CHRIS PITMAN
ANGLERS made the most of calm conditions last week to catch a mix of fish.
Corio Bay anglers banked excellent flathead while casting soft plastics rigged on a heavy jig heads. Some of the flatties reached 50cm, with anglers reporting catches of five or more fish over 40cm while fishing land-based.
The grammar school lagoon was hot for flathead anglers whether on shore or in kayaks, while also producing chunky pinkies to 40cm.
The outer-harbour off Clifton Springs remained a solid option for squid, especially when light wind allowed slow drifts over productive grass beds. Three to five metres of water was best, with jigs such as Shimano Sephia 14T in size 2.5 taking bag-limit captures. Snapper anglers had limited success off Clifton Springs, with the average size of the fish down. A few anglers managed snapper to 4kg at dawn and dusk on fresh squid and silver whiting.
I fished the area on Thursday night when the water temperature was still around 21C, so good snapper fishing should continue for at least the next month.
Swan Bay produced mixed bags. Whiting to 42cm were the main drawcard and taken in great numbers on tenderized squid.
Gummy shark were taken from the main channel in the evenings, as well as snapper to 2kg.
Squid were holding on the weed beds out the front of Swan Bay, making for a handy bait supply.
Kingfish went from strength to strength, with large schools of surface-feeding Kingfish reported all the way from Barwon Heads through to Bancoora on Saturday morning. The only trouble was keeping up with the fast-moving schools.
Pulling ahead and casting metal lures or plastics into the path of the surface commotion was most productive.
Daniel Baden was one of the lucky anglers on the water at the time, boating kingfish to 65cm as well as dropping some much larger specimens.
Tony Barkachi ventured down past Lorne with his sights set on Australian salmon. He landed two exceptional fish to 84cm at Artillery Rocks and noted other anglers catching salmon from most rock platforms and Lorne Pier.
Rami Nihat headed up the freeway in search of mulloway in the Docklands area. Baiting up with live mullet, he caught and released a well-conditioned mulloway of 78cm and 3.7kg.
Mulloway seem to be popping up all over the place at the moment, with good numbers of fish landed from the mouth of the Werribee River and a little closer to home in the Barwon River.
Tuna and kingfish were caught in great numbers at Port Fairy. Unlike the fish closer to the Surf Coast, the kings averaged 6kg and smashed larger stick-bait lures, while the 20kg tuna responded well to trolled lures such as X-Rap 20 & 30s and UV skirted lures.
The freshwater scene was quiet, with most anglers focussed on the salt.
But West Barwon Reservoir produced rainbows to 1kg on Tassie Devils and Bobbin Spoons cast from the rock wall.
Lake Purrumbete had good numbers of brown trout for anglers trolling down deep with cow bells or Ford Fenders.
The next week’s settled weather should be good for kingfish on jigs or metal lures and whiting between St Leonards and Swan Bay. Freshwater anglers should keep persisting with Lake Purrumbete.
