Geoff Wilson’s Fishing Knots And Rigs

Leigh McAuliffe with the 11 kg snapper he caught from Corio Bay early last week.

Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula

With Corio Bay’s water temperature rising a full degree since the end of July, our resident snapper are now on offer; in fact several have been caught already. The biggest I know of so far was taken early last week by Leigh McAuliffe: Leigh’s fish measured a metre in length and weighed 11 kg and is now in the hands of a taxidermist.

Northerly winds also make for good land based snapper fishing from now on, and with that in mind on Saturday, Simon Werner headed down to the St Leonards boat ramp where he fished from the dividing jetty between the boat ramps, a spot that has produced snapper in these conditions previously. He didn’t catch a snapper on this occasion, but had one good bite that turned out to be a 52 cm flathead that finished on the plate.

Anthony Forster of Fisheries Victoria with a feisty little rainbow trout from Lake Toolondo (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).

Anthony Forster of Fisheries Victoria with a nice redfin from Lake Toolondo (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).

Surf

Fishing the evening high tides at Jan Juc early last week, surf fishing enthusiast Tony Ingram caught a number of Australian salmon, the biggest approaching 2 kg, while using cut pilchards for bait. However, he had a narrow escape just after dark when he caught what he first thought was an even larger salmon.

Luckily, he realized in time that what he’d caught wasn’t a salmon at all, but a tailor that bit through his leader just as he was about to pick it up: It wouldn’t have been the first time a local surf fisherman had made that mistake and paid the price in blood.

Nick Vasiljevic with the 3.55 kg brown trout he caught from Lake Wendouree at Ballarat.

Anthony Forster of Fisheries Victoria with a brown trout from Lake Toolondo (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).

Freshwater

Lake Wendouree at Ballarat has produced a good many brown trout better than two kilograms in recent years, but the 3.55 kg beauty taken recently by Nick Vasiljevic shows that this water is capable of producing trophy size fish for those prepared for the challenge.

Trevor Holmes of Victorian Inland Charters reports that as of last Thursday, Lake Toolondo has benefitted from 5000 gigalitres of water from Rocklands Reservoir, and with the channel still open, there is more on the way.

Last week, Trevor fished Lake Toolondo with Anthony Forster of Fisheries Victoria who took a triple-treat of brown and rainbow trout and redfin using Ima Flit and OSP Bent Minnows.

Trevor also fished Toolondo with Michael Evans where their catch included a respectable redfin on a Fish Arrow soft plastic, followed by another strike that turned out to be a 3.6 kg European Carp that also took the same lure.

Following encouraging reports of good fishing on Lake Wallace at Edenhope, the pair also fished there to be rewarded with a brown trout and a rainbow, each weighing 1.2 kg.

John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that redfin have been on offer with some great catches being taken: Ashley and James Reid from Altona took home 15 kilograms of redfin fillets following their two days of fishing with scrubworms and soft plastics. Also successful was Stan Rae of Norlane who took a respectable catch of redfin with much the same approach.

John mentions that a buy, swap and sell event is being held at the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park on Saturday. The event is to benefit the Beyond Blue foundation. For more details please ring John on 0438 682 765 or email lakepurrumbeteholidaypark@hotmail.com for details.

Michael Evans with a 1.2 kg rainbow trout from Lake Wallace at Edenhope (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).

Michael Evans with a nice redfin taken on a Fish Arrow Soft Plastic (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).

Jason asks?

Geoff, I am confused over the terms trawling and trolling. Is there a difference or are they both the same?

On the other hand, trolling refers to fishing, either recreationally, or commercially – as our erstwhile generation of barracouta fishermen did at Queenscliff and Lorne – but, unlike trawling, trolling requires a response from the fish to be successful: Trolling refers specifically to the towing of lures, or suitably rigged baits, behind a boat with the intention of eliciting strikes from fish.

Stuart Scott with a 7 kg snapper he caught from Corio Bay on Wednesday night (Picture: Stuart Scott).

Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula

Fishing in front of the Mountain View Quarries on Wednesday night, Stuart Scott was hoping for a snapper when at around 7.30, one of his rods gave a half-hearted salute that could have been anything really. But taking no chances, he paid out a good deal of slack line before loading up on what turned out to be a 7 kg snapper.

Hoping for a repeat performance, Stuart put on another pilchard and at around 8.00 pm, he caught a second snapper of 5 kg.

Australian Salmon have been a saviour for many anglers who are not catching much else, with good numbers popping up anywhere from Corio Bay to Queenscliff where Andrew Phillips and George Uranus were fishing for squid on Friday.

