On the Bite, by Chris Pitman
Anglers found exceptional fishing for pinkie snapper, flathead and King George whiting right on our doorstep last week.
Corio Bay held each species in great numbers, with the edge of the Stingaree Bay spoil grounds a hot spot for the whiting.
Flicking soft plastics around the waterfront was a safe for pinkies and flathead. The odd large pike was a bycatch, some reaching an impressive 80cm.
Clifton Springs’ grass beds in 3m to 4m attracted anglers seeking squid. Size three artificial jigs in white colourations did best, with few of the squid monsters but available in big numbers.
The odd snapper was still lurking around the Point Richards channel, with anglers who could use fish finders well achieving the best results.
Swan Bay’s channel was a ball on the run-in tide, with anglers catching a mixed bag of silver trevally, pinkies and some impressive sized flathead. Either soft plastics or bait worked well, although Gulp turtleback worms were a standout.
Queenscliff was still kingfish central, with many anglers putting in hours fishing The Rip. Kings to 8kg were boated on fresh or live squid rigged heavy enough to get down to the desired depth.
Large schools of Australian salmon kept anglers busy when the kingfish were off the bite. Salmon to 3kg were reported taking lures intended for kingfish.
Bell Reef was a squid hot spot on low tides. Anglers casting larger artificial jigs banked some of the biggest specimens.
Offshore, kingfish were taken on the troll out from Ocean Grove although mostly in smaller sizes than their Rip counterparts. White occy skirts rigged with a squid strip did the damage offshore.
Gummy sharks were an option in 30m when the kings were absent.
Trelly’s Geelong’s Adam Van Der Lugt and Andrew Dellaca spent Sunday fishing the Hopkins River for bream. They had little trouble catching fish to almost 40cm on soft plastics.
Lake Bullen Merri really fired up for Chinook salmon, as Kevin Hunter, John Brynt and I discovered.
We had only boated one of average size when we decided to instead try anchoring up and setting out a strong berley trail of pilchard cubes. After a hour or so the salmon came on the bite, with all of us landing fish around 60cm.
Michael Evans also had some ripper sessions on the lake, with salmon over 60cm taking his baits & lures.
Next door, Lake Purrumbete still held good fishing for brown and rainbow trout on mudeye suspended under a float.
Barwon River around Queen’s Park was superb fishing for redfin and carp. Casting small hard-body lures did the trick on the redfin, while the big carp took corn kernels on light running sinker rigs.
Next week’s forecast fine weather should allow fishing for kingfish off Ocean Grove. Freshwater fishos should head west for the Chinook salmon at Lake Bullen Merri.
