Fish fever rising

HOARD of anglers flocked to the waters of Port Phillip Bay over the past week as snapper fever set in.
Clifton Springs remained one of the best locations, producing fish to 8kg.
Among successful anglers have been Chris Campbell with a snapper around 6kg and Josh Maloney who boated an excellent early-season fish of 4kg.
Fresh bait such as squid and salmon have been the bait of choice. Great numbers of squid have been holding over the shallow grass beds in the area, making it worthwhile putting in some time gathering bait before heading out on the snapper.
Anglers fishing the spoil grounds further down toward Leopold caught pinkie snapper and pike. Some of the pike were 80cm and taken on trolled white hard-body lures and three-inch Gulp minnows.
Corio Bay continued fishing well after strong northerlies last week. Anglers fishing land-based encountered pinkies and silver trevally in close around structure.
Casting lightly-weighted soft plastics was the undoing of these weary fish.
Anglers who found a break in the windy conditions last week caught squid to 1.5kg off St Leonards. David Lee cast Yamashita jigs from the pier for a catch of squid to 1kg.
Other anglers caught reasonable numbers of whiting spread from Indented heads trough to the mouth of Swan Bay.
Swan Bay also produced Australian salmon and pike on soft plastics casted along the channel edges. Some of the salmon pushed 2kg, while some of the pike reached 90cm.
Anglers anchored up and fishing into the night caught snapper to 55cm and gummy sharks to 6kg on fresh squid baits.
Queenscliff remained productive for big squid. Anglers drifting out wide from the bight with larger jigs and fishing deeper caught squid to 3kg.
The harbour at Queenscliff produced pinkie snapper and trevally on soft plastics such as Gulp Turtleback worms fished on the tide changes.
Chris Scicluna and son Lockie ventured out off Barwon Heads on Saturday where they caught a school shark of 7.2kg as well as numerous pinks snapper and a 4kg gummy.
Anglers fishing the surf off Bancoora landed Australian salmon to 1.5kg. Spinning with 25g lures was best, especially in the strong northerlies.
On the freshwater front, Ballarat’s Lake Wendouree yielded brown and rainbow trout to 2kg for anglers either casting or trolling shallow-diving hard-body lures.
Other anglers had success on the browns while fishing mudeyes suspended under floats.
Moorabool Reservoir fished well for redfin to 1.5kg on Fish Arrow soft plastics. The odd large brown trout was also landed.
Reports have filtered through of a severe algae bloom at Lake Bullen Merri. Hopefully it clears up quickly so anglers can resume hunting the lake’s exceptional chinook salmon.
Clifton Springs should be again worth a shot for snapper out along the shipping channel and edges of the mussel beds this weekend. Casting soft plastics over the spoil grounds should be worthwhile for anglers seeking pike and snapper.
Freshwater enthusiasts might like to try Lake Wendouree, either casting or trolling shallow-diving hard-body lures for trout.