On the Bite, by Chris Pitman
Corio Bay provided anglers with many different options last week.
Geelong’s waterfront hosted anglers casting soft plastics in tight around structure for pinkie snapper and flathead along with the odd Australian salmon to almost 1kg.
On the Bellarine Peninsula, Indented Heads produced reasonable squid catches along with good numbers of whiting. First and last light was peak bite time for whiting over the past couple of weeks, particularly for the larger fish.
Tenderised squid and pippie baits did the trick again, with garfish also a viable option over the grassy sections of water in 4m to 5m.
Queenscliff Harbour remained solid for silver trevally on both bait and lure. Soft plastic anglers had success with worm-style plastics rigged on jig heads heavy enough to bump the bottom effectively.
Kingfish fever continued raging in The Rip where jigging with 150g knife jigs got or trolling freshly caught squid worked well on fish to 8kg.
Supplies of fresh squid were found while casting or drifting with artificial jigs around the entrance to Swan Bay or in Queenscliff Bight.
Trelly’s Geelong’s Adam Van Der Lugt spent an hour or two chasing bream down at Queenscliff where he tangled with a solid fish of 47cm.
Inside the Barwon River estuary, land-based anglers banked salmon, whiting and trevally between the bridge and the Sheepwash. Small pieces of prawn did the trick.
Offshore from Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads, anglers had success on both sharks and kingfish. Trolling with X-Rap lures behind the back of Point Lonsdale was a great tactic on the kings, while also successful were anglers who sounded up schools of fish on reef areas before deploying knife jigs.
Gone Fishing Charters’ Chris Vasilevski had a ball putting his clients onto some fast-paced shark fishing. Makos to 35kg were not too hard to come by on the drift, with numerous sharks boated in the one outing.
Land-based anglers fishing for salmon along the Surf Coast caught fish to 1.5kg while casting lures from the rock platforms and beaches. The higher incoming tides fished best.
Freshwater fishos enjoyed exceptional fishing for redfin at Lake Purrumbete. The size was limited to around 25cm but the sheer numbers of reddies made for great fun.
Wurdi Boluc Reservoir, ‘The Lake of 1000 Casts’, also produced plenty of redfin similarly sized to the catches at Purrumbete the size is not quite there. The larger models for which the reservoir is renowned should appear over the next few months.
Carp kept anglers entertained along the Barwon River from Breakwater to Queen’s Park. Super-sweet corn kernels rigged on light running sinker rigs were effective on fish the 6kg.
Next week should present opportunities to target kingfish, likely to hang around for another month or two yet. Otherwise, whiting will be an option in 5m to 6m out from St Leonards’ yacht club at first or last light, the Barwon estuary should begin firing up with elephant fish, and freshwater enthusiast could try Wurdi Boluc for redfin.
