Geoff Wilson’s Fishing Knots And Rigs

Lachie O’Reilly with crew members Mark and Adrian, after boating the tuna.

Lachie O’Reilly with the tuna he caught from the wide grounds off Apollo Bay.

Offshore

Last week we reported that those prepared to make the long run out to the Otway Basin from Apollo Bay were catching large tuna.

Among those take up to the challenge were Lachie O’Reilly and his crew; Adrian, Zac and Mark, who battled strong winds and heavy swells for three hours before a flock of birds working over a patch of water caught their attention.

Out came the lures, including a Pakula Grasshopper that was hit on the first pass; line screaming from the reel as Lachie took the rod.

After battling the tuna for 40 minutes in rough conditions he eventually had it alongside, whereupon the crew managed to wrestle it aboard.

Their tuna was officially weighed at 78 kg cleaned, giving it a probable whole weight of 90 kg.

Andrew Ketelaar with a 2 kg rainbow trout from Wurdiboluc Reservoir.

Michael Evans with the 69 cm trout he caught from Lake Purrumbete on Saturday evening (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).

Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula

Andrew Johnson, Dennis O’Brien and Peter Dawson were in a quandary whether to go out on Saturday afternoon, but put in off Clifton Springs they did, and – as far as they could tell – were the only ones to do so.

Whiting were hard to find, and with a strong north-westerly pushing up against the incoming tide, fishing was difficult.

But after making several moves, both out deep and in shallow, they eventually hit paydirt in 4.8 metres of water offshore from the Pelican Shores caravan park, and by evening, they were well within reach of their respective bag limits.

But then a seal showed up – probably the same one that harassed them the previous week – and that was that.

Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire reports having boats out on Sunday, but with squid and whiting absent, flathead saved the day once again.

Neal Dowsett with a couple of good size redfin from Lake Fyans.

Freshwater

Michael Evans of Victorian Inland Charters regularly provides good fishing for his clients, and in between times does a bit of prospecting himself, and on Saturday evening caught a nice female brown trout from Lake Purrumbete.

The fish measured 69 cm, weighed 3.75 kg, and was taken on a bent minnow surface lure, cast around the edges of the shallow weed beds.

Michael also caught several nice redfin to 37 cm on 3” minnow-style soft plastics in a natural green colour rigged with a ¼ ounce jig-head at depths from 18-20 metres.

Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that Tullaroop Reservoir is fishing well according to club member Brodie Harrison who reported the captures of redfin of up to 1.8 kg, with the bigger fish on the bite just on dark.

Kevin also mentions that Lake Fyans, at the foot of the Grampians, is also producing some very large redfin, mainly on soft plastics, and sent in a picture Neal Dowsett with a couple of beauties.

We don’t get many reports from Wurdiboluc Reservoir, but among those who do fish this water successfully is Andrew Ketelaar who paid a visit early last week.

Casting and retrieving his 12 gram, Nories Wasaby Spoon across the deeper pockets among the weed – as was his approach on his last visit – tempted several rainbow trout, the biggest weighing in at 2 kg.

Some 80 waters around the state have been stocked with rainbow trout for the school holidays, three of which are in close, or fairly close proximity to Geelong.

St Augustine’s water hole in Highton received 750, Bannockburn Lagoon 300, and Lethbridge Lake 300.

Michael Evans shows off one of the redfin he caught on a soft plastic from Lake Purrumbete (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).

Michael asks:

It’s my understanding that if floating natural gas terminals are built in Corio Bay and off Avalon Beach, these terminals will discharge chlorinated water used to clean them. They would also change the temperature in surrounding waters. What impact is this likely to have on fish and other marine life?

Michael, as it happens, I’ve already looked into this proposal, and – in my opinion – there is no way these gas storage and transfer terminals should go ahead, certainly not in the least tidal affected and within the lowest water exchange in the whole of Port Phillip Bay.

The toxicity of chorine is well known and exposure to chlorination, even in the short term, would be deleterious to marine life; repeated exposures would decimate all marine life within close proximity.

In regard to the well-known refrigerating effect of gas transfer, to which I assume you refer – in my opinion – would not only create artificial polar conditions within close proximity, shutting down all marine life – and that would include at existing aquaculture sites like those off Avalon – within reach of these cold-water plumes.

Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club with a sample for the redfin to be caught lately from Cairn Curran Reservoir (Picture: Amber Wild).

Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula

Fishing out from Leopold’s Pelican Shores Caravan Park on Wednesday morning were Andrew Phillips and Mark and Tina Sesar. They were after whiting, but it took several moves before they began picking up fish in around 7 metres of water.

The fishing was slow, but moving in closer to shore they picked up another good bite that lasted until the end of the ebb tide giving them a total of 28 nice fish.

After that, they fished on the drift between Point Henry and Leopold for squid, a more productive exercise that eventually yielded bag limit catches.

So, cooling water temperatures that Andrew suggested may have slowed the whiting down, didn’t seem to have affected the squid.

Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien went after the whiting on Saturday, and at anchor in just under 5 metres of water off Curlewis, they were well and truly into them and had 20 by the time another boat arrived and anchored beside them.

And, there was a seal; the occupant from the other boat shouting out that it had followed them in from 7 metres of water. Needless to say, the fish went off the bite so Andrew and Dennis headed elsewhere.

