Anglers snap up the opportunity

Snapper catches increased again over the past week with the outer harbour between Clifton Springs and Point Henry producing the best fishing.
Nine-year-old Harrison Vick and father Dale baited up with salted pilchard on Saturday when the youngster hooked up a hard-running fish.
With a little bit of help from dad, Harrison boated a snapper just under seven kilograms.
Many anglers fishing the edge of the channel at anchor caught plenty of silver whiting, especially on sabiki rigs baited with small pieces of pilchard.
The fresh whiting were then converted to some of the best snapper captures.
Brian Long and John Mole fished the spoil grounds near Point Henry, catching lots of pinkies to 50cm on soft plastics.
John hooked up a fish he estimated at 6kg but which escaped at the side of the boat after a 20-minute fight.
The same area and Alcoa Pier also produced salmon to 1kg.
Tackleworld’s Adam Van Der Lugt fished Queenscliff for silver trevally on Sunday with Z-man grubs in the Motor Oil colour.
Using a 1/12 jig head, he landed trevally to 40cm while other anglers caught pinkies to 50cm on Turtleback worms in Pumpkinseed.
Squid were caught from Queenscliff right around to Clifton Springs, with Lonsdale Bight producing specimens to 3.5kg.
Yamashita and Hyabusa jigs in sizes 3 and 3.5 worked well.
The Barwon River between Queen’s Park and Shannon Ave began yielding redfin to 800gm, although plenty of smaller fish kept anglers busy.
Small hard-body lures and minnow-style plastics did the damage.
Some large carp were also present in the same area, with corn and worms the most-productive baits.
I targeted trout in some of the smaller streams between Lorne and Apollo Bay, landing some nice fish while casting small hard-body lures in the lower reaches.
The fish were not large but the surroundings made up for their size.
Many anglers travelled to Lake Eildon for the Australian Yellowbelly Championships last weekend.
Plenty of quality fish were caught, with Scott Walters’s 60cm fish on a soft plastic among the best.
Reports indicate the fish have started moving into the shallow margins so anglers wishing to target them should fish shallow with soft plastics and vibes.
Targeting quality snapper in the outer-harbour or pinkies and trevally at Queenscliff should be worthwhile over the next week.
Otherwise, squid will continue to dominate captures around the peninsula and barrel tuna should still be available offshore.