by CHRIS PITMAN
CORIO Bay was a real asset for anglers last week as it provided shelter from strong winds.
Pinkie snapper were abundant for anglers casting soft plastics around structures, whether it was land based or from a boat.
The odd pike to almost 1m made an appearance, too. These fish take a liking to most soft plastics but the only drawback is their scissor-like teeth, which tend to cut off leaders.
Out toward the entrance of Corio Bay snapper to 3kg were taken on the tide changes with baits such as pilchard and fresh squid.
The grammar school lagoon produced flathead to 55cm, with anglers working soft plastics along the channel edges enjoying the best results.
Whiting were the prime target at Clifton Springs where anglers targeted the edges of the mussel beds. The fish averaged 30cm to 35cm and responded well to bait such as pippies and tenderised squid.
Some exceptional flathead to 50cm were taken as a welcome by-catch in the same area.
A few kingfish to 9kg were taken in The Rip by anglers using 180g to 230g knife.
Lonsdale Bight continued holding reasonable numbers of big squid. The deeper water and larger jigs returned the best results.
Queenscliff Harbour continued to go from strength to strength on silver trevally to 45cm, which took 2.5-inch grubs fished on the tide changes.
The Barwon River Estuary produced a mixed bag of whiting, Australian salmon, trevally and mulloway. Pippie was hands down the most effective bait for each species bar mulloway, most of which were caught on whole pilchards or hard-body lures such as Daiwa Double Clutches.
Kingfish to 65cm were schooling in large numbers around Charlemont Reef, off 13th Beach. Casting lures into fish busting up on the surface was a sure bet, although knife jigging or trolling deep-diving lures was the tactic of choice when the fish went deeper.
Surf Coast beaches produced salmon to 2kg on lures such as 25g Sluks. Bancoora was the standout but anglers who fished further down toward Lorne reported bigger numbers of fish.
Freshwater destinations hosted some of the better fishing for the week.
Lake Bullen Merri again fished extremely well for Chinook salmon, with anglers fishing bait taking bag-limit captures. Ognjen Mijatovic put in a few hours on Sunday afternoon, catching his bag in no time.
Ognjen’s biggest Chinook went 3.4kg and his most successful baits were minnow and Powerbait.
Next door, anglers fishing mudeye down deep against the weed beds at Lake Purrumbete boated brown trout to 2kg. Making an early start was essential to catching numbers of fish.
Wurdee Boluc Reservoir, also known as The Lake of 1000 Casts, provided trophy redfin and small rainbow trout for anglers who put in plenty of time.
Michael Evans banked a 45cm redfin and several rainbow trout of around 30cm on Fish Arrow Flash J Shad three-inch soft plastics.
Next week should see kingfish really come on the chew with the onset of warmer weather. The Rip or offshore from Barwon Heads should be great places to start looking.
Spinning the surf in north winds should produce Australian salmon, while Lake Bullen Merri will be good for Chinooks.
