On The Bite, by Chris Pitman
Last weekend’s near-perfect weather saw anglers set out in all directions.
Corio Bay through to Alcoa Pier hosted large schools of Australian salmon – at times erupting on the surfacing in spectacular fashion. Anglers casting soft plastics into the commotion caught fish to 1.5kg.
Trelly’s Fishing World Geelong’s Adam Van Der Lugt was among anglers to find the salmon, noting the intensity of the feeding frenzy.
Nearby, the spoil grounds were a hot spot for pinkie snapper, with soft plastics again most effective.
St Leonards continued producing good numbers of King George whiting. Anglers fishing into the evening boated the most fish.
Squid were also taken over nearby weed beds in 4m of water on size 3 jigs.
Queenscliff was popular for targeting gummy shark, whiting and kingfish. Ellie Gibson and father Wayne boated a small gummy and a silver whiting before making a move, with Ellie using the whiting as bait to eventually land a 5.16kg gummy on 1kg line – a pending ANSA junior record.
Peri and Michael Stavropoulos ventured offshore on Sunday morning, encountering good numbers of pinkie snapper, tiger flathead and some large southern calamari.
Setting out at first light Saturday, Daniel Baden and I also fished off Barwon Heads. In near glass-calm conditions it was easy to spot surface activity from large schools of Australian salmon and kingfish.
Casting stick bait and Sea Iron Pelacus lures, we boated kingfish to just on legal size and some thumping salmon to just over 3kg. We also spotted some schools of southern bluefin tuna but they proved too hard to tempt.
The Barwon River estuary kept anglers busy with plenty of silver trevally, which snapped up pippie baits. Elephant fish also featured in anglers’ bags.
Portland continued producing bluefin tuna to 25kg for anglers trolling near Julia Reef with small skirted lures.
Freshwater anglers found Lake Bullen Merri worth the drive for Chinook salmon averaging 1.5kg. Fishing deep with the aid of a downrigger or anchoring up and sending down pilchard fillets among a berley trial were effective tactics, with the odd rainbow trout also caught.
Wurdee Boluc Reservoir – The Lake of 1000 Casts – fished reasonably well for redfin to 40cm on spoon-type lures cast near weed patches.
Next week should be worth fishing offshore for kingfish or maybe even tuna if the weather’s suitable, otherwise the bay could be worth a shot for snapper and whiting off St Leonards. Freshwater anglers should continue casting away at Wurdee Boluc for redfin and rainbow trout.
