This year’s snapper season is going down as one of the most remarkable of recent times as anglers achieve results with new techniques.
Colin Smith drifted along the channel edges off Clifton Springs with sabiki rigs to catch silver whiting for bait last Friday.
After catching a couple he anchored up and soon caught a chunky 88cm snapper.
Peter and Janice Clifton fished the same area on Sunday afternoon, boating a two-kilogram snapper on a set-up intended for whiting.
Their fish had ignored four other rods which were all intended for snapper.
Calm conditions also tempted Duane Tribe to fish off Clifton Springs.
He drifted the grass beds in three metres while casting artificial jigs, catching his bag-limit of squid.
Anglers fishing Swan Bay’s channel entrance encountered pinkie snapper, gummy sharks and silver trevally.
Fishing into the night led to catches of each species in large numbers.
Queenscliff was again hot for big squid.
Bell Reef and the Bight were best, with the average squid 2.5kg.
Those who fished at first light achieved the best results with the squid sometimes jig-shy amid large numbers of boats working the same ground.
I fished the change of tide on the Barwon River estuary on Monday morning, boating a 93cm mulloway and silver trevally of 40cm.
The cleaner run-in water really fired up the fish.
Offshore from Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads, snapper and gummy shark were caught in 40m-plus. Fresh squid did the trick, with tide changes also helping.
Australian salmon were caught from the rock platforms west of Lorne. Some reached 2kg and were keen to hit metal slugs.
On the freshwater front, anglers caught brown trout to 2kg at Lake Purrumbete while trolling hard-body lures.
Small redfin remained a nuisance but were available in big enough numbers for a feed.
Wurdee Boluc Reservoir lived up to its reputation as the ‘The Lake of 1000 Casts’, with only small numbers of redfin banked.
However, the few fish landed averaged 45cm and were mostly taken on Fish Arrow soft plastics used with heavy jig heads.
Lake Eildon’s yellow belly kept visiting anglers such as Darren Wloch busy.
Fishing the Deletite Arm, he boated a 65cm fish and noted they were falling for most tactics and schooling in large numbers.
In the state’s northwest, Lake Toolondo continued producing trophy brown trout on live mudeye and shallow-diving hard-body lures.
Anglers worked their lures and bait among the many submerged trees along the lake margins.
Next week, anglers should focus on Clifton Springs as snapper season reaches its peak. Try something different and micro-jig the deeper water.
Queenscliff should continue to give up large squid while salmon might be spotted feeding on the surface at the start of the outgoing tide.
Freshwater anglers should persist with the east bank of Lake Purrumbete at first light.
