On the Bite, by Chris Pitman
Trying to find a break in last week’s strong winds was their biggest challenge but when anglers were able to venture out they found the fish in plentiful supply.
Heading out of Clifton Springs and motoring down toward Leopold provided access to the spoil grounds, which were ideal for casting soft plastics. Pinkie snapper and flathead were taken in great numbers.
On the edge of the spoil grounds anglers bumped into reasonable numbers of King George whiting. Running sinker rigs baited with pippies did the trick nicely.
Indented Head produced a mixed bag of whiting and squid for anglers fishing among reef patches in 5m to 6m of water.
The deeper water nearby held gummy sharks to 8kg, with baits of fresh squid and pilchard working well. A strong berley trail also helped lure the gummies.
Queenscliff Pier continued producing some great-quality squid. Fishing the evenings was best but squid were still caught during the day.
Queenscliff Harbour was also a great land-based option, with silver trevally, whiting and Australian salmon all biting. The run-in tides fished best, especially for anglers using paternoster rigs baited with pilchard fillets.
The Rip was kingfish central. Huge specimens were boated almost daily when the weather allowed. Knife jigging and live bait again proved the number-one tactic on the kings.
Large schools of surface-feeding salmon kept anglers entertained when the kingfish played hard to get.
The surf fishing down the coast was on fire, with salmon to 2.5kg hitting the beaches and rock platforms. Casting lures was ideal but bait fishing with squid or bluebait also worked well.
Anglers who fished into the night anglers beached gummies averaging around 1m long.
Peri Stavropoulos travelled back down to the Otway streams chasing wild brown trout on fly. Peri managed to land a ripper brown trout in stunning condition.
Lake Bullen Merri still had fantastic numbers of Chinook salmon on the go. Trolling with downriggers became more- effective on the larger salmon, which responded well to Rapala F-7 lures, although fishing pilchard fillets was still a safe bet for boating numbers of fish.
Wurdee Boluc Reservoir returned increased captures of redfin for anglers making long casts with spoon-type lures. Over the next few weeks the reservoir’s reddies should really start to come on the chew.
Stony Creek, up past Anakie, was consistent for brown trout of about 1kg. The most-effective lure was a 13.5g Tassie Devil in #55.
A few lucky angler also banked some surprisingly big redfin at Stony Creek.
Next week should provide chances to wet a line keep out of St Leonards for, which should fire up again as Easter approaches, while Port Fairy could be a great option for anyone seeking some bluewater action on kingfish and tuna with skirted lures and stickbaits. Freshwater anglers should keep heading west, where Bullen Merri shows no signs of slowing down
