By BRIAN LONG
FISHING was difficult over the past week, with only anglers who braved the elements reporting worthwhile captures.
Surf anglers struggled with a combination of discoloured water as freshwater poured out of the Otways.
Justin Rayner managed to spin up salmon and ‘couta from the rocks but said many casts were required to catch fish.
The Barwon River estuary produced reasonable salmon action on the incoming tides on soft plastics and small metal lures.
Squid captures were reasonable in clean water of 5m to 6m. Jigs in size 3 and 3.5 worked best, especially in more-natural colours.
Garry Rice fished soft plastics from the rocks at North Shore for a mixed bag. Salmon dominated but he also managed a 55cm flathead and a snapper of almost 2kg.
Guy Teasdale found reasonable numbers of salmon while fishing the boat moorings in the grammar school lagoon. Guy caught and released around a dozen fish, all caught on 40cm Atomic Shads.
Damian Patterson drifted on the spoil grounds off Leopold with soft plastics, managing few hits except for a pair of snapper over 50cm and two squid that grabbed his Gulp minnows.
Trevally reports from Queenscliff were scarce, although Xavier Porter caught a good bag of fish to 1.4k while fishing soft plastics around the Swan Bay bridge pylons.
James Magoffin took his fly outfit to The Warmies, at Newport, in Melbourne, where he caught a nice flathead. This area has also been producing quality mulloway after dark.
Many anglers gave the Barwon River in Geelong a miss as it flowed high and discoloured, although Frank Innes caught five quality eels on worms at Fyan’s Park.
Jacob Ellis caught two eels at Drysdale’s McLeods Watering Hole, both over 2kg.
Lismore’s Lake Tooliorook was the best freshwater destination, again producing brown and rainbow trout to better than 2.5kg. Plenty of floating weed made trolling difficult, with anglers casting lures ejoying the best results.
Lures working a treat at the lake included Daiwa Double Clutches, Laydown Minnows and Cranka Minnows.
Moorabool Reservoir’s near-freezing conditions were less than inviting but Noel Patterson manned-up for a catch of three brown trout around 1.5kg each on mudeye.
Hepburn Lagoon again produced some of the biggest fish in the region. Nathan Hobbs caught a magnificent 3.75kg brown trout on a rainbow-coloured Pegron lure on Monday.
Nearby Newlyn Reservoir was quiet but fly angler Harold Menzies managed two fish, both browns that took a black and grizzle woolly bugger.
Steve and Garry Faull travelled to Lake Toolondo again last weekend for a bag-limit catch of trout. They caught all their fish while fishing land-based with Tassie Devil lures, with the number 55 pink and black colour working best.
Windy conditions predicted for this weekend should make freshwater the best option, particularly Lake Bullen Merri and Moorabool Reservoir. The wind should be offshore along the coast but likely big swells will restrict fishing to locations such as Wye River, Artillery Rock and Loutitt Bay.
Send reports and photos to info@raylongtackle.com.au or visit Brian at Ray Long’s Fishing World, 105 Shannon Ave, Manifold Heights
