Peri Stavropolous
“The Rip” this weekend was by far the week’s hotspot and on the weekend literally hundreds of boats were jigging in the hope of catching kingfish.
Jigging knife jigs weighing between 150 and 250 grams are ideal, however live baits are also lethal on kingfish too.
Gone Fishing Charters went out both days on the weekend with customers having a ball landing numerous kingfish whilst jigging and Luka from Trellys Laverton also made the most of the hot bite landing himself some solid kingfish too.
There was also bluefin tuna in the ‘Rip’ breaking the surface chasing baitfish, but were tricky to tempt due to the boat traffic, however it’s a great sign.
Offshore, Barwon Heads still has plenty of bluefin tuna on the chew holding in 55 metres of water, trolling small skirted lures and divers are ideal especially if the fish are holding a bit deeper if the boat traffic forces them down.
The tuna have also been sighted on the surface which gives a great opportunity to approach them with a stealth approach and cast lures at them.
King george whiting are continuing to bite well right along the peninsula with Queenscliff and St Leonards being the hotspots, in particular the front of Swan Bay.
Fish have been reaching 40cm and bag limit captures have been very achievable making it a great option if the weather isn’t looking great.
The Calamari have also been biting well in the same areas with Clifton Springs holding some very solid specimens, drifting in three metres of water between the boat ramp and Hermsley Rd with bright green jigs proving very effective.
A few good land based options this week have been St Helens rocks and St Leonards Pier. St Helens has been fishing quite well for pinkie snapper and flathead, although a majority of the pinkies are undersized.
If you fight your way through them there are some better quality fish mixed amongst them.
St Leonards pier has also been producing plenty of land based action for calamari, fishing of an evening has been best with size 3 jigs working best.
On the weekend, Bemm River hosted the Hobie Rd 1 Kayak competition. Dylan from Trellys Laverton competed and finished 6th out of 116 other competitors.
Dylan landed bream to 45 cm and flathead to 80cm over the weekend with OSP Bent Minnows, Ecogear MW62 and Rapala Shadow Raps being his standout lures.