But after anchoring it began raining quite heavily, and while waiting out the rain, the seal – almost certainly the same one – popped up once more, but with no action from the whiting, it eventually headed off.

As luck would have it, Andrew and Dennis finished with a bag limit catch with most fish in the 35 to 38 cm range, but that was after returning to their original spot.

Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that it was busy on Sunday and among those to catch fish was Simon Crouch who took a mixed bag of whiting, squid and leatherjackets while John Znidarsic caught 8 squid out from the harbour in 6 metres.

Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at indented Head reports that client have been returning with good catches of flathead from fishing on the drift in the deeper water, and inshore, squid have been the main catch.

Rod also mentions that  some good catches of whiting have been made from the Portarlington Breakwater, while from St Leonards Pier, garfish have been caught in good numbers.

Near and Far

Justin Burns doesn’t mind covering a good deal of ground in search of fish, and that he and wife Katryna have caught silver trevally to 50 cm from the Barwon estuary despite some discolouration from recent rain.

However, on Sunday Justin headed off to Apollo Bay where he caught some modest brown trout from the Barham River, but what was most interesting were the number of large tuna being brought in to be weighed near the boat ramp.

We know of the fishery in the Big Reef area off Cape Otway, but from all accounts, these were taken a good deal further out than that, some 70 km in fact, near the offshore drilling rigs in the Otway Basin.

Off the Beach

Ray Millman, and quite a few others, visited Jan Juc on Tuesday to find Australian salmon well and truly on the bite and Ray caught them at will casting a 40-gram chromed metal lure, taking enough for the table and to enhance his bait supply.

Ray persuaded his friend Callum to accompany him to one of his favourite night time spots, just north east of the Torquay boat ramp, and – as luck would have it – Callum caught two barracouta, but apart from that, all they caught were banjo sharks and skates.

With high tides in the late afternoon last week, Tony Ingram and Col Simmons fished Bancoora Beach, initially with cut pilchard, but there wasn’t much doing.

As the tide began to drop toward evening though, they began to pick up the occasional Australian salmon, which promoted a productive lure-casting exercise that produced several more including a couple around the 2 kg mark.

They fished on into the evening ebb, and as well as the usual unwanted species, did catch a respectable gummy shark of about around 5 kg on a fillet from one of the salmon, but that was before the side-drift picked up, persuading their retreat.

Freshwater

Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that, as usual, Cairn Curran Reservoir has fired up for redfin as it usually the case mid-winter, with local fishing tackle proprietor Stephen Eales in demand for ice jigs and bobbers, stock-in-trade for local redfin hunters.

Jake Redpath with a sample from his kingfish catch.

Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula

There are kingfish in Corio Bay’s inner harbour. That’s no secret, although some might wish it to be so. They’ve been popping up between North Shore and the Grammar School Lagoon for some time now.

Among those to catch them were Mick Redpath and wife Ilythia who’ve used Halco 105 mm minnows to great effect. And early last week, prior to the bad weather, they introduced nephew Jake to the kingies and he caught four, the biggest around 90 cm.

On Friday morning, Andrew Phillips and Tony Greck fished off the Pelican Shores caravan park, where – after making several moves – found a good patch of whiting in 7 metres of water on the incoming tide.

Finn Crane 4, holds up yet another kingfish from Corio Bay (Picture: Shane Handley).

They finished up with their respective bag limits by lunch time using pipis for bait and there were some good fish among them, the biggest measuring 43 cm.

On Friday afternoon, Andrew Johnson and wife Jenny were on the water off Curlewis by mid-day, but found nothing doing out deep though. So, they moved into 4 metres where they found a purple patch from which they took their respective bag limit catches that included a highlight.

Fishing with two rods each on that occasion, Jenny hooked up on one rod, her second rod also signalling a bite. As fate would have it, it was the same fish, a whiting of perhaps 38 cm that had become hooked on both lines.

Matt Doolan, Travis Bownds and Adam Hansen with the barrel-size tuna they caught out wide from Portland on Sunday morning.

Garry Ridgeway with a sample of his chinook salmon catch from Lake Bullen Merri (Picture: Renater Ridgeway).

Off the Beach

Australian salmon have been present in increasing number of late, and among those to take advantage was Ray Millman who put in a lure-casting session at Jan Juc during the last two hours on Sunday’s incoming tide.

He kept 20 fish, the biggest of which was 2 kg. However, when the tide changed around 2.30 pm, the fish went completely off the bite.

With plenty of fresh salmon for bait, Ray returned at around 10.00 on Sunday night and almost immediately hooked a good size fish. Unfortunately, the line became entangled in a raft of weed that became impossible to manage, and soon after that, the fish broke free.

Encouraged by this encounter, Ray stayed until the early hours of the morning, but – apart from the usual assortment of skates and other undesirables – all he caught worth keeping after that was a gummy shark just over a metre long.

Jamie Behrens with his mulloway from the Maroochy River QLD.

Nick Alexoff from Geelong with a 3.5 kg brown trout that he caught from Lake Purrumbete over the weekend.

Freshwater

With few, if any, positive reports from Lake Bullen Merri lately, Garry Ridgeway and wife Renater booked in over last week’s new moon period to check it out.

