On the Bite, by Chris Pitman
Snapper season kicked into gear last week with a much-needed break in the weather.
Venturing onto Corio Bay’s outer harbour last Friday night, Tackleworld Geelong’s Kevin Hunter had his sights firmly set on finding a snapper.
After anchoring up and waiting for some time, Kevin’s rod finally loaded up with a 3.82kg fish that devoured a pilchard bait.
Anglers again encountered excellent numbers of pinkie snapper from Western Beach’s moorings through to the grammar school lagoon.
Soft plastics were an effective choice of lure, with anglers fishing from a boat benefitting from correctly marking schools on their fish finders.
Adam Van Der Lugt fitted in a quick half-hour land-based session after work to casting Gulp Nemesis 4-inch soft plastics from the rocks near St Helens’ boat ramp where he hooked up in the first few seconds.
After watching his spool quickly empty of line, Adam had 15 tense minutes of fighting and scrambling down the rocks before banking an 84cm snapper.
Clifton Springs delighted anglers with quality whiting right along the Curlewis Bank.
Fish to 40cm and bag limit captures were reported, with pippie the standout bait when rigged on a light running sinker rig.
Snapper were also boated along the channel and further out at Wilson Spit.
With the water temperature rising noticeably, it’s worth trolling lures for snapper while trying to locate schools on sounders.
Swan Bay continued producing large numbers of Australian salmon of varying size on lures or baits fished in berley trails. Gummy sharks frequented the channel during the evenings, with Joseph Walsh boating a 1.2m specimen while fishing with whiting as bait.
Queenscliff held some impressive squid on the grass beds. Anglers drifting or casting large artificial squid jigs reported bag-limit captures.
Also in the Queenscliff area, whiting were spread from the Point Lonsdale Bight through to the entrance of Swan Bay.
Surf beaches showed no signs of slowing down for anglers casting lures.
Bancoora produced salmon to 2.5kg, while rock platforms either side of Lorne produced similar results.
Lake Bullen Merri gave freshwater anglers a good option with Chinook salmon and rainbow trout taken on the troll or while casting lures from the bank.
Ballarat’s Lake Wendouree produced a few nice brown and rainbow trout on bait and lure in the late afternoons.
Lake Eildon fished well for yellowbelly and Murray cod. Casting lures like Jackall TN 60s along the steep banks caught both species, while a few large brown trout were boated as by-catch.
Next week’s snapper anglers should target Clifton Springs, the spoil grounds near Alcoa Pier or just north of the Point Richards Channel, while anyone land-based could try soft plastics around Corio Bay. Freshwater anglers should consider trolling down deep for Chinook salmon and rainbow trout at Lake Bullen Merri.
