Many anglers spent the past week sourcing their own fresh seafood for Christmas.
Clifton Springs and Corio Bay were up to the task, producing snapper, squid, flathead and pike.
Justin Burns and Simon Williams fished the bay on Sunday when light wind allowed them to drift at a favourable pace while working soft plastics over sandy drop-offs.
Simon boated a well-conditioned rock flathead of 60cm.
I fished the north side of the Wilson Spit channel on Sunday morning.
After marking bait on the sounder I started casting soft plastics, catching flathead and pinkie snapper to 50cm, mostly in eight metres of water.
St Leonards’ deeper water fished well for snapper and gummy sharks.
Fresh squid or silver whiting did the trick, especially for anglers who began fishing before daybreak.
In closer, whiting really started to fire.
The area known as Bourke Street held the most fish.
Queenscliff’s Bell Reef produced reasonable numbers of large squid for land-based anglers venturing out on low tide to suspend artificial jigs under floats.
Counterparts drifting slowly in boats also had their fair share, including some bag-limit captures possible.
Point Lonsdale Pier provided large Australian salmon to 2.5kg on bait and lure during the last of the incoming tide.
Pilchard fillet baits and Sea Iron Pelacus lures worked well.
Ric Hedditch and daughter Chloe fished offshore from Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads on Sunday. Chloe soon boated a gummy shark which was estimated to be 20kg and the pair also dropped another of similar size and also caught three pinkies to 38cm.
Anglers spinning from Lorne Pier and rock platforms along the Surf Coast caught salmon to 2kg when the swell was down.
Long casts were not always necessary when schooled up salmon moved in close.
Freshwater anglers again found Wurdee Boluc Reservoir worth the time.
Brown trout over 2kg were landed on mudeyes under floats fished from the main rock wall, with late afternoon prime time as the trout moved in closer to feed on insects.
The odd big redfin was also caught following long casts with Fish Arrow soft plastics.
Ballarat’s Lake Wendouree gave up similar-sized brown trout, with shallow-running hard-body lures working at either end of the rowing lanes.
Anglers fishing from the bank enjoyed similar results, also taking the odd rainbow trout.
Cod dominated reports from Lake Eildon where yellowbelly were also boated.
The main rock wall was a top spot with the more-remote arms fishing well for larger fish on spinnerbaits and hard-body lures.
The Barwon River produced plenty of redfin to 800g on small hard-body lures fished around the section behind Landy Field.
Next week’s warm, calm conditions could be ideal for kingfish offshore with reports of catches beginning. Otherwise, snapper should be present in the deeper sections of the bay while freshwater anglers should try the Barwon River around Geelong or Wurdee Boluc for redfin on lures.
