On the Bite, by Chris Pitman
Anglers who found fishable water in last week’s fierce weather reported some fantastic results.
Corio Bay was one of the locations offering protection, with the rocks at St Helens producing pinkie snapper and flathead for anglers fishing bluebait on paternoster rigs. The odd elephant fish was also taken.
Limeburner’s Point fished well for garfish when using a strong berley trail from the rocks. A light float rig with a size 12 longshank hook was perfect when baited with small baits like pippie or silver fish.
Casting soft plastics from boats worked well for anglers chasing pinkies. The outer wall of Royal Geelong Yacht Club and the Wester Beach mooring area were hot spots.
Down the peninsula, fishing in 6m out from the Point Richards boat ramp during the evenings was ideal for King George whiting. The edge of the mussel beds was also a productive location for whiting along with pinkies and flathead.
Swan Bay’s channel presented reasonable protection from the wind, with silver trevally and whiting keeping anglers busy on the run-in tides.
Queenscliff hosted awesome squid fishing along the main pier and at Bell Reef. Larger 3.5-sized jigs worked best again.
Kingfish were still hanging around The Rip, with the sizes much better than average. Drifting with fresh squid baits our even downrigging was the way to go for anglers who caught some kings over 10kg.
Offshore angling was a challenge but anglers who found a break in the weather caught fantastic numbers of gummy sharks. Large baits like fresh Australian salmon worked a treat on gummies to 15kg.
Plenty of surface-feeding salmon schools were also present offshore, making for great sport.
Freshwater reports slowed, with some of the best fishing coming from Lake Purrumbete where redfin were in taken large numbers. Jigging soft plastics in front of schools worked well.
Stony Creek Reservoir was consistent for brown trout to 1kg, particularly for anglers using pink #55 13.5g Tassie Devils.
Leopold Angling and Aquatic Club hosted a great celebration of the end of Corio Bay netting last Sunday. Plenty of fishos turned out to take part, with even the trying weather conditions unable to turn people away.
Next week’s improving weather should present opportunities to catch elephant fish in the Barwon River estuary or gummies offshore. Freshwater fishos should try Wurdee Boluc Reservoir, which is due to fire up.
