On the Bite, by Chris Pitman
Wild winds forced anglers to seek shelter last week, with Corio Bay’s inner-harbour a great choice for its access to pinkie snapper.
In fact, the pinkie fishing was some of the best experienced in recent times. Casting Gulp soft plastics was very effective on fish to 45cm at locations including the spoil ground just out from Limeburner’s Point boat ramp and the deeper structure around St Helens.
Land-based anglers got into the action from the rocks at St Helens and Limeburner’s boat ramp, with the odd large flathead providing a welcome bycatch.
Whiting kept anglers entertained along the Curlewis Bank, off Clifton Springs. Fishing the last hour or two of light was the key to success, along with using pippie or mussel baits.
Alcoa Pier hosted Australian salmon. Anglers trolling or casting lures caught fish to 1kg.
Squid proved hard to tempt around Clifton Springs but were a viable target species on size-three artificial jigs.
Anglers able to pick a break in the weather discovered that the whiting fishing was picking up off St Leonards. Bag-limit captures remained limited but the numbers of fish increased, with fish of 38cm common.
Inside the Swan Bay’s channel was another great location to seek shelter for mixed bags of pinkies, flathead, whiting, garfish and even squid at times. The key remained picking a slower-moving run-in tide.
Fishing The Rip was tricky due to the weather but anglers who managed to find a break were kept busy with kingfish. Jigging with 150g to 200g knife jigs or fishing deep with fresh squid baits did the job on kings to 10kg.
The Barwon River estuary produced silver trevally and smaller-model salmon along the Sheepwash section. Fishing live Bass yabbied accounted for some big black bream for anglers patient enough to wade through all the smaller pickers.
On the freshwater scene, redfin started to feature among anglers’ catches.
Wurdee Boluc Reservoir still lived up to its moniker, The Lake of 1000 Casts, but at times anglers banked 40cm reddies. Spoon-type lures like Pegron Tiger Minnows or Norries Wasabys were ideal.
The Barwon River between Queen’s Park and Breakwater was full of redfin, although a slightly different approach worked best compared to the lakes. Smaller hard-body lures that dive 1.5m accounted for good numbers of redfin but the size was down on Wurdee Boluc, with most redfin averaging 30cm.
Next week anglers looking to wet a line should try to venture out onto Corio Bay, where casting soft plastics should provide good fishing for pinkies. Anyone down the Bellarine Peninsula could try St Leonards for whiting out from the yacht club, while casting squid jigs from the pier during the evenings should also be productive.
Other options include kingfish and tuna offshore, elephant fish in the Barwon estuary and, in freshwater, redfin at Wurdee Boluc.
