Corio Bay continued providing a wide variety of fish over the past week.
Large schools of Australian salmon erupted on the surface at times, taking soft plastics cast into the commotion. Some of the fish reached 1.5kg.
Other anglers had success on the bay’s pinkie snapper and flathead while casting soft plastics in tight around structures.
Stephen Goodfellow ventured out from Point Richards in ideal conditions on Monday to boat a 5.5kg snapper.
St Leonards was popular over the Anzac Day long weekend, with bag-limit captures possible any time of the day. Jacob Smith and I fished in 5m a little south of the yacht club later Saturday afternoon for a catch of 32 whiting to 42cm in a one-hour session.
Squid were caught at the mouth of Swan Bay. Specimens to 1kg took size three jigs worked down deep.
Garfish were also biting, especially on the whiting grounds off St Leonards.
The Barwon River estuary still held limited numbers of elephant fish. Anglers fishing the slack tide in the upper reaches enjoyed the best results.
Plenty of juvenile whiting, salmon, mullet and trevally also kept anglers busy on the estuary over the long weekend, with prawns and pippies dynamite baits.
Gummy sharks and snapper held in reasonable numbers off Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads. Large baits such as fish fillet or squid caught gummies to 14kg, while some thumping salmon were taken on metal slugs cast into schools feeding on the surface.
Anglers who spun from rock platforms down the coast banked fantastic numbers of salmon, with the fish at times moving in tight to the rocks. Sea Iron lures worked well due to their robust finish.
Portland and Port Fairy attracted plenty of attention over the long weekend, with southern bluefin tuna in excellent numbers in water from 40m out to the shelf.
Small skirted lures were ideal on the tuna in close, along with Rapala X-raps.
Wurdee Boluc Reservoir again dominated freshwater fishing. John Stojanovski caught a 48.5cm redfin while casting hard-body lures from the rock wall, while Josh Whitford caught a fat 40cm rainbow trout with a similar method.
Bradley Cox worked the lake margins last Friday for a catch of six redfin to 35cm while slowly working plastics along the edges of weed beds.
Josh Smith fished Shepparton with purple spinnerbaits from his kayak, catching numerous Murray cod to 62cm and yellowbelly to 45cm.
Next week should be worth fishing for whiting at St Leonards, while freshwater anglers persisting with Wurdee Boluc could land trout and redfin.
