By Chris Pitman
Ryley Hutchins and father Shane were into the action soon after venturing out onto Lake Purrumbete early last Saturday in search of trout.
Ryley’s rod went off first when a well-conditioned brown took his Shimano Waxwing, flat-lined trolled behind the boat. They continued trolling as the day progressed, boating plenty of small Chinook salmon from 25m down.
Darryl Luttrell sought advice and help from friend Trevor Holmes to fish Lake Toolondo, catching a huge male brown trout over 3kg. Out early the next morning Darryl found more trout of around 2kg in his first weekend fishing the lake.
Michael Evans returned to Wurdee Boluc Reservoir for more quality redfin on soft plastics. He fished for one hour, landing a pair of 47cm and 48cm reddies.
Lake Bullen Merri continued fishing well for Chinook salmon to 1.5kg. The standout method was baiting up finely sliced pilchard fillets and drifting them almost to the bottom with little weight and a liberal amount of burley.
Ballarat’s Lake Wendouree continued producing brown and rainbow trout to 1.5kg for anglers drifting out mudeye under floats. Casting Strike Pro Bob ‘N’ Spoons from the lakes edges was also successful on the browns.
Dylan Pace fished for pinkie snapper around Geelong’s waterfront, landing a few small fish on three-inch gulp minnows. However, he was taken by surprise when his rod loaded up and line started peeling off with a trophy-sized 82cm snapper.
Kevin Bardsley fished for squid at Swan Bay but had little luck and after an hour or two. Then he decided to target flathead, catching eight to 54cm.
The lower reaches of the Barwon Estuary hosted great numbers of salmon and silver trevally to 30cm. Fishing from the purpose-built platforms with pippies and prawns was productive an hour either side of high tide.
Anglers caught lots of squid from the Hermsley Rd grass beds, with 2.5-size jigs working best.
Spinning the surf for salmon was excellent over the past week. Fish from 700g to just over 1kg were a common capture, with the odd larger fish mixed in among them.
Lures from 25g to 30g worked well, especially pink Arma Shads or Sluks in the blue mac pattern.
