On the Bite, by Chris Pitman
Snapper fever has started to take hold on local anglers, with the species’ annual influx into Corio and Port Phillip bays just around the corner.
A few keen anglers have found a fix close to home on Corio Bay over the past week when schools of large snapper congregated near the old Yarra Street Pier.
Anglers fishing from boats marked snapper on their sounders then either anchored up and pitched baits or cast soft plastics to marked fish.
Both tactics were successful on fish to over 7kg.
The most exciting news was that land-based anglers also got in on the action.
The waterfront section of Yarra Street hosted all the action, with pilchard baits the most effective method for land-based anglers.
Squid remained plentiful for angler who drifted near the Clifton Springs Dell in 3m to 4m with size 3 jigs in a white colouration.
Bag limit captures of squid were common last week, especially when the wind eased enough to allow a nice slow.
Whiting were also still available in the area, with fish average 35cm taking pippie baits.
Queenscliff Harbour was another good option for land-based anglers.
Silver trevally and Australian salmon to 1kg were taken in the cut on soft plastics like Gulp Turtleback worms or Z-Man 2.5” grubs on a 1/6oz jig head fished around a change of tide.
The Barwon River estuary provided plenty of juvenile salmon, mullet and whiting for anglers fishing small pieces of prawn and pippie.
Local surf reaches really fired up with salmon to 2kg inhaling lures. The usual locations fished well while fishing a run-in tide on sunset tending to produce the greater numbers of salmon.
Southern bluefin tuna were still on the cards off Port Fairy. Casting small stick bait lures into the surface commotion resulted in fish, while trolling hard body lures around patches of working birds was also productive.
Lake Purrumbete continued cementing its reputation as a trophy brown trout fishery.
Almost every day in the past week a brown trout over 4kg was captured.
Trolling the east bank at first or last light was definitely a standout approach while casting also worked but required anglers to put in plenty of time.
Bait fishing for salmon still got results with Tackleworld Geelong’s Kevin Hunter taking a 3.36kg Chinook salmon from Purrumbete on 1kg line.
Next door at Bullen Merri the going was a bit tougher, with a few rainbow trout to 1.5kg taken on the troll.
Wurdee Boluc Reservoir was also a challenge with only the odd redfin to 40cm landed.
Next week could present options on Geelong’s waterfront for snapper while surf anglers should continue catching salmon on the beaches at high tide.
Lake Purrumbete should be an ideal freshwater destination, with persistence required to take quality rather than numbers of fish.
