Chris Pitman
THIS past week saw some exceptional whiting captures along with some huge gummy sharks.
Clifton Springs is still proving the place to be as Mitchell Powell discovered. While chasing whiting last Tuesday in nine metres of water, he frantically boated 19 whiting in quick time.
Mitchell noticed that as the sun set in for the day the whiting went off the bite.
Other anglers fishing Clifton Springs found good numbers of pike and pinkie snapper fishing soft plastics over the Hermsley spoil grounds but an early start is key.
Just round the corner at Indented Head, anglers had no trouble in getting reasonable numbers of squid. Casting size 3 jigs amongst the reef and grass patches will produce some action and with some of the squid pushing 2kg they are great fun.
St Leonards has been productive for whiting on average slightly larger than those at Clifton Springs. Pippies and tenderised squid have been the bait of choice in conjunction with a run-out tide.
Anglers fishing deep off St Leonards using depth sounders to locate schools of snapper have had no trouble in boating fish to 6kg.
Queenscliff has seen plenty of anglers out in the rip in search of kingfish. Only a couple of kingfish to 8kg were taken last week by anglers jigging with knife jigs, but as we move further into summer these fish should really come on the chew.
Large schools of Australian salmon have been busting up at the start of the Symonds Channel. Casting soft plastics or 25 gram metal lures has been deadly in boating good numbers of them. Inside the Queenscliff Harbour silver trevally continue to be taken by those casting soft plastics like Gulp Turtle Backworm in pumpkin green.
Making the most of calm conditions offshore from the Surf Coast, Dylan Pace and Matt Aslop ventured out last Thursday on a productive trip, boating a well-conditioned mako shark of 20kg that took a chunk of fresh pike.
Other anglers fishing offshore from Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads encountered good numbers of smaller kingfish to 65cm. Again trolling deep diving lures proved effective on the fish.
Perry and Michael Stravoplous found themselves fishing offshore from Barwon Heads chasing gummy sharks over the Christmas break.
Perry caught a personal best tipping the scales at 15kg. He had his work cut out for him in subduing one of the hardest fighting fish around.
Over the break, Christopher O’Connell fished Hastings in 16 metres of water where he took a fantastic bag of King George whiting.
Remaining on the other side of the bay, Sadik Cagdas headed out from Rhyll early last Thursday morning. After anchoring up in 12 metres of water, Sadik did not have to wait long to hear his drag scream and the rod buckle over. The culprit turned out to be a trophy snapper of 8.2kg that took a liking to fresh squid. Only 10 minutes later, Sadik’s rod was again onto another snapper this time of 6kg.
On the freshwater front, the Barwon River is producing redfin to 40cm for those casting soft plastics and hard body lures. Geoff Redmond put in some time recently chasing redfin in the Barwon and has found them very consistent. Geoff had great success on Z-Man grubs in 2.5” cast hard against the snags.
Lake Bullen Merri continues to fish exceptionally well for chinook salmon. Oscar Ford spent some time on the lake where he took a chinook salmon of 61cm and 1.9kg. Bait is out-fishing lures at present and those letting out a liberal berley trail achieve better results.
Those looking for an option next week should consider casting a few soft plastics in the Barwon for redfin. Queens Park or Breakwater is always a good place to start looking. Just remember to keep on the move to find a school of feeding fish.
Kingfish in the rip are worth a shot but just remember to stay clear of ships.
Send reports and photos to info@raylongtackle.com.au. All photos go in Tackle World Geelong’s draw for a monthly prize.