The insane weather would have put most people off. However, with the wind and rain easing off on Wednesday afternoon, Garry headed out, dropping two anchors on the angular bank, one quite shallow, and the other at 10 metres where he fished.

With a quantity of minced fish for berley deployed, over went two rods, each baited with whitebait, one suspended just above the bottom, the other unweighted.

Both hooked up in short order, and it wasn’t long before Garry had his bag limit of five chinook salmon ranging from 38 to 54 cm, the largest weighing 1.4 kg on kitchen scales.

Garry was the only one fishing on the lake, so he was a little surprised to be approached by a chap from a local newspaper, not sure which, that wanted to interview him and photograph his catch.

John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that trophy size brown trout are still on offer and among those to catch them was Nick Alexoff of Geelong whose best fish was possibly 3.5 kg.

Michael Goldby with a frostfish taken out wide from Portland (Picture: Bob McPherson).

Michael Goldby with a pair of ocean perch taken out wide from Portland (Picture: Bob McPherson).

Portland

Matt Doolan, Travis Bownds and Adam Hansen, caught a barrel size tuna while trolling out wide along the continental Shelf off Portland on Sunday morning. After being cleaned it weighed 111 kg, making its probable whole weight around 128 kg.

Also fishing out wide from Portland were Bob McPherson, Lachie Wombell and Michael Goldby, and – bottom bouncing on the drift – their impressive catch of blue eye trevalla was supplemented with several other species that included ocean perch, gemfish, blue grenadier and a frostfish.

Upstate

Erstwhile Barwon Heads resident and prolific angler, Jamie Behrens, who was known for his ability to catch estuary perch, mulloway and a good many other species, has lived in Bli Bli Queensland on the Maroochy River for some time now.

And, unlike a good many of us in Victoria, he looks forward to winter because this is when mulloway move into the River.

Last week Jamie sent me a picture his first mulloway for the year, a nice fish of just on 10 kg: No doubt there will be a good many more to come.

Ramp closure

Queenscliff Councillor and Mayor, Ross Ebbels informs fishermen, and other boat users, that the Queenscliff boat ramp will be closed for stage 1 upgrades until at least the end of August. This is part of the Better Boating Victoria boat ramp upgrades taking part around the state: https://www.boating.vic.gov.au/ramps/a157F000001P6RPQA0

Darcy Scott with the XOS squid he caught off Avalon on Saturday night (Picture: Murray Scott).

With a reported influx of snapper into the Corio Bay inner harbour, as is expected at this time of year, Murray and Darcy Scott headed out off Avalon on Saturday night – despite the rather breezy and sometimes wet conditions – hoping to catch at least one.

They had a good supply of bait, thanks to Darcy’s trip down to the Barwon River estuary where he’d caught a good many legal-size salmon, several King George whiting and plenty of mullet. And, it was a mullet fillet that was first taken.

Disappointingly, the protagonist turned out to be a banjo shark that was released. However, the next fillet produced a different result; a very large squid that had become hooked through one tentacle, and of which Murray sent me a photo.

Around 8.30 pm, one of their reels screamed off, and that felt like a decent snapper, but it was a gummy shark of around 6 kg that was foul-hooked halfway down the body; the first of four as it turned out, two nice ones and two that were just over legal size.

More fortunate on the snapper were Jason Treloar and Harley Griffiths who caught two snapper of 3 and 5 kg after picking up a promising sounding along the Corio Channel off North Shore.

On Thursday of last week, Andrew Johnson and Daniel O’Brien fished their allowable two hours, and – at anchor off Curlewis – had no trouble taking bag limit catches of whiting and four squid before heading in before curfew.

Don Rayner and Ken Hinks of the Maryborough Angling Club with one of their barramundi on the Daley River, NT.

Off the Beach

With Friday evening’s high tide, Tony Ingram and Col Simmons fished Bancoora Beach, that we’ve already mentioned had already produced good size Australian salmon. And, as it turned out, they weren’t disappointed.

Conditions were less than comfortable though with a stiff breeze and a fair sea running, but they caught quite a few salmon, the biggest around the 2 kg mark. These were caught on pilchards and squid.

Andrew Johnson and son Daniel made another daybreak start off Bancoora Beach on Sunday morning, but initially, the only fish caught was by someone who claimed to have never fished there before. He caught a salmon on his lure, first cast, but nothing after that so he left.

Too soon perhaps, for the salmon came on as the tide began running off at around 9.30 am providing Andrew and Daniel a catch of 12 before conditions deteriorated with increasing side-drift.

Mud crabs caught by members of the Maryborough Angling Club from the Adelaide River, NT.

Freshwater

Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that the only locally caught fish that he knew of was a 60 cm rainbow trout taken by club member Sean Crombie on Berkley Powerbait from Lake Tullaroop.

A number of club members took a trip to Darwin where they caught barramundi in the Daley River, the biggest measured 92 cm and was taken by John Logan, and mud crabs from the Adelaide River.

Somewhat closer to home, John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that Wayne Snell caught a 3.4 kg brown trout on a mudeye suspended beneath a float, and that he caught 20 redfin from about 400 to 750 grams using soft plastics.

Laker’s Cutting

On answering a question on Laker’s Cutting near Queenscliff last week, I was informed that there are currently roadworks in Fellows Road that might prevent access.

