Daniel and Matthew Kirby with their snapper catch Clifton Springs over the weekend.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Snapper are still about along with tales of mixed fortune:
Keith Fry and Gary Mayer were at their preferred location near the channel junction off Curlewis by daybreak on Sunday, along with about thirty boats, and more on the way as the morning wore on, but there wasn’t much doing except small pinkies and flathead.
But they sat it out, and as the tide finished running off around mid-day, Keith’s light tackle, with which he was fishing straight down for pinkies and flathead, screamed off.
His line had almost gone before he tightened the drag, straightening out the hook, while the second hook remained intact with an undersize pinkie still attached.
At that point each of their two snapper rods screamed off, eventually becoming entangled, and – to add insult to injury – they pulled the hooks free on both of those fish.
Ron Shepherd with his rainbow trout from Lake Elingamite near Cobden (Picture: Ron Shepherd).
At this point, another boat anchored close by, and to Keith’s and Gary’s consternation, one of the occupants, caught a good size snapper almost immediately, his whooping and hollering at this event being of sufficient volume to turn all heads within earshot.
Chris Stamalos fished for trevally under the lights of the Yacht Club Jetty last week, but – apart from the large number of small squid he could see in the lights – there was nothing doing, and the relatively large squid jigs he had, failed to arouse any interest.
Returning with some 1.8” jigs the following night, he caught his bag of these pocket size cephalopods, and – with this supply of fresh bait – he too fished off Clifton Springs on Saturday night, hoping to catch a snapper.
However, although his freshly caught squid aroused no interest, he did catch a reasonable school and gummy shark on silver whiting, along with a 58 cm flathead: Great table fare certainly, but no snapper.
Among those who did catch snapper at the weekend were Daniel and Matthew Kirby who fished off Clifton springs on the weekend, catching two snapper weighing 6.6 and 7.5 kg.
After sharing in the glory of several snapper sessions recently, Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien went on the hunt for whiting on Sunday,.
And, not in vain either, for although their first couple of moves produced only small fish, a move into around 4.5 metres of water off Curlewis, soon produced a respectable bag of fish to 40 cm.
Clint Hotchin with his 46 cm redfin from Lake Toolondo (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).
Freshwater
Trevor Holmes of Victorian Inland Charters had the task of entertaining several Geelong Anglers on Lake Toolondo over the weekend. They included Clint Hotchin whose catch included a 46 cm redfin, that took a Diawa Double Clutch minnow cast to the weed-beds, while his son Cooper caught a rainbow trout just shy of 3 kg on a 4” J Huddle fish arrow.
Fishing Taylors Lake near Horsham over the weekend were Kevin Wild and Amber Stone. While their catch was a modest of redfin, another angler who’d been trolling lures on the lake, was pleased to show off the three respectable yellowbelly he caught. He also mentioned catching three Murray cod, which were returned.
Rod Shepherd put in a session on Lake Elingamite up Cobden way on Sunday where he hooked a big one, that – in his own words – led him a merry dance before it spat the hook. Never-the-less, his consolation prize was a rainbow trout of about a kilogram. Both being hooked on a Pontoon 21 Tantalisa 70, broken-back minnow.
Cooper Hotchin with his rainbow trout from Lake Toolondo (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).
Peter asks:
Geoff; I notice in an article you once wrote on snapper fishing, you recommended using a heavier trace than the main line. None of my mates use any trace at all and they catch heaps of snapper using a tiny ball sinker on the line and a hook tied to the end of the line. So, what’s the go there?
Peter, That approach works fine on monofilament line of say, 9 kg breaking strain or heavier, but the use of much finer lines is very much in vogue these days.
Bigger fish hooked on lighter lines with no trace, may be lost because of the extended period required to play them out, with the line eventually parting just above the hook from wear and tear over the fish’s teeth. For this reason, the use of a heavier hook length or trace is a good idea; that’s should you be hopeful of catching a really big snapper. 896