By CHRIS PITMAN
KEVIN Hunter set out from Apollo Bay on the hunt for southern bluefin tuna in calm conditions on Sunday.
After covering some ground his loaded up and screamed off with a tuna of 11kg. Kevin fished well into the afternoon but was unable to locate more tuna, although he found some bait schools at Little Reef.
Paul Blackborrow and son fished Port Fairy on Monday, trolling in 48m for a catch of two tuna, the biggest 15kg.
Daniel Baden and I fished Port Fairy on Sunday, eventually locating surface-feeding tuna on the east side of Lady Julia Percy Island. After numerous casts and lure changes Daniel hooked a 15kg fish on a Sea Iron Pelacus.
I saw other anglers achieving similar results on small-profile lures and at the end of the day while cleaning the tuna we found baitfish of a similar size in the stomach contents.
Closer to home, Craig Varker and John Vannhold fished around Royal Geelong Yacht club where they experienced outstanding Australian salmon action. Casting soft plastics from their boat hard up against the wall of the yacht club, they boated fish to 2.5kg, with Craig’s efforts winning Petrel Angling Club’s competition for the weekend.
Anglers fishing wide off St Leonards found reasonable numbers of gummy sharks to 15kg. Fresh baits such as salmon fillet and squid has proven most effective.
Swan Bay’s main channel produced smaller model gummies to 6kg.
The Barwon River estuary continued fishing well, with mulloway to 80cm taken on live baits and bream averaging 35cm landed up around the Sheepwash.
On the freshwater front, Wurdee Boluc Reservoir produced brown and rainbow trout along with big redfin to 50cm. Tim Beusmans put in a few hours fishing mudeye from the main rock wall, landing a big buck brown trout around 3kg.
Bradley Cox cast Fish Arrow soft plastics around the reservoir margins, eventually catching four redfin to 45cm.
Duane Tribe made the most of the remaining trout season, travelling up to the Thornton River in the Goulburn Valley. Wading the river casting his fly rod, Duane caught plenty of browns and rainbows to 30cm.
Ballarat’s Lake Wendouree fished well for anglers casting shallow-diving hard-body lures such as Norries Laydowns for trout. Fish to 2.5kg were caught around the areas with less weed, while mudeye fished under bubble floats from the shore also took trout.
Next week should present options for gummy shark in the deep water out from St Leonards or inside Swan Bay, especially at night on a run-in tide. Freshwater anglers should persist with Wurdee Boluc Reservoir and Lake Purrumbete because some trophy brown trout should be on the move.
