By CHRIS PITMAN
Anglers found improved snapper fishing off Clifton Springs over the past week.
The standout captures came from the Wilson Spit, with fish to 4kg common. Tide changes in conjunction with sunrise or sunset fished best.
Anglers caught squid while drifting over the shallow grass beds off Clifton Springs. Small Ika jigs worked well.
Land-based anglers also got among the action at Clifton Springs, banking some impressive flathead to just over 50cm while wading the shallows and casting soft plastics.
Antone Kruzl fished off the rocks at Limeburner’s Point on Monday night, soon catching whiting on his squid baits.
He finished with eight whiting to 35cm, noting that all were full with his pilchard berley.
Whiting dominated catches at St Leonards where the area known as Burke Street was reliable.
The deeper water also held gummy shark and snapper for persistent anglers while squid were taken from the pier on small jibs in the evenings.
Tackleworld’s Michael Moore fished with Ben Mclean out of Queenscliff on Saturday afternoon.
The pair boated a bag of whiting to 45cm on tenderised cuttlefish.
Australian salmon kept anglers using lures busy offshore from Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads with large schools erupting on the surface.
The fish were sometimes finicky but specimens reaching 2.5kg made the effort worthwhile.
Dylan Pace and Matt Alsop fished out deep in ideal conditions on Monday afternoon.
Drifting slowly, their fresh slimy mackerel bait enticed a 112cm school shark and the guys also caught some nice tiger flathead.
The Barwon River estuary continued producing good numbers of silver trevally. Small baits caught fish to 40cm.
Anglers who waded out to fish the deeper sections caught whiting to 35cm near the Ocean Grove boat ramp.
Down in the Western District, Port Fairy to Portland produced excellent numbers of southern bluefin tuna to 25kg along with kingfish reaching 10kg.
Casting large soft plastics into the commotion worked well while trolled Rapala X-Rap lures caught fish holding deep.
Freshwater anglers caught Chinook salmon at Lake Bullen Merri.
Trolling deep-diving lures or fishing lightly weighted baits did the job.
The odd rainbow trout was also reported taking the same baits and lures as the salmon.
Carp were banked from the Barwon River, with some impressive-sized models recorded.
Super sweet corn kernels or garden worms were top baits when fished on light running-sinker rigs.
Next week anglers should continue searching for kingfish off Barwon Heads and in the Rip, either jigging or trolling.
Whiting anglers should focus on Queenscliff, while freshwater fishos could try Wurdee Boluc Reservoir where rainbow trout have been patrolling the main rockwall.
