On the Bite, by Chris Pitman
Anglers ducked for cover from gale-force winds again over the past week.
Locations like the Queenscliff harbour provided cover for anglers to bag fantastic numbers of pinkie snapper to 2kg along with some impressive silver trevally to 45cm.
Casting cut pilchards on the run-in tide from the entrance of the harbour worked well, as did soft plastics rigged on heavy jig heads, while squid were caught on 2.5 jigs on slack tide.
Clifton Springs produced snapper to 7kg for persistent anglers.
The Point Richards channel was a great place to start but snapper were also encountered on the spoil grounds to the north and also around Alcoa Pier.
Barry Wood was back at it again off Indented Heads. Drifting slowly, he boated five nice-sized flathead using bluebait.
Further around the peninsula, the Barwon River estuary fished well for mullet, salmon, whiting and trevally.
Anglers fishing from the sand toward the mouth achieved the best results, especially on pippies and a lightly weighted running sinker rigs.
Peri and Michael Stavropoulos and I launched from St Leonards and travelled over to Mornington on Saturday afternoon to pitch bait for snapper. Peri soon caught a 7kg fish, another snapper of 5kg was caught shortly afterward and a seal snatched Mick’s much larger specimen as the net went into the water.
Down the western district, bream and estuary perch began appearing again down the lower reaches of the Hopkins River. Both bait and lure accounted for fish.
Freshwater anglers kept boating brown trout from Lake Purrumbete while trolling Daiwa Double Clutch lures along the east bank at first or last light.
Lake Bullen Merri gave up the odd Chinook salmon on trolled lures and lightly weighted pilchard fillets.
Land-based anglers caught redfin to 40cm at Wurdee Boluc Reservoir on lures with some weight behind them, such as Norries Wasabys.
Fisheries have begun a fantastic stocking effort after the recent rains to replenish waterways such as Lake Bolac, Deep Lake and Lake Toolirook just to name a few, so anglers should keep them in mind for coming months.
This Sunday’s Gone Fishing Day will offer a free fishing workshop near Geelong’s waterfront Carousel between 9am and 3pm.
Other activities will include a Fisheries discovery trailer, casting practice and more.
Next week’s hopefully improved weather should make Clifton Springs and the deeper water off Portarlington worth a shot for snapper, while Queenscliff Harbour should have pinkies and trevally on the chew. Freshwater anglers could try Wurdee Boluc, which should fire up any time now.