My visit to the area did indeed confirm that the north east end of Fellows Road is indeed the site of extensive roadworks, and – at the present moment – best avoided.

Monty asks:

Geoff, I’ve noticed in one of your books that you rig those little rubber occy skirts with a ball sinker in the head. My uncle who is an old fisherman says you don’t need any sinker at all. What is right?

Monty, those little skirted lures are designed to be used with a small sinker – usually a size 0, which weighs about 4 grams – in the head; that is a fundamental design feature of the lure.

Without the sinker, one; they are difficult to deploy from the back of a moving boat in windy conditions; and two, the sinker positions the hook correctly within the skirt, and – when struck – prevents the skirt from riding up the line where a second strike could sever it.

Maribyrnong River Boat Ramp

On Tuesday April 13, a $1.6 million project to build a boat ramp on the Maribyrnong River in Ascot Vale as part of the Andrews Government’s unprecedented plan to improve facilities for recreational fishing in Victoria, the following quote being attributed to Member for Essendon, Danny Pearson:

“This new boat ramp will give boaters better access to the Maribyrnong River and means fishers will be able to land more bream, estuary perch and mullet right in the heart of Melbourne.”

However, on June 4, Danny Pearson, MP for Essendon, blindsided rec fishermen and boaters by requesting that the proposed boat ramp on the Maribyrnong River in Ascot Vale, near to where Mr Pearson lives, ‘not proceed.’

The Hon. Melissa Horne MP, can be contacted via melissa.horne@minstaff.vic.gov.au

Danny Pearson may be contacted by phone: (03) 9370 7777 or by email at danny.pearson@parliament.vic.gov.au

Mick Zsargo with the 7-gilled shark he caught last week from the Point Lonsdale Pier.

Off the pier

Just prior to the March full moon this year, a suitably equipped Mick Zsargo, tried his hand at shark fishing from the Point Lonsdale Pier, and – as fate would have it – he hooked a bronze whaler just on three metres in length. Fortunately, there was a group of anglers from Bendigo, similarly inclined, who assisted in hoisting his shark onto the pier.

That would have normally been at the end of what many would consider the time of year to catch sharks. However, at the announcement of last week’s lock down, Mick decided to give it another try before the closure, and was again rewarded; this time with a hefty 7-gilled shark.

Don Rayner and Kevin Wild with another sample of redfin from Tullaroop Reservoir.

Off the Beach

Following his son Daniel’s, and his companion Joel Trezise’ captures of Australian salmon from Bancoora Beach reported last week, Andrew also decided to try his luck and made an early morning start.

Baiting up with a squid tentacle at very first light on Monday of last week – and with the tide rising – Andrew hooked up on his very first cast.

Unsure of what he had hooked until he eventually had it in the wash, was surprised to see it was a very large salmon that later weighed 3.4 kg.

There was another surprise in store, for on cleaning the big salmon, he found three smaller salmon in its stomach, the biggest measuring 33 cm.

Andrew went on to catch a few more salmon, but none approaching the size of that one.

Ray Millman returned to the beach at Jan Juc on Tuesday where he’d caught six salmon casting a metal lure, the week previous. Again, he was successful, catching another six with the same approach, the biggest of which weighed 1.6 kg.

Doug Lucas of Colac reports excellent fishing for salmon along the west coast. His latest report came from his son’s father-in-law, Gordon Thompson, who recently fished Clifton Beach near Princetown where he caught 14 salmon averaging a kilogram apiece. These were all caught using cut pilchard for bait.

Amber and Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club with a sample of the redfin to be caught from Tullaroop Reservoir.

Freshwater

Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that there were still plenty of redfin on the go at Tullaroop Reservoir prior to lock-down, and that he, wife Amber, and other club members had caught them, both on various lures and on small yabbies; a preferred bait.

Kevin also reports that trophy size trout are offer here for more patient souls, either by trolling suitable lures or fishing mudeyes beneath a float.

John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that Chinook salmon remain on offer, and while some have been taken on trolled lures, the bigger fish are down deep, best fished for just above the bottom using cut pilchards or whitebait.

Andrew Johnson with the 3.4 kg salmon he caught from Bancoora Beach on Monday of last week.

Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula

With good weather on Monday of last week, a good many boats were anchored up over formerly productive grounds in the Corio Bay outer harbour, but from all reports, very few whiting were taken.

One prominent angler, who has usually returned with bag limit catches reports only returning with four, and suggest the number of boats anchored of Curlewis and Leopold may have spooked them.

However, Gordon and Carol Williams, picked up a nice catch of 30 good size fish, but are somewhat reluctant to say exactly where, after the number of boats that moved into their previous spot following my report of their catch on May 11.

Mick Zsargo with the 3-metre bronze whaler he caught from the Point Lonsdale pier just prior to the new moon in March of this year.

Abe asks:  

Geoff I’ve heard that Laker’s cutting is a good place to catch bream; could you tell me where it is?

Abe, Lakers cutting is down toward Queenscliff and may be reached by turning left onto Fellows Road, just after the Queenscliff-Portarlington Road turn-off.

Tides favorable, you could fish either side of the big drain that runs under the road just past the railway line; or, you could walk further down toward Swan Bay to fish.

