Team effort: Chris Farrugia, with his sons Charlie and Cooper and the 4.6 kg brown trout he caught from Lake Purrumbete on Friday morning (Picture: Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park).
Freshwater
John Clements of Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that on Friday morning, Chris Farrugia, along with his sons Charlie and Cooper, fished Lake Purrumbete where – down-rigging at 12 metres with a Reidy’s bibbed minnow– Chris caught a 4.6 kg brown trout using 2 kg tackle; a possible ANSA line class record.
John fished nearby Lake Bullen Merri with his brother Robert last week, down-rigging with Nories Laydown minnows and Tassie Devils, for a mixed catch of chinook salmon and rainbow trout to 1.5 kg. They also fished with glassies and pilchards for bait, suspending them just above the bottom for much the same result, while anglers fishing from the bank nearby, were catching them as well.
Ballarat and Geelong Angling Clubs fished on Lake Purrumbete at the weekend for redfin. Geelong proved victorious with 44 kg of fish with Norm Armstrong of Geelong catching the largest redfin of 884 grams.
Ashley Caldwell from Geelong actually caught the biggest redfin at 1.3 kg, but he wasn’t in the competition.
While Wurdiboluc Reservoir is well known for the magnificent fish it produces, it poses difficulties for most, especially when water levels are low. However, Michael Evans regularly catches big fish from here, the latest being a 62 cm brown trout that he tempted with a bibbed minnow, and of which he sent in a photo.
Clint Hotchin with a brown trout he caught from Lake Toolondo recently (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).
Michael Evans with his 62 cm brown trout from Wurdiboluc Reservoir (Picture Michael Evans).
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that the Indented Head Boat Ramp is now open for business with flathead and squid and the main species being caught.
Among the successful anglers was Jeff Richards, who on one occasion, fished with Ken Shae for a bag limit catch of squid, and on another, with Chris Hateley for the same.
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that flathead remain the main catch from the outer harbour with Graeme Gittens among those to catch them, picking up sixteen respectable fish toward Point Wilson using pilchards and whitebait.
However, although whiting have been scarce for most anglers, said Mike, Andrew Johnson and Brodie Bell managed bag limit catches off Curlewis late on Saturday afternoon, with their biggest fish measuring 43 cm.
Offshore
With the arrival of large tuna offshore from Port Phillip Heads no secret, anglers Brodie Bell and Kirt Brehan of Clifton Springs, launched from Barwon Heads on Sunday morning to find a school of really good size tuna leaping from the surface in around 40 metres of water offshore from The Bluff.
After repeatedly trying to get a strike there, it appeared that the tuna were heading west, and that is the direction they took to be rewarded with a massive surface strike, which saw the fish partially clear the water as it took the lure. Unfortunately though, as is sometimes the case, the hook pulled free after a few minutes and the big fish escaped.
The mako shark that Tony Jones’ caught off Portland (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Southern Right Whale photographed from the Rocks in front of Pivot at Portland by Bob McPherson.
Portland
Down Portland way, Bob McPherson reports that tuna from 8 to 12 kg are plentiful offshore, but Tony Jones of Hamilton was looking for more variety, and – after catching two tuna – he fished on the drift, catching a variety of fish from flathead to knifejaw in 70 to 100 metres of water. Tony also had a game fishing outfit at the ready, with which he caught a mako shark of about 55 kg, releasing another.
Kevin asks:
Geoff, I’ve read that you can catch more fish by putting aniseed oil on your bait. Is this true, and where would I get it?
Kevin, there is nothing to prevent you from using food flavourings on your bait, including aniseed oil. In fact you can buy it from some tackle stores and certainly on the internet.
I confess that having tried aniseed on two occasions when fishing, once was as a youngster on Wood’s Jetty, which used to be below Glenleith Avenue, Drumcondra, but has long since been demolished, and the second time was at Wonboyn Lake in southern NSW.
On the first occasion, after smothering my bait with aniseed oil, I was probably the only one on the jetty that didn’t get a bite. While on the second occasion, I used aniseed flavoured berley which attracted so many mullet you could barely see the bottom. However, despite their abundance, they proved hard to catch.