Triple treat: Callum Olsen, Joel Trezise and Tim Johnson with Wednesday’s snapper catch.
On Wednesday afternoon, Callum Olsen, Joel Trezise and Tim Johnson headed out off Clifton Springs hoping to pick up a snapper or two.
They caught four as it turned out, of which they kept three from 7 to 9 kg, releasing the last fish they caught. They also caught a gummy shark of around 3 kg with squid and silver whiting the successful baits.
Naturally, others caught them as well including Alex Andjelkovic and Greg Chapman whose catch included a 7 kg snapper taken offshore from the Mountain View Quarries using pilchards for bait.
Mark Sesar and wife Tina tried off Point Richards for a snapper without success, but fishing on the drift closer in, they caught a dozen flathead and ten squid before the wind came up, persuading their return to the boat ramp.
Mark makes the point that most of us already realize, and that the Point Richards Ramp is perpetually covered in kelp and weed, which must be moved to enable boats to launch. And, in addition to that, there is a slippery algal growth on the ramp that makes for poor vehicle traction and is dangerous underfoot.
Lakers Cutting, which is accessible from Fellows and McDonald Roads, Queenscliff, has long been one of our favoured, if not challenging, bream waters. Joel Kettner of the Leopold Angling Club was rewarded there over the weekend with two bream of 39 and 43 cm, both caught on crab suspended beneath a float.
Leopold Angling Club Commodore Ivan Bereza with a snapper he caught off Leopold over the weekend.
Weed fouling at Point Richards boat ramp on low tide.
Freshwater
Fishing St Augustine’s Water Hole in Highton – one of the waters stocked with rainbow trout for the school holidays – were Marcus Pearson and daughter Maria 8, who caught 10 rainbow trout, releasing all but two.
Fishing Lake Wallace at Edenhope over the weekend were Trevor Holmes of Victorian Inland Charters with Peter, Bill and Bob from University of the Third Age (U3A) where their biggest problem was small redfin attacking their lures.
Eventually though, they caught a brown trout of 1.8 kg, then – moving from 4.5 metres of water to about one and a half metres – they followed that with another four brown trout of similar size.
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park was rewarded for an evening on Purrumbete last week with two brown trout of 3.3 kg and 3.85 kg – both taken while down-rigging a Rapala bibbed minnow at 9 metres – while his 8 year old companion from Leopold, Rylan Hogan, caught a 1.5 kg chinook salmon.
Mark and Tina Sesar with their catch of flathead and squid taken off Point Richards.
Others successful on Lake Purrumbete included Chris Farrugia from Oakland’s Junction whose catch included a 2 kg chinook salmon, also caught down-rigging, while Terry Lindsay of Mario’s caught redfin to 600 grams using soft plastics.
Others to catch fish on the lake included Chris Farrugia of Oaklands Junction whose catch included a chinook salmon of 2 kg using the same approach, and Terry Lindsay who caught redfin to 600 grams on soft plastics.
Kevin Wild reports that the Maryborough Angling Club, fished Cairn Curran Reservoir on Sunday for several golden perch to 37 cm and several redfin around the 30 cm mark. Prior to that though, club member Trevor Perry caught five golden perch to 37 cm from the bank in one outing.
Maria Pearson 8, with one of the rainbow trout she caught from St Augustine’s water hole (Picture: Kevin McLoughlin).
Rylan Hogan 8, with his chinook salmon from Lake Purrumbete (Picture: John Clements).
Amos asks:
Geoff, now that snapper now being caught in Port Phillip Bay, long queues are beginning to form at most of Melbourne’s boat ramps, especially on weekends. I see from your report there are snapper being caught in Corio Bay. Are there big queues at the boat ramps around Geelong, And, could you give me some GPS marks for Corio Bay?
Amos, I am well aware of the prodigious queues at boat ramps around Melbourne, and how much worse they will become after the football grand final. Clifton Springs is our most popular ramp, which is another 25 minutes or so from Geelong, but it too may be crowded over the weekends.
Should you really want to fish in Corio Bay, then the Avalon Boat ramp would be closer. It’s rarely crowded and close to productive water between Point Lillias and Point Wilson, but be aware of Bird Rock offshore from Point Lillias, and the aquaculture sites marked with yellow buoys after that; keep clear of those as well.