CHRIS PITMAN
KINGFISH fever has set in, with anglers travelLing far and wide to find the prized sportfish.
The Rip is threatening to take the title of Bourke St from St Leonards’ whiting grounds, with anglers flocking to the area for some exceptional fishing.
Jigging with 180g to 230g knife jigs has led to anglers boating kings to 12kg, with others sometime catching them by casting at small schools breaking the surface.
Good numbers of fish have also been found slightly closer in at The Bend just out from the Point Lonsdale bight.
Kingfish aside, Queenscliff has also hosted some fantastic-sized whiting. Fishing the run-out tide on the grass beds with tenderised squidd caught fish to 40cm.
Australian salmon were busting up in great numbers nearby at the start of the Symonds Channel and, although they don’t pull quite as hard as a kingfish, they still make for good sport.
Swan Bay’s channel produced mixed bags. I spent a few hours casting soft plastics in the channel on the top of the high tide, encountering snapper to 45cm in large numbers, pike to 80cm and salmon to 800g.
Other anglers fishing the channel into the night caught gummy shark with baits such as sauries or squid.
Further round at Portarlington, the mussel beds provide anglers with good bags of whiting and flathead, while the pier produced the odd snapper at night.
Snapper to 6kg were taken from the Pt Richards channel on fresh baits. Tide changes coinciding with dawn or dusk fished best.
The Surf Coast offered spectacular fishing when the conditions were right.
John Mole and Brian Long ventured down past Lorne for salmon and caught a few good-size specimens on 28g Asari Mahi lures. However, a small school of kingfish showed up and the pair landed seven to 75cm in length, which was quite a feat land-based.
They replicated their success the next day, noting the kings preferred 25g to 30g lures intended for the salmon.
Kevin Bardsley trolled the eastern entrance of Phillip Island with a Rapala Xrap 30, catching a 1.3m, 10kg kingfish that gave him a run for his money. Kevin was stoked to finally catch a kingfish in Victorian waters.
Brent Grgic, Aleks Polijak and Bob set out from Port Fairy and headed over to Lady Julia Percy Island where they encountered intense action on kingfish to 6kg in a surface feeding frenzy. Casting stick baits into the commotion, they caught six fish over 75cm.
Wurdee Boluc Reservoir continued producing redfin to 40cm. Bradley Cox spent a few hours casting soft plastics from the rockwall to land a reddie of 38cm.
Lake Bullen Merri was again productive for anglers who caught Chinook salmon to 2.5kg on both lures deep and lightly weighted pilchard fillets.
Josh Trew travelled to Blowering Dam where he managed a mega-sized Murray cod of over 1m.
Options for next week include kingfish in either The Rip, offshore from Barwon Heads or spinning the rocks around Lorne. Anglers should make the most of this species while they are around.
And don’t forget about the snapper as Clifton Springs and Portarlington are still holding great numbers of fish, while freshwater anglers should try Lake Purrumbete, where the Chinook salmon have reached 1kg and respond to the same tactics used at Lake Bullen Merri.