To reach the lower/eastern half of Laker’s Cutting, continue along Fellows Road, following it around to the right where it becomes McDonald Road, park your car at the end and walk down through the swamp (with appropriate footwear) to the water’s edge.

Andrew Ketelaar with one of the bass he caught from Blue Rock Dam in Gippsland.

Freshwater

Andrew Ketelaar recently visited Blue Rock Lake near the Gippsland settlement of Willow Grove in search of trout and bass and caught several browns to 800 grams or so while trolling pink and gold Tassie Devils around the Lake’s margins at first light.

Catching bass was more challenging though with cooling water temperatures, but – after finding some promising marks on the sounder at 3-4 metres – he slowly trolled a Rapala Tail-dancer, 50 metres back, with the electric motor and picked up several to 45 cm.

Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that the club held a competition on Lake Mulwala over the weekend.

Although unfishable on Saturday due to gale-force winds, the Murray River provided a good deal more shelter. On Sunday though, conditions had improved to the point they could fish the lake.

John Rivett with his second-prize winning cod of 67 cm (Picture: Amber Wild).

Winner of the competition was Greg Street with a 76 cm Murray cod while John Rivett was awarded second prize with a cod of 67 cm.

Kevin also mentions that Lake Tullaroop is fishing particularly well of for redfin and other species, which has attracted a good many anglers.

Video of Jarvis Kent’s brown trout capture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT6H9VYs3q0

However, the big news is that a tagged fish worth $10,000 – part of the government’s “golden tag” initiative – was caught by Eltham’s Nick Jenkins who hooked a 48 cm golden perch at Tullaroop, bearing the golden tag: Fisherman wins Golden Tag prize for catch at Tullaroop Reservoir, near Maryborough | Bendigo Advertiser | Bendigo, VIC

John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that large brown trout are on offer, and among those to catch them was 11-year-old Jarvis Kent who was fishing with his father Daniel.

The fish, which was in the vicinity of 4 kg, was released following a video that they made of the event.

However, redfin remain the main catch with George Gillies of Winchelsea taking his share of fish to 800 grams on Red Wigglers.

Fish Stocking Coordinator, Rhiannon Atkinson, thanks everyone who was able to assist with the tiger trout stocking into lake Purrumbete last week. The remaining stocking for the lake will occur on Thursday May 20, bringing the total release up to 7000.

The fish will be arriving by truck at around 2.00 pm, and should anyone like to attend, please contact Rhiannon (rhiannon.atkinson@vfa.vic.gov.au or on 0407 987 016), for an update on any changes that may occur.

Jon Dukker with one of his cod from Lake Mulwala (Picture: Amber Wild).

Leonie Jones of the Maryborough Angling Club with one of the Murray Cod she caught from Lake Mulwala on Sunday (Picture: Amber Wild).

Offshore

With some respite in the weather on Thursday, Simon Werner and his mate Nick, headed out off Barwon Heads into 45 metres of water.

Initially, the action was good with the capture of 6 pinkie snapper to around 2 kg. But then, the action stopped, something that caused Simon to remark that there might be a shark around.

More than one perhaps, for after a lapse in proceedings, the next cab off the rank was a 9 kg school shark which was closely followed by a clearly larger opponent that turned out to be another school shark that weighed 21 kg.

The range of prizes at the Maryborough Angling Club’s competition at Lake Mulwala was certainly impressive (Picture: Amber Wild).

Corio Bay

Not many reports from Corio Bay this week, but Gordon and Carol Williams launched at Clifton Springs hoping to catch a few whiting; no problem there but those they caught initially were a bit on the small side.

They eventually found a good patch off Leopold in around 6 metres though, and finished up with bag limit catches, the biggest approaching 40 cm

Colin asks:

Geoff, I repeatedly hear of anglers using bubble floats; can you provide some detail on rigging them please?

Colin, of the many and varied array of bubble floats available, egg, or cigar-shaped varieties with a displaceable central tube allowing the infusion of water to provide added weight for casting, are preferred.

The bubble is rigged as a sliding float threaded onto the line followed by a small bite-indicator float from which the baited hook is suspended. The indicator float, which is fixed in place by clamping a small split-shot onto the line on either side, also acts as a stopper to prevent the bubble float from sliding down onto your hook when casting.

The hook is then attached to your line a metre or so below your smaller tandem float and baited up appropriately, usually with a mudeye (dragon fly lava) and cast out.

Fished this way, the indicator float will submerge when the bait is taken – offering almost no resistance to the fish – allowing the line to pass freely through the bubble float.

Marcus Pearson wrestles Kevin’s potential line class GFAA record school shark (Picture: Kevin McLoughlin).

Taking a run down to Port MacDonnell – just over the South Australian border – to fish their annual competition last week, proved fruitful for Kevin McLoughlin and Marcus Pearson.

Not only did their catches of various fish, including a tuna and a mako shark win substantial prizes, Kevin’s capture of a 28.1 kg school shark on 2 kg class tackle is a potential Game Fishing Association of Australia record, for which he is preparing a claim.

Kevin McLoughlin with the mako shark he caught while fishing the annual Port MacDonnell fishing competition last week (Picture: Marcus Pearson).

Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula

Jonathan Feldman and his father David, fished for two hours at various places along the Coles channel off St Leonards on Friday with scarcely a bite, so it was clearly time to look elsewhere.

