Peri Stavropoulos
A nice long weekend with good weather saw anglers flock all over the region to chase a feed of fish, with Corio Bay and the outer harbour producing some great fishing.
King George whiting have been well on the chew all over the place, with some current hotspots being Stingaree Bay, Hermsley, Clifton Springs and Bird Rock.
Fresh pipis and squid have been dynamite baits and fishing the faster tides has been the most productive time, if you can time that on sunrise or sunset even better.
Pinky snapper have also been on chew across the bay and over the next few months the inner harbour should really fire up.
There have also been some great reports of larger fish around the six kilogram mark being caught in the outer harbour.
Anglers soaking baits like pilchards and fresh calamari have been having the best results and yet again fishing the tides is ideal.
Calamari have been hanging around in great numbers right across the Bellarine Peninsula with St Leonards being the standout location, where bag limit captures have been on offer.
Drifting in 2.5 to five metres of water has been the prime depth and finding clean water has been key.
Natural coloured jigs in 3.0 and 3.5 have been doing all the damage.
Offshore Barwon Heads has continued to fish well for bottom fish such as flathead, gummy sharks and snapper.
Some quality captures for all three species have been on offer with the 40-metre line producing plenty of fish for the table.
School bluefin tuna have still been in great numbers offshore with anglers still finding them thrashing into schools of baitfish off the surface.
The fish are pushing west towards Anglesea but if you’re up for a small drive the fish are there.
Further down the coast from Apollo Bay to Port MacDonnell has been a hot barrel tuna bite with further west seeming to be better.
The fish have been eating a whole variety of lures including skirts, divers and topwater lures with sizes ranging anywhere from 30-150kg.
Wurdi Buloc Reservoir is still fishing very well for trout and redfin, yet again the rockwalls producing some cracking fish on spoons and hardbodies.
Strike Pro Bobbin spoons have been a standout for the spoons and Megabass X70s are another great option.
