Chris Pitman
WITH perfect weather and snapper on the move last weekend, anglers reported great results on the bay.
Corio Bay produced some exceptional fish to 10kg.
Dalibor Smek was anchored on the bay at one of his favourite marks when a 10kg snapper took his pilchard bait, lightly weighted on 2.7kg line. He managed to boat the trophy fish only after a drawn-out fight.
Other anglers on the bay caught pinkie snapper among the Western Beach moorings, along with flathead to 40cm, on soft plastics.
Further down at Clifton Springs squid were on the go and, unlike previous weeks, some good-size specimens were among them. The weed beds toward the long, broken jetty held squid over 1kg, which took 2.5 and 3-size jigs.
Anglers sounded up snapper at The Turn but the amount of small pinkies made it difficult to keep baits on the bottom.
St Leonards continued producing King George whiting at the area now known as Bourke St due to the concentration on boats consistently anchored up.
Queenscliff’s harbour continued to fish well for silver trevally to 45cm on soft plastics around the tide changes. Smaller Australian salmon to 800g were also landed.
Anglers fishing for trevally in the harbour at this time of year occasionally hook snapper to 4kg, which ends up being a big fight on usual soft plastics tackle.
The Barwon River estuary held excellent numbers of King George whiting to 33cm and Australian Salmon to 35cm during the week as well as odd mulloway to 70cm.
The Surf Coast’s Devil’s Elbow produced Australian salmon to 2kg on baitfish-profile 25g lures in pilchard colours. The salmon were reported to be in great numbers, with anglers landing 10 fish or more in a session.
Darren Wloch headed out off Torquay last weekend in search of snapper, bagging a 6kg fish on fresh squid in 20m of water.
Steve Prior took his mate Nick Albutt out to Wurdee Boluc Reservoir on Monday afternoon. Nick disproved the reservoir’s reputation as the lake of 1000 casts, catching his first ever trout, a brown trout of 2kg, with a Fish Arrow soft plastic.
Lake Wendouree continued producing brown trout for angloers trolling and casting Norries Laydown minnows and Strike Pro Bob N Spoons.
Anglers fishing first and last light reported the best results whether using lure or bait, with the browns averaging 1.5 kg and a few specimens pushing 2kg.
Vikkie Curran fished Wendouree last Sunday with mudeye under a float, landing a brown of 1.84kg.
Carp were on the chew in the Barwon River for anyone fishing corn on a lightly weighted running sinker rig. Queen’s Park Bridge and Breakwater were hot spots for carp to 5kg.
Anyone going fishing this weekend should consider trying The Turn off Clifton Springs with pilchards and fresh squid for snapper. Otherwise squid might be worth targeting from Clifton Springs to Queenscliff.
