On the Bite, by Chris Pitman
Anglers found mixed bags of quality flathead, pinkies, pike and whiting off Clifton Springs last week.
The Curlewis Bank fired, producing most of the species and with some of the flatties over 50cm.
Fishing near the nearby mussel beds was also a great option, with some more thumping big flathead and whiting snapping up baits.
The reef and weed patches between Indented Heads and St Leonards fished well for squid. Casting artificial jigs worked, with bag-limit captures reported.
The Indented Heads boat ramp jetty was a hot spot for squid on calm nights, while the Bourke St area just out from St Leonards’ yacht club produced nice-sized whiting to 40cm on pippies or tenderised squid baits.
The deeper water gave up gummy sharks to 6kg on fresh squid bait or pilchards. Swan Bay’s channel also fished well for gummies on the incoming tides.
The Rip produced some seriously big kingfish to more than 1m for anglers either live-baiting or jigging with knife jigs. Gone Fishing Charters’ Chris Vasilevski guided clients onto some outstanding kings as well as tuna.
Huge Australian salmon continued erupting on the surface in feeding frenzies, taking lures indented for kingfish or tuna.
Offshore, anglers tangled with kings averaging 6kg in the area from the back of Point Lonsdale to Barwon Heads. Trolling white occy skirts with a squid strip on the end was a great way to cover ground and find feeding fish.
The Barwon River estuary was a great place to fish land-based, with lots of smaller-model salmon, whiting and mullet devouring prawns fished on running sinker rigs. Mulloway were about for anglers prepared to play the waiting game with fresh baits.
Heading west, Steve and Ross Threlfall, from Trelly’s Fishing World, did well fishing at Nelson on the Glenelg River. The guys caught well-conditioned bream and estuary perch.
On the freshwater front, lakes Purrumbete and Bullen Merri went from strength to strength. Large Chinook salmon over 60cm were taken from both lakes by anglers who anchored up and fished pilchard fillets amongst berley trails.
Trophy brown trout still made an appearance at Purrumbete, where downrigging Tassie Devils was the key to success.
Numerous redfin were also taken at Purrumbete on jigs and soft plastics.
The Barwon River from Buckley Falls to Breakwater produced some serious carp and redfin. Casting small hard-body lures such as Atomic Shads in colour #17 worked well on reddies to 35cm, while mud marlins to almost 8kg took corn fished on running sinker rigs.
Next week might be worth fishing for snapper off Clifton Springs as they make another run, although the kingfish will be hard to pass up in The Rip or off Point Lonsdale. Freshwater anglers should head west for trophy trout and salmon at Purrumbete and Bullen Merri.
