On the Bite, by Chris Pitman
Corio Bay continued keeping anglers entertained over the past week with salmon along Geelong’s waterfront.
Casting plastics hard against various structures was the best approach.
Garfish also gathered in large schools within reach of land-based anglers at Limeburner’s Point boat ramp where pinkie snapper were banked too with bluebait on paternoster rigs.
Squid were taken all along the Bellarine Peninsula. Clifton Springs through to Swan Bay’s entrance produced bag-limit captures.
I spent an hour or so drifting in the deeper water near the Bourke Street area, catching squid on Yamashita Live series jig in white colouration.
Anglers chasing whiting found the going slower, although bag limit captures were still possible at St Leonards toward evening.
Queenscliff Harbour was still a hot spot for silver trevally along the main cut at slack tide. Gulp Turtleback worms in Pumpkinseed were a standout, with salmon also snapping up the plastic at times.
The grass beds to the east of the harbour held larger whiting averaging 40cm-plus. Tenderised squid was the best bait.
Surf anglers spun up plenty of salmon all the way from 13th Beach to Lorne. Sea Iron Palacus lures were a standout.
The beaches again fished well at night for gummy shark and the odd mulloway to just over 90cm.
Southern bluefin tuna were a standout between Apollo Bay and Portland, with the former best for the larger specimens. Trolling skirted lures around bird and bait action was the go.
The estuaries dotted along the western district coastline still produced plenty of bream and estuary perch on black vibe-style lures.
However, freshwater anglers enjoyed the best results.
The Lake of 1000 Casts, or Wurdee Boluc Reservoir, gave up a trophy brown trout to Ross Gould at first light Monday morning. Ross banked a 3.6kg brown trout on a shallow-diving hard-body lure, along with a 1.8kg fish a short time after.
Stony Creek Reservoir fished well for browns to 1kg for anglers casting spoon-type lures. Letting lures sink to the bottom before retrieving gave the best results.
The reservoir also produced some large redfin to over 40cm.
Lake Bullen Merri was kind to anglers trolling with downriggers during the day, with Chinook salmon on the bite. Trolling hard-body lures at first light resulted in rainbow, brown trout to 1.5kg, while anglers fishing bait along the margins caught fish day and night.
Next week should present opportunities for catching squid at Clifton Springs or spinning the beaches for salmon during the day and gummies as well at night. Freshwater angles could try spinning large hard-body lures early at Wurdee Boluc.
