Anglers reel in big pair of gummies

FISHY CATCH: Brad Apps reels in a pinkie snapper.

Sam Pitman and Jimmy Syrigis headed out during the week in search of gummy sharks and managed a quality pair, with the biggest weighing 17kg.

While fishing out from St Leonards at first light, they used squid and slimy mackerel as bait.

Gummy shark were also a popular target fish off shore with Barwon Heads producing sharks in around 40m of water.

Pinkie snapper and flathead continued to bite this week at Eastern Beach with boat anglers finding good numbers of fish between the promenade and Royal Geelong Yacht Club.

Fishing in 3m of water anglers caught fish on both soft plastics and bluebait. Pinkies up to 50cm can be expected as well as flathead and bream in the same area.

Grammar School Lagoon provided great flathead fishing with one angler reporting a dozen fish caught to 55cm while using bluebait at anchor.

The Lagoon is also worth considering for kayak anglers and smaller boats as it can provide some cover from wind compared to the rest of the bay.

Queenscliff boat harbour and ‘the cut’ are back on the radar this week with silver trevally and salmon on the bite.

Fishing a high tide with soft plastics produced good bags of fish with some anglers reporting having better luck after dark.

Portland offered school and barrel tuna as well as dolphin fish.

Fishing off the shelf in particular around the ‘horse shoe’ saw dolphin fish and school tuna caught on small skirted lures, while the bigger tuna were typically caught closer to shore in around 50m of water, taking skirted lures around 9 inches with redbait colour also being a favourite.

Port Fairy also hosted great tuna fishing mostly for school fish.

Goulburn River around Thornton offered easy access to the river’s edge where trout to over 1kg could be expected.

Casting lures like the Rapala F7 or Atomic jerk minnow has been quite effective on both rainbow and brown trout, while only a short drive to Eildon pondage produced trout on Powerbait.