By Brian Long
Rough weather fired up the snapper over the past week, with St Leonards Pier firing.
Shane Davies and his family enjoyed success on the pier, with son Noah landing his first snapper in howling wind on Tuesday.
Mathew Knowles fished the pier after dark for a bag-limit of big fish, including an 8.3kg beauty. All his fish were caught on squid also taken from the pier.
Ahman Halwani fished in 18m off St Leonards where squid was also successful on snapper.
Troy Andrews fished all night last Saturday for a big snapper, catching fish throughout the darkness and bagging a 9.5kg monster on sunrise close to Wilson Spit.
Greg and Michael St James fished the anchorage in the centre of Corio Bay for five snapper better than 4kg each. Pilchard was their best bait.
Soft plastics anglers hooked up on quality fish, with Don Clements drifting various locations along Geelong’s waterfront for fish to 75cm on Gulp Turtleback worms during the run-off from high tide.
Troy Peterson drifted close to Bird Rock with soft plastics for a snapper just over 3kg. Troy said quality pike were also present.
Danny Clarkson fished Fishermen’s Pier late Sunday night when he hooked up a good fish, which appeared at the surface after a 15-minute battle. Unfortunately, Danny was without a landing net, so he had to get a little wet to retrieve the 5.3kg snapper.
Squid activity continues to increase in areas of clean water, with Hermsley to Portarlington best. Queenscliff Bight was also worthwhile, with many boats working the area.
Claude Marshall fished the beach at Breamlea for a bag of nine salmon around 1kg on small metal lures.
I hit the surf at Wye River where clean water produced plenty of salmon and barracouta, Many of the salmon were only around 600g but I also managed six over 1.5kg.
Freshwater anglers reported some great captures, with the lakes outperforming the discoloured rivers.
Ballarat’s Lake Wendouree produced fish on all methods, although fly and lure anglers enjoyed the best results.
Lake Purrumbete was ideal for trolling, with Daiwa Double Clutches and Tassie Devils on downriggers set at 8m to 10m successful.
Lake Bullen Merri produced plenty of small fish on Powerbait fished from the shore. Orange and pink were the favoured colours, with the best captures in the middle of the day.
Moorabool Reservoir was quiet but Grant Mitchell caught four fish including a brown trout over 2kg on small Rapala Minnows.
Paul Stevens landed a brown trout just over 2kg on the right hand corner of the wall at Wester Barwon Reservoir while using a holographic Tassie Devil. Three other fish followed his lure right to his feet but failed to take the lure.
Lake Tooliorook continued to be quiet but trout better than 3kg were still caught on mudeye fished shallow under a float.
Deep Lake remained discoloured and unproductive but should produce some big fish after encountering minimal pressure for almost a year.
The bays should be the best bet for snapper this weekend, with the midday high tides ideal. Land-based anglers should try plastics on the waterfront.
Trevally could also be worthwhile in Queenscliff’s cut on the run up to high tide with soft plastics or pilchard fillets.
Send reports and photos to info@raylongtackle.com.au or visit Brian at Ray Long’s Fishing World, 105 Shannon Ave, Manifold Heights.
