On the Bite, by Chris Pitman
Kingfish popped up everywhere along the Bellarine Peninsula over the past week.
Offshore from Point Lonsdale to the mouth of the Barwon River, they were keen on snapping up squid strips trolled with white occy skirts. Late afternoon seemed best, although they generally bit all day.
The kings ranged in size from just legal to an impressive 13kg. Casting out a soft plastic near a hooked fish often resulted in another catch.
Inside The Rip, dropping knife jigs down or rigs baited with fresh squid did the trick on kingies that were generally a bit larger than offshore.
Australian salmon to 3kg kept anglers entrained when the kingfish were slow, while bluefin tuna caught anglers by surprise as a much-welcome bycatch.
Squid were still on offer for land-based anglers at Queenscliff Pier and Bell Reef. Larger-size 3.5 jigs worked best again.
Silver trevally showed up inside Queenscliff Harbour where soft plastics cast on slack tides accounted for fish to 40cm.
Clifton Springs and the Curlewis Bank fished well for King George whiting. Pippies or tenderised squid were the favoured baits.
Lucky anglers caught the odd large flathead to almost 60cm while chasing the whiting.
Alcoa Pier hosted pike and salmon to 1kg. Trolling hard-body minnow-style lures was a productive tactic.
The Barwon River estuary fished well for smaller whiting, salmon and mullet in the lower reaches of the system. Small pieces of prawn on a running sinker rig worked well.
Some thumping big bream were also caught on fresh live baits like Bass yabbies.
Western district lakes Tooliorook, Deep and Elignamite all produced brown and rainbow trout to 2kg. Anglers did well flat-line trolling Tassie Devils and Rapala F7s around first or last light, although baits still took fish during the middle of the day.
Lake Purrumbete hosted a run of big brown trout to almost 10lb and bucket-loads of redfin for anglers bobbing soft plastics or other lures.
Lake Bullen Merri continued firing for Chinook salmon, with bait still catching the biggest fish. Trolling with downriggers at Bullen Merri and Purrumbete has been a great way to target trophy fish year-round, with water around 10m to 11m deep and speeds of 3kmh working well recently.
The Lake of 1000 Casts, Wurdee Boluc Reservoir, gave up some redfin from the main rock wall for anglers pitching lures in the evenings. The reddies weren’t the reservoir’s renowned monster sizes but still good fun.
Next week could be good for hunting kingfish offshore with squid strips on trolled occy skirts, while plenty of whiting should be available at St Leonards.
