BY BRIAN LONG
VARIABLE conditions forced anglers to work hard for fish over the past week.
Many anglers spent the first full weekend of the cod season at Lake Mulwala and on the Edwards River. Both locations produced reasonable numbers of cod and yellowbelly.
Stan Hicks caught five cod at Mulwala on local shrimp. Only two of his fish were size but the biggest was a beauty of 89cm.
Renowned travelling outfit Bendigo Legion Angling Club visited the Edwards River where James Harvey landed the best fish, a 77cm specimen also taken on shrimp.
Closer to home, Lismore’s Lake Tooliorook again produced trout over 2kg on bait and lure. Mudeye was the hot bait and Daiwa Double Clutch also proved their worth again.
Ballarat’s Lake Wendouree produced trout late in the evenings on mudeye-pattern flie. During the day the fly to use is a small brown or pheasant tail nymph.
Bait anglers need only mudeyes suspended around a 1m under a bubble float.
Recent rain should leave the Barwon River high and discoloured to well after Christmas but the redfin should really fire up as the water clears.
Surf anglers hit the rock platforms between Lorne and Apollo Bay in perfect conditions last weekend. Bait anglers struggled but lure-casters had plenty of fun on the salmon.
Most of the fish were generally between 600g and 900g but were at least in big numbers.
Black Rock produced snapper and whiting just on dark.
Swan Bay’s entrance fished well for a variety of species. Squid, flathead and garfish dominated but a number of gummy sharks were also taken, along with a couple of big tailor.
Glenn Sharp cast soft plastics from the shore between St Leonards and Edwards Point for a catch of five flathead to 65cm.
Whiting captures continued to improve, with many anglers catching bag limits last weekend and others who struggled a little still being rewarded with exceptional quality fish. Some of the best bags were taken after dark in Lonsdale Bight on fresh squid.
Snapper were caught on bait and lure from Point Lillias to Point Wilson. After dark was best, especially with fresh pilchards.
Shaun Jennings trolled last Saturday when he soon had a strike on his Rapala Taildancer, boating a 3kg snapper. Over the next two hours he caught another three fish of a similar size.
Grant Peterson tried spinning at North Shore rocks where he caught any number of small pike on soft plastics. The bigger fish turned up just on dark, with Grant landing three around 1m.
Queenscliff’s cut remained consistent for trevally. Bait worked okay but anglers using soft plastics had the best results, especially when fishing turtleback worms, curl-tail grubs and Swing Impact Grubs an hour either side of high or low tide.
Gummy shark captures continued to improve, with many of the best reports coming from off St Leonards after dark. Cured eel has been a top bait but fresh squid has also been effective.
Land-based anglers seeking gummies should try Collendina Beach after dark. The high tides are best, while light onshore southerly winds also seem to improve the results.
This weekend’s high tides should be ideal for chasing snapper either on soft plastics or by trolling. Try fishing the outer-harbour between Bird Rock and the quarries.
Plenty of freshwater options are available but Lake Wendouree will probably be the best bet. Use mudeye if fishing bait, while lure and fly will work well late in the afternoon and into the evenings.
Send reports and photos to info@raylongtackle.com.au or visit Brian at Ray Long’s Fishing World, 105 Shannon Ave, Manifold Heights.
