On the Bite, by Chris Pitman
Anglers did not waste one second of the nice weather over the Easter break with a spectacular variety of fish on offer.
Corio Bay’s inner-harbour was a fantastic location for pinkie snapper to 45cm along with flathead on soft plastics or pilchard fillets. Locations like the rocks at Limeburner’s Point boat ramp and Cunningham Pier were the most productive.
The fishing was also sensational at Clifton Springs where plenty of squid were taken between the boat ramp and down toward Hermsley Rd in 3m to 4m of water ideal. The jigs of choice were a size three in a white colouration.
Out just a touch deeper in 6m whiting snapped up pippies, with anglers finding bag limit captures possible. Also, drifting near the channel was a sure bet for securing a feed of flathead.
Whiting were also prolific off St Leonards in the area called Bourke St. In a little closer over the weed beds some thumping big squid were on the chew, especially for anglers fishing size 3.5 jigs on the last of the run-in tide.
Trelly’s Geelong’s Kevin Hunter was among anglers snagged a few squid at St Leonards on Saturday.
Swan Bay’s channel produced flathead, pinkies, silver trevally and garfish on the run-in tide.
Kingfish were still present in The Rip for anglers fishing the right times. Jigging or fishing fresh squid baits accounted for fish around 10kg.
Anglers also reported tuna popping up at times.
Some impressive captures were recorded offshore, with Peri Stavropoulos dropping a bait down in 30m out from Barwon Heads to boat a 16kg gummy shark.
Gone Fishing Charter’s Chris Vasilevski ventured out a little further, guiding his clients onto an awesome mako shark that gave them a run for their money.
Elephant fish finally appeared in the Barwon River estuary.
Daniel Baden and I spent a few hours fishing the estuary during Monday afternoon’s run-in tide, catching some elephants on fresh squid and pilchard baits. The bite time was small but some impressive silver trevally to 40cm made up for the wait.
Down the coast, spinning for Australian salmon was very effective as numerous fish hit the beaches.
The coast’s small estuary systems produced bream on scrub worm baits or Z-Man motor oil 2.5” Grubz.
Freshwater fishos found Lake Purrumbete fishing well for a mixed bag. Brown and rainbow trout were boated, although not always trophy fish, while redfin were taken in large numbers once a school was located.
Next door, Lake Bullen Merri was fishing okay for Chinook salmon and rainbow trout. Trolling hard-body lures on a drop weight clip was the most effective technique.
Closer to home, the Barwon River was still the place to target redfin on small hard-body lures. The Queen’s Park area around structure was an ideal place to start.
Next week’s forecast calm conditions should be ideal for making the offshore fishing to give the kingfish one last crack or maybe drop a bait for a gummy shark. The Barwon estuary will be the place to cross paths with elephant fish, while casting a line off the rocks at the new Portarlington Harbour should put anglers in with a shot of catching whiting or pinkies.
