On the Bite, by Chris Pitman
Anglers had a taste of winter-like conditions on Corio Bay over the past week, but braving the cold paid off as pinkie snapper took soft plastics right along Geelong’s waterfront.
Land-based anglers also caught pinkies at St Helens, while the entrance to the grammar school lagoon produced flathead, pinkies, Australian salmon along with the odd bream.
Squid dominated reports from Clifton Springs, with few big specimens but bag-limit captures taken in quick time. Small 2.5-sized jigs in the colourations worked a treat.
Gummy sharks were a viable target across the Bellarine Peninsula, with water of 12m or more productive.
St Leonards remained the peninsula’s whiting capital. Bag-limit captures were regularly achieved on pippie and tenderised squid baits.
Queenscliff Harbour provided reasonable fishing for silver trevally on bait and lure. Land-based anglers also captured the odd whiting fishing the harbour entrance.
Surf Coast beaches produced salmon to just over 2kg on bluebait and lures. Bancoora Beach was a standout, while rock platforms either side of Lorne also fished well on the run-in tide.
The recent flush of Surf Coast estuaries combined with large tides to offer good bream fishing. Zman Grubz rigged on light jig heads got the job done, as did fresh live baits.
Portland had school tuna again on the chew. Trolling skirted lures around birds working bait helped anglers catch fish reaching 20kg.
Gone Fishing Charters’ Chris Vasilevski again guided his clients onto tuna out from Portland, where skirted Pakula lures worked well.
Big rains paid off for freshwater anglers, with most lakes producing the goods.
Stoney Creek continued fishing well for anglers who cast lures to catch brown trout to just over 1kg along with redfin to 40cm. Fly anglers were also successful, with brown nymphs catching brown and rainbow trout.
Lake Purrumbete again produced huge Chinook salmon along with some trophy brown trout. Trolling Tassie Devils and hard-body lures like Daiwa Double Clutches along the east bank at first light was particularly effective.
Next door, Lake Bullen Merri again had numerous Chinook salmon to 1kg along with rainbow trout of the same size for anglers fishing bluebait allowed to drift slowly down a berley trail.
Next week should provide opportunities to fish for whiting and squid over at the grass beds at Queenscliff, while spinning Surf Coast beaches for salmon should also be worthwhile. Freshwater fishos could head to Lake Bullen Merri for some fast-paced action on rainbow trout and Chinook salmon.
