Chris Pitman
With calm conditions on Sunday morning, Kim Gorell and Pete Beard decided to head out from St Helens.
Drifting soft plastics over the channel edges, Pete’s rod nearly fell overboard when he hooked a snapper of 5.5kg, which was boated after a short battle.
Tackleworld Geelong’s Adam Van der Lught and Paul Mayer also fished the bay on Sunday, casting soft plastics over the spoil grounds for an impressive bag of larger-model flathead.
Later they tried for bream inside the grammar school lagoon, taking a pair to 38cm.
Clifton Springs hosted the majority of snapper anglers last week, and with good reason.
Joe Novella ventured out to The Turn where he boated a 7.2kg snapper.
Ben Mclean fished off the quarries at first light on Saturday.
His pilchard bait took a snapper of 4.5kg just after sun-up and on the way home he drifted over the shallow grass beds to catch a bag of squid on Gan Craft jigs.
Squid were also present in great numbers at Queenscliff where the grass beds to the left of the harbour hosted plentiful numbers.
Anglers caught squid to 2.5kg on the last of the incoming tide, with the Queenscliff Bight also productive.
Digby Ford caught silver trevally in the Barwon River estuary, along with a 36cm tailor.
The entrance of the river produced King George whiting to 45cm on the run-in tide.
While the fish were a great size, their numbers were limited to five or six per angler.
Offshore, southern bluefin tuna to 120kg were taken by keen anglers willing to cover large distances of water.
Large skirted lures continued to work best.
I fished down the coast with lures in the Hopkins River, encountering bream and estuary perch to 35cm.
A 60mm Daiwa Double Clutch was my most effective lure.
On the freshwater scene, the Barwon River from Buckley Falls to Queen’s Park produced redfin on soft plastics and hard-body lures.
Most reddies averaged 800g and were holding in tightly packed schools, allowing anglers to bag numbers of fish.
St Augustine’s Lake fished well for rainbow trout left over from the recent school holiday stocking program.
The trout responded well to small hard-body lures and pink Powerbait.
Anglers continued catching Chinook salmon to 2kg with bait around the margins of Lake Bullen Merri. Anglers fishing the lake should keep an eye on blue green algae levels with the warmer weather tending to create larger blooms.
Up at Ballarat, Lake Wendouree produced brown trout to 2kg for anglers fishing mudeyes suspended under floats from the banks.
Lures accounted for a few trout but fishing the mudeyes were the standout tactic.
Anglers seeking a snapper fix over the next week should again set their sights on Clifton Springs, otherwise Queenscliff would be well worth a look for monster squid that have been latching on to any jig crossing their path.
Freshwater anglers will find Lake Bullen Merri holding Chinook salmon, which will take bait from the boat or the bank.
