped in tuna oil: He probably would have caught more, but for an influx of mullet that were onto his baits in a flash.
Freshwater
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that while fishing has been a bit on the slow side, some reasonable fish have been caught.
Terry Lindsay of Mario’s, and wife Annette, managed to take a respectable bag of redfin on soft plastics, Annette adding a chinook salmon of a kilogram or so to their bag.
Among those trolling lures on Lake Purrumbete over the weekend was Phillip Pirotta of Warrnambool whose catch included a brown trout of 1.4 kg that took a bibbed minnow.
Nearby Lake Bullen Merri has been producing chinook salmon for both bait and lure fishermen with the biggest reported fish weighing 2 kg.
Kevin Wild, Amber Stone and Johnny Gray; members of the Maryborough Angling Club, fished Cairn Curran Reservoir last week where they caught 13 redfin. Amber also caught, and released, a 40 cm Murray Cod.
Kevin also mentions fishing the Loddon River below Laanecoorie Reservoir where he caught a 40 cm golden perch.
Brian asks:
Geoff, you mentioned that seven-gilled sharks were kept, obviously for consumption, in last week’s report.
My understanding is that eating these should be avoided because of their high mercury content. So, is there a risk factor in consuming large sharks?
Brian, Although I didn’t mention it in my report, the largest of the sharks captured was estimated to have been 50 kg: Not particularly large.
Although truly large specimens of predatory fish, mainly tuna, billfish and sharks, tend to have raised levels of mercury – and possibly other heavy metals in their flesh and organs – my understanding is that you would have to consume such fish regularly, and in large quantities, to be at any risk.
Should you want more detailed information, try Googling “Reviewing mercury levels in seafood” where you will find abundant information on this topic.