On the Bite, by Chris Pitman
Business on St Leonards’ ‘Bourke St’ began picking up last week.
King George whiting numbers impressed anglers, with pippies and fresh squid baits working best. Whiting to 44cm were taken, with the average size around 36cm.
Squid were holding over in 3m to 5m over nearby weed beds. Size 3 jigs worked well.
Clifton Springs’ snapper action was still fickle. Lightly rigged pilchards fished on a tide change accounted for fish to 6kg taken along Wilson Spit.
Trelly’s Fishing World Geelong’s Adam Van Der Lugt fished Corio Bay’s inner-harbour with soft plastics on Monday morning. He boated snapper to 60cm and almost 3kg around the jetties near St Helens, along with bream to 35cm.
Queenscliff really turned on the big squid, with anglers fishing baited jigs deep boating specimens to 2kg.
Gummy sharks remained busy offshore, with anglers doing well on Australian salmon baits fished in 30m to 40m. The odd snapper were also taken in similar areas.
Freshwater fishos casting lures at Deep Lake landed a mix of brown and rainbow trout to 2kg. White Tassie Devils worked best, although Powerbait on running sinker rigs also caught fish.
Lake Elignmite had excellent trout for patient anglers. Tassie Devils were again a good choice of lure.
Highton’s St Augustines Water Holes had plenty of rainbow trout which were released for school holidays. Powerbait and Rapala F-5s should get the job done.
Next week’s rising water temperatures should see the gummies continue biting offshore, while Queenscliff Bight will continue producing thumping squid. Freshwater anglers could try Lake Purrumbete for monster brown trout.