When suddenly surrounded by salmon feeding on whitebait, they quickly rigged their whiting tackle with 15 gram metal lures on which the trebles had been replaced with single hooks. So, with cast and retrieve the order of the day, they caught fish after fish, most of which were released: Those that they kept ranged from 900 grams to 1.5 kg.

With rumours of whiting being caught downstream from the red portside marker some 400 metres off the Queenscliff harbour entrance, Keith Berry and Tom Robinson anchored up here on Thursday morning’s ebb tide, but they didn’t have much luck. However, their luck changed in the Queenscliff harbour where they caught several good size silver trevally on the incoming tide.

Michael Evans took this close-up of one of the redfin he caught from Wurdiboluc Reservoir on Sunday evening.

Michael Evans with a sample of his redfin catch from Wurdiboluc Reservoir on Sunday night (Picture Michael Evans).

Freshwater

John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park fished the lake with James Reid last week, first using scrubworms for bait before switching to soft plastics; they caught 40 redfin ranging in size from 35 to 46 cm.

Trophy size brown trout are still on offer at Lake Purrumbete as Tim Beusman demonstrated last week, catching one of 4.52 kg along with a couple of smaller specimens while casting and retrieving a bibbed minnow-type lure.

John also mentions that land based anglers to have done well on chinook salmon and rainbow trout to 1.5 kg at Lake Bullen Merri include fly fisherman Hugh Maltby who had no trouble matching the hatch so to speak.

Trevor Holmes of Victorian Inland Charters week and his cousin Rod Rees fished Lake Toolondo early last for a catch of respectable redfin on Ima Flit and Daiwa Double Clutch lures. However, the larger trout have been shy, and – as Trevor explained – they are presently carrying spawn and not all that eager to bite.

Murray Scott fished Lake Bolac along the Glenelg Highway on a couple of occasions last week, first with Scott Teesdale, then again with his brother Russell and friend Carl Alexander.

Their most challenging endeavour was to find bank side locations offering some shelter from the north and north westerly winds. Taking good catches of rainbow trout to 1.8 kg proved less challenging, with most destined for the smoker.

Michael Evans fished the last two hours of daylight at Wurdiboluc Reservoir on Sunday, and casting a gold-coloured Nories Wasaby Spoon, his catch included three nice redfin; the biggest measuring 45 cm and about 1.5 kg. Michael also caught a number of smaller fish that he released.

These weren’t in the usual, more open spots said Michael, but over the weed beds along the rock wall where he’d found them on previous occasions.

Rod Rees with a pair of respectable redfin from Lake Toolondo (Picture: Victorian Inland Charters).

Tom asks:

Geoff, if you inadvertently wind the free end of your line back through the level-wind on your reel, is there any way you can re-align the level-wind without taking all the line off the reel?

Tom, without re-threading the level-wind, if you pull some line off the spool, determining its position on, and in which direction it was moving across the spool, you can then mark the line with a small piece of adhesive tape or the like, at that point.

Cut the line just below the marker and wind the handle of the reel until the level-wind reaches the spot you have marked. Then, provided you’ve matched the position, and direction, of the level-wind’s travel with the direction and position of the marker, you may thread the line back through the level-wind and it should be OK.

Over the rainbow: Michael Evans with a large rainbow trout that he caught at Wurdiboluc Reservoir last week (Picture: Michael Evans).

ng>Freshwater

Wurdiboluc Reservoir is well known for producing magnificent fish, but catching them requires a good deal of persistence. However, Michael Evans usually gets the job done and sent in photos of yet another large brown trout and a similar size rainbow, both of which he caught from here on a metal spoon last week.

Also fishing Wurdiboluc on two occasions last week were Simon and Jayden Werner who caught a number of redfin and several brown trout to a kilogram or so, both on metal spoons and Rapala bibbed minnows.

John Clements of Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports that fishing has slowed up somewhat at both of the Camperdown crater lakes. However, Lake Bullen Merri is still producing chinook salmon and rainbow trout to a kilogram or so for anglers fishing from boats – mainly by suspending glassies or pilchard fillets just above the bottom – and for those fishing from the bank with Berkley Powerbait.

At Lake Purrumbete, there’ve been no more large brown trout taken, but redfin remain a consistent catch with Stan Rae of Norlane among those to take good catches of them from here to 1.2 kg using minnow and scrubworms for bait.

John also mentions that the Bannockburn Angling Club, whose favourite destination of late has been Lake Purrumbete, had a competition on the Hopkins River at Warrnambool over the weekend where Todd Broughton caught the heaviest bream at 900 grams, while junior competitor Sam Giles took another of 660 grams. Estuary perch were also caught on that occasion.

