CHRIS PITMAN
WINTER snapper have been the focus of a lot of anglers recently and with good reason too.
Cal Gillet made his way down to the rocks off St Helens last Sunday wanting to give his new rod and reel a run. After baiting up with half a pilchard Cal sat back with the expectation of a pinkie or two.
When Cal’s rod buckled over with some force he knew something larger than a pinkie was attached. After a fine net job, Cal had a 6.4kg 87cm snapper on the rocks.
Anglers fishing from boats have found using a sounder essential in locating schools of fish. The area straight out from the wheat silos has been a likely place to start a search.
Holding in close around structures on the Geelong waterfront, pinkie snapper to 45cm have been encountered in reasonable numbers along with couta to 50cm and the odd snooty trevally. Soft plastics will target these species holding in tight around structures.
Over at Portarlington last weekend Max Condor was fishing with his grandfather Gary Honeymoon. After catching some fresh squid for bait the pair anchored up in 12.5 meters of water out from Indented Head. The guys were successful in boating a nice specimen of a gummy shark measuring in at 1.3 metres after putting up a great fight on light line.
Anglers have discovered good numbers of whiting over the Queenscliff grass beds and further around to the bight. The attraction of Queenscliff whiting is their size, although at times it can be hard to get bag limit captures anglers are generally pleased to boat fish averaging 40cm.
Just around the corner at Swan Bay, squid were taken by those drifting slowly and casting artificial jigs such as the Shimanio Sephia. This area is one to keep an eye on as we move further into squid season with squid generally getting larger in size.
Offshore from Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads snapper are still holding in 40 metres of water straight out from the Bluff. Some of these snapper have reached 6kg with anglers also finding good numbers of flathead and gummy shark amongst the catch.
Inside the Barwon Estuary some impressive sized Australian salmon have made an appearance. The mouth of the river at the top of the high tide has seen anglers casting from the bank able to beach salmon to 2kg.
Further up the estuary around the sheepwash section, mulloway continue to be taken with anglers reporting better success when fishing the deeper parts of the river.
Further down the Surf Coast, those spinning for salmon off the rock platforms around Lorne have been able to land fish to 2kg. The key has been to find a break if possible in the large swell. As has been the case for a few weeks, Bancoora and Jan Juc are hot spots for those looking to spin from the beach.
Up at Lake Wendouree in Ballarat last week Diego Gadea banked a nice conditioned brown trout of 1.5kg casting from the lake margins. Lake Wendouree is a fantastic option for those looking to get stuck into some land based trout action.
Closer to home St Augustine’s water hole has been stocked with rainbow trout for the school holidays. These feisty trout love to eat powerbait rigged on lightly weighted running sinker rig cast from the newly built jetty.
Next week if the weather allows those able to head out just off the Barwon Heads bluff in 40 metres should try for snapper and gummy shark. Inside the bay calm conditions will assist anglers in having a real shot of finding a monster winter snapper or two. For those after a trout then Wendouree is worth the drive with brown trout devouring lures cast form the lake edges.
