On the Bite, by Adam Van der Lugt
Corio Bay’s inner-harbour hosted fantastic fishing again over the past week.
Tailor made an appearance, with anglers targeting Australian salmon catching them in great numbers all the way between Western and Eastern beaches. Both species respond well to baitfish-imitation soft plastics or metal casting lures.
Pinkies were also abundant in close, some pushing 60cm. Soft plastics fished deep was the preferred method, although bluebait and pilchards also snagged fish.
Garfish also fired up in the bay, with many anglers bagging out on big specimens. A good burley trail was a must for keeping schools in the area, with land-based anglers favouring St Helens and Limeburner’s Point boat ramp.
Clifton Springs’ whiting fishing improved on the last few weeks given some good reports of fish taken on pippie and squid. Whiting were also present at St Leonards and Queenscliff, along with squid.
Fishing offshore between Barwon Heads and Torquay was fantastic for small snapper. Knife jigs of 40g to 80g and octo-jigs resulted in some great captures in 30m to 50m of water, which also provided a good chance of some tiger flathead.
Anglers using baits such as salmon or trevally fillet offshore caught gummy sharks.
Tuna were still caught when weather permitted from Portland to Apollo Bay and sometimes even as close as Lorne. From all accounts the fish appear to be out near the shelf.
On the freshwater front, Wurdiboluc Reservoir produced trout caught on metal casting spoons. Sonnie Hovey landed a nice brown trout while casting a Paco spoon from the bank, while other anglers caught number of good-size redfin.
Anglers wanting to catch a trout in a stream or river have until midnight on Monday, when the season comes to a close. The patchy rain and cooler conditions have really had a positive effect on the small Otway trout streams but we will only have this weekend to make the most of it.
The fish are biting well and will happily attack any small, shallow-diving minnow lure in most of the rivers from Lorne around to Aire River.