With school holidays during the first two weeks of July, several waters have been stocked with rainbow trout including St Augustine’s water hole off South Valley Road via Augustine Drive, Highton, the old railway engine water supply at Lethbridge, and the Bannockburn Lagoon. Cowies Creek in Seagull Paddock is no longer stocked as it is deemed by the Geelong City Council to be a polluted water.

Spoon fed: Michael Evans with a 62 cm brown trout that he caught on a spoon at Wurdiboluc Reservoir last week (Picture: Michael Evans).

Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula

Anglers seeking the big snapper that we usually see in Corio Bay at this time of year have been largely disappointed, even though shoals of fish have been located from time to time. However, Australian salmon to a kilogram or so continue to be a reliable catch in both the inner and outer harbours with quite a few fish to a kilogram or so being caught by trolling or casting various lures.

Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that flathead have been the main species on offer and Barry Ure of Ocean Grove was among those to do well, taking a bag limit catch off Point Wilson. Squid have also been taken, but not in the numbers seen during the autumn, but last week, some respectable catches were made out toward the mussel farm.

Whiting however, have been scarce said Mike, as Andrew Johnson and his companions Kirt Brehan and Brodie Bell could attest having spent the best part of Saturday off St Leonards for mostly small fish. However, they did redeem the day to some extent by catching eight whiting from 40 to 43 cm toward nightfall.

Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire reports that garfish, barracouta, squid and Australian salmon have all been caught from the Portarlington breakwater lately; a bonus for land-based anglers, but squid have been the main species caught by those fishing from boats.

Among those to do well on the squid were John Fotias, his mother Nikki and father Peter, after locating a good patch quite close to the Point Richards boat ramp from which they caught 15, the biggest going on the scales for a verdict of 2.5 kg.

Justin Burns with his 95 cm Murray cod from the Murray River near Echuca. (Picture: Simon Williams).

Freshwater

Justin Burns and Simon Williams, fished the Murray River near Echuca over the weekend, patiently casting lures into likely looking areas as they drifted downstream, a productive exercise as it turned out, for their catch included a 95 cm Murray cod that took Justin’s Custom Crafted lure, that was photographed and then released.

John Clements of Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park, reports that Chris Farrugia’s weekend catch included a 1.8 kg brown trout and a number of smaller rainbows, all being caught on a Tassie Devil down-rigged to 12 metres. Also successful was James Clark of Benalla with brown trout to 2 kg, also on Tassie Devils.

On Lake Bullen Merri, Purrumbete Angling Club was successful in competition with their Bullen Merri counterparts, the Broughton brigade; Les, Jeff and Kane, leading the Purrumbete club’s charge with their catch of chinook salmon to 1.7 kg, along with John Clements’ bag of rainbow trout that were taken both on lures and various baits.

Jeremy McLoughlin with a gummy shark of about 19 kg that he caught offshore from Torquay over the weekend (Picture: Kevin McLoughlin).

Offshore

With good weather on Saturday, Andrew Phillips, Keith Fry and Ken Spokes made an early start of Barwon Heads, and were anchored up in 33 metres of water by 7.30 am.

Initially they caught a number of pinkie snapper better than 30 cm, but that bite slowed and was followed by a variety of unwanted species. Never the less, they continued berleying in the hope of attracting something more desirable, but that didn’t occur until 3.00 in the afternoon.

Unsure of what they’d hooked, they retrieved all of their other lines to avoid tangling with the hooked fish, which eventually turned out to be a seven-gilled shark of 60 kg that should keep the trio in fresh flake for some time.

Kevin McLoughlin and his brother Jeremy fished off Torquay on Saturday where they too had a good day, catching three gummy sharks, of which they kept one of about 10 kg. Of the other two, one was about half that size, but the other was a real beauty that would have been 18 or 19 kg.

Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula

Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that Australian salmon are still about in good numbers, and – with the calm weather we’ve experienced lately – they’ve been relatively easy to find. While they vary in size from shoal to shoal, some fish have been better than a kilogram and eager to take a variety of lures.

Flathead too, have been plentiful said Mike, and there’ve been some good ones among them with Alan Wilson, Fred Jones and Jeff Hardy taking fish to 44 cm out toward the No 2 Wilson Spit channel marker.

Fishing off Hermsley Road Curlewis, Mick and Mip Pugh took a mixed bag of fish that included 20 flathead, two elephant fish and the occasional banjo shark, all on bluebait.

Whiting remain scarce, sometimes requiring many moves to find a patch of good fish as Andrew Johnson readily admitted after fishing with Dennis O’Brien on Friday. However, they eventually found a good patch fish off The Springs at around 3.00 pm that yielded six fish to 42 cm before it shut down.

