On the Bite, by Chris Pitman
With snapper season in full swing, Clifton Springs was a solid choice last week.
Anglers anchored up just out from the Point Richards Channel boated well-conditioned fish to 7kg. Silver whiting was the standout bait.
Pike numbers were well up on the nearby spoil grounds, with anglers casting plastics or trolling lures in 5m to 6m, boating fish to 80cm. The same area also produced pinkie snapper and flathead to 45cm.
Whiting were widespread along the Bellarine Peninsula, with anglers taking bag-limit captures when fishing into the evening. The key was finding the right ground, which was mostly water of 4m to 5m with a mixture of weed and sand bottom.
Swan Bay was the place for pinkie snapper to 2kg on soft plastics and bait. The run-in tide was best due to the reduced amount of floating weed.
Anglers fishing Swan Bay into the night boated gummy shark to 8kg. Tough baits such as eel worked well.
Queenscliff Pier was a hot spot for large squid. Long casts with 3.5-size artificial jigs worked best.
A similar approach was also productive on Bell Reef, just around the corner.
Queenscliff Harbour continued to fish well for pinkies.
The Barwon River estuary had no shortage of smaller King George whiting, salmon and mullet. Small amounts of pippie or prawn on a running sinker rig were ideal.
Anglers who put in the hard yards on the estuary boated mulloway to almost 1m.
Offshore anglers again enjoyed success on snapper and gummy sharks in 30m, with fish holding from Point Lonsdale to Torquay. Trelly’s Geelong’s Kevin Hunter caught and released a magnificent blue devil fish taken as bycatch.
The western estuaries offered plenty of bream, with a wide range of lures and tactics successful. Curdies River had reasonable numbers of bream on the chew when the traffic on the water was light.
Trout fishing continued going from strength to strength despite the warming weather. All Western District lakes continued producing brown and rainbow trout.
Trolling Tassie Devils in pink #55 with assist hooks was the best approach. Some fish reached almost 3kg and the average was nearly 2kg.
Lake Purrumbete fished well for anglers using either mudeye under a float or down-rigged lures. A mixture of rainbow and brown trout and redfin were boated.
Redfin were also taken from the Barwon River around Queen’s Park. Walking the banks and casting small hard-body lures helped anglers grass reddies averaging 30cm.
Next week should provide opportunities for targeting a wide range of species on the spoil grounds off Clifton Springs with soft plastics. Freshwater fishos could keep heading west for trout at the Lakes Bolac and Tooliorook and Deep Lake.
