On the Bite, by Peri Stavropoulos
Anglers finally had a window of good weather last week, so they wasted no time getting out and finding some fish.
Calamari made a strong appearance in the Queenscliff Bight, with good numbers and in great size. Baited squid spikes with a whole silver whiting fished near the bottom was the most popular and effective way of targeting them, with some additional weight helping anglers wrangle a few giant specimens.
Up the north end of Port Phillip Bay, The Warmies continued to be very popular for great fishing and an escape from the weather. Tailor were the most-popular target species for anglers casting either metal lures or diving hard-bodies and using upgraded leader size to deal with the tailors’ sharp teeth.
The biggest tip for The Warmies is to fish it while it’s pumping out warm water because that’s when the fish will be in attendance. Casting soft plastics and working them on the bottom accounted for a few pinkie snapper and bream too, with The Warmies also rumoured to have produced captures of mulloway recently.
Offshore fishing was nothing short of awesome for anglers targeting gummy sharks. Most of the gummies averaged 10kg to 15kg but much larger models around 25kg and school sharks were also possibilities, especially for anglers fishing fresh salmon or chunks of little reef species.
Portland continued to be the barrel tuna hot spot. Opportunities to head out wide and find them were limited but anglers who managed to get offshore put fish in their boats. Trolling Bullet Head skirted lures in Redbait colours seemed to be the flavour of the week in Redbait colours, particularly in 40m to 55m of water from Cape Bridgewater to Lawrence Rock in areas where birds were sighted working the surface.
Lake Purrumbete came back on the radar with reports of brown trout on the chew. Trolling deep-diving lures or Tassie Devils was the most-reliable method but over the past few weeks a few successful anglers cast shallow-diving or bent minnows along with soft plastics.
Anglers who prefer soaking bait should try live mudeye under a float. Land-based anglers should try the lake’s fishing platform.