Fishing for squid on Sunday, this time with Kirt Brehan, was more successful with a catch of twelve really good size specimens, but again, only after making a good many moves to find them.

Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that flathead and squid have been the main catch, with some really big ones among the latter.

Among those to catch them in around 5 metres of water off Indented Head on Thursday were Jeff Richards and Ken Shae whose respective bag limit catches included five or six that would have weighed better than a kilogram. Their biggest squid weighed just over 2.5 kg.

Portland

Bob McPherson reports that tuna remain the focus for most offshore anglers, but among those to do well fishing the bottom include Jack Oliver whose mixed bag of fish included a 20 kg Samson fish, which came from 120 metres of water off Cape Nelson.

Ali asks:

Geoff I heard that bream are being caught at Laker’s Cutting, can you please tell me where it is?

To access the lower half of Laker’s Cutting, you will have to continue down Fellows Road around to the right where it becomes McDonald Road. Parking your car at the end, you can walk down through the swamp to the water’s edge, but be aware that the north east side promontory adjoins a marine park, in which you are not permitted to fish.

Steve Evans and Jason Powell of “Bag out Charters” with the 108 kg tuna (Picture: Bob McPherson).

Australian salmon are probably the easiest catch from Corio Bay at present with shoals of fish to a kilogram or so in both the inner and outer harbours, their presence being betrayed by birds working overhead.

Land based anglers have also caught them from the wall adjacent Cunningham Pier; a good spot to cast a lure.

Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that squid are still about in good numbers, but whiting are scarce with only a handful of anglers picking them up.

Those to do so include Dennis O’Brien, who took a bag limit catch early last week, and Andrew Johnson and Tony Mollenhauer, who on Saturday evening, took a catch that included half a dozen from 40 to 42 cm.

Those fishing for whiting between St Leonards and Queenscliff have had to contend with increased numbers of leatherjackets lately, but they are good to eat, as Martin Neilson and William Spitiri could attest after catching 40 of them off Swan Bay on Saturday.

Whiting have been scarce off Indented Head as well as Jeff Richards and Chris Hateley can relate after putting in a fruitless late afternoon session, but – as they’d already caught their respective bag limits of squid – they didn’t return empty handed.

Michael Goldby with one of the pink ling that he and Bob McPherson caught off Portland over the weekend (Picture: Bob McPherson).

Offshore

Early on Sunday morning, Murray Scott, his son Darcy, and Scott Teesdale took a run out from Barwon Heads, along with a good many others, but – as we discussed on May 30, with tides falling much lower than predicted – some of the larger game fishing rigs had obvious difficulty. Because of this, there is an urgent need for another boat ramp to be built where the old slipway used to be, just downstream from the bridge.

Returning to Ocean Grove boat ramp on Sunday afternoon, the heads and frames of four large tuna, that weren’t there in the morning, were hard to miss; so at least some were able to benefit from our growing offshore tuna fishery.

As for Murray and his crew, they caught a dozen or so snook in the vicinity of Claremont Reef before being rewarded with two gummy shark to 7 kg in a bottom bouncing session off Torquay.

Freshwater

John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park, reports that large brown trout, including one of 5.2 kg taken by Darren Busfield of Colac, came from the lake last week. Another of 4.5 kg was weighed in by a fly fisherman from Ballarat who prefers to remain anonymous.

Redfin still remain the main catch at Purrumbete said John, and over the weekend, Tom Stanford of Bannockburn took his 7 year old son Harry out on the lake, along with eleven year olds Lachie Groves, Sammy Giles and Ryan Perkins, all of whom caught respectable catches of redfin using live minnow for bait.

Portland

Down Portland way, Bob McPherson reports that small tuna are still the main focus for offshore anglers, but not all of them are small. Steve Evans and Jason Powell on “Bag out Charters”, soon realized a client had hooked something out of the ordinary, which after a lengthy battle, turned out to be a 108 kg tuna.

Bob, along with George Gereige and Michael Goldby, took advantage of good weather at the weekend to go bottom bouncing in 500 metres of water where they caught a variety of fish including several large pink ling.

Ollie asks:

Geoff, I see land based snapper from Corio Bay being posted on facebook but no location given in relation to their capture. Can you give me any insight as to where I might try?

Ollie, at this time of year there are several possibilities. However, snapper have been caught along the Geelong Waterfront from Cunningham Pier to the Yarra Street helipad, and also from the jetty adjacent to the Geelong Yacht Club.

During the years when I was more predisposed to fishing land based, I caught quite a few from the small jetty, and beach, in front of the Geelong Grammar School during the winter, including one of 7.5 kg last August. The first half of the incoming tide is a good time to fish here, the change being an hour or so later than at Geelong wharves.

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?