On the Bite, by Chris Pitman
Last week’s great weather spoiled anglers for choice, with a wide range of species caught.
Corio Bay presented little trouble for anglers seeking pinkie snapper around structures. The spoil grounds also fished well, too, around tide changes, with the odd pike to 80cm thrown into the mix.
Clifton Springs fired on all cylinders, with gentleman’s hours reportedly very productive on the snapper. The Point Richards channel from the bend through to the Alcoa area produced fish to more than 7kg on pilchard and silver whiting, especially around tide changes.
I ventured out to the spoil grounds out from Leopold with soft plastics on Saturday for a catch of pinkies.
Other anglers fishing from Clifton Springs also took excellent numbers of King George whiting on pippies along the Curlewis Bank.
Daniel Sparks fished the outer harbour early Sunday, catching some well-conditioned snapper on silver whiting.
Portarlington again allowed anglers to bank reasonable numbers of pinkie snapper from the new harbour. Squid and whiting were also taken.
The area out front of Swan Bay produced some bag-limit captures of whiting. The stronger tides returned the best results.
Monster squid kept entertained anglers drifting in the Queenscliff Bight. Fishing deep with large jigs was the key.
Peri and Michael Stavropoulos took a run out from St Leonards over to Mornington in search of snapper on Sunday afternoon. The drive paid off, with Peri boating a fish just over 6kg.
Local surf beaches fished well on incoming tides for Australian salmon to 2kg. Bait or lure worked well, with Bancoora Beach and the rock platforms either side of Lorne fishing best.
Portland hosted another run of southern bluefin tuna to over 100kg. Trolling skirted lures around bird activity caught fish, with some anglers reporting double hook-ups on huge tuna.
Freshwater anglers continued enjoying productive fishing in the region’s west. Lakes Bolac and Toolirook along with Deep Lake gave up brown and rainbow trout on trolled Tassie Devils.
Wurdee Boluc Reservoir produced a few redfin on soft plastics cast lengthy distances.
The Barwon River fished well for carp from Breakwater to Queen’s Park. The mud marlin devoured corn fished on light running sinker rigs.
Next week the snapper off Clifton Springs should be hard to pass up, while some massive gummy sharks could be an option in 30m offshore. Freshwater anglers could fish the Barwon River for redfin with small hard-body lures.
And don’t forget this Friday night’s Trelly’s Tackle Spectacular with a huge line-up of guest speakers and discounts at Geelong Marine World, 401-409 Portarlignton Road, Moolap.
