CALM conditions over the weekend enticed many anglers to chase large squid off Queenscliff.
Fishing World Geelong’s Michael Moore cast a Gan Craft Kurosio Sunset jig in size 3 for a bag of eight squid to 1.5kg. Michael noted that aggressively working the jib yielded the best results.
Other anglers fishing Queenscliff caught King George whiting to 45cm with pippies and tenderized squid on the grass beds to the left of the harbour.
Anglers fishing soft plastics inside the harbour landed silver trevally to 40cm on the tide changes. Dylan Pace and Matt Alsop caught both trevally and Australian salmon with Z-Man plastics.
Daniel Baden and I set out from St Leonards in search of squid on Saturday afternoon. We motored over to the mouth of Swan Bay where we quickly caught a bag of squid on white Shimano 14T jigs in size 2.5.
I saw other anglers catching whiting just out from the boat ramp, although smaller than the fish at Queenscliff.
Some huge gummy shark to 21kg were also taken off St Leonards recently on fresh squid.
Portarlington Pier produced Australian salmon for anglers casting 25g metal slugs. Squid were caught at night around the pier lights.
Calm nights allowed anglers to wade the shallows off Clifton Springs and Portarlington for flathead, flounder and many other species. The flathead were quiet but flounder were plentiful.
Geelong’s waterfront produced pinkie snapper to 50cm on Gulp turtleback worms. Western Beach moorings held the best-sized schools, with the key to success sounding around to locate the fish then drifting over the area with soft plastic lures bumping off the bottom.
Bream were caught in the grammar school lagoon on vibe lures fished under the moored boats.
Conditions were excellent along the Surf Coast where Australian salmon reaching 2kg were taken while spinning the beaches.
Anglers chasing bream in the small estuaries caught fish to 40cm on hard-body lures and bass yabbies.
Local lakes also fished well in the calm conditions.
Anglers trolling deep at Lake Bullen Merri boated excellent-sized chinook salmon to 2.2kg. Trolling at 15m to 20m was apparently more effective than fishing bait, especially with larger lures such as the Rapala F-9s.
The chinook were smaller next door at Lake Purrumbete, averaging 1kg but readably available for anglers fishing deep with pilchard fillets amid a liberal berley trail.
Brown trout were also caught while trolling early morning or fishing mudeye suspended under a float.
Moorabool Reservoir produced some trophy-sized redfin. Successful anglers had to work hard for their catches, some up to 45cm.
Fish Arrow soft plastics used on a heavy jig head to assist in covering distance were effective.
Don Munro headed up to Lake Bostock to try his luck on the chinook salmon last Friday afternoon. Don started casting brightly coloured Tassie Devils, catching a chinook of 675g and another of 560g.
The water level was low but the lake continued to fish well.
Down the coast, the Merri and Hopkins rivers fished extremely well for trout in their upper reaches. With anglers landing brown trout over 2kg, both might be worth the long drive over the weekend.
