On the Bite, by Chris Pitman
The biggest challenge for anglers last week was deciding what to chase, with so many species on the chew.
Corio Bay provided sheltered waters and fantastic fishing for pike, Australian salmon, pinkie snapper, flathead and garfish. Soft plastics cast along structures in deeper water caught most of the species mentioned above.
Trelly’s Geelong’s Adam Van Der Lugt snagged a mixed bag while working plastics from a boat around the waterfront on Monday morning. Adam said bump lures along the bottom were essential.
Anglers fishing off Clifton Springs caught whiting and pinkies along the Curlewis Bank, with tenderised squid a standout bait.
Salmon sometimes erupted on the surface of the bay in feeding frenzies. Trolling or casting lures would have done the trick.
Alcoa Pier area was worth fishing for pike and pinkies in great numbers. Monster pike over 80cm snapped up Daiwa Double Clutch 95 lures.
The snapper catches slowed a little at Clifton Springs, with anglers making daybreak starts reporting the best success on snapper to 8kg.
Last week’s easterly winds did nothing to slow the fishing off St Leonard’s. Daniel Baden and I fished the south end of the Bourke Street area on Saturday, catching a bag-limit of whiting to more than 40cm on pippie and tenderised squid on the last of the run-in tide.
Sam Pitman took a run out from St Leonard’s on Sunday afternoon, quickly boating 10 nice-sized squid. Sam’s squid jig of choice was a Yamashita size three.
Trelly’s Geelong’s Peri Stavropoulos also wanted to get among the whiting action off St Leonards. On Tuesday night he managed a nice bag of fish, again some thumpers over 40cm.
Good water clarity made for excellent land-based squid action from Queenscliff Pier right around to the bight. Large 3.5 sized jigs cast out some distance worked a treat.
The Rip was a hot spot for salmon, with large schools of fish busting up on the surface.
Anglers who chased snapper off Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads boated reasonable numbers of fish in 30m to 40m. Fresh baits such as salmon or squid did the job, with a few gummy sharks taken as a bycatch.
Last week the Victorian Fisheries Authority placed a fish attracting device (FAD) out from Torquay, which is fantastic news for increased captures of species like kingfish.
Freshwater anglers caught trophy brown trout over 4kgs again at Lake Purrumbete. Trolling Tassie Devils worked well, although bait fishing with mudeye under a float also caught fish.
Large carp entertained anglers on the Barwon River in Geelong between Breakwater and Queen’s Park.
Next week should offer good fishing for whiting at St Leonards of for snapper and gummies offshore. Freshwater anglers could try trolling the east bank at Lake Purrumbete for big brown trout.
