Where’s the whiting biting

With his sights set on whiting, Tackleworld Geelong’s Michael Moore recently set off from Queenscliff just after sunset.
Arriving on the grass beds just left of the harbour, he dropped anchor but after a few tentative bites and the odd whiting decided it was time for a move. Shifting about 100m away made all the difference, with Michael boating numerous double headers of whiting averaging 40cm for a bag-limit haul in no time.
Michael said tenderized cuttlefish was the most successful bait.
Just around the corner at Swan Bay anglers had little trouble boating bags of squid, even in difficult weather.
Peri and Michael Stavropoulos fished inside the Swan Bay channel last Friday night. The gummy sharks failed to eventuate but the pair caught had an unusual capture of a 7.5kg octopus.
Corio Bay continued entertaining anglers with pinkie snapper and salmon on soft plastics cast around structure. Some anglers reported marking solid snapper on sounders underneath salmon schools around the grain pier.
Chloe Hedditch fished with father Riki in 20m off Breamlea on Saturday when her rod buckled over with a gummy that put up an excellent fight on 7kg tackle. The pair then moved out to 26m where they caught a 78cm snapper while drifting with fresh squid baits. Anglers keen enough to brave wild weather caught some impressive southern bluefin tuna over 100kg down the western district. Schools of smaller tuna to 15kg were found off Portland, with fish taken on small skirted lures.
Apollo Bay produced tuna for anglers prepared to cover plenty of water to find them anywhere from Marengo to Cape Otway and further.
Freshwater anglers persisted with Wurdee Boluc Reservoir, again banking redfin to 45cm willing on lures cast around weed beds. The odd rainbow trout was taken as by-catch, with some reaching 1.5kg.
Lake Bullen Merri began firing up. Anglers trolling hard-body lures caught excellent football-shaped rainbow trout to 2kg.
Tackleworld Geelong’s Adam Van Der Lugt, Dylan Pace and Nathan Grass travelled to the Eucumbene River in the Snowy Mountains late last week to experience some of Australia’s finest trout fishing. Walking the banks of the river, they caught numerous well-conditioned brown trout to 3.6kg on glow bug nymph rigs.
Some of the most-memorable trout included Adam’s big buck brown that gave an incredible fight in 30cm of water.
Nearby at Thredbo River, Bob Hentosz took an excellent condition 3.6kg rainbow on a rapala F7. Andrew Orchard also fished the Thredbo, banking a fantastically conditioned brook trout, also on a hard-body lure.
Next week should provide opportunities for a much-needed tuna fix if the weather allows, and with the large barrels pushing further east we might again seem them in our own backyard.
Whiting anglers should continue focussing on Queenscliff though to St Leonards with fresh squid as bait.
Freshwater anglers wanting to tangle with trout could try West Barwon Reservoir, where low water levels allow new ground to be covered.