On the Bite, by Chris Pitman
Squid were plentiful off Clifton Springs over the past week, especially on the shallow grass beds in 3m to 4m.
Drifting slowly and casting size 2.5 or 3 artificial jigs was an effective approach, with bag-limit captures and respectable-size squid common.
Anglers also spotted garfish holding over the same ground.
Whiting again dominated reports from St Leonards, although they were sometimes hard to tempt.
Drifting out from the Old West Channel marker in 12m to 14m water was a sure way to boat a feed of flathead on bluebait or squid.
The grass beds just outside Swan Bay produced some impressive-sized squid on the top of high tide. Casting size 3 black-colouration jigs worked well.
Swan Bay’s channel produced a mixed bag of whiting, pinkie snapper and flathead.
Anglers fishing land-based from the rocks at St Helens anglers encountered good numbers of pinkies. Paternoster rigs baited with half a pilchard and cast long worked well.
Surf Coast anglers spun up Australian salmon from rock platforms either side of Lorne.
School-sized tuna began showing up at Portland. Gone Fishing Charters guided his clients onto plenty near Cape Bridgewater, with the fish preferring to X-Rap 20s and skirted lures.
Freshwater fishing showed no sign of slowing, with newly opened Stoney Creek Reservoir popular for rainbow and brown trout along with some thumping big redfin. Spoon-type lures like the 12g Norries Wasaby worked well.
An interesting tactic on the calmer days was to cast bent minnow lures to trout spotted rising. Some of the redfin encountered at Stoney Creek went an impressive 44cm.
Lake Purrumbete continued producing large numbers of smaller-model redfin, with the odd larger fish thrown into the mix. But what really caught anglers’ attention was huge Chinook salmon, including one just over 8kg reportedly boated over the weekend.
Next door, Lake Bullen Merri’s rainbow trout remained on the chew. Casting baits from the bank caught fish, as did trolling diving lures such as Daiwa Double Clutches.
Next week should provide good fishing for squid at Clifton Springs or in front of Swan Bay, while casting soft plastics along Geelong’s waterfront should catch pinkies and flathead. Freshwater fishos could try Bullen Merri for rainbow trout an all methods or Purrumbete for trophy Chinook.
