Corio Bay hosted excellent pinkie snapper fishing over the past week.
Anglers casting soft plastics hard against structure encountered fish to 50cm.
When the structure went quiet, sounders helped some anglers find schools of pinkies to continue the catches.
The odd flathead in the mid-40cm range was a common catch among the snapper.
Clifton Springs improved for catches of snapper, with Tim King and Ian Brew getting stuck into some well-conditioned fish from 2.5kg to 4kg on squid baits. The pair noted that the snapper really came on the bite over the past few weeks.
The nearby spoil grounds produced pike to 80cm for anglers using soft plastics.
Squid continued to be taken from Indented Heads through St Leonards, where anglers working three to four metres of water achieved the best results.
Whiting were also caught over similar ground on pippies and tenderised squid.
The Rip continued attracting anglers seeking kingfish. The fish were fewer in numbers but averaged 6kg, with most taken on jigs.
Australian salmon busting up on the surface made for excellent sport on light tackle while waiting for kingfish.
The Barwon River estuary kept anglers busy with mulloway, bream and trevally.
Anglers fishing further up in the system took mulloway to 80cm, others using live bass yabbies banked bream to 40cm and the trevally took both baits and lures while spread throughout the whole system.
Anglers who spun the rock platforms around Lorne tangled with some better-quality salmon.
Metal lures such as the Sea Iron Pelacus caught fish of 2kg.
The Western District continued keeping anglers entertained with kingfish and tuna.
Trolling white-skirted lures tipped with squid worked well along, as did casting stick bait lures into surface commotion.
Justin Burns and Simon Williams spent Saturday afternoon casting Fish Arrow soft plastics from the main rock wall at Wurdee Boluc Reservoir, banking numerous chunky redfin averaging 40cm.
Redfin also came back on the chew in the Barwon River, with Queen’s Park producing fish to 800g on small deep-diving hard-body lures.
Andrew Orchard headed out of town to Lake Mulwala where he caught a 68cm, 5.3kg Murray cod while trolling a spinner bait at first light. Andrew said purple or black lures with red or pink underneath did the trick.
This weekend could be good for heading down to the Western District for kingfish and tuna.
Closer to home, Clifton Springs should be worth fishing for snapper while freshwater anglers should remain focused on ‘The Lake of 1000 Casts’, Wurdee Boluc, for redfin on soft plastics.
