By Brian Long
UNFAVOURABLE weather forced anglers to rely on persistence and forethought over the past week.
Salmon were taken inside Lorne’s Louttit Bay from the rocks on the high tides. Garry Wellington spun up over 20 last weekend, most just over 1kg.
Guy Stevens also used lure at the same location to catch a dozen quality salmon in around two hours.
Black Rock fished well for snapper when the weather settled.
Quality salmon were caught in the Barwon River estuary. Noel Jeffries landed fish over 1kg on soft plastics just near the Ozone Jetty but lost many others due to his light tackle.
Patrick Lee fished the entrance to Swan Bay with a liberal berley trail to boat a variety of species including garfish, flathead, salmon and whiting.
Snapper captures were generally down but some big fish were still taken at Wilson Spit, off the quarries and close in at Bird Rock.
Dean Sterling fished Stingaree Bay’ spoil grounds on Saturday night for a catch of three snapper over 5kg, which he returned.
Ben McLean and Mick Moore managed a pair of magnificent fish from off the quarries. Ben said that, as usual, he landed the largest of the two.
Peter Green spun the Geelong waterfront between Cunningham Pier and Royal Geelong Yacht Club where he caught plenty of pike to 1m on small metal laser lures. Peter said the action was busiest close to dark.
Pike were also available from the rocks at North Shore, with Grant Strom landing two or three during most sessions when using small metal lures.
Ballarat’s Paul Masters fished Queenscliff’s cut, landing seven silver trevally on turtleback worms in the Pumpkinseed colour.
Danny Spikers fished the Erskine River at Lorne, eventually catching a pair of bream weighing 1.2kg each.
Mario Baron targeted eel, landing a dozen to 2kg from the Barwon River below Breakwater with worms for bait.
West Barwon Reservoir’s main rock wall produced trout of more than 2kg on deep-diving bibbed lures.
Trout of almost 2kg were taken from Moorabool Reservoir, with fly anglers doing well on small brown nymphs.
Stuart McKenzie braved the elements at Lismore’s Lake Tooliorook where he caught and lost one fish in three hours of trolling. Then he anchored close to the weed beds to fish with mudeyes for a catch of three fish to 3.2kg.
Stingaree Bay’s spoil grounds or close to the channel at Alcoa should be productive for snapper early this weekend, while freshwater enthusiasts should try Lakes Wendouree or Tooliorook with mudeyes or shallow-running bibbed lures such as Laydown and Cranka minnows.
Send reports and photos to info@raylongtackle.com.au or visit Brian at Ray Long’s Fishing World, 105 Shannon Ave, Geelong West.