Eventually, out of desperation, they tried the Swan Bay channel and were instantly onto the whiting, ending up with 26 fish to 41 cm; most being in the high 30 cm range. Also included in their catch were a number of good size leatherjackets.

Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire also reports that whiting are still on offer. Among those to catch them were local anglers Mark and Laurie who found a good patch off Curlewis from which they caught 40 whiting and several Tommy Rough using squid for bait.

Also fishing off Curlewis on Friday were Andrew Johnson and Dennis O’Brien, who found a productive patch off Curlewis, and in 5.5 metres of water, took bag limit catches of whiting, their biggest fish approaching 40 cm

Simon Werner, who has been fishing with his son Jayden and one of Jaiden’s companions, also off Clifton Springs, had good results while drifting for squid, taking 20 on one occasion and 15 on another.

Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head also reports that squid remain plentiful and widespread between Grassy Point and the Governor Reefs, but whiting have been scarce.

John and David Feldman’s catch from the Swan Bay channel.

Jonathan Feldman shows a sample of the quality whiting he and his father David caught from the Swan Bay channel.

Off the Beach

With evening high tides early last week, Tony Ingram fished Bancoora Beach, and – following his encounter with tailor the week previous – was using ganged hooks baited with pilchard. However, his first catch included a couple of Australian salmon around the kilogram mark that that fell victim to his rig.

Fishing on into the night, he began losing his baits, possibly to sea lice. So, sacrificing a fillet from one of the salmon he’d caught, he presented a strip of that on his rig, which did in fact claim a couple of tailor, along with a gummy shark of possibly 6 kg.

Wayne Snell’s 2.5 kg rainbow trout above, and his 3.8 kg brown trout below (Picture: John Clements).

Will and Jordan Walter with a sample of their redfin catch from Lake Purrumbete (Picture: John Clements).

Freshwater

Fishing Highton’s Saint Augustine’s water hole on Sunday morning were Dave Batty, Jake Leach and Ben Lang.

The sum total of their catch was two small redfin, two roach, and a rather large rainbow trout for this small water. Dave doesn’t say how big it was but judging from the photo it could have been as much as 2 kg: All were caught on corn kernels.

John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that Rob Walter and sons Will and Jordan of Hamilton, took just on a hundred redfin from the lake using minnow and soft plastics.

Wayne Snell of Colac fished mudeyes under a float, hopeful of catching a good size brown trout. He certainly did that with a brown of 3.8 kg; he also caught a rainbow trout of 2.5 kg.

Kevin McLoughlin of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that Tullaroop Reservoir is again the stand-out fishery up that way with redfin a-plenty being taken with a variety of methods including trolled lures, bobbers and bait, the favourite being small yabbies.

Also on offer are both good size brown and rainbow trout like one Brad Sturgess caught  last week trolling a lure.

Kevin also reports that club members have taken good size redfin from Lake Fyans near Stawell, the be best results being early in the morning.

Andy asks:

Geoff, a mate and I were recently discussing the term “stranger” used for grass whiting, do you know how they came to be called that: Is it still a valid name, and where they can be caught?

Andy, I recall that in the 1960s, stranger was a valid name for grass whiting, and – if I’m not mistaken – it had a legal-size limit of 9 inches. In my youth I caught a good many on sandworm from the rocks below the Esplanade, North Shore.

Among various descriptions for stranger on http://www.finedictionary.com/stranger.html is: “A name in Victoria and Tasmania for a labroid (meaning from the genus Labridae) fish, Odax richardsonii”.

However, Barry Hutchins and Roger Swainston’s Sea Fishes of Southern Australia, describes this fish as the “blue weed whiting” in respect of the male’s blue colouration. It does not include the former name stranger, and the species now seems to have been reclassified as Haletta semifasciata.

Lachie Wombell with a large gemfish taken from the wide grounds off Portland (Picture: Bob McPherson).

Portland

With good weather toward the end of last week, Bob McPherson and Lachie Wombell headed out wide from Portland in search of blue eye trevalla, of which they caught several.

However, as usual, there was a by-catch of various species, which on this occasion included a large gemfish, and although not weighed, was well over a metre in length; larger than usual, you might say, and particularly good culinary fare.

Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula

On Friday afternoon. Andrew Phillips and Tony Greck fished one of their favourite whiting marks off Point Richards, but initially the fishing was fairly slow persuading them to keep on the move.

But by late afternoon, they’d found a good bite off the east end of the Point Richards mussel farm, and – but the time the incoming tide slackened off around 5.30 – they’d taken their respective bag limit catches of whiting, the biggest measuring 43 cm.

Paul Rahman fished to the north off Point Wilson, and through the evening, and – using mussels for bait – picked up a bag limit whiting catch by dark that included several from 35-40 cm.

Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that some have taken whiting just out from the boat harbour, among them were Luke Roberts and Kyden Bullock who took a bag limit catch here using pipis for bait.

Andrew and Jenny Johnson fished from early afternoon off Leopold, but initially, all they caught was a large flathead.

Never the less they persisted until 3.45 or so having made some social arrangements, and – as you might expect – not long after the whiting came on the bite. Still, they managed a very respectable 27 fish before leaving a hot bite.

Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire reports on a good week of fishing with plenty of flathead being taken on the drift out in the deeper water.

Squid were also plentiful and widespread said Rod, with some clients taking bag limit catches from the Governor Reefs to Steeles Rocks.

Dave from East Keilor with his two brown trout from Lake Purrumbete (Picture: John Clements).

Off the Beach

With exceptionally low early morning tides over the weekend Tony Ingram fished RAAF’s Beach, hopeful of catch a legal-size snapper or two, which wasn’t difficult, his biggest nudging 40 cm, but he was bitten off a time or two which was puzzling.

Rigging with a flight of ganged hooks solved the issue with the capture of three tailor – the biggest possibly a kilogram – a species we’ve been seeing quite a bit of lately, and an indicator that packing ganged hooks or wire traces would see even more being caught.

Don Rayner of the Maryborough Angling Club with one of the Murray cod he caught from Lake Mulwala at the weekend.

Freshwater

John Clements of the Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that redfin have shown no sign of slowing up, Among those to catch them was Paul Carvis of Roxby Park who took a respectable catch of reddies using both live minnow and soft plastics.

Charlie Costa and Joe Bailey, both members of the Greenvale Angling Club, took several chinook salmon to a kilogram or so on lures, while an angler who introduced himself just as David from East Keilor, weighed in two brown trout, each at 3.6 kg, method unknown.

Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that club members have been doing well on redfin both at Laanecoorie and Tullaroop Reservoir, using both various lures like ice jigs, and bait.

And it was bait that did the trick for club member Don Rayner who journeyed to Lake Mulwala in search of cod. While he caught a number, he didn’t find the big one he was hoping for.

Jack asks:

Geoff, I note you use the spelling “berley” for what everybody knows as “burley”. Why is that?

Jack, b-e-r-l-e-y has always been the spelling for any matter you would put in the water to attract fish. The misspelling b-u-r-l-e-y has crept in over recent decades, courtesy of newbie gurus and even commercial providers of same.

References providing the correct spelling for berley include the Merriam-Webster Dictionary https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/berley Other references include Brian Coad and Don McAllister’s Dictionary of Ichthyology: http://www.briancoad.com/Complete%20Dictionary%20latest%20version.htm

The spelling b-u-r-l-e-y is applicable to American architect Walter Burley Griffin 1876-1937, designer of Canberra, his blood-line, and to a fine-leaf tobacco used in the making of cigarettes, but not for any matter used to attract fish.

Thomas Dimopolous with a sample of the whiting to be caught in Corio Bay (Picture: Ivan Bereza).

Billy Reece with a sample of his whiting catch off Curlewis (Picture: Andrew Johnston).

Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula

On a promise to take Ash Reece and his 10-year-old son Billy out fishing on Saturday, Andrew Johnson could see the weather wasn’t looking too good, so he headed out for a trial run off Curlewis early in the morning to test the waters, so to speak.

Well, the waters tested pretty well with the capture of 15 whiting. And, at the appointed time of 10.30, picked up Ash and Billy, who – despite the stiff breeze and some rain – were champing at the bit to get going.

As it turned out, the lad caught the biggest of the 32 whiting they caught, a beauty of 42 cm.

Naturally, a good many others caught them as well including Mark and Tina Sesar who were out off Clifton Springs to catch Sunday’s early afternoon high tide change.

As it happened, it took them several moves to find a good bite, but find one they did, and by 5.00 pm, they’d taken their respective bag limit catches of whiting.

After that, they headed close in off The Dell where they broke out the squid jigs on the drift, and over the next hour or so they caught eleven squid, and there were some good ones among them.

Amber Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club with the 112 cm Murray cod she caught at Koondrook (Picture: Kevin Wild).

Freshwater

Looking for a change of scenery at the weekend, Kevin and Amber Wild, both members of the Maryborough Angling Club, headed up to Koondrook on the Murray, a journey of 180 kilometres. And naturally, they took their fishing gear and some chicken for bait.

The fishing was a bit slow to begin with, but at around lunchtime, Kevin caught and released a 63 cm cod, so the trip wasn’t in vain.

Anyway, come 5.00 pm and time to leave, Amber hooked something that wasn’t playing fair, and had caught her line around a snag.

Well, if there were no snags, the fish would be elsewhere. So, they persisted in freeing the line, eventually revealing a Murray cod that measured 112 cm, which they photographed, and then released.

A little closer to home, John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports fishing for redfin on several occasions, once with Jacinta Kelly of Drysdale for a good tally of redfin to 800 grams on soft plastics.

Of course, others were doing likewise, among them was Jarrod Tyler who’d come all the way from Birchip to be rewarded with a similar catch of redfin, also on soft plastics.

Mark Sesar with a sample of his and wife Tina’s whiting catch (Picture: Tina Sesar).

Selin Rahman with a sample from her and husband Paul’s mulloway catch from the Glenelg River at Nelson.

Nelson

Last week Paul and Selin Rahman took a run down to Nelson on the Glenelg River near the South Australian Border.

They took freshly caught squid with them, but the 12 mulloway they caught – the biggest measuring 75 cm – were captured using pilchards for bait.

Never the less they did hook three possibly larger fish using the heads from those squid, but pulled the hook on each occasion.

