On the Bite, by Chris Pitman
Last week’s long weekend gave anglers plenty of opportunity to wet a line.
St Leonard’s drew the attention of many boats chasing whiting and squid. The Bourke Street area produced plenty of whiting to 43cm, with anglers doing best on running sinker rigs baited with pippies or mussel and fished next to sand holes among the weed beds.
I had a shot on Sunday afternoon, boating numerous whiting to 43cm. The fish really fired up toward sunset.
Squid were sometimes hard to tempt around St Leonards, with larger-sized artificial jigs working best.
Clifton Springs produced mixed bags of flathead, whiting, squid and pinkies. The spoil grounds were the best location, although fishing out toward the channel anglers resulted in a bigger pinkies.
The mussel beds fished well for whiting, while anglers who tried the shallow water over the sand caught some impressive flathead to over 50cm. Keen anglers wading the shallows and casting plastics should be in prime position to cross paths with these monsters right around now.
Gone Fishing Charters found some solid kingfish action off Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads. The team also drifted baits for good numbers of pinkie snapper.
Alex Surdich and father Elvio made the most of Labour Day, heading offshore to drift for sharks. It was a smart move, as the guys boated a 45kg mako that gave them a good run for their money.
The Barwon River estuary kept anglers busy with silver trevally and whiting down toward the entrance. Anglers also had luck chasing mulloway further up river.
Excellent numbers of Australian salmon were caught down the coast on lures cast from the numerous rock platforms between Lorne and Apollo Bay. Fishing on the incoming tide was best, with lures like the Sea Iron Pelacus hooking fish to 2kg.
Aire River continued giving up bream to anglers fishing bait and lure, with 2.5-inch grub-style plastics cast along the edges catching fish to almost 40cm.
Bradley Cox made his way down to Wurdee Boluc Reservoir where he cast Fish Arrow soft plastics from the lake margins among the clearing in the weed beds. He landed well-conditioned redfin between 35cm and 40cm, noting that working lures slowly along the bottom was key.
Trelly’s Geelong’s Adam Van Der Lugt fished Lake Purrumbete again for its abundant numbers of redfin on soft plastics. The odd trout also popped up during the week, especially for anglers down-rigging Tassie Devils.
Next week’s should present great opportunities for fish offshore for kingfish, tuna and mako sharks, while St Leonard will be hard to pass-up for whiting enthusiasts. Freshwater fishos should focus on the redfin at Wurdee Boluc where a few rainbow trout to 1kg have also been taking lures.
