Ideal conditions over the weekend provided plenty of opportunities for local anglers.
Australian salmon were caught on Corio Bay around Cunningham Pier and toward Western Beach as they erupted on the surface while feeding. Although not the largest specimens, they provided great sport on light tackle.
Pinkie snapper remained schooled up in tight against structure in deeper water, with slowly sinking soft plastics catching fish to 45cm.
Clifton Springs continued fishing well for squid in good numbers and sizes. Peri and Michael Stavropolus and Damien Raven found a dense school while drifting slowly over the grass beds in 4m to 5m, boating 30 squid to 1kg on size 3 jibs.
Other anglers reported similar catches around the same depth.
Whiting were caught in 7m to 8m out from the old Dell on pippie and squid baits.
Deeper water off St Leonards and further south toward Mud Island produced gummy shark on fresh squid. Anglers fishing offshore from Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads caught snapper and gummies. Water around 20m to 40m was productive, especially around tide changes.
Bancoora Beach was a standout for surf fishing, with large schools of salmon over 1kg taking lures. Jan Juc also yielded salmon but the rock platforms around Lorne were better.
Tony Hynds travelled down to the Hopkins River, which was low and discoloured. Tony found bream holding around the bridge near the entrance, catching eight while casing small vibes and Cranka Crabs.
The odd Hopkins estuary perch was also banked by anglers targeting bream.
Southern bluefin tuna were boated in 55m or deeper between Port Fairy and Portland.
Tackleworld Geelong’s Michael Moore began fishing Lake Purrumbete before dawn on Monday morning after putting in numerous hours during recent week trolling the margins for trophy trout. Finally Michael boated a brown trout of 4.4kg on a Rapala F7 Spotted Dog lure after a spectacular fight on the east bank.
Kevin Hunter and Jimmy Robinson also fished Purrumbete but with different tactic: lightly weighted pilchard fillets. Jimmy boated an impressive 4.2kg Chinook salmon that gave him a run for his money on 1kg line.
Next Week should provide options to spin local beaches for salmon, target squid and whiting off Clifton Springs or hit the road for tuna down the coast. Freshwater anglers could do well at the crater lakes where some seriously big fish have been coming from the depths.