Off the Beach

Early last week, Ray Millman first tried one of his usual beach fishing haunts just north east of the Torquay Boat Ramp, only to find the amount of weed that had washed in with the rising tide and heavy swell had made fishing well-nigh impossible.

Moving to Jan Juc was also a disappointment with the same problem, so he made one last try at Torquay at 63W near public amenities where he was rewarded with 43 cm snapper.

But now, after dark, with the weed rolling in here as well and pickers stealing his baits of mackerel and barracouta, he called it quits.

John asks:

Geoff, I berleyed up some beautiful gars the other day, but after catching a couple, they went off the bite. You could see them in the berley but they wouldn’t bite. Why would this be?

John, garfish are a skittish, and very nervous fish. What probably happened was that your berley attracted some other species as well, possibly mullet, that put the gars off the bite.

All fish are vulnerable to attack by predators whilst feeding, and – although most other fish that do show up in a berley trail for gars, like mullet – are harmless, the gars take no chances; they just stop feeding.

Martinus de Lange with a pair of the bream he caught early last week from the Deakin University jetty at Warrnambool.

Joseph and Ashton Ardiri with the chinook salmon they caught at Lake Bullen Merri (Picture: Kane Ardiri).

Warrnambool

Heading down to Warrnambool’s Hopkins River in the pre-dawn darkness with a good supply of scrubworms for bait early last week, Martinus de Lange was on the Deakin University jetty by dawn’s first light, hopeful of catching a good size bream or two.

He caught six as it turned out, the biggest a beauty of 40 cm, most of them shortly after daybreak. After that though, the fish on offer decreased in size, and included some that were undersize.

Alan Cook with the gummy shark he caught off Clifton Springs (Picture: Stephen Goodfellow).

Off the Beach

Fishing Wednesday morning’s low tide at Jan Juc Beach, Ray Millman was surprised to find the beach substantially denuded of sand. However, he found a deep channel in front of the creek, from which he caught several Australian salmon on a lure.

Returning again in the evening, this time with some of the salmon he’d caught earlier as bait, he was hoping for action from the bigger fish this area is known to produce. In fact, he caught a gummy shark of about 5 kg and pulled the hook on possibly another.

However, with the channel deep enough to expose the reef below, Ray was constantly being snagged. So, eventually denuded of sinkers, he was forced to retreat.

Trevor Perry with a nice brown trout from Tullaroop Reservoir (Picture: Kevin Wild).

Stephen Eales, with son Mason 3, and Lily 5, with a sample of Stephen’s redfin catch.

Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula

Stephen Goodfellow had long tried to coax his brother-in-law, Alan Cook out in his boat, the latter preferring to keep his feet on dry land. But, with a break in the weather, an agreement was reached and the pair set off from Clifton Springs.

However, it was Alan who caught the fish; first an Australian salmon, from which Stephen fillet took a fillet and baited it on Alan’s line, which in turn tempted a fair size gummy shark. Suffice to say that Stephen now has a willing fishing companion.

Whiting are about, and on Friday afternoon, Andrew Johnson and wife Jenny found a good patch in 4 metres of water inshore from the Portarlington mussel farm where they had no problem taking bag limit catches.

Fishing in much the same area on Saturday, Andrew – this time with Pete Dawson – found them a little harder to find. Never the less, after a series of moves, located a good pod of fish in 6 metres of water, each taking their respective bag limits.

Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that although whiting didn’t appear in clients catches last week, and squid were scarce, flathead were plentiful enough with clients having no trouble catching them on the drift out in the deeper water

Gastroliths from a large freshwater crayfish, found within the stomach of a Murray cod.

Freshwater

Kane Ardiri, along with sons Joseph and Ashton, made the journey to Lake Purrumbete on Saturday, where – fishing in 13 metres of water – they caught 8 chinook salmon to 2 kg using pilchard fillets for bait.

They also caught a number of redfin on live minnow.

Fishing Wurdiboluc Reservoir on Saturday Simon Werner found the fishing a little slow, but he caught one rainbow trout of a kilogram on a mudeye suspended under a float, and a 600-gram redfin while casting a Rapala CD9 in the rainbow trout pattern.

Kevin Wild of the Maryborough Angling Club reports that members had a competition on Tullaroop Reservoir over the weekend with Stephen Eales taking the biggest redfin at 40 cm. That was followed by John Rivett with a redfin of 36 cm.

Brown trout to 50 cm were also caught by Trevor Perry and Colin Robertson, with even bigger specimens seen to be captured by visiting anglers who weren’t in the club.

Darcy asks:

My father Murray and I recently caught some cod from the Murray River, and among items found in one of their stomachs, were these two mushroom shaped objects, each an inch across. Do you know what they are?

Darcy, I forwarded the pictures you took of those objects to Freshwater Fisheries Manager, Dr Taylor Hunt who advised that these are actually crayfish gastroliths and forwarded this link: http://museum.wa.gov.au/explore/blogs/andrew-hosie/why-freshwater-crayfish-don-t-need-milk-healthy-bones

Gastroliths are formed in a remarkable physiological process conserving calcium to maintain the strength of their exoskeleton and claws, for unlike seawater, freshwater has very little dissolved calcium. So, to retain calcium, freshwater crayfish form these gastroliths in moulting, re-absorbing calcium carbonate from the exoskeleton prior to shedding.